Seeing Joey for the next few days was unnerving for JC although Joey acted like nothing happened. There were no issues with rehearsal mostly because JC did his best to avoid Joey. He wasn’t sure if the others knew that Joey came over but he decided it was best that he didn’t know.

The pain in his side came and went. Sometimes it lingered longer than usual. It was nearly unnoticeable while he was dancing but the pain was tenfold as he sang. He did his best to hide it, especially from Joey. The amount of drinks JC consumed didn’t change, either. If anything, his encounter with Joey only increased it. At times he thought about drinking in front Joey just to spite him.

The guys finally had time to hang out after their last night of rehearsal before the VMA’s. Except this time, JC was the one to opt out. None of them persisted as they said their “see you tomorrow’s.” JC had been increasingly temperamental with all of them so they knew better than to cross him.

JC groaned as he entered his home. He wished that the entrance led immediately to his bedroom since he was extremely exhausted. Sleeping has always been his favorite thing to do but he was doing a fair amount more of it than usual, probably because of the non-stop rehearsing. His feet were killing him and his head was throbbing. The pain in his side was faint, but still noticeable.

He jumped on the bed and moaned as his body was engulfed by the sheets. Thoughts were quickly driven out of his head as he surrendered to sleep.

“What do you mean I can’t perform?”

“Sorry man, after that stunt your friend pulled out there we think the lyrics to your song would only add to the controversy that just spawned.” The man who was in charge of performance line-ups shook his head as he crossed JC’s name, along with everyone else’s, off the list.

“What stunt?” JC saw Justin rushing back into the room. He had just performed with Janet Jackson for the Super Bowl and JC was up next to promote the launch of his new album.

Justin’s face was pale and he did his best to ignore all the reporters that tried to push their way into the backroom. He only looked apologetically at JC as he walked straight by him.

“He ripped off Janet’s clothes and exposed her breast.”

“He WHAT?”

“You heard me. We have to scrap everything. No one’s going to want to watch the rest of the half-time show. Best to just continue on with the game. The sooner this is done, the better.” The man explained.

“But this was my chance at getting the publicity I needed for my album!”

“Do you think I give a damn about your album?” The man glared at JC, shutting him up.

“…Is Janet alright?”

“What do you think? Just get outta here, I’ll be kicking out all the performers. Go watch some football.”

JC was soaking in sweat and his stomach was hurting. He tossed and turned, trying to resist the urge to puke but soon lost the battle causing him to bolt straight to the bathroom. After moments of belching out the acidic contents of his stomach, he took a minute to reorient himself.

He remembered his dream as he splashed cold water on his face. It was more of a nightmare, actually. He couldn’t understand why that memory came back to him. That was the day of his big break but after the scandal with Justin and Janet, all hopes he had of promoting his solo career went down the drain. That was also the day where he started to truly resent Justin.

JC stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. “Just gotta get through the night.” He told himself. “Tomorrow will change everything.”