Three days later, my clothes have arrived, I have made breakfast for the "left out" and a few whines and complaints from the boys who wanted more food, and tonight is the night of my first official show. I start jumping up and down, trying to get rid of my excess energy, so my hands won't shake. I stretch out, and spontaneously, do a cartwheel-splits in the middle of the room. The guys look at me, either, as if I was crazy, or they were in agonizing pain. "What in the world possessed you to do that?" Howie asks, astounded. I smile demurely and giggle. "Yeow! It hurts me to even see that." Nick cries. I jump up as I spot a radio. I turn it on, and find an oldies station. "You don't mind?" I ask for permission. But before anyone answers, "Respect" comes on. "Ah! I love this song." I dance around, singing, making the others join in. "R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Find out what it means to me!" We sing, rather loud. Mrs. Carter and Aaron walk in, and smile at us. Aaron runs over and dances around with us. "I think I have way too much energy for my own good." I confess. "But that was fun!" Aaron says, still jumping around. "Well, boys, Aaron's finished, so you're almost up." Mrs. Carter informs them. "Tanya, you know when you go on, right?" "Yep, someone will introduce me after 'Everybody' and my little raffle thing is going to be stage right." "Right, the-" and she is interrupted by a voice over the intercom. "Backstreet Boys to stage." I tell them all to break a leg, and they are off to perform. For the next hour and a half, I stay backstage, playing with Aaron and talking to Mrs. Carter. We talk about life, in general-school, plays, friends, how my trip is going. "Tanya, you're up." The voice over the intercom directs me. Aaron and Mrs. Carter wish me luck and I take my place in the wings. I hear Kevin thanking the audience. "Thank you so much! But it's not over yet!" "We would like to introduce a sort of new addition to our show, if you have seen MTV's Fanatic, you will recognize her, Tanya, aka Goldie Locks!" Howie introduces me and waves me on. I walk on stage, and met with a loud applause. "Come on! You can do better than that! Let's hear it!" Nick encourages them. The applause mounts and a few various screams start to pop up. I just stand there, grinning like an idiot, amazed at their stage presence, they could get this crowd to do just about anything. The crowd starts to quiet down and I take the reigns. "Shhh. I need complete silence for this to work." I stage whisper. The audience gets as quiet as a few thousand people can. I motion to the Boys, "These guys are something, huh?" Everyone starts screaming and yelling, stomping their feet, and clapping their hands. Pointing at the crowd, "Audience participation, that's what makes a concert!" "Well, we're gonna leave Tanya in charge, but don't worry, we'll be back to say good bye!" Brian convinces them. The crowd makes a lot of noise as they leave the stage. "Ok, hi, I guess I should tell you what I'm here for. I answer your questions about the Backstreet Boys. I'll call out a seat number, you get to ask a question and I answer it. They can hear you backstage, so..." I drag it on, as I pick from the bowl. "A-15!" I announce. I hear a scream. "I guess that's her pointing in the direction it came from. "So, what's your question?" I ask as I wait for a security guard to hold a mic out to her. "Um, hi, I'm Celeste, I guess my question would be would the boys ever date a fan?" "I don't see why not! I mean, if you think about it, why would an artist go out with someone who doesn't like their music?" I get a laugh from the audience. "Next, hmmm, J-3." "Hey Tanya, I'm Verronica, are you dating any of the Boys, if so, who, if not, why?" "Hey, that's one of those multi-question-question, cheater. Ha! Ok, no, I'm not. Why, well, I tour with them, it would be a little weird to date someone who sees you 24/7, I mean, you get out of bed, bed hair, nasty breath, completely not awake, and see your boyfriend, gross. So don't worry!" I pull out another number, "C-21." "Hi Goldie! I'm Melissa, I am a real big fan of BSB, I love 'em! My question is, what are they really like?" "I knew this one was coming, its a long answer. What you know of them, AJ's the wild one, Brian and Nick are the crazy ones, plural of one, does that work? Yeah, Howie's the sweet one, and Kevin's the serious one, that's all true, but that's not just what they're about. AJ's a weenie, no, I'm kidding, he's like Howie, he is such a sweetheart, but he can be crazy like Brian and Nick. Nick is always trying to make you laugh, when him and Bri get together, you are cracking up, totally. He is the baby of the group, in many ways, but the guys always treat him with respect, even though he is younger than them. Brian is like everyone, he's a sweetie, and he's hilarious, he can get serious, but he always tries to break tension with corny jokes. Kevin is more serious and mature than the others, but he does get down and funky sometimes. Ha! He has his times when he just wants to laugh. Howie D., Sweet D. he is such a sweetie pie. He always thinks of others before himself. He will sit there and listen to you when you have a problem, he's just a very considerate person, but he does go from serious to crazy every once in awhile. But they are all just real, they are just like everyone else. Two more to go, B-19!" "Hi! I'm Carly, I want to know how you and the guys get along?" "Oh, we get along really well, I've only been on tour with them for a few days, but so far, no major problems. If we do have a problem, I just pull them aside and we talk, it works out a lot better than just ignoring the problem, wishing it will go away." I pull the last choice out of the bowl, "Ok, last one, I'm sorry if I didn't get to answer everyone's questions, but I hope this will suffice till we're back! Ok, K-14!" "I'm Kacy, I just want to say, first of all, I love the Backstreet Boys, and I think that this question answering thing, is really cool." "Thank you!" "Well, I was wondering, how old are all the guys?" "Well...Brian is-" "23" He interrupts me, jumping out from backstage. And the crowd goes wild. "18" Nick follows suit. "26" Kevin walks on, followed by Howie "25", and AJ "20." "Thank you for making me feel like a young-in." I look at them. "And Tanya is....?" "16, see Nick you are not the youngest." "Wow, Kev, doesn't that make you feel old, 10 years difference!" Brian jokes. "Well, at least she acts older than you!" Kevin trades insults. "Ooooh, he's got you there, Bri!" Howie chimes in. So, Brian does the most mature thing he knows, sticks his fingers in his ears and sticks out his tongue. That causes laughter to fill the arena. "Well, we're here to say goodbye! So, here we go." They sing "Just To Be Close." Nick grabs me and slow dances with me for awhile, holds my hand, and twirls me to Brian. "Like the stars to the night, and daytime is to night, we'll never part." I am passed down the line, dancing with each man for a bit, each guys does something different to pass me on. Brian gives my hand to AJ. AJ just picks me up and hands me to Howie, which I thought was pretty embarrassing, Howie wraps his arm around me, and spins me out to Kevin. "Just wanna be close.....To you." Kevin slowly dips me, and the lights go out. Kevin hold on to my hand and we all run backstage. We make it to the bus, and as we leave, hundreds of girls are waving, and so we all wave back from the windows. They all look as if they are either going to cry, or burst from excitement! After we get onto the highway, I sit back on the seats and ask, "Where did that come from?" "It kind of just happened." Nick admitted. "If you're mad, it was all Nick's fault!" AJ tries to give all the blame to Nick. "No, I'm not mad, I just thought that was cute." We all just sit there, unwinding from all the excitement. "Well, what do we do now?" "You can do whatever, usually we watch TV, or go to sleep." Nick informs me. "Any books, I'll read, then go to sleep." "There are some books stashed away in that cabinet over there." Kev points me in the direction of the books. I open the cabinet and peer inside. "Hmmm...Lord of the Flies, this book was definitely interesting." I say, pulling out the book. "Anyone read it?" "Yeah. Did you understand it?" Kevin asks. "Yeah, basically it's a take on mankind's true savagery." I respond. "Not many people get that when they read it. I read it, but I didn't quite understand it, so I read it again, and found symbols in everything they did, you know?" "Yeah, like the glasses being the symbol of knowledge, and the island, in my opinion, was a symbol of freedom. It's a really interesting book." I say putting it down, but AJ picks it right back up. "Maybe I should read this and figure out what you two are talking about." AJ says, looking confused. I yawn, "Oh, sorry. I think I'm going to forget about reading, I'm bushed. Goodnight." And they wish me sweet dreams.