(Based on the song "Pop" by *NSYNC)
"How are you feeling today, Mr. Kirkpatrick?" the doctor asked as he sat impatiently in the seat across from her desk.
"I'm good, can I go now?" he squirmed like a child.
"You have something more important to do?"
"Well...um, no?" he sighed, knowing he would have to sit there until she said he could leave.
"I know you have alot of things you have to do with your tour and all. I wont take up much of your time today" she gathered up a few papers and put them in a manilla folder. "You have no reason to be here anyway. You are completely fine. Healthy as a horse" she finally cracked a smile.
"Great" he looked towards the door. "I feel good. Im ready to dance" he joked as he swung his arms in the air.
"I'm sure you are" she stopped as she looked at Chris, who just stared at her with a smile on his face. "You are making me nervous. Just go before you fall out of your seat"
"Ok, kewl! Catch ya later!" he got up and ran out the door.
"You're a weird one, Mr. Kirkpatrick" she laughed to herself.
"That was quick" Erica said to him as she, Lance, and two other body guards met him at a back entrance at the hospital.
"I made her nervous" he laughed.
"Im sure that wasnt hard" Lance joked with him as they all jumped into the SUV.
"All I had to do was stand on my head"
"No you didnt!" Erica yelled.
"Ok, well I didnt, but I practically fell out of my seat"
"Oh geez" Erica sighed.
"I'm just all excited for this tour to start next week. I'm glad we dont have to go far for the first show" Chris said, sitting back in the seat.
"Yeah, we get the extra time to just chill instead of riding in a bus all week" Lance added.
"We probably won't get much time to ourselves anyway. Wade will have us working til the last minute" Chris replied.
"Hey, I got a page" Lance jumped in as he looked at his pager. "It's Justin's cell"
"I got it" Chris replied as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
"I wonder whats up?" Erica questioned.
"Hey! Whats up?" he asked as Justin picked up. "Right now? Are you for real? Ok, ok! Stop yelling. Tell him not to get his panties in a knot. We'll be right there. Later"
"Um...ok?" Lance said with a weird look on his face.
"Wade is having a hissy cuz he wanted to run through the show and me and you werent there. He said that he didnt know that I had my last appointment today" he closed his phone and put it back in his pocket.
"Geez. We know what we are doing. It couldnt have been that important that we had to be there right this second"
"Well you know Wade, work work work!" Chris exaggerated.
"I can't wait for this tour to be over. Then I don't have to work. I can just relax for a very long time" Lance sighed as he looked out the tinted window.
Erica laughed. "You can't wait for it to be over and it hasn't even started. What an attitude for a job that you love to do"
"Its not that we don't like our job, its just very exhausting" Chris jumped in.
"Yeah, but we do have fun though so maybe its not all that bad" Lance looked back at them.
"Except for rehearsals. They suck" Chris laughed as the SUV stopped at the rehearsal studio.
"Lets go, lets go!" Wade yelled as they entered the dance room.
"Ok, ok!" Chris mocked him jokingly.
"You're funny, Chris"
"I try" he grinned and took his place.
"Are the girls here today?" Lance smiled.
Erica playfully punched him in the shoulder. "One things for sure, youre not funny"
"Ok guys" Wade started. "We have two weeks until the first show. Unfortunately for you, the first show is nearby, so I'm gonna work you to death"
"Great, kill us so that we cant even walk out on stage" Chris joked and everyone laughed.
"Well, we can tell Chris is back to his old self" Wade announced.
"Isnt it great?" Joey jumped in.
"Just peachy, now is everyone ready?" Wade asked and everyone took their places as the music started.
"Three more days to sleep in. I'm dreading this already" JC said, sleepishly, as he lay on the couch. Everyone all gathered around him to watch a movie.
"I don't even wanna think about it" Justin replied as he lay croutched down on the chair.
"Yeah, I just wanna stay right here" Joey jumped in as he got comfy on the loveseat.
"What are we watching tonight?" October asked as she entered the living room with some popcorn and jumped on the couch beside JC.
"Castaway" Lance answered as the opening credits started.
"Ooh, good movie" she replied.
"You're not going to talk through the whole thing, are you?" Erica joked with her.
"Shut up!" October laughed and threw popcorn at her. It bounced off Erica and landed on Chris' head, who sat on the floor below her feet.
"Hey now! Watch the hair!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the kernel and threw it back at October.
"Hey honey?" JC asked October sweetly as he looked up at her.
"Yes dear?" she replied.
"Can we watch the movie now?" he asked again as October sighed. Chris laughed under his breath.
"Ok, thirty minutes til show time" JC looked up at the clock in the dressing room.
"Why am I nervous? We've done this so many times" Lance said as he paced the room.
"I'm gonna puke" Joey announced as he stared at the floor.
"Oh geez, dont say that!" Justin exclaimed as he guzzled his bottle of water.
"Puke when we fly over the crowd on the zip cords" Chris laughed.
"Gross!" Erica yelled as she put her hand over her mouth.
"Remind me not to go out in the crowd!" October said as she walked over to JC who stared at the clock.
"Or you can wait til we ride the mechanical bulls!" Chris jumped in again.
"Ok, I think I'll be fine" Joey said to himself as he took a deep breath.
"Ok guys! Let's go!" one of the men from the security team yelled as he opened the door.
"Can we stay behind the stage?" October asked JC as they walked through the door.
"Yeah, just stay out of the way a bit though. We will be running back here like mad trying to get changed in 10 seconds or less"
"Ok, no prob!" she replied as she and Erica walked together, a few feet away from the guys, who all walked single file down the hall.
"Give it up for BBMak!" the man on the stage yelled to the huge crowd, who continued to scream.
"Hey guys! Good luck out there!" Christian, from BBMak, said to them as they walked by.
"Thanks" they replied in unison. Their hearts were in their throats as they all stood nervously.
They played hackey for another twenty minutes until they heard the crowd start to scream again. "Are you ready for *NSYNC?" the man announced and then came backstage. The crowd went crazy. Light and glow sticks were shining everywhere. And then the lights turned off and the first skit came across the screen. Joey appeared on the screen as a school geek, pointing to the chalkboard which had 'pop' written on it. The history of how *NSYNC came about was shown on the screen.
"Ok we have to go now" JC said to October quickly.
"Good luck" she replied and gave him a kiss as they were led away to put their monk costumes on.
Back on the screen it showed Joey again. He wrote the word 'dirty' above 'pop' that was on the chalkboard and in an instant it had the whole group standing in the schoolroom, looking tough in their leather clothes.
"This is going to be so kewl!" Erica exclaimed as she saw the guys appear on the stage, their heads bowed and hidden underneath their cloaks.
"We made it, you know that?" October said quickly before the music started.
"Whadya mean?"
"This is what we've been waiting for. To be with them on tour. To have our whole lives start right here" she replied and looked back at the stage.
"Yeah. Its weird in a way though. I never imagined any of this. But, I'm glad I'm here with them and you" Erica smiled and gave October a hug.
"We've come a long way. I'm ready for the next chapter in our lives"
"Me too, Opie. Me too" Erica replied as 'Pop' blasted through the speakers and the guys were revealed. The crowd screamed as the guys jumped around the stage. Their PopOdyssey Tour had launched and to Erica and October, their own odyssey had just begun.