It was a hot August afternoon in Tampa, Florida in the summer of 1997. The Backstreet Boys, who was a majorly huge act over in Europe had just gotten through filming three video’s in LA and were now on a few days break before they really started to get busy. AJ McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson and Nick Carter were becoming five of the most wanted guys in the world. They already were in Europe and only God knows how many other countries, but they were just started to get big in the United States with their hit single “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)”.

Nick was the youngest member of the group. He was 17 years old and already a teen hearthrob in Europe and it was becoming that way in the US. He’d been in the group since he was 13, when he quit regular junior high and started to be tutored so that the bad could become big, and that they did. He always felt like he missed out on alot. Alot of his friends were about to become seniors in high school, and he wanted to be a part of it. He just didn’t want to trade music for that.

He didn’t ever talk to alot of the people that he was friends with when he was younger. He was rarely home. He was either off touring Europe and doing interviews and all of the strange, whack things that those European photograhers wanted them to do, or he was off hitting the road in the US, doing promotional things trying to get the Backstreet Boys to break there, and it was working.

Today was a rare day though, he was home in his family’s gated home, tucked away in a small town outside of Tampa. Althought he had to get a fence because mad fans from Europe tried to still his grass, something he didn’t understand, he felt safe there, but he was just bored out of his mind.

“Nick where are you going?” asked Nick’s little brother Aaron as Nick stood out back at the basketball goal. Aaron was a minute version of Nick. He had the baby blue eyes, the cute smile, and the blonde, bowl-shaped haircut. He was a mini-me version of Nick. He was even a singer, but wasn’t anything big-yet.

“I’m gonna go drive around some.” said Nick as he threw the basketball at Aaron and took the keys to his truck out of his pocket.

“You better not..” said Aaron as his twin sister Angel walked out to see Nick get in his truck and drive off.

“Where’s he going?” asked Angel as Aaron shrugged his shoulders as they walked back into the house.

“Man…” Nick thought as he drove around, looking out at Tampa Bay, forgetting all of his troubles and problems when he stopped at a red light to see the local high school where, if he wasn’t a singer and being tutored, he would be starting school the next day.

“I’m gonna go over there…” Nick thought as the light turned green and he drove over to the high school, pulling in the parking lot and looking around. He just sat there looking around when he saw some girls come out of one building and walked into another.

“Umm…” Nick thought as he smiled and got out of his truck.

He walked into the building, opening the door to see what looked like a regular high school, although Nick didn’t know what that was. He walked on into the building looking at the bullentin boards about the new football season when someone walked up to him.

“Hey, you lost?” asked the girl as Nick looked over at her. He knew her from somewhere but didn’t know where. She had brown hair, pulled back in a ponytail wearing a litte bluish plaid shirt and white shorts.

“Uh… no….” said Nick as he looked at her, “You.. you look familiar.” The girl started to laugh as Nick looked confused.

“Do you go to school here?” asked the girl as Nick shook his head no, “Well are you going to start school here?” as Nick shook his head no again.

“Nah…” said Nick.

“Have you ever been to school here?” asked the girl as Nick nodded his head no and the girl looked confused.

“You look familiar….” said the girl, “Did you go middle school here?” as Nick nodded his head yes.

“Yeah…” said Nick, “Did you?”

“Yeah I’ve lived here all my life.” said the girl.

“Me too basically….” said Nick as he looked at her, “What’s your name?”

“Sam.” said the girl as Nick looked at her, “Sorry Samantha Morgan.” as Nick looked around and looked back at her.

“Dude I remember you…” said Nick as the girl looked at him confused.

“Umm okay, what’s your name?” asked Samantha as she looked back out the big door to see some other people out here.

“Nick.. Nick Carter, I left like in 8th grade…..” said Nick as Samantha interrupted him.

“Oh yeah.. you joined that group.” said Samantha, “I remember that… you were always in my class.”

“Yeah.. I knew that I knew you from somewhere.” said Nick as he started to laugh, “You knew why I left?”

“It was all over school..” said Samantha as she started to walk down the hallway holding some papers as Nick followed her.

“So you’re a senior?” asked Nick, “What are you doing? Where’s everybody else that was in our class?”

“Full of questions huh? So how’s the tutoring…” said Samantha as she walked into a classroom as Nick looked around at all the desk.

“Cool.. I’ll graduate in June.” said Nick, “So what are you doing?”

“My mom is a teacher… I’m in her History class, it sucks…” said Samantha, “Umm Jake and Charlie and all them guys that you use to hang with in middle school are out in the auditorium.”

“Jake and Charlie? Uhh… I don’t remember….” said Nick as he looked around the room some more.

“Oh but you remember me…” said Samantha as she started to laugh.

“Well you were my girlfriend there for a few weeks in 7th grade.” said Nick as Samantha looked around.

“I was wasn’t I? That was a long time ago. So what’s up with this group?” asked Samantha as she took some more papers and walked out of the room while Nick followed her again as he looked around.

“You know the song “Quit Playing Games With My Heart”?” asked Nick as Samantha stopped and looked around.

“Yeah…. that’s you guys?” asked Samantha.

“Yep.” said Nick standing there smiling, proud of their accomplishment.

“That song is okay…” said Samantha as she looked around, “They went and changed all these damn rooms on me.”

“Okay?” asked Nick as they ran into a guy holding a basketball by the door.

“See there’s Jake.” said Samantha, “Jake… do you remember Nick Carter?”

“Nick Carter?” asked Jake as he looked at Nick, “Yeah…. the boy we always made fun of, dude where have you been?” as he pushed Nick on the shoulder as Nick looked at his shoulder and looked back at Jake.

“Touring the world…” said Nick, “What have you been doing?”

“Working out…. ya know the usual..” said Jake.

“Actually I don’t..” Nick mumbled as he looked around.

“Anyway I gotta go take these to Mrs. Andrews.. so still on for tonight?” asked Samantha.

“Yeah… I’ll see ya at 7.” said Jake as he hit Nick on the arm, “See ya later dude…” as he walked off and Nick grabbed his arm and looked at Jake when he realized Samantha had walked off.

“So you two date or something?” asked Nick, who was still rubbing his arm as Samantha started to laugh.

“Hell no, well not yet anyway… he asked me out yesterday…. so I told him yes. He’s been asking me out for the past two years and I finally gave in…” said Samantha as she looked back at Nick holding his arm, “Damn did he hurt you?”

“Uh big guy….” said Nick.

“Yeah… he’s the jock of the school.. basketball, baseball, football….” said Samantha as Nick nodded his head and looked around, “Hold on let me take these to her.”

“Okay…” said Nick as Samantha went in the room as he looked down the hallway at the lockers and school posters thinking about what it would be like if he was normal and was a part of it all.

“Alright..” said Samantha as she walked out the room, “So you want me to introduce you to some people or what, you looked like a lost puppy…”

“Nah I was just home for a few days and just wondered what happened to everybody…..” said Nick as he looked around, “I guess I know…”

“We’re all the same, except we grew up…. kinda.” said Samantha, “Feel bad cause you don’t go here or something, trust me.. you aren’t missing anything. If I had a choice between this and living the high life, traveling the world.. I would pick choice b.”

“Don’t say that until you’ve experienced it…” said Nick as Samantha started to laugh and looked at her watch.

“Shit.. I’m gonna be late…. I’ve gotta go pick my brother up from football practise.” said Samantha, “It was nice talking to you though. Nice to know what became of ya…” as she started to walk down the hall backwards.

“Yeah same here…. maybe I’ll see ya again.” said Nick.

“Yeah call me, my number’s in the book that is if you can remember my name… bye!” said Samantha as she walked out the door and Nick looked around to see Jake and some other guy walk in one of the other days and go down a different hallway.

“I better get my ass out of here before I get lost…” Nick thought as he started to laugh and walked down another hallway and looked around, “Uhh shit I already am…”