Playing It By Heart: A J.C. Fanfiction Saga

Chapter One: Sparks

"Why does the work keep piling up?" Emma Ko asked no one in particular as she drummed her pencil on the stack of paper in her in box. Sighing, she stood up and moved to shift half the pile off the tower when it toppled over, sheets scattering across the floor.

"Great," she muttered as she blew a strand of long black hair out of her eyes and bent down to pick them up. She was already behind on taking dictations of the Offspring interviews, and hadn't checked her e-mail yet to see if the Stones' latest concert-attendance statistics had come in. As her intern job description dictated, she needed to be on top of things, but Emma certainly wasn't this morning.

"Top of the morning!" chortled Kevin Dorchester, one of the music critics for Soundwave Magazine and Emma's unofficial mentor. "I see we're off to a rousing start ... "

"Save it, Kevin," retorted Emma. "Are you going to help me or what?"

Kevin sighed and began picking up press packets and papers to arrange in a pile. "Is this all yours?"

"Every last shred of it." Emma nodded wearily. "Mostly junk, but still stuff that has to be filed, sorted and written up. Why does every single artist have to come out with a Christmas album?"

"Tell me about it," Kevin said, looking at his watch. "Actually I have an interview in about 20 minutes. An American group, but they're big in Germany right now."

"Germany?" Emma asked. "As in the country that likes David Hasselhoff?"

"Seems it's a growing trend," Kevin explained, straightening the stack. "Pop groups start out there where there's a market, then after they've got their bank, they try their hand in their homeland."

"Sounds safe." Emma's thoughts turned back to her stack.

"You wanna come?" Kevin's words broke into her concentration.

"Huh?"

"There's a photo shoot and then I get to ask them a coupla questions. But since they're not the main story, it'll be really quick. Come on. You wanted to see this action anyway, right? This is what your entry-level job is all about."

"Do you see the stack I have in front of me?" Emma asked, even though the prospect sounded tempting. So what if these guys weren't famous. It was just a small step in the ladder to a Janet Jackson photo shoot, just watch ...

Without another thought, Emma straightened up and plunked the sheaf back into her in box, careful not to tip it over again. "Let's go."

"All right," Kevin said, picking up his jacket from the coat rack. "But don't squeal or anything."

"Quiet as a mouse," Emma promised.

* * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * *

Chris Kirkpatrick straightened up after his umpteenth serious-stud pose.

"Hey, was I the only one pointing at the camera that time? We can't all be doing the same thing."

"Dude, will you relax?" Justin Timberlake said, jabbing his friend in the arm and running a hand through his cropped curly hair. "We've done tons of these."

"But not here," Chris responded, pulling his hat lower on his brow. "I feel like we're starting over."

The other three members of the group, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and J.C. Chasez, stood up from their squatting positions and stretched while the photographer signaled for a new roll.

J.C. jumped and jiggled a bit in the air to keep the circulation in his legs. "I want to be an airborne ranger ..." he began to sing. Joey sensed his excitement and laughed.