Kerri stumbled to the door and touched it. Paint she realized, not blood. Who did this, she wondered, was it Tiffany? Tiffany knew where her room was. She shook the thought from her head. I can't accuse her, I don't know for sure if Tiffany did it. She quickly opened the door and ran into the room to get her shoes. Kerri composed herself before walking back to the lobby. I'm not going to tell anybody, she decided. She forced a smile to her face as she greeted the others before getting on the bus.

They arrived at the arena. Kerri found that Nick was waiting for her. Oh no, he is going to know somethings wrong. I can't let him know what happened, not yet. He immediately went up to her.

"How's it goin'? Are you alright, you look upset." He said.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She lied, "I'm just tired." She looked into his eyes and smiled, trying to convince him it was true. He smiled back, even though he didn't fully believe her.

"I heard you went on TRL earlier." He said, as his eyes lit up. Kerri thought about how stupid she must have looked and sounded earlier.

Kerri was about to reply when she heard Christina calling her. She nodded to the stage and motioned for her to come. Kerri hurried over after saying goodbye to Nick. Kerri was more comfortable with getting to the stage this time, since she had already done it once. She glanced out over the crowd, her eyes falling on the spot where she had seen Jason the night before. He stood there, staring out her. When he noticed her eyes on him, he smiled cruelly. He held up a sign that's read:

CALL ME 9-687-3323

Kerri stared at him, then the sign and memorized the number. I am going to get to the bottom of this, she thought, I can't let this go on any longer. She forgot about him as she got into the routine. Before they were led off stage she glanced at the sign one last time to make sure she had the number right. Jason smiled and left the arena. Mission accomplished, he thought, she will try to call.

"Howie!" She called as she saw him backstage. "Can I borrow your cellphone?"

"Sure," he replyed, "It's on the table over there." Then he disappeared into the bow where the Boys enter the stage area. Kerri waited about a half hour before she tried calling the number. She slid into an empty room so nobody could hear her. Her hand shook as she slowly dialed the number and raised the phone to her ear.

Kerri listened to shock as she heard "We're sorry your call cannot be completed as dialed." She cursed loudly as she hung up the phone. Why did he give me that stupid number, she wondered. Kerri jumped as she heard someone enter the room.

"You okay." David asked. "I heard you curse and I wanted to make sure you hadn't hurt yourself or anything."

"I'm fine." She said, then held up the phone. "Bad call."

"Oh, I understand. Everyone is going out to eat, wanna come?" He asked. Kerri nodded then followed him to the rest of the group. She could hear the Backstreet Boys singing and the audience screaming. She grabbed her things and walked to the bus. The sign Jason was holding stayed in her mind the whole night. She couldn't eat once they got there. Christina and Jess exchanged worried glances. Kerri's face was pale, she never smiled once the whole night, and was lost in her own thoughts.

"Kerri, come with us." Jess whispered. Christina and Jess lead her to the ladies room. After making sure there wasn't anyone else in the bathroom, they looked the door.

"Kerri, what is up?" Jess asked her. Kerri stood there like she had no clue what Jess was talking about.

"You have been acting really strange. Don't even pretend there is nothing wrong." Christina said, looking Kerri in the eye. Kerri looked away, accidently giving herself away. Christina nodded and said, "I knew it. Talk."

Kerri sighed and told the two girls about Mark, about meeting Nick, and about Jason. "He was at the show again tonight. He held up a sing that said, call me 9-687-3323. I called the number and there was no such number. I don't know what it means." Kerri looked up to see the shocked expression's on their faces.

"Let's head back to the hotel." Jess said, opening the bathroom door. Kerri nodded and followed the other two back to the table. Jess told the others they were leaving and left the six guys there wondering what was going on.

Once they were back in their room at the hotel, Kerri grabbed a piece of paper. She wrote down the number from the sign. She showed Jess and Christina. Christina grabbed the paper and stared at it for a second.

"Wait, I have seen things like this before. Look at the phone." Christina said, staring at the number.

Kerri and Jess looked at the phone as Chritina continued to talk. "There are letters on each number. This isn't a phone number, it is a code." Kerri looked up in surprise. She took the paper back and began writing down the possible letters for each number.

"wxyz-mno-tuv-pqrs-def-def-abc-def" Kerri read out the numbers. For the next two hours the three girls tried to figure out what the letters spelled.

"Wot see be, yots fead?" Jess mumbled off words, half of which didn't even make sense. She looked up to notice all the color drain from Kerri's face.

"I figured out what the numbers mean." She said quietly. She turned the paper she was writing on around and showed it to Jess and Christina. They gasped as they read it.

Chapter Twleve

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