The ranch was like something out of a dream. It took a really long time to get there, hours of sing alongs, stories, and car games that Mr. Hanson kept in a bag in the glove compartment. We took two cars. I rode with Heidi, Taylor, Mack, and Jessie. Everyone else went in the station wagon with Mrs. Hanson. While Jessie slept in the front seat and Mr. Hanson listened to the Eagles on the tape player, Heidi, Tay, and I each listened to our headphones. They didn’t even need to tell me when we arrived, I just knew. We turned onto a dirt road in practically the middle of nowhere. There were horses and cattle and a huge red barn like out of a picture. My mouth hung open in awe.
“So, Miss Tayler,” Mr. Hanson laughed when he saw my expression in the rear-view mirror, “Growing up in New York, I don’t suppose you know much about farms?”
“This place is so great!” I exclaimed as he parked next to the barn.
Heidi and I jumped out of the car, excited. “Ohmigod, Tay,” she called, “Look, there’s horses!”
“And cows,” I ran to the other side of the car and grabbed her arm.
“And chickens,” Taylor laughed as his little brother ran by, chasing a couple of white chickens.
We ate a huge dinner set out by Mr. and Mrs. Hanson’s friends. They seemed almost the mirror image of the Hansons. There were like nineteen billion kids running around, but they always remained calm and peaceful. After we ate, we went to our rooms. Heidi and I were sharing with Avie and Jessie.
“It’s gonna be like a slumber party every night!” I exclaimed, dropping my bag on the double bed. I was way more excited than the younger girls.
“You’re such a dork, Tay,” Heidi smiled.
“I know,” I plopped down happily on the bed I would be sharing with her.
“I hope they have pigs,” Heidi said, looking out the window.
“They do,” Jessie answered.
“Really?!” Heidi loved pigs.
“I’ll show them to you,” Avie took Heidi’s hand.
“Aren’t you girls going to put your stuff down?” I asked them.
“Our parents told us to show you our where you’ll sleep. We’re going to sleep in the barn tonight,” Avie told us.
“That’s really cool!” I smiled.
“Come on, Heidi,” Avie tugged Heidi’s hand, ignoring me.
“Are you set here?” Jessie asked.
“Yea,” I nodded.
“See you in the morning then,” Avie looked disinterested and lead Heidi away.
“Is she okay?” I asked Jessie, my smile fading.
Jessie rolled her eyes and waved it off, saying, “Don’t mind her.” Then she followed her sister down the hallway. I never thought that Avie could have an attitude like that. She seemed to be pissed about something.
The room assigned to Heidi and I was one of like twenty in the whole house. There were nine children of the Herberts, and each of them had his or her own room. There was a playroom and a den and even a loom room where Mrs. Herbert made scarves and stuff.
Sighing, I walked out into the hallway to see who else was hanging around. I saw Francis, the oldest of the Herberts. “Hi,” I smiled.
“Hi,” he waved as he passed by with his sleeping bag, most likely going to the barn. Also coming down the hall were the twins Kristen and Monica, who were twelve. They were toting with them some flashlights and a book of scary stories. Turning at the end of the hall, I still couldn’t find any of the Hansons, although I did encounter three more Herberts: Carl, Jamie, and Louis.
I returned to my empty assigned bedroom feeling discouraged. Technically, no one had invited me to go down to the barn, and so I wasn’t really sure I should go. But then I figured that it was a general thing, and that they were all there waiting for me or something. I found my way outside, and followed laughing voices until I was at the barn.
“Hi guys,” I smiled to a group of them who were gathered by the pig pen.
“Look, Tay,” Heidi smiled, pointing to the little pink piglets.
“They’re so cute!” I exclaimed, joining her by the fence.
“What took you so long?” Tay came up behind me and slid his arms around my waist.
“Hi,” I smiled.
“We’re all gonna sleep in the hayloft tonight,” he said, pressing his cheek against mine.
“All?”
“All us kids.”
“Just us kids?” I smirked.
He laughed, moving to stand in between Heidi and me, simply shaking his head. The last of the kids gathered outside, and then we all climbed up into the freshly lain hay of the hayloft. The barn was pretty big, but since there were six Hanson kids (Zoe was sleeping inside), nine Herberts, and Heidi and I, it was kind of close quarters. Kristen and Monica whipped out their book of scary stories and told a bunch of really freaky ones that scared the little kids to pieces. Then, someone had the bright idea to play truth or dare.
I don’t know whose idea it was, but it was a very bad one. There were people there ranging from twenty one (Francis) all the way down to four (Louis). In the beginning, the questions were innocent and silly, like when Monica asked Jamie if he would rather swim in a pool of worms or spiders, and when Jamie dared Carl to eat hay like a donkey. It started to get weirder and weirder as the older girls got their turns. They asked the older boys a couple of puberty questions, and that was just a catastrophe. Heidi and I tried to initiate a game of manhunt or capture the flag or anything else, but that just turned the attention to us.
“Have you ever gotten shot at in New York?” Carl asked.
“No,” Heidi replied.
“Have you ever seen a real hooker?” Billy, the fourteen year old, asked. Ah, prepubescent boys…
“Yea,” I laughed. That generated a lot of whispering and giggling.
“What’s a hooker?” seven year old Jamie wondered.
“Are you guys sure you don’t want to play manhunt?” I asked, not wanting all these kids to be corrupted.
“Why, so you can go make out in the woods?” Carla, who was seventeen, asked through a suspicious glance. Everyone got really quiet and turned to see what my answer would be.
I was taken back, not knowing how to respond, “I just thought maybe this game was getting a little old,” I said, looking at her strangely.
“So because you think it’s old we have to stop playing it?” Avie squinted at me.
“No…” I didn’t know what to say. Carla not liking me was one thing, but what was up with Avie? I looked at Tay, who was sitting next to me. He was glaring at his sister, but she wasn’t looking.
“Okay then, truth or dare?” Carla asked me.
“Truth.”
“Why are you here… in the barn I mean?”
“I was invited…” I really felt like I was going to cry. I never even talked to this girl.
“I don’t recall inviting you up here,” she said.
“I certainly didn’t,” Avie added. “I tried to make her stay in her room.”
I wanted to burst out crying, but instead I simply shrugged and made my way quickly over to the ladder. Before descending, I said quietly, “G’night everyone.”
What the hell? I thought as I made my way back to the house. I felt really stupid because obviously I was ignorant to what I had done to make people mad at me. I cared more about what I did to make Avie mad, since I knew nothing about this Carla girl.
“Robinson,” Tay’s voice was behind me.
“It’s okay, Tay,” I didn’t turn around.
“No, it’s really not,” he put his hand on my shoulder softly and turned me to him, “I should have warned you, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? Warned me about what?”
“Come on,” he led me onto the porch and sat down on the swing. He patted the bench next to him that I might sit down.
“See, Carla’s just a little bit younger than I am, and like… well basically all our lives, our parents have joked around about us like, getting married or something. We’ve never like… done anything… at all… but it’s just kind of like, I don’t know…”
“I understand,” I nodded. “I’m invading her turf or something.”
“She’s jealous,” Tay agreed. “I should have told you about it before.”
“Does she know for a fact that we’re together?”
“Yea.”
“But how? I thought we weren’t going to tell anyone…”
“Avie,” he shook his head.
“Avie?”
“That’s a really long story… I really didn’t want to have to tell you, because I knew it would hurt your feelings. I wanted us to have a good time here-“
“Taylor,” I interrupted him, asking him with my eyes to just spit it out already.
“Well, Avie… she kind of…”
“Hates me,” I finished for him, getting up off the swing.
“She doesn’t hate you,” he followed me, “She’s jealous, too.”
“Of what?”
“Well, in our family it always used to be like we would pair off… Y'know, the older kids would take care of the younger ones... Ike used to take care of Jessie, and Zac and Mackie kind of got grouped together…”
“Damn, I’m such a bitch,” I shook my head and descended the porch stairs, walking down the dirt path.
“No you’re not,” Tay followed me.
“Whenever you come home, we spend like every single second together… That’s really bitchy of me…”
“Robinson, when I come home, I want to spend every single second together,” he assured me.
“But I would be pissed if I was Avie… I need to talk to her.”
“That doesn’t excuse her behavior, though,” he replied.
“I really can’t believe I was ignorant to this… I’m such a bitch!”
“Stop saying that. Avie needs to know that she won’t always have all of my attention. I thought she learned that when we were recording and stuff like that, but-“
“This is all me, though. If I hadn’t been there, you’d have time to hang out with her. Tomorrow I will talk to her about it,” I yawned, “Anyway, I can’t go back to the barn…”
“Aw, please?”
“No, really, Tay. They don’t want me there. I’ll go back up to the room.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No, you go back.”
“Robinson-“
“How would it look with you sleeping in the same room with me anyway? Please, just go back and chill with them. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, looking at me sadly.
My response was only a long kiss, after which I walked quietly into the house. Creeping up to my room, I tried to remain absolutely quiet. These new developments were quite unsettling. I felt yucky and abused, but also guilty for stepping all over people’s “stuff.”
