They were all now standing in the parking lot as Taylor and Janelle unloaded the groceries and stuffed them into the car trunk. Isaac was whispering something to Melanie as Zac, Ethan, and Casey piled into the backseat of the car. "Hey Jan, I hafta give ya something later one," Taylor said as she handed him a paper bag full of, ahem, tomatoes. "What is it?" Janelle asked curiously. Taylor smiled at her, "Just a little souvenir from France." Janelle nodded her head knowingly and smiled, "Oh yeah, of course." Just then Melanie waved goodbye to them all and walked away as Isaac started the car. Janelle handed Taylor the last bag, and he slammed the trunk cover shut. He climbed into the car and grinned as Janelle sat down on his lap. They heard Ethan giggled from behind, "Oh boy, here we go again." Janelle turned to her younger brother, "Shut up Ethan." Taylor quietly laughed to himself as Janelle turned back around and faced front. Her hair softly brushed against his cheek and he said, "Your hair smells good." He heard Zac speak up from the back, "Better than you do pal." He turned around to face his younger brother, "Shut up Zac." Isaac was sped out of the parking lot as everybody leapt forth. Zac smacked his head, "Crap, he's doing it again." "Doing what?" Janelle asked from the front. "Driving like a crazy maniac," Taylor replied. "I do not drive like a crazy maniac, I just kinda, well, I like to get the car moving." "Don't worry Ike, when Brenden drives, it's like driving Miss. Daisy." Everyone laughed and Ethan spoke up, "You got that right Jan." Just then Taylor asked everyone, "Hey, ya guys, you still wanna head on over to the park and play a game of soccer?" "Yeah!" Zac and Ethan exclaimed from the backseat. Janelle turned around and saw Casey looking out the window, "What about you Casey? Sound good to you?" Casey tore her eyes from the window and looked at Janelle, "Yeah, sure," then she went back to looking out the window again. Janelle looked worriedly at her then turned to face front again. Something was bugging her cousin, and she intended on finding out.
"What's wrong Jan?" Tay asked as they strolled along to the soccer field. They were at Glendale Park, where they had filmed the 'MMMBop' VDO a couple of weeks ago, and Ethan, Isaac, and Zac were dribbling the ball back and forth to each other. Casey, on the other hand, was walking behind them. Janelle pulled Taylor's cap off his head and stuck on her own head, and replied, "It's Casey." She squinted her eyes against the glaring sun and watched her cousin's forlorn silhouette walk towards towards the field. "This morning, I accidentally spotted one of her entries in her diary." "Tsk tsk, snooping Jan?" Taylor waved a finger in her face. Janelle smiled, "No, but anyway, she had written all this stuff about being a loner over in Chicago and not having any friends." Taylor looked at Casey then back at Janelle, "Well, what do you think?" Janelle took off Taylor's hat and set it back on his head, "I dunno, I admit she's kind of a brat sometimes, but still, maybe she acts like that because she tries so hard to fit in. Sometimes she seems to cover up her sadness by acting annoying and hyper." Taylor kicked at a rock and answered, "That's one thing I like about being home-schooled. You don't hafta worry about all that peer-pressure crap." Janelle nodded, "Yeah, I know what you mean," she smiled at him. She decided to think about that later, she grabbed Taylor's cap and started running across the field, "Come get it if you want it!" Taylor started running after her laughing.
All six of them stood in the center of the soccer field trying to arrange teams. Casey insisted on being on the same team as Zac, so Janelle, Casey, and Zac all formed together their own team, while Ethan, Isaac, and Taylor formed another. Ethan called over, "Hey! We're gonna beat your crummy little butts!!" Zac yelled back, "As long as I'm playing, you don't stand a chance!" Janelle faced Taylor in the center of the field and grinned at him, "Looks like it's you against me pal." Taylor grinned back and grabbed his cap off her head, "Oooh, she's getting all tough." "C'mon, start the game already!" Zac called from the other side of the field. Tay licked his lips and stole the ball from Janelle. Janelle ran after him and cleanly swiped the ball from under his nose and passed it to Zac, "Go Zac!" Janelle called. Zac was easily dribbling the ball as Casey cheered him on, "Go Zac! Yeah Zac!" Zac came tumbling towards Isaac, "Uh-oh crap, it's Godzilla himself." Ike high kicked the ball away from Zac and back to Taylor. Taylor caught it cleanly between his feet, and started heading over towards Casey, who was serving as Goalie. Casey started screeching, "Quick! Help! He's coming with the ball!!" Zac and Janelle raced and tackled Taylor from behind. They all fell over laughing. Zac grabbed the ball and brought it back to the center of the field as Taylor and Janelle stayed down on the ground laughing. "Ow, you have a sharp elbow Tay," Janelle moaned. Taylor sat up, "You tackle hard. You ever think 'bout trying out American Football?" Janelle sat up and laughed, "Yeah right, me and Joe Montana could get together sometime." Taylor had little bits of grass sticking out of his hair and she picked out a couple of blades and he took her hand and helped her up. She looked down at her white shorts, "Crap, I've got grass stains all over my butt." Taylor laughed, "Don't worry, I'm not laughing." She playfully punched him in the shoulder, "Are too." Zac stood in the center of the field rolling his eyes, "C'mon already! This is annoying, you guys keep on getting all mushy!" Janelle and Taylor just laughed and joined Zac in the center of the field to finish up the rest of the game.
After an exhausting game of soccer, which Ethan, Isaac, and Taylor had won, they were all starving. Seeing a hot dog vendor pass by, Isaac, Casey, Zac, and Ethan went to buy a couple of hot dogs while Taylor and Janelle waited for them on the bleachers. Janelle was lying down with her head resting on Taylor's lap as he sang silly little songs, that he said he had composed just for her. He had sung a little song called 'Janelle and the Tomato,' causing her to laugh out loud. But, he got serious and said, "Here, I made up this other one just for you," He started singing out with his soft and soulful voice, "Have you ever seen the stars light up so bright? Like the way Jan's eyes do, on dark and starry nights. Have you ever heard bells ring out so loud and clear? Like the way Janelle's laugh sounds, whenever she's near. Have you ever felt warmth so tender and so sweet? Like the way I feel whenever we meet. Have you ever felt love so real and so true? All I have to say in return is, I love you." Janelle lay, breathless, with her eyes closed as silence enveloped them. She was left totally speechless and sat up and faced him. "That was so beautiful Tay," she said softly. He looked down and blushed, "It's nothing much," he looked back up and said softly, "Glad you like it though." Janelle tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear and replied, "I love you too, Taylor." She rested her head on his shoulder as he gently wrapped his arms around her. The trees around them started rustling as a gusty wind came blowing in. Taylor spotted Isaac, Ethan, Casey, and Zac in the distance, carrying a bunch of hot dogs as strong gusts of wind came whipping in, and Taylor handed his jacket over to Janelle. It was the same flannel jacket that he had lent her last time. She shivered and put it on as he lead her down the bleachers. They approached the rest of the guys along the way and Ike called over the loud wind, "I think we'd better head on back now! Looks like a big storm's headed our way!" Taylor grabbed the hot dogs from Ethan and Casey and took Janelle's hand, "C'mon, let's head on back."
Once in the car, Isaac turned the heater way up and started rubbing his hands next to the vents. "Hey, you planning on sharing some of that heat pal?" Zac asked. Isaac grinned, "Sorry, here" he turned the vents over to the back and towards Janelle and Taylor who were sitting squished in the front seat. Taylor whispered into Janelle's ear," Snuggling up with you keeps me warm." Rain was really beginning to pour down and Ike could barely even see through the windshield. The wipers were moving back and forth like crazy, and fog was creeping up the sides of their windows. Ike cursed under his breath and said, "'Kay ya guys, you're gonna hafta help me out. Tell me if I'm about to crash into anything." Zac rolled his eyes, "Hello? Ike? Last time you nearly rammed into a bright yellow trash can that was sitting clearly in front of you, bright as day!" "Don't start Zac, I'm not in the mood right now," Isaac replied muttering under his breath. Just then, a huge truck quadruple the size of the Hanson car, nearly rammed into their car as Ike swerved to the side of the road. Casey started shrieking in the backseat, "Oh no! We're all gonna die! I don't wanna die!" "Shut up Casey, no one's gonna die," Zac rest assured her. Isaac cursed once more and stared through the windshield$B)(Jhis face a mere 2 inches away from it. "Shit, shit, shit," he muttered under his breath. He ran his hand through his hair and gripped the wheel and slowly crept along, "Once we get into the backroads, we'll be fine. Just hafta get off the main road, there could be crazy drivers out there." Everyone was silent as Isaac slowly drove the group back to the Hanson's house. Janelle noticed that once he had turned off the main road, he had slowed down his speed to a mere 5 miles per hour. Zac seemed to have noticed this too and he spoke up, "You know, one time I was watching the discovery channel, and I learned that elephants walk at the exact same speed that Ike's driving us." "SHUT UP ZAC!!" Ike hollered from behind the wheel. Zac lowered his head and said in a small voice, "Sorry Ike." He drove past Tulsa high$B)(Jno, he drove slowly past Tulsa high. Janelle could barely make out the large building that was usually so evidently visible from almost a hundred yards away. Just then, they all felt a small thud from the front of the car. Immediately, Casey started screaming, "It's the abominable snowman! It's him!" Ethan furrowed his brow, "Casey, it's raining, not snowing, and I can't believe you still believe in the Abominable." Just then Taylor started laughing, "It must the Schatzsky's mailbox$B)(Jthe cow shaped one." Janelle laughed, "Oh yeah, that one." Casey started shrieking again, "Agh! The abominable cow! Ohmigosh, now I remember that there're lotsa cows in Oklahoma!" Everyone started laughing and Janelle turned around, "No Casey, the mailbox, it's shaped like a cow$B)(Jnot an abominable cow." Casey leaned back in her seat and started calming down when Ike said, "'Kay, we're almost home now." He edged past the swaying trees and turned into the Hanson driveway. Janelle couldn't even see the Hanson's house, much less the driveway. She had no idea how Ike managed to figure out which house was which. She figured it must have been 'Ike-radar.' He turned off the engine as raindrops pattered on the car's roof. Ike turned around, "Hey, do we have an umbrella in here?" "No," Ethan, Casey, and Zac all answered simultaneously. Ike sighed and he turned back to look at Taylor and Janelle. "That's okay, we'll just run between the drops, "Janelle said. Zac laughed and Taylor added, "Kay, here's what we'll do. On the count of three, everyone run out and up the front lawn, and up the front porch, kay?" "'kay," Everyone answered. Taylor grinned at Janelle, "'kay, one$B)(Jtwo$B)(Jthree, go!!" He and Janelle scrambled out of the car, slamming the door behind them, up the front walk, and onto the porch. They were laughing and Tay said, "Whoo, it really is raining hard, I couldn't even see the porch." Janelle was trying to wring out all the water from Taylor's jacket when she noticed that the others were nowhere in sight. "Hey, what about the others?" she asked.
Isaac sat in the driver's seat looking at the three kids in the backseat, "You guys chicken out?" "We didn't chicken out, you did, we were waiting for you go to first, then we were gonna follow!" Ike replied, "I was waiting for you guys to get out first then I was gonna follow." Ethan rolled his eyes, "Yeah right, whatever." Ike grinned at them and said, "Kay this time's for real, one$B)(Jtwo$B)(Jthree, go!!" He scrambled out of the car and into the pouring rain. He saw Casey climb out of the car and he helped her slam the door shut. She slipped on the driveway and he picked her up and ran behind Ethan and Zac who were already heading up the front walk. They joined the rest of the guys up on the front porch, and headed on inside. Ike flipped on the hall light and nothing happened. "Great, no electricity," Taylor moaned. Everyone looked at each other$B)(Jlooked like they were gonna be stuck there for awhile$B)(J
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