Taylor
"Britt, watch this!" Taylor exclaimed, doing a spin on his rollerblades, "Sweet, huh?"
Britt groaned and rolled her eyes, stretching her pretty mouth into a yawn.
"Tay, can't we do something fun for a change?"
Taylor cocked his head and looked at her quizzically. He thought that blading had been a ton of fun, but obviously, Britt did not.
She looked extremely bored. Her green eyes were sleepy and her mouth had dipped into a pout. She was laying on the lawn behind the Hanson house with her legs stretched out infront of her. She was picking carelessly at a string on her green shirt. Taylor sighed and sat down beside her.
"Fine, Britty. What do you want to do? Cause, you know, blading was getting kinda boring," he lied.
Britt grinned her award winning smile and kissed Taylor on the cheek.
"I'm so glad you think so. You've just gotten home from your stupid tour and I missed you."
Taylor opened his mouth to say that their tour wasn't stupid, but changed his mind and closed it. Protesting was useless with Britt. Because, where did it get you? Nowhere. He sighed again.
Zac
"Ha! In your face! Zac, you suck!"
Zac crinkled his forehead and eyed Cassandra Wilkins, who was in her glory.
"I'm outta practice! You'd get bad too if you spent all summer touring!"
"True, Zac. But, I don't even own a Nintendo 64. Face it! You just aren't very good. I should bring this to the press! Imagine the headlines! "Cassandra Wilkins beats Zachary Hanson At His Own Game!" Or how about "Zac Hanson's Fans Drop Like Flies Because He SUCKS At Nintendo!"" Cassie erupted into giggles.
Zac pouted. Beating Cassie at Nintendo was his pride and joy. And she just kept getting better! Ugh. He was disgusted.
"My gun wouldn't come up," he pouted.
"Sure."
"C'mon. Let's play again."
Ten minutes later, the score was 9-1, for Cassie. Zac had given a different excuse (I was outta ammo, I didn't see you, I hit the wrong button, my finger slipped, etc, etc, etc) everytime he'd died. Suddenly, he jumped up and flicked the Nintendo off.
"Cassie, let's do something else."
Cassie smiled sweetly.
"What's the matter, Zac? Tired of losing?"
Isaac
"Dark clouds all around. Lightning, rain pouring down," Isaac sang, rocking to the music and scanning the crowd.
The benefit concert was almost over. After the final song, MMMBop, they would be gone. In Ike's opinion, the turn out had been good and social services would benefit.
Where's the Love ended and MMMBop began.
"Mom! I'll get it!" Ike exclaimed.
Mrs Hanson didn't like that idea.
"No, Isaac. I'll just send for it."
"Yeah, Ike. It'll be faster that way," Taylor piped up.
Fed up, Ike grabbed a hat and plopped it on his head.
"Guys, I'll just run and get the baby bag. I'll be back in a minute. Almost everyone's gone, so I won't get mobbed. One minute!"
Mrs Hanson gave in and Ike walked away. Why he wanted to go all the way back to backstage was beyond him. But, oh well!
There were still a few fans left, and he talked to some of them. So it was actually 20 minutes before he started to make his way back to the van.
Shaking his head, Isaac pondered over security. He had left his backstage pass in the van and it had taken him 5 minutes to convince the guard that, yes, he was Isaac Hanson, and, yes, he had a valid reason to be back there. He shook his head again. They should really hire-
Crying interrupted him.
Isaac turned his head toward the sound and saw a woman pushing a stroller made for twins. One of them was screaming its lungs out. Ike smiled. He knew why the baby was crying. Its soother was laying on the ground, and the woman pushing the stroller didn't seem to notice.
"Excuse me!" he cried, picking up the soother.
The woman stopped and turned around.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, "You found Sydney's soother!"
She took the soother and tucked it in the baby bag that was dangling from the handle on the stroller. Naturally, this didn't stop the baby from crying. Giving Ike a tiny, tired smile, she scooped Sydney into her arms. The other baby didn't like the attention its sister was getting, and cried even louder than Sydney.
Isaac placed Zoe's baby bag down and decided to help this poor babysitter out. He took the other baby and bobbed it up and down.
"His name is Samuel," the woman, or girl, since she looked Ike's age, said over the cries, "Call him Sam."
"Okay. Do you have a name? I'm Isaac."
"I know! I saw your show. I'm Shae."
After Sam and Sydney had quieted down, Shae shook her head and said, "I should get paid for this."
Ike raised an eyebrow.
"You should get paid to babysit them," he told her.
"Babysit?" she laughed, "Oh no! You've misunderstood the situation."
Isaac was baffled. Surely? No, it couldn't be.
"You're not babysitting them?"
Shae smiled sadly.
"No. They're mine. That show you put on that benefits welfare'll benefit us. Thanks."
Isaac muttered that she was welcome and hurried back to the van.
"One minute, eh?" Mrs Hanson asked.
Taylor
"No! She is her own person! It isn't wrong."
Britt snorted.
"Becca, she is only Ike's age."
Taylor shook his head and stood up. He had had enough of Britt and Becca's debate. It was all Ike's fault, really. He just had to bring up why he had been late coming to the van yesterday, which had launched this lengthy debate between Britt and Taylor's best friend's girlfriend, Becca. Taylor's best friend, Josh, had almost fallen asleep, and Taylor was not far behind.
"C'mon, Josh. Let's get a pop."
Josh leaped up and followed Taylor to the kitchen, where Zac was reading a magazine.
"Sheesh," Zac exclaimed, "What the heck are they arguing about?"
"Having kids before marriage."
Zac yawned an exaggerated yawn, and Taylor joined in.
Zac
Zac trailed behind Taylor and Isaac and picked up his pace. He didn't like this part of Tulsa. It wasn't one of his favorite places at all. It wasn't like his part of Tulsa. This place was relatively safe, but it was poorer. Not poor, poor. Just not as........luxurious.
"Ike, Tay, slow down," Zac complained, speeding up, yet again. He was practically running.
"Just walk faster," Taylor ordered.
Zac made a face at Taylor's back. It was his brillant idea to cut through this neighborhood.
"Whoa guys! Stop!" Ike ordered.
Taylor stopped and slammed into Ike. Zac chuckled at them.
"It's her!"
Zac followed Ike's gaze to a girl who was balancing groceries and two babies, and trying to open an apartment building door.
"Guys, I'm going to help her."
Zac glanced in Taylor's direction. Taylor raised an eyebrow and whispered, "He wants to play hero." Zac nodded, and the two brothers hurried to catch up to Ike.
Isaac
"Shae!" he called.
Shae turned around and smiled.
"Hi, Isaac. They your brothers?"
"Yup. Need help?"
Shae blushed, but nodded. She handed Ike some groceries, and handed Sydney to Taylor and Sam to Zac. Now, only holding half of the groceries, she opened the door and held it. Then, she ran ahead to open the door to her apartment and held it again.
"Home," she said, putting the groceries on the floor and motioning for Ike to do the same. She took Sam and Sydney from Tay and Zac, plopped them on the couch, flicked on the TV and left the room.
Ike, Taylor, and Zac exchanged awkward glances.
The apartment was very, very small. The TV room had four doors. One led to a bathroom, the kitchen (which was practically box sized), Shae's bedroom, and a bedroom the twins shared.
The living room had a couch and a TV. In the space between those, there was a skinny, narrow coffee table. The carpet was pale blue. With the three of them in the room, there was hardly room to breathe.
Glancing at his brothers, Taylor sat on the couch beside Sam and Sydney and began to have a conversation with them. Isaac laughed at Taylor, who was babbling his life story and getting a bunch of baby talk back, but sat down by Sam and did the same thing. Zac crouched on the floor and began to play peek-a-boo.
Shae came back in and laughed. Her brown, ringlety hair was in a low ponytail and was held in place with a blue scrunchie. She was wearing a baggy, light blue sweater, and white flares.
"Thanks for helping," Shae said, a smile in her voice.
"Welcome," Taylor replied.
"Sure," Zac muttered.
"No problem," Ike told her.
"Want something to drink?"
Taylor and Zac nodded, but Isaac replied, "No thanks, Shae. We have homework and stuff to do."
"Oh. Well, see you."
Taylor
"Then what happened?" Britt asked, cocking her head.
Taylor, who was enjoying this, gave Britt a wicked stare and laughed evily. He continued his tale of horror in a low, cold voice.
Telling ghost stories was a favorite past time of Taylor's. When they were younger, he used to scare the living daylights out of Zac at night. Isaac had helped with sound effects. Taylor had to smile, remembering the look on Zac's face. For the sake of his present story, Taylor was able to turn it into a sinister grin.
He leaned against the wall of the attic and adjusted the flashlight. He had wanted a candle, but couldn't find one, so settled on second best.
"What happened?" Britt asked again.
"Nothing. But after that, when somebody walked through there at midnight, something would grab their shoulders and pull them into an eternal darkness."
Taylor flicked off the flashlight and began to breath heavily, kicking a box behind Britt, to give the impression that something was there.
"Tay?" she squeaked, fear creeping into her voice.
Taylor reached forward and grabbed her shoulders.
"Come into the eternal darkess, Brittany."
And she screamed. Laughing hysterically, Taylor flicked the light back on.
Zac
"Zac, you missed a cool party. Cassie's birthday."
Zac smiled at Jared.
"Touring was cool, too."
"I bet it was. But you still missed her birthday."
"I phoned," Zac muttered.
Jared laughed and shot Zac a strange look. Suddenly, he stopped laughing and looked like he knew the best secret in the world.
"What?" Zac asked his friend.
"Oh, nothing you'd care about."
Zac frowned. He knew that Jared wanted him to get annoyed, and that by being annoyed, Jared would be happy, but heck! This was annoying!
"Cut the crud, Jared! Spill your beans."
"Oh fine. Jenna said that Stephanie asked about you."
"Stephanie?" Zac gasped.
"Uh huh."
Zac was almost beaming. Almost.
"Jenna gossips. Did you hear?"
"Zac, do you really think I do nothing but catch up on who asked who about who? I'm insulted."
"So, she asked about me," Zac smiled and Jared laughed.
"You're pretty lucky, man."
Zac glowed again.
Taylor
"I had you there, Britty."
"No you didn't. I was just playing along."
Taylor snorted and leaned against the wall. Britt flicked her hair, and tried in vain to regain some pride.
"Want to see a movie on Friday?" Taylor asked, taking her hand.
"I can't. Going to a party."
"A party?"
"Yeah. Mostly girls, though."
"Mostly?"
"Oh, don't worry! Invitations went out when you guys were gone."
"Well, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I came."
"Taylor, you can't come! What'll you do instead?"
"Go to the mall with some of my friends," Taylor said, after a moments hestation.
"Girls or guys?"
"Maybe some of both," Taylor told her, even though he'd probably go with Josh and Becca. But, even though Becca was Josh's girlfriend, she was still a girl, and Britt didn't have to know who.
"Is that so?" Britt said, sounding annoyed, "Well, at least you won't be alone."
Taylor snickered.
What'd you think? Please let me know!