This is just a clip of Chapter Thirteen in case you don't remember the last little bit of it, since it was important. =) The whole clip is going to be in italics, so you will know where it ends.
Zac
Zac nervously paced the hallway of their hotel room. He could hear his brothers talking. That was it. It was unfair to keep this from them any longer. He had to tell them. He tapped the door, softly.
"Come in."
Zac took a deep breath. That was it. He flung the door open and went in.
"Guys, I, uh, need to tell you something."
Taylor and Ike nodded, and Zac sat down on the bed.
"I, um, I'm really not happy."
"Because of the party?" Ike asked.
Zac ignored him, "I've, er, figured out why. It's not t-totally because of the p-party. I, uh, I want to quit the b-band."
Zac
"You what?!" Taylor almost screamed.
"I, um, I hate this. I miss home. I don't want to do this anymore," Zac told him, trying to keep his voice steady.
"That's the dumbest thing I've heard in my whole life!! You can't quit!!!"
Zac had never seen Taylor so mad in all of his life. He was almost purple. Isaac's eyes were perfect O's.
"Zac, you can't quit! We are in this together!" Isaac chimed.
"Zac, rethink what you just said!" Taylor reasoned, "You're throwing your life away!!"
"I am not! You both said that we could stop this when we wanted! I want to stop!" Zac repeated.
"You're being stupid! You need to think!" Isaac exclaimed.
"I have thought!" Zac protested, "I'm sick of this!!"
"You haven't thought hard enough."
"I have! You told me that this could stop when one of us wanted. I WANT TO STOP!!"
"You can't," Taylor shrugged.
"Yes, I can! You watch me."
"You can't quit unless Ike and I want to."
"And we don't! So, you had better just forget that thought, and never, ever think about this stupid idea again. Because the answer is NO!!"
Zac opened his mouth and shut it. He couldn't believe the unfairness of this.
"You know what?" Zac asked, very cooly, "You're both being selfish."
With that, he left the room for his own, biting his lip so hard to keep from crying, that he tasted blood.
Taylor
"I can't believe him!" Isaac told Taylor.
"I know. He can't just walk out on us."
"For sure! He'll probably sleep it out."
"Knowing Zac? Probably," Taylor agreed.
"Listen, I'm gonna go get something to eat."
"See you, Ike."
Taylor laid back on the bed and tried not to concentrate too hard on Zac. What if he did quit? Well, he couldn't. He'd probably forget this by the morning. But, at the moment, that didn't matter to Taylor. Right now, there was the gnawing fear nagging at his stomach. He felt sick to think that this was what Zac wanted. He sighed, half fearfully, half angrily.
Taylor's poor mind zoomed. He sighed again.
Isaac
Zac avoided direct eye contact the whole way back to the hotel from the Mandel taping. Isaac couldn't understand. Besides telling the fans to be quiet, Zac had been his normal self. Taylor had given him a jab for that comment though. Served him right.
Isaac gave himself a mental shake. When had Zac turned this way? It hadn't passed overnight like he'd thought. Isaac was praying that it would pass tonight. It had to. Sighing, Ike glanced at Zac, who was saying "farting" over and over with an English accent. He was being himself, but Ike didn't miss the death glare shot at him and Tay. Man, Zac was madder than he was showing.
Gawd, he missed Shae.
Zac
He was proud of himself. He hadn't said a word he hadn't had to his brothers. They were not being fair and that was that. Hmph. So there.
But who would understand? Stephanie. She'd understand.
"Mom! I'm phoning Tulsa!"
Without waiting for an answer, Zac ran to the phone, muttering, "Tulsa, Tulsa, Tulsa" under his breath.
After five rings, a woman said, "Hello."
"Hi. Is Stephanie there?" Zac asked.
"Yeah, hold on."
Zac drummed his fingers on the table, and held on.
"Hey!" Stephanie greeted.
Zac could hear her radio blaring in the background.
"Hi Stephie."
"Zac!" He heard her shuffle, and the music quieted, "How was Mandel?"
"Okay. He gave me a Play Station!!"
"Cool! I wonder if I could beat you."
"Was that a hint?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Come over anytime, but you'll be disappointed," he challenged.
Zac dropped his voice, "Stephie, what did Cassie and Jared do day before yesterday?"
Stephanie's voice dropped an octave, and she said, seriously, "Cassie was a mess. I didn't see Jared, but Cassie was really disappointed. She, I mean we, tried to call the hotel to sing "Happy Birthday" but you weren't at the hotel."
"Is Cassie mad?" Zac decided that he couldn't bear that. She was his best friend. He hated when they fought.
"No. She just was sad."
"I hate making people sad."
The melancholy in Zac's voice was apparent to Stephanie.
"But think of all the people you make happy," she pointed out.
Zac sighed, unhappily.
"Stephie, can I tell you something? But, you can't tell anybody, because the media could just totally eat us up, and that would be crap."
"I won't, Zac."
Zac let his story clumsily spill out.
"Zac....." Stephanie's voice trailed.
"Stephanie....."
"If you want to quit, I'm, uh, here for you. But are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Have you told Cassie and Jared?"
"No. So far, I've only told Ike and Tay. Whoa, I sure as hell don't want to repeat that."
"Zac....."
"Stephanie......" he trailed, feeling the corners of his lips tug upwards into a lazy half smile.
"You're smart. You'll do what's right."
"Thanks, Stephanie. You don't know how much that means to me. I miss you."
"I miss you more."
"I miss you most."
"I miss you more than most."
Zac smiled again, but it wasn't filled totally with happiness.
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