"Thanks for the ride, Chris." Jessica smiled brightly as they pulled up into her family's driveway. "Hey, my brother's are home," she noted as she saw the extra vehicles and smirked at her friend's odd look. "It's a rare occasion sometimes."
   Chris smiled back in understanding. "You're welcome for the ride, and I'll see you next week?"
   She nodded, "Definitely. I'm glad Justine talked me into going."
   Getting ready to put her hand on the handle, she shook her head. "Do you think David will do well on his Math test Monday?" She worried her bottom lip at the thought of ten-year-old David Coppolo failing his next test.
   He was thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "I think he will. You were very clever to incorporate the racecar thing into the equations." He rolled his eyes, "His mother will be ever so grateful for that I'm sure."
   She laughed, "Hey. I did not encourage him to become a racecar driver. I just helped him understand some simple techniques using the racecar and it's track."
   He grinned, "Yes. And I'm sure he'll pass his test if he can keep his mind off the track and on the test."
   Beaming at his positive thinking, Jessica grabbed the handle for the handle again when the door swung open on it's own. Looking up, she stared right into the flushed face of her brother.
   "Hey, Zac!" she greeted happily, but faltered when he grabbed her arm and lifted her out of the car. "What's wrong?"
   Ignoring her question, he bent down to look inside at the driver. "You can go now," he ordered before slamming the door.
   She looked at him in a mixture of horror and embarrassment. "What'd you do that for?" she shrieked out, stomping off towards the house. "Oh, you just wait until I tell mom what you just did!"
   "You shouldn't be hanging around guys like that, Jessie," Zac commented gently.
   Jessica turned to stare at him balefully. "What, so you're home for a couple of weeks and now you get to play big brother?"
   He sucked in an injured breath. "That's not fair."
   "Neither is being told who you can be friends with!" she retorted forcefully. "You haven't been around, Zac. I'm grown up now. You can't tell me what to do anymore."
   "He's weird, Jessie!"
   They stomped inside the house. "Then you should be able to relate to him since you wrote a song on that topic!"
   "On the topic? We could have written it about him! Hell, he should have been in the video! Wait." He stopped for a second. "Have you seen the video lately? Maybe he is in it! He's basically the entire concept for the dumb thing!"
   She glared at him, "He's my friend and I like him!"
   "He's a freak!"
   "So are you!"
   "He's too old for you!"
   Her eyes narrowed intently, "Three years isn't so much! Ike's four years older than you! Does that mean you two can't hang out together anymore? That only Mackie can hang out with Zoë now?"
   Zac rolled his eyes toward Taylor who now entered the room to see what the commotion was about. "That's different and you know it."
   Jessica crossed her arms in front of her, "Not so much different."
   His hands flew up into the air, "I never wanted to date Ike!"
   His outrageous statement had its desired effect. She smiled for a split second before scowling again and stalking off. He counted the seconds before her bedroom door slammed shut.
   "It's a good thing you never wanted to date, Ike," Taylor commented, his head bobbing up and down. "A lot of people would have protested that. I know Ike would have. So would I."
   Zac glowered; "She was alone in a car with a kid with blue hair, and who knows how many piercings!"
   Taylor shrugged, "Mom must know him and think he's okay or she wouldn't have allowed Jess to be within fifty feet of him."
   "He's a freak, Tay," he intoned as if everyone was missing this piece of knowledge except him.
   Taylor laughed at that as he headed back into the kitchen. "Aren't we all, dear brother? Aren't we all?"