Isaac, Taylor, and Jessica sat down and had a long talk. They all wanted to give another try to the music biz. They were set to make another album, on Mercury's label, on June 5th.
Baby Zac was almost a year old. Jessica was spending much of her time with the little boy. Especially since she was grounded and this was one of the only things she could do.
Avery was making new friends at a new youth group she was going to. She was starting to like guys, and a certain one caught her eye. His name was Berkley.
**Author's Note: :::cough cough::: RAYCHEL!!!***
She started to love the youth group. It was held at a church about ten minutes away from her house. They played games, and very often, Berkley would ask Avery to be her partner in games. She was a little confused as to whether he liked her or not. She wanted to ask Jessica about it, but she felt embarrassed. What should she say?
"Jess, can I ask you something?" Avery asked, walking into Jessica's room. She found her older sister lying on her bed, almost falling asleep, holding her stomach. "Jess, what's wrong?" Avery asked, a little owrried.
Jessica sat up. "Oh, I just have cramps."
Avery felt very immature. She didn't exactly know how it felt to have cramps.
"Anyway, what's up?" Jessica asked her.
Avery sat down on Jessica's bed. "Well, you know how I got to youth group..?"
"I know what you wanted! You want to know about that boy you always partner up with!" Jessica exclaimed triumphantly.
Avery's eyes widened. "How..how'd you know about Berkley?"
Jessica nodded. "Yeah, that's it. Berkley. Liz goes to that youth group, since it's for middle schoolers and she's in 8th grade. And she said you two are looking pretty close." Liz, or Elizabeth, was one of Jessica's friends. She was about a year and a half older than Liz.
Avery blushed. "Yeah, I guess. We're always partners for games and stuff. But I don't know if he really likes me or not. I mean, he's an 8th grader, and I'm in 7th. Do you think...?"
"Listen," Jessica interrupted, "How about you take me to the youth group as your guest or whatever and I'll talk to him or whatever?"
Avery shook her head. "No! Don't ask him. What if he doesn't like me? I still wanna be his friend."
"Well, you'll never know if I don't ask him. I'll just say that I picked up some vibes from him and stuff. Okay?"
Avery thought for a moment. What harm could it do? "Okay."
Jessica smiled. "Fine. Youth group is next Wednesday, and today is Friday. So that gives you some time to plan what you want to wear or whatever."
Avery stood up, thinking of the white shorts and army tank top she had. "Yeah, ok." she said, walking out of the room.
"Raych, it looks fine. The dresses are gorgeous." Laura reassured her, walking into the kitchen. You could see into the kitchen because there was an opening above the sink, so Laura continued talking. "You're having prewedding jitters. I had them too."
Caitlin held up one of the dresses. "They're really pretty. It's gonna be fun when we wear them."
Alexis nodded. Caitlin, Laura, and her were the bridesmaids. Raychel didn't want to have to choose a maid-of-honor, so she decided not to have one.
Raychel smiled nervously. "One week. I can't believe it. One week 'till I'm Mrs. Taylor Hanson. Do you know how many girls have dremaed of that being them? And it's me!"
Alexis laughed. "I know how you feel. I'm also Mrs. Hanson. We're going to be sisters-in-law, well, yeah, I guess."
Raychel nodded. She looked over to the end table and saw a picture of her, Taylor, Alexis, Isaac, Cailtin, Cait's boyfriend, Laura, Laura's husband, Debbie, and Jessica. They were all at Mayfest. Where Hanson had bascially started. It was taken three months before. Since then, Cait had broken up with her boyfriend, and Debbie had moved to California.
Raychel sighed. "I can't believe...it's so weird."
Alexis looked at her watch. "Oh, I have to go meet Isaac. We're going out to dinner tonight, and we need to pick up the babysitter." she picked up her purse that lay on the floor. "Call me later, 'k?" she asked, hurrying to the door.
Raychel nodded. "Bye"
Laura and Caitlin also said their goodbyes and soon Alexis was gone.
"So, do you know who's coming?" Caitlin asked.
"Of course." Raychel said. She went over to her desk and picked up a guestlist. There was 150 people on it.
"Whoa!" Caitlin said when she saw the list. "That's a lot of people!"
"Yeah, well, Tay knows lots of people." Raychel shrugged.
Laura scanned the names. "Chris Sabec. Wasn't that their old manager?"
Raychel nodded. "He and Taylor are pretty good friends."
Laura nodded and looked through the list a little more. "Kate Winslet? Whoa! Leo DiCaprio, Nick Carter...didn't Hanson and the Backstreet Boys have a rivalry thing goin' on?"
Raychel shook her head. "Nah, Tay said the press just built it up. They met, and supposedly one of them disliked the Hansons and the press just took that and went off."
"Oh" Caitlin joined Laura in looking through the list. "David, Lisa, Marie, Jamie, Lindsey, Brittany, Alex...oh yeah, when are your sisters coming in?" Caitlin had known Raychel's sisters since they were in 5th grade.
"Britt will be coming tonight, and Alex is coming in two days....Sunday night." Raychel told them, looking at the picture of her and her sisters from when they were young. She hadn't seen them in quite a while, and couldn't wait. Alex was bringing her husband, Michael.
The chimes of the clock rang in the girls' ears. Laura looked up. "I didn't know it was four! I have to go! I have a doctor's appointment." She jumped up and grabbed her stuff. "I'll talk to ya later." she said, hurrying out the door. "Bye!"
When she was gone, Raychel suggested pulling out the photo album. Caitlin agreed, knowing she knew most of the people and things that had happened that were recorded im the book.
It started off with Raychel' younger years. Soon they got to the 8th grade, where Caitlin and many of Raychel's old friends were showing up. "Look, there's Gus!" Caitlin said, pointing out Raychel's old crush. Raychel burst out laughing. She had liked some weird people when she was young.
There were pictures of Alex cheering at her homecoming, and Britt when she was doing concerts with her school band. Then there was Raychel as homecoming queen in her high school years. Then there was graduation. Raychel and Caitlin were at a party a friend was having, and they were smiling into the camera. Then Caitlin noticed something about the picture.
"Hey, look at that boy next to you." she said, pointing at the picture.
Raychel squinted and saw a boy with blond, longish hair standing next to her. She remembered who it was. "That's Geoff. What about him?"
"He was so cute. I think he liked me, but I was never sure so I never talked to him." Caitlin told her.br> "Cait, I never knew you liked him!" Raychel exclaimed.
Caitlin blushed. "It wasn't a big thing. He didn't like me, so I never said anything."
"Yes he did! He told me, right before graduation, but I never knew you liked him,so I didn't tell you."
Caitlin started to laugh. "Well, it doesn't matter now. I'll never see him so..."
Raychel tried to hold in a smile. She had kept in touch with Geoff, and he was coming to the wedding. She decided to keep it a surprise. She knew Geoff still liked Cait because when she last talked to him, he asked if Caitlin would be at the wedding. When she had said yes, he had gotten excited.
After about an hour of talking, Raychel announced that she had to get to the airport to pick up Brittany. So Raychel dropped Caitlin home, 2 blocks away, and drove fast to the airport, happy to get to see her sister again.
Taylor nodded like crazy. "Of course. What if something goes wrong? What if the caterers don't show up? What if.."
"Tay, don't worry. Everything will be fine." Isaac assured him. "Nothing went wrong at my wedding. What could happen at yours?"
Taylor smiled as best he could. He felt something was missing, but he didn't know what....
Isaac set down Zac and let him crawl along on the carpet. Taylor's eyes widened. "ZAC!"
Isaac looked at his son quickly, thinking something was wrong. "What happened?!" he asked, picking up the small boy from the floor, looking to see if he was hurt.
"No, not that Zac! Our brother! That's what's missing. Zac isn't here." Taylor said. He looked up. "Zac, are you there?"
Taylor heard a laugh. It was far away at first, but then it sounded like it was from right behind him. He spun around and saw a gap-toothed boy standing there. "Hiya, Tay. Hey Ike, what's up?"
Taylor hugged the boy. "Zac, I'm getting married!" he cried.
Zac rolled his eyes. "Duh! I saw you propose to Raychel."
"So what do you think?" Taylor asked, beaming.
A tight smile appeared on Zac's face. "It's great." he said, without much enthusiasm.
Taylor's smile faded from his face. "Why aren't you happy for me?"
Zac felt his heart thump. It was impossible for him to cry, because angels didn't have tears, but somehow, this one did.
Little did his brother know that next Saturday he would be shot and he would die the following day. And Zac wasn't allowed to tell him. It was part of the rules. He had already broken them by telling Alexis where Jessica had been and talking to Raychel and Taylor, but this was something major. It said in the rules that if he told, he would be banned from ever seeing his family again if he said anything.
Zac started crying. He hadn't cried in years, so it was a strange feeling. Isaac handed baby Zac to Taylor and lead the older Zac to the couch. "Zac, what happened?" he asked gently.
Zac shook his head. "I can't tell you! I won't be able to see any of you ever again if I tell you!"
Isaac hugged his little brother. "Zac, please! Tell us what's wrong!"
Zac wiped his face. "Listen, it's about something that will happen in the future. I can't say a thing about it, but it's horrible!"
Baby Zac, who was sitting in Taylor's lap, began to cry after hearing the older Zac cry.
Taylor handed him to the older Zac, seeing what would happen.
Zac cradled the baby in his arms. After a moment, he looked up at Taylor. "Tay, I need to tell you something." he started quietly.
Taylor leaned forward to hear Zac's quiet words.
"Tell everyone you love that you love them. Make sure they know. Especially Raychel."
Taylor was puzzled. "Wha...what do you mean? Why should I do that?"
Zac stood up, frustrated. The baby in his arms was grasping his thumb tightly. Older Zac watched him for a minute before handing him back to Isaac. He didn't know what to choose. If he couldn't see his family again...that would be horrible. But could he really let his brother die? Could he make his family go through all that grief again?
He would have to think about it. "Guys, I'll be back later. I have to think for a while."
Before his brothers could protest, he disappeared.
