That night, Isaac, Taylor, and Zac were in their room just hanging out and talking. "Isn't it weird how Celine and Delia have lived down the street from us practically all of our lives and we've never gotten to know them? They seem pretty cool, but Delia seems a litle moody sometimes," Taylor commented.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't think she likes us very much. I mean, she just ran away from us in McDonald's today," Isaac agreed.
"She seemed kind of suspicious, if you ask me," Tay stated. "It's weird to think of Celine and Delia as best friends. They're so different." He then seemed to notice that Zac wasn't doing much talking, which was quite unusual. "Zac, you're being awfully quiet. Is something wrong?"
Zac cleared his throat loudly and inquired, "Can you guys keep a secret?"
Tay nodded. Ike sarcastically replied, "No, Zac, we're going to tell all of our fans your deep, dark secret."
"I…uh…IkindalikeCeline," he stammered quickly, blushing like mad.
Zac's two older brothers contemplated this for a moment, then Tay spoke up.
"Are you sure, Zac? I mean, we just met her yesterday." He was thinking 'Oh, great. This is just great. My little brother has the same crush as me.'
"Well, from what I know about her, she seems really cool. And she's pretty, too," Zac stated. "I'd like to get to know her better…maybe even ask her out." His last words were barely a whisper, not meant for anyone to hear, but Taylor picked it up. He looked at Ike through a raised eyebrow, but Ike didn't show any signs of hearing anything unusual.
"Huh, what'd you say?" Isaac asked, sensing he was missing out on something.
"Nevermind," Zac mumbled, looking down at his feet. Suddenly, he looked up, a perky expression on his face. "Hey, have you guys read any John Steinbeck books lately?" (AN: Don't ask me where that came from. It just seems like a Zac-like thing to say. Plus, I was staring at The Pearl by John Steinbeck while I was writing it. So far I've read the Red Pony and am in the process of reading The Pearl. Pretty interesting author, if you ask me.)
"What?" Ike looked at him blankly. Zac chuckled gleefully and bounced out of the room, leaving his two older brothers standing there, dumbfounded.
"He is one crazy little thing," Ike muttered, shaking his head in amusement.
* * *
Celine was debating whether or not she should call Delia. She decided that she should; there was nothing to lose, really, their friendship was already half-way down the drain. She slowly, yet confidently, punched in the 10-digit number and waited patiently for an answer. Nadia picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"
"Hi, Natty, this is Lina. Is Delia there?" Celine asked.
"Yeah, hang," Nadia said, and shouted her older sister's name continuously until she shouted back. A couple seconds later, Delia picked up on the extension in her room. "Hello?"
"Hi, Del? It's Celine. Why did you lie to me and run off like that?" Celine inquired, a little hurt.
"Well, you guys seemed to be getting along just fine without me," Delia responded, rather coolly.
"Look, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to leave you out, and I'm sure the Hanson's didn't either. Del, I really don't want to fight over this," Lina pleaded.
Delia sighed, showing signs of surrender. "You're right, Lina. I did blow this way out of proportion. I guess I just miss Mike, and that's why I've been so testy lately."
"I understand," Celine sympathized.
"Speaking of boyfriends, who do you like?" Delia wondered. "And don't give me that crap about 'Oh, I don't know'.
"Well, come to think of it, Taylor is kind of cute…" Celine trailed off.
"Celine?!! He's like, two years older than us!" Del exclaimed incredulously. "Plus, you've only known him for what, two days??!"
"Yeah, but it's sure nice to hope," Celine said. She glanced at her watch and cursed silently. "Del? I gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
"K," Delia replied, hanging up the phone.
Chapter 6
