Zac finished eating his macaroni and cheese at lunch the next day. He ran up stairs to his bathroom and looked in the mirror. He sighed with relief. Whew, the swelling went down he thought with happily. He looked at his watch, which read 11:15.
"Come on!" he yelled down the stairs. "We have to go pick them up now!"
"Okay," said Walker. "Get in the car and I'll be out in a few seconds."
Zac ran outside,tripped down the porch steps and fell flat on his face.
Walker laughed. "Yes, Zac, they have been there your whole life."
Zac grumbled and rubbed his knee. "Ouch, that really hurt. I mean, who falls down the steps like a fricking moron?"
"Obviously the biggest moron in all the land," said Ike, who was outside playing with Wicket. "Zac is the biggest moron EVER!"
"Ha ha, Ike," said Zac. "But I have to get my girlfriend now. You don't even know what a girlfriend is."
"Ha ha, Zac," said Ike. But he couldn't think of a comeback. Zac climbed in his dad's car and soon they were heading to the airport. At around 11:45 they had arrived and were waiting by the terminal.
"Come on, come on," said Zac impatiently. "Where are they?" he asked, trying to see over the heads in front of him. Finally he spotted a girl with long brown hair and another, taller, unsmiling brown-haired girl walking behind her with her nose in the hair.
"Holly! Over here!" said Zac jumping up and down frantically. He noticed that some people were staring at him strangely. "Um, hi my name is Bob." Holly spotted him and started making her way over to where Zac and Walker stood.
"Hi Zac!" she said, giving him a hug. "Hi, Mr.Hanson. Thanks for letting us stay with you," she said to Walker.
"No problem," Walker said smiling. "It's nice to see you again."
"Oh, this is my sister, Carmen," said Holly introducing her. Carmen didn't say anything, she just nodded her head. Holly rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Well, we better get our bags."
They picked up their bags and were soon back in the car going to the Hanson home. Holly and Zac blabbed the whole way home, while Carmen just sat there quietly. Zac gave her a few strange looks and she just glared at him.
"Well, this is your room," said Zac, hauling up their bags to the guest room.
"We have to share a room?" said Carmen with disgust.
"Well, um, yeah," Zac said. "See, we have a lot of people in our family and there isn't much room. Actually, this was a large closet until we made it into a bedroom."
"I'm staying in a closet?" Carmen sniffed. "How elegant."
"Shut up Carmen," said Holly. "It's great, Zac." She glared at Carmen.
"Okaaay, well, I'll just let you guys unpack and stuff," said Zac as he backed out of the room. Yeesh, friendly girl, huh? He went downstairs, where Taylor, Ike and Tamara were watching a movie on T.V. He plopped down in between Tamara and Taylor, and Taylor gave him a look.
"Well, this is going to be interesting," he said to no one in particular.
"Yeah," said Ike. "It's about these guys who go under water and discover this whole hidden city in the water. Can you believe it? I mean, what if..."
"Not the movie, Ike! Moron. I meant Holly's sist..." he stopped short when he heard them coming down the stairs to the family room. "Never mind." Ike looked up when he saw Carmen and Holly enter the room.
"Well, hello!" he said to Carmen. "I'm Isaac and..."
"Not interested," said Carmen as she blew him off. Ike had a confused look on his face and he smelled his armpits.
"Well, it's not these," he said. Carmen gave him a disgusted look.
"Oh, please, I can't take this for a whole week," she said as she sat gingerly in a chair. "Uh, this house is a mess."
"Hey, there are seven kids in this house, okay?" said Zac. "It's kinda hard to keep it clean every single minute of every single day."
"Zac, just ignore her," said Holly. "She's always like this." Zac was very insulted that someone would, well, insult his family and house after they had just met them.
"So, Carmen," said Ike, giving it another shot. "How old are you?"
"Isaac, I would never go out with you, never. If you were the last man on earth and I was the last woman on earth, I still wouldn't do it," said Carmen.
Ike looked at her. "So what's your point, Carmen?"
"Okay!" said Taylor. "I think it's getting a little too hot in here. Let's go outside Tamara."
"But why? I like this movie..."
"Let's just go," he said pointing his head at Carmen.
"Ohhhhh," said Tamara. They left the room. Zac stared after them.
"Um, right. Let's go outside, too. I can show you the treehouse," he said to Holly. She nodded and ran out the room.
"Wait for me!!!" said Isaac. It seemed that everyone was desperate to get away from Carmen.
Zac and Holly climbed into the treehouse while Ike wandered around the yard aimlessly. "Well, I know you said I'd hate Carmen, but gee whiz, what is her problem?"
"Oh brother, she's been like that forever," said Holly.
"Well, she must be a real joy to live with."
"Yeah, fun stuff for the whole family. Hopefully she will leave us alone most of the week. She only came because my parents said I couldn't travel alone after what happened when you were in London."
"Maybe she just needs a lesson or two," said Zac.
"Like what?" asked Holy.
"The Hanson brothers will think of something."