The next week, the Hanson boys were lounging by the pool. So far, Ike and Zac hadn't mentioned anything more about what Taylor had said about them when he was recording. He was hoping they would forget about it and go on with their lives. Their break from the studio was over and Taylor was mad that they had basically wasted it with those stupid girls in the one place where they were trying to get away from; the studio.
"I guess we should get going," Ike said, not moving at all.
"I don't wanna," Zac whined, turning around in his chair.
"You guys are the one's who wasted their breaks with the Detweiler girls," reminded Taylor. "And now we have to work really hard to catch up."
"Well, Taylor," said Isaac. "Since you don't need us anymore because you're so much better than us, you might as well just stay home."
"Shut up, Ike," Taylor said. "You know I didn't mean it."
"Sure, Tay. We know you always thought you were better than us, you just never said anything before. But now we know," said Zac.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I was mad at you guys at the time. Can't you just forget about it?" he pleaded.
"How would you like it if we said that we didn't need you anymore? What if I said that I should go solo because my brothers were slowing everything down?" glared Ike.
"Well, I wouldn't be mad!" Tay said.
"Give it up, Tay. If you think you're so good, why don't you just go and do the whole album yourself? See how good it will sound then," Zac scoffed.
"Fine! Then you go and be backup singers for your little groupie sluts 3-D and see how you like it then!" he yelled at them.
"Maybe we should! Since they'll be making more money than you being a solo artist!" Ike yelled back.
"Oh, so it's all for the money now, is it?" Taylor said angrily. "And the girls!? I see what you've turned into!"
The brothers were still yelling at each other when Walker came outside to see what the problem was.
"What's going on here?" he yelled at them. The guys became silent. Walker hardly ever yelled at them like that.
"You three either work out your problems or we can just forget about this whole record, all your fans waiting for it, the record company, this house and just go home. Is that would you would like?" he asked them sternly.
The three of them shook their heads guiltily. "No," they said.
"Alright then. Let's get going to the studio," Walker said, as he headed to the car.
"Good going, Tay," Ike hissed. "Now you got us all in trouble!"
"But..." he started to say and then dropped it. His brothers were obviously blinded by the fact that 3-D had caused all these problems. He had to get these girls out of their lives.
"This sounds good enough to use, Tay," said Bruce, one of the sound techs at the studio. "When did you come in and work on this?"
"Oh, just one day when I had nothing to do," he replied. Bruce threw his soda away in the trash and something caught his eye.
"Hey, what's this?" he asked Taylor, picking up a copy of the 3-D demo cd. "Cute girls," he said. "But can they sing?"
"Why don't you put it on?" smirked Tay. Bruce popped the cd into the player on the board and the sounds of 3-D filled the room. Tracie's sugary-sweet voice filled the room and Bruce flinched.
"Wow, that's bad," he said, turning it off after a few minutes.
"Try telling that to Ike and Zac," Tay muttered. "They think that they're wonderful." He rolled his eyes.
"Well, I don't think you'll have any compitition from them. They stink," Bruce laughed.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Tay said, glad to have someone on his side for once. "Where did Ike and Zac go?" They were nowhere to be seen. Taylor walked down the hall to the front door. He could see the back of Ike and it looked like Zac was with him. He went outside to see what was going on and to his disappointment, Tracie, Mindie and Sylvie were out there with them.
"Um, what's going on, guys?" Taylor asked them. They all looked up at him and gave him looks of annoyance.
"Well, Taylor," said Ike. "They were just telling us how they got signed to Jive Records yesterday."
"WHAT?! You got signed? Already? But...that's not fair. We were rejected by like 12 companies before we finally got signed! And you just bounce in there with 2 songs under your belt and get a record deal? But you guys st..."
"Yeah, we were really surprised when they called us a couple days ago. They said they got the cd and loved it and that they wanted to see us live," said Tracie. "So they came to the club and saw us and signed us on the spot!"
"Wow, how lucky," Taylor said.
"It wasn't luck, it was talent," Ike smiled at the girls. They just stared at him.
"Yeah, whatever, Ike," Tracie said. "Well, we just wanted to tell you that we won't be needing your help anymore."
"What? You mean, with the recording and stuff, right?" said Ike.
"Yeah, that too," said Mindie. "We probably can't hang around you anymore. It'll be bad press for us."
"What did you just say?" gasped Taylor.
"So, maybe we'll see you around," said Sylvie. They started to walk away.
"So, that's it, huh?" yelled Tay. "You just used my brothers and me to get your demo out so you could get signed. That's all that we mean to you."
Tracie looked back at him. "Whatever Taylor. We never needed you anyway. You guys practically were drooling over us. We didn't have to do anything."
Taylor was furious. So he had been right all along. They were just using them! "You'll never make it," he hissed. "You guys are nothing and you know it."
"No, Taylor. YOU'RE nothing. Nobody even cares about Hanson anymore. All the other groups are taking over and we'll be one of them. As far as we know, Hanson doesn't even exist," said Tracie.
"WHAT?! Haha, that's so funny. I can't wait to see your pathetic group fall apart because you have no talent and you're a bunch of stuck up, fake snobs who will never even make it in the music industry!"
"Okay, Taylor. Say what you want. But we just signed a 6-album contract with one of the major record labels in the industry. Just try to top our album when it comes out!" Tracie scoffed.
Ike and Zac were stunned. "But, we did everything for you! If it wasn't for us, you'd never even had made a demo!" Ike stammered.
"And we let you come along with us to our house and the studio and we payed for stuff and..." Zac said.
"Later, losers," Tracie said as the girls walked away. "Thanks for the help!" They walked away laughing, leaving the Hanson's gaping at them.
Taylor desperatly wanted to say 'I told you so' to his brothers, but he could see they were pretty upset.
"Let's get out of here, guys," Ike spat out as he ran to the car. Zac and Tay followed him and they sped away from the studio.
3-D was not going to mess with Hanson.