That night, I sat alone in my room. It was still raining, but Mr. M the local weather guy had said that by the morning, the rain would stop. That's a relief. Molly was in the kitchen teaching Diana a recipe she had learned in home ec. I was actually afraid to go down there. Knowing Molly the kitchen was probably a mess. Melanie was with Isaac. What else was knew? They had been spending so much time together and though I'll never admit it to anyone, I'm jealous. Isaac was my friend, not Melanie's. They never used to even look at each other when we were younger, and now who know's what they're doing. "Want company?" Zac asked, as he and Taylor walked in my room. "Sure" I answered "Look what we managed to steal from the kitchen" Taylor said, his eyes glowing with excitement. From behind his back he pulled so many different bars of chocolate that for a second, I thought I was seeing things. Twix, Hershey's. Kit Kat's. M&M's, you name it - he had it. "Where in the world did you get all this stuff?" I asked, giggling. "Your sisters making something with my mom" Zac said opening up a bag of M&M's "I don't know what it is, but I know I'm gonna like it. They've got every kind of candy imaginable down there" ||||| "Maddy, come on ... this way" 10 year old Isaac, grabed my hand, as he followed Taylor through some trees. "Where are we going?" Eight year old Taylor turned around "You'll see" For a few more moments we walked until I heard Taylor's high pitched scream. "What is it?" I asked, unable to see what all the fuss was about. "My candy, they ate it!" Stepping up, past Isaac I saw a big pile of candy, or rather, what was a big pile of candy. It was now torn and eaten by probably raccoons, bugs, etc.. I couldn't help it, the look on Taylor's face was priceless. I burst out laughing. "It's not funny Madlor" Taylor cried "It took me a whole year to get all that candy here, and now look what they've done" "I'm sorry tay" I said through my giggles. From behind me I heard Isaac start to giggle. It was even funnier now, because Taylor was getting steaming mad. "It is NOT funny, you guys!" That just made us laugh more, and eventually, despite his outrage, Taylor started laughing too. ||||| As the night pressed on and Zac had fallen asleep beside me on the floor, me and Taylor took some time to catch up on each others lives. "So after MMMBop came out and everything we were like huge" Taylor continued telling me his story "It was or rather is pretty cool but like right now, how we are I would take this over fame" "Whatdya mean?" I was a bit confused. "Like this. Sitting here with you, being normal. This is how I like it best. I love making music and the fans and everything, but if I had to make a decision I'd choose this" You don't know how great it was to hear those words escape his lips. He hadn't changed, and I know Zac hadn't changed either, now it was time to ask. "What about Ike?" "Ike's a different story" Taylor said, stretching out his legs "Fame, well, fame's done somethin' to him, and I don't think that something is good. I don't know what happened Madison, I mean he used to be my best friend, now I'm lucky if we don't argue for five minutes" "Why do you think that is?" "Too much too soon, Ravi our old guitarist, told me that some people, in this case Ike, can't handle all of this all of a sudden, it goes to their head and stuff. I say Mads, give him time. Let him get back to his normal life, and by the end of this vacation Ike will be Ike again. " I layed my head on his shoulder "I sure do hope so" "So" Taylor said eager to change the subject "Gotta boyfriend?" He made his shoulder bounce two times. "Ouch and no. There was this one boy though, Ethan, my dad knew his dad and I went out with him a couple of times, but he was a jerk" "Well then, he dosen't deserve you." Taylor turned into macho mode "Let me meet this Ethan and he'll be dead" I giggled. ||||| "Hey, don't push my friend!" Taylor came running over to me in the playground. We were both six, and this big seven year old had just pushed me off the swing. "I'll push whoever I want" "Oh no you won't" Taylor shouted "Not my Madlor" "Maybe I should push you too" the bully said back. "You might wanna think twice about that buddy" eight year old Isaac appeared behing Taylor. The bully ran and I was saved. home || next