“Um, Mom,” Isaac fumbled, pulling his hands to his sides and standing up. “I . . . I was just . . . I, um . . .”

Taylor walked past his mother into the house. He grinned and shook his head slightly. “Well, well,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“Don’t do it, Tay,” Ike warned, turning his attention from Diana. “Don’t even start.”

“What?” Taylor asked innocently. “It’s not like I was going to say -”

He didn’t have a chance to get the words out. Isaac leapt at him and Taylor took off. Tay ran down the hallway and his older brother rushed after him.

Diana sighed and looked at me. “Is your leg any better?” she asked.

I smiled. “Yeah, actually. I twist my ankle at least once a week. It’ll be all healed by the end of the day,” I told her matter-of-factly.

Just then, there was a crash from the back of the house. It was followed by a small groan and another loud noise. Diana sighed again. “Boys,” she muttered, walking into the kitchen.

Evie crossed the room and sat down next to me. “Did you have fun?” I asked her.

She gave me a sly look. “I should ask you the same thing.”

I picked up a throw pillow and swatted her in the arm with it. “You have a one-track mind, you know that?” Evie just grinned. I rolled my eyes.

“I’m gonna play a video game,” Zac announced suddenly. “Anyone want to join me?”

Lynnie smiled. “I will.”

Zac grinned. “Ha! My first victim!” he yelled dramatically, tossing his head back and giving a deep-throated laugh.

I shook my head. “I dunno, Zac. Lynn’s pretty good at those games. I wouldn’t get too cocky if I were you.”

Zac ignored my warning. He was already digging around in a small cabinet in search of a cartridge. Lynnie sat down on the floor in front of the TV and picked up a controller. As Zac started the game system up, Isaac walked back into the living room.

“What’d I miss?” he asked casually, siting on the couch beside me.

“Well,” Evie said slowly, “apparently, there was a fight near the back of the house between two teenaged boys.” She smiled.

“Mom, please?” Taylor asked suddenly, following his mother into the living room.

Diana threw up a careless hand. “Okay, all right, fine, Taylor,” she said. “I’ll make you some brownies. Just stop bothering me about it.”

Tay put his arms around his mom’s neck and gave a little squeeze. “Thanks, Mom. You’re the best.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Diana grumbled sarcastically, smiling as she walked back into the kitchen.

Taylor walked over to the couch and flopped down on Isaac’s lap. “Good afternoon, brother,” he said in an English accent.

Ike gave his brother an odd look before shoving him off of his lap and over onto mine and Evie’s. “You’re crazy,” he said decisively.

Taylor looked up at Evie. “Hello,” he said, smiling.

Evie smiled back at him and twisted a lock of his hair around her finger. “Could I braid your hair?” she asked suddenly.

Tay rolled off the couch and leaned back on his hands. “No way,” he said quickly. Then, seeing the small pout form on Eve’s lips, he added, “Ask Zac. He’ll probably let you.”

Evie considered this for a moment before nodding. She crossed the room and asked, “Zac, can I braid your hair?”

Busy pounding on the controller keys, Zac muttered, “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

Evie grinned and began running her fingers through his hair. “Jaye-Jae, could you get me a brush and a hair tie?” she asked, turning back to me.

I nodded. “Yup, sure can.” I stood up and walked toward the guys’ bedroom. After a minute, I was rummaging through Evie’s suitcase, finding every possible thing except a hair tie and brush.

I finally gave up on Evie’s suitcase just as the telephone rang. I ignored it. Scooting across the bedroom floor, I began searching through my own suitcase.

“A brush,” I said, closing my fingers around the smooth blue plastic of the handle. “Now to find a hair tie . . .” I muttered.

“Jaye-Jae.”

I looked up to see Isaac in the doorway, holding a cordless phone out to me. “It’s your mom,” he said.

“Oh, thanks,” I said, taking the receiver from him. “Hello?”

“Jaye?”

“Yep. Hey, Mom,” I greeted. “How are things going?”

As my mom began to reply, Evie walked past Isaac into the room. “Where’s the brush and hair tie?” she asked. I motioned for her to be quiet, pointing at the phone, and handed the brush to her. Eve took it and rummaged through her suitcase momentarily. Then, triumphantly, she held a small elastic band out toward me.

“Show off,” I muttered, cupping my hand over the receiver.

Evie smiled and positioned herself behind me. She ran the brush through my hair. Since I’d know her, Evie had always had a weird fixation with hair that I had never quite understood. She loved brushing and running her fingers through other people’s hair. I’d asked her why before, but she’d never had an answer.

“Anyway,” my mom said, snapping my attention back to the phone conversation, “we won’t be down here much longer. There are just a few formalities and we’re done.”

“Cool,” I said.

“Yeah.” There was a pause on the other line. “Well, I should get going. Tell your sister I love her. I’ll try and call back later.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Love you, Mom. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung the phone up and looked at Isaac. He was smiling broadly. “What has she done to my hair?” I asked.

Evie giggled. “What’dya think, Ike?” she asked. “Is it her?”

Isaac let out a small laugh. “No,” he said, shaking his head.

Releasing my hair from her hold on it, Evie said, “At least I tried.” She stood up. “Now, to braid Zac’s hair.” With that, she exited the bedroom and started for the living room.

“So,” Isaac began, walking into his bedroom, “what’d you mom say?”

I shrugged. “She said they’re almost done down there. Just a few formalities and they’re finished.”

“Oh,” he said softly.

I smiled and stood up. “Don’t sound so depressed,” I told him.

“I’m not,” he said quickly. “It’s just . . . I . . .”

“Look at it this way,” I said, cutting him off, “when we leave, you get your bedroom back.” I smiled again.

He smiled too. “Yeah, I guess,” he muttered.

I sighed. “Ike, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said too quickly. “It’s nothing.”

“No it’s not,” I said, closing the remaining distance between the two of us. He said nothing. “Come on,” I prompted. “I told you about my dream.”

Isaac didn’t reply. A laugh shot up from the living room and he started instantly for it’s source. I followed.

Taylor was laying on the floor, holding his sides and laughing. Lynnie had paused the video game and was in a position similar to Tay’s. Evie had her hands over her mouth and was turning red. And Zac . . . It seemed that Evie had decided against the braid because Zac’s hair was pulled up into a pony tail on the side of his head.

Isaac and I both started laughing. “Zac, you look like a girl!” Ike cried.

Tay managed to sit up. “May . . . Maybe,” he began gasping between giggles, “we should put him in . . . one of Jessie’s dresses . . .”

I fell to the floor. The thought of Zac in a dress was just too much for me.

Zac didn’t know how to react to this. He just sat in front of the TV, staring as everybody laughed. He tried to smile a couple times but failed. Slowly, as I watched him, I stopped laughing.

“Evie, take it out,” I said.

She looked at me, still giggling. She managed to shake her head “no”.

“Evette,” I said softly. “Take it out.”

“No!” Tay cried. “Let me get the camera first!”

“If you get that camera out, I take full rights to go all out and dress you up like a girl, Tay,” I warned. Without waiting for his reaction, I crossed the floor and took the hair tie from Zac’s hair.

The instant it was out, Zac stood up and ran out of the room. Everyone stopped laughing. Everything was silent except the sound of a slamming door.