"I'm not goin' to the mall! Are you psycho!!!"
Taylor stood in the living room, hands on hips.
"Put your hands down you look like a girl."
"Oh yeah thanks a lot."
Walking out of the living room, he moved to the kitchen.
"Why not! I want to go!"
"So what! You don't have to worry about being mobbed."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"For instance, if you took Zac, even Jem, they would get mobbed. No guy is going to
mob you Mey, guys don't mob their teen pop stars."
"I'm not a pop star! I'm a diva!"
"Okay Mey, Guys don't mob divas."
Shoving her hair out of her face she walked over to Taylor.
"I wanna go."
"So then go."
"But Tayyyy! I don't want to go alone!"
"Where's Lissa, or even Kyla, you like Kyla, she's a nice girl, how bout Jen? Or even
Christi. All of them are real nice girls, they'd love to go to the mall."
"Tay!"
"Don't Tay me."
"I'll Tay you all I want!"
"I'm not going to the mall."
"I've got an idea."
Tay paused, turned around and stared at his girlfriend.
"What Mercy."
"We'll cut your hair! Pierce your ear, dress you in Jems clothing, make you roll in
rotten eggs, and no one will come near you!"
"The whole cut your hair thing just turned me off. "
"That is so you Taylor Hanson!"
Taylor grinned.
"Does this mean were not dating?"
"What?"
"You don't usually call me Taylor Hanson anymore."
She punched him in the shoulder.
"baby!"
She turned around, somewhat frustrated.
Yelling to her as she walked away, he clutched his chest.
"Aww Mey! That hurt me right here! Right here I tell ya!"
She turned around to scowl at him as he made an X over his heart.
"I'll hide!"
"Zac. I think not."
Zac Hanson threw himself down.
"This isn't fair! I'm telling you! It's not!"
Zac Hanson had spent the last hour telling them about how bad life sucked at the
moment. They took it in stride. Not like they hadn't heard it, or been there before.
"What do you want me to say? It'll blow over, your bros will get over it, and we'll be
back to doing whatever it is we want."
"See! That's just it! Now that I came over here, next time I go home, they're going to
follow me, or have someone follow me, everywhere I go, everything I do. I'm back to
being some dumb ass perfect image."
Zac Dentra sighed.
"You could hide at our place. Just until we figure out what to do."
Zac Hanson's face lit up.
"Would that work?!"
"Hey Ike, well?"
"He's not at the Dentra's and he's not at most of his friends. I can't think of a single
place he could be right now if he's not at D's."
"You're sure he's not at D's?"
"Since when does Jem lie through his teeth?"
"Oh come on Kyla. That's like….so Melissa!"
The two girls giggled.
The mall was fairly empty, for some reason Sunday left it searching for shoppers. It
was okay with the girls however, just because the fact that Mey had a pretty familiar
face to anyone under 19 and a few people over.
"So would this work for a hot date."
Mercy glanced in her friend's direction to see what she was holding up.
"GOD NO!"
Her eyes grew wide.
"I don't wear dresses, let alone ones that short."
She turned around shaking her head.
"You'd look cute in it Mey!"
"No I wouldn't!"
"I bet Tay would think so."
"I don't care. If Tay even wants to see the thing he shoulda been here. But he's to lazy
at home, sitting on his ass doing nothing but eating some nasty food and watching talk
shows."
Kyla rolled her eyes.
"Mey, one of these days, he's going to not take your crap."
"I don't give him crap."
"Oh really."
"Not unless I'm really unaware."
"You give me crap."
"Only about short skirts."
Isaac thumped on the steering wheel.
"God damnit. The only way he could have left the house was the front door. I was
sleeping right there! This is bullshit!"
"Why are you so worried about Zac."
"It's a long story."
"Well then maybe I should hear it. This is Tulsa Ike, you can't lose your 14-year-old
brother in Tulsa when he's got every screaming girl possible after him. So that leaves
me to conclude he was either kidnapped or he doesn't want you to find him. Now
which is it."
Isaac stopped at a red light.
"I would have to suggest the latter, but you didn't hear me say this. Any of it
preferably."
"Any of what."
"Zac..both of them, are going to kill me if they know I told you."
"Told me what."
"What I'm about to tell you."
Jeremy held his fingers in his ears, twisting them back and forth.
"Jem we need your help."
"HA! If I help you, then that means I know where you hid him, and that means the
next time anyone asks where he is I have to lie again. If they catch you guys, and find
out I knew about it, that's not going to make me look real good."
"Oh let me see Jem, you just got wasted off your ass, got shipped to the hospital by
your sister and her boyfriend the Hanson, your girlfriend is pregnant, and you think
you look good now? All I want is some help getting him there, and some money, and
that'll be all."
"I never said I looked good Zac, all I said was I'm not going to look good."
"So lets add that on top of your other sins too eh. Wouldn’t want to hurt your record
with Door or anything. Forget it. I'll do it myself."
Zac turned away from his brother, scowling to himself as he climbed the stairs to his
room.
Opening the door he slammed it behind him.
"Well?"
"He'll be up in a minute, telling us if we don't get in the car in one minute flat he's not
taking us. So get your shit together."
"And that's why I'm looking for Zac. Cause he's in big trouble and the whole reason
we're keeping him home is so he doesn't get in more."
Dorin blinked.
"You aren't blaming this all on my brother are you."
Isaac paused.
"To a certain degree yeah. But I know that in order for my brother to get in trouble he
had to do it too. So not all of it. But I don't see where my brother knew how to get the
pot as well as the papers by himself."
Dorin swirled a spoon around in his coffee.
"Well lets go find the clones."
Nikki reached over giving him a peck on the cheek.
He opened the door farther, allowing her and her bags to enter.
"Hey Nikki. What's up."
"Nothing, just thought I stop by and say hey. Haven't seen you in a while after all."
Jem smiled. "Hey Nikki, I know that you just got here and everything, and I know that
your whole intention was on staying, but I have to run out and do a few errands, so
can you come back in an hour?"
She shrugged.
"I got some real important stuff to talk to you about Jem, and I think we should talk
today okay."
Jeremy paused.
"Are you okay?"
"Not really. We'll talk in an hour."
Taylor threw up his arms.
"For not going to the mall! That's about dumb!"
"I wouldn't say that in her presence."
Taylor sighed.
"Okay Kyla, what does she want from me."
She grinned.
"I don't know, a date maybe. A movie. Wait! Really expensive dinner."
Taylor shrugged.
"So you guys were talking about this eh."
Kyla laughed.
"Of course not!"
Zac Dentra ran his hand along the table. Lifting it up, he saw the layer of dust now
collected on his finger.
"That's what I hate about old buildings. Your gone for more then 2 days and you could
use the dust for a matress there's so much."
The two of them threw down the two bags full of laundry, food and odd things in the
corner.
"I can't come back til tommorow, but that doesn't mean you leave here. You stay here
til then. If you find you need anything, let me know and I'll get it to you the next time I
come."
Zac Hanson looked at the floor.
"D."
He looked at his friend.
"Am I doing the right thing here? I mean, what if they catch me here. What if they find
out, like if my brothers tell your brothers. What's going to happen to us then."
Zac Dentra sighed.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
He turned, opened the door and stepped out.
"I hope he's smart enough to just stay inside."
They pulled up in the Dentra drive. Slowly turning off the engine and stepping out,
they walked to the door.
Stepping inside, they paused as they saw Jem and Nikki on the sofa. Nikki in his arms
crying.
"Nikki it's not a big deal. We'll be able to see eachother."
"Not a big deal? Jem! It is a big deal! I'm moving. Away! My parents are such pains."
Jem sighed. Nikki's parents had decided the Dentra's alone were worth moving away
from. So they had packed their bags, and their daughters, and found a house in
Oregon. Nikki was pissed, Jeremy was pissed, and now they couldn't do a thing about
it.
"We'll work it out later, when you get there, we'll see what we can do okay?"
She looked up at him.
"Jem!"
"Nikki I can't do anything about it right now. I'm sorry."
She stood up.
"Kay Jem. Then I guess I'll talk to you when I get there."
She turned around, not looking at his brother or the hanson, and stepped outside. A
frustrated look on her face.
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing. She's moving because of her parents, and she expects me to hire bodyguards
for her to stay here. I can't do that. I don't even know if I can get her back here once
she's over there."
Jeremy sighed, sitting back down.
"Hey Jem."
"Hey what?"
Jeremy looked up at Isaac.
"Where's Zac."
"I already told you if I saw him I'd send him your…"
"Your Zac Jeremy. Your blood."
"I dunno. He went out real quick. Should be back in a couple minutes."
Jeremy frowned.
"Why?"
Isaac turned away.
"Cause I need to have a little chat with him. And probably you too."
Dorin stood menacingly over his brother.
"Why. Are we in trouble?"
"You could say that."
"We have school in the morning Han, you can't stay here all day."
Isaac stepped back in the house.
"This is cute!"
Isaac had stormed out of the house one last time, dragging Dorin with him. He'd called
every friend that they knew, called every place he hung out at, and had left the house
once before to go checking.
"No! I'm not hearing this! This is not being heard!"
Dorin sat at the counter staring blankly ahead.
"Hey Jem."
"She's mad at you."
"There's actually a bathroom down that corridor over there. It's not in perfect
condition, but it's usable. I think the heater in the room still works, It should. The tv
just needs some serious dusting."
The car ride home was in silence. Isaac felt bad about throwing blame out, and Dorin
felt bad about his little brother doing what he did. But at the same time both of them
were mad. Isaac wasn't quite sure what to do about the situation, and Dorin was torn.
First Jeremy, then Zac. What next.