Yeah, she'd been to the special schools, but she yearned to be just another normal girl, in the normal world that Danielle was never a part of. She learned all the sign language she could, from books and from her mother, and was able to read lips quite well. She could talk only a little bit, but she was learning fast. Danielle wouldn't let anything come between her and the "normal world", as she often called it. She was a survivor.

Danielle stood patiently in front of the mirror, brushing out her long hair. She winced when the brush got caught in one of the tangles. After her hair was neat and untangled, she sat down on her bed mattress. Her room was nothing special...just some full boxes in it, now. That was because her parents were forcing her to move to a seemingly distant place. Away from her friends. Away from everything.

Her mother had told her that they were going to some place in Oklahoma, due to her father's job transfer. Her father, Ralph, worked at a nearby factory and her mother, Donna, stayed at home and helped Danielle with her studies, among other things. After Danielle was told that she would have to move from her home, she remembered running out of the room before she knew which city she and her parents would be going to. Everything she knew was here, in Springfield, Minnesota.

She looked around her room with a sigh, quickly placing her palms upon the bed. Danielle pulled on her socks and some black Doc Martians. She gave her hair one last stroke and put the brush away, only to be seen again in Oklahoma. Her bed and other things, one of them being her new computer, were to be sent to her 2 days after she arrived at her new house. In Oklahoma. 'Well,' she thought, 'perhaps the new house will be nice'. Danielle sure hoped so.

Danielle found her mother in their kitchen, packing their kitchen utensils. She started helping her mother with the work. Her mother gave Danielle the sign for "Thanks". Danielle said nothing, but kept wrapping each unusual utensil in the paper. She wasn't a "indoor" sort of person, she loved being outside. Danielle and her mother would wrap up all the utensils and put them in a semi-large box nearby. She turned to her mother and said in sign language, "Sort of like Christmas. Wrapping presents." and smiled.

Her mother attempted to smile back. She turned to Danielle to say, with her mouth, "I don't want to leave, either, Danielle." She said this with her mouth instead of saying it in sign language so that Danielle could practice interpreting lip movements to form words. Donna had said that one statement as if she sensed Danielle's nervousness about the whole moving situation. "If your father gets transferred back, we'll leave as soon as possible," said Donna.

This time mother and daughter could share genuine smiles. Danielle hugged her mother and said in sign language, "Thank you." She suddenly thought of all of her friends. Her deaf friends, David, Laura, Sarah, Trent, and Fiona, as well as her other friends, who were not deaf, Jessica, Zach, and John. She also thought about everyone she only "sort of" knew and saw around her neighborhood. And her first kiss, the boy who lived up the street from her. He had gorgeous eyes and thin, blond hair. Danielle paid especially close attention to features. She'd bitterly figured that if she didn't have one sense, she could make up for it extra in a different one. "I just don't want to leave my friends," she finally said to Donna.

Her mother said back, "You can even write them everyday and chat with them online if you wish. You won't be going to school because there aren't many good schools out there. I'll be teaching you a little at home." She smiled, "You'll have a lot more free time on your hands than you think. You'll see."

Chapter 2
Clarke Isaac Hanson was gazing out the airplane window at the white, puffy clouds going by. A tap at his shoulder made him look away, and into the brown eyes of a certain Zachary Walker Hanson. Clarke preferred to go by his middle name, Isaac or Ike, and Zachary preferred to go by Zac or Zachary. Their other brother, Jordan Taylor Hanson, preferred to go by his middle name, Taylor or Tay, like Isaac. Isaac was the eldest, being 17, Taylor was the second eldest, being 14 (15 in March), and Zac was the third eldest, being 12.

These three brothers had 3 younger siblings as well. Jessica was their 9 year old sister, Avery was their younger 7 year old sister, and Mackenzie was their 3 year old brother. Their parents' names were Walker and Diana and their family lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Most of this Hanson family had angelic, blonde hair, including the three older brothers, Isaac, Taylor, and Zac.

Isaac, Taylor, and Zac were also famous music stars and they had a band called Hanson, their last name. They'd been known in the music business for the past 8 months or so. Isaac played the guitar, Taylor the keyboards, and Zac the drums. They could all sing just as well, if not better, than they played their instruments.

But back to the present...Zac made a wacky face at Isaac, crossing his eyes and saying, "Hey, how ya doin'?!" with a very odd accent. Then he quickly pretended to be absorbed in his CD Discman, although, the Discman didn't even appear to have a CD in it. Isaac rolled his eyes and turned around to gaze out the window again. Typical Zac. He sighed. Ashley, the Hanson brothers' older math tutor, sitting on Zac's left, rolled his eyes as well.

Ashley had gone with Hanson to New York for their performance at Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year '98, a New Year's Eve bash in New York, but they'd been a little late, due to last-minute plans. So they'd just stayed at a fancy hotel for the night and walked around New York during the day. They'd hopped onto the first plane to leave New York for Tulsa on January second.

Their brother, Mackenzie, had made it absolutely clear to his brothers that he wanted them back home from New York soon. He'd said he missed them and, probably as he'd planned, got a very special hug from each of his brothers before they left for New York. The whole Hanson Clan, especially Isaac, Taylor, and Zac, would be glad when everyone was home for their break for a couple of weeks. Isaac still stared out his window, daydreaming and remembering. Isaac's mind was suddenly focused on girls. He wondered if he'd ever meet The One. He also wondered what she looked like. Brunette? Blonde? Only God knew. Only fate would decide.

Taylor, sitting in the seat in front of Isaac's, suddenly turned around and exclaimed, "HEY ISAAC!! Earth to Ike, come in Ike!!" The other passengers gave him a few nasty looks for being loud.

Isaac snapped back to reality, he'd been daydreaming again about...about The Girl. Being a big music star with his brothers and traveling around the world got lonely, despite the millions of female fans. "Yeah Tay, I'm here." he sighed lightly, "So, when do we land in Tulsa? I can't wait to get home."

Taylor leaned over his seat's First Class headrest, obviously not wearing his seat belt. He replied, "The pilot said we won't get there for another hour. Gosh, it takes too long to fly from New York to Tulsa." Isaac thought that Taylor sounded slightly annoyed.

Taylor should have been annoyed; they'd encountered a large group of Hanson-crazed fans at their gate. The Hanson brothers called their fans "The Scream Squad" because they always screamed when they saw Isaac, Taylor, and Zac. Even on their plane, there were at least two fans. Those few fans on the plane were constantly bugging Taylor, since he had been sitting alone, in front of Ashley, Zac, and Isaac. He begged Ashley, "Puh-leease sit next to me for the rest of the trip?" Taylor whispered, so he wouldn't hurt the feelings of the fans nearby. The Hanson brothers were especially careful of the feelings of their fans.

Ashley sighed and moved up to the seat next to Taylor. He said to Taylor, "As long as I'm over here, I might as well teach you more Algebra." Ashley smiled cleverly, as if he'd had this sneaky plan all worked out from the start. He reached in his bag and pulled out the Algebra textbook.

But Taylor didn't mind much. He liked learning new things, and Ashley was one of his favorite people, so he agreed. Now there was nothing for Zac to do, and the Hanson fans would start bothering him soon. So Ike thought ahead and reached into his backpack, pulling out a deck of cards. He said to Zac, "Let's play 'Go Fish' until we have to land."

Zac said, "Yeah!! Deal 'em out, bro," with a smile and they began.