Halloween came and went. The Hanson's had been home for a few days then. Long enough for Stina to see Zac a few times. They hadn't let each other drift apart. They talked on the phone at least 3 times a week. Taylor had managed to control his obsession by developing a new hobby (biting his fingernails). Isaac and Mara each pined for each other, but neither would admit it. At school, Stina had started hanging out with Eric and his friends. The guys were skaters, and the girls were just plain snobs, but Christina found it quite easy to adapt to this. She loved all the attention she got from her fellow peers. She counted the days until Zac would come home. The Hanson's didn't know the exact date of their arrival, but they knew it would be around December 22nd or 23rd. Stina waited anxiously.
Christina sat on her bed painting her nails a pale blue and watching TV. It was a cold evening in mid-December. Very cold for Tulsa. The weathermen were forcasting a heavy snow (possibly even a blizzard) within the next week and Stina couldn't wait. It had been a long time since Tulsa had seen a good snow, so this moment was much anticipated amongst Tulsa youth and much dreaded amongst the adults. Stina's thoughts were interupted by the phone ringing. She was expecting a call from her friend Danielle, so she figured it was her.
"Hey Danielle"
"Stina?" A voice sobbed on the other line.
"Yes?"
"This isn't Danielle"
"Oh sorry...Who is it?"
"This is Kelly"
"Oh hey Kel!! When did you get here? I didn't know you were coming for Christmas!!"
"I'm not"
"Oh, um, ok then...you're calling me from home? And whats wrong?" Stina asked confused. She began to apply the 2nd coat of paint to her nails.
"Oh god, my life is so screwed up right now. i don't know how to explain it"
"So you decided to call me? Isn't your mom gonna get mad that you're calling long distance? Why couldn't you have called one of your friends that is within your area code...or within your state?" Stina asked, not sounding very sympathetic. 'Big Problems' for Kelly was usually a broken nail or a bad hair cut.
"Because it's YOUR fault!!" Kelly exclaimed.
"MY fault??"
"Well, partially your fault. It's yours, Zacs, and mostly Eric's fault. Your part of the blame is cuz you didn't stop me from going in that damn closet!"
"Your parents are still mad about the hickeys? Geez, they need to get over it" Stina said, tossing her head back to try and get her hair out of her eyes. She didn't wanna mess up her nails.
"It's not the hickeys!!!" Kelly screamed.
"Then what is it then?"
"IM PREGNANT!" Kelly said, bursting into tears. Christina stopped in mid-paint.
"Your what?"
"You heard me!!"
"Oh wow, that really sucks. But I'm still not understanding why you called me..." Stina said very confused.
"It's Eric's child you dumbass!"
"Oh!! Oh my god!! Sorry, major blonde moment! Wait a second, when did this happen?"
"In your closet! DUH! When else would it have happened?"
"You FUCKED in my CLOSET???" Stina exclaimed. She disgustedly looked across her room at her closet. They had done IT in her closet. She then had a nasty thought. She looked down at the Gap shirt and LEI jeans she was wearing...They had been hanging in her closet all summer. Therefore, Kelly and Eric must have touched all her clothes at one point or another while doing their little "deed". She had the sudden urge to buy a whole new wardrobe...
"Yes, in your closet hun. Thats what I just said. Listen, I need you to do me a favor" Kelly said.
"Um, ok, anything"
"I need you to call Eric and tell him. My parents are fuming mad and they want to know who the father is, and I really don't know what to tell them. I mean it's definitly Eric, but i don't even know his last name. They've already decided that the kid is being put up for adoption, but they want to clarify things with Eric's parents"
"Me call Eric? Don't you think it would be best if you did? I mean this is going to change his life for a while here, cuz he's gonna be grounded for like--ever! And i really don't wanna be the bearer of the bad news," Stina said, holding the phone with her shoulder while she screwed the top back onto her nailpolish and threw it in her nightstand drawer.
"There is absolutely NO way i am calling him. He has to call me once he knows. PLEASE, i am BEGGING you, you have to call him!"
"I'll get Zac to tell him. Zac's been friends with him longer then I have. I'll call him right now."
"Ok, be sure to tell him he needs to call Eric IMMIDIATLY. Bye" Kelly said hanging up. Stina hung up the phone. She looked at her clock. It was 6:04 PM. Zac was doing some sort of 'Christmas in Washington' special in a few hours, but she figured that this was considered important enough to interrupt whatever he was doing. She dialed his cell phone number.
"Yo"
"Hey!! Whats Up?"
"Hey Stina!! Nothing much, but I'm kind of busy right now..I'm in the white house!! Chelsea Clinton is sitting in the same room as me. She's flirting with Isaac" Zac said laughing. He was talking quietly, she figured he was trying not to interupt Ike and Chelsea.
"Oh, I'm sure Ike loves that. Well, listen, this is kind of REALLY important. Remember that day back in September when you, me, Kelly, and Eric played truth or dare?"
"Oh god yes, I think I'm gonna be sick if I think of the looks on their faces when they came out of that closet..."
"Kelly's pregnant" Stina interupted. There was a long pause.
"It's not mine, I swear," Zac said laughing.
"Duh it's not yours, and it's also not funny. It's Erics" Christina said. It was obvious Zac hadn't made the connection between the closet and Kelly's pregnancy.
"wait, are you telling me they FUCKED in your CLOSET?" Zac exclaimed a little too loudly, "What mom? No, I said 'You have DUCKS in your CLOSET??'...Yes I'm sure thats what I said"
"My words exactly. I will never look at my closet the same way," She said, flipping through the channels on her TV.
"Wow, this sucks for Kelly and Eric. But why exactly are you telling me this?"
"You have to tell Eric"
"No Way!! There is no way I'm telling Eric!! No--"
"You have to. Tell him to call Kelly...610-555-0756...Goodluck with Eric, Good Luck with the show, and call me later! BYE!" Stina said, cutting him off and hanging up the phone. Zac may have complained, but she knew he'd call Eric.
Zac sat patiently in his dressing room, tapping his fingers on the table he was sitting at, waiting for the makeup artist to come. It always took so long for them just to but a little bit of powder on his nose. He had called Eric, told him, and immidiatly hung up. He felt really bad, but he didn't wannt hear Eric's reaction. Zac looked around the room. It was way too plain. A couch, a table with a mirror with a chair next to it (the one he was in), a coffee table piled with all sorts of exotic fruits, and about 15 million lamps that were all beginning to blind him. There were a few paintings of landscapes on the walls, but nothing exciting. He walked across the room to the couch where he had thrown his backpack. He opened it up and pulled out a framed picture of him and Stina that had been taken on her birthday. They were sitting on the rock in front of his house, and he had his arm around her. He sighed, and propped the picture up on the coffee table beside the fruit pile. He sat in front of it. Zac picked up 2 bananas, the only normal fruit on the whole table, from the fruit pile. He had never been so bored, so he was going to find a way to entertain himself.
"Hello Banana #1" He said in a high voice, moving the banana in his right hand.
"Hello Banana #2, How are you today?" The Banana in his left hand 'said' to the one in his right.
"I'm absolutely wonderful! Except earliar that Mango was picking on me" #1 replied.
"Oh, don't mind them. Those mangos grew up downtown in Mango gangs, robbing Papya and Kiwi stores. I'll protect you next time!" #2 comforted.
"Oh #2, your so sweet! Gimme a HUG!" #1 squealed. Zac smushed the two bananas together (a little too hard) making them "hug". #2 exploded all over his left hand.
"Ewww, smushed banana...You'll pay for this!" Zac said. He began beating the remains of #2 with #1. He was having so much fun he didnt hear the door open.
"Having fun?" A voice said behind him. Zac let out a surprised yelp.
"Oh hi. I'm sorry I didn't hear you come it. I, um, was, uh...i was eating the banana and it, uh, kind of exploded..." Zac stuttered, trying to explain the banana goo all over his hands and on the table. The lady laughed.
"I understand, bananas have the tendency to do that" She said, playing along with Zac's little story.
"I'm guessing your the makeup artist. Um, let me go wash my hands off and I'll be right back," Zac said, smiling his adorable smile. It always got him out of trouble. He crossed the room and went into the bathroom. The makeup artist smiled and sat down where he had been sitting. Zac had guessed she was in her late thirties or early forties. Her dark brown hair was cut short, with a few obvious gray hairs. Probably the result of stress.
When Zac returned she had gotten up from the sofa and was setting up her makeup stuff at the table with the mirror.
"She's pretty," The lady said, not looking up from the bag she was searching through.
"Who is?" Zac asked confused.
"The girl in the picture. The one on the coffee table," She replied, pulling a big thing of powder out of her bag.
"Oh! You mean Christina. Yeah, she's a friend from back home," Zac said.
"i see. My name is Rosetta by the way. Have a seat," She said, motioning to the chair. Zac crossed the room and sat down. Rosetta began brushing powder across his face.
"So she's just your friend?" Rosetta said a few minutes late, breaking the silence. She was spritzing water on Zac's hair.
"Who? Christina? Well, yeah. But i really miss her," Zac said.
"I can imagine you would, being away from home for so long. Sometimes during the summer i bring my daughter Jill with me when I do makeup. Occasionally I'm the makeup artist for one of the bands she likes. She does enjoy your group, but i had to leave her home tonight. It's a school night and everything. Besides, I think she favors Taylor," Rosetta said as she began to blow dry Zac's hair.
"Yeah, Taylor usually gets the majority of the fans. I'm too 'immature' for most of them, and Ike makes too many bad jokes," Zac said. Rosetta laughed.
"I'm sorry, but what you said about Isaac was funny. Mean, but funny," She said. She continued blow drying his hair for a few more minutes, then shut the blow dryer off.
"All done. Stand up, lemme see" Rosetta said. Zac stood up.
"Fabulous! You look absolutly stunning! The girls will be drooling over you, as usual. And I love your shirt, it's so much more fancy then your other clothes!" Rosetta marveled.
"Thank you, thank you. I know I'm wonderful," Zac said laughing. He waved goodbye and left the room to seek out his brothers so they could have a last minute rehearsel.
"...3 brothers with heaven sent voices..." Glenn Close said, as she introduced them. That was the only part of her speil that Zac heard. He was so incredibly nervous performing in front of so many important people, including the president of his country. Zac heard Taylor start the beginning of the song on the keyboard, and then almost immidiatly mess up. 'Damnit Tay, we're 3 seconds into the song and you already played a wrong note' Zac thought.
Somehow they managed to make it through the song with very little mistakes. Zac began his "da's" a little too early at one part, but immidiatly stopped so practically no one noticed. And Zac hit himself in the face (well, actually the microphone thingy shielded his face) with his drumstick. But other than that everything went wonderfully. Even the singing at the end with all the people and everything.
The whole Hanson clan piled into the van and started back to the hotel around 1:30 AM. Taylor was slumped over in his seat, exhausted.
"i am so tired, i think I'm going to die" He mumbled sleepily.
"Well, i think we could all just KILL you for messing up within the first MEASURE of the song" Ike said, staring blankly out the window, watching the cars whiz by.
"Isaac be kind!" Diana scolded from the front seat. By now, she looked (and felt) very very pregnant. She held Mackenzie in her lap, cradeling the little boys tired body as his eyes began to droop. Walker had on some smooth jazz station, which didnt help the level of anyone's energy at all. Except Jessica, who was in the very back seat. She was practically bouncing off the car walls, and Avery didn't appreciate being stuck next to her. Zac was on her other side, smushed up against the window.
"Mom, would you PLEASE tell Jessica to calm down? What's her problem tonite anyway?" Zac complained. He was not very comfortable, he was getting way too big to have to share the backseat with his sisters.
"I knew I shouldn't have given her that coffee...Jess sweetie, I know the caffine is making you really hyper but try and calm down just a little, ok?"
"Ok MOMMY!" Jessica screeched. She began laughing. Zac's patience had run out and he reached across Avie and slapped Jessica's shoulder. This shut Jessie up, but not for long. Diana glared in the rear view mirror at Zac, but he couldn't see it n the darkness.
"Oh, and Ike, about me messing up, Zac messed up too and i don't see you getting mad at him," Taylor muttered. What Ike had said earliar was just logging in to Tay's mind.
"Yeah, but Zac's MISTAKES werent as obvious as yours," Ike said, emphasizing that Zac's 'mistake' was plural.
"Well Isaac dear, when you and Taylor were chit-chatting and laughing while that one person was singing at the end it was NOT very polite and it made you look bad," Diana said, sticking up for Zac.
"Hey that wasn't my fault! Tay talked to ME first! And I tried to ignore him!" Isaac whined. Taylor snored loudly.
"He SNORED!!" Jessica said, beginning to snort repeatedly.
"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Zac screamed at her. He was tired, cranky, and he was worried about Eric. Plus he was so smushed up against the window, he felt as if that he dared even sneeze the window would fly off of the car.This was not a time to annoy him
"Jessica, calm down now! And Zac, APOLOGIZE now!" Diana yelled.
"No!" Zac replied. He was not fully awake, and he really didn't care if he was punished or not. Avery began crying.
"Mommy, I'm so tired, I just wanna sleeeeeeep!" She wailed. The whole car began yelling at each other. Walker, who normally remained calm in any situation and rarely yelled, began gripping the steering wheel tighter. He was just as tired as everyone else, and he was having enough trouble concentrating on his driving without the screaming in the background. Finally he snapped.
"THATS IT!! Everyone shut up right now or else I'm going to pull over!! it's only a few more miles to the hotel, lets see if we can try and get along for a few minutes!" He yelled. The whole car immidiatly shut up. 'For anyone that thinks the Hanson family is different from the average American household, I with they could see us like this. Just another normal disfunctional family' Zac thought bitterly. He slowly drifted off to sleep, to a dreamland full of closets bearing children and drumsticks set on attack.
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