Today was the day little Zachary Walker Hanson grew up. It was his thirteenth birthday. Probably a day he'd never forget. Tay and Isaac had worked themselves to the bone yesterday to help prepare it, and now they were going to have the satisfaction of seeing their not-so-little brother, Zac's eyes light up at his party and having a great time. But deep inside, the two eldest Hanson brothers felt like they were losing something. Their little brother would no longer be a crazy, wacky, immature lunatic but instead, a somewhat sensible, understanding, caring, mature adolescent. He had grown up before their very eyes. Maybe today, Zac wouldn't be the only one getting a surprise, but...Ike and Tay, too. Maybe today, they'd see a side to their brother that they'd never seen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taylor and Isaac were setting up the table for Zac's party. Today was October 22, 1998. Their brother was born thirteen years ago from today. Ike had already hung the decorations and banners, and Taylor had tucked away the cake in the refrigerator and was making sure that Mackie had his nap now, so he wouldn't be tired for the party. What a day it was going to be. In just a couple of hours, about thirty pre-teens and teenagers were going to be crammed into their house to celebrate Zaccie's birthday.
"Wow," Taylor spoke breathlessly, "our little brother is thirteen."
"I know," Ike pulled the table cloth down over the table, "doesn't it seem like just yesterday he was running around in diapers screaming, 'Moommy! Moommy!'?"
"Yeah, he's grown up really fast."
Zac had always been able to astonish his older brothers, but today he had gone far beyond the call of duty. The strange thing was, he didn't do anything! He just turned thirteen. But still, it baffled the minds of Isaac and Taylor.
Taylor looked at his watch, "It's almost 11 o'clock. What time is Zac supposed to be home?"
Isaac laughed, "Tay, chill. He's not supposed to be home until 5 tonight. We have time. Gosh, it's so like you to panic at a time like this."
His younger brother, Taylor raised his hand to slap him, but quickly retracted, "Shut up, Ike."
Their mom, Diana had taken Zac to Oklahoma City for the day to distract him, so the boys oculd prepare his party. Even though Zac had been there and back about three hundred million times, he still enjoyed going there. It was the perfect place to take him to make him completely oblivious to the surprise party back at home. He wouldn't suspect a thing.
"Alright, the table's set," Taylor declared with a slight sigh of relief. Tay hated to do chores, especially setting the table and taking out the trash. "Now, we gotta blow up the ballons. What colors are we putting up?"
"Um," Ike started. "red, blue, and green. Our favorite colors. I think that'd be cool."
"Okey-dokey, you got it," his little brother said, taking out a bag of ballons. He emptied the bag out on the table and began to separate the red, blue, and green ones from the rest.
Ike took a blue ballon in his hand, and began to blow it up. Then, he stopped and said to his brother, "Hey, how many ballons do we need to blow up?"
Tay was stretching a red ballon and replied, "Mom said that about 15 ballons should cover the room."
"Gotcha," Ike returned to blowing up the blue ballon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, Zac was wondering the streets with his mom and looking for a decent place to eat. Though his stomach was on the subject of food, all his mind could conceive was, "I wonder if Tay and Ike remembered it was my birthday?" He knew that his brothers remembered his birthday 12 years in a row, but this year was different. This was his thirteenth birthday. Could they forget?
"Zac? Zac, honey are you alright?" a concerned Mrs. Hanson asked her son.
"Yeah...Mom, I'm fine," he assured her.
"I've been asking you where you want to eat for the past three minutes and you haven't said anything. Are you sure you're okay?" Mrs. Hanson reasked.
"I'm fine, Mom. Just take me to Sbarro's or something. I'm in the mood for some pizza," Zac said, with a sigh.
His mother felt his forehead, "Zac, are you feeling alright? You seem sad and kinda out of it."
"Thanks," he replied, sarcastically.
She looked at her son, she saw that Zac wasn't up to his normal status of hyperness. He seemed kind of down, even though it was his birthday. Little did she know, Zac was depressed because he thought his brothers, Tay and Isaac had forgotten his birthday. She never thought that he wasn't expecting a birthday party. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isaac and Taylor were busy racing around the house like maniacs. Answering the continuously ringing doorbell and entertaining guests, while they waited for Zachary's arrival home. They dished out snacks for everyone to control their appetites till 5 PM.
"When will Zac be home, Tay?" asked Chrissy. She couldn't wait to give Zac her gift, it was special.
"Chrissy," Tay answered, "be patient. Yes, I know you're nuts about him, but I think he'll be home in like, 45 minutes."
Chrissy plopped herself down on the couch. She wanted Zac to get home so bad. She wanted to see him and to see the surprised look on his face when he saw all the people. She knew that he thought that his brothers and everyone else, had forgotten about his birthday.
"Ike!" Tay yelled, as he put his hair into a loose ponytail. "Help me here! We need to get the cake out of the fridge! I wouldn't trust myself alone with that thing!"
Isaac came into the kitchen and helped Taylor carry the cake out of the fridge and place it on the kitchen table. They had made it themselves, and made sure that it was Zaccie's favorite...pure chocolate with white chocolate frosting. The cake read in large blue, frosted letters, "Happy 13th Birthday, Zaccie!", and the edges were covered with bits of frosting that looked like confetti. Due to Taylor's perfectionism, the cake looked absolutely flawless.
Shane, one of Tay's and Zac's mutual friends came running up to Ike and Tay, "Guys! Guys! Your mom just pulled into the driveway, turn off the lights."
"Everybody hide!" Ike whispered, as audible as he could. Then, he switched the lights off. Both him and Taylor hid behind their long leather couch, and tried to stay as quiet as they could, barely daring to breathe.
The door to their house was thrown ajar, and the voice of Zachary Hanson was heard, questioning, "Huh? Why are the lights off?" He turned on the room lights.
"Surprise!" yelled 32 screaming friends and family of Zac Hanson.
The surprised look on Zac's face was indescribeable. Someone, probably Mr. Hanson, who had been working all day in the study, took a picture of the look on Zac's face. Ike and Tay ran to go get the cake.
Zac looked at his mother, "Did you know about this?"
Mrs. Hanson smiled, and nodded her head.
Taylor and Isaac brought out the beautifully decorated cake. They brought it up close to him so that he could blow out his candles.
Taylor smiled, "Make a wish, little bro."
"If you insist," the now thirteen-year old Zachary answered. Zac closed his eyes tightly and stood in front of the cake, making his special birthday wish. "Okay, I got a wish!" Then, with a gust of his breath, Zac blew out the thirteen candles.
"Now," little Mackenzie piped in, "let's eat 'dis cake!" For a four-year old, he was pretty smart and overall, acted like Zac. That was definetely a plus to his cuteness.
Zac laughed, "That's just what I was thinkin', buddy." He picked up his brother and carried him over to the table, while Mrs. Hanson set the cake in the middle of the table for them to cut.
In the blink of an eye, the cake was sliced and served. Mrs. Hanson walked over to her two eldest sons, and whispered, "You guys did a great job with the party. Thanks so much."
"No problem, Mom," her son, Taylor told her with a smile.
A wail was heard from the living room. Mrs. Hanson rushed in to see Zoe Genevieve on the floor, clutching her blankie and crying. She picked her up and patter Zoe gently on the back and sighed, "Looks like someone is still tired, huh?"
Ike took her into his arms and headed for the nursery, "I don't know why, she had a three hour nap." Isaac looked at his baby sister, as she sleepily rubbed her eyes.
As Zac advanced towards his pile of presents, Mrs. Hanson said to her sons, "Well, I better get going. I have to get Avie to the doctor's in about ten minutes, so be good, okay?" Then, turning toward her daughter, she yelled, "Avie, come on! We gotta go, now!"
Her sons gave her their best angelic look. They smiled wide and responded, in unison, "We'll be alright, promise."
After that, Mrs. Hanson left and the course of the party remained in the boys' hands. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The party was going smoothly and everyone was enjoying themselves. Zac had never been so surprised in all of his life. It was surprise after surprise during the party. But, there was one surprise that Zac didn't expect.
"Hey," a hazel-eyed girl about his age said, walking upto him.
"Oh, hi," Zac respondeded, putting down his cake. "Are you havin' fun?"
Yeah, Happy Birthday."
"Thanks," Zac avoided eye contact. He all of sudden became unbelieveably shy, and he couldn't explain why. He just...was. There was something about this girl that made him shy. "What's your name?"
"Kelly," she stated, "Kelly Jacobsen.
Zac smiled at her, "That's a pretty name. I like the name Kelly."
"Thanks, Zac. You gotta cool name, too," Kelly's eyes shined as she spoke. "What have you been doin' all day? Ya know, before we surprised you?"
"I was in Oklahoma City," Zac explained. "I was looking in a Lego Shop up there. It's actually really nice."
"That's cool."
The two became quiet searching for the next words to say. Zac had begun to notice, that he had trouble speaking to girls, especially unique ones like Chrissy and Kelly.
"Well, isn't this the most riveting conversation?" he joked. "Pure silence."
Kelly laughed, "I know, so true. The two of us are just like, 'Um...uh...I dunno.'"
Zac smiled at Kelly, "You seem nice, Kelly. Do you live around here?"
Kelly answered, blushing slightly, "Yeah, I live like, two streets up. And thanks, you seem really nice, too. Maybe we should do something like, next weekend?"
"Sure, fine with me," Zac became excited.
Kelly picked up a napkin and plastered it to Zac's back, "Stay still for a second, I need you as a desk."
After completing her phone number, she handing the napkin to Zac, "Here, call me tomorrow, okay?"
"Alright, and we'll arrange to do something next weekend?" Zac asked, as he took the napkin.
"Yeah, sounds cool."
As Kelly walked away and Zac stuffed the number deep into his pocket, he felt a stream of guilt come over him. What about Chrissy? He really liked her, but he also had feeling for Kelly. Deciding between the two of them would be difficult, not to mention extremely hurtful. But, as of now, he had to keep everything about Kelly a secret...atleast until he decided. But, could he really hurt one of them without hurting both of them? He'd have to find out for himself.
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Chapter 9-Happy Birthday Dear Zaccie...
Chapter 11-Dreams Come True
Tulsa's Long Road Home
