On a day-to-day basis, the Hanson brothers rarely knew where each other were and why they were there. Love, family issues, and distress made forty-three thousand screaming girls seem an iota of the stresses of daily life. Zac had to deal with Chrissy, Tay with Steven, and Ike with Kat. No one ever told them that life was going to change so drastically when they got back from their world tour. But, the one who was going to face the biggest peril to come, was Taylor...and he didn't even realize it, yet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isaac, Zac, and Taylor had finally found time to spend with each other, away from the frustration of their relationships. They all were stationed at LazerQuest, taking a break after their fifth game of lazer tag. The three boys were sitting around a table, laughing.
"So," asked Tay, "how did things go with Kat, Ike? You seem a lot happier after talking to her."
Isaac snickered, yet was bashful about it, looking at the floor, "We got back together. She said she changed her mind."
"That's great!" Taylor was happy for his brother, who had been distressing over his loss of Kat for so long.
In the meantime, Zac was munching on a batch of cheese fries, his favorite food from LazerQuest. He had been lost in space, thinking. He felt terrible about what he had done to Chrissy, and wanted to make it up to her somehow.
"How about you, Zaccie?" Tay turned to his younger brother. "How are you and Chrissy doin'?"
"Considering the circumstances," he told them, "we're doin' pretty well."
Ike questioned him, "And what might those circumstances be?"
Zac sighed, heavily, he hated to bring the subject up, "Remember what happened at my party, Ike? That I told you about?"
Zac gave Isaac a "read my mind" type of look, trying to fill his older brother's lost recollection of the party incident with Kelly.
Taking some of Zac's cheese fries, Taylor inquired, "What happened at the party? You never told me."
Both Isaac and Zac looked at each other in amazement. They had forgotten to tell Tay about what had happened.
"Well," Zac started, "at my party, there was this girl name Kelly. And we ended up really liking each other. And kinda-"
"You cheated on Chrissy, didn't you?" interrupted Taylor, seeing the look in his younger brother's eyes.
"Yeah, and I felt really bad about it, too."
"And you told Chrissy?" Tay's eyebrows raised. "Gosh, atleast someone I know is honest in a relationship."
An extremely guilty feeling came upon the thirteen-year old Hanson brother, "Yeah, I told her. She said she'd give me a second chance, though. Thankfully..."
"Anyway, where do you and Hallie stand, Tay?" Ike asked.
Tay let out a sigh, full of disappointment, "I don't know. I still can't believe she was cheatin' on me...at all..."
Zac felt empathetic for his brother, "How bad was it?"
"Pretty bad. They guy was on the basketball team and she looked like she adored him. I told her over the phone that it's up to her who she chooses...just as long as she does choose," confirmed Tay.
The look that came over Jordan Taylor resembled somewhat of an extremely depressed and lonely puppy dog. You could literally see it in his eyes that he wished he hadn't fallen for he and let this happen. He blamed himself for everything that happened...if only he hadn't loved her. Taylor's heart was broken into three million tiny pieces that just couldn't ve put back together. To him...it was completely useless.
"Cheer up, Tay," tried Ike. "She wasn't that great."
"Shut up!" Tay snapped, then spoke in a quieter tone, "She was to me..."
Suddenly, three tall boys came up to the brothers' table. They looked like they were just about Taylor's age, but much stronger.
"We're looking for a Taylor Hanson," said the most muscular one of the three, in a deep voice. "Anyone of you, him?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slowly, Taylor replied softly, "I'm Taylor Hanson. Can I help you?"
"You're Taylor Hanson?" one of the boys asked.
Taylor nodded slowly.
"Come with us."
Tay got up and walked beside the boys to the other side of LazerQuest. He pondered on who they were, yet had no clue. They were so unfamiliar to him, but in a way, he felt like he knew them.
"What's up, guys?" questioned Taylor, folding his arms.
The three cornered Taylor into the wall of LazerQuest, "We heard you messed with our friend, Steven."
"Yeah, so?"
They closed in on Tay, nearly sufficating him, "Nobody is allowed to touch him or threaten him. Now, you are going to have to pay for it."
"Guys," Tay tried to reason, "there's a logical explanation for all of this."
The most muscular boy of the three grabbed Taylor, clenching his arm tightly, "This better be good."
Taylor stumbled, trying to gather his words together so that they would make sense, "You see, my girlfriend, Hallie...she...uh..."
"Hallie is Steven's girlfriend, moron. You took her from him."
"Be careful what you say, man. You got your story backwards," Tay corrected, aggravated.
"That's what Steven told us," one of the boys informed Taylor. "Steven wouldn't lie."
Irritated, Taylor continued his side of the story, "Anyway, as I was saying. Hallie...I've been going out with her for two months, and a little over. It took me three years to work up the nerve to ask her out. I've always loved her and Steven couldn't possibly feel the way I feel about her. Hallie and he have only been going out for two weeks. That's nothing compared to what me and Hallie have gone through. She cheated on me with him. It's not the other way around."
Taylor told his side of the story quite dignified and with scrapes of confidence. He watced as Steven's friends glared at him with uncertainity and disapproval. They seemed to read his thoughts, and discover his hidden fear in his eyes. Jordan Taylor Hanson could only pray that their next move, wouldn't be too sudden.
The one boy, who held Taylor's arm, released him with a jerk, "You better watch yourself, dude. You'll get yourself into some deep, deep stuff that you don't wanna be in."
The look in Taylor's eyes held confidence, and fear all at once. He just stared at the three of Steven's friends, as they backed up from him.
The muscular one of Steven's friends warned Taylor, "We'll all be watching you. We'll be watching every move you make."
With that, they all walked away and Taylor headed back to the table where his brothers were sitting. He was quite stunned and didn't know what to make of the message they had given him.
As Taylor sat back down, Zac questioned him, "What was that all about?"
"Hallie and Steven," Tay replied, monotonously.
"What about them?" Ike joined the conversation.
Taylor turned and looked around, making sure the three were nowhere in sight. He felt relieve to find that they were nowhere around.
Then, Tay leaned forward so only his brother could hear and whispered, "They said I better watch myself and that they'll be watching me."
Though Taylor wasn't afraid of them, he rather be safe than sorry. Tay didn't want to pick a fight, all he wanted was Hallie love back. He wasn't asking for much, from what he thought. He didn't think that something like this would happen, and turn into such a huge problem between him and Hallie. Taylor reminded himself that this was the very reason that he never asked Hallie out in the past. His greatest fear was something like this happening to them. And now, his greatest fear had become a reality. But, what would he do about Steven and his friends?
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