I was twirling my hair between my two fingers like I usually did when I was nervous, pretending I didn't notice the girl following me. I couldn't tell what she looked like, not yet, and since I've always had a bad habit of judging books by their covers, I wasn't sure whether to be afraid yet. I glanced over my shoulder at the girl who was walking about ten feet behind me. The girl smiled and waved frantically. I smiled nervously and continued walking. The girl ran forward and grabbed me by the shoulders.
I jerked away and jumped. "Ok you need to like.. not do that." I wasn't even sure what to say to her.
The girl smiled. She had a small scar on her left cheek, it was almost the shape of a star. Her hair was dark brown and it stretched to the small of her back, no layers, no hilights, just simple, thick, and brown. I longed for that type of hair for so long. The kind of hair that didn't scream originality like my own does. Sometimes I really hate that, sharing a hair color I had never seen on anybody else with a man I've never known.
The girl frowned and shrugged. "You don't remember me do you?"
I honestly didn't and until recently I've always had a pretty good memory. That is, until I started to get these headaches that felt like the worst of all migraines. I was told they were from my memory returning so quickly.
"It's me..." She paused for drauma. "Jilly!"
I stared at her and gave her my best look of surprise.
"Jillian, but people are calling me Jilly now."
"Yay."
"You don't remember me do you?"
Did I miss a memory somewhere or was I just going completely insane? No... it was her, she was going insane, or already there. "No I don't. Sorry."
"Oh that's ok. I heard about your accident. Do you have your memory back yet? Oh you must not if you don't remember me."
"I have my memory back."
She got this extreme look of disappointment on her face now and I felt so bad, but I truly didn't remember. "I lived in Pennsylvania with you. We were neighbors."
"Oh." It was all coming back to me now. Well, not really. I vaguely remembered a girl with short brown pigtails that used to bite people.
"Everybody was afraid of me remember? I used to bite people?"
"Oh yeah. I remember now. What are you doing here?"
"Visiting relatives in Oklahoma City, my mom wanted to take a detour on the way home to visit your mom. I guess they were friends or something. Anyway..." She rattled on and I was almost positive I knew what was coming. "Have you ever met Hanson?"
AAAHHH TEENYBOPPER! I shrugged. "I see them around."
"Oh my god! You've met them?!"
I nodded.
"Oh my gosh, do they live close to here?"
I laughed as I saw Taylor and Isaac walk out of their front door. I hadn't noticed that Jilly stopped me right in front of their house. I'd just been on a walk. "What's your idea of close to here." I tried to signal to Isaac and Taylor to go back inside, quick, but it was too late. Jilly saw them and she screamed.
"OH MY GOD!!!!" She jumped up and down and ran over to Isaac. "You're my absolute favorite. All the other girls go for Taylor and Zac, but not me. I'm one of the only ones that likes you!" She practically screamed in his ear.
"Uhm, thanks. How are you?"
"I'm great! My name is Jillian."
"Ike." He put out his hand as he'd done a billion times before. He really did care about the fans and about who loved them and who bought the records, but he'd just had way too much of the screaming type.
"I know who you are, silly." She turned to Taylor. "Not to leave you out, I'm Jillian."
"I know." He grinned and shook her hand.
"You know?! YOU KNOW ME!?! You must have read my e-mails and my letters.
Taylor stared in disbelief. "No, you just told him your name, so I assumed that... it was your name..."
"Oh." Jilly laughed. "Sorry, I'm just excited. Is this where you live?"
I couldn't take it anymore. "No! This is just their... this is my house."
Isaac nodded. "Yeah, we were just seeing if she was home."
"OH MY GOSH!" Jillian jumped up again and grabbed my shoulder. I had an overwhelming urge to thump her into the ground. "YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH HANSON?!"
"I usually refer to them as Isaac and Taylor... and Zac. And guess what? I know their brother and sisters too."
Jilly screamed again. "I have a webpage all about Jessica! She's beautiful. Avery is too. I think Jessica looks like you, Ike."
Isaac smiled, he was starting to look terrified. "I think she does too."
"Can I come in and see your brother and your mom, Jess?" She instantly turned to Isaac, completely ignoring Taylor. "You guys can come too of course."
I laughed and regretting my tone in what I said next, it was that over sarcastic, mocking tone. "Oh, could you, could you?!" I even clapped my hands together.
Taylor laughed and quickly covered his mouth. "This should be interesting."
We all walked inside and Isaac ran upstairs. I'm sure he was going to silence the rest of his family and explain what was going on. After a few minutes, I stood at the bottom of the steps and yelled for my brother and my mom.
"Oh, darn, they must not be home." I shrugged. "Guess you should go now."
"No I want a tour!"
I sighed and took her into the kitchen. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Zac, sitting at the kitchen table with a bottle of hershey's syrup. "Hey Jess, why the heck were you yelling for your mom?"
I could feel my eyes widening. Now what was I supposed to do?
Isaac came running down the stairs then and he put his hands on my shoulders. Then he tossed me to the side. I hit the wall. "Ow, Dammit."
"Jilly! Come here, I'll give you a tour of the house."
"But shouldn't Jessica? Not that I mind if you do..."
"Jessica has to entertain Zac. He likes to hang out at her house when nobody is home. Don't you Zac?"
Zac took the lid off of the Hershey's and he looked deep inside as if looking for something specific. "Yeah whatever... wait.. what?" He looked up, thoroughly confused.
Taylor watched as Isaac pushed Jilly out of the room. He sat down at the table and sighed. "Why can't we just tell her this is our house?"
"Cause then she'll know where you live and she'll post it on her little... Jessica webpage and then the whole entire world will know."
"Oh yeah."
Zac stuck his finger into the bottle and started wiggling it around. Then he looked up at me, "Oh I get it. That's why you're acting like a fool."
I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. Me, acting like a fool, when he's got his finger... now his tongue in a bottle of Hershey's syrup. "Yeah, that's why."
"She's pretty cute, how old is she?"
I thought hard. "14 I think. She's Blake's age. And don't get any ideas, I think she's whacky. She used to bite people."
Taylor nodded. "And she likes Ike."
Zac shrugged and started banging the chocolate bottle on the table.
I didn't want to ask, but it was starting to get to me. "Ok, what's with the chocolate?"
"I lost my dollar."
"Oookay." I grabbed Taylor by the arm and pulled him out of the kitchen. "I need to talk to you." I looked around the room to make sure Isaac was still touring, other parts of the house.
"About what?" He looked almost scared.
"You need to help me get Jilly away from me. Now she thinks this is my house, and she's gonna figure it out because her mom is supposed to be visiting my mom... or so she says. But I think she was really here to do a little Hanson hunting. As if she'd find some kind of sign that says The Almighty Hanson Lives Here. Or a sign like the one in Louisiana that says, Good luck Britney. Cause she's not gonna find one cause, let's face it, the people in this town don't like you guys."
Taylor put his hands up. "Ok, rambling. Didn't need to know that the whole town hates us."
"Nah, it's not you, it's just the whole... teenybopper thing that you guys bring in. Aka, Jilly. And she's driving me crazy and I want her to go home."
"Afraid she's gonna bite you?"
"Yes! Either that or... Bite Isaac. Heh. Anyway. I'm gonna make a run for it. You keep her here for a while."
"What about her mom? Won't she be at your house?"
"Yeah, I'll tell her the whole, house mixup thing and tell her to come and get her here and something... I dunno. I just can't take her anymore and I really don't wanna rip her face off."
Taylor laughed. "You really are afraid of fans aren't you?"
"Absolutely terrified." I kissed him on the cheek and ran out the front door. It wasn't until later that I found out I wouldn't be getting rid of Jilly that quick.
Home
Stories
Secrets of the Past