"Corinne! I can't believe we're going on tour with HANSON!! THE Hanson brothers! Do you know how many girls would kill to be in our places?" Serena exclaimed.
"I don't want to think about it," I shuddered. Serena laughed, putting another bundle of shirts into her second suitcase.
"This is just really weird. I mean, they must really, really like us. They've only known us, what, two weeks?"
"Yes, I know, Serena, it's very bizarre. But I'm not complaining! I'd choose touring all over the world any day; even if it was with people we had NEVER met before. You know? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."
"Yeah. And we leave tomorrow! I'm so excited!" Serena giggled, closing her suitcase. She sat on it gingerly and looked at me. "Can you latch the suitcase for me?"
"Jeez, Serena! That's your second suitcase! And you also have three bags! I'm not sure the Hanson will let you go with all that! I mean, I only have one suitcase and two bags," I said, latching close her suitcase. Serena jumped off and dusted her hands off.
"Well, aren't you special?" Serena scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"You realize we're only going to be with them for a week, come back, and then go on the actual tour?"
Serena nodded and rolled her eyes yet again. I rolled mine back, and then grabbed the phone. Dialing Taylor's number, I stuck my tongue out at Serena.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Mrs. Hanson, this is Corinne."
"Oh, hello honey, how are you?" Mrs. Hanson said warmly.
"I'm good, and yourself?"
"Stressed out! Touring again is going to be very hectic!" she laughed.
"Yeah, I know."
"Well, do you want to talk to Taylor?"
"If I may…"
"Of course, let me go find him." I heard her set down the phone, and I waited a few seconds.
"Hello?"
"Hey Tay, what's up?"
"Oh, hey babe. Nothin' here, you?"
"Nothing. Um, I was wondering exactly how many bags we're allowed to bring?"
"Well, I'm bringing two suitcases and three bags, so probably that many. And also bring an extra bag for things you buy and stuff." I nodded slowly and frowned. My boyfriend was bringing more stuff than I. Is it just me, or is there something wrong with that?
"Um, right… Okay, well I guess I'll see you later tonight?" The Hanson's had invited Serena, my mom, and I to come to dinner that night. My dad had flown back to California the previous day, luckily. I had missed him, but he had changed. A lot. And I was surprised at myself to be glad to see him go.
"Yeah. Okay, well, bye."
"Bye, Tay." I hung up the phone and looked at Serena.
"So, how many bags?"
"Two suitcases and three bags, plus an extra bag for souvenirs."
"Ha! Ha! I told you so!" Serena laughed. I rolled my eyes and pulled out my other suitcase.
"Well this is good. Now I can bring some other stuff," I said happily, pulling open my closet. "Now let's see… No, no, no, no, no…" I mumbled going through the remainder of my closet wardrobe. I shut my closet door.
"Do you need to borrow my clothes again?" Serena sighed, looking exasperated.
"No, but I think this would be a good time to go shopping," I grinned.
"Yeah! Of course! Let's go!" Serena exclaimed, grabbing her purse off of my bed and running out of the room. I slipped on my shoes and followed her, grabbing my purse on the way.
"Wow," I sighed, dropping my bags on the floor and falling into the recliner. "That was one major shopping trip."
"I know," Serena yawned. "Now we have to pack it all." I groaned and stood back up.
"Come on, we have to be at the Hanson's in an hour." I picked up my six bags and started the great ascent up the stairs. "Serena Grace Becker get your big butt up these stairs this instant!"
"Fine!" Serena sighed, getting up. She picked up her six bags and trudged up the stairs and into my room.
"Okay, let's see…" I said, pulling all of my new clothing out of their bags. I pulled all of the tags off and started loading them into the suitcase. It took twenty minutes to pack them all. I latched the suitcase and sighed. Serena was still deciding which clothes to take out of the suitcase.
"This is just so hard!" she exclaimed. "I can't decide whether to take out the yellow tube top, or the blue tube top."
"Take out the blue," I advised. "All of your clothing is blue, and the yellow one looks really good on you. Well, I'm off to the shower." I grabbed a summer dress I had bought, some clean underwear, and ran off to my bathroom.
"JORDAN TAYLOR HANSON, GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!" My dad bellowed. I sighed and trudged down the stairs. What had I done this time? We had spent the entire day packing, un-packing, re-packing, and more packing. Zac, Isaac, and I had also been assigned to clean up our room, the little living room outside our room, and the studio.
"What, dad?"
"Taylor, how many times do we have to tell you, when you plug the toilet, un-plug it! Now it's overflowing, because Avery used it," my dad explained, frowning.
"Then why doesn't Avery clean it up? Anyway, that wasn't me, I swear. I haven't used this bathroom at all today."
My dad heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. "I don't care whose fault it was, Taylor. Now clean this mess up!" He stomped out of the bathroom and I scrunched up my face. What a lovely job.
I grabbed the mop and started to mop up the water. Once I was done, I put away the mop and then got the plunger. As I was un-plugging the toilet, Zac skidded in the bathroom.
"Hurry!" he screeched, crossing his legs.
"Uh, Zac, why don't you go use another bathroom? We have five…"
"They're all occupied! Isaac's in ours, Mom's in hers, Jessica is in the kid's bathroom, Dad is in the guest bathroom, and you're in this one! Come on, Tay, I'm about to wet my pants!"
"Fine, fine," I said, taking my plunger and leaving. Zac slammed the door and locked it, and a few seconds later, a big sigh could be heard. I laughed and rolled my eyes, putting away the plunger. As I marched up the stairs to check on Zoë and Mac, I glanced at my watch. Cory and Serena were going to arrive in fifteen minutes.
"Mac! Mackenzie! Did you change your clothes?" I asked, knocking on the door. I heard a mumble come from my six-year-old brothers mouth, and I opened the door. He was, indeed changed.
"Mac, um, I think mom meant your regular clothes, not your superman costume from Halloween."
"No! I want to wear this!"
"Mac, come on, don't you want to look good for our guests?" I asked him. I sat down next to him on his bed and nudged him. "I mean, they are pretty hot…" I grinned as a disgusted look crossed his face.
"Yucky! They are not hot, Tay! They have cooties! But," Mackie sighed. " I don't want to get in trouble, so I'll change."
"Okay. I'll come check on you in a few minutes, okay?"
"Okay." I walked out of his room and down to the girl's room. Once again, I found myself knocking on a door.
"Come in!" I heard Jessica say. I opened the door.
"Why hello my lovely ladies. And how are you three, today?"
"Good," Avery smiled, feeding Simon, who was perched on her shoulder, some lettuce.
"Tay!" Zoë screeched, running over to me with her arms spread. I picked her up and spun in circles. She laughed and giggled happily. Stopping my spinning, I kissed my little sister's head and set her down.
"Well I see you three are ready and looking very nice, so I'm going to go check on Mac."
"Okay," Jessica smiled, picking Zoë up. I smiled and winked, then left.
Isaac was passing as I stepped out of my sisters' room, and he stopped me."Tay, I forgot to tell you, I invited Anna to come on tour. I just like her so much, it seemed wrong to invite Corrine, Serena, and not her. Okay?"
"Ike, Ike, you've only known her for a few days!"
"So? You've only known Corrine and Serena for like, two weeks. You're already dating Corrine! So don't be a hypocrite!" Isaac exclaimed, brushing past me. I rolled my eyes and continued on to Mac's room.
"Mac? Mackenzie? I'm coming in!" I opened the door to find my brother dressed in suitable clothing. "Mackenzie Hanson, looking snazzy!" I grinned.
My brother giggled shyly. "Thanks."
"Yeah. Why don't you go down stairs? Corrine and Serena will be here in ten minutes or so."
"Okay." Mac and I strolled out, but split at the stairwell. I still had to change and make myself at least look presentable.
As I sauntered into our room, I could hear Zac muttering. He was standing in the corner amidst the suitcases and bags, going through one of Isaac's bags. Zac pulled up a man thong with a disgusted look on his face. Shaking his head, he dropped it quickly.
"Disgusting," he muttered. I burst out laughing, and Zac looked up quickly.
"What? That is not my bag, man! That is our depraved brother Isaac's bag. Ugh," Zac shuddered. I laughed and walked to one of my bags.
"I mean, how does he even wear those things? Just… ow!" Zac laughed. I laughed, as I pulled out a button-up shirt and some khakis.
"Zac, just smile and nod. Don't even ask," I laughed. I changed quickly, and as I was about to brush my hair, in walked our dear brother Isaac. Zac looked at him once and shuddered and I just burst out laughing.
"What?" Isaac asked innocently.
"Um, Ike, is there something you need to tell us?" Zac asked, holding up the thong. Isaac's face turned bright red.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, snatching the undergarment out of Zac's hand. "That is none of your business!" Isaac balled the thong up and stuffed it in his pocket. Zac and I stared at him.
"Shut up!" Isaac exclaimed again. He turned on his heel and marched out.
"When do you think he'll realize he put the thong in his pocket?" Zac chuckled.
"I have no idea."
"Okay you guys, what shall we play this time?" Taylor asked, one eyebrow raised. Us older kids were settled in the guys' room in a circle. It was very much like a few nights before when we had stayed up the entire night… well, the guys had. Anyway…
"Not truth or dare!" Zac yelled. Everybody laughed.
"What else is there to do?" Serena sighed.
"Hmm… well, there is always spin the bottle!" Isaac grinned evilly.
"No, seven minutes in heaven!" Anna cried.
"Uh, Ann, that is spin the bottle…" I smirked.
"No, seven minutes in heaven is where you draw names out of a hat," she countered.
"Oh…"
"So, what's it going to be? Spin the bottle or seven minutes?"
"Seven minutes," Taylor nodded, grinning at me. I laughed.
"Yeah," Zac, Isaac, Anna, and Serena grinned.
I shrugged. "I don't care."
"Okay," Zac said, getting up and running over to the desk. He grabbed a sheet of paper and some pens, and walked back over to us. Carefully, he ripped up the paper into six pieces and passed one piece around to all of us, including the pens. We wrote down our names, and put them in the center.
"Wait," Anna said. She pulled her bucket hat off of Taylor's bed and scooped the names up and into the hat. "There," she smiled, satisfactorily.
"So, who goes first?" Serena asked, looking around at all of us.
"Um… How about you Serena?" Zac grinned. She shrugged nervously. Anna picked the hat up and held it up to her. Serena cautiously dipped her hand in and pulled out a name. Reading it slowly, she looked up at us.
"I have to make out with Corrine? Yuck, can I just make out with Zac and call it good?" Everybody laughed and I shuddered.
"Yeah, go in the closet you two," I laughed. Serena and Zac stood up and were making their way to the closet when Mr. Hanson poked his head in.
"Dinner time, kiddos. Wash up," Mr. Hanson smiled. His head disappeared, and then reappeared again. He blinked at us, looked at the hat, Serena and Zac who were frozen next to the closet, and then back at us. Shaking his head and sighing, his head disappeared once again. A large sigh of relief emptied out of our bodies, a breath we had all been holding.
"Well, that was a relief," Taylor sighed. At the same time, we stood up and filed out of the room to go have our last dinner in a house for three and a half months.