Kristyn was in her room buttoning her shirt, when Alleigh came bursting into the room, full of excitement.
"Kris!" Alleigh shrieked.
Kristyn jumped. "What?!" She turned around and gave Alleigh a hard look. "Could you knock next time??" she demanded.
"What? Oh, that. Sorry. But I had to tell you," Alleigh said excitedly.
"Tell me what?" Kristyn wanted to know.
"The Hansons are here! They're here! They're really here!" Alleigh exclaimed.
"They're here?" Kristyn asked.
"Yes, that's what I just said! Kris, you gotta see them. Zac is sooooo cute!" Alleigh gushed.
Kristyn rolled her eyes. "This is what you're so jumpy and all happy about??"
"Yes!" Alleigh squealed. "I can't believe how good looking Zac is! And the three oldest brothers have long hair!"
"Long hair?" Kristyn repeated.
"Yeah, and it looks great on them...especially Zac!" Alleigh sighed happily.
"Well, did you say hi to them yet?" Kristyn questioned.
"Of course not! I haven't even met them yet!" Alleigh answered.
Kristyn frowned. "Wait, did they come inside yet?"
"No, they're still out on the driveway, last time I checked. Mom and dad went out to greet them. I think they're still talking outside or something," Alleigh said. "I didn't meet them yet. I saw them from my bedroom window."
Kristyn glanced over at her window. "Well, my window faces the backyard, so I guess I'll just have to wait and meet them when I'm ready," Kristyn decided. "I'm still not ready yet."
"You're still not ready yet?" Lucy asked, as she walked into the room.
Kristyn rolled her eyes. "I guess no one around here knows about this thing called knocking."
Lucy shrugged. "I guess not."
Kristyn rolled her eyes again. "That's good to know. Anyhow, yeah, I'm still not ready yet."
Lucy looked her up and down. "What else do you hafta do? You look ready to me."
Kristyn pointed to her feet, which only had socks over them. "No shoes. I still have to put my shoes on."
"Oh," Lucy said. "So put your shoes on already!"
"Thanks for telling me that, Luce. I wasn't sure if I knew that or not," Kristyn said mordantly.
Lucy shrugged again. "No problem."
Kristyn just shook her head as she sat down on her bed, picked up a Nike sneaker, tugged it on her foot, and began tying the laces.
Lucy turned to Alleigh. "What's up with you? Aren't you ready yet? Oh wait, lemme guess. You still hafta put a load of make-up on your face, right?"
Alleigh's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah! I still didn't do that yet! Thanks for reminding me, Lucy!" With that, she turned and flounced out of the bedroom.
Lucy watched her go, with a weird look on her face. "What's with her? I was just kidding when I said that." She shrugged. "Oh well."
Kristyn laughed. "Well, you know Alleigh. She's too boy-crazy and all hung up on her looks and things like that."
"Yeah, but how can she stand all that make-up stuff??" Lucy said disgustedly. "It's so gross!"
Kristyn laughed again. "Well, that's Alleigh for ya!"
"Yeah, but it's so......" Lucy wrinkled her nose. "Sick!" She made a face.
"Believe me, I know how you feel," Kristyn assured her. She finished trying the laces to her other sneaker, and stood up. "Wanna go down and meet them now?"
Lucy nodded. "Okay." She turned and headed out into the hall with Kristyn following behind. As they made their way down the hall towards the stairwell, Kristyn began telling Lucy about what Alleigh had told her about the Hanson boys.
"Alleigh said the three oldest boys have long hair," Kristyn remarked.
"Long hair??!?" Lucy repeated. She made a face. "Geez, that must look really weird."
Kristyn shrugged. "I guess we'll find out when we meet them."
The girls headed down the stairs and entered the living room. Walter, the Cambridge father, and Linda were already there, and so were Christian, Dante, Mac, and Ceital. And so were the Hanson family.
"Oh, good; you girls are here now," Linda said with a smile. "Girls, I'd like you to meet two very good friends of mine, Diana and Walker." Linda turned to Diana and Walker. "And these two are my daughters, Kristyn and Lucy."
"Hello," Diana and Walker greeted them warmly.
"Hello," Kristyn responded back.
"Uhh.....hi," Lucy said.
Diana smiled. "I'd like you girls to meet my children, Isaac, Taylor, Zac, Jessica, Avery, and Mackenzie." She pointed them out as she named them.
"Hi," Kristyn and Lucy said. They gave the Hanson kids a small wave.
"Hi," the Hanson children responded back.
Kristyn studied the three oldest Hanson brothers. So Alleigh was right. They do have long hair, she thought.
Walter clapped his hands together. "Well! Now that we've all met each other, why don't we all go on out to the backyard? Linda and I are cooking a barbecue outside. So who's hungry?"
"I am!" shouted several of the Cambridge and Hanson children.
Walter laughed. "I thought so. So let's all head out to the patio now."
Everyone stood up and began heading down towards the back sliding glass doors leading to the backyard. Linda, Kristyn, and Lucy were last to go outside. As Kristyn and Lucy were about to step out into the backyard, Linda stopped them.
"Girls, have you seen Alleigh?" Linda asked.
Lucy nodded. "Yeah. She's still upstairs putting on her face."
"Putting on her face?" Linda repeated. She looked perplexed.
"Yeah. You know, like putting a whole load of make-up and all that other junk on her face," Lucy replied, wrinkling her nose. "She's busy doing that."
"Oh. Well, would you please tell Alleigh to come downstairs now? Lunch is about to be served," Linda said.
Lucy nodded. "Okay." She turned around and screamed at the top of her lungs, "ALLEIGH!! LUNCH!!!"
Linda put her hands on her hips and gave Lucy a hard look. "I could have done that," she said sternly.
Lucy turned back around to face her mother, and shrugged. "No sweat."
Linda sighed. "What am I going to do with you, Lucy...." she murmured. "All right, never mind. I'll go get Alleigh. You two go on outside."
"Okay." Lucy turned and walked outside. Kristyn followed her out the sliding glass door.
"So, Luce," Kristyn said. "What do you think now that you saw them with long hair?"
Lucy shrugged. "They don't really look that weird, I guess."
"Uh-huh," Kristyn said.
The girls walked across the backyard and headed towards the table where their brothers and the three oldest Hanson brothers were sitting at. They approached the table and stood by the edge.
"Hey guys," Lucy said.
"Hi," Kristyn greeted.
Taylor looked up at Kristyn and smiled. "Hi, it's nice to meet you," he said politely. He extended his hand out to her, and she shook it. "I'm Taylor."
Zac rolled his eyes. "Tay, she kinda' knows that already. Mom introduced her to all of us inside, remember??"
Taylor made a face at Zac. "I'm just trying to be polite," he retorted, glaring at him. He turned his attention to Lucy. "It's nice to meet you too." He reached his hand over to Lucy for her to shake as well.
Instead of shaking Taylor's hand, Lucy just slapped him a 'five' instead. Taylor's eyes widened slightly with surprise at the force of Lucy's strong 'five' slap.
"Ditto," Lucy replied with a grin.
Zac laughed. "Nice handshake," he called out.
Lucy grinned again. "Thanks."
"No prob," Zac answered, grinning back at her.
Just then, Alleigh came rushing out of the house and began looking around the backyard. When she spotted them all at the table, she quickly began hurrying over to them.
"Oh, no. Here we go," Lucy muttered under her breath.
"Hi, everyone," Alleigh greeted, as she approached the table. "It's really nice to meet you all."
"Same here, uhh...." Taylor hesitated. "What's your name?"
"Oh! I'm sorry; I guess I forgot to tell you guys that." Alleigh laughed. "I'm Alleigh."
Isaac smiled. "Nice to meet you, Alleigh."
Alleigh grinned at Isaac, and then turned her attention to Zac. She waited, looking at him expectantly.
Zac didn't notice Alleigh looking at him, however. He was too busy folding a napkin into a weird shape.
Taylor decided to help Alleigh get Zac's attention. He began to clear his throat really loudly. "Zac," he said in between coughs.
When Zac still didn't take the hint, Taylor rolled his eyes, reached out his leg, and kicked Zac hard under the table.
"OW!" Zac yelled. "What the-- "
Taylor gave him a hard look, and then gestured his head towards Alleigh, who was still gazing at Zac.
"Oh, uh, hi....umm....." Zac tried to remember her name. "Uh, what was your name again?"
"Alleigh," Alleigh answered, still gazing at Zac adoringly.
"Alleigh. Right," Zac said. He nodded at her. Alleigh smiled broadly at him.
"Kids, the food is ready!" Linda called.
"All right!" Lucy exclaimed. "I'm starved!" She turned and ran off towards the food table.
"Hey, wait up! Me too!" Zac yelled after her, as he jumped up and took off after her.
"Me three!" Mac shouted, as he went tearing across the yard after them.
Everyone else stood up and began following behind after them. Taylor hung back to wait for Kristyn, and began walking with her.
Kristyn smiled. "I think my sister Alleigh has a crush on your brother," she commented.
"Who, Zac?" Taylor nodded. "Yeah, looks that way, I guess. I don't see why, though. Zac's just a total goofball."
Kristyn laughed. "She thinks he's cute."
Taylor made a face. "Cute??! Yeah, right," he said disgustedly. "He's just a spaz." They approached the food table, and Taylor was about to reach over to get a paper plate when Zac stopped him.
"Hey! End of the line's over there, buster." Zac pointed over to the end of the line.
"Yeah, no cutting," Lucy agreed, as she placed a hot dog onto her plate.
Taylor rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He walked over to the end of the line, with Kristyn following behind him. When Taylor reached the end of the line, he moved aside to let Kristyn go in front of him.
Kristyn smiled. "Thanks."
Taylor smiled back. "No problem."
Meanwhile, as Zac helped himself to a handful of potato chips, he glanced over at Alleigh's plate, and noticed that the only food she had taken was a salad. He frowned a little.
"Aren't you gonna take any hamburgers or hot dogs or chips or something?" Zac asked Alleigh.
"Oh, no." Alleigh shook her head. "I can't."
Zac looked confused. "How come?"
"Because Alleigh's a huge health nut," Lucy told him, as she grabbed a handful of potato chips as well. "She's a vegetarian."
"Well, you can at least have some chips," Zac said to Alleigh. "That doesn't have any meat in it."
Alleigh shook her head. "No. Those stuff have a lot of calories and fat in them."
Zac looked at her weirdly. "How come you're so conscious about what you eat?"
Alleigh shrugged. "Oh, I don't know."
"I know," Lucy put in. "It's cause she doesn't wanna get fat."
Zac gave Alleigh a strange look. "Why are you so worried about that??"
"Because she's weird," Lucy replied simply, as she picked up her plate and headed back towards the table.
Soon, everyone had piled their plates with food and had settled back down at the tables. Alleigh quickly nabbed a seat next to Zac, and Lucy sat on the other side of Zac. Mac sat next to Lucy and Dante sat next to Mac. Christian sat across from Dante, and Isaac sat next to Christian. Taylor seated himself next to Isaac, and Kristyn sat on the other side of Taylor.
"Eeuww," Alleigh said, as she watched in disgust as Zac brought a hamburger up to his mouth. "How can you guys eat that stuff? That stuff's so gross."
Lucy leaned over Zac and took a big bite out of her hot dog right in front of Alleigh's face. "Mmmmmm," she murmured as she chewed her hot dog. "This stuff's goooooooood."
Alleigh let out a shriek, and covered her face and turned her head away. "Gross! Get away from me, Lucy!"
Lucy swallowed down her bite of the hot dog and snickered. Zac laughed too.
"Hey Zac," Mac called out. "My sister Alleigh has the hots for you."
Zac choked on his hamburger. "WHAT??!?" he exclaimed.
Alleigh's face turned bright red. "No I don't! Shut up, Mac!"
Lucy twisted around behind Zac and leaned towards Alleigh. "I thought you said you liked him," she whispered loudly.
"Yeah, I do," Alleigh whispered loudly back.
"So? Then why did you say you don't?" Lucy questioned.
"Well, I don't want him to know that I like him!" Alleigh snapped.
Lucy rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever. You're weird." She sat back up and turned back to her food.
I'm not weird, Alleigh thought, as she munched on her salad. I just like a really cool guy and don't want him to know. That's all.
<<-> Chapter 5 <->>
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