“ So what are you doing this weekend?” Kristy asked as her and Torence walked out of school on Friday afternoon.
“Who knows. I have a swim meet tonight and then practice tomorrow morning. Other than that I don’t know,” Torence said.
“Do you want to go shopping with me tomorrow afternoon for prom dresses?”
“I’m not going to prom. I’ve told you that already.”
“Yes you are! You have too! It’s our senior year and if you don’t go you’ll regret it for your entire life.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
“Torence you’re going.”
“I don’t have a date.”
“Oh come on! You’ve already been asked by like 5 different guys.”
“It was 3 and they were all losers. I would never go with them. They were the kind of guys who expected me to go to a hotel afterwards and have sex with them….I don’t think so!”
“Well you always have Taylor to go with.”
“I think that Taylor is getting tired of going to school dances with me.”
“Well either way you’re going because chances are you’re going to be on prom court and more than likely you’ll be queen so you HAVE to go!”
“Okay, okay, I’ll go. Geez, chill out.”
“Good, now who are you gonna go with?”
“Even though I don’t want to, I’ll ask Taylor if he’ll go with me.”
“Yea! Now we can go shopping on Saturday for dresses.”
“Okay…call me.”
“I will….see ya tonight at the meet.”
“You coming?”
“Of course! I always come.”
“Okay, see ya.”
“Bye.” Torence hopped into her yellow Jeep Wrangler and headed home.
Taylor and Torence have been best friends since birth. He is one day older than her. They’ve lived next door to each other their entire lives. So it was only natural that they become best friends. Their parents were also best friends growing up and so the 2 families are like one REALLY big happy family.
When Torence turned the corner onto her street she saw what she had been seeing for years. Like 10 or 20 teenage girls standing outside the Hanson house hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite music group. That was something that happened almost everyday in the afternoon. The whole neighborhood had gotten used to it. Torence pulled up into her driveway and went inside.
“Tor!” one of her little sisters, Skylar, said running up to her.
“What?” Tor asked.
“Look at what Mackie and I drewed. It’s our families. See that’s me and you, Mommy, Daddy, Bronson, Emigen, Decklin, Brock, Rayna, Riley, and Diana, Walker, baby Zoe, Mackie, Jessie, Ike, Zac, Avey, and Tay!”
“Wow, that’s very pretty Sky. See if mommy will hang it on the fridge for you.”
“Okay!” Skylar ran off in search of their mom and Torence ran upstairs to her room. When she got up to it she noticed that the door was open a little bit.
’That’s weird. I never leave the door open’ she thought to herself. She pushed the door open a little bit and saw Emigen laying on her bed.
“And just what do you think you’re doing in here?” Torence said scaring Em. She jumped up and quickly hid whatever she was reading behind her back.
“Uh….nothing. I was just looking to see if you had my yellow shirt,” Em said.
“Yeah, cuz my bed is the perfect place to look,” Tor said sarcastically.
“I was thinking that maybe it was under it.”
“Give it up Em. I know you were reading my journal. So just hand it over and get out of my room."
“Are you gonna tell mom?”
“You bet I am. Remember the last time she caught you reading my journal and said that if you ever do it again you’re in serious trouble? Well, it pleases me very much to see you in serious trouble.”
“Why do you have to be so mean Tor?”
“Because you’re going through my private stuff. I don’t go into your room when you’re not home and read your journal do I?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
“I didn’t even know you had one.”
“Well can’t you forgive me this one time?”
“If it was the first time you did this yeah, but since it’s not, no way.”
“You are so mean!”
“Just get out Em before I really get mad.” Em handed Tor her journal and left the room. Tor flopped down on her bed and picked up her phone. She dialed Taylor’s number.
“Hello?” Isaac answered.
“Hey, is Tay there?” Tor asked.
“Um actually no he’s not. He went down to the park with the kids.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Sure…oh by the way Tor just to let you know we’re all coming to your swim meet tonight.”
“Woo-hoo, first all season.”
“We’ve been busy, you can’t blame us.”
“Sure I can, but I won’t….I’ll talk to you later Ike.”
“Bye.” They hung up and Tor went downstairs.
“Mom, I’m going down to the park,” Tor said walking into the kitchen were her mom was.
“What for?” Rachel asked. Rachel is her mom.
“Cuz Tay is down there and I need to talk to him.”
“Okay…why don’t you take the kids with you?”
“No, I’m not gonna be there for very long.”
“Okay, go ahead.”
“Be back in a minute.” Tor walked out of her house and headed down the sidewalk. She was stopped by the Hanson fans.
“Excuse me, but do you know Hanson?” one girl asked.
“Why?” Tor asked.
“We were just curious cuz you live next door.”
“Well if I live next door what do you think?”
“Hey, I know who you are!” another girl said, “I’ve seen you in magazines before.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, your name is Torence isn’t it?”
“Yup.”
“You’re Taylor’s best friend aren’t you?”
“Yup. Now if you don’t mind I’m on my way somewhere.”
“Wait, can we have your autograph first?” another girl asked.
“What for?”
“Because you’re Taylor Hanson’s best friend!”
“I guess.” Torence signed a few things thinking about how odd the situation was and then went on her way. She went to the park and found Taylor in sunglasses and a baseball cap pushing Zoe on the swings.
“Hey Tor,” Taylor said when she walked up to him, “What are you doing here?”
“Ike told me you were here and I came cuz I have to ask you something and I don’t want to wait till later,” Tor said as she sat down on the swing next to Zoe.
“I go down the slide now!” Zoe said hopping off and running over to the slide. Tay sat down in her swing.
“So what do you have to ask me?”
“Well, prom is in 2 ½ weeks and I’ve only been asked by guys I don’t want to go with. And I told Kristy I’d go.”
“So, are you asking me if I’d go with you?”
“Yeah. I mean if you don’t want to that’s fine. I know I’m always taking you to school activities.”
“No, it’s fine I’d love to. I normally wouldn’t be able to go to a prom, but now I can.”
“Thanks. You’re the best.”
“I know.” Tor laughed.
“Okay, well I’m gonna get going. I have to start getting ready for my meet. You’re coming right? Ike said you were.”
“Yup, we’ll all be there.”
“Cool. I’ll see ya later.”
“Bye.”
