Chapter Two


"Zac, You On A Renaissance Trip Or Something?"


Zac wandered into the kitchen the next afternoon. He was bored. Taylor and Isaac were out back shooting hopes with Jonathan Rush, Josh Hunter and Steven Saunders, but Zac didn't really feel like joining them. "Hey, Mom," he grinned, hopping up on to the kitchen counter.

"Hi, honey. You okay?"

"Uh-huh. Just bored."

"Go see Tay and Ike. They'll let you play."

"I know. I just don't wanna."

"Okay. Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you."

"Ooh…sounds ominous!" Zac pretended to shake.

Mrs Hanson smiled. "Zac, do you remember Libby Reynolds?"

"Libby? Oh, yeah, her… You and her mom were friends. She moved to Connecticut when I was six. She was eight."

"Well, Zac, she's moving back."

Zac gulped. Libby Reynolds was coming back? When they were kids, Libby had tormented Zac all the time, making him eat bugs and telling him that if he planted his nickels, nickel trees would grow from them. Later, she would go back and dig up Zac's money.

Despite all this, they'd hung out all the time. Zac hadn't been old enough to go swim with Tay and Ike at Josh's, and Libby hadn't wanted to. So they'd always ended up hanging out, through loneliness rather than choice.

"Zac? Have you heard a word I've said?"

"Uh…"

Mrs Hanson rolled her eyes. "She'll be here tomorrow. I trust you'll be ready to make her feel at home again?"

"Mom, she's closer in age to Tay. Bug him about her, not me."

"Zac, Libby doesn't know Tay all that well. She knows you."

"Correction. She knew me. I'm a different guy than when I was six."

"Are you sure? Your table manners haven't improved any."

"Mom…"

"Zac, you're doing this. No choices."

"Fine then. But don't expect me to enjoy it!" Zac jumped down off the counter and stalked out of the room.

He wandered through to the den, where Mackenzie, Avery and Jessica were involved in a game of what looked like kill-the-Barbies-with-the-GI Joes. "Hey, guys." Zac flopped down on to the beanbag.

"Zac, you wanna play?" asked Avery, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Nah, Avie, you lot just keep playing."

"You sure?" asked Jessica, looking desperate.

Zac smiled. "I'm sure."

Jessica sighed. "Avie, can we kill my Barbie?"

"But Gisela is the bestest person in this!" protested Avery.

"Gisela?" asked Zac, raising his eyebrows.

"Avie named them," explained Jessica, rolling her eyes. "We've got Gisela, Ramona, Heavenly, Mercutio and, um…Pig Breath."

"Pig Breath?" Zac raised his eyebrows.

"That's s'posed to be Taylor," explained Avery.

Zac laughed. "They're lovely names, Avie. I'm sure Tay'll be flattered."

"Flattened, more like," muttered Jessica under her breath. "Zac, I dunno what you're laughing at. You're Ramona."

Zac snorted. "Okay…"

"Hey, Zaccy?"

"What, Mackie?"

"Put this on." Mackie rammed a yellow plastic builder's hat down on Zac's head.

Zac pushed it down properly, trying to make it stay on his too-big head. "Hey, how do I look?"

"Like one of the Village People," replied Jessica, rolling her eyes.

"YMCA," sang Zac. "It's fun to stay at the YMCA. You can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal, you can do whatever you feel…YMCA…"

"We get the picture, Zac."

Zac ignored her and continued singing, dancing out of the room. "Young man, there's no need to feel down, I said young man, pick yourself off the ground…"

He walked through the kitchen and out into the backyard.

"Zac! Long time no see, little buddy!" yelled Josh Hunter, holding up his hand.

Zac slapped him five. "Yo, Josh."

Taylor sniggered. "Zac, you on a renaissance trip or something?"

"Huh?" Zac looked down at his baggy blue jeans and checked shirt.

"You look like one of the Village People!"

Zac tutted, realizing that the builder's hat was still on his head. "Jessie said that too."

"What're the sprogs doing?" asked Isaac.

"Um, playing Murder On The Barbie Ferrari Express, I think. The Barbies, Gisela, Ramona and Heavenly have been taken hostage by the GI Joes, Mercutio and Pig Breath."

"Pig Breath?" Taylor stared at Zac in disbelief.

"That's you," Zac told him.

"Oh, great."

"I'm Ramona."

"Oh…better." Taylor ran his hands through his hair. "Zac, you up for some three on three?"

"Okay…me, Steven and you against Ike, Josh and Jon."

"No way!" protested Steven Saunders.

"Why not?"

"Well, Zac, we're thirteen, right?"

"Uh-huh…" Zac wasn't quite getting it.

"And Tay's sixteen."

"Yeah…"

"So we have a disadvantage, considering that Ike's team will have an eighteen-year-old, a seventeen-year-old and a sixteen-year-old."

"Ah. I get it. Okay, Hansons against non Hansons."

"Okay," Steven nodded.

For the next hour, the boys ran up and down the makeshift basketball court, both shooting in the same basket. After sixty minutes of furious play, they called it to a halt.

Final score: Hansons 20 - Non Hansons 25.

***


"Zac, come on!" Isaac pounded on the bathroom door. "I wanna brush my teeth! How long are you gonna be in there!"

"Ike, I'm next," protested Taylor.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I'm more urgent," replied Taylor.

"Tay, just cos you're the family pretty-boy doesn't mean you have God given rights to the bathroom whenever you want it! There are three of us, you know!" exploded Isaac.

Taylor sighed. "Ike, in case you haven't noticed, I'm ready. But I need to get into the bathroom, otherwise I'm gonna make a puddle on the floor."

Isaac blushed slightly. "Oh. Sorry."

Taylor smiled. He slapped the bathroom door. "Zac, come on!"

The door flew open and Zac stood in front of them.

Taylor and Isaac both exploded into coughing fits. The smell of CKone was overpowering.

"Zac, how much cologne are you wearing?" gasped Taylor.

"How do I look?" asked Zac, ignoring Taylor and spinning a full three sixty in the doorway.

"You look gorgeous. If I wasn't male I'd want to eat you," replied Taylor sarcastically. "Now, move! Please! Or I'm gonna pee on you!"

"Ugh." Zac shuddered and got out of the way. "Ike, do I look okay?"

Isaac looked Zac up and down. He was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a sunshine yellow dress shirt. His hair was slicked back neatly into a ponytail and the infamous yellow Docs were peeking out from under the jeans. "You look good, Zac. Who's all this for?"

Zac frowned, pretending to think, before screaming, "You!" and running into Isaac, wrapping his arms tightly around him.

Isaac disentangled himself from Zac. "Oh, Zac, I never knew you felt that way. Countless nights I have dreamed of this moment." He spoke in a heroine-type voice, all whispery, pretending to faint.

"Oh, Isaac, I doth love thee so much, yest we be star-cross'd lovers." Zac could barely keep from laughing.

"Zachary, Zachary, where fort art thou Zachary?" Isaac wrapped the curtain round his head like a veil.

That was it. The two of them dissolved into giggles and were still gasping for breath when a bemused Taylor reappeared from the bathroom. "Uh…if you two are finished declaring your undying love for one another, the bathroom's free." Giving his brothers another strange look, Taylor walked into the bedroom to put on his boots.

"Seriously, Zac," asked Isaac, after he'd steadied himself. "Who are you trying to impress?"

"Nobody," replied Zac truthfully. "I just wanted to look good for a change."

Isaac eyed him skeptically, but brushed past him into the bathroom anyway.

Five minutes later, the three of them thundered down the stairs. Mrs Hanson came out from the living room. "You all look great," she told them. "But who decided to use the entire perfume and cologne counter of a very large department store?"

"That would be Zac," replied Taylor. "There is now a world shortage of CKone."

Mrs Hanson laughed. "Okay, well, have a good time."

"Bye, Mom." All three of them kissed her on the cheek, then headed out to the car.

When they arrived at the Gibsons' house, the street was parked bumper to bumper with guests' cars.

"Whoa…where are we gonna park, Ike?" asked Taylor, peering out of the passenger window.

"This place is gonna be packed!" Zac's eyes widened.

Isaac finally found a parking space a little way down the block. "Okay, guys. We need to arrange a place and time to meet."

Taylor creased his brow. "What about…the bottom of the stairs at, say, midnight?"

"Is that when you turn into a pumpkin, Tay?" teased Isaac.

"No, but we want to keep your pumpkin secret safe, Ike," retorted Taylor.

Isaac smirked. "Okay, midnight at the bottom of the staircase." He climbed out of the car, and together they walked up to the door. "Now don't do anything I wouldn't do," he teased as he disappeared from view.

"Now, that's hardly giving us any restrictions at all," mumbled Taylor as Zac split as well, heading off to the rec. room with Steven Saunders and a couple of other guys.

***


Taylor looked at his watch. It blinked 9:30. God, have I really only been here for two hours? Seems like ages, he thought. This party had been a non-starter for Taylor. Isaac and Zac had both disappeared the minute they'd walked in the door, Isaac to the den with the 'older kids' and Zac to the rec. room, presumably to have some dumb video game contest. Taylor, meanwhile, had been sitting at the food table, not really talking to anyone. He had no idea where his friends were.

When you're feeling
Sad and low
We will take you
Where you wanna go

Smiling, dancing
Everything is free
All you need is
Positivity


The sounds of the Spice Girls drifted over his head, and Taylor found himself tapping along to the monotonous drumbeat of "Spice Up Your Life."

Colors of the world… spice up your life!
Every boy and every girl…spice up your life!
People of the world…spice up your life!
Aaaaahhhhhhh…

Slam it to the left, if you're having a good time,
Shake it to the right, if you know that you feel fine
Chicas to the front, ha, ha
Move it round…


Taylor rolled his eyes. According to this particular song, he shouldn't be slamming to the left or shaking to the right, or at the front, because he was neither having a good time, feeling fine nor was he a chica.

Yellow men in
Timbuktu
Colors for both
Me and you

Kung Fu fighting
Dancing queen
Tribal spacemen
And all that's in between


"Taylor?" purred a voice.

Taylor looked up. "Oh, hi, Katie."

"Having a good time?"

"Oh, yeah, a blast," he lied, smiling what he hoped was convincingly.

"Did you try the punch?"

"Uh, no." Taylor could see that Katie had obviously been trying the punch. Her eyes were unfocused and she appeared to be staggering everywhere.

"I did…it's great!" Katie giggled madly. "Taylor, I love you."

"Katie, are you okay?"

"I love you, Tay. I want you to do things to me… Things you've never done before…" She pushed her hand in between his legs.

Taylor sat there in shock for a split second before pushing Katie to the ground. "You're pathetic!" he spat.

"And you're a frigid loser!" she shot back, before turning round and throwing up under the table. Taylor shook his head and stomped out, sitting on the stairs.

"You okay?" asked another female voice.

Taylor turned round, prepared to tell the girl to mind her own business, but what he saw stopped him. There, standing in front of him, was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

***


Isaac and Rhia sat side by side on the couch. At the present moment, they were the only ones in the room. Josh and Neil had gone to get some drinks, Honey Perkins and Scott Allcorn had left to have an argument in private and Martin had gone to answer the door. He reappeared a minute later, with a huge guy by his side.

"Guys, I want you to meet Jake Ryan. Jake, this is Ike and Rhia. Jake's new in town. He was a star quarterback at his old school."

Oh great, thought Isaac. Jake the jock. "So, where'd you move from, Jake?" he asked aloud.

"Clearwater, Florida," replied Jake. He looked at Rhia, his eyes roaming up and down her body. "I didn't catch your name, Angel."

Isaac snorted. The guy would be lucky if Rhia didn't punch him out. She hated all things not politically correct, like guys calling her baby. And angel was worse…

"Rhiannon Davidson," giggled Rhia. "But call me Rhia."

Isaac did a double take. Rhia sounded almost girly.

"Are you sure your name's not Gillette?" Jake wiggled his eyebrows. "Cos you're the best a man can get."

Isaac rolled his eyes. Rhia was bound to slap him now.

But instead, she laughed, tossing her long blond hair over her shoulder.

Isaac looked at her in utter astonishment. This wasn't the Rhia Davidson he knew. Sure, she was dressed like a girl tonight, in a lovely gypsy style dress, in loose, flowing green material, which complimented her emerald eyes and blond hair, but usually, no matter whether Rhia was dressed in a prom dress or a pair of overalls, like she had been last night, she wouldn't take any crap like this from anyone, jock or no jock.

Jake plopped down on the sofa between Rhia and Isaac, leaving Ike hardly any room. Feeling majorly pissed off; he got to his feet and stomped out of the room.

He walked out into the hall, not quite sure where to go now. He decided to go into the kitchen, see if Josh and Neil were still there. But there was no sign of them. Sighing, Isaac slumped down in a chair. What was he going to do now? He rested his head in his folded arms. Then sat bolt upright again. He cocked his head, listening intently. He could hear sobbing coming from somewhere. He got to his feet and pulled open the door to the kitchen closet. There, sitting amongst all the mops and brooms, sat Honey Perkins, crying her eyes out.

"Honey?" asked Isaac. "What's wrong?" He walked into the closet, shutting the door behind him.

Honey was a mess. Her blonde, shoulder length hair, which had been swept up into an elegant chignon, was now falling in wisps and clumps around her face. Her blue eyes were ringed with black mascara and the makeup trailed down her cheeks too. Her tight, little black dress was rumpled and sitting at a funny angle.

Isaac sat down next to her and she collapsed into his arms, sobbing hysterically. "Scott…" she choked out.

"Scott? What happened?" he asked frantically. "Did he hit you?"

"Worse…"

"Ohmigod! He didn't…"

"Yeah. He finished with me." Honey looked up at him tearfully; mascara-tinted tears sliding down her cheeks.

Isaac let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He had thought she was going to say he'd raped her. "Oh, Honey…"

"It always happens to me, Ike," she cried. "Always. I fall for the wrong guys. Why can't anyone sweet like me? Someone, like, I dunno, you Ike. You're sweet and caring and kind, but would you ever fall for me? No!"

Isaac realized Honey was blabbering and not knowing what she was really saying. He wrapped his arms round her slim frame. "It's okay, Honey. Everything's okay…"

***


Taylor stared up at the girl beside him. "Uh, yeah, I'm okay."

The girl smiled, sitting down next to him. "Gabriella Young. But call me Gabbie." She extended her hand.

Taylor took it and shook it. "Taylor Hanson. But call me Tay."

"Ah, I met your brother last night. Ike, isn't it?"

"Yup."

"You look similar." Gabbie narrowed her eyes.

"Don't say that!" laughed Taylor. "Please!"

Gabbie smiled. "Nah, he's a nice guy."

"Yeah, he's cool," replied Taylor.

"So, Taylor Hanson, how come you're sitting out here all on your own?"

Taylor shrugged. "Nothing better to do."

Gabbie put her hand on his arm, and Taylor almost jumped out of his skin. He gazed down at the pale, pretty hand on the sleeve of his red shirt. He looked up into her eyes, almost feeling the electricity passing between then. This was the kind of thing you read about in bad romance novels, not the kind of thing that happened to you in real life. Besides, this girl must have been at least Ike's age, if not older. Why would she be interested in Taylor? "Do you want to dance?" he asked, almost instantly regretting it. Of course she wouldn't, and now he had ruined any chance he'd ever had of getting to know her.

"I'd love to," she breathed.

"You would?" Taylor's eyes almost fell out of his head.

"Sure."

Taylor took her hand and led her into the living room. Gone were the sounds of the Spice Girls, and in their place were the soft strains of Prince. Or Squiggle, or The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, or whatever the hell he was calling himself these days.

Could you be
The most beautiful girl in the world
It's plain to see
You're the reason that God made a girl


Taylor circled his arms around her waist and Gabbie wrapped her arms around his shoulders, leaning her head forward on his chest. Taylor's heart was racing.

Mmm…
When the day
Turns into the last day of all time
I can say
I hope you are in these arms of mine


Gabbie gazed up at him through her wispy fringe. Taylor brushed it back out of her eyes. She placed her hand on top of his and leaned in closer…

When the night
Falls before that day of crime I'll cry
Tears of joy
Cos after you all I can do is die


Taylor's lips brushed against Gabbie's and his heart froze, wondering how she would react. When she didn't protest, Taylor deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue in between her lips and teasing it around her mouth. Gabbie kissed back hard, her lips pushing frantically against Taylor's and her hands running all over his back.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Could you be (could you be)
The most beautiful girl in the world
Plain to see
You’re the reason that God made a girl

Oh, yes you are


***


"Are you okay?" asked Isaac, stroking Honey's shoulder lightly. For the past hour or so, they'd been sitting there, Isaac's arms wrapped around Honey while she cried, talked about Scott or cussed him out something awful. Isaac himself didn't mind this at all. Any excuse to be close to Honey; to breathe in her perfume, her scent, just to feel her in his arms.

Honey sniffed and nodded. "Thanks, Ike." She nestled her head into his shoulder.

"No problem." Isaac laid his head on top of hers, breathing in the apple scent of her shampoo. He had dreamed about this for almost three years now, and here he was, doing nothing about it.

Unexpectedly, Honey turned round and pecked him on the cheek.

Isaac absently brought his fingers up to where her soft lips had grazed his skin. He looked down into her huge, baby blue eyes, which were boring into his soft brown ones. Trembling, he leaned forward, pressing his lips gently against hers. Honey kissed back, shoving her tongue aggressively into his mouth, running it along his teeth and against the roof of his mouth. She brought her hand up to his face, stroking it gently while she kissed him. Isaac ran his hands up and down her back, finally resting on her lower back. Honey slid her hands round to the back of his head, tugging on his hair and a moan escaped Isaac's mouth. For some reason, having his hair yanked by someone other than his siblings was a turn-on for him.

Finally, Honey pulled back, wrapping her arms tightly round Isaac. "Wow," she breathed.

"Yeah, wow," agreed Isaac.

"That was…unreal…"

"I know…"

"Totally…" Honey pulled Isaac back down to her and began kissing his eyes, his nose, his mouth, then carried on down to his neck, nibbling in the hollow between his neck and his shoulder.

Isaac returned the favor, biting gently at her earlobe and working his way down to her own neck.

He honestly couldn't believe this. He could have sworn he was dreaming, except the occasional pain caused by Honey sucking on his neck told his it was real. Doing this with Honey Perkins had been something he'd been fantasizing about since maybe he was eight, but only really got deep when he was fifteen or sixteen. Now, here he was, up close and personal, looking like a scene from Basic Instinct.

Honey smelled great. A cross between apples, Cool Water Woman and Johnson's Baby Lotion or talcum powder, one of the two of them. There was also the smell of white musk in there somewhere, but Isaac wasn't sure how. They blended together to produce the most enticing aroma imaginable - very pleasing, very sensual and very, very sexy.

She also felt great, her loose, silky hair spilling down onto Isaac's hands, tickling them, as if urging him to play with it. The material of her dress made it easy for his hands to slide anywhere he wanted, but Isaac kept it respectable. He was too much of a gentleman to go any lower. But not too much of a gentleman to avoid going any further forward. He slipped his hands round to the front of her dress, holding on loosely to her chest, all the time kissing her like he'd never kissed anyone before.

***


Zac glanced at his watch again. Five past twelve. Where were Ike and Tay? Okay so he'd been a little late, having been caught up in a game of Tomb Raider with Corey Price, but surely they'd have waited on him. Zac sat down to wait, almost instantly regretting it.

"Hey, gorgeous!" giggled some brunette. "You like computers?"

Zac nodded dumbly.

"Well, let me turn your little floppy disk into a mega hard drive!" She draped her arms loosely around his shoulders.

Zac stared at her, wide-eyed and totally disgusted that anyone would go so low as to throw themselves around like that. He shook her off, and stood up to continue his wait.

He grabbed Josh as he went past. "Josh!"

"Hey, little buddy! Whassup?"

"I'm an abandoned child. You haven’t seen Ren and Stimpy, have you?"

Josh laughed. "Nah. I've not seen Tay all night, and Ike was gone when I went to get drinks. See ya later, Zac man!"

"Bye," muttered Zac.

Five minutes later, there was still no sign of them. Zac decided to go get a drink. He wandered back into the room, over to the food and drink table, which now resembled an animal trough on the farm. He managed somehow to find a can of Mountain Dew, popped it open and chugged it down. He weaved his way back out through the dancing couples, banging right into one couple who were practically digesting each other. "Sorry, man," he mumbled. He looked up at the guy. "Tay!"

Taylor reddened. "Zac!"

"Tay, we do have a curfew, you know. It's quarter past midnight!"

"Oh goody, you can tell the time, Zac! Remind me to give you a sticker when we get home. Run along now, there's a good kid. Buh bye, now." Taylor pulled Gabbie away and into a corner.

Zac sighed, wondering if he would ever get home. His eyes were starting to itch as a result of staring at the computer screen too long. Dragging his feet, he headed back to the staircase, where Isaac was waiting, with a face like thunder.

"Zac! Where the hell have you been?!" he demanded, brown eyes flashing.

"Me? What about you! I've been waiting since midnight, and I only went to get a drink!"

"Okay then, where's Tay?"

"Hmph! I just ran into him playing Casanova with some girl who looked old enough to be his, um, big sister." Zac crossed his arms. "So, can we go?"

"We need to wait on Tay."

"No, we don't." Taylor appeared behind them, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, look, it's Romeo Hanson! Romeo, Romeo, where fort art thou Romeo, Alpha, Delta, Lima, over." Zac rolled his eyes.

"When'd you learn the phonetic alphabet?" asked Isaac, looking down at Zac.

"I am a man of many talents," replied Zac. "But I'm a tired man of many talents. Can we go home now?" he whined.

Isaac sighed, located his car keys and then led the way out to the car.


Credit for music goes to:
the Spice Girls' "Spice Up Your Life"
and
TAFKAP's "Most Beautiful Girl In The World."



Chapter Three
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