"Yuck, what's that?" she asked Zac.
"Rice bubbles," Zac casually replied."No it's not," Avery protested.
"Yeah, it is," he protested back."Then why is it brown?" she asked.
"Because of the chocolate sauce," Zac answered.
"Yum!" Avery said, her face lighting up. "Can I have some?"
"No," he replied.
"Why not?" she asked, a little hurt expression on her face.
"Cos it's mine, anyway, you won't like it," he said.
"Yeah, I will, I love chocolate sauce," Avery assured.
"You sure?" Zac asked. Avery vigorously nodded her head.
"Okay, but don't blame me if you don't like it," Zac said, handing his sister his spoon.
" I don't want your spoon," she whined.
"Why not?" Zac asked.
"Cos you've slobbed all over it," she said.
"So, how do know I haven't slobbed all through my rice bubbles?" Zac said, a small grin on his face.
"Yuck!" Avery let out, as Zac pretended to spit in his cereal. "Gross, I don't want any any more".
"Fine," answered Zac scooping up some of his food with his spoon. "You're loss," he said as he shoved his spoon into his mouth. Avery just stared at him, her face crinkled up in disgust.
"Gross," she said.
"Not it's not, it's my spit. You suck your spit all the time," Zac said.
"Do not!" Avery shot back."Do so," Zac said."Do not," she persisted.
"Yes you do, anyway, Tay and Sarah suck each other's spit all the time too," Zac said with a grin.Taylor looked up from the magazine he was reading on the table.
"Shut up Zac," he said bitterly. Everyone looked over and Taylor, shocked that he had taken the remark so personally.
"Sorry," Zac mumbled and went back to his cereal. Avery just stood by the bench, confused.
"Ok, so what time are we picking everyone up today?" Mrs Hanson, Diana, asked walking into the kitchen.
"Steve and Casey have to be picked up at 9.30," Ike said.
"And Jason, Mike and Josh have to picked up at 9.30 too," added Zac, who had finished his cereal and put his bowl in the sink.
"Ah, rinse that please," Diana said pointing to his bowl. Zac sighed, but then walked over to the sink and started rinsing his plate.
"Where are we going?" asked Avery.
"They're going to a concert," Jessica told her sister.
"A concert? Can I come?" Avery asked, her face lighting up.
"No, sorry hon, not to this one," Diana said pouring herself a glass of juice.
"Why not?" Avery asked, putting on a big pout.
"Because honey, we don9t have any tickets. We'll all get tickets and go to the next one, ok?" Diana suggested.
"How come they got tickets and we didn't?" Avery asked.
"Cos we bought them," Ike said, taking his plate to the sink.
"Look Avie, why don't I take you, Jess, Mackie and Zoe shopping while the boys are at their concert ok?" Diana offered.Avery thought about it for a while.
"Ok," she replied.
"Ok, so we have to pick up Steve, Casey, Josh, Mike and who else?" Diana asked.
"Jason!" Zac called as he ran out of the kitchen.
"Jason, that's right. Oh, Tay, what time are we picking up Sarah?" she asked Taylor who was still reading.
Taylor looked up from his magazine. "What?" he asked.
"What time do we have to pick up Sarah?" Diana repeated.
"We're not," Taylor said, looking back to his reading.
"Well, if she's getting a lift with Jenny, make sure you've made a place to meet or else you'll never find her," she said.
"She's not getting a lift with Jenny," Taylor said still looking at hismagazine.
"Then who's she going with?" she asked.
"She's not going at all," Taylor said.
"What do you mean? Why? What happened?" Diana asked, confused.
"Nothing happened, she's just not coming, she's busy," Taylor assured as if it was no big deal.
"But you planned this weeks ago, how can she be busy?" she asked.
"She has an assignment to do, ok? It's not her fault," Taylor said.
Diana sighed, "Well, what are you going to do with her ticket now?"
"I don't know, sell it, give it to someone else, who cares?" Taylor said standing up from the table and taking his glass over to the sink.
"Ok, well, I just think Sarah could've planned her time better, that's all," Diana said.
"It's not her fault, I told you she had an assignment due," Taylor repeated. Ike, Jess and Avery gradually had left the kitchen so Diana and Taylor were now alone.
Diana looked at her son sympathetically, "You sure everything is ok between you two?" she asked in a sweet voice.
"Yeah, everything's fine, why wouldn't it be?" Taylor said looking straight at his mum.
"It's just that I've noticed she's had quite a few unexpected assignments to do lately, and they all seem to be causing a lot of date-breaking," Diana said. Taylor looked away from his mum's stare, but then back at her again.
"Everything's fine, Sarah just cares a lot about her marks and stuff. It doesn't matter," he said.
"Yes it does," Diana corrected him. "You can't have a relationship unless you're both willing to make it work".
"She is willing to make it work, I mean we both are," Taylor quickly replied.
"Ok, just make sure you're both happy," she said.
"We are," Taylor lied. He knew something was wrong between him and Sarah, he just didn't want to admit it, especially to his mum. But he got the feeling that his mum knew he was lying too.
