Ike stood frozen as he stared at the magazine that Taylor was holding up. No! This can't be happening!
It was a copy of the Star. On the cover was a picture with Ike and Jenn in the hammock. His hand was up her shirt. The headline read 'ISAAC HANSON GETS MMMHAPPY.' Underneath that in a smaller font was, 'The Hanson brothers claim not to have girlfriends...but they're not as innocent as they seem...'
"How the fuck did those fuckers get that fucking picture?" Ike grabbed it from Taylor. He stared at the cover, his hands shaking violently.
Taylor sat down in a chair and sighed. "I don't know. Maybe someone snuck around to the back alley. We have that big tall fence there so no one can see in, but I think one of the boards was loose. Anyone could have seen through. They probably sold the pictures to the tabloids."
"Who......who could have done this to me?" Ike was shaking his head sadly. He dropped the paper to the floor.
Taylor attempted to question his brother. "Did you make anyone mad recently? Like did you piss them off enough to make them do this? Someone that knows where you live and knows about Jenn?"
"No........" Ike was on the floor with the magazine in his lap, his head was in his hands.
"Think Ike, think really hard. Are you sure?"
"I'm sure.......no wait....." Ike lifted his head. "Dammit! How could she do this?!"
"She? You know who did this?!" Taylor stood up.
Ike stood up too and grabbed his coat. He began walking towards the door.
Taylor followed. "Where are we going?"
"To Rachel's house."
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Jenn walked the 2 blocks down the street from her house to the 711. She was out of batteries for her discman. As she entered the story, she scanned the aisles for batteries. Batteries batteries batteries...where are those damn batteries....batteries batteries.....what the fuck?!!!!!!!!
She stood in shock for a few moments before closing her eyes tightly. I am not seeing this I am not seeing this....it's not real.....I'm going to wake up soon and I won't be here.....I won't be seeing this...
But when she opened her eyes, it was real. It wasn't a dream. Completely forgetting about the batteries, she grabbed the magazine off the shelf, paid for it, and ran home.
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Just as Ike and Taylor opened their front door, cameras flashed in their faces. They were bombarded by a dozen reporters.
"Mr. Hanson, what do you have to say about the pictures in the star?"
"Were you lying all along when you said that you don't have girlfriends?"
"Who is the girl in that picture, Mr. Hanson?"
Ike gritted his teeth. "I have no comment on those photos!"
He and Taylor managed to shove the door closed.
Ike groaned. "I really hate them. Why does the whole world have to care about my social life?"
"It's just the way it is. We chose that by becoming famous. We knew that this would happen, that our lives would be public knowledge, that we had to be careful." Taylor tried to console his brother.
"That doesn't mean I have to like those damn prying reporters," Ike huffed.
"I didn't say you had to like them. You just have to accept them."
Ike looked up and gave his brother a simple one word answer:
"No."
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Jenn sat on her kitchen floor. Her back was up against the counter, tears were dripping down her face.
"Why?" She wondered aloud. "Why me? Why do I have to be going out with the one guy that is watched over by the media? Why not some normal guy?"
She looked down at the magazine. She stood up and kicked it away. She knew why.
"Because I love him."
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Ike dialed Jenn's number and waited for her to pick up.
One ring.....
Two rings...
Please be home please be home please be home...
"Hello?" Jenn's voice was hoarse. She sounded like she had been crying.
"Jenn? I have something to tell you."
"Is it about a certain picture of a certain couple in a certain magazine?"
"You saw it?"
"I'm almost sorry I did. But yeah, I saw it."
"What are we going to do?"
Jenn swallowed hard. "I don't know."
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Zac sat curled up in a ball in the corner of his room. As soon as Taylor had walked in with the magazine, he had paniced. Ike was just calm and sad, too worried for anger. Taylor was furious, and wondering if they knew about Alexandra too.
But Zac didn't know what to do. Was this the end? He knew it was just a tabloid, but fans were still bound to see it, and those pictures were so evident. Zac bit his lip. All the fans would hate Hanson if they knew that all three band members had girlfriends.
As much as I hate to admit it, without all those goddamn teenyboppers, we're nothing. They're the reason why my family doesn't have to worry about money anymore.
But they're also the reason why I'm not supposed to have a girlfriend. The reason why I have to keep her a secret. The reason why I have to take sleeping pills. The reason why I can't be myself in public, in case someone should see me. At first playing the drums was awesome, all the exhileration and excitement, jamming with my brothers, for fun. But it's not about fun anymore. It's about money, it's about the media, it's about our "image." I hate rehearsing for hours everyday; the same songs over and over. I hate having to watch myself constantly, never having enough privacy, always worrying about what they'll think of me, trying to please the company, always doing what they say.
Zac stood up and sighed. He crossed the room and paused at the door. "That's fame."
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"Jenn, I need to see you. I can't get out of here, because they're looking for me. Can you come over, if you're careful?"
Jenn hesitated. "Ike....I'm not sure....."
"Just where a hat and sunglasses and come around through the back."
"Well, okay. I'll be there in 5 minutes."
Ike and Taylor sat at the kitchen table, waiting for Jenn to knock on the back door. Ike looked up when Zac came down the stairs. Zac looked disturbed. He had a blank look on his face, and he appeared much more tired than usual.
"Are you okay?" Ike watched his brother sit down in the chair across from him.
After a few moments, Zac mumbled, "Yeah."
Taylor had a worried look on his face. Should I call Alex? What if they have pictures of her too?
There was a knock on the back door. Ike sprang up and flung it open.
"Ike!" Jenn threw her arms around his neck and kissed him as if she was never going to see him again.
When they parted, she pulled off her hat and sunglasses, and sat down at the table. She looked across from her at Zac. "You okay Zaccy?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Zac managed a weak smile. It seemed to Jenn that he was taking the photos the hardest of all of them.
"Where are my parents?" Ike wondered aloud.
Jenn looked up with surprise. "You mean they're not here?"
"They went to visit a friend in Jenks. They took Jess, Avie, Mackie, and Zoe with them."
Taylor asked, "Do you think they know about the photos?"
"Maybe. They should be home soon though," Ike told him.
The front door opened. Zac stiffened and shut his eyes tightly. It's them, it's the reporters....
Taylor, Ike, and Jenn got up and went through the hall to the door. They knew it was Walker and Diana returning from Jenks, along with the little Hanson kids.
Zac didn't know that. He told himself it was the reporters. They knew about Aurora, someone had looked in the window the other day when they had sex. They knew. They knew everything. They'd take her away from him.....
Zac passed out onto the kitchen floor.
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Rachel glanced up at the camera on her shelf. Maybe she shouldn't have done that.....she might have ruined his life.....his fame....his love. He might not succeed in the music business because of her. The fans might reject him because he has a girlfriend. He'd no longer be a teen idol, a pretend boyfriend possibility to them. He'd be so unhappy.
She remembered what he and his bitch had done to her.
A wicked smile appeared on her face.
Good.
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"Zachary! Sweetie, wake up!" Mrs. Hanson shook her son.
Walker came over and splashed a glass of water over his face.
Slowly, Zac awoke.
"Honey, are you okay? What happened?" Mrs. Hanson cradled her son in her arms.
Zac wriggled away. "Mom! I'm okay now!" He looked a little better. He was relieved to see that it wasn't the reporters, only his family.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I'm fine!" Zac insisted.
"All right, but if you need anything, you had better tell me. I'm going to be keeping my eye on you...."
Zac rolled his eyes. Great....just what I need. Another person watching me.
Diana walked into the livingroom to speak with her husband. "Walker, I think we may have a problem with Zac."
"I think so too."
"He's acting just like he was on the promo tour last year, it's starting up again. The doctor said it would go away, and it did--- for a while, but now I'm really worried about him. Do you think, maybe.....we should put him back on his medication?"
Walker rubbed his forehead. "No, I don't want to do that. Our son isn't crazy. He just gets a little out of hand sometimes......"
"And then all of a sudden he gets extremely depressed and he won't talk to anyone!"
"I don't want to put him on those pills unless it is absolutely necessary."
"All right, but we need to be careful. He has way too much stress for a 13 year old boy."
"It's a package deal, and he knows that. I'll tell you what," Walker took his wife's hands into his. "If anything else happens, we'll put him back on the medication, no questions asked. But for now, I want to see if he can get along without it. Maybe this will just pass over.
"I hope so."
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Jenn, Ike, Taylor, and Zac sat at the kitchen table, talking quietly.
"I'm guessing mom and dad don't know about the pictures, huh?" Taylor asked.
"Apparently, they don't. Otherwise they'd be going crazy now," Ike answered.
"How're we going to tell them?" Zac spoke up in a quiet voice.
Jenn glanced sideways at him. "However we do it, it's not going to be me who has to tell them. One of their lovely goody-goody sons has to do it."
"Okay," Taylor looked at each of his brothers, "which one of us?"
Zac looked up. "Ike should do it. He's the one in the pictures." His voice was soft.
"But I'll be in enough trouble as it is! Can't one of you help me out here?" Ike pleaded.
Silence from Taylor and Zac. They looked at eachother. Taylor could tell that Zac wasn't backing down. Finally, he sighed. "I'll do it." Tay grabbed the magazine and went into the livingroom.
"Mom, dad, I have something to show you."
"Okay, Taylor, go ahead." Diana looked at her son expectantly.
"But you have to promise not to freak out, okay?"
"All right."
"Do you swear?"
Walker grew impatient. "Taylor what is it?"
Slowly, Taylor revealed the Star, and the pictures on the cover. His parents gasped in unison.
Mr. Hanson stood up. "ISAAC!!!"
Ike appeared in the doorway. "Yes?" He squeaked.
Diana tried to remain calm. "How did they get those pictures?"
"Well, you see, Jenn and I were uh, you know, and uh, this girl Rachel likes me but she's crazy and stuff, like really bad," Ike stammered, "and you see, she uh, took the pictures through the crack in the fence, and um I guess she must have sold them to the Star."
"Well obviously!" Walker paced the room. "I can't believe this!" He was trying his best to hold onto his sanity.
"There were a bunch of reporters at the front door, I couldn't go outside...." Ike hoped they wouldn't get any more angry than they already were.
"They weren't there when we came home," Diana responded.
"I think the police cleared them away," Ike said.
"Well what are we going to do about this?" Mr. Hanson gripped the edge of the couch tightly. His knuckles turned white.
Ike looked at his parents. They were so concerned, so worried about the lives of their sons. Ike concluded that it was the right thing to do. "Jenn and I have made a decision.........."
All The Way To Albertane
You Are My Hope
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