Meanwhile at the Hanson household, Zac was acting especially hyper and jumpy that day. He had woken up bright and early at 6:00AM that morning, showered, dressed, ate breakfast, and just ran around the house all day. It was quite obvious he was very excited and looking forward to something. Now it was noon, and Zac was still running around nonstop.
Walker sat at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. Diana was clearing the table and washing the dishes.
Just then, Zac swooped into the kitchen, tearing across the kitchen, past the table. He was waving his arms around wildly, with a huge grin on his face.
"Hi mom! Hi dad!" Zac yelled happily, as he whizzed out of the kitchen, just as quickly as he had burst into the kitchen.
Walker looked up from his newspaper and raised his eyebrows. "Diana, is it just me, or is Zac being a bit too rowdy? I think Zac is a little too active today."
"Well, Walker, when has Zac not been so hyper?" Diana replied with a smile, as she cleared away the last of the dirty dishes from the table, and carried them over to the sink. "He's always been this way."
Walker smiled and shook his head. "True, I know, but.....it's just that Zac is acting a lot more hyper today in particular, for some reason. Do you have any idea why?"
"I suppose it has to do with the fact that Lucy Cambridge is coming over today for a sleepover," Diana remarked with a chuckle.
"Oh, really?" Walker looked interested. "Is that so?"
Diana nodded. "As a matter of fact, it is." She shook her head and smiled. "Those two kids hit it off right away yesterday. They have a lot in common, and they're both active kids. I'm glad Zac's made a new friend."
Walker laughed. "Well, I guess you're right. I can't say that I'm not happy he's befriended Lucy."
"They're very cute together," Diana commented. "It's very interesting to see them together. You never know what could happen when they're both put in the same room!"
"Coming through, coming through!" Zac shouted, as he came hurdling through the room at warp speed again, and ran smack into Diana.
"Oof," Zac grunted. He looked up at Diana's not-too-pleased face. "Oh, hi mom." He grinned innocently up at her.
"Zachary!" Diana scolded. "Hold your horses; slow down there. My goodness, you are so excited today. Just calm down, all right?"
Zac smiled brightly. "I can't calm down! I'm just so happy right now! Lucy's coming over any minute now, and I can't wait! We're gonna have the best time ever!"
Diana laughed. "Well, I certainly believe that!"
Zac grinned. "Yep!" With that, he pulled out of his mother's grip, and ran back out of the kitchen.
Zac ran towards the den, and raced inside. Taylor was on the sofa reading a book.
"Hey Tay!!" Zac yelled loudly. "Guess what??!"
Taylor jumped in surprise, dropping his book. "Ahh!! What?!" he cried out in surprise.
Zac took a step away from Taylor. "Geez, Tay; sooorrrry. Didn't know you were so uptight today."
Taylor glared at Zac. "I'm not uptight; I'm just trying to have some peace and quiet. If anyone around here is uptight, it's you." He shook his head, as he picked up his book. "I've seen some crazy people in my life, but you take the cake; that's for sure."
Zac shrugged. "Oh well; whatever. Anyway, so, you know what today is??"
"Saturday," Taylor replied flatly, as he turned a page in his book.
Zac rolled his eyes, and let out an impatient sigh. "No, dummy; I kinda know today's Saturday. I meant, do you know what's happening today??"
"You mean, apart from the fact that you're bothering me??" Taylor demanded irritably, looking extremely annoyed.
Zac nodded. "Yeah!"
Taylor rolled his eyes. "Okay, what, Zac? You know, I'm really not in the mood to hear you go on and on about the stupidest little things going on in your silly little life that give you a thrill, since I actually have a life, and I have much better things to do. And, as you may or may not have noticed, I'm busy right now doing something, and here you are barging in on my space, ruining my peace, and bugging the heck out of me--"
"Lucy's coming over today!" Zac exclaimed happily, not caring that he interrupted Taylor's monologue.
Taylor gave Zac a blank look. "Fascinating," he said sarcastically. "Really. Big whoop." With that, Taylor turned back to his book, and resumed reading.
Zac stared at Taylor for a moment; not being able to believe how completely oblivious his older brother was to the exciting fact that Lucy would be coming over to spend the day with him. Finally, Zac just shook his head in disbelief and rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, man! You're a boring weirdo; I can't talk to you about anything exciting, since all you care about are boring stuff. Geez, what a pathetic loser," Zac declared disgustedly. He turned on his heel, and stomped out of the room.
Zac entered the living room, and plopped down onto the middle of the couch. He sat back, crossed his arms, and let out an annoyed sigh.
"Hmmphm.....stupid Taylor.....just because I'm basking away in my happiness doesn't mean that he has to be a moody jerk and spoil my good mood," Zac muttered grumpily.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Zac sat straight up, and glanced from side to side. Then, he jumped up and bolted over towards the front door.
"I'll get it, I'll get it!!" Zac shouted, as he ran madly over to the front door, grabbed the doorknob, and threw open the door. A huge smile spread across his face.
"LUCY!!!" Zac screamed happily.
Lucy stood at the front door, wearing oversized baggy, wide-leg dark blue jeans, and a yellow long-sleeved t-shirt. She had an overnight bag slung over her left shoulder, and her rolled-up sleeping bag tucked under her right arm.
"Hey Lucy!" Zac exclaimed happily.
Lucy grinned back. "Hey yourself, Zac."
Zac smiled and nodded. He leaned against the right side of the doorframe casually, and grinned at her.
Lucy glanced from side to side out of the corners of her eyes. "Well.....can I come in or not??" She gave him a pointed look.
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure; of course! Come in, come in, come in," Zac said quickly, as he shooed Lucy inside the Hanson house, not bothering to shut the front door, leaving it wide open.
Lucy looked around. "Where should I put my stuff?"
"Oh, you can put that in my room. Here, come on." Zac headed down the hall with Lucy following behind. He pushed open the door to his room.
"You can just put that stuff anywhere," Zac replied lightly, as he sauntered into his room, carefully stepping over a Gameboy lying on the floor.
Lucy shrugged. "Okay." She dropped her duffel bag and sleeping bag on the floor in a heap. She glanced around the room.
"So, this is your room..." Lucy mused, as she scrutinized the cluttered room.
Zac nodded. "Yep! Well, I mean, actually, I share this room with Tay and Ike too, so I guess you could say a third of this room is mine; if you wanna get all technical and all."
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "You hafta share a room with your brothers?" She shook her head. "Man, that must suck big time."
Zac rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it!" He fell back onto his trundle bed. "Believe me, I'd much rather have my own room, than share with them!" He wrinkled his nose. "It's too crowded in here."
"Well, maybe it wouldn't be so crowded if you tried keeping this place a tad bit more tidy," Lucy said sarcastically.
Zac made a face. "Look who's talking! Speak for yourself, Miss I-have-a-messy-room-too!"
Lucy grinned sheepishly. "Well, what can I say; we all can't be neat freaks, I guess!"
Zac laughed. "Yeah; you and me both, Luce!"
"Hey, can I see your tree house?" Lucy asked suddenly.
"Oh yeah, sure! Great idea!" Zac jumped up from his trundle bed. "Come on, let's go take a looksie!" He dashed out of the room, with Lucy running to keep up.
Zac led the way out to the backyard, towards a big tree with a wide trunk. A wooden tree house was perched up on the tree, with a ladder leading up to the entrance.
"This is our tree house," Zac said proudly, as he patted the tree trunk of the treehouse.
Lucy stared up at the tree house. "Cool."
"Here; come on. Let's go up," Zac suggested. He hoisted himself onto the ladder, and made his way up. Lucy followed behind.
"Wow," Lucy commented, as she reached the top of the tree house. She nodded as she looked around. "Not bad."
Zac grinned. "Yep." He sat back against the wall of the tree house, stretched his legs out, and rested his hands behind his head.
Lucy slowly turned around in a clockwise circle as she peered up at the ceiling of the treehouse. "This is cool," she mused slowly.
Just then, a faint call drifted up to the tree house; meeting Lucy and Zac's attentions.
"Umm.......what was that? Did you hear something?" Lucy asked uncertainly.
Zac frowned. "I-I don't know. Wait a sec....."
"Ohh, Zaaaac. Ohhhhh, Zaaaaaaaaaaac? Ohhhh, Zachary Walker Hanson......are you up there?" A voice called out in an annoying tone of voice.
Zac rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. "Oh, no," he muttered. He covered his eyes with his left hand. "Man, just go away."
"What? What is it? Who is that, anyway?" Lucy asked, making a face, as the voice continued to whine for Zac.
"Believe me, you don't wanna know," Zac said with another sigh.
Lucy gave him a questioning look. "Uhh.....really?" she asked doubtfully.
"Yeah." Zac nodded grimly. "Really."
...`,';- Chapter 13 -;',`...
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