Dinner was the hardest time of the day. All of us were forced to sit around one table, trying to talk pleasantly with Gabby and Ike, who were obviously avoiding each other. I walked into the dining room to find Taylor and Ike talking quietly.
"Hey guys," I said. They immediately grew silent and smiled at me mischievously.
"Hi," they responded.
"Okay, what's the secret?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
"Can't tell," Ike winked. Taylor nodded. I sighed and shook my head, knowing I wouldn't find out. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the silverware, quickly spreading it around the big table.
"Smells good in here," Zac commented, coming in with Gabby.
"I hope it tastes as good," Celine laughed back from the other room. There was a brief uncomfortable silence as Ike and Gabby avoided each other's eyes. Then Diana walked in and ushered us over to the table. I took a seat next to Zac with Gabby across from me. Diana and Mia sat on either side of her. Zac pulled Taylor down next to him, and Ike sat at one head and Rene occupied the other.
Celine entered, placing a delicious platter in the center and took her place between Rene and me. The little kids were eating with Walker in the kitchen.
"Shall we say a grace?" Celine asked. We all nodded and Zac, Celine and I joined hands. Zac warmly squeezed my hand. I smiled at him.
"You know," Taylor started, "Ike, Zac and I used to sing grace."
"Oh, please do," I begged. So Ike, Taylor and Zac started in in three part harmony. Celine soon picked it up and joined in, singing harmony an octave higher. They ended in a beautiful, gentle, peacefully quiet "Amen".
"That was gorgeous," I sighed. We started passing the food around.
"Boy, I'm starving," Zac commented, grabbing the platter. "What are the rest of you planning to have?"
I laughed, grabbing the food away from him. "How could you possibly eat anywhere near that much after snitching all those Twinkies?"
"Zac," Diana warned. Zac turned and gave me a goofy glare. I fake-winced.
"Whoops, was that supposed to be a secret?" Everyone laughed. Soon we were all stuffing down Celine's great meal. The table grew quiet as no one knew what to talk about. Gabby usually didn't speak at the table unless someone asked her a question.
"So, how were lessons today?" Rene asked.
"Fine," we all muttered casually. Silence prevailed. I noticed Celine eyeing Rene.
"Guys, I have an announcement to make," Celine said quietly. We all paused and looked at her, not knowing whether this would be good or not. Celine looked from one anxious face to another and a smile burst onto her face. "I'm going to have a baby!"
"What?!" I jumped up.
"Yup," Celine laughed. I reached over and gave her a huge hug.
"You've wanted this for so long," I whispered. "I'm so proud of you."
Tears came to Celine's eyes. "You've been the child that I couldn't have all these years. You'll always be my second child at heart."
I smiled, tears coming to my eyes now too. "Celine, you've done so much for me. We wouldn't all be sitting here together if it wasn't for you."
"Cheers!" Diana called. We all lifted our glasses.
"Cheers!" we all shouted. And for a moment, everything was right, our troubles forgotten…
As usual, I couldn't sleep. The wind grabbed at the trees outside and washed through my cracked window. I wondered if it was going to rain. The dark night beckoned, so I slipped out of bed and headed out onto the patio downstairs. I looked up and noticed a starless sky covered by thick, dark clouds. Shutting the door behind me, I began to stroll along the paths. Soon I cut cross-country over the grassy hillsides away from the house.
My loose hair had begun to cling, then whip around my face as gusts of wind flew across the hills. I brushed it out of my eyes and continued on, basking in the wild delight of the growing storm. At first, a few silent drops of rain fell, then grew heavier. I smiled and danced in the downpour.
"Free!" I shouted to the sky. "I'm as free as the rain!" I began to run and twirl in the soaking waterfall of droplets. My heart skipped a beat, and I stopped dead as a flash of lightning cut through the curtain of black, followed by an earsplitting roll of thunder. I hated lightning! With a new burst of speed, I ran from the top of the hill to a lower area. More lightning crackled around me. Turning around in circles, I tried to remember which direction the house was, but my memory failed. I scurried up to the top of the hill again, but the house was out of sight. Cursing, I started off along the ridge, but soon became afraid that I was going the wrong direction.
It didn't seem possible, but the rain fell even harder and the thunder and lightning grew even closer. I also noticed a dramatic drop in temperature, my wet body beginning to shiver as the cold penetrated through. Knowing I was desperately lost, I stumbled on, not knowing where to go.
"Zac!" I screamed, knowing he couldn't hear, but I was so desperate, I didn't care. "Zac!" my lungs strained, but nothing answered except a crash of thunder.
I awoke to hear thunder surrounding me. Man, I thought. This is some storm. Rolling over, I tried to fall back asleep, but the loud crashes and some strange other feeling wouldn't let me.
I headed down to the kitchen to see if a Ding-Dong would make me feel better. I snatched two, eating one and stuffing the other in my boxer pocket. On the way out, I noticed that the door was unlocked. I twisted the door to lock it, but suddenly realized Ellie's tennis shoes were gone. All my instincts told me she was out in this. Grabbing a coat, I raced out after her, slamming the door behind me.
I stumbled out against the wind, not knowing where to go first. I started off across the course, letting my heart lead me on. The wind and rain sliced at my face, but I still began to yell. "Ellie!" I shouted. "Answer me, Ellie, please!"
After minutes that seemed like hours had passed, I began to lose hope. Suddenly, I heard a shout and, running toward the sound, I slammed right into Ellie, knocking us both onto the ground.
"Oh, Zac," she exclaimed. "How did you find me?"
"I'll tell you later. Come on. We nee to get back." I put my arm around Ellie's shoulders and we trudged back to the house. On the patio, we tried to shake ourselves dry. I went over to open the door, but to my dismay, I remembered I had locked it.
"Oh, shoot," I muttered, my hope plummeting.
"My window," Ellie said. "It was left open."
"Hurry." I clung to Ellie as we went around the house and managed to hoist ourselves up to the balcony underneath the window. Our two drenched bodies plopped down to the floor.
"Geez," Ellie whispered. "That was lucky." I nodded. "Boy, I'm starving."
"Here." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Ding-Dong. We both eyed the soaking mess and decided to go to the kitchen instead. I left Ellie to change while I started some hot chocolate. A few minutes later, Ellie joined me in a bathrobe.
"You look beautiful," I said, brushing a strand of wet hair from her face.
"Oh, come on," Ellie laughed.
"No, really," I said seriously.
"Okay, whatever. I'll go along with that." Ellie sat down and we quietly sipped our hot chocolate.
"Hey, Celine," I said the next morning, coming into the kitchen.
"Hi, Taylor!" Celine came over to me as I grabbed a glass for some milk. "Um…your mom told me that she found out you kissed Gabby."
"Yeah, I did," I said. "Ike is really mad at me."
"Did you mean to kiss her?" Celine asked.
"No…it just sorta happened. She looked so upset…I only meant to give her a hug, and then I kissed her, and she told me to go away. And now Ike is so mad at everyone. Celine, I have to do something. You have to help me!"
"Taylor, there's nothing we can do. Ike and Gabby are incredibly stubborn. Neither one of them will admit that they were wrong or that they still like each other."
"He wouldn't sing More Than Anything last night, but as we were going to bed, I heard him humming it under his breath." I dropped my head onto the table, completely miserable. If I felt this bad, how were Ike and Gabby feeling?
Smiling, I entered the room, and to my surprise, Isaac was alone. We looked at each other for a moment. I wanted to admit I was wrong!
Finally, the strain was too much. "I'm so sorry, Gabby," I heard Isaac whisper.
"Me too." I ran over to him and melted into his arms. I pulled away and our heads started moving together…
My eyes snapped open. It took me a moment to realize it had only been a dream. More Than Anything suddenly popped into my head, and I hummed it as I woke up.
Ellie's clothes were on the floor in the bathroom. I knelt to pick them up, finding them slightly damp. I turned towards the mirror and saw another pile of clothes.
"Oh, my God!" I whispered, Ellie's clothes dropping from my hand. I flew downstairs to the kitchen, where Taylor and Celine were talking. I grabbed Taylor and pulled him into the living room.
"Hey!" Taylor said, annoyed.
"You need to see this." I dragged him upstairs into the bathroom. "Please tell me these clothes aren't Zac's."
Taylor studied them for a moment. "They're soaked! But they are Zac's."
"Oh my God!" Taylor looked at me. "Tay…Ellie's clothes are right here, and they're wet too!"
Taylor's face fell, as did Zac's clothes. "You don't mean…no, it couldn't be!"
Just then, Celine pushed the door open. "What's going on?" she demanded. I shoved the clothes behind me, trying to hide them, but I should have known better than to try and hide something from Celine. She reached around me and picked the clothes up.
"Uh oh," I murmured as Celine took one look at the clothes and flew out of the room, calling at the top of her lungs, "Ellie, get down here right now!"
"I never would've thought," I whispered.
Taylor wagged his head. "My little brother…he's only 13!"
I grabbed Taylor's arm and we crept around the corner to hear what would happen. Ellie stumbled down the stairs, looking like she hadn't slept much the night before. Dead giveaway, I thought, suddenly pitying Ellie for what she was in for from Celine. Celine thrust the clothes in front of Ellie's face. Ellie gave a genuine laugh and said, "Oops, we must have been too tired to put those in the laundry."
Ellie wasn't even trying to deny it! Celine's face grew even angrier if that was possible. "Just because you're almost 16 doesn't give any reason to do something like this, young lady."
Suddenly, a light went off in Ellie's eyes. "No, no!" she exclaimed. "It wasn't like that…"
"I don't care what it was like! I just know that it was wrong!"
"I'm sorry that…"
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Eleanor."
"No!" Ellie was near tears. "You think I would do something like that," she mumbled incoherently.
"I think we need to go talk to your mother about this," Celine said, leading Ellie toward the stairs.
"Please, no!" Ellie shouted.
Suddenly, Zac came out of his room and hurried to Ellie. "What's the matter?" he asked, concerned.
"You might as well come with us," Celine said.
"Me? Huh? What's going on?" Zac became confused.
"I think you know well enough," Celine commented. Zac looked over and met Ellie's eyes as Diana and Mia emerged.
Oh, no, I thought. This was about to get drastically worse.
"What's going on?" Diana asked.
"These were found in the bathroom this morning." Celine handed Diana the clothes. Diana and Mia's jaws dropped and, in the next moment, Diana had dragged Zac off to her room, and Celine and Mia had disappeared with Ellie.
I looked at Taylor. "I really can't believe this," I said, shocked.
"Maybe we should go outside until things cool down a little," Taylor suggested.
"I think so," I agreed. The two of us hurried for the door.
