Standing In The Shadows

"Chris! It's good to see you again!" the bubbly blonde-haired woman who stood before me gushed, hugging Chris tightly.

"Yeah; glad to see you too, Diana," Chris replied, smiling. I peered into the house. My first assumption was correct. It was cozy. Unlike back in Topeka. That house . . . it was so empty. Not literally, mind you. Its aura was filled with nothingness.

"Diana, I'd like you to meet Summer Cassidy," Chris said, as he and Diana Hanson pulled apart.

The blonde-haired woman stared at me for a moment, before a wide smile appeared upon her lips.

"It's nice to meet you!" she said cheerfully, "I'm Diana. Diana Hanson," Diana stuck her hand out for me to shake. I took it obligingly.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hanson," I said politely, already knowing I had gotten on her good side with my manners.

"Diana, is Walker home?" Chris questioned, looking around. Walker, I could only presume, was Diana's husband.

"Yes, he is. He's in the study confirming the bookings for next week," replied Diana with that smile that seemed to never leave her mouth.

"Oh, good. I wanted to talk to you and him about something,"

That something, most likely being me.

"Sure. You know where the study is, right?"

Chris nodded, then turned to face me, "Summer, you wanna stay here while I talk to Diana and Walker? I won't be too long,"

"I'll be fine," I said quietly, taking a seat on the couch, placing my bag at my feet.

"Would you like me to send the boys up for company? They're in the basement practising," Diana offered.

I could only guess that 'the boys' meant the three eldest who were in that band Chris said he was managing. I could hear their music flowing through the house, no matter how far down the basement was or how many other sounds there were, the drums dominated it all. I wasn't really in the mood to meet new people, all I wanted was a place to crash - needless to say, the couch and the car were not very good substitutes for beds.

"If they want to come," I replied politely.

"I'm sure they'd love to meet you, Summer!" Diana chirped before turning her head away and hollering, "Boys! Come up here! I want you to meet someone!"

Boy, did that woman have lungs! Within a matter of moments, the music came to a halt as I heard feet scampering up stairs. Before I knew it, I came face to face with three blond haired boys. Long blond haired boys. Chris motioned for me to stand up, which I did.

"Summer, this is Isaac, Taylor and Zachary," Chris introduced us.

"It's Zac!" the youngest one piped up suddenly with a wide gap toothed smile - God, was that expression hereditary? He had the lightest shade of blond hair, and it was tied back. He was adorable, what with his bubbly personality and all. Not that I liked people who were too freakin' happy.

"Sorry, Zac," Chris chortled, rolling his eyes.

The tallest, and probably oldest, one walked towards me, with an outstretched hand, "Hi. I'm Isaac," His hair was a darker shade of blond, and it was a little wavy. His eyes were deep brown. I'm sure he's broken a few million hearts already.

"Summer," I replied, shaking his hand. He grinned, revealing semi-crooked teeth, before taking a step back.

The middle one, whom I could only guess was Taylor, gave me a slight wave of his hand with a barely audible, "Hey,"

I could tell he was inspecting me - his piercing crystalline blue eyes were looking me over, as if criticizing or judging me by the way I looked. How superficial. I hated him already.

"Well, now that you know each other, why don't we go see Walker?" Diana said as she and Chris walked down the hall, leaving me with three boys who I knew nothing about.

Uncomfortably, I sat back down on the couch and leaned back, hoping Chris wasn't gone for too long.

"So, are you Chris' sister?" Isaac questioned, taking a seat beside me. I squirmed uneasily, descreetly moving over an inch or so. I wasn't comfortable being that close to a stranger. Chris was an exception.

"No, I'm not," I replied, shaking my head.

"Then who are you?" Zac asked, bouncing down on my other side. Great. Now I was trapped between the two of them. Better it be the both of them, than one of them and that Taylor guy. Geez, where did he get off staring at me like that?

"I'm . . . " How was I supposed to explain myself? Oh, yeah, hi. I'm a hitch-hiker your friend Chris picked up. Nice to meet you. No way.

"You're . . . ?" pressed Isaac.

"A friend," I lied. Hey, it was better than saying I was someone he barely even knew. After all, I don't think they would be very comfortable about an utter stranger sleeping under the same roof as them.

Silence surrounded us once more, and it was the first time I noticed that Taylor had taken a seat on the recliner and was channel surfing. His feet were propped up on the coffee table and his concentration was fully on the television in front of him. I know it was hypocritical of me to hate the guy when I barely knew him, but the way his eyes were burning through me . . . it were as if he was sending subliminal messages to me that I didn't belong, or I was an outcast. As if I needed more of that crap from people.

Before I knew it, Chris and Diana were in the room again, a tall brown haired man joined them. Was this Walker? Most likely it was. Who else could it be?

"Summer, this is my husband, Walker," Diana introduced me. Knowing the routine all too well, I stood up and shook Walker's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he greeted me, with a smile. Dang, that really did run in the family.

"You too," I let go of his hand and looked at Chris, hoping he would say that Diana and Walker were agreeing to what he had offered. He gave me a reassuring smile and a slight nod of his head. I mouthed 'thank you' and went to sit back down, between Zac and Isaac.

"Boys, show Summer the guestroom," Walker instructed.

"What?" Taylor spat out as the other two stood up with me.

"Summer's staying with us," Diana replied, not noticing her son's tone of voice, "For a while,"

There. Eat that, you annoying stuck up brat.

"But - "

"Now go on, show Summer her room," Walker interrupted Taylor.

Sighing defeatedly, Taylor began the trek up the stairs, with Isaac, Zac and I following not too close behind. We walked down a long corridor, passing several doors. We finally came to the last one down the long hallway.

"This is the guestroom, I hope you like it," Isaac said sweetly, opening the door. I gave him a brief smile as the four of us stepped in.

It was a simple, yet beautiful room. Nothing like mine back home. In Topeka, my room had everything I ever wanted, but I didn't like it at all. There was a television, a computer, a walk in closet, and everything else that would classify my lifestyle as one that included a whole load of money. This room was kind of the opposite. It was not as cluttered. The walls were light blue, the ceiling was white. There was a bed, with a dark blue comforter and white pillows, a white closet, and a dressing table. On the opposite wall to the bed, was a bookshelf which harbored hundreds of books, and the odd little statue. I liked this room. It reminded me of the childhood I never had.

"I like it," I said in awe, and in reply to Isaac's statement. He gave me a slight grin and a nod of his head.

I set my bag down on the bed and unzipped it. No wait - the Hansons were still in my room. I turned to face them and gave my most polite smile.

"Um . . . if you like, you can go now. I'll be fine. Really. I just need to unpack," I informed them.

"Are you sure? We could help you unpack!" Zac said enthusiastically, sitting on my bed. Oh yeah, I was liking him already. So full of cheerfulness. So full of energy. So full of pep . . . NOT.

"That's OK. Really, I'm fine. I think I can unpack on my own," I giggled.

"OK, then," Zac replied with a shrug, as he got off my bed.

"We'll see you downstairs?" asked Isaac, walking towards the stairs. I nodded as I watched them leave the room. Taylor walked out last, only to give me a dirty look, which I returned with a nasty sneer. Boy, was he turning out to be an asshole.

I leaned against the wall behind the head of the bed, and opened my journal, hoping to be able to have some time to write in it. Dinner had just finished, and it went by pretty smoothly, if you don't count the death stares Taylor and I were trading. Would someone please tell me what's his deal?

I also found how many more children were in the Hanson household. There were three more. Two girls, and another young boy. They would have all been blonde, if it weren't for Walker, who was the only one who had brown hair. There was one thing I respected, and hated and envied at the same time, about the Hanson family. Their closeness, and family togetherness. They were extremely tight. It was weird, I guess, since I'm not that used to it. Everyone would speak civilised to each other, everyone would use their manners, and everyone would be as polite as can be, with just a small percentage of empty quarrells between the kids. It was so . . . normal. Maybe this was worth recording in my journal.

But before I could find my pen, there was a knocking at the door. With a heavy sigh, I hid my diary under the pillow and slid on my socks over to the door. I had long since changed into a pair of red plaid pyjama pants and a red sleeveless tee. My hair was still in it's usual pony tail. I reached out for the door knob and turned it. It was Zac.

"Hey Zac," I greeted him. During the past few hours that I had been here, and the few short conversations Zac and I had while we ate supper, I had grown to like him. He was one of the funniest people I had ever met, granted I don't like to socialize much. For example, the way he tried to imitate a walrus by shoving two carrots in his mouth, making them look like fangs, was absolutely hillarious. Hey, I didn't even mind his perkyness anymore.

"Hey Summer," he grinned, showing off his spaced teeth, "Ike and Tay and I are gonna pull an all nighter tonight. Wanna join in?"

"What exactly are you guys doing?"

"Movie marathon," Zac smiled proudly, "We rented a whole load of videos! What do you say?"

It did sound appealing. I had already found Ike to be one of the coolest people ever. He was funny, smart, and so adorable. But friendship was to the extent of our relationship.

"What the hey, I'll come!" I agreed.

"Alright!" Zac exclaimed, grabbing my wrist and yanking me out of the room, and down the stairs, towards the lounge room where Isaac and Taylor were. The coffee table had been pushed aside and was replaced with two sleeping bags - a blue and a red. Taylor had claimed the couch and had sprawled himself out, while Isaac was lying, stomach down on a sleeping bag, a remote control in his hand.

"Hey guys! Summer's here!" Zac chirped, lying down on the other sleeping bag.

Isaac looked up at me and waved, "Glad you could make it, Sum," he said, already giving me a nickname.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Here," Isaac said as he inched over and patted the space between him and Zac. I walked towards them, stepping over Zac's body, and squashed myself between the two brothers. Whoa, talk about a tight squeaze.

"C'mon, Ike, press play already!" Taylor whined from behind us. I rolled my eyes.

"What movie?" I questioned as Zac waved a bowl of freshly popped popcorn in front of my nose. I popped a handful in my mouth.

"We rented out, like, ten," Isaac answered, "I think I put in Mission Impossible or something,"

"Oh, that's cool," I said, through gritted teeth, the idea of Tom Cruise prancing around, trying to be some secret spy or something not really appealing to me.

"Tay, lights, man," Isaac instructed his younger brother.

Taylor groaned, "Fine," He got off the couch and trudged to the foot of the stairs, where the light switch was, and then made his way back to the couch, grumbling something under his breath. Geez, this guy had a bad case of PMS.

Isaac pressed play, and silence fell over us as the movie began.

Four movies, six cans of Dr. Pepper and eight bowls of popcorn later, it was just past two thirty in the morning, and still not one of us was feeling the slightest bit drowsy. In fact, I was just starting to get hyper.

"OK! So what's next?" I asked, sitting up on my knees, excitedly.

"Tay, what else do we have?" Isaac questioned, looking at Taylor. Taylor looked over the side arm of the couch and into a pile of videos. After moments of searching, he sighed and turned to look at Isaac.

"Unless you wanna suffer through The Lion King, we have absolutely nothing left," he replied, with a frown.

"Damn, man! Didn't we get anything else?"

"Nope,"

"Aww man!" Zac whined.

"Why don't we do something?" I suggested.

"Like what?" Isaac asked. Well, I hadn't exactly thought of that yet.

"I dunno. What do you guys wanna do?"

"I dunno,"

We sat in silence, each in their own thoughts about what we could do next. It was minutes later, that one of us first spoke up.

"I know!" Taylor piped up, "Prank calls!"

"Cool!" Zac exclaimed excitedly, "We haven't done that in a long time!"

"Alrighty, prank calling it is," Isaac said, reaching over to the coffee table for the cordless phone. He threw it at Taylor, who then caught it with two hands in mid air.

"What do I say?" asked Taylor, looking from Isaac to Zac, purposely skipping me.

"Um . . . I dunno,"

"Zac?"

Zac shrugged, "I dunno, just dial a number and say something,"

"No way, I gotta say something funny, like . . ."

"Like?"

"I dunno!"

Zac looked at me, "Since Tay's being so stupid about this, wanna go?"

This would give me the chance to show Taylor I was better than he thought I was. I don't know how or why, but that's how I felt and what I was thinking.

"Cool," I answered, nodding my head as Taylor bitterly handed the phone towards me. I snatched it from his grasp.

"Who are you gonna call?" Isaac asked.

"Ghostbusters!" Zac squeeled, as we all burst out laughing.

When our laughing had died down, I said, "Gimme a number,"

"Oh! I know! Call Kody! He should be up still!" Taylor suggested, aiming what he said towards Isaac, although I was the one who was holding the phone and would in fact be making the call.

"Yeah, call him, Summer!" Isaac said enthusiastically, "555 - 9834,"

I punched in the numbers and held the phone up to my ear, listening to the ringing. Four rings later, the phone was picked up.

"Hey, this is Kody," the receiving end said, obviously Kody. I covered the mouthpiece and mouthed to the others, 'it's Kody'.

"Hey, baby, my name's Butter, and I need you to make me melt," I said seductively, hoping I would be able to surpress my giggles. Isaac, Taylor and Zac were having a hard time controlling theirs as well.

"Uh . . . who are you?"

"I may not be Fred Flinstone, but I can make your bed rock," I purred. That did it for the Hanson brothers. They burst out laughing, ruining the whole gig.

"OK, who is this? I hear Ike, Tay and Zac laughing. Who are you? Is this you, Stace?"

I sighed and gave in, "It's Summer, you don't know me. But you're right, Ike, Tay and Zac are here,"

"Oh, hey, Summer," Kody said unsurely, "And you would be . . . ?"

"A friend," I replied with a shrug.

"Oh, OK,"

I apologized and explained to Kody that it was nothing but a silly prank call, before hanging up.

"Hey, Butter, I can make you melt!" Isaac laughed, doubling over in hysterical laughter with the other two. I rolled my eyes, letting a slight giggle escape my lips. I resumed my position between Isaac and Zac and yawned. Why I was getting tired was beyond me.

"So what now?" I asked, rolling over onto my back and looking up at the white ceiling above me.

"We have The Lion King," replied Isaac, as the three of us settled down to watch the movie. Despite having to suffer through a cartoon about talking animals, not to mention Taylor's attitude, I was already taking a liking to this place.