chapter 1
the chapters
my stories

When the girl were done, they crept up the stairs into the kitchen, grabbing two cans of soda before heading upstairs.

"So, do you still wanna do some unpacking?" Katie said hopefully.

"What the heck." Nicole said.

Together they pushed her bed under the window, and set up her bedside table and lamp. Then they pushed her dresser into place, along with her desk and her bookshelves. They arranged her smaller tables so they had a place for her stereo, and the smaller things like chair and footstools.

"There." Nicole said.

"it looks good."

"Yeah."

"Well, let's take out your Christmas lights."

They went over to the boxes and sorted through them until they found the one with her Christmas lights in it. Katie pulled out the stings of blue, green, multi, and pink lights, and stated stringing them around her room. She pulled out some of her movie posters and hung them all up, and set up her computer things and put some of her clothes in her dresser.

"Oh, I'm done for the night." Nicole said, flopping on her bed.

"Well, I've just got a few more things to put in my closet, and then we can go to bed." She said.

She plugged in her phone, lava lamp, and her TV, and popped at CD in her stereo. She hauled a few boxes over to her closet, and began to put them away.

She walked over to the door that opened into Morgan's room, and she opened it to check on her sister. Her lights were off, so she flipped on the bathroom lights to see into her room. She was shocked when she saw Morgan at her window, kissing a boy with shoulder length blonde hair. He was hanging in the window by a tree branch, and the two broke apart, both of them looking panicked and shock stricken at Katie.

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

"Katie!'' Morgan screamed.

"It's just me! I'm sorry!"

"Get out!"

"Okay, okay." Katie said, and shut the door. She leaned against it for a second. Wait a second. The boy looked sort of familiar.

"Hey Nicole? Did you say Zac had a brother?"

"Yeah, he had two…why?"

"Well, I just caught my sister making out with one of them in her room. He was in the tree."

"It might have been Taylor. I don't know which one is which." Nicole said, turning back to her magazine.

"Oh."

"So she was making out with him?" she asked, smiling broadly.

"Yeah. They were really going at it when I opened the door."

"Well, it didn't take her long."

"He came to the door a few days ago for something."

"Yeah, he delivers the mail around here."

"Ah, that would be it."

"yeah."

"But couldn't he put it in the mailbox?"

"Duh, he wanted to check her out!"

"Well, he was sure being obvious about it."

"If Taylor likes someone, he lets them know."

"Oh."

"So are you going to go for Zac?" Nicole asked, sitting next to Katie on the bed.

"What do you mean 'go for him'?" Katie said.

"You know, flirt with him. Go out with him."

Katie shook her head.

"No, I don't want a boyfriend."

"Why not?"

"Because, I've never had one, and I don't want one."

"But this is Zac Hanson we're talking about here. You should."

"I don't know if he even likes me yet."

"Well, you'll see him at my party next week."

"You're having a party?"

"Sure." Nicole said.

"Well, who all are you inviting?" Katie asked.

"You mean am I inviting Zac? Yes, I am."

"Oh, that's not what I meant."

"Yes it is, and you know it."

"Whatever"

Before another word was spoken, Morgan came bursting into the room.

"What were you doing?" She asked, trying to keep her voice down.

"I was just seeing if you were home." Katie said.

"Well, next time, could you knock?" She asked.

"Yeah. But will you answer one question for me?"

"Yeah, I guess I do owe you a small explanation."

"Who was that guy?"

"His name is Taylor. You don't know."

"I do." Nicole piped up.

"Great." Morgan said.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything."

"Me either." Katie said.

"Thanks you guys."

"But did you really think you'd get in trouble anyways? I mean, what did you think Carol was going to do?"

"A lot. She wants me to stay single and graduate from college so I can keep her but rolling in money. But I won't do it!"

"So, you don't think she'll like him?"

"No, I don't think she'll like him one bit."

"Oh. Is she still stuck on you hooking up with that Brett guy?"

"Yeah. I mean, he's such a snob. Besides, it's his parents that have money, not him."

"No, but he will."

"True. But I hate him."

"I do too."

"And he even lives closer now!"

"Yeah, Oklahoma city." Katie said.

"Okay, slow down." Nicole said.

"What?" Morgan said.

"Who is Brett?" Nicole asked.

"Brett, is a very snobby son of some of Carol's clients. They keep arranging these little get togethers so we can spend time getting to know one another. And, unfortunately, he likes me. She wants me to eventually marry him so she can stay rich." Morgan explained.

"Ew…" Nicole said.

"Yeah, I know." Morgan grumbled.

"How can she do that?"

"Easy."

"Oh." Nicole said, slumping back against the bed.

"Yeah. Well, I'm going to bed, it's nearly three, so I'm off." Morgan said.

"Okay. Good night."

"Night you two." And with that, she went through the bathroom and shut the door to her room.

"God, that would really suck, wouldn't it?" Nicole said.

"Yeah, and living with Carol isn't much better."

"I can see that."

They both laughed.

"I'm so glad we're friends." Nicole said.

"Why?" Katie asked.

"Well, because now I have someone to talk to at family reunions!" Nicole said with a laugh.

"Do we have many?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, and we all go over to my house for Christmas, so you'll get to see them then."

"Great." Katie said.

Nicole yawned. "I think we should go to bed.

Katie looked over at her clock and saw that it was 2:27.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired. Say, when are the soccer tryouts at your school?"

"You do soccer?"

"Yeah."

"Cool! I do too. They're in a few weeks, cuz our instructor likes to have all summer to practice." Nicole said, unrolling her sleeping bag.

"Oh, well, tell me when the tryouts are, I really want to be on the team. That's the only thing I do. Sports, I mean."

"Oh, me too. I tried tennis last spring, and it was pretty fun, even though I wasn't any good. You wanna do that with me?" Nicole asked.

"Sure." Katie said, flipping off the light.

"What are we gonna do tomorrow?" Katie asked.

"Well, tomorrow is Saturday, so I guess we could go to the rec. center if you want to."

"What's there?"

"Guys"

"Oh, who needs them. Let's do something else."

"Like what?"

"Well, we could paint my dresser." Katie said, trying to make up an excuse. She didn't really want to go get guys.

"Oh, lot's of fun."

"Well, we'll think of something." Katie said.

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

That night, as Nicole snored away next to her, Katie sat up and thought for awhile. She didn't really need a boyfriend, but she had to admit, Zac was pretty cute. But, he had probably had tons of girls waiting to go out with him as it was. What would he see in her? She was terribly skinny, and had next to no chest, so it couldn't be that. Her hair was down to the middle of her back and a dirty blonde color. Her eyes were a bluish aqua color, and she was only around 5'1", she hadn't had a growth spurt in years, and she wanted to be taller more that anything.

Nicole was around the same shape, but was a few inches taller, and was half African American. She had dark brown eyes and curly dark brown hair.

Nicole not only was pretty, but she was much more outgoing than Katie ever could be. She sighed. She didn't want a boyfriend, she didn't need a boyfriend, and she couldn't have a boyfriend. She kept trying to pound it into her head. But, he was pretty cute…

"Katie! Katie! Katie wake up!" Madison said as she pried the eyelids of her older sister open.

"Maddy, what do you want, sweetie?" Katie said, shielding her eyes from the light.

"I want you to get up and make me breakfast!" Madison said, and yanked Katie's quilt off of her.

"Ugh, Maddy, can you give me five more minutes?" She said, sitting up.

"No, I'm really hungry, and Judy took Kristen and Ben and Melissa to the store and Krista to her flop-ball game."

"Honey, it's soft ball. Not flop ball."

"Oh, I forgot. Now will you make me breakfast?"

"Didn't you ask Sandra?"

"Yeah, but she yelled at me!" Madison said.

Katie looked at Nicole, who was starting to open her eyes.

"Nicole, we gotta go make her breakfast."

"That's fine, I'm hungry too."

"Alright, lemme get some clothes on, and I'll go."

"Okay." With that, she scampered over the sleepingbags and out into the hall.

Katie yawned, and stood up to go to the bathroom. She went into her closet and pulled out some shorts and a tank top to wear during the hot day. She brushed her teeth and splashed some cold water on her face, and got dressed. She went out to find Nicole in another bathroom, in the main hallway.

Katie went up and knocked on the door.

"Nicole, I'm gonna go make her breakfast, just come one down when you're done." She said.

"Okay!" Nicole yelled from inside.

Madison ran up and jumped on Katie's leg. Madison was a cute little girl, with strawberry blonde hair that was as curly as possible. She had bright blue eyes, and was a beautiful little girl who had lots of energy and was very smart for her age.

Katie hoisted her up on her hip and then walked down the hall to Sandra's room. She flung the door open and pulled her comforter off of her.

"AHH!" Sandra yelled.

"Why did you yell at her this morning?" Katie asked her sister.

"Because she was bugging me, and I wanted to sleep some more, that's why." Sandra said, and pulled her comforter back over her head.

Katie stomped into the hall and put Madison down.

"Just a second Madison. We're going to get revenge." She whispered to the little girl. She walked down the hall to the bathroom and got a cup of the coldest water she could get. She ran back to Sandra's room and poured the icy cold water on Sandra's head.

"AAAHHH!!!!" Sandra screamed as she jumped up in her bed.

"That should show you to be polite to your little sisters, even being the brat that you are." Katie said, and walked out of the room.

"I'll get her back later." Sandra said, and walked into the bathroom.

Katie and Nicole walked into the kitchen and opened the cabinet.

"What do you want, Maddy?" She asked, looking through the cereals.

"I want Cheerios." She said.

"Honey we don't have any yet. You can have those when Judy gets home."

"Okay, then can I have Marshmallows?"

"Lucky Charms?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Katie poured her little sister a bowl of cereal, and then she turned to Nicole.

"What do you want?"

"I'll just have some juice."

"Yeah, me too."

They poured themselves some orange juice and walked into the den to watch some cartoons.

"We never decided what we're going to do today." Nicole said.

"Well, we can….well…"

"We could go to the pool!" Nicole said.

"Eh, I don't know."

"Oh, come on!" She prodded.

"Well…I guess." She said.

"Maybe we'll help you make some new friends." Nicole said.

"Ok." Katie said, fully doubting that she would make any friends.

"It doesn't open until twelve, so we have another hour and a half to kill…what do you want to do?"

"Well, why don't we do something outside? But not for too long, because I think it's supposed to be really hot."

"Well, we could go for a bike ride."

"Okay. That way you can show me all the streets to avoid."

"Really. There are a few." Nicole said, shaking her head.

"Oh, well I was joking." Katie said with a laugh.

"I wasn't. Nicole said.

"Oh."

"Um, we have to go to my house so I can pick up a bike." Nicole said.

"No, I'm sure Sandra won't care if you ride her bike. Not like she rides it anyway." Katie said, walking upstairs.

"Yeah, she might break a nail." Nicole said. Katie snorted and opened the door to Sandra's room, not bothering to knock.

"Hey Dog face, we're going for a bike ride, and you're going to watch the shrimp. Be civil to her."

"Whatever. Which shrimp?" She asked, turning around from her TV.

"Madison."

"Great." She said, and turned back around.

Katie shut the door, thought a second, then stuck her head back in.

"Did you get bed dried off yet?" She asked, and then ducked a shoe Sandra pelted at her. She snickered, then remembered to lock the door to her room, and then exited from Morgan's room.

"Hey Morgan?" She called when she reached the doorway.

"What?" She asked, looking up from her computer.

"Lock your door, ok? I don't want Sandra in there. I know she's plotting something."

"Okay."

Katie walked down the steps to the landing where Nicole was waiting.

"Okay, let's go."

"What took you so long?" She asked, jumping down the steps four at a time.

"I had to make the necessary arrangements." She said, turning into the TV room.

"Hey Maddy?"

"Yeah?" The little blonde head of curls turned around.

"We're gonna go for a bike ride. Sandy and Morgan are home if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay." She said, and turned back to her cartoons.

"Alright, we're off." Katie said, opening the door to the garage.