"Who are they?" asked Kristen, the ten-year-old. Kristen was about 4'10", close behind her sister. She had long brown hair that everyone loved. Kristen was very impatient and stubborn, but had a sense of humor. Though Kristen was always worried about her looks and her hair, she was a tomboy. She loved sports and chose playing football with the guys at school over her girl friends. She was also a good friend with Rebekah's brother. It seemed like Kristen was always fighting with their other sister, Sarah. Nine-year-old Sarah had dark blond hair and brown eyes, like her sisters. She had a tendency to scream when she didn't get what she wanted. People expected her and Kristen to get along since they were so close in age, but that rarely happened. They were complete opposites that didn't understand each other. The good thing was, both of her sisters loved Hanson, and Katie knew they would freak when they found out who it was in their neighbor's yard.
Sarah stared at the guys, waiting for Katie's answer.
"Kristen," started Katie, "that's Hanson." By that time, Rebekah was by her side, beaming from ear to ear.
"No way," Kristen retorted, a little unsure.
Rebekah kneeled down next to Sarah and said, "Yeah it is, just look. There's Ike on the ground, and Taylor and Zac in the trees."
Sarah's face lit up, "It is Ike!" she exclaimed. Kristen and Sarah both thought Isaac was funny and cool. Kristen remained skeptical. Rebekah bounced back to Isaac's side, ready to begin the introductions. Zac started to climb down from his post. When he got to the branch that Rebekah was on before, he curled his arms and legs around and swung back and forth making monkey noises. Sarah giggled. Isaac looked at her and grinned, showing off his clear braces.
Rebekah waited patiently for Taylor and Zac to jump down and join them. Then she said, "Kristen, Sarah, this is Ike, Taylor, and Zac Hanson. They're staying at my house for the night, because they couldn't afford to have their whole family stay in a hotel."
"Yikes," Kristen breathed. Katie playfully slapped her. She had been saying "yikes" a lot lately and it had gotten really annoying. Rebekah skipped away from Isaac, still smiling. She headed toward the other good climbing tree. Katie followed, leaving her sisters to talk with Hanson. They would have come along, but Zac was back in the tree grilling them with questions. The older girls could tell that Kristen and Sarah were enjoying themselves. Sarah had a huge grin plastered on her face and was eagerly chatting with Zac. Kristen was quieter, since she was still in shock.
Katie looked down at Rebekah from where she was perched in the tree farthest away from the others. "This is so cool." Rebekah pulled herself onto the branch that was a little lower than Katie's.
"No one would believe us," she said, "I hope they forgot about the photo album." She smiled fondly at the guys. Her wish was to be friends for life with Hanson. She imagined far into the future. She and Katie would call Hanson up and chat about their seventh album and the tour that they'd be on. Maybe on accident, Rebekah also imagined how Taylor and Katie would be going out then.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Katie's sisters came over. "I can't believe Hanson is really here!" Sarah exclaimed, "This is DA BOMB, right?"
"Oh yeah," answered Rebekah. She climbed down from her tree, worried that she was being a bad hostess, leaving her guests alone. Isaac was climbing the middle tree when she came back. Ike was funny in a sarcastic way and nice to everyone.
Isaac scanned the yard from the tree he was in. He had climbed as far as Katie had and didn't go any higher, because he was too heavy. He smiled. Ike had been skeptical about coming here at first, because he thought Katie and Rebekah would be obsessed fans. It turned out, they were. The good thing was, they didn't act like it at all. They acted like they had been friends with him and his brothers even before they were famous except for the posters. He knew they would become good friends.
Rebekah then shifted her gaze to Taylor, who was sitting thoughtfully on the lowest limb of the middle tree, which was Zac's favorite branch to hang on. She thought he was really nice and cool. She also thought that maybe, possibly he liked Katie and Katie liked him. Or at least she hoped. She knew she probably shouldn't be doing this to them, but she couldn't resist the great opportunity to set her friend up with Taylor Hanson! And it wasn't because of his name, she realized. It was because she seriously thought they would be good together. They had a lot in common.
Taylor watched the girls in the far tree. He watched Rebekah walk towards him. She was cool, but too "obsessed" with setting him and Katie up. Taylor was a little surprised and impressed at that. Most girls his age wanted him for themselves. She might have just been worried about being seen with a shorter guy. Oh, well. He was having fun with the girls. He was sort of uncomfortable when Rebekah broke into song on the bugline, but loosened up when Katie joined in with him.
Rebekah walked past Isaac and Taylor, smiling at each of them and proceeded to the far tree on the other side of the yard, the one Zac was trying to climb. He had gotten farther in that tree than she ever had. Zac was so funny. Rebekah had enjoyed his company a lot. "Having fun?" she asked him.
"Yeah!" he called back. He hadn't realized how fun climbing trees was until that day. He also didn't expect he'd have this much fun at a fan's house. Usually, when they met a girl, the girl started screeching. She couldn't talk either. She just stood there and stared, breathing heavily. Some girls cried, too. Then Taylor got uncomfortable, and they end up not having fun at all.
"You're really good at climbing trees," complimented Rebekah, "I can only get up to this branch," she added, lifting herself onto the lowest limb.
"That's just because I'm lighter," Zac explained. He shifted his position, so he was facing the other trees and shouted, "Look!" Rebekah looked up at him in confusion and then followed his hand to figure out what he was pointing at. She drew in her breath sharply. To her complete surprise, Taylor and Katie were sitting together on Zac's favorite branch.
Meanwhile, in the middle tree, Katie was climbing up onto the branch, beside Taylor. For a few seconds, she just stood there, wishing she would be brave enough to talk to him. Taylor glanced up at Katie, wondering why she was just standing there.
"Your sisters seem cool," he finally said.
"They're OK. They're cool at times. But they do get really annoying at times. We don't get along as much as you and your brothers seem to."
"Yeah," agreed Taylor, "we're best friends. Nothing could come between us. I mean, we do have our fights, but they're nothing major." Katie nodded politely and finally got the courage to sit down next to him. That's when Zac and Rebekah saw them. Never missing a chance to match make, Rebekah jumped down from where she was sitting.
"Katie, help me!" cried Sarah from the bottom of the middle tree. Rebekah was distracted for a second and looked at Sarah.
"Just go get a chair," Katie spat back. She quickly glanced at Taylor from the corner of her eye to see how he reacted to her "snippiness" towards her sister. He seemed expressionless.
"Katie!" Sarah screamed. Rebekah sighed and brought her to the other side of the tree. She had completely forgotten about Taylor and Katie and was helping Sarah get into the tree.
Taylor let out his breath. Katie looked at him in surprise. He realized that what he had done might not have been the best idea. "Is Rebekah like this all the time?"
Katie guessed that what he was talking about was her match making. "I don't know. She does love to set people up."
"I can tell," mumbled Taylor. Isaac was also surveying the situation from his post. He had seen Taylor and Katie and was glad that he was having so much fun. He was also worried, though, that Taylor would start to really like Katie and want to date her. Katie was nice as far as Ike could tell and thought that his brother would have a good girlfriend. Then he thought back to what he had teased Katie about earlier. Was she really a heartbreaker? Isaac hoped not. He didn't want to have Taylor go through what Andy and Ricky had.
"Hey, Tay!" shouted Isaac, "You know, this almost reminds of me of Tulsa."
Taylor laughed, "Yeah, sort of, just more houses." Zac had climbed down from his tree and came to the middle tree, where everyone else was.
"What other trees are fun to climb?" he questioned.
"The one over there is," said Katie, pointing to the tree that she and Rebekah had been climbing before. Zac headed toward the far tree. Kristen trailed behind. She didn't really like climbing trees in Rebekah's yard. She just wanted to be around Zac. She knew Zac was wild and hyper so she figured climbing trees with him would be fun. Apparently, so did Sarah.
"Katie, can you help me get down?" asked Sarah. Before Katie could say anything, Taylor stood under Sarah and held out his arms for her to jump into. She grinned and placed her hands on his shoulders, as she stepped off the tree. Taylor caught her under the arms and let her down. Sarah thanked him, still beaming, and followed Kristen and Zac. This left the four oldest children by the middle tree. Katie still was perched on Zac's favorite branch. Isaac had climbed down while Taylor was helping Sarah and was on the ground. Rebekah climbed onto the limb, sitting by Katie.
"So, Ike, Tay, what is your neighborhood like?" Rebekah inquired, trying to start a conversation.
"Oh, our neighborhood is great," Taylor started, smiling at the girls. "Everyone is friends with everyone else. There's so much space to run around in."
"Another great thing is that our neighbors haven't really changed since we've become famous. They know us and are used to seeing us every day," Isaac continued.
"Actually, they don't see you everyday anymore," Katie pointed out. "Unless they travel with you everywhere, too."
Isaac batted his eyelashes and waved his arms around, imitating an obsessed teenage girl, "We love you guys!" he said in a squeaky, high-pitched voice. They all laughed at Ike's impression.
The group grew silent after that, not knowing what to talk about, and started watching the younger children. Zac was high in the tree, a little higher than Katie had ever gotten. Kristen and Sarah were craning their necks to see him. The three of them were also talking. Well, more like yelling.
"We wanted to start our own music group," Kristen was saying.
"Really?" Zac seemed interested, "What would it be called?"
"Hadstro," the girls answered at the same time. Kristen went on to explain the name, "Our last name is Hadler, Rebekah's is Castro, so we put the two together and got Hadstro."
Zac nodded and started to descend the tree so he could hear the girls better. "What instruments would everyone play?" he asked.
"I wanna play the drums!" exclaimed Sarah.
"I used to want to play the drums, but now I think the guitar would be more fun. But I think my arms are too short," Kristen said, holding her arms out in front of her. Kristen walked closer to the tree, because she wanted to try to climb it. She accidentally bumped Sarah.
"Hey!" Sarah cried, scratching her.
"Sarah, it was an accident," Kristen screamed back. "Sarah is so violent," she explained to Zac, "She hits people for no reason." Sarah was even madder at Kristen for embarrassing her in front of Zac like that, so she fought back. She lunged at Kristen, hitting her and scraping her arms. Kristen retaliated by slapping Sarah back and pushing her to the ground. Sarah glared up at her with fire in her eyes. She was so close to tears but refused to cry in front of Zac. Instead, she made the right decision, sort of. While Kristen was trying to hoist herself into the tree, Sarah pulled her hair and ran towards the others before Kristen could get back at her. Kristen screamed at her again but continued to climb the tree.
Zac was up in the tree the whole time watching the fight. At first he was amused to see how sisters fought, but then he wanted to stop the battle when he thought it was getting out of hand. "Do you fight like that all the time?"
"She's a jerk. She's always starting fights with me and Katie."
"Kristen is so mean!" Sarah announced to the group when she got to the middle tree.
"What did she do this time?" Katie asked, rolling her eyes. Sarah explained the whole situation. Rebekah and Katie could tell that she exaggerated a little bit, because they had seen most of the fight. Sarah really wanted to go back to Zac, but she REALLY didn't want Kristen to be there. She decided to stay.
"I'm gonna go climb that tree," said Katie, referring to the tree that Taylor had tried to climb but couldn't. Taylor watched her to see if she could get higher than he did. When she did, he walked over to her to ask how she did it. He knew, though, that it was because she was smaller than he was, and because she had climbed that tree before so she knew where all the right branches were. Taylor wanted to try again and see if he could get higher. He just couldn't except that Katie was lighter. Taylor pulled himself onto the lowest limb, the one he had been on the first time. Katie led him through it, but he still couldn't get any higher.
"Cute couple, huh?" Rebekah said to Isaac.
"Who--Kristen and Zac or Tay and Katie?"
"I don't know," she said, looking down at her hands. "Taylor and Katie, I guess."
"Yeah, Katie's nice." Rebekah didn't say anything. Suddenly, she got a mischievous smile on her face.
"Ike, can I ask you something about your personal life?"
"Sure, I guess," he answered, getting worried.
"Um, exactly how many girlfriends have you had in your life? OK, you don't have to answer that, sorry." Isaac never did answer that question. He was about to, but Rebekah started another conversation. "You know what?"
"What?" he asked, interested in what she had to say. He couldn't figure out what would be more important to Rebekah than gossiping about his love life.
Rebekah almost whispered and had a serious tone in her voice. "When I go off to high school, I'm going to miss one thing about my grade school more than others." She paused, building suspense. "The people. When you're home schooled, you don't have to worry about changing schools and meeting new people and leaving old friends. I got made fun of so much in sixth grade when I changed schools. I'm still going to miss my whole class, even those jerks who made fun of me."
"Why did they make fun of you?"
"I'm really shy. When I came to that school in sixth grade, I, like, didn't talk to anyone and didn't really know how to stand up for myself, I guess. The other new girl became the most popular girl in the class." Isaac was surprised to see that someone like her could actually be serious and sentimental at times.
"Wow," Isaac said, not knowing what else to say.
"That's a plus to being home schooled." Rebekah commented. Isaac nodded. "Well, I'm gonna go check on everyone else." Rebekah jumped down from her branch and walked over to Taylor and Katie first. She was now happy and showed no signs of the conversation she just had. They had gone to the farthest tree on the other side of the yard. Katie had climbed as high as she could. Taylor was on the branch below her.
"What's up, guys?" Rebekah yelled up to them.
"We are," joked Taylor.
Katie giggled, "Actually, nothing much."
Rebekah grinned at them, turned around, and walked to the other side of the yard to check up on Kristen and Zac.
"Rebekah," Kristen called as she came over, "I'm stuck!" she said, laughing. Zac was standing up on the lowest branch, which was pretty high, coaching Kristen through the getting down process.
"She can't get back down!" shouted Zac.
"There's nothing for me to step on!" Rebekah ran the rest of the way and told Kristen where the nearest branch was. She swung her foot in the direction Rebekah was pointing, but her foot didn't hit anything. Zac climbed up one more branch and explained how he got down. He told her exactly where he put his feet and hands. Kristen was too scared to try what Zac did, because he had jumped to a small branch and climbed down from there. She was not about to jump in a tree. The closest branch was to the right of Kristen's right foot. It was too far for her to reach on her own.
"OK," Zac instructed, "grab onto that twig-like thing to the right of you." Kristen slowly moved her hand to the branch he had pointed out. "Then, like, swing yourself over so your foot is on that branch." Holding onto two tiny branches, Kristen moved both feet at the same time to one big branch. From there, there was an easier way to get down. Zac jumped down first, watching Kristen to make sure she got down OK. She had no problem getting down after Zac's coaching. The other four came over to see what was happening. They all broke onto applause when Kristen jumped down.
Zac bowed to them. Changing the subject, he mentioned, "You know, Katie, we've seen Rebekah's room, but we haven't seen yours yet."
"I know, I was hoping you wouldn't remember that," Katie muttered. She agreed to let them see her room even though her room didn't have much less posters of Hanson than Rebekah's did.
