Rebekah ran to her room and changed into her Hanson T-shirt and a pair of wide leg jeans. She made sure they were the ones with the hammer holder on the side so she could futz with that during the concert. "Actually," she said aloud, "I'll probably be holding on to my camera the whole time. Oh well." Too busy to turn on the radio, Rebekah brushed her hair and ran out the door, calling goodbye to her mom as she went. She hoped she wasn't late.
"Kristen, I have nothing to give you. I don't have any other Hanson stuff you can wear. You'll have to go without it." Kristen finally gave in and put on overalls and her gray Cowboys T-shirt, which was at the top of her drawer at the time. This did not solve their problems. Sarah was still complaining.
"Sarah," Katie tried to reason with her. "Why don't you wear your overalls and your red Tweety shirt?"
Sarah almost gave up, but then remembered, "Kristen is wearing overalls."
"So?"
"Fine!" Sarah screamed and ran into her room to change. She had a problem with screaming and slamming doors when she didn't get what she wanted. Katie was brushing her hair and attempting to put it up when Sarah came in and said in her calmest voice, "Katie, will you do my hair?"
Katie glanced at her watch, "I guess. If it's something quick."
"Can you do pigtails?" Katie sighed and rummaged through a basket full of scrunchis and rubber bands. She quickly put Sarah's hair up just as the doorbell rang.
Katie walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs. "It's Rebekah," she said. She opened the door and let Rebekah in.
"Let's go!" Rebekah shouted excitedly.
"We can't," Katie answered, "Kristen still isn't ready. I still don't understand how she can care so much about her hair and what she looks like, but when it comes to clothes, she could care less." Rebekah nodded and leaned against the door. Sarah and Katie put their shoes on and joined her.
Kristen slowly descended the stairs. Katie hoped she was ready. They announced that they were ready to leave and climbed into the car. Soon, their car departed down the driveway. All four girls were grinning. They couldn't wait to get to the stage the Hanson's would be performing at.
Everyone was silent until they got there, each thinking about the concert and what they imagined it would be like. Suddenly Katie started getting butterflies in her stomach. "What's my problem?" she thought to herself. "I have no reason to be nervous. I just saw these guys a few hours ago." She shrugged it off and started getting excited and hyper with everyone else. Especially Rebekah. She could tell Rebekah was going to be very hyper tonight.
Isaac, Taylor, and Zac looked back at the Castro home until they turned the corner and couldn't see them anymore. "How old was that blond girl?" Jessica asked anyone who was listening.
"Who, Sarah?" Zac asked.
"I guess."
"She's nine," Taylor answered.
"Why'd you ask?" Isaac wondered.
Jessica answered, "I don't know. I guess she just looks nice. I'll be nine soon."
"Yeah, soon," Zac said. He paused, then said, "You'd probably get along with Sarah. She's really cute!" Isaac and Taylor smiled. They both noticed how Zac said that all the time. Although she could be annoying sometimes, ultimately, Sarah was cute.
"Tell about all of them," Avery demanded.
Isaac inhaled, ready for the long explanation. "Well," he looked at Mackenzie who was sitting in the car seat next to him. Mackie was getting a little big for a car seat but it was the law that he had to be in one until about four-years-old. Mackenzie stared at him, ready to listen to his answer to Avery's question. He turned back to Zac when Zac started answering.
"OK. Here we go," Zac started, "I'll go oldest to youngest. First is Rebekah. She's exactly a month older than Taylor is, and she was the leader the whole time I guess. She was nice and funny. They were all nice and funny. Next was Katie. She was short. She was a little taller than I am. I don't remember exactly how old she was, but she's fourteen, too."
"I remember her being younger than me," Taylor butted in.
"Yeah. OK. Whatever," Zac said, not really caring about that piece of information. "But anyway, Katie was nice and everything and Taylor has a crush on her." He looked over to Taylor who was blushing. Walker Hanson stared at his second oldest son in the rearview mirror and noticed the familiar red face. Zac was glad he got his parents' attention, but he barreled on for his brother's sake. "I think they'd both rather be friends, though. It's just more fun that way. Oh yeah, she was cute too. OK. Next is Tim. He is Rebekah's twelve-year-old brother, so he's kind of close to my age. I think he'll be thirteen in a few months, though. Are you guys getting all of this?" They all nodded, including Walker and Diana, who now listened intently, so he continued. "So, Tim was pretty cool. I don't think he liked us before we came. But he though Ike was cool, and when we played basketball and went on the Ferris wheel, he went with Ike."
"You went on a Ferris wheel?" Diana asked.
"Yeah," all three boys answered at the same time. Isaac continued, "We went to Fun World, which is kind of close to here. We played laser tag and went on the Ferris wheel. It was fun."
"Wow," Diana said, "Sounds like you had a busy day."
"We did," Zac said, "Now I'm going to continue. Where was I?"
"Tim and the Ferris wheel," Taylor helped.
"Oh yeah. Well like I said, Tim was cool and likes a lot of sports like us. Next is... Kristen. Kristen is Katie's sister and she's ten. She'll be eleven on October first; it was in Katie's letter to us, so Kristen and me are pretty close in age, too. We'll be the same age for about a month. Kristen was a tomboy, I guess. She can't be that much of a tomboy though, because she used to love Taylor, and tomboys don't get crushes. But all she wore when we were there was long jean shorts and Packer or Cowboys T-shirts. And we already told you about Sarah. She kind of whined a lot though." Zac sighed, happy that he had finished.
"I'm not going to remember this," Avery said.
"That's OK," Taylor said, "We aren't giving you a quiz or anything. They'll be coming backstage after the concert, though. You can meet them then." The van was suddenly quiet.
"Hey Mackie," Isaac said to his little brother. "I think there's some legos under the seat. Do you want to play with them?"
"Yeah," Mackenzie answered. Ike looked under the seat and grabbed a little bucket of legos. He started putting them together with his brother. "You want the big one?" Mackenzie asked his brother, holding out a big green lego that was supposed to be the base for a castle.
"Sure," Isaac smiled and took the lego from his brother.
Taylor sat looking out the window. He was thinking of ways to keep in touch with the Hadlers and Castros. It would be really hard with their busy schedule. He was surprised that they had gotten along so well with the two families. He tuned into the radio and started listening to the station his parents had chosen. Since she wasn't familiar with Wisconsin, Diana had trouble finding a station that they liked. Eventually, she found a station that played rock from the eighties and nineties. Taylor looked over at Zac. He was having a conversation with Jessica and Avery. They were talking about video games or something. He wasn't really interested at the moment. Neither were his sisters.
Before they knew it, they made it to the location they would be playing at. They jumped out of the van and stretched. Isaac, Taylor, Zac, and Walker began unloading the instruments and equipment from the back of the van. They carried it to the stage. Four of Ike's friends were on the stage warming up. They were the warm up band for the concert. Ike, Taylor, and Zac walked over to say hi. Their dad soon called them to help set up.
While they were setting up, they heard some screaming girls behind them. They turned around to find five girls coming at them, holding CDs.
All three guys stopped what they were doing and calmly walked over to the girls. They each grabbed a pen and signed some autographs. Soon, a few more girls came, waiting for autographs. While they waited, they took pictures of the group. All of them were saying things like, "Omigosh! I can't believe it!" and "I love you guys so much!"
"We have to go set up now," Taylor said, smiling.
"Ok, thanks," one girl said. The guys grinned appreciatively at her.
Another said, "No! Don't leave!"
Zac answered, "Well, do you want us to do the concert or not? If you do, we have to set up for it." Leaving the fans staring back at them, they walked back to continue helping their dad set up. The girls stayed for awhile, trying to get some last minute pictures. Eventually, some security guards made them leave.
All four girls filed out of the Hadler's car. "OK, so Mrs. Castro's going to be picking you up after the concert?" Mrs. Hadler reviewed.
"Yeah," Rebekah confirmed, "I'm gonna call her before we go backstage." She couldn't help smiling as she said that. For the whole summer, she had wished that she would some day meet Hanson. Now not only did she meet them, but she and Katie and their siblings were actually friends with them. That was weird. "Isn't it weird," sang Rebekah.
Katie and her sisters joined in as they walked to the park. "Isn't it strange. Even though we're just two strangers on this runaway train." Katie couldn't have been happier. She glanced at her ticket, checking what row they were in. They were about six rows from the stage-right in the middle. Those were awesome seats. Katie looked at Rebekah, who had started singing "Man From Milwaukee." She could tell that Rebekah was getting hyper when Rebekah started dancing while she sang.
The park was loud and crowded. Hundreds of fans both male and female were either talking about the concert or chanting, "Hanson, Hanson!" There was a warm-up group on stage setting up. All of them looked about Isaac's age. The tallest one in the band-he had to be at least 6'3"-adjusted the mike.
An usher ran up to the girls. "Need any help finding your seats?" she yelled above the noise.
"Sure," Rebekah shouted back, handing the woman her ticket.
Kristen kept her eyes glued to the stage, looking for a Hanson. She was really excited to be there. Since she was gazing at the stage, she didn't notice that they had gotten to their row. One by one, the four girls squeezed into row "F."
"'Scuse me," mumbled Rebekah to a fan leaning on the seat in front of her. The girl didn't respond. Louder, Rebekah said, "Excuse me."
"Oops, sorry," the girls apologized, flicking her shoulder-length auburn hair over her shoulder. Rebekah led her friends past the girl. She sat down with Katie next to her, then Sarah and Kristen. Rebekah knew it wasn't a good idea to leave Kristen and Sarah next to each other, but she was too busy taking in her surroundings to care.
"How is everyone tonight?" yelled a deep voice from the stage. A tall guy was standing in the middle of the stage, holding an electric guitar.
"We want Hanson!" some fans behind the Hadlers and Rebekah screamed.
"We want Hanson!" Rebekah joined in. As Rebekah saw the second guitarist shift uncomfortably, she immediately felt sorry for him and regretted what she did.
"Hanson will be out soon," the guy at the mike explained weakly. "Until then we'd like to play some songs for you. We are the Tractors." He turned to his other three friends and introduced them by name.
Backstage, Hanson was warming up their voices.
"They're all screaming for you," Mrs. Hanson told her boys.
"They're really giving the guys a hard time," commented Isaac unhappily.
Zac ran to the curtain to see how Ike's friends were doing. He crouched down in hopes that no one would see him and lifted the curtain a little. His brother's friends were singing as loud as they could. Sweat dripped from all their faces. The tall one in front was doing his best to remain optimistic and keep a smile on his face. Zac squinted into the audience. Although the spotlight was shining in his eyes, it was still bright enough outside that he could see almost all the fans. He skimmed the dense crowd, searching for one of his friends.
"Zac, get back here," Isaac shouted, pulling Zac in by the leg. "They might see you. That would really ruin it for the guys."
"How are they doing?" interrupted Walker Hanson.
Zac smiled, glad he had someone's attention. "They look nervous, but they're doing OK. I was looking for Katie, Kristen, Sarah, and Rebekah," he added, eyeing his brothers.
"Did you see them?" Taylor asked eagerly.
"No."
"We'll look for them when we're on stage," decided Isaac.
"Well, we have to find them," said Zac, "so we can bring them up on stage."
"We could always call them by name," Taylor suggested.
Isaac imagined all the jealous faces in the crowd while their friends were called up on stage by name. "I'll bet our other fans would get a kick out of that," he pointed out sarcastically.
Suddenly, the warm-up band ran back stage, "Those kids are animals!" the drummer exclaimed.
Isaac patted them on their backs, "You did good, guys."
"Congratulations," Zac said importantly, "You survived a Hanson concert." He shook each one of their hands.
"Just barely," said the second guitarist, wiping his forehead.
"Come on, guys," encouraged the tall guy, "Get out there and give those girls what they want!"
Walker marched past his sons, saying good luck, and continued out onto the stage to introduce them. While their dad introduced them, Hanson formed a huddle with their backup musicians and bodyguard. They all put their hands in the middle except Taylor, who stood off to the side, daydreaming. "Tay, get in here," Zac yelled. The guitarist, Robbie, pulled Taylor into the huddle. Bouncing their hands up and down, they chanted, encouraging each other. Then the backup musicians went out on stage through the curtain behind the spotlight, the bodyguard headed back into the crowd to keep order, and Hanson waited backstage. "OK," Zac said, "let's go guys. We're gonna do great!"
The brothers put their fists in the center and created their own huddle. Zac looked up at Taylor, expecting him to give his daily pep talk. Taylor smiled at them, "Lord, lead us on," he said seriously.
"Go!" they yelled.
