A chorus of "me"'s sounded. Steve was the only one who claimed he didn't.
Jamie shivered. "I'm cold!"
"All the blankets and sleeping bags are upstairs," Shannon told her.
"I'll get them!" Courtney offered, jumping up and throwing the blanket off her shoulders.
Everyone groaned. "Why are you so psycho?" Isaac wondered.
"You've gotta be really stupid to go upstairs," Lori declared.
"So I'm stupid! But we're all cold, right?" reasoned Courtney.
"It's better than being all dead," Nicole argued.
"Someone come with me this time," Courtney begged.
Shannon was sick of being afraid. She was ready to be daring, too. "I'll come."
"Shannon!" Lindsey yelled furiously. "You are NOT going upstairs."
Shannon deserted Isaac on the couch. Courtney and Shannon slowly ascended the stairls. Guilt pulled Isaac up from the couch. "I can't let you guys go alone." A feeling of pride washed over him. He felt good being a protective, hero-like male. Ignoring the calls from friends and family, the three ran up the stairs, thunder booming above them.
"Sucks to be your fans if you die," Shannon commented quietly. She was terrified and wondered why she agreed to do this crazy stunt.
"Let's just get the blankets and go back downstairs," Isaac snapped. The strees he felt from the thought of dying made him irritable.
Shannon ran into the family room and scooped up two blankets from the couch. Isaac took a blanket from the loveseat. With nothing left to do, Courtney watched them. "I'll get the sleeping bags from Lindsey's room."
"No!" Isaac and Shannon yelled. A web of lightning lit up the room, and thunder that made the house shudder came at the same time.
"Um, maybe we'll just share the blankets," Courtney said, finally chickening out.
"Good plan," Shannon agreed. They raced each other down the stairs.
"We thought you guys died when we heard that thunder," Kim expressed.
Courtney rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "We've only got four blankets for eleven people."
"So," Lori calculated, "Four people to a blanket?"
A few people giggled. Being the math wizard that he was, Zac corrected her. "Actually, it would be three people to three of the blankets and two to the fourth blanket."
"These blankets aren't that big," Jamie mentioned doubtfully. Two of the blankets were fairly large, but the other two were only big enough for one person.
Putting on Isaac's shoes, Shannon said, "I'll just get the bedspread from off my bed. "That's big enough for three people. Then, two people to the other blankets."
"You mean your bedspread with all the broken glass on it?" Courtney said pointedly.
"It's better than nothing," Lori retorted.
"Yeah, it gets cold down here at night," Lindsey explained.
"We can use the bedspread," Taylor decided.
"Just brush all the glass off," suggested Nicole.
"You can, Nicole," Courtney huffed, folding her arms, "but I'm not cutting up my hands like that."
"Someone could get sliced," Isaac mentioned. Before, it had been a group discussion, but the girls hushed when it turned into a debate among the Hansons.
"Stop taking Courtney's side, Ike!" Zac snapped. He wasn't really mad, just a bit irritated.
Shannon sighed deeply. "Guys, stop arguing," Taylor pleaded. Making up her mind, Shannon untucked the bedspread and pulled it off of the bed. She shook it and then brushed it carefully with her hand. Everyone was holding their breaths, waiting for her to get cut. Taylor touched his cheek in remembrance. Kim watched him do this as Shannon brought the bedspread into the room.
"No we can argue about sleeping arrangements," Shannon said. The comment caused everyone to start talking at once, calling out their sleeping preferences.
"I know the right thing to do, but I don't like it," Courtney expressed.
"So do I," put in Shannon.
Courtney went on, "Hanson together, me and Steve together, and for the rest it doesn't matter." Steve made a hacking noise.
"Why do we have to be so organized about this?" Nicole questioned. She took each blanket and tossed it onto the floor. "There."
"Like a dream bed," Kim said. Shannon, who still had the shoes on, retrieved her five pillows from her bed. Steve threw off the cushions of the footstool and papizan. The others stripped the couch of its cushions. The group rearranged the mess, so the cushions were on the bottom, then pillos, then blankets on top.
"Don't worry about who gets what blanket," Zac suggested wisely, "There are eleven of us. We can use body heat to keep warm." Steve was the only one who didn't like Zac's theory.
Courtney was the first to collapse onto the "dream bed." The other soon followed. The place Isaac wanted to lay down was blocked by the wooden skeletons of the papizan and footstool. "Shannon, I'm gonna throw these in your room, so there's more space, OK?" From her spot between Lori and Lindsey, Shannon grunted "uh huh" sleepily. Then, Isaac lay down between Courtney and Steve's feet. Steve was trying to sleep as far away from the group as he could. "This is going to be really pleasant with Steve's feet in my face," Isaac snickered, grabbing a foot.
"Too bad," Steve said, tugging his foot away.
Courtney's heart was racing. She nudged Kim, who was sleeping next to none other than Taylor, and smiled excitedly. Zac was on the other side of Taylor, then Nicole, Jamie, Lori, Shannon, and Lindsey. It was more or less like a demented circle. Lori squirmed to get comfortable and finally came to rest with her head almost touching Taylor's from across the circle.
Taylor lit up his indiglo watch. It read 2:34 AM. Hours had passed since they laid down, but the sotrm was keeping Taylor awake. A couple bodies away, he heard Ike snoring. Ike onlyl snored once in a while. Kim's arm was resting on Taylor's chest, and she was laying on her side. She must have rolled over.
"What time is it?" he heard a voice whisper.
Though he didn't know who it was, he whispered back, "Two forty-three."
He heard a groan and saw a figure rise to her feet. Lightning illuminated her, but no thunder followed. It was Shannon, and the storm was practically over. Shannon made her way around the bodies and to the stairs. She paused. "Will you come with me, Taylor? I don't know what it's like up there."
Taylor removed Kim's hand and followed Shannon upstairs. "I hope there stil is a bathroom up there," Shannon said quietly. Taylor chuckled. At the top of the stairs, Shannon slowly opened the door. The kitchen window was broken, and discarded papers lined the floor. Besides that, the house was still intact. She hurried into the bathroom. While he waited, Taylor sat down at one of the chairs at the counter. Shannon came out momentarily and sat down with him. After a short silence, she asked, "So, do you like Kim?" It seemed like a weird subject for two tornado victims to talk about.
"Well, he began, thinking of a way to dodge the question, "You are all really great."
Shannon and Taylor are very much alike, so she caught on to his interview mode right away. "Taylor, I'm not interviewing you. Do you talk to your friends at home like that?"
Taylor smiled understandingly. "I do like Kim. I am sleeping by her. That must make it obvious."
"It does, but I wanted to hear it from you. If you don't ask her out, she'll understand, but at least tell her that you like her."
"I will. Thanks, Shannon. Ready to go back to bed?" They shared a warm, friendly smile and went back to stairs and fell asleep.
