Isaac was in pain. But not from the conversation that he had with Taylor last night about Simone. Again that night, the boys had just performed for thousands of screaming fans, the the ringing in his ears would not go away. As he walked off stage, he was greeted by their friend and bodyguard, who was all smiles.

" You boys did another great show. " he said to all three of them as they walked past him. He slapped Zac an enthusiastic high-five, and then followed them back to their locker room, just to make sure that none of the boys were getting mobbed by masses of screaming teen-age girls.

While in the dressing room, Zac pushed Taylor into the bathroom door. Taylor got an evil look in his eye, and playfully shoved his brother back. They began a big pillow and cushion fight, and started to beat each other vigerously with their weapon.

" Hey Ike!! Why don't you join in on this killer fight?? " Tay asked as Zac bounced the pillow off his brothers head. Taylor responded by shoving him over the back of the couch.

" Nah, I'm not in the mood. Besides, I have other important things to think about, like --- "

" Like that stupid Simone girl that you and Tay were talking about last night. I saw and heard you guys. If you want to keep secrets from me, then fine!! I don't care!!!!!! " Zac said, raising his voice, while getting up from behind the couch.

" Zac, shut up .... " Taylor and Isaac said at the same time. Zac just made a face, Tay and Ike glanced at each other and immediately knew what the other was thinking. They both took a step towards Zac and knew that it was going to be one big tickle-fest.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Simone stared at the phone waiting for it to ring. She was waiting for a very important phone call, from Taylor. He had emailed her, telling her that he would call her around 8:00 that nught, after another big show in Australia. Wow, she thought to herself. Taylor Hanson is my friend!! She talked to Isaac once\ or twice, but she never dreamed that something like this would ever happen to her. Just a nomal person, at a normal copncert, with a normal backstage pass, with normal feelings towards a big star, like Taylor. It all seemed too good to be true.

" Ring!! " she yelled at the phone. It just sat there, not making any noise. Two seconds later, it rung. She picked it up quickly.

" Hello?? " she asked excitiedly.

" Hi! " Ashna said cheerfully.

" Oh, it's you..." Simone said, with less enthusiasm in her voice.

" I take it that you were expecting it to be someone else, and not me, right?? " Ashna asked. " Well, this'll only take a second. Are you watching channel 6?? "

" No, why?? What's on?? "

" Oh, just something about Hanson, and I thought that you might want to watch it, since you know, your friends with them now, and everything. " Ashna said in a snipy tone of voice.

" Oh, Ashna, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to do things with you as much as we used to do, but I've been really extremely busy with everthings that's been going on, you know, you'd be doing the same thing if you were in my shoes. " Simone sighed. Her and Ashna had drifted apart the past few days. " I promise that this weeek end, you can come over, and we can have this big best friend party, okay?? "

" Really?? "

" Yeah, just you and me, and then if Tay call, I'll let you talk to him, okay?? "

" DEAL!! " Ashna shouted as they ended their convesation.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Taylor was out of breath. He had just raced in the hotel room with his brothers, because there was a ton of screaming girls following them home from the resturant that they had just went to. He plopped down on his bed and picked up the phone to call Simone. Before he could pick up the reciever, his dad walked into the room.

" I guess that I never realized that we would never really have another ' family ' dinner again. " he said, sitting down next to Taylor on the bed. " Are you going to call someone, son?? "

" Yeah, I wa going to call... " Tay trailed off, " I was going to call my friend. "

" Where does this friend live?? There's been a few calls on our phone bills to Amity Pennsylvania, who lives there?? " his dad asked.

" Uh, that's where Simone's from. " Taylor said, feeling embarrased, looking down at the floor.

" Simone? Who's that? "

" Oh, just some girl that we met backstage in Pittsburgh, and she gave me her number because we were pretty good friends, we wrote each other alot of email, and so I like to talk to her on the phone. " Tay explained.

" Oh, well, I don't think that it's a very good idea calling her so much --- "

" Why not?? It's not like we can't afford it!! You let Ike call his friends from Tuscon AZ, but I can't call Pennsylvania?? I don't understand! " Taylor flipped out. Just because he was the middle ' famous ' brother didn't mean that he should be treated any different from Isaac. He hated being the midde one, well, the middle brother that was always in the lime light.

" Ok, settle down, whatever, just don't be on for too long. "

Taylor carried the phone into the bathroom so that he could have some privacy. He dailed Simone's number off by heart. It had become very familar in the past few weeks. It rang, and rang, and rang. Finally some one answered it.

" Is Simone there?? " Taylor asked, noticing that his voice was a little shaky. There was a momentary silence.

" Yeah, she's here, but I'm on the other line, she'll have to call you back, who is this?? " her older brother, Randy said.

" Um, this is Taylor, tell her that I'll just call her back later. " There was a click and then dail tone rang in Taylor's ear. Oh, how he longed to hear Simone's angelic voice. He really liked her. There was a knock at the bath room door.

" Tay, are you in there?? " Ike called through the door.

" Yeah, what do you want?? "

" Are you off the phone?? " Isaac asked.

" Yeah, here, you can have it. " Taylor said, opening the door, handing his brother the phone, and then walking past him. Isaac took the phone into the bathroom with him. He needed to call some one too. He took out a small piece of paper from his back pocket. I looked at the name and smiled. It read : " Simone Reid --- 724 - 555 - 1384 " He dailed it and listened to the ringing with anticipation.