"Mom, I'm home." I yelled when I returned from the mall a few hours later. I dropped my bags in the hallway as I shuffeled into the kitchen. My mom turned around and gave me a warm smile.
"Did you have fun at the mall?" She asked, handing me a carrot stick. I nodded and took a bite.
"Yeah, it was ok. I ran into Taylor there." I said glumly. She rolled her eyes.
"I don't know why you say that like he's some horrible creature. He's a very nice boy. So is the rest of the Hanson family. I don't know why you and the boys have such a problem with each other." She said. I rolled my eyes. I'd heard it all before.
"ANYway, we actually had an...well kind of an adult conversation. I thought you be proud of me." I said, grabbing another carrot from the counter.
"Stop it, those are for dinner tonight," she said, swatting my hand. "I am proud of you for talking to him. Oh, that reminds me, he came by about an hour ago and left something for you. It's on the table." She said, hiding a smile.
"What's so funny?" I asked defensively.
"Nothing. He said he was repaying you for the help you gave him at the mall." Oh, right, my unintentional help.
"Well, why are you laughing about it?" I asked. Call me paranoid.
"It's just a funny thing, alright? Go look at it." She said, turning back around and cutting up some more carrots. My curiosity piqued, I headed into the dining room and walked over to the table. There was an ugly brown bag with tissue paper coming out of the top. I furrowed my brows and reached inside, pulling out a piece of paper.
Dear Addy, I hope you like it. And unless you do something nice again, which I doubt, I'll never give you another present. Taylor
I rolled my eyes. What a charmer he was. I put my hand back into the bag and felt a little plastic thing. I pulled it out and my jaw dropped. Was this some sort of sick joke??? I pulled out the keychain and held it closer to my face to inspect it. It was a keychain with a plastic frog hanging off of it. The frog had a huge smile in its face and two large eyes that rolled around when I shook it. I squeezed it and a little 'ribbit' came out of its mouth. I shook my head and threw the frog back into the bag. I saved him from a date with a horrible person and he repays me with a plastic frog??
"I'll be back in a few minutes!" I called to my mom, not waiting for her answer as I headed out the back door and walked across my yard to the Hanson's yard. I saw Taylor standing by the side of their pool, talking to Isaac, who was clinging to the edge. Jessica and Avery were both in the shallow end doing handstands. An idea sprung into my mind. I knew that I was supposed to be nice to the Hanson's, but this was too much to resist. And he wasn't wearing anything fancy, just some jeans and a tight red t-shirt that said "I'm Big With the PIG" in bold letters across the front. He probably got it at Goodwill. I waited in my back yard for an opportune moment to make my move. None of the Hanson's saw me sitting on the steps and picking at the grass. Taylor and Isaac's conversation seemed to be finished, I noted, observing Isaac nodding and diving underwater. Taylor seemed to remember something he'd forgotten to say and waited by the side for Isaac to resurface. Now was as good a time as any. I leapt up from my spot and ran quickly to the side of the pool. Luckily, Jessica and Avery had just gone under for another handstand. I ran as quietly as I could until I had pressed myself next to the side of their house. Good. No one would notice me now.
"Hey Ike," Taylor called when Isaac came up for a breath. Isaac started treading water and pushed the hair out of his eyes.
"Huh?"
"I forgot to tell you that I saw Abby Liney today at the mall. She was asking about you again."
"Oh really, how'd you get out of that one?" Isaac asked with a smile. He knew how much Taylor disliked Abby.
"It's actually a funny story, but Addy just happened to walk by and see us eating lunch, and she came over and pretended to be my girlfriend or something and Abby got so mad that she left." Taylor said, beginning to laugh as he explained the story.
"Are you serious? Why did Addy do that? She hates us" Isaac asked with confusion.
"I know. She thought that I really liked Abby and was on a date with her, so she was trying to make me mad by ruining it. You should've seen her face when I told her that I really hated Abby. She was so mad that she'd actually helped me." Taylor said with a snicker.
"I would be too." Isaac said, nodding and grabbing on to a passing float.
"Yeah, well, she made me promise to do something nice for her since she'd helped me out. She said it was only fair since we always repay each other when we're mean." Taylor explained.
"As much as I hate to say it, she's a smart girl. What are you going to do for her?" Isaac asked with curiosity.
"I already did it. I went into some Halmark store and bought her a really ugly frog keychain. I left it at her house so she'd see it when she got home."
"Good one, Tay. She probably thinks you have really bad taste though." Isaac said dismissively.
"Do I care? No, not a bit. Anyway, I'm going inside. Mom says dinner it in about half an hour so you guys should be getting out soon."
"Ok, I'll tell Jess and Avie." Isaac said. Taylor was about to turn around and walk inside the house. I knew I had to make my move quickly. I peeked around the corner of their house, saw that Taylor was still facing the pool and ran at full speed towards him. I saw Isaac's eyes grow large in the pool as he saw me racing at Taylor, arms outstretched.
"Tay!! Watch out!!!" He yelled, right as Taylor turned around to walk back in the house. His eyes grew large as he saw me sprinting at him. My hands connected with his chest and I pushed him as hard as I could. He literally flew through the air and into the pool, landing on Isaac and pushing both of them under. I really should have turned and ran back into my house, but I wanted to see Taylor's reaction. I didn't have to wait long.
"What the HELL are you doing!?" Taylor yelled, resurfacing quickly.
"You look like a drowned rat Tay." I pointed out, stepping backwards to sit on their porch.
"Number one, I didn't do anything to you, two, I'm a whole lot prettier than a rat, and THIRD, I'm only TAY to my FRIENDS, which you most definitely are NOT!!!" Wow, he was a lot angrier than I expected.
"I'm sorry, TAYlor, but you got what you deserved. At first I thought that maybe you just totally misjudged me all your life, but then when you BRAGGED about it to your brother, I realized what a jerk you are."
"Hm, I thought you already knew that." He said curtly, pulling himself out of the pool. He slipped his shirt off and started wringing it out.
"Ew, get your pasty white chest away from me." I said, wrinkling my nose at him. He let out a frustrated burst of air.
"You know what, Addy, maybe you need to learn that not everything has to do with you. I've learned that lesson. I learned it when I became world famous and realized that half the people that like me wouldn't like me if they actually knew me. I learned it when I was two and a half and no longer the youngest child. I learned it AGAIN when people started praising me for my looks and disregarding Ike and Zac when THEY'RE the ones who keep me sane all the time! GET OVER YOURSELF and go..." he stopped abruptly, not knowing what he was telling me to go do. "Go...go VOLUNTEER AT AN OLD FOLKS HOME!!!!" He yelled, breezing past me into his house and slamming the door in my face. It took me a few seconds to comprehend what he'd said before I turned slowly to look at Isaac in the pool. I giggled nervously.
"Wow...I really pissed him off this time..." I said with a shrug. Isaac pulled himself out of the pool.
"Addy, you really need to leave us alone. We may not have been the nicest people to you, but I know you can be a good person. I just don't understand what your freakin' problem with being nice is. Like Taylor said, get over yourself and learn that other people have just as many feelings as you." He said. He was standing dangerously close to me, spitting each word out like it was venom or something. I opened my mouth to retort, but I was too shocked to say anything. I shut it abruptly and pushed past Isaac. I ran all the way to my house.
That night was the first time I've cried because of emotional pain inflicted by the Hanson boys.