“Mom! You’re being unfair! I don’t want to leave!” I yelled.
“Tressa McRanin, you are a responsible young lady, I expected you to act more maturely than this. We are leaving in the morning and that is final.”
My mom turned back to packing and I stomped upstairs to my room. I picked up the phone to call Monica.
She answered and said, “Let me guess You’re still moving away.”
“Yep. My mom’s being so stubborn! I mean, we’re happy here and she doesn’t need a new job!”
“Actually, she does. She just got laid off, remember?”
“Well...” I admitted,” yeah, but they’re still stubborn. I mean, you can tell when they try to take your cat to the pound!”
“What the hell!?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” I asked. “My mom and my dad didn’t want Pillow to be crawling all over the car for five days, so they wanted to return her to the pound.”
“Your parents have something serious going on here. That would be majorly cruel to rip a kitten away from its owner and throw it in a cage for the rest of its life.”
“Duh! Tell me about it!”
“Where are you moving again? Oklahoma?”
“Tulsa.” “Where Hanson lives? Lucky. I’d move down there in a second so I could meet them.”
“Yeah, they are very cool, but still...everything that’s familiar to me is here. I mean, hello? I really don’t feel like moving to a new city with a bunch of strangers.”
“I can understand that. But still, I really don’t think there’s anything you can do. I mean, you’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Yeah, whatever.” I sighed. “Well, I’m kinda bored, and since this is my last night here, would you like to sleep over tonight?"
“Sure. I’ll be over at 8, OK?”
“OK, Ciao!”
“OK, that’s fine, dear. By the way, there’s an early Christmas present for you on the counter.”
“An early Christmas present in September?” I was surprised. My parents weren’t usually this generous. ”Well, no objection from me!” The package was small, shaped like...a CD. I ripped open the paper.
“Snowed In! Oh my god!! I’ve wanted this, but I thought it wasn’t coming out till, like, November!” I shrieked. “How did you get it?”
“I have my ways.” my mom said mysteriously.
She turned back to her work and I ran back up to my room and popped ‘Snowed In’ into my CD Player.
Five songs later, my seven year old brother Toby banged on my door. “Time for supper, Tressa!” he yelled and ran downstairs. I reluctantly turned of my CD went downstairs to the dinner table. Takeout Chinese Food. We couldn’t exactly cook our own food because our fridge was packed up and our cupboards were empty.
We sat down, said grace, and I watched disgustedly as Toby played with his food and looked like a gross little pig. I ate a little, without looking at Toby, and then the doorbell rang. Monica. Yess! I answered the door. I pulled her upstairs and turned my new CD on again.
We basically stayed up there for an hour or so and talked. Then we put “Selena” in my VCR and watched it. By the end, we were both crying.
“Oh my gosh, that was so sad!” Monica bawled.
“I know!” I cried right back.
Fortunately, we managed to compose ourselves and we talked more and read magazines and gossiped until it was really late. (Or really early) Finally, my mom had to come in and tell us to shutup.
We watched another movie, with the volume turned down really low, and when it was over, we landed on out pillows and were fast asleep.
“Tressa?”
“Yeah?"
“Goodnight.”
“No, I’ve never had to e-mail you when I could call you. What is it?”
“It’s tressa@aol.com” *AN: This is a made up e-mail.*
“I’ll e-mail you!”
“OK, bye!” I called out, sniffling a little.
“Goodbye!” Monica waved as we pulled away from our house.
I waved until we drove out of sight. I was still pretty bushed from staying up so late, so I lay down and fell asleep. Five hours later, my mom woke me up.
“Tressa. Wake up. We’re going to eat supper.”
I followed her into a restaurant and had a burger. When we were back in the car, I couldn’t sleep. So I listened to Middle of Nowhere until we finally arrived at a hotel.
We rented a room and bedded down. I couldn’t sleep, so I daydreamed for a while before drifting off to sleep.
I ran back to the hotel and let myself in. I found a pen and wrote a note to my parents, telling them I’d be back my noon. I followed the road again and went to the mall.
I didn’t know why, but I heard girls freaking out. Then a pack of them ran buy. “They must by high or something!” I thought jokingly.
I didn’t really find anything I liked, but on my way out, I spotted a small bookstore. I decided to go in and get a book to read on the road. I looked at fiction books, non-fiction books, and finally I went to check out the science-fiction books.
I walked around a few stands and stopped short. There was a hot, blond guy standing in front of me. He was about 5'2 or so.
“Zac Hanson?” I thought. I was totally speechless. I guess this hottie noticed me gaping at him because he turned around and smiled.
“Hi.” He said. “How are you?”
“G-good.” I stammered. “Um, you look like...”
“Zac Hanson, right?” “Uh, yeah. How’d you know?”
“Well, duh. Are you telling me you didn’t see a huge pack of girls running through the mall?”
“Yeah.” I admitted.
“I bet ya didn’t see me when I passed you approximately 1.5 square inches ahead of those girls.
“Nope. I thought they were high or something.” I said.
He laughed. “So, who are you anyway?”
“My name’s Tressa. Me and my family are moving to Tulsa and I woke up early and I decided to come here for a book or something. How ‘bout you?”
“Well, it’s only August, but my birthday is coming up in two months, and then Isaac’s is in November, and we wanted a break, so we’re gonna go home until January.
A much needed break. I was looking for a book too. Hey, do you know where you are moving to in Tulsa?”
“Nope. Somewhere on...I think it’s 78th street.”
“Cool. We live on that street too. Maybe I’ll see ya there.”
“Probably. But, can I have your auto?”
“My car?!”
“No, idiot, your autograph!”
“Oh. Well, that I can manage. Got paper?”
“Yep.” I dug in my pocket and produced the hotel pen and a piece of paper.
“Here.” Zac signed the paper and handed it back to me.
“Thanx.”
“No problem. By the way, look me up when you get to Tulsa. MY address is 30955 West 89th Street.” “OK, see ya later!” I waved and walked out of the store. Zac was extremely normal. I don’t know how I expected him to be, but he was a nice guy. I would definitely be calling him soon.
(Zac>
“That chick was really nice.” I thought. “Better than those screaming maniacs who scratched me bald!” Just then, I heard a shriek.
“Great, here we go again!” I mumbled to myself. Withing seconds, there was a pack of fifty girls freaking out. I was desperate.
I ran into the nearest shop and grabbed something off the shelf. I ran to the counter and exclaimed, “I’d like to try this on. Please, hurry!”
The lady working glanced at me and the garment I was holding strangely, but she unlocked the door and I ran in, slammed the door and locked it, just at the girls poured into the store.
I glanced down at what I was holding. “Oh, man!” I said. No wonder the lady thought I was a weirdo.
After all, it’s not every day a famous person comes into Victoria’s Secret and wants to try on a blue silk teddy! A very slinky one, might I add.
Man, if the press ever found out about this, Hanson would be over! So would my life! I could still hear the girls outside, but I had to get out of that puny room.
I ditched the teddy, opened the door, and ran for my life. I managed to get to the parking lot without too much pain. Except for the fact that my shirt was almost ripped off and I was practically bald, everything was fine.
Thankfully, Isaac had chosen that time to come and pick me up. I jumped in the van. “Go, go, go!!” I yelled.
The fanatics were running towards the van. Isaac pulled away from the curb.
“What happened to you?” He asked. “A dump truck ran over me.” I said sarcastically.
“Must’ve had spikes on the underside of it. Look at your shirt!”
He was quite right. My shirt was practically gone. The chicks were still watching from the mall entrance. We were still in the parking lot, so I pulled of the rest of my shirt and threw it out the window.
The chicks freaked and started running towards it. They all dived for it at once, but one girl grabbed it and ran away with the rest of them chasing after her.
I started to laugh.
“Why’d ya do that?” Isaac asked.
“A present?”
“Oh.”
We got back to the hotel where I told my (exciting?) tale.
(Tressa)
I was still quite excited about meeting the Zac Hanson.
I was skipping down the street with and idiot grin plastered my face. Skipping is very tiring, so I stopped to walk. Just in time. A white van pulled up beside me.
“Hey, wanna ride?” I didn’t look at them.
“No thanks.” I kept walking. Then I heard Zac’s voice.
“Come on, we can give you a ride back to your hotel.” I whipped my head around. O dear God, it was Zac, and he had Isaac with him! I almost had a heart attack, but managed to remain somewhat normal. I climbed into the back and Zac introduced me to Isaac.
“I didn’t look at you and I thought you guys were pedophiles or something trying to pick me up!” I laughed.
“So Tressa,” Isaac asked. “How old are you?”
“I’m thirteen.”
“Really?” Zac was surprised. “I thought we were the same age."
“Nope. I turned thirteen a few weeks ago. On August 7th.”
“Ah.”
“Hey,"Isaac asked. “Is this your hotel?” “Yup. Thanks a lot for the ride! I’ll call you guys when we get settled in to out new house, OK?”
“OK,” Zac said cheerfully. “Adios Amigo!”
“See ya!”
The van pulled away and I let myself into our hotel room.
The rest of my family was up and I told them about meeting Zac and getting a ride back from them.
“They’re so nice!” I gushed. “They gave me their address and phone number so I can call them when we get to Tulsa.”
“That’s nice.” My mom said vaguely.
“It’s already noon and we have 3 days of driving ahead of us, so we gotta go!”
We piled into our car and headed on down the road. About and hour later, we passed a broken down van with the lights flashing, signaling distress. We slowed down and stopped next to the car.
“Need any help?” my mom called out the window.
“Yeah,” said the driver of the van,”I don’t know what happened. She just broke down on us.”
We pulled up in front of them and my mom and dad got out. There were people coming out of the van. Then I realized who it was.
“Zac?” I asked. I was totally surprised.
“Tressa?” He was equally astonished.
“Hi Tressa!” Isaac said cheerfully.
“You guys know each other?” Mr. Hanson asked.
“We met at the mall.” Zac explained.
“Ah, I see. Well, we better get this car fixed.” he said, lifting up the hood.
Me, Zac, Isaac, and Taylor sat down on the side of the road. I was introduced to Taylor.
“Were you guys on the way to Tulsa?” I asked.
“Yeah. We were riding along and the car started to make weird noises and we pulled over.” Taylor informed me.
“I see.” We had to wait for about half and hour till their van was fixed.
“I’ll see you guys in Tulsa!” I waved.
“Bye!” Isaac said.
“Sayonara!” Zac said.
“Au revoir!” Taylor said.
“Alright, alright!” I laughed. “See ya!” We were ahead of the Hanson’s on the road, but a while later, they passed us.
Zac was next to the door, so he opened his window and made a face at me. I pressed my face against the window. He stuck his tongue out at me and they passed us.
We went through towns and cities, still following them and passing them occasionally so I could make stupid faces. We finally stopped at a hotel somewhere along the way.
It was about 9:00 when a knock came at our door. I opened it and found Isaac, Taylor, and Zac in their trunks with towels wrapped around their necks. *whoa mama! *LoL*
“We’re goin’ swimmin’ “ Zac said. “Wanna come?”
“Sure, come in for a minute.”
They said hi to my parents and waited as I got changed in the bathroom.
Finally, I was ready and we all ran to the pool house. It was a nice one with slides, two pools and a hot tub. The manager came to kick us out at 10:30.
“See you guys in the morning!” I called.
“‘Nite!” they chorused. We went to our own rooms.
In the morning, our families met to go have breakfast. We were going to drive straight through for the rest of the way, driving for the rest of the day and all night. When we were done breakfast, we packed up our cars. I was just about to climb into our car when Zac ran over to me.
“We have an extra seat in our van.” he said breathlessly. “Wanna ride with us?”
“Sure.” I grabbed my backpack, told my mom I was going with them, and ran over to the van.
I hopped in and grabbed a seat in the back next to Zac and Taylor. We basically were bored together and played a few car games until nightfall. When I got too tired to play anymore, I leaned back and fell asleep.
(Zac)
Tressa was sleeping peacefully, but Taylor and I still couldn’t sleep. I checked my watch. 12:30. Suddenly, Tressa rolled over and put her head on my shoulder.
“How sweet!” Taylor teased quietly.
“Shut-up!” I said.
“Ooohh.” Taylor joked. “Let’s all think real hard and figure out who in this car is obviously crushin’ on a certain girl sleeping on his shoulder?”
“Ha, ha.” I said.
Was it that obvious? If Taylor could tell, I sure didn’t want Tressa to find out! I put my arm around her.
“What’ll the press say!?” Taylor mocked.
“Who gives a rat's ass!? I shot back.
“Who’s a little crabby?” Taylor said, obviously suprised at my choice or words. “Just stop bugging me.”
“What if I don’t?” Taylor challenged.
“I’ll..."I thought hard. “I’ll tell Kirsten you have a crush on her.”
“That ten year old brat next door?”
“Do you know any other?"
He shut up.
(Tressa)
I awoke to Zac whispering to me.
“Tressa?” he said quietly. “Wake up.”
I opened me eyes and blinked. “Are we there yet?”
“Yep. I just found out you’re moving into Scott’s house.”
“Who’s Scott?” I asked sleepily.
“The guy that used to live next door.”
“Ah.”
We pulled up into the Hanson’s drive way, and I sleepily jumped out.
“I’ll come over later after I unpack, OK?”
“Check.” Zac said. “See ya.”
I walked over to our car and grabbed my suitcase.
“The truck bringing our furniture and stuff will be here in about ten minutes, so go up and find your rooms.”
I walked into the house and up the stairs. I started peeking into bedrooms.
Master Bedroom. My parents would want that one. A puny one the size of a bathroom. Toby could have this one. Two more doors to go. Another little one.
I went into the next one and dropped my bags. It was really cool.
It had a wall made out of mirrors that you could slide back to reveal a big walk in closet and bathroom. There was a balcony too.
“Mom!” I called down the stairs. “I found my room. Second one on the left.”
“OK!” she yelled back. “The furniture just got here, so I’ll get them to bring your stuff up first. Decide where you want it fast!”
“OK!” I figured everything out quickly, shoved my bags in the closet, and went out on the balcony. I had a perfect view of the Hanson’s house.
Zac opened his bed room window and yelled, “Hey! How’s it going?”
“Great!” I shouted. “Our furniture just got here, so I’ll put my stuff away and call you, OK?”
“K, you have my phone number, right?”
“Somewhere!”
“OK, see ya later!"
“Bye!”
He shut his window and I went back into my new bedroom.
(Zac)
I turned from my window and faced Taylor. “What?”
“Can you help me with something, dear brother?” I asked sweetly.
“Depends on what it is.”
“Well, y’know Tressa, right?” I began.
“Great, lover on the loose!” Taylor rolled his eyes.
“Just shut up and listen!” I shot back.
“Look, I think she’s really hot and I wanna ask her out, it’s as simple as that.”
“So the large problem would be....”
“Um, I've never done this before!?! And besides, I don’t know how to.”
“Well, don't exactly date that much either...” "Ha ha, reject!" I laughed, but promtply stopped by the look on his face. “Well, if you were going to, what would you say?”
“Hi, you're a hottie, wanna go to the movies? I dunno, uhh, ask her to go to the tree house or something like your gonna hang out and then ask her.”
“If this bombs, I’m blaming you!” “You're the one who wanted the help!" Before I could respond, the phone rang, and I picked it up.
“Hi Zac? I finished putting my stuff away, so do you wanna hang out?”
“Uh, sure. We could go to the, um, tree house.”
“Hey! The famous Hanson treehouse! I always wanted to see it! See ya in a few!”
I hung up the phone. Suddenly, I was extremely nauseated
. “I wanna go puke!” I exclaimed, grabbing my stomach dramatically.
“Yeah, sure.” said Taylor, peering out the window. “Go on! She’s already at the tree!”
“I’m going!” I pulled on my shoes and ran outside.
Tressa looked up. “How exactly are we supposed to get up there?”
“Watch.” I yanked on a rope and the rope ladder tumbled down.
“That's cool!”
“My dad made if for me.”
We climbed up and sat down. I was nervous again. Really nervous. Please let her say yes, please let her say yes. I prayed silently. Tressa broke the silence.
“You need a TV up here. And a Playstation or a Nintendo of some kind.”
“I know. Listen, I have something important to ask you.”
“Yeah??” Tressa looked at me strangely.
“Uh, um, I was wondering....would you like to...would you maybe want to...why the heck is this so hard!” I shouted.
“Zac, spit it out.” Tressa said.
“Would you go out with me!?” I admit I sorta yelled it. The emotions were weird. First came surprise. Did I actually yell at the chick of my dreams? Then the regret. I should have asked calmly! And last, but certainly not least, embarrassment. Red exploded my neck, overtaking my face and ears. How could I ever face her again?
“Listen, I‘ll call you later.” I mumbled. Time for a quick getaway. I slid down the pole. Ran through the yard, and into the safety of the house.
(Tressa)
I was still stunned. Zac had asked me out. True, I’d had a crush on him since May, even though I didn't know him then, but I’d never expected to be going out with him, or ever meeting him for that fact!
I checked my watch. 5:30. Almost time for dinner. I made a mental note to call Zac after I was finished eating. I hopped over the fence.
I was just about to walk around to the front door when I noticed a wooden thing holding up a bunch of vines and plants. It was about 10 feet tall and it attached to my balcony. It looked sturdy enough, so I started to climb up it.
(Zac)
The house was quiet as I walked through the hallway towards my room. I opened the door and didn’t see anyone.
I slumped down on Taylor’s bed and thought about what an idiot I was. Then the door opened and Taylor walked in.
“Where were you?” I asked.
“Getting a snack. How’d it go?”
“I blew it.”
“How did you do that?”
“I was really nervous and I was just acting like an idiot and Tressa goes, ‘Spit it out’ or something like that and I yelled at her!”
“You’ve just created an even bigger problem than you had.”
“What?”
“Well, if I know you, and I do know you, you’re never going to call her again because you’ll be embarrassed."
“You’re right.” I sighed. “I was thinking about leaving town.”
“Look, just go over there, knock on the door, and tell Tressa you’re sorry for yelling, you were just nervous, and ask her to go see a movie.”
“But what if she says no?”
“Then you don’t go out with her and you become her new best friend.” He replied happily.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, whatever.”
I went outside again and knocked on the McRanin’s front door. I heard footsteps. The doorknob turned. My stomach was feeling queasy again. The door opened and...
“Hi Zac!” Mrs. McRanin said. “How are you?”
I blew out a sigh of relief. “Hi. Is Tressa here?”
“Why, no, Zac. I thought she was with you.”
“Uh...” I racked my brain. “Yeah...I had to, um, go..inside for a minute!< I, uh, thought maybe she came back inside. She must be in, um, in the treehouse. I’ll go check there. Thanks, Mrs. McRanin!”
“Oh, please call me Julie.”
“OK, thanks Julie!”
I waved and went into my back yard and climbed into the treehouse. There wasn’t a person in sight. I stuck my head out the door. Nobody.
I looked out the window and scanned her backyard. There was some kinda vine thing on the ground, lying next to Tressa. What’s she doing? I thought. Takin’ a nap? It was then that I noticed the blood.
“Oh my god!” I whispered.
I slid down the pole, hopped the fence and kneeled down by her side. She looked pretty bad. There was a huge...gash thing on her head. I am not a good blood person.
I jumped up on the deck, pulled open the sliding glass door, and ran into the kitchen screaming, “Julie!”
She was making dinner and I freaked her out.
“What? What’s wrong?” she asked frantically.
“Tressa’s hurt! Call the ambulance, 911, the police, the Army, the Navy, the President, the hospital, the Sprint Canada lady, anybody!!!!!”
The hospital was gloomy. Everything was white and the smell made me wanna blow chunks. My mom comforted me.
Taylor and Isaac had come along with us and my dad stayed home to watch the kids.
Tressa’s parents were in the waiting room. Tressa was, apparently, in surgery for a broken arm and leg, and excessive head wounds.
God, I felt bad. It was all my fault...
(Tressa)
I opened my eyes and groaned slightly. Ugh, who was repeatedly hitting my head with a sledgehammer? Well, they were gonna get it!
Everything was fuzzy, but I could make out bright lights and a couple people leaning over me.
“Tressa? Are you awake?” a masked person asked me. I groaned in response.
“You’ve had an accident. We were just about to make you fall asleep so we can operate on you, OK? This won’t hurt a bit.”
I felt a small prick in my arm. Everything went black and I fell dead asleep on the operating table.
(Zac)
It had been five hours since the accident. I was waiting for my turn to go see Tressa.
Her door opened and Mr. and Mrs. McRanin walked out. They looked drained. “You can go in now Zac, but she’s still asleep.” Julie said with a sigh.
“OK, thanks Julie.” I said quietly and walked into the room.
I walked to Tressa’s bedside and looked down. I could barely see her. She had on two casts, a head bandage, not to mention the boundless assortment of tubes and machines around her. I started blabbing away.
I read a in book once that even if someone is unconscious, they can still hear you or something like that. I had been talking away for half an hour. Then Taylor came in.
“Zac,” he said softly. “We gotta go.”
“I don’t want to leave.” I said stubbornly.
“We’re not going home, we’re just letting her rest.”
“Does it look like she’s straining herself?” I asked pointedly.
“Look just come on. There’s someone here to see you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah! They’re waiting so hurry up.”
(Tressa)
I could hear someone talking quietly. The soothing voice had taken the pain away. Then another voice entered. Suddenly, the voice was gone. It had vanished back into the blackness.
“Come back!” my mind screamed. I tried with all my might to yell out. Nothing.
My eyelids felt like weights. They were so heavy. I couldn’t open them. I was getting sleepy. So sleepy...
(Zac)
I reluctantly walked out into the hallway. My mom and Taylor were there. Isaac had apparently gone home.
The McRanin’s had vanished, but there was someone new there.
“Zac, are you OK?” she asked.
My mom interrupted. “Taylor and I are going to graba a snack in the cafeteria.”
“OK, Mom.”
They walked into the room, and I was left alone in the hallway with Breescha, my long-time down the block neighbor and good friend.
“How’d you know I was here?” I wondered.
“News gets around fast. It took all of five minutes for me to learn what happened. Only, my mom wouldn’t let me come sooner.”
“Oh.” I said dully. In a way, I was glad she was there. Breescha and I first met as babies. Her family had moved in down the block, and my mom went to say hello.
When she learned Mrs.Sockhad, Breescha’s mom, had a child, she would bring me over lots to play with. We grew up together and hung around on those particularly boring days.
“How are you doing?” Breescha asked with concern. “OK, I guess.” I said. “Hungry.”
“Let’s go to the cafeteria.”
“Sure.”
Thankfully, on the way to the hospital, I had grabbed my wallet on the way out the door and I had ten bucks in it. We got to the cafeteria and scanned the buffet.
It didn’t look that great, but I was starving. I don’t know what I grabbed, but it filled me. I glanced up at the clock on the wall. 11:30. Almost midnight. It was almost overwhelming to think that it had been a mere eleven hours ago that we had arrived in Tulsa. So much can happen in one day.
(Breescha)
It had been a week since the accident. I was there every day. He was in pretty bad shape. He felt awful, like the whole thing was his fault.
My mind traveled back to a few months ago. February, I think it was. I remembered Kris, my first boyfriend. Valentines day, the dance. Most of all, I remembered after the dance. He walked me home.
On my doorstep, I waited for a kiss. I closed my eyes and heard Kris speak. “Breescha, I have to talk to you.”
I took the break-up pretty hard. I cried for days. Zac was there every day, calming me, soothing me.
I swore to myself that one day I would repay him when he needed the help. That time had come.