***Zac’s View*** When Taylor hung up the phone, I could tell something was wrong. “Taylor, I saw that ‘Friends’ was on tonight. Some kinda special thing. It’s on in about, oh, five minutes,” I informed him, glancing at the clock. He just nodded. “Taylor! ‘Friends’ is gonna be on! Wake up!” I mused, wildly waving my hand in front of his face. He slapped it away. “I heard you the first time!” he insisted. “Why ya so depressed? Cheer up buddy!” I cried, jumping onto the couch beside him. “I’m not depressed. I’m just thinking, buddy.” he said, shoving me over. “What, Sam hates you now?” I asked. “No. She’s sick. She sounded bad too. She was all hoarse & tired. I hope she isn’t like allergic to something over here or anything,” he answered. “See! I knew she was allergic to you! Better stay away from her from now on, she might go into a coma or something,” I joked. He shoved me again. “You’re so abusive. Meany,” I griped. He kept concentrating on the television screen. “Hello! Younger brother is about to go out of control because of lack of attention!!! Hello!!!” Taylor took his eyes off the TV. He glared at me & changed the channel to NBC. ‘I’ll Be There for You’ filled the room. Taylor hummed along, so I joined in. “I’ll be there for yooou, when the rain starts to fall. I’ll be there for yooou, like I been there before. I’ll be there for yoooou, cuz you’re there for me too-oooo” I sang along. I heard clapping from behind me. I turned to see Jessica, Mackie & Ike standing in the doorway, clapping. I bowed. In mid-bow, a pillow flew by & smacked me in the head. I threw myself backwards. “Oh, the agony. The paaaaain!!!” I howled, holding my head. Jessie walked by & pretended to kick me. I groaned. “No one loves me anymore,” I mumbled as I left the room. Mackie giggled. I trudged upstairs to our room. When I was 7 I’d begged my parents to let me have my own room, but they said we didn’t have enough room. I suggested they build onto the house & make me a room, since we had such a big yard. They refused, saying that “If we gave you one, everybody’d want one”. I told them that was fine with me, but they didn’t agree. I sat down at the lego table & started working on a castle I’d been building for a few weeks. But I just couldn’t concentrate, so I called Janie. “Hi, can I talk to Janie?” I asked. “Uh, yeah. Jussa sec,” her little brother said. A few seconds later, “Hi Zac. Whuzzup?” she asked. “Nutin much. You?” “Tara’s stayin the night. We’re playin Monopoly. This little bunghole here,” I heard Tara yell. “owns all the good stuff & she put hotels on everything!” she exclaimed. “I guess-” she was interrupted by a loud thump. “Zac?” Tara breathlessly asked. “Uh, hi,” I said. “Do y-” Another thump. “I’m b-” A shriek. Then someone’s heavy breathing replaced the noise. In a few seconds Tara came back on. “Hi..... I’m kinda.... running...now....OK....better. Now,” Tara took a deep breath. “Where’ve...you been? I...haven’t....seen you in.... a while,” she gasped. “We’ve been working on our next album. Janie didn’t tell you?” I asked. I was a little speechless. She was actually talking to me. “Janie? No, she didn’t tell me anything about it. What’s it called aga- oh crap. She’s coming! Shhh..” she whispered. “Ah ha!” someone yelled. A few more shrieks & Janie was back. “Hi! Sorry bout that! Tara’s had too much Jolt tonight. Guess it got to her head. Anyway,” she said. I was tempted to tell her about my encounter with Surge, but I had something more important to talk to her about. “Hey, about Tara,” I hesitated. “Ya know, I don’t know, I mean, me & Tara, err, shit, I don’t know how to say this!” I exclaimed. “Zac, I get it. You like Tara & you wanna know if she likes you,” she concluded. “I’ve known you too long,” I said. “Six years does wonders for the mind. I’ll ask her,” she said. “But don’t tell her-” “That you like her or that you asked. I know,” she said. “Thanks.” “No prob. Hey, gotta go. Call ya back later. If not tonight then tomorrow. Bye!” “Bye.” I brought the phone back downstairs. Isaac, Taylor & Mackie were out in the TV room watching ‘Boston Common’. Normally I would’ve gone out to watch it with them, but I didn’t feel like it tonight. I wasn’t in much of a TV mood. I wasn’t in an anything mood. So went back to the kitchen to get something to eat. There wasn’t anything edible-looking in the fridge so I searched all the cupboards. Old peanut butter, crunchy & smooth; pop-tarts; rolls; cream corn; jello. Bullseye! I got out 5 packages of jello & debated which to eat first. I studied them for a few minutes before deciding on green. It didn’t taste like lime like it was supposed too, it just tasted green. After I had everything mixed up I shoved it into the already overflowing fridge & set the timer. I wasn’t really hungry, but jello is just a necessity for me, like air. Can’t live without sugar! After wandering the house for what seemed like eternity, the jello was done. I brought the huge bowl & a spoon into the TV room & plopped down in front of the TV. “Zac, move,” Isaac complained. I didn’t budge. “Zac!” Taylor yelled. I ignored him. A pillow whizzed past my head. I spun around to see who threw it & another one smashed into my face. “Aaugh!” I yelled, jumping up. “I’m trying to eat in peace! Do you mind?!?!?!” I yelled. “Yeah, you’re in the way!” Isaac cried. “Well so-orry! God, nobody around here appreciates the younger, wiser sibling here!” I yelled, jumping up & running upstairs to our room. I crawled up onto Ike’s bed & just sat there in the dark, eating my jello. I finished off the bowl in about 15 minutes & went back downstairs. Taylor was wandering around the kitchen, looking for something to eat. I’m not one to hold grudges, so I asked, “Want some jello?” “Jeez Zac. You ate a whole bowl & then skipped lunch, had dinner & ate another bowl! Now you’re getting more! What a pig!” he exclaimed. “I’m a hyper growing kid. Want some jello?” I asked again. “Yeah , well you’re gonna be a dead hyper growing kid if I get my hands around your throat!” he almost yelled. Taylor sighed & shut the fridge. “Fine,” he agreed. I want back to work, making some orange jello. I finished & put it in the space left by the last bowl. The phone rang & I dove over the counter to get it before anyone else could. “Hello?” I asked. There was a click & then I heard Isaac say the same thing. “Hi Zac,” Janie said. “Bye Ike,” I said. He hung up. “Listen, Tara’s in the bathroom so I gotta make it quick. I asked her & she said she kinda likes you, but she’s not sure yet, she said you bug her too much & you’d leave her alone it’d be easier for her to decide. Shit she just got out. Bye!” She hung up. It took me a second to let it all register. She’d rushed everything together so I didn’t understand what all she said. As soon as I figured it out, I slowly put the phone down & walked as calmly as I could upstairs. As soon as I got to our room, I saw Ike sitting on the floor, reading something. “Ike I need your help,” I said as soon as I walked in the door. He looked up from what he was reading. “What?” “IlikesomeoneandtheysaidthattheykindalikemebutIreallywantTaraImeansomeonetolikemewhatdoIdo?” I asked. “Who whoa. Zac, try saying one word at a time, you’ll find people understand you better, if that’s possible,” he said. I took a deep breath & tried again. “There’s this girl I like & she said she kinda likes me but she doesn’t know & she doesn’t know I like her & I really want her to like me but she says she just needs me to leave her alone for a little bit but I can’t!” I explained, all in one breath. He just looked at me for a little bit & then cracked a smile. “Little Zaccy has a girlfriend!” “I do not! I just.... like her... that’s all!” He nodded. “Well, I’d say just do what she wants. If she needs you to leave her alone, leave her alone, easy as that. It’ll pay off.” He was right. A few months ago he & Krissy had some problems. They were together 24/7, so they gave eachother a break. Now they were closer than ever, but her parents were thinking about getting a divorce, so Krissy had to stay home a lot. But Ike always visited her. I sighed & sat down in front of the legos. “Ike?” I asked. “Huh?” “Come help me?” “OK.” We worked on a huge castle for a while. “Oh crap!” I exclaimed. “What?” Ike asked. “The jello!” I remembered. “Zac, it’s not gonna hurt if it stay in the fridge for a few DAYS,” I said, as I was hurrying out the door. I didn’t care. I grabbed the bowl out of the fridge & got a spoon. Mom walked into the kitchen just as I was getting ready to go. “Zac, you don’t need anymore jello. It’s not good for you.” I shrugged & went back upstairs, eating on the way. More than half the bowl was gone when I got back upstairs. “For God sakes Zac, can you be anymore of a pig?” Ike asked, when he saw how much I’d already eaten. “Nope.” Ike & I had just gotten back to building when Tay came in. He walked over & fell onto his bed, without even looking at us. After a few seconds, he spoke. “Dad wants to know when we want to get the hard part over with. Now or later,” he said. Ike & I knew what he meant. We all just looked at eachother for awhile before Ike broke the silence. “I’ll go tell him we’ll do it tomorrow. Better now than never.” He got up & left. I looked over at Tay, who was staring at the bottom of Ike’s bunk. He sighed & closed his eyes. We were all tired, including Dad. As Dad put it “Recording process is hard”. I then realized I was close to falling asleep in my chair, so I stood up & pulled out my bed. Tay opened his eyes & looked over at me. “So, you like Tara?” he asked. My head jerked up. “How’d you know?” “Have you every heard of the mute button?” My eyes got huge & I was just about to jump over there & pound him. “Hey, relax. I’m not gonna tease you or anything about it. I kinda figured you did anyway. It’s obvious.” “How?” I asked. “The way you look at her. How your eyes glaze over when somebody talks about her. You’re doing it now,” he asked, grinning. I rolled my eyes & went back to fixing my bed. He closed his eyes & almost looked asleep. I changed & hopped into bed. Ike walked in & looked at us. “This is a change. Usually I’m the first asleep,” he observed. “Ike, you sleep more than Mama did,” Tay said, referring to his old cat. Mom & Dad said we had to give the house a break. We had so many cats that everything was covered in hair & it smelled like cats everywhere in the house. Especially when Mackie was born, they didn’t think it would be too good to have a dozen cats running around, leaving their hair on him. Ike shrugged & jumped up to his bed. “Ike?” “What?” “Will you turn off the light? I’m tired,” I griped. “Fine.” He jumped down & grabbed a flashlight so he could read & turned off the light. “Thanks.” I closed my eyes & tried to sleep, but I was too excited. ‘Tara might like me’ I kept thinking. I heard Tay mumbling in his sleep, so I knew I better get to sleep. I cleared my mind & quickly fell asleep.
***Sam’s View*** I woke up to darkness. My eyes were stinging again, but I didn’t take much notice. I pulled myself up & looked at the clock. 5:50. Way too early, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. I sat down at the computer & connected to the internet. I checked my email. Snazzy wrote me, along with a few newsletters & stuff. I read her letter first. --- ‘Cookie- Hey gal, sup? Wow, you met those guys with the awesome album? That’s neat. Isn’t it weird when you think about somebody you don’t know, then you meet them? Well, guess what! My friend who has the cousins who are working with Savage Garden said we might get to meet them! She said they’re in their early 20s & really nice. Times like these make me wish I were older! :) Anywayz, gotta keep it short. Alwayz Snazzy’ ‘Snazzy- Hiyaz! You’re so lucky you getta meet the guys! Isaac, Taylor & Zac are recording a new album. It’s called ‘MMMBop’ I think. I’ll send you a sound clip if I get tha chance. Nah, I’ll just send ya the album. But only if you promise to send me the album by Savage Garden! Well, it’s pretty early so I better go! ~Cookie Monster~ I wrote her back & sent it. I remembered about they guys’ website I was going to visit last time & I entered the address. He was right. It was mostly just a lot of text. It talked about how they were recording ‘MMMBop’ now & where they were going to perform next. The background was black & the white letters were hurting my eyes worse. I got off the inter net & stood up from the computer. I turned on a lamp & went downstairs. I changed my contacts to my green ones & slowly made my way back upstairs. It was only 6:30, but I heard Kay emerge from her room. She sat down on the couch & mumbled “Morning.” “Hi. Do you know where my flute’s packed? I asked. “Umm, I think it’s upstairs.” Upstairs. That was where my parent’s room was. Not like they actually needed a room, they were only home about one night a week. I groaned & stumbled up the stairs. There were only two rooms upstairs, my parent’s room & another, bigger room we used for storage. I stepped over a few boxes before I found the box I was looking for. I had plenty of room in my room for all my boxes, but I didn’t want all of them downstairs at one time. Too messy, but not like my room was neat. It was exactly the opposite. I shuffled through the box before I found the small black case. I put the box back & brought the case with me. It’d been nearly forever since I’d played, but it was so easy to go back. I escaped to my room & sat down on my bed. I didn’t want to search through the other boxes for my music, so I played a song I knew by heart. It was easy, but I loved it. ‘Brian’s Song’. I played it twice, perfectly. I always played until I made a mistake, then changed songs. I stopped & put my flute down. I went upstairs & looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. My face was slightly better, to my surprise. But my neck was a completely different story. Blue & purple bruises encircled my neck, creating strange patterns. I knew I wouldn’t be able to wash my face for a few days because of the extreme bruises, which would cause another breakout. “Great,” I mumbled. “Exactly what I need, a solar system on my forehead.” But I had to take a shower. I hadn’t taken a shower since the night before the guys started recording their album, almost three days ago. As the warm water washed down my aching back, I could feel the cuts & scrapes start bleeding again, but I didn’t pay them any attention. I carefully washed my hair & stepped back out, seeing blood trickling down my back in the mirror. I groaned & carefully wiped it away with a wad of toilet paper. I grabbed some concealer & delicately applied it around my neck. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere, but I didn’t want to scare Kay & Troy. When the bruises were barely noticeable, I put on my robe & went back downstairs. There I changed into some loose, comfortable clothes & headed back upstairs. Troy was awake now & playing sega. “Troy, it’s almost 8. We better get the house cleaned,” I said, walking past him to Kay’s room. She was sitting in front of her mirror, brushing her long, beautiful hair. I’d always been so envious of her, she got the good hair in our family. “Kay?” “What?” she asked, putting her brush down. “We better get the house ready. Mom & Dad hate having the house messy. I wanna be ready, just in case they come home early again,” I sighed. “Oh, Isaac called. He said everybody misses you & hoped you get better soon.” She eyed me. “No Kay. I told them I had a cold,” I informed her. She nodded & stood up. She followed me back out to the living room. Troy already had the sega put away. “Kay, you wash up the bathrooms. I’ll take the kitchen & Troy, you take what’s left.” “Uh!” Troy wined. “It’s not that bad. Just the halls & living room. I’d say you got it easy bro,” I replied, gazing at the sink, overflowing with dishes. He sighed & limped away. Just seeing him like this made my heart ache, but I knew the house had to be clean. Even if they didn’t show up this morning, they would soon, probably when we least expected it.
***Ike’s View*** “Hey Ike, what did Sam say?” Zac asked when I came back. “Wish I knew. Kay said she was in the shower, so I told her to tell her that we miss her & we hope she gets better.” “She’s actually awake?” Tay asked, wide eyed. “Guess so.” I shrugged. “Guys!” Zac griped, impatiently tapping the bass drum. “We gotta practice. Remember what we’re playing today?” he asked, lowering his voice. How could we forget? I walked over & helped Zac tune. Taylor had his headphones on so we couldn’t hear him practice. His hair was covering his face & he didn’t move, except his fingers, quickly dancing across the keys. He suddenly stopped & took a deep breath. He looked away & started fiddling away with his braid. I glanced over at Zac & saw him watching Tay also. I couldn’t stand this awkward silence anymore. I cleared my throat. Taylor spun around & took his off his headphones. “I think piano would sound better,” he mumbled, looking back down. I nodded. “You play it,” he said, snapping his head up. “What?!” I asked, confused. “You play piano on it. You know the part, right?” he asked. “Well, yeah...” “Then you play it. I’m already singing & stuff. So why don’t you just play piano,” he concluded, staring me in the eye. I hesitated. “Well, let’s ask Dad & see what he thinks. Cuz I’ll have my hands busy with guitar parts.” He nodded. “We better go out there,” Zac said. He was talking about the living room, where everyone else was. “They said for us to only be out here for 20 minutes.” Taylor nodded again, but made no intention to move. Zac stepped out from behind the drumset & headed to the door, signaling us to follow. We followed Zac to the living room. Everyone was there, except Avery. “Where’s Avie?” Taylor asked. “Upstairs getting dressed,” Dad replied. “Um, we’re ready, to, um, record,” I stuttered. My mother let out a long sigh. They stood up, Jessie carrying Mac. We all walked together toward the garage door. Just before we reached our destination, Avie caught up, gasping & panting. The only people going in to record were Dad, Tay, Zac & I. Before we went in, Mom gave us each a big hug. “Thanks, boys,” she barely said over a whisper, red eyes filled with tears. We each took a deep breath & stepped into the garage.
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