***Tay’s View***
	Saturday seemed to show up in no time. So quickly that I
almost forgot to get Sam a birthday present. Luckily, Thursday, Zac
reminded me by telling me what he was getting her. 
	“I’m gonna get her like, some markers & pens & maybe even
some lipstick, scary I know, so she can write on her walls again.
That’ll be cool,” he informed me. “Yeah, OK. How about in a few
hours we go down & pick the stuff up?” I asked. “Today? Um, OK.
After we’re done for today. At least we get weekends off this time,”
he sighed. “Yeah,” I agreed. 
		***Sam’s View***
	My mother & father had finally come back on Thursday. My
father want straight upstairs, while my mother gave me a small,
wrapped package. 
	“Happy Birthday!” she exclaimed. “Sorry I couldn’t call, we
were on the road. But your father & I bought you a little something.”
‘Yeah,’ I thought. ‘I bet the only thing he wanted to get me was a coffin.’
	I sat down on the couch & opened the small box. Inside was a
gold necklace that looked exactly like a leaf. In the corner of the box,
here was a small label. ‘24 karat gold’ it read. ‘Real Aspen leaf inside each
necklace.’ I was speechless for a moment. 
	“Mom...this must’ve cost a fortune.” “Nonsense. It was your
thirteenth & we weren’t there. So we had to get you a great gift,” she
said. “Well, I don’t know what to say. Thank you!” I exclaimed.
“Well, if you like it so much, let’s see it on you!”
	I carefully removed the necklace from the box & put it on. It
was remarkably heavy, but not uncomfortable. “Oh, it looks
gorgeous!’ my mother exclaimed. “Really? I love it!” I said. My
mother smiled & gave me a big bear hug. 
		***Tay’s View***
	When we went in to start recording, Dad told us he had some
bad news for us. All the songs that we’d recorded over the last week
hadn’t come out right. Hardly anything we’d recorded at all came out
right. He told us that the people who were letting us borrow the extra
instruments had some friends who owned a recording studio. Dad
said we would just have to record everything there, which wouldn’t
exactly be cheap. We could only afford to record for a week, and they
were closed on Sundays. So we decided that starting Monday, we’d
have to go record in that recording studio. 
	After we’d received our schedule-destroying news, we went to
the mall to look for gifts for Sam. Ike decided that since he saw that
Sam wrote, he was going to get her a bunch of pencils, notebooks, &
folders. I didn’t know exactly what I would get her, I figured I’d
decide while I was looking around the mall. 
	First, we had to go to a school specialty store & get stuff for Ike
& Zac. Ike picked up the stuff he was gonna get, then we had to
wander the store for about ten minutes so Zac could search around
for what to get her. 
	Finally, Zac found the ‘perfect’ markers, so we headed off to
other parts of the mall. Zac still had to get some lipstick, but he didn’t
want to seem weird or gay to the people inside. 
	“Tay, will you please go in & get some?” Zac begged. “No way
bro, it’s your present, you get it.” “But they’ll think I’m gay or
somethin! They’ll think I’m a crossdresser! C’mon Tay, please? ”Uh
uh. No.” “Ike-” “Zac, just go in there, but the lipstick, & come back
out. I doubt they’ll ask you any questions,” Ike assured him. “But I
don’t wanna go in there alone!” Zac whined. “Fine. If you’ll stop
whining, we’ll go in there with you, but we’re not saying anything or
buying anything,” I compromised with him. “Oh, fine. Let’s just
hurry up,” Zac sighed. 
	We quickly walked into the cosmetics store, keeping our heads
down & looking at the floor so no one would recognize us. Zac
immediately hurried to the lipstick shelf. He grabbed two &
practically ran to the counter. The lady behind he counter gave us
weird looks, but scanned the lipstick. 
	“It’s for my girlfriend,” Zac explained. The lady grinned &
nodded. “I normally wouldn’t buy something like this, but she told
me to, & I don’t want to make her mad, but I usually don’t buy stuff
like this cause I’m not gay or anything,” Zac rambled on. “Anything
else for ya?” the lady asked, trying to stay professional. “No, there’s
nothing else here I need, cause I’m not gay,” Zac defended. “Um, OK.
That’ll be $3.51.” Zac handed her his money, got his change, & almost
ran back out. 
	“Gee, I bet she wasn’t suspicious or anything,” Ike said
sarcastically when we were out of the store. “I hope not. I was trying
to get my point across that I’m not gay,” Zac sighed. “Yeah, but you
kinda made a mistake. You said Sam was your girlfriend,” I told him.
“So I lied. I’m just glad she believed me,” he said. “Oh yeah, she
definitely believed you,” Ike said, rolling his eyes. 

		***Sam’s View***
	When I woke up Saturday morning, I had the same weird
feeling that I’d had the morning Taylor snuck into my room. I
snapped my eyes open, but all I saw was my room. “Oh, thank God,”
I whispered to myself. 
	I sat up in bed & glanced around. The only thing moving was
the TV screen, which was still on. I switched it to MTV & turned the
volume up. It was a song called ‘Woo-ha (Got you all in check)’ by
somebody called Busta Rhymes. I guessed it was the name of the
group or something, cause there were some group shots in the video.
But only one guy was ever rapping. 
	I put my contacts in & stayed sitting on my bed for a while.
Something was wrong, I could feel it. My room felt too tense. I got
out of my bed & stretched. In a flash, people jumped out at me.
“Surprise!” “Ahh!” I yelled, jumping back onto my bed. Amanda,
Steph, Janie, Tara, Lisa, & Krissy were all surrounding me. “What the
hell’s the deal?!” I nearly yelled. “We decided to surprise you,”
Amanda told me. “Well, good job. How’d you do this, anyway?” I
asked. “Well, Kay & Troy called us last night. They told us that your
parents left & wouldn’t be back for a while & that they wanted to
surprise you. We’ve been here since 8:30,” Krissy replied. “But,
there’s something not right here. People are missing,” I said. “Yeah,
the guys. They wanted to come, but we wouldn’t let them. We were
gonna have a girl party first,” Steph said. “Oh, OK. Thanks soo much
for not letting the guys over, Taylor would’ve woken me up at like
eight again,” I sighed. 
	“Well, what are you waiting for? You hafta get ready!” Amanda
exclaimed. I glanced over at my clock, which read 9:35. “What time
are we meeting the guys?” I asked. “Well, no promises, but they said
that if we’re not over at Ike, Tay, & Zac’s house by eleven, they’ll
come over here,” Janie said. “And I wouldn’t want that, Zac & Chris
are in really hyper moods & I wouldn’t want them anywhere
indoors, if ya know what I mean,” Krissy said. “Well, you guys can
do whatever you want, I’m gonna go take a quick shower & get
dressed. Just try not to wake up Troy, he was out almost all night
with some friends, he needs sleep,” I said, grabbing some clothes &
makeup. “K, don’t worry bout us, just hurry,” Steph said, practically
pushing me upstairs. “OK, I’m goin!” I exclaimed, hurrying upstairs. 
	I took a shower & changed into a pair of shorts that stopped
just above my knees, and a dark green t-shirt. The breakout I’d had a
week ago still hadn’t gone away, it’s almost gotten worse. I washed
my face with two different cleansers, and loaded on my pale powder.
I put on a copper-red lipstick & red-purple eyeshadow, to go along
with my fading red hair. 
	I was feeling better than I had when we first moved. I was
completely bruise-free & felt great. But I knew it was too good to last
for very long, so I knew I had to take advantage of it. 
	“Hey guys!” I exclaimed when I got out of the bathroom. Kay &
Troy were lounging in the living room, watching Nickelodeon. “Hi,”
Troy groaned. “Tired?” “Yeah. But Zac called & woke me up. Said I
should go to LaserQuest with you guys,” Troy said. “Oh really?”
“Yeah. He said They all gotta invite two people, so Zac invited me &
Chris. Jessie invited Amy & Kay.” “Well, you guys better get ready
then, they’re gonna get over here at about eleven. We’re probably
leavin sometime soon after that.” “I know, just let me wake up first,”
Troy answered, yawning. I nodded & headed back downstairs. 
	“Finally! Now we gotta do your hair. Sit down,” Amanda said,
leading me over to the bed. Obediently, I sat down on the bed &
relaxed. “What do you guys think?” she asked. Lisa, Janie, Tara, &
Steph sat down in front of me while Krissy & Amanda brushed my
hair out. “I say French braid,” Lisa said. “Ponytail, on top of her
head,” Janie suggested. “A bunch of little braids. Ya know, like how
Avery has hers sometimes,” Steph said. “We could do that, but it
would take forever with such thick hair as hers. How about pigtail
braids?” Krissy asked. “No way! Too girlish,” I refused. “OK, that’s
out. It’s gonna be hot today, so I think we should keep your hair up,
the guys were talkin bout bladin after a few hours of lasertag. Maybe
three braids?” Amanda asked. “Two near the front, one in the back,
how about a zigzag part?” Krissy suggested. “Yeah, that sounds
good. But we’ll need a comb & some hairspray,” Janie said. “Sam?”
“In the closet in the bathroom, ask the kids for directions,” I told
them. 
	About a half hour later, Krissy & Amanda had somehow gotten
m hair to work, by using about two liters of hairspray and lots of
yelling. “There! It’s a masterpiece! Or at least for the next hour or so.
C’mon, we hafta hurry over to show your off, before it’s too late!”
Amanda said, pulling me up. “Ready or not, here we come!” came a
bellow from the stairs. “Too late!” Lisa sighed. 
	The guys thundered down the stairs, not even waiting for a
response. Luckily, the night before I’d cleaned up my room a little so
that there weren’t any clothes or anything on the floor. In seconds,
eight more people were in my room. Isaac, Taylor, Zac, Jason, Chris,
Mat, Ashley, & Paul all filed into my room. “Nice hair,” Jason
smirked. “Yeah, ain’t it purdy?” I asked in a southern accent. “Why
yes, Scarlett darling, it looks simply marvelous!” Mat complemented
back in the same accent, flipping a braid over my shoulder. “Don’t
get me started, I know the whole thing by heat,” I warned. “Know
what by heart?” Chris asked. “Gone with the Wind, dummy,” Janie
told him. “I have it, the book & the movie,” I said. “Tomorrow, is
another day!” Amanda said dramatically. She curtsied & everyone
clapped. 
	“Well, Mom said she’ll drop us all off at LaserQuest at noon.
She’s givin us enough cash for everybody to play a game, but after
that everybody has to pay for themselves,” Taylor told us. “Great.
Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Steph complained. “I just found out!”
Taylor defended. “Well, looks like your moms’ gonna hafta drive
around town, I don’t have enough cash on me,” Janie sighed. “That’s
her problem, not ours. C’mon, we gotta get goin!” Isaac exclaimed,
grabbing Krissy’s hand. 
	When we got upstairs, I had to stop everyone. “I gotta go grab
some moolah. Stay right there & don’t move,” I commanded & ran
upstairs. I grabbed about $10 dollars from the money bowl in my
parents, planning on gradually paying it back somehow. They
wouldn’t notice it for a few weeks anyway. They left the night before,
not planning on being back for another week. 
	When I returned downstairs, everyone was holding perfectly
still, barely even breathing. “That’s nice you guys. Stay that way for a
while,” I joked. “Kay! Troy! C’mon, it’s time to go,” I yelled. “OK, my
wonderful statues, you may awaken now,” I said. Slowly, they all
started stretching & yawning. 
	“Oh no! You’ve seen us in our nocturnal stage! Now we must
kill you!” Zac exclaimed, jumping on my back. “Whoa!” I cried &
threw him off. “I don’t like you like that,” I said as Troy & Kay joined
us. “Yuck! Stay away from me!” Zac yelled & jumped back. 

		***Ike’s View***
	They had to drive around for quite a while so all the girls could
get their money. I offered to drive a few people over to LaserQuest, &
Mom reluctantly agreed. She really didn’t want me driving around,
especially with other people in the car, but we needed to get
everyone there & Dad was over talking to the people who ran the
studio. 
	I drove myself, Krissy, Paul, Ashley, & Mat over to LaserQuest.
Of course, Krissy & I didn’t go with the, we dropped them off &
drove over to the school yard. Since school was out, no one was there
& we had some privacy. “Why’d you stop here?” she asked,
grinning. “I bet the car needs some rest. It’s been running almost all
day,” I said slyly. “Clarke Isaac Hanson, don’t you lie to me! You’ve
been using this car for twenty minutes,” she cried, jokingly. “But you
never know when it could just break down,” I said, scooting closer to
her. She shook her head, still grinning. “You’ll never learn, will
you?” she asked. “Well, you can teach on old new tricks.” “And what
the hell is that supposed to mean?” She leaned over on me, putting
her head on my chest. 
	“You’re so weird sometimes,” she sighed. “And you’re not?”
“No, I’m not weird sometimes. I’m weird all the time.” I laughed &
stroked her hair. She had the silkiest, blondest hair I’d ever seen. One
day I’d asked her if she would trade me hair, & she looked at me
strangely before replying. “Well, I would, but you’d look like even
more of a girl than you do now.” I then gave her a hurt look. “Oh,
I’m just kidding!” she cries & ran to give me a hug. “I like your hair
better than mine, & I couldn’t run my fingers through my own hair,
could I?” she asked. “Well, I guess it would be kind of awkward,” I’d
agreed. 
		***Sam’s View***
	Finally, everybody had their money & we were ready to go.
The van was kinda crowded, but nobody really seemed to mind.
Taylor said the back of the van was full of presents was full of
presents for me, but I didn’t believe him. When had I ever been able
to completely trust him?!
	Mrs. Hanson let us off at LaserQuest with enough to pay for
one game per person & drove o away. Paul, Ashley, & Mat were
waiting for us, but they said Ike & Krissy hadn’t stayed. 
	“They dropped us off & then sped off. Wonder why they were
in such a hurry?” Ashley asked, grinning. “Do a little dance, make a
little love, get down tonight!” Mat sang, clapping his hands. “I
honestly have no intention on finding out what they’re doing,” I said.
“Well, I bet Ike was-” “Shut up!” I yelled, cutting Taylor off. I
clamped my hands over my ears so I couldn’t hear what he was
saying. In a few seconds, I took my hands off my ears & heard
everyone laughing. Taylor’s lips were still moving, but no sound was
coming out. I pushed him away from me & looked around. 
	I’d seen this place before, but I hadn’t been inside. It looked
pretty big, but then it would have to be. Quickly, they all tried to
explain the rules to me, but they figured it would just be better if I
learned as I played. I protested, but they dragged me in, still ignorant
of how to play. 
	“Hey kids,” said the guy behind the counter. “We’re not kids,”
Amanda agitatedly said. “OK, if you say so.” Just then, Ike & Krissy
burst in. “Sorry we’re kinda late, you guys,” Ike apologized. “You
should be,” Zac mumbled. Taylor winked at Ike & Ike shot him a
look. “Well, you kids are in luck, today’s 2 for 1 day,” the guy behind
the counter said. “We’re not kids. We’re young adults,” Ike told him
sternly. “Yeah. Remember, the customer’s always right,” Zac
snickered. “All right, you young adults wanna play a game or not?
Other people wanna play too.” Sure enough, there was a small line
forming behind us. “Yes, we want to play,” Taylor told him. Quickly,
he calculated how much it would cost & gave the guy enough
money. “OK. The stuff’s over there. Ask for help if ya need it,” the
guy said & let us in. 

		***Zac’s View***
	“Know what? I think I finally got the hang of it!” Sam
exclaimed as she got in the car. We’d each played two games, & I had
to admit to myself, I was getting worse. But then again, I hadn’t
played in about a month, so that surely had a little to do with it. 
	“Yeah, you were good. For a beginner,” Mat smirked. “Well, I
am a beginner, so shut up!” Sam replied. “Man, I did better than I
ever have before!” Amanda informed us. “I’ll never get any better. I’ll
always suck,” Steph groaned. “You weren’t that bad,” Janie said,
trying to cheer her up. 
	We were on the way back to our house. Mom was driving me,
Taylor, Sam, Mat, Jason, Amanda, Janie, Tara, Ashley, & Chris back
to the house where we’d all stay the night. They’d all brought their
bags over already except Sam, so we had to go back when we got
home. Ike was driving Paul, Lisa, Steph, & Kay & Troy home with
Krissy, then they were coming back to the house with us. Mom was
so worried about him getting pulled over or getting in a crash that
she couldn’t stop talking about it. Parents are too paranoid. 
	We got back & decided that first we’d have to go over & get
Sam’s stuff before anything else. She hadn’t even started packing the
night before, so she warned us that it might take her a while. The
whole group walked across the street to Sam’s house, which was
kind of funny to see, 10 people, ages varying from 9-14, walking
around the neighborhood. People must’ve thought it was some kind
of gang meeting or something. 
	Somehow, we all got to Sam’s house, & it was nearly a miracle
that we all made it downstairs alive. Everyone was off the wire,
going completely insane. Sam warned us that if anyone messed up
anything of hers, they’d die slowly & painfully. No one was really
afraid of her, but we didn’t want to get her pissed before she went
over to our house. She could destroy everything. 
	“OK, what CDs should I bring?” she asked, handing us her box
of CDs. “All of ‘em!” Ashley exclaimed & took the box. “Um, OK.
What else?” “Probably some blankets, I doubt we’ll have enough,”
Tay told her. “K. Dat all?” “Sure, why not,” Mat said. 
	Sam brought a bag while Ashley carried the box of CDs over to
our house. When we got outside, Ike was just dropping off Kay &
Troy. “Hey Ike, can I get a ride home?” I asked, running to his car.
“Uh, sure, I guess,” Ike said. “Anybody else wanna ride?” “Me!”
Jason yelled, running toward the car. Chris & Mat followed. “Drive
on, Ikers!” I demanded when we were all in the car. Ike sped off
toward the house. We were standing outside the house less than a
minute later. “Ya know, it might’ve been quicker if we walked,” I
observed, seeing the others standing by the front door. “Think so?”
Chris said, jumping out of the car. 
	We all loaded inside & escaped into the TV room. Everybody’s
overnight bags were piled up near the wall beside the TV. All the
presents for Sam were on the other side of the TV. “OK, go ahead &
throw your stuff over there with the others,” Tay told her. Sam flung
her bag on top of the others while Ash put the box along with the
other CDs. “God, do we have enough CDs over here?” Sam asked.
“It’s not like we’re gonna listen to all of ‘em!” I exclaimed. “Well, I
kinda figured-”
	Just then, Mom & the kids barged in the door, with a cake!
“Happy birthday!” Mom told her. “Wow! Thank you so much Mrs.
Hanson!” Sam exclaimed. “Oh please, Sam, call me Diana. Everyone
else does,” Mom said smiling. “OK Diana. You really didn’t need to
get me a cake! You’ve done enough already!” “Nonsense! It’s your
birthday party! There has to be a cake!” “Well, what can I say?!
Thanks!” “You’re welcome.”
	Sam wouldn’t let us sing happy birthday to her, so Mom cut up
the cake. The cake was gone after she cut 16 pieces out. She gave each
of the kids one & one for her & Dad & brought the kids back out.
“We’re all going out to dinner. You guys want anything?” Mom
asked. “Nope, we’ll live!” Taylor exclaimed. “OK, bye!” “Bye!” we
chorused. “Well, it looks like it’s time for cake & presents!” Janie
said, smiling. Sam almost choked looking at the present pile. “I
wasn’t kidding about the back of the van being filled up,” Taylor told
her. “C’mon, let’s get all these over here!” Amanda exclaimed,
jumping up.