***Tara’s View***
	I had no idea what I was thinking. I didn’t have a clue what I
was doing until I was flying thirty feet of the ground. The voice that
had been repeating ‘Be careful’ ever since I’d gotten into the
treehouse fell silent. Instinct kicked in, & I grabbed for the branch. I
quickly pulled myself over to Zac, & he helped me up to the branch
he was sitting on. I could just barely hear his voice telling me about
how I’d seemed like a natural. The voices were repeating themselves
in my head again. 
	‘That was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. If you would’ve
fallen-’ ‘But I didn’t,’ another part of me said. ‘Now Zac has to see how
much guts I have, now he’ll like me.’
	“Tara?” “Uh huh?” I replied, turning to face him. “You OK?
You looked kinda spaced,” he asked. “I’m OK. Just..thinking.” “OK.
Well, let’s hurry & get back down. I bet they’re lookin for us.”
	I carefully followed Zac down the tree, making sure to put my
feet where he instructed. The trees in his yard were huge, bigger than
the ones I’d ever seen. 
	I saw it coming before it happened. The branch that Zac was
about to step on was cracked at the base. “No!” I cried, but it was too
late. He stepped on it, and it snapped off. He frantically reached out
for anything he could hold onto. He grabbed another branch, but by
that time he was hanging from the branch. “Zac!” I cried, climbing
toward him. I searched for something to hold onto so I could pull
him up, but all I saw was a huge branch hanging above my head.
“Hold on!” I yelled, reaching up to grab the branch. ‘I guess all those
gymnastics lessons are finally going to pay off,’ I thought. 
	I wrapped my legs around the branch, then let go with my
hands so that I was inches away from Zac. “Grab my hands!” I
gasped out. He looked at me strangely, but did as I said. When he
grabbed onto my hands, my legs screamed out in protest, but I
continued to pull him up. Hurrily, I stepped onto another branch &
raced over to a larger one & sat down. I grabbed a hold of the branch
with my hands, let go with my legs, & hurried over to Zac. 
	I jumped over beside him & threw my arms around him.
Unsurely, he wrapped his arms back around me. “Oh, God, I
should’ve warned you sooner. I saw the branch was cracked, but I
didn’t say anything at first. It was all my fault. If you would’ve
fallen...” I couldn’t finish. “No, no, it wasn’t your fault. I was too
busy watching where you were going, I wasn’t watching where I was
stepping.” “Now why were you watching me? I can watch myself,
thank-you-very-much,” I joked. “Well, I was just concerned..” “Well,
you watch yourself from now on, & don’t check me, K?” I asked.
“OK.”
	We untangled ourselves & continued down the tree. “OK, now
we just have to jump down,” Zac said. “What are you talking about?
We can’t reach the ground yet!” “Oh, c’mon. It’s like a six foot jump.
See, watch.” With that he hopped off & landed on his hands & feet. I
shrugged & acted like I was going to jump down. Instead, I crouched
down & hung from the branch, then let myself go when I was about
two feet off the ground. “Cheater,” Zac mumbled. I stuck my tongue
out at him. 
	When we reached the house, the whole gang was waiting for
us. “Do I wanna know why you guys were gone s long?” Taylor
joked. “Not funny,” Zac grumbled. “Sure it is!” Mat exclaimed. Zac
shot him a LOOK, & he shut up. 
	“So, what now?” Taylor mumbled. “Hmm, we could go
inside,” Krissy suggested. “And do what?” Zac asked. “Tell ghost
stories!” Sam exclaimed. “Say what?” Mat asked. “C’mon, ghost
stories kick ass!” Janie joined in. “Whatever,” Jason mumbled. “Fine,
we’ll take a vote. Who wants to go in & tell ghost stories?” Amanda
asked. Janie, Amanda, Sam, Krissy, Isaac, Zac, Chris, & I rose our
hands. “And who wants to stay out here & be bored as hell?” Taylor,
Mat, & Jason raised their hands. Sam shot Taylor a LOOK. Taylor
shot a LOOK back at Sam, and Sam jumped up. 
	“Uh, can I change my vote?” Taylor asked. Sam grinned & sat
back down. “Fine, you guys can stay out here & be stupid. We’re
goin in,” Janie proclaimed, & turned to go inside. 

		**Tay’s View**
	We were all sitting around in a circle. “Well, who wants to go
first?” Janie asked. “I do!” Krissy exclaimed. “OK, once, there was
this husband & wife. The husband lost his arm in a war, so he had a
gold replacement. So, the husband wanted to be buried with his arm.
So when he died, the wife was poor, so in the middle of the night, she
went out & dug him up & took his arm.” “Wait, I know this one! But
only he had a gold hand,” I said.  “Then, when she was trying to go
to sleep, she heard her husband’s voice. So she held on to it while she
was in bed. Then, her husband’s voice yelled out, ‘Stop playing with
my golden hand!’.” Everyone burst out laughing. “That isn’t the way it
goes!” Janie exclaimed, but continued laughing. 
	“Uh, can we join?” Jason asked, with Mat standing behind him.
“Sure,” Sam agreed. They sat down & joined the circle. “I have a
story!” Mat exclaimed. “OK, once, there were these newlyweds &
they were gonna do it, but the guy didn’t have a condom. So he went
down to get one & the chic stayed naked on the bed. The guy went
down & there were three choices; yellow 25 cents, black 50 cents, and
white 75 cents. The guys got the black one. So, while he was gone,
this black guy came & did it with the chic. So then the guy came back
& did it with the chic. She got pregnant & they had a black kid. A few
years later, the kid asked why they were white & the kid was black.
The guy goes. ‘Shut up! For 25 more cents you coulda been white!”
Everyone cracked up again. “OK, OK, I got one!” Sam exclaimed. 
	“OK. Once, there was this guy. And he said hi to this other guy.
And they ran into a lightbulb. And they died. Then, there was this
OTHER guy. And he said hi to this OTHER guy. And they ran into a
lightbulb. And they died. Then, there was this chic. And she said hi
to this other chic. And they ran into a lightbulb. And they died. Then,
there was this OTHER chic. And she said hi to this OTHER chic. And
they ran into a lightbulb. And they died. Then, there was this dude.
And he said hi to this other dude. And they ran into a lightbulb. And
they died.” “Lemme guess!” I exclaimed, interrupting her. “Then,
there was this OTHER dude. And he said hi to this OTHER dude.
And they ran into a lightbulb. And they died.” “How’d you know?”
Sam asked jokingly. “I’m psycho,” I answered. “Don’t you mean
psychic?” Amanda asked. “Nope. Psycho.” 
	“Hey, anybody wanna play Nintendo?” Zac asked. Janie, Tara,
Chris, & Zac seated themselves in front of the TV & started a game.
“Well, now what?” Jason asked. “Um, checkers?” I asked, seeing the
box under the couch. “Sure, that’s better than nuthin!” Mat
exclaimed. 
	We played checker tournaments for what seemed like forever.
At around two, the ‘Nintendo Gang’ quit & came to play a few games
with us. The whole time they played, they complained that their eyes
hurt. At three o’clock, Krissy, Ike, & Jason fell asleep. The ‘Nintendo
Gang’ dozed off at around 4. Mat conked out at about 4:30. So now,
only Amanda, Sam, Ashley, & I were left. And we were tired as hell. 
	We tried to keep talking, but we were all too tired to keep up at
that. At almost five in the morning, we went back to checkers. While
two people played, the other two would doze until it was their turn.
That only lasted for about 15 minutes, because games we so short, no
one had any sense of strategy. 
	“Hey, look, I can make a tower!” Amanda exclaimed, stacking
the checkers. “No way, mine’s kewler,” Ashley protested, starting his
own tower. “Uh uh!” Sam cried, knocking down their towers &
stealing their checker. She gathered them into a pile, then claimed,
“Mine’s the best!” Ashley & Amanda stole all the checkers from Sam
but four. I, however, chose not to become part of this mindlessness. 
	“Look! Toesies!” Sam exclaimed, putting a checker between
each of her toes. “What the hell?” I mumbled. “See? Toesies!” I
looked across the board at Amanda, who was quickly falling asleep.
The last sounds I heard before I finally drifted off was Sam & Ashley
singing Toesies. 

		***Sam’s View***
	“There’s GOT to be something to do around here,” I mumbled
after Taylor & Amanda had fallen asleep. Suddenly, out of the blue,
Ashley kissed me on the cheek. I was too stunned for a few seconds
to say anything. When I finally found my voice, I asked, “What was
that for?” “Dunno,” was his reply. 
	“Hey, I got an idea,” I told him after a few awkward moments
of silence. “Huh?” “I know that one of the girls, probably Amanda,
brought some makeup with ‘em. We could give everyone
makeovers!” “Huh?” he asked again. “C’mon, you’re gonna help
me,” I said, dragging him to the bags with me. 
	“OK,” I said, after I’d gotten some blush, eye shadow, lipstick,
& several shades of nail polish from random bags. “I’ll paint the
guys’ nails while you do their makeup.” “No way! I’LL do the nail
polish, you do the makeup!” Ashley protested. “Plan B. Cool,” I
replied. 
	Slowly, I gave each of the guys a makeover while Ashley
painted their nails. He did a great job, I had to admit. For a guy. I
convinced him to leave the girls alone, and eventually he did, no
harm done. The would’ve killed me. 
	“Ya know, we should go to sleep, but I’m not tired!” I
exclaimed, near six in the morning. “Me neither! I think something’s
wrong with us. There’s a word for it...” he trailed off.. “Yeah, but I
can’t remember what it is. It’s something like amnesia or something,”
I said. “Yeah, but that’s not it. That means, like, you can’t remember.”
“There’s a Stephen King book about it.” “Amnesia?” “No, it’s like,
uh, insomnia! That’s it!” I exclaimed. “Yeah, we’re a buncha
insomniacs,” he mumbled. 
	We were both sitting back at the checkerboard, but neither of us
wanted to play. Suddenly, Ashley kissed me again. I looked at him, &
this time he looked back. He leaned in & kissed me, full on the lips
this time. I let out a sigh. “Sorry,” he mumbled, looking back at the
ground. “NO. It’s, it’s OK,” I told him. I scooted over so I was sitting
beside him & ran my fingers through his hair. I didn’t trust my voice
to say any more than that. Suddenly, we heard a floor board creak, &
we jumped apart. We didn’t hear anything else, but we knew we
shouldn’t risk it. 
	He tried to steal some blankets from people while I took my
contacts out. When I was done, we decided we shouldn’t stay too
close, so we agreed to sleep almost as far apart as possible. 
	“Night Sam,” he whispered. “Night Ash.”
		***Ike’s View***
	Unfortunately, I’d woken up early in the morning. I started to
sit up, but then I noticed Sam & Ashley. I knew the best thing would
just be to leave them alone. I decided that I’d ask Sam about it later
the next day. 

		***Ike’s View***
	I woke up again at around ten. Zac, Janie, & Tara were already
awake & playing Nintendo. Krissy was asleep beside me, so I nudged
her. 
	“Huh?” she mumbled, opening her eyes. “Morning sleeping
beauty,” I said. “Morning, she grumbled, sitting up. “God, they’re
already playing Nintendo?” she exclaimed. I just nodded. Then, she
turned & looked at my face more carefully. “Oh, oh my God!” she
exclaimed. “What?” I asked. “Your face! Omigod, Ike, you hafta see
this!” she said, pulling her compact out. I took it from her & looked at
my reflection. There were smeared red splotches around the sides of
my face, blue splotches from my eyelids to the middle of my
forehead, and my lips were outlined in red. 
	Krissy was near hysterics now, & I looked around the room.
Taylor & Chris’d had the same treatment. “I’m gonna go wash this
off,” I mumbled & headed toward the bathroom. 
		***Zac’s View***
	I already knew that I’d gotten a ‘makeover’ in the night, so I
quickly washed it off & returned to play Nintendo. I wasn’t about to
let a little makeup ruin my day. 
	Janie & Tara woke up soon after I did. Luckily, they didn’t get a
chance to see my ‘makeover’. When I came back out, we went back to
our beloved Nintendo game. 
	Each time one of the guys woke up, we’d watch how they
found out about their clown faces. Krissy showed Ike in her compact.
Chris woke up & came to join us, but I didn’t have the heart to make
fun of him. Instead, I just told him to go look in the bathroom mirror. 
	Next, Amanda woke up & burst out laughing seeing Taylor’s
‘facial’, which woke up everyone else. Taylor, Jason, & Mat rushed to
the bathroom to be rid of the makeup. The only guy I saw that hadn’t
had the treatment was Ashley, so I guessed that he’d been part of it. 
	Also, our nails were done, but no one really bothered with it.
The thing everyone was freaking out about was the makeup. And
Sam’s hair. She’d accidentally left it in the three braids overnight, and
it stuck straight up. She made a big joke of it, & just left it like that for
a while. But then she grew tired of it, so finally fixed it. Although it
still didn’t look perfectly normal, (she told us, “If I wanted it to be
normal, I wouldn’t have colored it!”) it looked better. 
		***Tay’s View***
	We found out later that Ashley & Sam had stayed up last night
& given all the guys makeovers with the girls’s makeup. They didn’t
really care, they said it was for a good cause. Sam had the most
secretive look in her eyes, so I made it my number one priority to
find out exactly what’d happened last night. 
	Jason & Chris had to go home at noon, Ashley had to leave at
around the same time, also. Janie & Krissy had to leave at around
one, along with Mat & Amanda. Soon, it was only Isaac, Zac, Sam,
Tara, & I. We played Nintendo for a while, but around three, Sam & I
grew tired of that. Ike stayed with Zac & Tara while Sam & I went for
a walk. 
	“So, you guys are gonna start recording tomorrow?” Sam
asked. “Yep. We’re gonna run like, eighteen hour days, about fifteen
of ‘em in the studio,” I sighed. “Shit! That’s gotta suck!” Sam
exclaimed. “Yeah, but it’s gotta pay off eventually,” I said. “Or else
I’ll be seriously pissed.”
	After awhile, it started getting really hot out, so Sam & I
decided to take the back roads, where it was shady. “OK,” I said a
little later. “What happened between you & Ashley last night?” I
asked. “Well, we were the only ones awake, so we put makeup on all
the guys,” Sam said nervously. “Well, I knew that. I mean, other than
that.” “OK! We kinda, uh, kissed, but that was all!” she mumbled.
“You go Sam!” I exclaimed. She blushed. 
	“So how far did you go?” I joked. “Taylor!” she exclaimed,
pushing me away. “I’m kidding! I don’t actually wanna know!” I told
her. “I’ll just find out later from Ashley anyway,” I mumbled, joking. 
	Then, to my surprise, we saw a couple figures in front of us.
Brad.