***Sam’s View*** Once we got there, Walker told us we could go run around while he put the instruments. He said Ike & the kids hadn’t showed up at the house yet, so we’d probably be there alone for awhile. We didn’t mind. Taylor seemed to know the area really well. As soon as we got out of the van, he told me to follow him & he ran off. I raced frantically trying to keep up. Pretty soon, I lost him. I couldn’t believe how fast he could run. I walked around for awhile. After a few minutes, I’d obviously lost Taylor, but I didn’t mind. I was in a gorgeous forest-type place. Eventually, I found sort of a path. I followed it until it went under a bunch of low tree branches. I got down on my hands & knees & crawled under them. I couldn’t believe what I saw on the other side. There was a huge, clear lake. I could see some animal tracks coming out of the water. Trees were everywhere. I walked to the edge of the water, which oddly enough, wasn’t muddy. ‘Whoa’ I thought, ‘like a magick pond or something. ‘ I heard a snicker behind me. I quickly turned around to find Taylor walking toward me. “You found it,” he said. “What, the lake?” I asked. “Yeah. I didn’t think you’d find it by yourself. I was getting ready to go back for you. Most people don’t find it.” he said. “Well, there was a path..” I said. “What path?” he interrupted. “Right here-” I said, lifting up the branches that I crawled under. All that was there was pine needles & twigs. “Well, anyways, however you found it, what’s important is that you found it.” he said. “This is where we always go when we need to get away. It’s so peaceful. It’s where I get my best song ideas.” he said, sitting down at the shore. I sat down next to him. We sat there for about an hour, just observing the scenery. Finally, Taylor looked at his watch. “Holy crap! It’s 8:30! We gotta get back!” he said, grabbing my hand & helping me up. He kept a hold of my hand & started running. I was trying my best to keep up. By the time we got back, we were both gasping for breath. “You OK?” he asked. “My ankle kinda hurts,” I said. “Oh, sorry! My bad!” he said. “Nah, it’s ok. I just need to sit down for awhile” I said. “Ditto” he said & lead me over to some tables. We sat down for a few minutes before Walker came over. “Taylor! Where have you been! We had to set up everything without you! Isaac & Zac have been waiting for you to get back! Hurry back.” Taylor jumped up & sprinted over the porch-type place where Zac & Ike were set up. Zac was checking the tuning on the drums & Ike was lounging out on the guitar amp. “Bout time,” Ike grumbled. “So-orry.” Tay said. “Let’s just practice, K?” he said, looking over his keyboard. Ike started into a song, Tay quickly joined in, and Zac picked up the beat immediately. They were playing great, but I just couldn’t concentrate. I scanned the people who were already outside. There was the girl from Wendy’s, a few girls Zac’s age, a girl Tay’s age, and a few older people. I saw Jason, Chris, and a few other guys walking across the street toward the bar. Jason waved to me. I waved back. I glanced back to the guys. They were talking about the next song they should play. Ike was saying they should play Poison Ivy and Tay was saying they should play Back to the Island. Zac was relaxing behind the drums imitating them. Tay looked over at me, but I just shrugged. I didn’t really mind what they played next. I got up & walked over to talk to Jason & Chris. When I got over there, Chris ran up to me. “Hi hi hi!” he said hyperly. “Here, this is Emily, Janie, Josh, Stephanie, Krissy, Janae, Mat, Ashley, and Tara.” he said, pointing to each person. Ashley was pretty cute. He had blonde hair, just covering his ears, about 5’5”, just a few inches taller than me. He had sunglasses on so I couldn’t tell what color eyes he had. He smiled & shook my hand. “Where’d you come from?” he said. “Well, we moved here from Holyrood, Georgia (AN- I made that place up) a few weeks ago.” I explained. Then I heard someone yelling behind me. “Saaam! Saam! Come help!” Zac was yelling. I couldn’t see what was going on, but apparently it was urgent. I smiled at Ashley. “Just a sec.” I said & ran over. Right before I got up there I saw what was wrong. Zac’s drumset was wiggling around. Taylor was trying to move the cymbal out of the way while Ike kept the bass drum in place. Zac was just sitting there, terrified. I hurried over & helped Tay move the cymbal. “What happened?” I asked. “Something holding it up broke. I dunno, I was playing & then it started jerking around-hey watch it that’s my toe!” Zac yelled at Tay, who accidentally smashed his toe while moving a snare. “Well, here’s your problem,” I said, pointing to the stopper on the ground a few feet away. “It must’ve fallen off something,” I said, walking over & picking it up. “Yep, right here,” said Ike, examining the snare leg. “Zac, ease up! You’re gonna kill yourself playing like that one of these days!” I said. He rolled his eyes & reattached the stopper. “Hey Sam, what songs should we play?” Taylor asked me. “Oh, I don’t know. Lets see, maybe start with Boomerang, cuz people know that one. Then, oh, Don’t Accuse. Then a song from your new album. What’s it called? Bopdoo?” I asked. Zac made a stupid face & said, “boo bop doo MMMBOP!” “Oh yeah, play one off there. I really don’t care. Just play whatever you want! I don’t know the new ones. “ I said. “Well, it’s a quarter past 9. Have you eaten yet?” Ike asked me. “No! Ya know, I didn’t even think of eating! But yeah, I am kinda hungry. You guys eaten yet?” I asked. “NOOO! ME NEED FOOOOD!!!” Zac yelled, jumping up. “Zac! Be careful dumbbutt. But yeah, let’s go get somethin to eat.” Taylor decided, walking to the stairs. “FOOD!” I yelled, imitating Zac, and ran over to join Taylor.

***Ike’s View*** Dad agreed he would go to McDonalds. We had to stay & watch the instruments & everything. He went to buy Taylor, Zac, Sam, Troy, Kay, Jessica, Avie, Mac, and I some breakfast. Mom was still at home. I wasn’t sure why. But she said she’d be over by 9:30. Kay, Jesse, Avie, and Mac sat around one table. Sam, Troy, Zac, Taylor and I all crowded around another table to eat. All Sam had gotten was an egg muffin. She nibbled on that for awhile. Then she just shoved it all down. It was.. well weird. Troy was begging everyone for their food like he hadn’t eaten in years. “You guys, I can’t eat much! I’ll throw up there on STAGE!” Tay said. He was right. He was always jumping around on stage. Sometimes I think maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea after all for us to dance on stage all those years ago. He was hooked. “Ew! I don’t wanna be near you after the show!” Zac joked. Troy threw a piece of his pancake at him. “Ew! Flying puke!” Zac yelled, shooting out of his chair. Sam smacked him and he sat down. I stood up and threw the rest of my food away. Sometimes thew were just too much to handle. I snuck up behind Krissy & put my arms around her waist. She jumped about a mile. “Ike! Don’t EVER scare me like that again!” she lectured. I saw that Emily was there. ‘Oh great’ I thought, ‘now she’ll be blabbering on all day. I wish Tay would just ask her out or something. She really get on my nerves.’ As if she were reading my mind, Emily started strolling over. I frantically looked around to find someone to distract her. Luckily, Jared had just showed up. He saw Emily & stopped her just before she started her nonstop gabbering. He knew how annoying she was, but he knew I’d had enough of this. She’d been like this for almost 2 years now. It was driving me insane. “Gotta fly” I whispered in Krissy’s ear & signaled to Emily. “OK,” she said. We kissed & I hurried back over to the group before Emily could see where I went. “Taylor,” I said, waving him to come over. “Huh?” he said, walking over to me. “Can you PLEASE do something about Emily? She’s driving me crazy!” I told him. “You know, I don’t even know why she likes you. I’M the fine one,” he said, flipping his hair. “Yeah, modest too. Look, just like, talk to her. It worked on Sam.” I said. “Hey,” he said, suddenly becoming serious. “Don’t ever compare Sam to Emily. Sam’s, I dunno, different. I hate to say it, but Emily’s kinda dense.” “No kiddin,” I mumbled. “I just, I dunno,” he ended, walking back to the group. I shrugged & followed him. “Hey, you seen Mom?” Zac asked when we got back. “Uh, Dad said he was goin to pick her up. The car’s engine’s like messed up or something. He said they’ll be back by ten till.” I said. “Oh crap. Look at all the people who are here already,” Taylor said, pointing to the growing crowd. We’d only told a few friends, but you know how word gets around. There were aout 30 or 40 people eating at the tables outside, while there were about 30 more just standing around. We knew from past experience that the crowd would be at least twice that size just halfway through. It was a quarter to 10. “Guys, why don’t you just go set up now? I’m sure you can get it goin fine if they don’t show up on time” Sam said. I knew we could. We’d done it before, but it didn’t quite go that well. We didn’t hook up the equipment quite right, and when we started playing, we’d almost deafened the whole audience. Then when we tried to fix it, which by that time there was hardly anyone there, no one could hear us. Luckily, it had been a very small apperance, but we hadn’t tried since then. “Umm, I guess so...” Zac said. We went over & started checking the amps & mics so nothing would go wrong. Then, at 5 till, we decided it was time to start. We walked off to the side & the manager guy anounced us. “And now, the kids you’ve been waiting for. Hanson!” he yelled. I already didn’t like the guy. He’d called us kids. But I smiled anyway. We ran on the porch-thing. We’d decided I would say “yeah yeah,” if I saw Mom & Dad. Taylor started into his opening speech thing. He loved to hype up the crowd. It was kinda funny. “Well guys, first we’re gonna play you the name track off our first song, Boomerang!” Tay yelled. Just then, I saw Mom & Dad running across the street. “Yeah yeah,” I yelled into the mike. Zac & Taylor frantically started scanning the crowd. Dad waved to us & Taylor grinned. Zac saw him too, so he started counting off to Boomerang.

***Zac’s View*** After the performance, I frantically ran off stage. Everyone always thought it was just cuz I was hyper, which I was, but I was exhausted & I just wanted to relax. The crowd was hollering. I was scared my eardrums would explode. But this wasn’t the biggest crowd we’d ever had. Only about a hundred some showed up. “Wow guys! That was excellent!” Sam exclaimed when we got off stage & the crowd had quieted down so we could hear. “Thanx dude!” I yelled, jumping onto her back. “Ride horsey!” I yelled. She jogged around for a second, and then swung around, throwing me off. I went flying a few feet. Somehow, I landed on my feet. When I looked back, Ike and Tay were walking with Dad. I quickly caught up. “Sorry we were late boys. Avie and Jesse had apparently had a hide & seek game with the tapes and everything. The box of things your mother was supposed to be selling was completely empty. So don’t be suprised if you find a copy of Boomerang or anything in the fridge with the cheese. Just be careful for the next few days, K?” he said. “Yeah. Hey Dad, do you think it’ll be OK if me & Janie hang out for a while? We haven’t seen eachother for a week because of that big family thing. Please?” I said, giving him my best puppy-dog face. “How can I resist such an adorable puppy?” he said, ruffling my hair. “Hey, not the hair,” I said, smoothing my hair back down. “OK, but be back by 3. K?” he said. “Yeah, OK. Bye!” I said, running over to Janie. She was talking to Tara & Janae, her 8 year old sister. “Hi Janie! Hi Janae. Hi Tara.” said, resting my elbow on Tara’s shoulder. “Ag,” Tara groaned & pushed my elbow off. “Hey Zac!” Janie said. “Long time no see! Do you think you can rollerblade around town for a few hours? A bunch of us are gonna go & check out that new ice cream shop. Think you can?” she said. It was amazing. She was more hyper than me. Her family hid all the pixy stix from her, so sometimes she would come over to my house begging for rechargement. She’d run me out of supply once. “Yeah. But first I gotta go back home & get my blades. Wanna come with?” I asked her. “Sure. Janie, c’mon. Let’s drop by Zac’s house first. Janae, go tell Mom that we’re goin to Zac’s first, K?” she said, pointing at her mother. “Yeah,” Janae said, racing toward her mother. ***Tay’s View*** Zac charged off toward Janie. I saw him start flirting with Janie. ‘I swear,’ I thought, ‘if that kid doesn’t give her a break, she’ll hate him forever.’ Just then, Sam pointed at them. “Ain’t that just darling?” she said. Zac kept smiling at Janie, and she obviously wanted nothing to do with him. “They’re so cute together,” I said. “Hey guys! Great job! But you should tell Zac to ease up a little,” Jason said, running over. “You remember what happened when he got carried away on his solo.” Who could forget? Zac was working on a solo & he had busted a leg on the bass drum. It’d gone rolling across stage. We had to cut the performance short because we’d all run after it. We caught it just before it smashed. Luckily, the damage was repairable & we could use it for another month before we could buy a new one. But we still had to remind him every once & a while so he wouldn’t get carried away. “No. What happened?” asked Sam. “Well, let’s just say he probably busted that stopper off the drum just while we were practicing, the way he plays.” Ike said. Sam nodded, but she still didn’t look like she understood. “You see how hard he was poundin up there?” I asked. She nodded again. “Well, he was pounding three times worse then. “ “You need to hide his stash of pixy stix!” she said, finally understanding. “We would if we could! But he always seems to have extra...” Ike trailed off. “Hey! I got an idea. Let’s show Sam where everybody lives! So, ya know, when you guys aren’t home..” Jason said. I got his point. He wanted us to show Sam his house so maybe she’d go over there. But somehow I doubted she would. “Ok! You can show me where all your friends live & stuff!” Sam said, excited. “OK. Why don’t we blade? It’ll be a lot quicker. Plus, I wanna try out some new moves,” I suggested. But that wasn’t the only reason. I wanted to go back to get our blades so I could talk to Sam. I kept leaving my blades at her house for some reason. But, Ike’s & Zac’s were there too. “Yeah, OK. But we left ours at Sam’s. Oh well! OK, Tay, me you & Sam’ll go back to her house & get our blades. Jason, you & whoever else is going, meet us at our house in, oh, say 20 mins?” Ike said, checking his watch. “Yeah. See ya there!” Jason yelled & ran off. “Beat ya back!” I yelled to Sam & Ike as I sprinted off, getting a head start. “Not on your life!” Sam yelled, chasing after me.

***Sam’s View*** I couldn’t wait for them to show me around town. Since Ike, Zac & Taylor were goin in to record their album in a few days, I knew they’d be pretty busy. I was gonna need someone to talk to. “Sam! Wait up!” I heard Taylor call from behind me. I turned around & started running backwards. “What dya want slowpoke?” I asked him. “Needa talk to ya” he replied. “Original,” I mumbled. Ike got the hint. “Hey guys, bring mine back with ya, will ya? I’m gonna wait here just in case they show up early. Hurry!” he yelled, racing down their long driveway. “Sam. I hope you know what Jason’s trying to do, right?” he asked me. “Well duh!” I said. “Besides, I don’t really care. I mean, he’s nice & all, but...” I trailed off. “But you like someone else?” Taylor asked. “Ya know, sometimes I think you read minds. Yeah, I kinda like Ashley. Do you know him very well?” I asked. “Yeah!” he said. “I’ve known him for about 10 years. He grew up together. But then their family moved. See, they used to live next door to Jason. But, he kinda has a girlfriend right now. But they’ve been having problems lately. I’ve heard she’s seeing another guy. I’m sure you have a chance. “ he said, smiling. “Thanx. Put in a good word for me, K?” I asked. “But of course,” he said, in a perfect French accent. It took us about 10 mins to get ready cuz it was so hard for me to get mine on, but as soon as they were on, it was as if they were my natural feet. I was kinda surprised. It really stung when we were trying to get them on. On our way out, Zac and a group of about 5 kids started stampeding toward us. “Hurry! Out a tha way!” Tay yelled, pulling me aside so the herd of kids could get inside without killing anyone. We chased after them. “Zac! What’re you doing running into Sam’s house like that?” Taylor yelled. “Gotta get my blades dude!” Zac yelled up in a sufer-dude accent. “OK, why are there fifteen other kids? Did they forget their blades here too?” yelled Taylor, storming downstairs. “Yep,” Zac said, ripping past us & up the stairs. We followed as fast as we could, but blades & stairs don’t mix that well. By the time we got up, Zac already had his blades on & was skating out the front door. Taylor started yelling after them, but I stopped him. “It’s OK if you guys just walk right in,” I told him, “just be sure my parents aren’t home. You can walk into my room or the living room or wherever, just not in anyone else’s room, K?” I said. Most of my friends back home never knocked, just walked right in. My house was like a second home to half the kids on our neighborhood. I wanted it to be that way here too. “OK, if you’re sure,” he said. “Definitely. Now, we better hurry back. Ike’s gonna be mad.” I said. “Race ya,” Tay said, getting a head start yet again. “No fair!” I yelled & struggled to catch up. ***Ike’s View*** Tay & Sam had been gone for almost 15 minutes. Jason, Chris, Ashley, Mat, Steph, Amanda, & Lisa had showed up. Jason had just turned 14, he had black hair & almost black eyes. He was about as tall as me, 5’8”. His little brother, Chris, had the same features but he was 10 and a few inches shorter than Zac, 4’10”. Ashley was almost 14, had blonde hair and brown-orange eyes. When we were little kids we called him ‘peanut-butter eye’. Mat was 14 & kinda chunky, not pudgy, just football-player like. He had brown hair, but he always had it dyed the lightest blonde possible & cut it in a mohawk. He was the kinda guy who could always cover a conversation block with a million jokes. Steph reminded me a lot of Wednesday from the Addam’s Family. She always wore black. But she didn’t act all depressed and evil. She was really nice once you got to know her, just shy. Her parents had died when she was 5, she was 15 now. She lived with a foster family with her 12 year old real brother. They’d been nice to adopt them both. Amanda was another cheerleader type, but almost the exact opposite of Emily, thank God. She was 14 and had crimped blonde hair & blue eyes. She was outgoing and hyper, but at least she didn’t torture the guys she liked & guys that liked her. Lisa was a little pudgy, but not in a bad way. She was 13 and had shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. People who didn’t know her that well thought she was stuck up and snobby, but she was just shy. She was really sweet & funny when you got to know her. I wasn’t that suprised that Ashley’s girlfriend, Melly, wasn’t there. They’d been having a lot of ‘conflicts’ lately. Finally, Sam & Tay showed. “Zac & about 10 other kids tried to trample us,” Tay explained. I’d seen the swarm of kids emerge from Sam’s house earlier. I just smacked him & took my blades. Eventually, we were ready to go.