CHAPTER ONE

It was the weirdest thing. One moment Jade was standing with a mob of screaming girls, listening intently as a local teenage group, Hanson, sang their hit single, MMMBop, and the next moment she was up on stage and Zac was trying to dance with her. However she was reluctant to dance. She turned around, and Ike playing the guitar winked at her. Don’t suppose it’ll hurt, she thought and began to dance. It was all the encouragement Zac needed. He whisked her around the small dance, Ike and Taylor laughing all the while. Jade was beginning to have fun.

After the small concert was over, and the screaming girls had been pushed out of the doors of the music store, Jade picked up her bag and turned to leave.

"Thanks for that…" she said, smiling at the three. They seemed surprised for some reason.

"Hey, where are you going? Hang around for a while…" said Ike. Jade, pleased by his offer decided she would, and offered her help with packing up the equipment. After about three minutes of silence, Jade finally decided she had to ask.

"Why did you bring me up on the stage? Why didn’t you take up one of those girls who was screaming. Isn’t it obvious how much they all like you?" she said. The question was open, but directed at Ike. "We love you!" shrieked Zac. Jade smiled, but Ike knew that wasn’t the answer she was looking for.

"Well, you didn’t look like you were enjoying yourself, and we want everyone to have fun. Plus, any one of that Scream Team would have fainted or had all her friends follow her up, or even lunged at one of us. Hey, we’ve had it happen!" said Ike.

"Thanks…I’m honored!" said Jade. "I must admit though, you did brighten up my day! It’s been awful so far…" Jade trailed off and blushed. She didn’t want to get anyone else involved.

"Hey, are you okay?" said Ike, as Jade broke down crying. Jade wiped the tears away as fast as she could. She stifled a smile as Zac shoved his face in hers, making silly faces.

"Sorry," she said, "I should go."

"Yeah. Are you sure you’re okay? We didn’t upset you did we. Hey, where do you live." Said Ike.

"Yeah, I’ll be fine." She replied. "I live on Georgia Street."

"Do you want a lift home?" asked Ike. "I’ll only be a second."

"Thanks, but I don’t really want to go home. I’ll go to the park for a while, I think." Jade stood up, ready to leave. She walked to the door, but then changed her mind. "It’s getting dark outside. Does that offer still stand?"

"Sure. I’ll be there in about two minutes." Ike replied, then said to the other two, "Will you two be right to finish up here, while I drop off…sorry, whats your name?" Jade told him, and then introduced the three of them.

Tay and Zac nodded. They knew that Ike was going to make sure Jade was okay before he dropped her off.

Five minutes later Ike pulled into the driveway and Jade opened the door to get out. Ike took her arm. "Are you sure you’re okay, Jade?" he asked. She nodded and got out. "Thanks, Isaac. Thanks for everything." She said.

"Sure thing, Jade. Anytime. Hey, why don’t you come down and listen to us practice tomorrow?" he offered.

"Um, yeah, sure." Jade stammered. "Where do I go? And what time?" Isaac told her the details, after insisting she call him Ike. Jade promised she’d be there, than ran up the steps. As Ike pulled out of the driveway, he saw Jade pause when she got to the back step. She then turned and looked longingly after the car, then slowly turned up the steps.

When Jade walked inside, something seemed different. Then she realized that there was only a small amount of furniture in each of the rooms, and her mother wasn’t settled in her usual position by the fire. In fact, her mother was nowhere to be seen.

"Where’s mum?" she asked her Dad, who was sitting on the couch with a sad look on his face. "She left. She’s gone with Mr. Taylor." Jade sat down on the lounge next to her dad, shocked and dissapointed with her mother for leaving so suddenly. Jade had known for quite a while that her mother had been having an affair, and she knew she was going to leave. She wanted her to leave - she didn’t like to see her father get hurt. For almost an hour she comforted her dad, until finally he decided to get an early night. He gave Jade some money and told her to order a pizza. Jade knew this was just the beginning of what was going to be a long couple of weeks.