Chapter One
We can't be too sure how this was originally slated to happen, but we do know that it was magic in the making...all thanks to a bag of red jellybeans.
August glanced at the price tag on a pair of camouflage Doc Martens. She absentmindedly chewed on a piece of her hair while she contemplated the $100 she was about to spend, then impulsively took them off the shelf to try them on. After confirming that they fit, she shrugged.
"Oh, to hell with consciences," she muttered to herself, and took them to the sales clerk with a full wallet.
Zac held up a bag of red jellybeans in Taylor's face. Taylor stuck his hand in his pocket, and found that his own bag had disappeared. His face twisted in a weird growling look, and he bolted after Zac, who was already halfway down the hall. Isaac just stood and shook his head.
"I think I must have been adopted," he said under his breath miserably.
August took the bag and walked out, wanting to check out some army-print mini skirts at Mariposa. She didn't notice the yellow flash racing around near the Bay, and didn't much care. There were clothes to look at.
On her way back out, the yellow flash and a black leather flash were chasing each other in the hallway. She stopped and looked for a minute, but didn't have to stare for long. In two seconds, the black one had jumped on the yellow one's back and had him in a headlock. Zac staggered a bit under his brother's weight, gagging.
"TRUCE! TRUCE! I give up! MERCY, DAMMIT!"
Taylor shook his head.
"Not until you give it back, ya little assmunch," he said. Zac's shoulders sagged in defeat, and he handed his brother a bag of red jellybeans. Taylor slid off his back and stuffed them in his pocket, and both he and Zac looked up, at August. Taylor blushed, embarassed.
"Umm...hi," he said meekly, humiliated. August raised an eyebrow, but smiled.
"Hi," she replied, trying to swallow the giggles that were welling up in her throat. He smiled slightly, looking her over. She was wearing a pair of acid-washed jeans with bue lines down the front and back, brown leather boots with chunky four inch soles, a no-sleeve white shirt (like Geri had in Spice World) and a brown long-sleeved over shirt over top. Her hair hit a few inches below her shoulders, and looked like it had some layers, and her face was made up like something out of a Seventeen magazine. (THAT'S ME, FOLKS! AIN'T I GORGEOUS? Note I used a helluva lot of camouflage on that acne...) Taylor swallowed the humiliation long enough to start to like her, and broke into a grin. Zac had given her the old once-over, too, and was already stuck in a crush. Taylor suddenly whacked him upside the head, and the three stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity.
"If you don't know what started something good, blame it on the jellybeans..."
-Taylor Hanson (Til Death Do Us Part, same author)