Taylor had gotten bored with his practising, and headed to his room to do his own studying, but found it very hard to concentrate, he wasn’t sure why. He was sprawled across his bed, books surrounding, him, he was beginning to feel tired, and had to fight the constant want to just lay his head down for five minutes, knowing he’d fall asleep. He sighed, got up and headed over to the CD player and shoved in an old Aerosmith CD from a couple of years back, and contented himself listening to ‘Crazy’, he stood near the window, looking outside, his window stared out over the backyard, it looked pretty damp out there today.

I think I must be going crazy, he thought sadly, he lowered his head shaking it in misery, why do I even care if Ike uses Lauren? He wondered, he spotted a packet of Zac’s Strawberry gum on the windowsill, it was the kind with the liquid centre, he grabbed the packet and opened it, and helped himself to a piece, and chewed quite delightedly, smiling as the sweet liquid centre hit his taste buds. The gum made him feel better – absurdly enough.

There was a soft knock at the door, and Taylor turned slightly to face it, "come in," he said.

The door creaked open and Lauren peered in, "Its just me," she said.

"Oh," Taylor said, he moved over and opened the door the rest of the way, motioned for her to come in. She looked especially nice today, something about the way her damp hair hung by her face, and her spiky eyelashes made Taylor want to even admit she was cute – to her and himself.

"Are we studying up here?" she asked.

"Might as well, my mom is using the school room for working out the finances with my dad, the kids are watching cartoons and Ike and Zac are in the Garage sooo…"

"So here it is," she said, "Fine, where should I sit?"

"Here," he said, he motioned to the one chair at the Lego table.

Lauren gave the Lego table a look, it was cluttered with Lego, there was no room for writing anything on.

"Oh, here," Taylor realised he had to clear some space, he grabbed a large empty plastic box and he swept his hand over the table, catching the Lego in the box.

Lauren sat down and pulled her books out, "I checked out those notes…but your handwriting is like shit, I couldn’t understand it," she said.

"Yeah, well, I’ve seen your handwriting and, girl, you wanna talk about another language?" he asked, he picked up her bag and pulled her notebook out of it, "oh, how sweet, you’ve written Lauren for Iris," Taylor smiled smugly, pointing to the cover of her notebook..

"That’s Isaac, and gimme that," she grabbed the notebook grudgingly and she opened it.

Taylor played with his ratstail watching as she set her stuff out neatly – she was a bit of a perfectionist. A minute later, the two were discussing certain stuff on the French Revolution.

Taylor looked at Lauren, god she was so smug, he hated her, and he owed her getting her back for one, telling Isaac about the insomnia, and also, slapping him still. He leaned over her looking at her paper and chewing his gum. He stretched the gum over his tongue to blow a bubble, and accidentally blew too hard, and it shot out of his mouth, right into her hair. He gaped, "uh oh," he whispered so silently she couldn’t hear, he was about to reach out to pick it out, but then he stopped.

Why should I? She deserves this, he thought, and he lowered his hand. Let her get what she deserves.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Zac had refused to teach anymore drumming whatsoever until he watched some cartoon show on TV he always happened to watch on a Sunday afternoon, Isaac and Ashley were down in the garage discussing stuff, but Zac had offered Nicole to come and watch with him so she did.

"So, do you ever watch X-Men?" Zac asked, he turned on the TV just as the theme tune began.

"Uh-uh," she shook her head.

Zac motioned to the couch and sat down beside her as she sat. "Well…its like, about these people, they like…they’re thought of as freaks cos they have like awesome powers and stuff, but like, they’re really surprisingly normal cos they like, have a crisis of their own every day…"

They sat and watched for a few moments, the episode was focusing on a lot of different things going on, it confused Nicole terribly. "Why is that woman with the white streak so scared to touch anyone?" she asked quietly.

Zac turned, it was the fullest sentence he’d ever heard Nicole say so far. "Well, she’s like got this power…" he explained, "at any physical contact whatsoever, she can like, absorb them into her …"

"What do you mean?" Nicole asked.

Zac paused for a moment, how would he explain Rogue’s ability to Nicole without confusing her. "Okay, I know," he said, he tucked his hair behind his ears. "If Rogue was to do this…" he said, he reached down and put his hand on Nicole’s hand, "she’d drain all of their thoughts, feelings, all their abilities…she’d like…suck that whole person into her with just one touch," he said, he wasn’t aware he’d kept his hand on her hand while he was talking. "It kinda sucks though cos, like, she’s in love with this guy—" Zac turned toward the TV and motioned to it, "see the guy in the long trenchcoat with the bo-staff?" he asked, "she’s totally in love with him, and he kinda feels the same way, but cos she can’t touch, she also can’t kiss," he explained, "or do anything else," he added wistfully, "which means they have no chance of a normal relationship," he explained.

Nicole watched him as he explained, he certainly knew the show backwards. "Cool," she said softly.

Zac turned back to the TV and they sat there watching, he suddenly realised his hand was still on hers, quickly he took his hand away, rolling his eyes at himself.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Isaac and Ashley were playing their acoustic guitars in an impressive combination as their voices blended quite nicely while they sung into the microphones they’d hooked up, Ashley had set down a piece of paper with guitar tabs written on it, asked him if he could master that without even practising and he played what was there.

Isaac had forgotten how beautiful it could sound when two acoustic guitars were used in the same song, it almost sounded classical, down right beautiful. He watched with interest as Ashley strummed and picked, her concentration evident and her voice clear as she sang, she knew what she was doing, she played and sang wonderfully, just as Lauren did. With a drummer, those girls could make it big time.

Isaac almost missed his cue on the song, he began singing along.

As the song ended, Isaac watched Ashley take the guitar strap off of her shoulder and she put it down against the wall, "that sounded good," he admitted. "We…sound good together," he then paused, thinking about it, they certainly did sound good together, their music and their voices.

"Yeah, I’m quite surprised," Ashley adjusted her ponytail, "I’m not used to singing along to guys vocals," she explained.

"Same here – only girls vocals, but people used to say that Tay and Zac sang like girls," he then grinned.

Ashley took a seat on the couch, and picked up her guitar and began strumming it, singing a particularly different song, Isaac sat on the other side of the old worn couch and listened to her play, and sing, she seemed to almost forget he was there…

So good together we never worried about a thing

But now I see such a distance in your eyes

And a seasons come between us I can’t find that paradise

Without your love, I’m a little child lost in the world

Say its not too late

I know there’s time enough

Come on baby, we’ve got to save our love, save our love, save our love.

Walk in circles thinking if all we had was gone

My life would be worthless

Never known emotions could feel this strong

You don’t know what went on inside of me

When you said that you’d be leaving ‘cause I hurt you selfishly

Without your love I’m as hopeless as the earth without the sun

Isaac relaxed deep into the mood of the love song, watching, he’d never noticed how nice Ashley looked, never noticed how her dark eyes focused on nothing when she sang. If he didn’t have Lauren…no, that was stupid, he did have Lauren, and besides, he and Ashley were just too much alike.

"Hey you two," Lauren walked into the garage, "wassup?"

Ashley stopped playing, "We were just playing music and stuff…" she explained, she got up, "Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom," she added.

"okay," Lauren walked over, just as she did, Isaac spotted something pink hanging from her hair.

"What the hell is that?" he asked, pointing to her hair.

"What is what?"

"That in your hair?"

"Where?" she touched the other side of her hair.

Isaac got up and walked over and he picked up the lock of hair with chewing gum hanging from it. "Its gum," he said, he gingerly pulled it out, it didn’t come out well, it began to string, "ewwwww, its still moist…"

"Taylor. He was chewing gum," Lauren fumed, she grabbed the lock of hair and began pulling out the gum, "Oh, man, this sucks!!!" she frowned, "Isaac, why does your brother have to be such an immature bastard?"

Isaac paused, looking at her, Had she really called Taylor a bastard? He stared for a moment, a little stunned, he took a few deep breaths, "I did not hear that."

Lauren looked at him, he looked like he was about to lose his temper with her.

Isaac tried to hold it all back, "Ya know, you’ve no right to stand there and call him that!" he then accused loudly, his eyes blazing, "For gods sake, he spends like hours of his free time – which isn’t very much – helping you, when you don’t even pay attention. He doesn’t have to waste time helping you, you know, but he does, and you have the nerve to stand there and call him that?!"

"You haven’t had to put up with this crap!" Lauren accused.

"Haven’t I?" Isaac asked, he clenched his teeth, "I’ve put with fifteen years of it, but I haven’t ever once called him a bastard," he said, "Okay, so he’s sensitive, and he’s broody, in fact, he’s the most sensitive person I know, and that’s why I love him – and why I wanna constantly ram his head through the TV, but that’s not the point – He’s not a bastard, and y’know, you haven’t even tried to get to know him, so don’t start talking behind his back when you don’t even know what he’s like…" Isaac stated.

"I do know what he’s like!" Lauren said, "and you’re one to talk about talking behind his back, I’ve heard you call him stuff—"

"I didn’t mean those things, and he knows I don’t if he’d heard me."

"Yeah, well, if you heard the stuff he’s told me about you, you wouldn’t take that attitude," Lauren folded her arms and turned half away.

"What stuff? What did he say?"
Lauren sighed, "Let me answer that question by opposing it with another – Ike, how do you feel about me, I mean…be honest, are we just hanging out so much – the kiss and stuff – because I’m here and I’m kinda handy for you, or because you actually like me…"

"I…"

"Be honest," she stated firmly.

"I don’t know…I think so…"

"You think what?"

Taylor had heard the arguing and he’d come down, he was standing at the top of the garage stairs, watching the couple arguing.

"I think…yeah, I think it might have been ‘cause you were there but—"

"I don’t believe you!" Lauren slapped Isaac hard across the face, her turn to be mad now, "For gods sake, Isaac, I defended you to Taylor, he told me what was going on, and I didn’t believe him! God, how could I have been so blind?! You let me think you liked me, when you were just using me cos I was there! I wish I’d never met you Isaac Hanson!!!" she felt tears burning her eyes, but she forced them back, she turned, didn’t even see Taylor who’d made it to the bottom of the stairs, she ran past him and up the stairs, and was gone in seconds.

Taylor looked at Isaac, frowning, "I told you so. I told you that you should have never let her think you liked her!"

"She wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t told her."

"Oh, and then what?" Taylor demanded, beginning his way up the stairs again, "Let her believe that you cared about her when you were just using her because she was nearby…you’re sick," Taylor muttered, and these were his final words to Isaac for the rest of that day.