Chapter 25: Media Problems and New Neighbors

August stood outside her front door for a few minutes. She took a deep breath and opened the door. He parents were sitting on the couch. They looked worried. When they saw her, they jumped up and rushed to her.

"August!!" cried her mom.

August just stood there. Her parents rushed to her and hugged her.

"Where were you?" asked her dad.
"I was down at the park. I needed to think. I needed to get away from everything. I'm sorry."
"Its ok, just please don't run off like that again. We don't know our way around real well anymore. We can't go looking for you very easily."
"I'm sorry. Ok, I'm really tired, so I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight."
"Night honey." called her mom as August walked to the basement door.

She opened the door and walked down the stairs. She slowly walked down the hall to her room. Her parents had set a sleeping bag and a pillow out for her, as well as the portable TV. She sighed and changed into her pajamas. She climbed into the sleeping bag and turned on the TV. She tried as hard as she could to avoid CNN. She succeed in that. She turned to MTV. Road Rules was on. She laid on her side and watched. The show went to commercial, and Kurt Loder came onto the screen with MTV News. August had almost drifted off to sleep, but she heard the word "Hanson" so she automatically concentrated on the TV.

Kurt Loder:
"Earlier today, Zac Hanson, the youngest member of pop sensation Hanson was seen running through downtown New York in a frenzy."

A picture of Zac came onto the screen.

"Brothers Isaac and Taylor, also of Hanson were chasing after him. We have been told by Hanson's publicist that the pop trio was informed that something had happened to a close family friend. Other sources tell MTV that the friend in question is August Mayer, who has been seen with middle brother Taylor, and is said to be his girlfriend. She was also spotted at New York International Airport with Zac. Its reported that she was being followed by reporters there, and one reporter insulted young Zac to his face. Truly not a smart thing to do."

A picture of August and Taylor flashed up onto the screen.

"Best wishes to do the Hansons. That is the news for now. Join us later for updates. Right here on MTV."

August dropped her head into her hands.

"Oh man! Not again! Why can't I be left alone?"

She sighed and dropped her head onto her pillow. She soon fell asleep.

***The next day***

"August. Honey, wake up." whispered her mom.

She stirred and opened her eyes. She yawned.

"Morning mom."
"Morning honey. How are you feeling?"
"Better than last night. That's for sure."
"That's good. Why don't you get up and get ready. We're going to do go out to do breakfast. We don't have any food here."
"Ok mom, give me 10 minutes."
"Alright honey."

Her mom walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. August sat up and stretched. She got out of the sleeping bag and changed her clothes. She walked out of her room and into her bathroom. She switched on the lights and started getting ready.

After ten minutes of doing her hair and makeup, August hurried down the hall and up the stairs. Her parents were waiting for her.

"All ready?"
"Yup. Lets go!"
"Alright, head on out to the car."

The three walked out of the house and to the car. August noticed two moving trucks coming down the street.

"We don't have so much stuff that we needed 2 moving trucks, did we?" she asked.

Her dad turned to look.

"No. Only one is ours. See? The other one is turning into the house across the street."

Sure enough, the second truck pulled in front of the house opposite of August's. A car followed. There were two parents, and two kids. From what she could see, there was a girl that looked to be her age, and a boy that looked a bit older than the girl. The girl in the car saw her and gave a little smile. August smiled back, and they drove off to breakfast.

The drive to breakfast only took about 5 minutes. Her parents were talking, she was sort of listening, but not really. She was thinking about Taylor, and Zac, and Isaac, and everything else. She needed to make some new friends. Since coming to Tulsa, she had made one friend other than the Hansons. Lindsay. She figured that the girl that was moving in across the street could be her friend. She would just have to wait and see.

"August. August, we're here." called her mother.

August snapped out of her daze.

"Sorry mom. I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"Taylor. I miss him mom."
"Oh, I know you do. I can tell."
"How?"
"Well, you walk around aimlessly, and you stare off into space a lot." she smiled

August laughed. They walked into the diner and were soon seated. The waitress took their orders and walked to the kitchen to get the food. August noticed a few girls in the restaurant. One was looking her way. She smiled at her, but the girl only glared. She shrugged it off and continued to sit and wait for her food. The food soon came, and she ate it hungrily. They all finished, and left. The drive back was just the same, her parents talking, August thinking. Once they reached the house, her dad parked on the curb and got out to talk to the movers. August hopped out of the car and helped her mom out. They walked inside. August walked down to her room, where the movers had placed tons and tons of boxes. She groaned.

"This is going to take forever!!" she said to herself.

She began working. She tried to move her ed, but couldn't. She started walking for the door, but noticed something on the wall. An intercom.

"Awesome!" she said.

She pressed the Talk button.

"Dad?" she called.

About a minute passed.

"Yea?"
"I need help moving some stuff down here. Can you come down and help me?"
"Um, yea, I'll be down in a minute."
"Thanks!"

She walked over to where her bed was and sat down to wait. Her dad appeared in the doorway.

"Ok, where do you want this moved to?"
"Over there."

They began working. Together, they set up her bed, dresser, bookshelf, TV stand, desk, computer, TV, VCR, and phone. This took about 2 hours. She thanked her dad, and he left shutting the door behind him.

She took the empty boxes and threw them into the hallway. She picked up a box labeled "Pictures". She sat down and opened it. She pulled out a picture of her and Julie. She set that on her nightstand. Then she pulled out a few empty picture frames. She thought for a minute, and walked over to her backpack, which lay near her door. She opened it and pulled out some pictures from New York. One was of her and Taylor, one was of her and Zac, one of her and Isaac, and one of her with all three. She framed the picture of her and Taylor and set it next to the picture of Julie. She framed the pictures of Isaac, Zac, and all of them, and set them on her bookshelf. She continued to set out pictures. Once the box was empty, she threw it out with the rest of the boxes.

She had about seven more boxes left. She knew that there was more of her stuff upstairs. The next box she opened was labeled "Posters". She pulled out a bunch of posters and started putting them up. Her mom's voice came over the intercom.

"August?"

She dropped the poster and ran to the intercom.

"Yea?"
"The neighbor is here to meet you."
"Um. Ok. Just send her down here. Tell her to watch out for boxes..." August laughed.
"Ok."

August walked back over to the poster and picked it up. She quickly put it up. It was a picture of Hanson. She sighed. She heard a knock at her door.

"Coming" she called, as she made her way over.

She opened the door. The girl from the car stood there.

"Hi." said August.
"Hi."
"I'm August."
"Yea, I know. I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Ellie."
"Ok. Hi. Ellie. How did you know my name?"
"Your mom told me."
"Oh yeah." she laughed. "Hey, sorry about the mess. I'm trying to put my room together.
"Oh, its ok. This is about what my room looks like, maybe worse. Don't worry about it." smiled Ellie.
"Ok, that's cool."

August walked over to her bed and sat down. Ellie followed. August turned on the TV and turned to Ellie.

"Ok. So, what should I know about you?" she laughed.

Ellie laughed.

"Well, I'm 13. I'm from Denver. I've got one brother, he's 16, and his name is Tim."
"Ok. That's cool. I'm 15, and I'm from Rockford, that's in Illinois. I don't have any brothers or sisters. Yet. If you saw my mom, which you had to have, you've seen that she's pregnant. I like sports, and I also love music."
"Yea. My step-mom is pregnant too. Her name is Jen."
"Cool."
"I love music too. What kinds of groups do you like?"
"Well, about everything basically."
"Ok, pretty general, but that's cool."
"Ok, how about you?"
"I like country, and pop. I know it sounds really really dumb, but I like Hanson and bands like that."
"No. That doesn't sound dumb."
"It doesn't?"
"No. You must not have seen my poster."

Ellie turned around to look for the poster. She saw it and laughed.

"I guess you're right. I didn't notice it."

The girls talked for awhile. The phone rang. August reached over to answer it.

"Hello?" answered August.
"Hi, August?" replied the caller.
"Yes?"
"Its Diana."
"Hey!"
"Hi. How are you honey? I heard what happened."
"Well, to be truthful, I'm still alittle shaken up."
"That's understandable. I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad that you're alright."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. You know I wouldn't want anything to happen to you. Neither would the boys. That includes Taylor. Ok?"
"Ok."
"Alright. I have to go. I have more news, but Zac would like to tell you."
"Ok."
"Hey there." said Zac, trying to sound sexy.
"Hey dude, whats up?
"Not much. Are you ok?"
"Yea, I'm good, are you ok?"
"Yea. That scared me so much. I don't want you to die August. I'm so happy you weren't on that plane." he said. Totally seriously.
"Thanks buddy. I'm glad I wasn't on there either. It scared me too. But it scared me even more when I heard that you ran off by yourself."
"How did you know about that?"

August lowered her voice.

"Well for one, my mom told me, and for 2, it was on the news. Watch MTV for awhile, they're reply it. Trust me. I'm on it. I got a glare from some girl at a diner earlier today."
"Ok, I will."
"Hey, your mom said that you've got news. Well, what is it?"
"Oh yeah. WE'RE COMING HOME!!!" he screamed into the phone.

August pulled the phone from her ear. Ellie laughed.

"Gosh, could you be any louder!?"
"Sure I could, wanna see?"
"NO! No! Please."
"Ok."
"So, when are you coming home?"
"In a week."
"Ok, I'll remember to leave town."
"Hey!"
"I was just kidding. I'll see you then. I've got company."
"Oh really? Who?"
"Someone who just moved in. Her name's Ellie."
"Cool. How old?"

August rolled her eyes. Ellie laughed again.

"She's 13."
"Ah. That's cool."
"Um, is she a fan of me?"
"Yea."
"Alright!"
"Oh, get over yourself!"
"No."
"Hey, thanks for the info. Tell you-know-who that I say hi."
"Whats with the ‘you-know-who' stuff? And why aren't you even saying my name?"
"Because."
"This Ellie girl doesn't know who you're talking to, does she?"
"No, and I plan to keep it a surprise until you get here."
"Ok, fine. I'll tell lover boy that you say hi. He's still in love with you. I hope you know that. He feels really guilty. He misses you."
"Yea, I miss him too. Tell him that. Tell him....tell him that I love him, ok?"
"Yea, yea, yea, I'll tell him. I feel so unloved!!"
"Oh, I love you too! You know that!!"
"Yea, I do."
"Well buddy, I gotta go now. I'll see you when you come. Ok?"
"Ok, bye."
"Bye."

Back to Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Six

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