Chapter 4
The Neighbors
When we arrived at the house, Josh leaned forward and knocked
on the door. A boy with long hair answered the door. I thought I’d
seen him before, but I really wasn’t sure.
“Hi, Josh, come on in. Tay and Ike are in the living room,”
the boy said, staring at me.
“Thanks Zac.” Josh took my hand and led me into the
living room. Josh and Zac were talking, but I couldn’t
concentrate on what they were saying.
In the living room, two more boys with long hair were sitting
beside each other at a computer, one, the younger looking one,
looked gorgeous. They didn’t notice we were there. Zac
walked over to behind his brothers and concentrated on the
computer, but soon became bored and sat on the couch. He looked
at me again and said,
“Josh, will you just tell us who the girl is?” The two
boys at the computer turned around and looked at me. I felt
pathetic.
Three guys I didn’t know who the heck were, were sitting
around staring at me.......studying me. Now I know how the people
who look extremely weird walk into a room of normal people.
Always being stared at, I thought. I don’t know why I
thought it, it just popped into my head. I looked down at myself.
I was wearing a pair of tight jeans, a pair of thick soled, nice,
brown shoes, and a sleeveless white shirt that showed my belly
button when I raised my hands above my head. My thin
strawberry-blonde hair was brushed down to the sides of my head,
with my brown bucket hat over it, and I had my sunglasses on,
because I never took them off earlier. I slowly slipped them off
as Josh said,
“This is my cousin Ashlee. She is visiting from California
with her sister Linny. She’s going to be here all summer,
right?”
“Yeah, I am,” I said quietly. Zac stood up and said,
“Hi, my name is Zac Hanson. And this is my brother Taylor
and my brother Isaac.” He pointed to each of them as he said
their names. “What brings you here?”
I didn’t want to tell them. I turned around and stood there
staring at Josh. I didn’t know if he knew or not. I turned
back around, but I still didn’t say anything. They sat there
watching me again, as if I had suddenly turned into some sort of
alien.
“I-I don’t think she wants to tell you now,” Josh
said. I looked at him again and, he nodded, mouthing. ‘I
know.’ I nodded to say okay, but
didn’t actually say anything.
“Aww, come on! Why not?” Zac suddenly asked. I glared
at him for a brief moment before looking down at the floor
infront of me. Taylor stood up and walked over to me. He leaned
forward to me, after glancing at Zac, and whispered in my ear,
“You don’t have to tell us, you know,” he said,
quietly. “Zac’s just being a nosy loud mouth.” I
nodded. He’s so sweet and sensitive, I thought. Why can’t
Zac be like that?
“Oh, look at the time! We’d better go,” Josh said,
after a minute of silence. I looked at the clock. It was already
8:30. I turned and followed him out of the house after saying bye
to all of them. Josh and I were half-way across the street when
Taylor called from his house,
“Ashlee, do you want to go rollerblading with me sometime?”
I turned around and said, “Yeah, sure. That would be nice.
When?”
“How about tomorrow?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll pick you up at nine tomorrow morning?”
“Sounds great. I’ll be ready,” I smiled and turned
back to walking towards the house. Josh had already gone ahead
and was already in the house.
“Hey, Ashlee?”
“Yeah?” I asked turning around again, as he approached
me.
“Don’t mind Zac, okay? He didn’t understand. You
know how younger brothers are,” he said quietly.
“Okay.” He leaned forward and hugged me slightly as I
felt tears approach my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking
about the real reason I was in Okalahoma. He wiped my tears away,
and said,
“See you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” I said, smiling to slightly as I walked into the
house. I soon was ready for bed and I told Josh what Taylor and I
were doing the next day.
“Oooh! You and Tay are going rollerblading! That’s
gonna be a site to see!” he joked, smiling at me.
“Shut-up,” I said. “Haven’t I seen them guys
before, somewhere?”
“They are in a group called Hanson, you know,” he said.
“They are? I didn’t know that. Or maybe I did. Well, it
really doesn’t matter, does it?” I said. I layed down
on the bottom bunk. Josh knew I wasn’t going to be getting
back up, he climbed out of bed, and shut off the light.
Chapter 5
Rollerblading
The next morning, I awoke at 7:45. I dragged
myself out of bed and into the bathroom with my clothes for the
day. I showered and shaved all at once. After making sure the
soap was out of my hair I climbed out of the shower. I dried off
and dressed into my short shorts and a dark red sleeveless shirt
like my white one I had on the day before. I went back into the
bedroom after cleaning my face because I knew the strong aroma of
the alcohol-free after face wash face cleanser would surely wake
Josh. I put on two pairs of socks and then combed my hair. I
picked up my rollerblades and headed into the hall. I noticed how
quiet and dead it was in the house. Then again, I thought. Aunt
Lynn and Uncle John have already went to work. Uncle John’s
friend hasn’t been here since I have, and Linny and Josh are
still sleeping. I went downstairs and set my rollerblades on the
couch, on my way to the kitchen. After I ate, I brushed my teeth
and went and sat down on the couch. I looked at the clock. It was
8:55. I slipped on my rollerblades on just as I heard a quiet
knock on the door.
“Hi, Taylor,” I said when I opened the door.
“Hi. How are you this morning?” he asked, taking my
hand to lead me down the steps.
“Fine,” I said, smiling, and closing the door behind
me.
As we headed down South Avenue, Taylor took my hand and led me to
the park. We sat down on a bench and talked for a little while.
“So how do you like it here in Okalahoma?” Taylor
asked.
“It’s really cool,” I replied smiling.
“Ever been here before?”
“No, no I haven’t,” I said, thinking about
everywhere I had been. He suddenly looked at me when I was
looking at him. He leaned forward quickly and kissed me. I jumped
back, completely surprised by the kiss. He looked into my eyes
with a look that made me want to kiss him, but what he said
stopped me,
“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that,” he
said apologetically. “We hardly know each other. I just
couldn’t resist, though.”
“Don’t worry about it. I understand what happened,”
I said assuringly. He had one of those looks that just made you
want to melt. He then looked at me and studied me for a second,
and then, smiling, said,
“I’m still sorry.” I hugged him, then leaned over
and kissed him on the cheek and said,
“Forget about it because I forgive you.” We stood and
rollerbladed back to Aunt Lynn’s house.
Chapter 6
“Do you guys want to have a party?”
Arriving at Aunt Lynn’s house, I felt really
great. Taylor had walked me up the steps of Aunt Lynn’s
house, and before I let him leave, I gave him a peck on the
cheek. I went into the house after saying good-bye and went to
talk to Josh. He, of course, was up in his room. But when I saw
him still asleep, I decided not to bother him. I noticed it was
10:30, so I decided to sit and wait till he woke up. It shouldn’t
be too long, I thought.
“Do you think we can have a party in your basement?” I
asked him as soon as he sat up.
“I guess,” he said, still waking up. “Who’s
going to plan it and all that good stuff? Because I’m not.”
“I can get Taylor and Zac and Isaac to help me,” I
said, looking down at my feet, noticing I still hadn’t taken
my rollerblades of.
“Okay, if you can plan it, you can do it,” he said.
“Thank you!” I cried, jumping up and rollerbladed out
of the house and over to Taylor’s. I knocked on the door and
Taylor answered.
“Back to see me already?” he asked.
“Well, yeah, and Zac and Isaac,” I said.
“Okay, let’s go in the living room. The guys are in the
living room,” Taylor said. I slipped off my rollerblades and
ran into the living room socken
footed. I plopped down on the couch between Isaac and Zac. Zac
was reading
“Zac Attack.”
“What in the world are you doing, Zac?” I asked him.
“Reading about myself.”
“Why in the world would you do that?”
“I gotta make sure they get the facts straight!” he
exclaimed.
“Oh, okay. But,” I said, taking the book from him, and
the romance book Isaac was reading away from him, “I came
here to ask you guys a few questions.”
“What?” they asked.
“Are you guys by any chance bored?” I asked.
“Yes,” Taylor said. “Why?”
“No,” Isaac and Zac said.
“I was reading a very interesting book,” Zac stated.
Smiling, he said, “The guy I was reading about sounds very
interesting. I think I want to meet him.”
I looked at him and said, “Zac, say ‘Hi, Zac.’”
“Hi, Zac,” he said just as I wanted him to.
“There now you’ve met him,” I said.
“Thanks!” he cried.
“Okay, well, another question was: Do you guys want to have
a party?”
“Yeah!” Taylor and Zac cried.
“Uh, no,” Isaac said. “Can I have my book back?”
“Here, take it and leave.”
“Okay, all you guys have to do is make a guest list and then
call everyone after we decided a day and time,” I said,
“but for now just make a guest list.”
“What do you have to do?” Zac asked.
“I don’t have to do anything I get to put decorations
up,” I said.
“All right, now, when are we going to have it?” I asked
them. “Any ideas?”
“How about this Saturday, from five to nine,” Taylor
suggested. “So everyone has time to RSVP us.”
“Agreed?” I asked.
“Agreed,” we all said together.
“Okay, I had better go,” I said, standing up.
“Here, I’ll walk you home,” Taylor said, walking
down the hall as I picked up my rollerblades.
“Okay,” I said. We slowly walked across the street, and
then up the steps. I invited him in.