chapter two

Excerpt from Rhiannon Mary Lougher's diary

'Loneliness is a state of mind they say. We are never physically alone. The whole world is cramped with people, yet do they know who we are? Do they know what we do? Do they really care? There are those who are lonely by choice; they do not reach out to take civilisation's hand. This loneliness is bitter as acid. Cursed is the man who brands himself a recluse. For bitter loneliness is a wound of the soul. But there is another loneliness; one that is not a wound, but a punishment . . .
Loneliness is not always voluntary. Those whose hands society slaps away again and again until they're too bruised and tired to bother. They become no better than caged animals, lashing out at any who dare try to encroach the bars of their one tiny haven in a world of scorn. But why. . . ? Because they're different. When civilisation wears black, these caged outcasts will wear white. When civilisation clambers for war, the outcasts will cry for peace. When civilisation chooses to hate, the outcasts will choose to love. They are the outcasts, the misfits, the prisoners in society's jail. Their crime? Only that of being different. Their sentence? Eternal loneliness. Think a while on that . . .'

~ * ~
March, 1998
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . Would that clock ever stop ticking? Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .
'Nice clock, would you please not tick so loudly? I'm trying to go back to sleep'
Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .
'For Pete's sake, would you shut the hell up?!'. Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . Burying his head under his pillow, he tried to block out the infernal clock. Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . Taylor grabbed the clock from the table and threw it weakly against the wall. That only triggered it's alarm.
RRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!!!! Groan. Yawn. Moan. A muffled 'What the hell -?'. An arm flopped down and hung from the bunk above Taylor's head.
"Zac, was that your idea of a joke?" Isaac's voice, thick with sleep, sounded. Zac's only reply was a moan. He'd been dropped off early that morning; in his attempt to make no noise creeping into bed, he'd woken both Tay and Ike up. They had not been grateful.
"Would somebody shut that thing off?" since his head was still buried underneath his pillow, neither Ike nor Zac understood a word Taylor said.
"What?" asked Zac, and when no answer came, he reached up and yanked the pillow off his brother's head.
"Rack off Zac!" Tay snatched his pillow back and covered his head with it again. The alarm's ringing pounded inside their heads, but nobody got up. Zac clamped his hands over his ears, Tay pulled the pillow down even harder over his head, and Ike just tried to put up with it. It was a battle of wills between three boys and a clock.
"I can't take this any more!" Zac bellowed dramatically. He jumped out of bed, grabbed the innocent little alarm clock and pitched it out the open window.
"Hey!" a shout wafted into the room.
"Merry Christmas," Tay murmured.
"Shut up Taylor!" both Zac and Ike groaned before falling back to sleep. Taylor grabbed his watch. 9:47am. What was the point of trying to go back to sleep now? He threw the pillow off his head. It landed on the slumbering Zac. A book fell on the floor. Tay picked it up. There was a forest on the cover. He grabbed his pillow again and opened the book. One page he looked for, just one page. Rhiannon's neat hand-writing jumped out at him. 'Loneliness is a state of mind they say . . .' Why was he inflicting this on himself? 'We are never physically alone . . .' Why was he letting the words come back to him? 'The whole world is cramped with people . . .' Because he was a fool. 'Yet do they know who we are? . . .' She would have understood, he knew it! 'Do they know what we do? . . .' Why wasn't she here?! 'Do they really care? . . .'
"Because she's dead," he whispered to himself.

Liz picked a blade of grass from the sidewalk and twirled it round in her fingers. How long had she been sitting here? Tay was supposed to have been there ages ago. She glanced at her watch; the third time in as many minutes. Where was he?

Grabbing his coat, Tay ran down the stairs in his roller-blades and raced for the door.
"Bye Mom!"
"Taylor!" Diana called from the laundry, "What have I told you about roller-blading in -!" SLAM! " - the house,"

Snapping a dandelion from the lawn, Liz gently brushed it with her finger-tips. She loved dandelions. This was the first one she'd seen for the spring. She blew on it, and the fragile sphere disappeared.

Looking at his watch, and cursing his Swiss-cheese-like memory, Tay bladed even faster. How could he have forgotten?
'That damned diary's how!'
Nearing the first set of traffic lights, he left the road and took the footpath through Rhododendron Park; the all-purpose short-cut in West Tulsa. This park was huge; the walkway cut straight through the middle and came out just a stone's throw away from the mall. All along the path, tiny flowers tentatively poked their heads out between the green of new leaves. Spring had come quickly this year. In record time, Tay was on the other side of the park, two blocks away from Liz's house. Crossing the wide street, he nearly got hit by a car driving way too fast. The driver of the rusty Ford ute shouted angrily, but Tay just smiled and waved, pitying the guy for owning such a broken down piece of junk.
'It's probably worth more as spare parts!'
Just up the road was the elementary school. How long had it been since he and his brothers had performed there? It had been so much fun . . .

~ * ~
September, 1995
Tulsa, Oklahoma

The bus jerked to a stop; if Rhiannon hadn't grabbed onto the seat rail, she would have fallen over.
"Thanks," she murmured to the driver, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She watched as the big, useless hulk of scrap-metal lumbered away. She hated catching buses. Of course, Carlton was supposed to have been bringing Rachael home that day, but he'd rung her that afternoon, saying he'd forgotten that he had basket-ball practice on that afternoon. More like he'd organised a game with his friends and didn't want to be bothered with picking his littlest sister at elementary school. Rhiannon hated school. She cut class more than anyone realised just to get away. They all hated her. 'Hey bitch, you gonna go sckitz for us today?'. Whenever she walked down the hall, 'Uh oh! Somebody call a shrink! I'm hearing voices again!'. Dammit, she hated them!! Trying to forget, she slowly walked across the road and went inside Auberach Hall Elementary School's front gates. Looking and her watch, with the knife and fork for hands, she sighed. It'd be more than an hour before the last bell rang. Why had she come so early? Maybe she could help out in the library. It wasn't big, and there were always books to put away. Mrs. Davies, the librarian, was always grateful for some extra help . . . then she heard it.
"Stop! The love you save may be your own, darling take it slow, or some day you'll be all alone . . ." Rhiannon chuckled. Talk about coincidence. Of course, Auberach Hall had to have a 'big' assembly today. Of course, Carlton had to have gotten entangled in a challenge-to-the-death basket-ball game. Of course, Hanson had to be playing at Rachael's school today. Of course, they had to be playing that particular song the second she walked in the school gates. Making her way over towards the gym, Rhiannon listened, half-ashamed to admit that she knew every word. Slipping unnoticed in the gym's back door, she smiled at what she saw. The kids were all clapping along, laughing and smiling. Rhiannon laughed herself when she saw some of the first graders get up and start dancing. Even a few of the teachers were discreetly bopping away; she noticed they were all mouthing the words. But Hanson looked like they were having more fun than everyone else combined! Isaac had a smile ten miles wide on his face; Taylor was jumping around so much behind his keyboards, she was surprised he didn't knock them over; and Zac! Well! The kid was so full of energy it looked like he'd jump up and run a few laps around the world just to burn some of it off!
"Rhiannon? Is that you?" she turned and saw her old 5th grade teacher walking towards her. Mrs. Bolland was in her early thirties, with light brown hair that curled a little bit and hazel eyes that always seemed to smile. She was the best teacher Rhiannon'd ever had,
"Yep. How are you Mrs. Bolland?"
"I'm all right. You?"
"Getting along," even thought she smiled, Mrs. Bolland saw straight through it.
"Are they giving you a rough time?" Rhiannon nodded. "No wonder you're here at this time. How much of today did you cut?" her voice was not unkind.
"All,"
"Do your parents know what's going on at school?"
"No,"
"Does anyone know?"
"No,"
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No,"
"Okay, but if you ever need anyone to talk to, you know I'll be here all right?" Mrs. Bolland said. Rhiannon only nodded; her good mood had just been thoroughly rained out.

"Hey Ice!" somebody tugged on her pigtails to get her attention. Ice turned to her best friend sitting beside her.
"Yeah Krystyn?"
"Is that your sister back there?" they both turned in their seats.
"Yeah. What's Rhiannon doing here?"
"How should I know Ice?" Krystyn replied. For a split-second Rachael Lougher stared at her older sister. It was Rhiannon who'd given her the nick-name of Ice, coming from her second name, Iseult. Her parents were really the only ones who called her Iseult. The only people whom she allowed to call her Iseult were her parents and Rhiannon. She loved her big sister most out of all her family. Half the time Carlton acted like she wasn't even there, he mostly only acknowledged her when he was introducing the family to new friends. Her parents, even though they loved her and made sure she knew that, they always seemed so busy. She didn't like disturbing them. Rhiannon was the only one she knew would always be there, always take the time to listen to her, to help her with her homework, or even just to play. Standing up, Rachael ignored the protests of the people whose toes she trod on as she made her way to the aisle running down the side of the room. Too busy listening, Rhiannon didn't see her younger sister coming towards her.
"Rhiannon? What are you doing here?" startled, Rhiannon just stared at Rachael for a second, "Are you all right?"
"What? Oh! Yeah, I'm okay,"
"Why are you here?"
"Aren't I allowed to visit my baby sister and see how she's going?" she teased.
"Rhiannnnonnnn!"
"You look so cute when you whine Ice," chuckling, Rhiannon smiled. Embarrassed and annoyed, Rachael slumped cross-legged to the floor and folded her arms.
"Come on Ice, you know how much you look like Carlton when you sulk," Despite herself, Rachael had to laugh as Rhiannon did a perfect impression of their brother at his most sullen, the brother who they both loved to death.
"Why are you here? I thought Carlton was picking me up today, plus you're way too early! School doesn't finish for another half-hour,"
"Carlton had basket-ball practice on, so I came instead,"
"Oh, okay," happy once again, Rachael turned back into the performance. Like any 7-year-old, she could swing from sulking to content in a matter of seconds. Now she was totally absorbed in the music.
"She doubles like a rose, but everybody knows (don't you know, don't you know?), she'll get you in dutch, you can look but you better not touch. Poison Ivy, poison ivy, late at night while your sleeping, poison ivy comes a creepin' around . . ."
"How's the show been so far?" Rhiannon whispered, so she wouldn't distract her sister's attention. Rachael's blue eyes sparkled a little.
"They're great! I loved the way they sang 'The Love You Save'! I think even Mom would be impressed!" Arian, their mother, had to be the biggest Jackson Five fan in the known world!
"Now there's a compliment and a half!"
"She would!" Rhiannon just smiled.
'You're probably right Ice'
Moving around, Rachael tried to get a better view. "I can't see from here,"
"You're too short Ice,"
"I'm taller than everyone in my class!"
'You're so easy to provoke!" chuckling as she picked Rachael up, Rhiannon was amazed how light she was, "Better?" Rachael nodded emphatically.
"Ice I'm gonna have to start force-feeding you soon! You weigh practically nothing!"
"Can I have a Mars Bar then?" Man, her sister was sharp! Inwardly grinning at her own stupidity, Rhiannon sighed.
"I left myself wide open for that one didn't I?"
"Can I?"
"All right, all right," sighing again, she grabbed her wallet, "Mind my bag Ice. Don't let it out of your sight!"
"Yes sir!" like an army sergeant, Rachael saluted and gave a huge smile, showing the gap in her front teeth. It just made her even cuter.

"There you go Ice," ripping into the chocolate bar with a vengeance, Rachael's smile could have melted the Arctic.
"Thank-you Rhee," she said around a mouthful. Then Rhiannon noticed the music had stopped.
"What's going on?"
"They're giving out shirts,"
"Who to?"
"Anyone that wants one," they both watched as one girl put up her hand, but then refused to come up on stage and get it.
"What's wrong? Why won't she go up?" Rachael looked up at her sister. She had a smudge of chocolate on her chin.
"She's probably embarrassed," the guys tried to coax the girl up, but she wouldn't move, just sat in her seat, turning a brighter shade of red every second. Out of the corner of her eye, Rhiannon saw movement on the stage.
"Hey Ice," she was holding back a very girlish giggle, "Look," running out from behind his drums, Zac practically flew down the steps and down the aisle towards the girl. They couldn't hold it back any longer. Both Rhiannon and Rachael burst out laughing as the 9-year-old miniature Ken doll almost dragged the girl to her feet and started guiding her up to the stage.
"Oh my God! Rhee! That's Krystyn!" sure enough the honey brown curls falling around the girl's shoulders marked her as Rachael's best friend. Laughing, they watched as Krystyn got her shirt then ran out of the gym, crying with embarrassment.
"Ice go after her," desperately trying to keep the smile off her face, Rachael ran after her best friend. Rhiannon smiled too. There weren't many people in this world decent enough not to milk a situation like that for all it was worth, draw out the embarrassment and laugh at their 'friend's expense, but Rachael was one of them. Krystyn couldn't have found a better friend in anyone else.

The last bell went just as the guys finished their last song. Perfect timing.
"Thank-you guys! You've been a great audience!" Ike told them, then switched off the mic. The school principal, Mrs. Doyall, stepped up to the podium at the right of the stage.
"On behalf of students and staff of Auberach Hall Elementary School, I'd like to thank you boys for coming in here today -"
"Thank-you for having us," Taylor politely replied. Mrs. Doyall beamed at him; you could almost read her thoughts, 'What a darling young man! If all my students were like him I could retire with a few less grey hairs'.
"And school, I'd like you to thank Hanson for performing for us," the gym erupted into whistles and loud applause from the students. "People, that will be quite enough," the roar of appreciation continued, "Would you please be quiet?" no change in volume.
"Thank-you school!" Mrs. Doyall barked. The entire gym fell silent in an instant. She then permitted herself to smile again, "Boys, I believe you wanted to say something?" handing the mic to Isaac she smiled even more.
"Uh yeah," Ike looked at the principal strangely, "If anybody wants autographs, as soon as we've packed up, we'll be outside," he gestured towards the glass doors on the western side of the gym, that led out into the courtyard, "We've also got a CD out, if anybody wants to buy it. Unfortunately we're not allowed to sell anything here but you can order it so," he shrugged, "We just want to thank you guys again for being such a great audience. We really enjoyed ourselves and we hope you did too," Mrs. Doyall, 'affectionately' known as Old Doily, was almost in tears. Rhiannon shook her head. Ike was being very polite, the principal seemed to have got it into her head that they were like that all the time. Well, if she told Old Doily some of the things she'd overheard Ike and Carlton say then she'd change her mind faster than a cat blinks!
"Thank-you very much boys, we'd love to have you back again,"
"Thanks," Zac said then raced over and started disassembling his drums. Tay and Ike looked at one another, sent an apologetic look Old Doily's way, then went to pack up their own instruments. Mrs. Doyall sighed with contentment and turned back to the student assembly, who were itching to get away.
"Thank-you school. When you are dismissed you may leave the gymnasium in an orderly fashion . . ." then Old Doily randomly picked grades that could leave first. Rachael grabbed Rhiannon's hand.
"Let's sneak out the back Rhee, Old Doily won't notice,"
"It's on your head if she sees us," crouching, Rhiannon crept towards the back door, while Rachael followed. Quietly the back door was pushed open. They ducked out and shut the door behind them as quietly as it'd been opened.
"Okay Ice, let's go home,"
"Can't I get an autograph or something?"
"Ice . . ."
"Please?" sticking out her lower lip a fraction, Rachael looked up at Rhiannon and gave her a full dose of her baby blue eyes. Who could resist that?
"You're turning me into a push-over. All right, come on,"

Standing out in the court-yard, Rhiannon gaped.
"Good luck getting through that Ice," the place was packed. Pens and books floated everywhere. Shouts and Mothers' reprimands alternated between each other. Fliers were being passed around, more than a few lay trampled on the grass. Rachael picked one that wasn't too mangled and smoothed it out. It was an order form for Hanson's album, called 'Boomerang'.
"Rhee?"
"What's up?"
"Did you think the guys were good?" Step 1 - butter up the cash-holder as much as necessary.
"Did you?"
"I asked first,"
"Yeah, I thought they were good,"
"How good?" Step 2 - locate weakness.
"Very good,"
"Really?" Step 3 - back cash-holder into a corner and guard all exits.
"Really," Rachael sighed and turned up the voltage on her smile. Step 4 - strike!
"Would you get their CD?"
"What? Oh no you don't Ice! Baby blues and a thousand-watt smile aren't getting you nowhere on this one!" Step 5 - counter-attack.
"Come on Rhee! It's only fifteen dollars. And you just said yourself you thought they were heaps good,"
"That doesn't mean I'll buy the CD. Unless you can fork out fifteen bucks,"
"I don't have that much money!"
"Then I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait until you do," Step 6 - When all else fails, get down on knees and beg!
"Please Rhee! I'll never ask for anything from you again!"
"No Ice,"
"I'll keep out of your CD collection, I won't ever bother you while you're doing your homework. I'll do anything!"
"Anything?"
"Depends,"
"I knew it was too good to be true!"
"Please Rhee! I won't stop bugging you if you don't,"
"Oh, there's a threat!"
"Rhiannnnonnnn!"
"I said no Ice!" she saw Rachael's eyes widen a bit, then felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Hey Rhiannon!"
"Oh hi Taylor!" she turned around and saw him. He was still kinda cute. But he looked kinda sad. His head was bowed a bit and his shoulders were slumped.
"How're you doing?"
"All right I suppose. Is anything wron-" she was interrupted by Rachael, who gave the most indescribable little squeak both she and Taylor stared at her in confusion.
"You -! . . . You -! . . . You know -! . . . Oh my gosh, you didn't tell me! . . . oh God -!"
"Ice what the hell are you babbling about?"
"You know -! You know -!" unable to say anything more, she just pointed loosely at Taylor.
"Taylor Hanson, pleased to meet you," with an easy smile he shook Rachael's hand. Her face practically glowed as she answered him,
"Ra - Rach - Rachael Lough- Lougher," she managed to get out.
"I'll have to get you to write that down Ra-rach-rachael," Rachael giggled. Rhiannon was disgusted. She thought she'd taught her younger sister to be calm and collected in all situations. The girl was acting like a moonstruck teenager. And she was only seven! Tay turned back to Rhiannon, he was pouting.
"Tay, what's wrong?"
"You made me sad," he did a pretty convincing toddler voice.
"Me?!"
"You wouldn't buy our CD,"
"Not you too! I've already told Rachael no," both Rachael and Taylor stuck their lower lip out a bit and turned the baby blues on Rhiannon. She could hear little alarm bells going off inside her head,
'Warning! Warning! Resistance is collapsing! Meltdown in progress! Warning! Warning!'.
"You're ganging up on me! No fair!" neither said anything, just kept staring, "All right! All right! You win! I give up! You can have your stupid CD!" Rachael beamed and threw her arms around her big sister's neck, "Yeah, yeah. You owe me big time Ice!"

~ * ~
March, 1998
Tulsa, Oklahoma

They'd talked for ages about everything. While Rachael had spent the whole time gawking, he and Rhiannon had cemented a fast friendship. They had practically nothing in common; he played sports, while she loved to read and write. He liked 50's and 60's rock 'n' roll, where she liked Celtic music and the more off-beat types of sound. He was open and a bit loud, she was quiet and a bit mysterious. He was a blond, she was a brunette. Nobody could have been more different. Yet they had one thing in common that smoothed everything out. They were both dreamers . . .
Taylor sighed. She was the only one he'd confided in. All the things that went on in his head he'd told her, and everything she'd thought about she'd told him. He missed the conversations that went on for hours on end, he missed the deep brown eyes smiling shyly, he missed everything. He missed her. It hurt so much . . .
Shaking his head slightly, he pushed the memories away and bladed down the road as fast as he could.

Sighing for the last time, Elisabette stood up. She'd been ripped off again. Here she was, sitting like an idiot in the gutter thinking that maybe someone else understood how she felt. But no, nobody cared what happened to little old Liz now that her best friend was dead; her parents were fighting endlessly and her school work was getting too much to handle - she'd gotten her first 'F' a few days ago - nobody cared that her life was falling apart. Liz stood up and made to go inside.
"Hey Liz!" somebody shouted. All her previous thoughts were forgotten. A figure with loose blond hair trailing behind them bladed towards her, "Not wimping out on me, are you?"
"You bastard! I thought you weren't coming!" she smiled for the first time that day.
"When have I ever not kept my word?"
"A lot!"
"Name one,"
"I . . . um . . . the time that you . . . err . . . oh forget it, where are we going?"
"I don't know. Wherever,"
"Just around?"
"Sounds good to me,"

"You done anything interesting lately Liz?"
"If you can call editing a school newspaper interesting. You? Stupid question,"
"Just the usual round of boring TV shows talking to brainless idiots answering the same pointless questions day after day after day,"
"Sounds fabulous,"
"You can say that again!"
"Are you gonna be touring any time soon?"
"Yeah, soon,"
"Where are you going?"
"Just a few places around the States and Canada. Somebody mentioned England and France as well, I'm not sure," They'd been roller-blading around for the best part of an hour and a half, talking about whatever came up. So far the list contained such fascinating topics as the weather, leaking roofs, rats, the Black Plague, the world population increase, deforestation, their theories on how the world would end, what would happen when the sun exploded, nuclear bombs, mercury poisoning and cats.
"Weren't you gonna throw a world tour in there somewhere?"
"Tentative plans. But now that's been put on the back-burner for a while. It's become more a case of when are we going to put the next album out. It looks like we're might have to push back the tour by a few months and record the new album over the summer. Nothing's final yet, but I think that's probably how it's going to work out,"
"What are you going to call it?"
"The album?"
"Yeah,"
"Don't know yet,"
"Any idea what songs are gonna go on it?"
"They might want 'Cried' on there, I'm not sure. For the rest, I don't have a clue,"
"Real helpful aren't you?"
"Most of that stuff's up to the record company to decide. I'm mean, we have a pretty big say in it, but the final decision's up to them," Taylor smiled suddenly, "Are you hungry?"
"Um . . . yeah," smiling even more, Tay grabbed Liz's hand and raced along the road, "Taylor! Stop!" she nearly fell over as she was jerked forward, "What are you -?!"
"Macca's!" he pointed to the big yellow M rising up over the street.

"Had enough yet?" Liz watched as Taylor wolfed down another Big Mac.
"Oh come on! Haven't even had dessert yet!"
"You've already had two Big Macs, yours and my fries and an enormous chocolate thick-shake. You should be spewing, not asking for dessert!"
"I'm still hungry!"
"You're a freak!"
"I can't help it if I've got a bottomless pit for a stomach!"
"You eat like a pig, yet you look like a stick insect! That does not work! Somebody should submit you for study in an FBI lab!" Liz looked disgusted. Tay just smiled. He knew he'd won. Rummaging around in his pocket for more change, he heard an annoyingly high-pitched voice come from behind him.
"Taylor! The second last person I wanted to see today!" narrowing her eyes in confusion, Liz watched as Taylor closed his eyes and silently counted to ten. Without opening his eyes, he forced a polite expression onto his face and replied,
"Hello Tessa. How are you today?" Liz had to stifle a chuckle when he added under his breath, "Bitch,"
"Don't ask! Do you know what that bastard of a brother of yours just did to me?" Tessa's high pitched voice went even higher in her agitation. It sounded like finger-nails being dragged down a chalkboard. She grabbed the empty chair at their table and violently yanked it out, collapsing into it. Taylor winced.
"No Tessa I don't. Ike doesn't give a running commentary on his social life," his polite tone was edged with frost.
"The bastard dumped me!" Tay's only reaction was a tiny semblance of a smile.
"So he finally came to his senses," he mumbled.
"What?"
"How could he do something like that to you?" Tessa looked just about ready to cry. Covering her mouth, Liz coughed to disguise a laugh.
"I don't know. I've never been anything but kind and caring to him and then what does he do? Throw me out with yesterday's garbage as if I mean absolutely nothing to him!" if they gave Oscars for being melodramatic, this little performance would win it for Tessa every time! "What have I ever done to deserve this? Where did I go wrong? . . ." as Tessa continued to moan, Tay rested his forehead on his hand in embarrassment, fingers massaging his temples. Of course, Ike always maintained that Tessa was really quite smart. Maybe. She might get an 'A' on her exams but in every other way she was nothing short of a teeny. Her white-blonde hair was cut to shape her gorgeous face and her grey eyes were always thickly outlined in black. An impeccably made-up face and tight, skimpy clothes guaranteed her a lot of attention. She had the word 'bimbo' written all over her.
"Taylor, Ike tells you everything. Tell me what I did wrong!" he went to say 'Breathing' but Liz kicked a warning under the table.
"Maybe whatever it was you did wrong the last three times,"
"I didn't pay him enough attention last time. I'm sure I paid attention to him this time. Maybe it wasn't enough. Thank-you Taylor, you've saved my life!" happy, she bounced out the door, her mini-skirt riding up a little too high. The second she was out the door, Tay groaned and rested his head on his arms and Liz burst out laughing.
"Who the hell was that?" she asked between giggles.
"Tessa, Queen of Planet Bimbo and Ike's now four times ex-girlfriend,"
"What?"
"The bitch is the dumbest, most boring person alive. All she does is sit there and talk about herself and all her little teeny-bopper friends. Ike's dumped her four times, but it seems she still hasn't quite got the message yet,"
"If she's that dumb, why does Ike still go out with her?"
"The bitch is too gorgeous for her own good,"
"Say no more,"

The sun was going down as Taylor and Elisabette turned onto her street. They bladed slowly up her driveway and sat on the steps. Tay watched as Liz took off her roller-blades. For a minute, neither said anything.
"Well, looks like that's it," Tay said, to his ears sounding rather lame.
"Yeah," they both laughed; at what, they didn't know.
"Oh well," Liz smiled, "I guess I'll see you later,"
"Yeah," standing up, they both looked awkwardly around.
"Well see ya," Taylor said.
"See ya," neither moved. Then suddenly, Liz was hugging him. Surprised, he hugged her back.
"Thank-you Taylor," she murmured then ran up the stairs and inside her front door.

* * * *

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