Taylor burst into the house where Zac and Kevin were sitting on the couch watching TV. Tay's face was covered with sweat and he was panting from running the 3 blocks back home. There was no way he was going to let Kevin tell Zac about his indescretions with Leigh-Ann at Rebecca's funeral. Not only would it be the most humiliating thing, but it would also make him seem like the most heartless person. He already felt ashamed as it was. He wasn't even sure about why he kissed Leigh-Ann.

"Geez, Tay, what happened to you?" Zac stared at his flustered brother.

"I need to talk to Kevin...alone," Tay said through deep pants.

Kevin looked shocked. He had never actually talked to his best friend's older brother, at least not alone, and not without exchanging insults with one another. "Ooookay..."

Tay lead Kevin into the study room, where the Hanson kids usually did their schoolwork. Zac just watched in confusion as they left.

Once inside Taylor shut the door and turned to face Kevin, who was looking a bit pale by now. "Kevin, you need to tell me something."

"Huh?" Kevin slightly backed away.

"What's wrong with you?"

"You're not gonna beat me up are you?"

"What?" Taylor stepped towards Kevin. Immediately the smaller boy step further away. "Kev, no. I'm not gonna beat you up? Why would you even think that?"

"Isn't that what older brothers do?"

"No!" Tay rolled his eyes and sat at the table in the center of the room.

"So, why do you want to talk to me?" Kevin seemed to ease up a little.

"You have a cousin named Jamie, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Did he tell you something about me? About me and my friend Leigh-Ann?"

"Oooooh! Yeah...about you two making out at the funeral." Kevin chuckled. Taylor shot him a mean glance and the boy quickly wiped the grin off his face.

"Please tell me you didn't tell Zac about it."

Kevin paused for a moment and looked at the door. "I didn't?"

"Oh, good," Taylor sighed.

"Uh...I did."

"What?! You said you didn't!"

"No, I said 'I didn't?' like a question." Kevin stared for a moment at Taylor who looked like he was ready to charge at him. He quickly turned and ran out of the room. Tay sighed and followed. By the time he reached the family room Kevin was long gone.

"Taylor!" Zac's voice echoed from the front door. "What did you do to my friend?!" Zac stomped to the family room where Tay was sitting on the floor, his hands covering his face.

"Did you scare him?"

Tay looked up. "No. He's a freak. I can't help it if he thinks I'm intimidating."

"What were you talking about?" Zac couldn't stand the suspense. He wasn't use to not knowing what was going on around the house. Usually he was the eyes and ears of the Hanson family -- the one who knew everybody's secrets.

"You know, don't you? About Leigh-Ann?"

"Yeah. I can't believe you did that at Rebecca's funeral. Some things are sacred, Tay. I thought you were all goo-goo for Rebecca and then you go and do that."

Taylor could see the dissapointment in Zac's eyes and he wasn't ready for how much that look would hurt him. There wasn't anything worse than having somebody he cared for look down on him. "I don't know why it happened. I didn't mean for it to, it just did. It didn't have anything to do with Rebecca. I just...needed it, I guess."

"Sorry, I still don't get it. What did you guys do anyway? All Kevin said was that you were kissing and stuff. That's it, right? I don't think my stomach could take it if there were any more." Zac knelt by where Tay was sitting.

"What? No, there wasn't anymore. How could you think that?"

"I don't know...I wouldn't have thought that you would do any of that stuff. Sorry if I never personally pictured you making out with anybody. It's not something I would like to have in my head. And if you're willing to do that at her funeral, then I don't know what else you're capable of doing."

Tay couldn't say anything to this. He didn't feel guilty about making out with someone. He did feel wrong about betraying Rebecca in the way that he did. And now Zac was ashamed of him. "You can't tell anyone. Please, Zac, I'll do anything."

Zac thought about this statement for a moment. "Anything?"

"Yes, I will do anything. I couldn't stand it if Mom and Dad knew, or even if Ike knew."

"You will truly do anything for me?" Zac started to grin a little.

"Yes, Zac!" Tay said in frustration. He knew that he was backing himself into a corner.

"Alright. I won't tell anyone, but remember what you promised. I'll have to think about what my 'anything' will be..." Zac got a misty look on his face. He got up and headed for their bedroom. Tay knew this wasn't going to be good.

"Wait, Mack. Let me see it." Jessie pulled the legos away from little Mackie's grasp and the boy let out a small pout. "Great, Mack, you broke it. Zac's gonna kill us."

"I didn't! You did!"

"Yeah, right. I'm not the one who crashed head first into the castle. Aaaaaugh!" Frustrated, Jessie threw down the peices and got up. "I'm going outside. When Zac's sees this you better tell him that you did it, because I'm not gonna take the blame for you again."

"Not! I didn't!"

"Hey, you better get use to taking the blame. You're not gonna be the baby around here for much longer."

Mackie got a hurt look on his face. Jessie felt slightly guilty for what she said, but not enough to bear the wrath of Zac when he saw what Mackie did to his new creation. She left her big brothers' room and headed outside.

The street was filled with kids from the neighborhood. Christmas Break had finally let the regular school kids enjoy the freedom of the midday afternoon. Jessie scanned the kids, hoping to find someone to play with that she vaguely knew. Since they had been gone so much, she felt a bit out-of-touch with most of her friends. She had gotten use to only playing with Avery. Next door she saw three girls playing double-dutch jump rope. They looked slightly older than her, but she recognized one of the girls as being a friend of Zac's. Jessie slowly walked over.

"Hi," she said tentatively. None of the girls seemed to hear her. "Hi!" she said a little louder.

The one she recognized looked over at her while spinning the two ropes. She smiled and stopped the spinning. "Hi!"

"You know my brother, right?"

"Oh, you're Jessie! Yeah, I guess I know Zac a little. My name is Manda, and this is Jennifer and Kara." The other two waved at her and started whispering to each other. This made Jessie feel especially uncomfortable.

"Do you think I could play?"

"Sure. Do you know how?"

"Oh, yeah. I've done it before."

Jennifer moved closer to Jessie and stared at her for a moment. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Do you think that Taylor would go out with me, I mean if he met me?"

Jessica knew that she should be use to these kind of questions by now, but they still seemed to bother her. How was she to know who Taylor would go out with? Frankly, she really didn't care. The fact that anybody would want to go out with her brothers was still very odd to her. "I...have no idea."

"Jenn! Stop it! How would she know?" Manda put down the rope.

"Sorry, Manda. I was just asking. It couldn't hurt to try. Sorry Jessie." Jennifer seemed annoyed that the girl didn't answer her question.

"Guys, I think you better go. It's getting kinda late."

"Manda, gosh, it was only a question," Kara threw down her side of the rope.

"No, it's not because of that...I just think it's getting late."

"You know, Manda, the girls at school were right about you. You're just rude. I thought that maybe they were wrong." Jennifer gathered up the rope and her backpack.

"Jenn...Kara, come on."

Jessie watched as the two girls strutted away. Manda looked down at her feet. "You can play with me still."

Manda looked up at her and smiled. "Okay. What do ya wanna play?"

"I got PlayStation."

"Sounds good to me." The two ran into the Hanson's house giggling.

Zac pressed his ear against the study room door. Inside he heard the giggling of his sister and Manda. He strained to hear what they were saying, and if they were in any way talking about him.

The front door slammed shut and Zac turned to see Ike staring at him. "What are you doing?"

"Jessie is in there with Manda."

"I didn't know they were friends."

"Neither did I. Guess they are," Zac whispered.

"Zac?"

"What?" he mumbled with his ear still glued to the door.

"Why are you listening?"

"'Cause I'm bored."

Isaac pulled his brother away from the door and into the family room where he practically threw him onto the couch. "You like her."

"Huh?"

"You like Manda, don't you?"

"No!" Zac tried to feign a hurt look, but apparently Ike could see right through it.

"You are so funny," Ike laughed. "You got it bad!"

"Shhhhhhh. Ike, will you shut up?" Zac hunched back lower into the couch.

Isaac sat next to Zac. "You spy on her. You listen to her conversations. And to top it all off, you pretend that you hate her. All the classic symptoms."

"Of what?!"

"A crush. Look, why don't you just ask her to go somewhere with you or something?"

Zac looked mortified. "Like a date? Uh, no."

"You don't have to call it a date. Just call it, 'going somewhere with someone.' You just happen to be going to the same place at the same time."

"I hate her."

"Sure you do." Ike slyly grinned.

"Stop it! I do! Besides, she hates me...so there would be no point in asking her anything."

"So she hates you...like you hate her?"

"Yeah!"

"Then she's got it bad too, bud. Just ask her. It can't hurt." Ike heard his own advice and wished that he could take it. It was so easy to tell his little brother to take the chance, yet he himself was too chicken to ask Ginger out.

"I bet it can hurt. I bet it can sting and poke and burn and really hurt."

"So? Do it anyway. You're the most outgoing guy I know. If you can't do it, then there is no hope for any 12 year old in the nation. You wouldn't want that on your shoulders now would you."

Zac sat up. "I am outgoing aren't I?"

"Yup."

"And I'm pretty cute, right?"

"Oh, the absolute dreamiest."

Zac glared at Isaac. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Nope. I am just stating obvious fact."

"So I should do it?"

"Absolutely."

"Now?"

"The sooner, the better!"

Zac stood up and collected himself. He straightened his baggy jeans and pulled his hair back behind his ears. He began to stride towards the study room. Zac stopped just at the door and put up his fist to knock. But before he could begin knocking the door flew open and Jessie and Manda stood in front of him. Jessie began to laugh. "Hi, Zac."

Zac looked at Manda who turned her head away shyly. "Hi Manda."

"Hi, Zac."

Jessie looked at one and then the other. She didn't like what she saw. Once again, she was being completely ignored.

"Manda?" Zac swallowed some air. Isaac poked his head around the corner to watch.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna go somewhere sometime or...something?"

"Huh?"

Jessie rolled her eyes and slithered her way out from between them. She figured neither would notice if she just left. On her way out she passed Ike who was grinning. "What are you smiling about?"

"Zac. He's asking her out."

"You know about this?"

"Yeah, why?"

"How could you? She's my friend!"

"She was Zac's friend first." Isaac was confused at his sister's reaction.

"But he didn't like her...so that makes her public property."

"She's not a house, Jess."

"Forget it!" She ran away and into her room.

"Strange child," Isaac mumbled as he continued to watch Zac and Manda.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Manda couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought Zac absolutely hated her. She knew that she had been rude to him. Manda was beginning to think that everyone hated her, except Jessie.

"Well, um...I guess, wait. It's more like 'going somewhere with someone.'"

"Oh." She looked at him in utter confusion.

"We could go rollerblading, or we could go to the...mall? We could go play laser tag? If my parents take us."

"Sure."

"Really?" Zac smiled wider than he meant to. He didn't want to seem too anxious. After all, he had to play it cool. "Well, that's good. You know, whatever."

"When?"

"What?" He hadn't been prepared for any questions.

"When do you want to 'go somewhere with someone'...I mean me?"

"Oh, uh, tomorrow?"

"Okay! How about 2:00. We can just go rollerblading. I don't know about laser tag. I've never been. I think we need to work our way up to that one."

"It's so awesome. You would love it." The two started to relax and smile.

"Great, well, see you then, I guess."

"Yeah, see you then, Manda."

They stood for awhile not knowing what to do next. "Oh, I guess I better leave then."

"Yeah, probably."

She nervously pushed her way past Zac, who found it hard to even move. Manda backed her way out of the house, smiling the whole time at Zac, who was trying his best to keep his 'cool' look going. Isaac watched as Manda stumbled out of the front door and waved to Zac.

"Smooth moves, Zaccy!"

Zac let out a huge sigh and fell to the floor. "I am never doing that again."

"Why not? You did great. She's going out with you isn't she?"

"But if my stomach does these sumersaults everytime I ask someone out, then I'm likely to completely spew one day."

"Thanks, Zac. I needed that image in my head."

"Oh my gawd."

"What?"

"I'm going on a date tomorrow!" Zac shot a panicked look at Isaac, who couldn't help but laugh.