"She has what?" Taylor layed down on his stomach staring with rapt attention at his older brother.

"Birth control pills. It's no big deal. It's for medical reasons, that's all." Isaac tried to look interested in the Off Road Biking magazine laying in front of him.

"Sure it is, bud. Man, she's just weird." Taylor paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating the full nature of Ike's "Ginger" situation. "I think you should say bye bye to this girl. What did you guys do after she explained her 'medical' condition?"

"We played cards."

"You played cards?" Tay sat up and threw his pillow at Isaac, missing him by at least 2 feet. "Are you insane? Are you a teenage guy or what?"

"What do you mean by that?" Isaac finally pulled his eyes away from the moterbike article he had been reading.

"This girl is throwing herself at you."

"She is not. You're crazy."

"Look at the facts. She first comes off all sweet and innocent. That's to lure you in."

"What?"

"And then she figures she's got you hooked because she's all cute and everything."

"You think she's cute?"

Taylor sighed. "That's not the point."

"Then please, get to the point. I'm getting curious as to your obviously expert opinion on the situation."

"Once she has you hooked she goes for the hormones." Taylor scooted up to the edge of the bed to get closer to Ike, who was staring up at him from the floor.

"The hormones. What are you..."

"Teenage guy hormones. She sees that you're a 17-year-old guy. You haven't had much time to date because you're on the road a lot. She thinks that if you find her attractive enough she just might be able to seduce you and then, blammo!" Taylor smacked his fists together, sending a start through Isaac. "She's got you hook, line and sinker. She hints at the, ehem..." Tay lowered his voice. "...sex stuff by telling you about the birth control pills."

"But she had a perfectly good explanation for why she had them. Plus, I was the one who asked her what they were."

"Doesn't matter. She didn't have to tell you what they were. She could have told you they were special pink tic-tacs. And she probably didn't want to say right out that she had those pills for the reason most girls have them. But she got you thinking about it, didn't she?"

"About what?"

Taylor rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I wonder about you Ike. About sex!"

"Shhhhhh!" Isaac looked behind him to make sure the bedroom door was shut.

"Don't worry. Mom's asleep downstairs and Dad is out." Taylor pushed himself off the bed and down to the carpet with his brother. "You are the most pathetically romantic guy I know. But you can't see this girl for who she is. She's strange and weird and I suggest that you get rid of her before you end up doing something you'll regret."

"You just made up that whole thing in your head right now, didn't you?"

"I didn't make it up. It's common sense. She probably was a little dissapointed that all you guys did was play cards."

"You think way too much, Tay."

"And you don't think enough. Ditch the chick, Ike. You'll be a lot better off."

Isaac got up off the floor and let out a sigh. "Okay, Tay. Just because you got your little girlfriend now doesn't mean that you can go around spouting love advice. Remember, I still have more experience in this than you do. I happen to like Ginger. I think she's sweet and I don't think she's the manipulative seducer that you have conjured up in your brain. You only met her once."

"But I know that..."

"Wait a minute." Isaac raised his hand to hush Taylor.

"What?"

Ike scanned the room with his eyes. "Do you hear that?"

"No, what?"

"Listen."

They both strained there ears. After a few moments an audible scratching came from the closet. "There!"

"It's coming from the closet." Taylor stood up and slowly moved towards one of the closets in the room. "There it is again."

"You don't think Zac decided to sleep in the closet again?"

"Nah, he hasn't done that for, like, 2 years."

Taylor grabbed the doorknob and tentatively opened the door. He and Ike leaned into the closet and looked around.

"What is that furry stuff under your Star Wars shirt, Tay?"

"I don't know but I don't like it."

Suddenly, from underneath the shirt two large black eyes appeared. "It's staring at us."

"Grab it."

"It looks like a big rat."

"Just grab it."

"You grab it."

"I can't see all of it."

"Okay, Tay. I'll remove the shirt and you pick it up. One, two..."

Arf!

"Aah!" Taylor jumped back.

"You sissy, it's a dog."

"Hey, I was just startled. I wasn't expecting it to do anything."

"Look, it's so cute!" Ike picked up the puppy and started to kiss it on the head.

"That's sanitary. Okay, what the heck is it doing in our closet."

"I have a feeling that a certain 12-year-old munchkin has something to do with that. He's been acting very suspicious since he got home yesterday from Kevin's house."

"You think he's been in there all night?"

"She. It's a girl."

"Glad you took the time to notice."

"I hope Zac didn't keep the poor thing in there all night. That would be cruel." Isaac continued to cuddle with the dog who proceeded to lick his face.

"Well, while you are making out with the dog I think I'm gonna go find the little doofus."

"Wait. I'm coming with ya." Isaac gently placed the dog back in the closet and shut the door. "She'll be fine in there for a little longer."

"Mom and Dad are gonna kill him." Taylor tried to hold back a smile. It wasn't that he was mad at Zac, but he felt it was his duty to feel some sort of perverse pleasure in Zac getting in trouble for a change.

Zac kept glancing back at his house worriedly. He and Manda sat together in the treehouse.

"Is there something wrong, Zac?" Manda asked as she passed him his fifth playing card.

"No, why would there be something wrong?" He picked up his hand and began to organize it.

"Because you keep looking at your house like it's about to explode."

"Can you keep a secret?"

"No."

"What?" Zac stared at the strange girl.

"I'm being honest. I can't keep a secret. Never could. I'm the biggest blabber-mouth you would ever meet."

"You're weird."

She began to laugh. "I'm just kidding you blubberbutt. What did you expect me to say?"

"I'm not a blubberbutt."

"Sure you are. You have a blubberbutt." She continued to giggle. Zac sat stone-faced, not sure what to make of her.

"If you call me blubberbutt again I'm gonna leave and tell all your friends that you're a weirdo."

She stopped laughing. "What friends? You're my only friend here."

"That's pathetic."

She put her cards down. "Well, that was a mean thing to say."

"Well you called me a...nevermind. I gotta go." Zac got up and let the cards fall to the ground.

"What? Why?" she whined.

"Because...I left the dog in the closet," he whispered.

"You left the dog in the closet?!"

"For a moment. Ike and Tay walked in there when I was playing with it and I had to hide her."

"Where did you have her all night?"

"I put her in the garage in a box. Fortunately, nobody went down there. I almost got caught though. Dad wanted to store our new moterbikes in there, but decided to put them in the shed instead."

"You can't just keep the poor dog a secret forever."

"Why not?"

"Duh, because how are you going to feed it? What if it needs to go to the vet? Do you really think your mom won't notice that a dog is living in your house?"

"I had a gecko living in my room for 7 months and she never noticed. Until she finally decided to clean out my underwear drawer."

"Sometimes I wonder about you, Zac."

Zac flashed her a harsh look. He knealed down and began to gather up the cards. "You are a dork."

"I am not...doofus!"

"Dweeb!"

"Blubberbutt!"

"Blubber....augh! I am leaving now," he said with authority. He climbed down the ladder. "And if you have any sense you will get down soon or I'll call the police and tell them you are trespassing on private property!"

"And to think that I thought you were cool. Boy, was I stupid." She jumped down from the treehouse, nearly landing on her stomach.

"Well, I thought you were cute. I must have been delusional."

She dusted herself off. "You thought I was cute?"

"Well...I...not anymore!" he blurted. "Besides, I gotta go."

"You like me!" she grinned.

"Yeah, right. In your dreams dorkface." Zac walked off towards the back screen door.

"You like me!" she yelled after him.

"Ha!" He pushed open the screen door, practically knocking it off it's hinge. "Adios...blubberbutt!"

"You!"

Zac barely made it into the kitchen before he was grabbed by the shirt by the much taller Isaac. "Yeah, watcha want guys?" He squirmed to free himself.

"Anything you would like to tell us?" Taylor moved in front of him so he couldn't escape into the hallway.

"Aaaah...no. Can't think of anything right now." Zac started to desperately pound on Ike's fist, which was still clutching on to the young boy's collar.

"Hmmmm...you have absolutely nothing to say? Nothing new has happened? You didn't, say, make a new friend?"

"Nope. Get your..." He finally removed Isaac's hand and stumbled right into Taylor.

"Does brown, fuzzy and alive come to mind?"

Zac knew what they were insinuating. They had found the dog. But as a little brother, it was his job to make their lives a bit more difficult. "Well, I did watch Star Wars the other day and that Ewok was brown and fuzzy and alive. So if that's what you're talking about then..."

"Zac! Stop being such a little dweeb," Tay whined.

"I think I've had about enough of people calling me names today. I'm leaving!" He strutted past Taylor and into their room.

"He can be so weird sometimes," Ike muttered.

Taylor and Isaac followed Zac. They found him cuddling with the dog, who was happy to be free from the dark, smelly closet.

"Where in the world did you get that thing, Zac?" Isaac grabbed the puppy from Zac.

"Hey!" Zac relented as Ike held the puppy over his head, too far for the boy to reach. "I got her...I found her."

"And you left the poor thing in the closet?"

"Not for long. She's mine now. We're keeping her."

"Yeah, sure we are, Zac. Mom's really gonna go for that. When do we have time to take care of a dog?"

"We can get people to take care of it while we're gone."

"Well...I guess she is kinda cute." The dog began to squirm in Ike's arms.

"See, you like her." Zac grinned. "Mom will like her too. We just have to find the right time to tell her we have a new pet."

After an hour of discussing when and where to tell their mother about the new dog, Taylor was tired and wanted to just get out of the house. He felt like he hadn't spoken to Leigh-Ann in ages. Although her mother had let them remain friends, Leigh-Ann was still hesitant about calling him -- and she wouldn't let him call her. Taylor was uneasy about not interfering in the bad family situation she was in. But that's how she wanted it, and if she said she could handle it then he had to trust her. Although he had no idea how she was going to go about handling the situation. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't feel what she was going through. His parents had never had the kind of fights that Leigh-Ann's parents had.

Surprisingly, Leigh-Ann's mother let him in the house without any trouble and told him that she was upstairs in her room. The house looked very clean and her mother seemed in good spirits. When he entered her room he found Leigh-Ann on the top of a short ladder, removing the Dawson's Creek poster over her bed. All the other posters had been removed as well.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, hi Tay." She jumped off the ladder and on to her bed. "I am giving my room a new look."

"My goodness! I never knew what color your walls were before!"

"Oh, shut up," she giggled.

"You seem like you're in a good mood. You're mom did too." He jumped onto her bed and layed back.

"Well we are, I guess." She held up two strips of wallpaper. "What do you think? The white with pink flowers or the pink with white flowers?"

"Whatever you want, because I'm not coming in here ever again if you put either of those up. It's liable to make me puke if I'm exposed to it too long."

"Well, that's not fair." She looked at both. "White with pink flowers. Definitely."

Taylor grabbed his throat and made a choking noise. "I think I liked your JTT posters better."

"Well then you can hang them in your room."

"Can I ask you something?"

"No. You can't. I forbid it."

"Ha ha. I'm being serious." He sat up and grabbed her waist. He pulled her back onto the bed. Taylor layed his arms on her shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"Yes? I'm waiting?"

"Um...nothing. Nevermind." He let go of her and layed back down on the bed.

"What?! You can't do that to me and then say 'nevermind.'"

"It wasn't anything important. Just go back to your wallpaper." He grabbed a newspaper laying on her dresser and began to flip through.

"Taylor. Come on. What?" She was beginning to whine.

"Fine, fine. I was just wondering if maybe...possibly...you could..." Tay's voice trailed off as he focused on the newspaper in his hand.

"What?!"

"Oh my gawd." He sat up and stared intently at the page.

"What?! What is it?" Leigh-Ann pushed him aside and grabbed one side of the paper to get a good look.

"That's you! What are you doing?"

"You should know. You were there," he said, his voice getting frantic.

"I never saw you do that!"

"It looks like I'm..."

"About to hit the cameraman."

They looked at each other in horror. Above the large picture on the front page of the Society paper was the big bold headline, 'Hanson Teen Attacks Man in Local Tulsa Restaurant'. The article went on about how Taylor had threatened force and hit journalist Barry Bobo in front of several witnesses. Underneath the article was an expose on the tarnished childhoods and the violent behavior of child stars.

"What paper is this?" Taylor frantically flipped through the scattered pages. "Oh no. It's Tulsa News Reporter." It was the most respected paper in town, known for it's upstanding journalistic integrity. "Everyone's gonna believe it."

"That cameraman at the restaurant. What a jerk!"

"I wonder if my parent's saw it? No, they would have said something. I wonder if he's gonna sue! You were there, you saw...I didn't do anything."

"I was in the bathroom. I didn't see anything."

"But you believe me right?"

"Of course I do. Just because it looks like your about to smack the guy in the face doesn't mean that you actually were going to do it."

"I wasn't even thinking of doing that. I..." He paused. "This isn't going to be very good for the band. I gotta get home."

"Wait, Tay. What were you..." Before she could finish her sentence he had dissapeared down the stairs. "...going to ask me," she finished quietly.

"Puppy!" Mackenzie pulled on the small dogs tail, sending a yelp from the creature.

"Stop it Mack!" Zac tried to swat away his brother. "So you see, Mom, having a dog is not only educational, but it would teach us resposibility and sensitivity."

"Uh huh," Diana mumbled, not looking too impressed at her son's attempt to explain the 101 top reasons why she wants a dog.

"Reason number 30...security. Once this guy...or girl...whatever...is all grown-up, it will scare away even the most persistant screaming/camping fan!"

"That's great, honey, but..."

"Reason number 31...a new playmate for Mack! The poor boy has nobody his age and this dog would be a perfect companion."

"Zac, I think that..."

"Reason number 32...Taylor won't feel like the stupidest around here anymore, now that we have a dog!"

"That's horrible Zac." Diana attempted to grab the sheet of reasons from Zac's hand.

"Reason number..." Zac stared helpless at his now empty hand. "But I haven't even gotten to the best reasons yet."

"I'm sure they're nice, sweetheart, but do you boys really have time to take care of a dog?"

"We would feed it and love it and care for it and everything. Pleeeeeeeease!" He got down on his knees and stared up at his mother desperately.

"Whining will get you nowhere."

"But flattery will. Gee, Mom, you are looking very thin for a really, really pregnant woman."

"Oh, thank you Zac." She rolled her eyes.

"And you can hardly tell that you have all those wrinkles around your mouth." He flashed her a crooked grin.

"What do your brothers and sisters say?"

"Uh...go for it?!"

"Uh huh." She pushed herself off the couch and stared down at the small mutt. "And who is suppose to take care of her when you go on tour?"

"Um...you?"

"That's what I thought." She sighed. "Alright..."

"Yes!" Zac jumped up and grabbed the puppy. "You are mine, mine, mine!"

"...but you and your brothers and sisters have to be totally responsible for this dog while you're at home, you got me?"

"Totally Mom." He ran out of the living room, nearly tripping over Mackenzie on his way out. "We got a dog!" he yelled to nobody in particular.