On the way home Isaac and Taylor talked and they just sort of dropped the whole subject after a while. Isaac figured that it
wasn't worth the stress and Taylor thought so too. They pulled up into the driveway and Taylor looked over and Phoebe's
house. Both cars were gone.
"I hope someone is with Phoebe. Look, no cars at all!" He sounded upset.
"I'm sure someone is with her Tay. Or, she's gone with her parents."
He took a deep breath. "Well, I'll go call and see what's up." He opened up the car door and ran inside the house.
Isaac laughed. He was still getting used to him acting this way.

"Ring! Ring!" Taylor waited patiently for someone at the Blue residence to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
He dropped his mouth open. "ZAC! What are you doing over there?"
Zac laughed. "Oh, well Phoebe's parents got called to the set for a few hours and they called for you, but you were at the mall
so I offered to go over in your place. They should be back by four though."
Taylor smiled a little. "Thanks for covering for me. I'll be over in a sec, ok?"
"Yeah, sure whatever. I'll tell her you're coming over."
"Ok, cool. Bye!"
"Bye Tay."
He hung up the phone and went to tell his mom that he would be gone for a few hours.

A few minutes later, he knocked on the front door of her house. Zac opened it.
"Yes, can I help you?" He said to Taylor with a smile.
Taylor laughed and walked into the house. "So, where is she?"
"I'm right here." She rolled her wheel chair into the foyer.
"Oh, hey! How are you doing?" He leaned down and gave her a kiss.
Zac smiled when he saw his brother do that.
"I'm doing alright. How are you?"
"I'm good. Did a little shopping today."
She smiled. "Yes, your mom told me you went to the mall. Did you have fun?"
Taylor thought for a second. "Well... it was interesting. I have to tell you about Ike later on though."
She giggled. "Ok, will do then."
"Well, I'm going. I'll go get that story out of Ike..." Zac waved and ran out of the door, tripping and falling on his face.
"Zac! Are you alright?" Taylor ran outside and over to him.
Phoebe rolled her chair over to the door so she could see. Zac rolled over laughing.
"I'm fine. I just thought I could fly or something..."
Taylor laughed. "Ok, well then..."
Zac rolled his eyes. "See ya..." He left the yard and Taylor returned back to the house.

Phoebe was laughing when he walked back in the house. "He thought he could fly? He's so funny sometimes."
"Yeah he is. I guess that's his way to cover up embarassment." He pushed her into the living room. He sat down on the sofa.
"Oh, guess what?" She asked him.
"What?"
"My mom said that when I'm better, she will fly Judy here to see me! I'm so excited!"
He smiled. "Wow, that's so nice of her!"
She nodded her head. "I'm going to already warn you... she is a huge fan. I have yet to tell her that I live next door to you
guys."
He sat back against the sofa. "Ahh, I see. Well, this will be fun. I'll get Ike and Zac to surprise her!"
"Yeah, she would just die!"
"Well, we don't want to kill her" He joked.
"No, we sure don't want to do that. Oh, it will be great seeing her! I'm just afraid it will be even harder to say goodbye again."
"Yeah, but at least you get to see her."
She sighed a little. "Yeah, and that's better than nothing I guess."
Taylor went over and sat closer to her. "You'll be alright. Don't worry about it." He hugged her.
"Thanks, Tay. I won't."

Isaac plopped down onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. He had just finished telling Zac about the incident at the mall. And of
couse, he wanted every detail. He heard a knock at his door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me. Jessie."
"Yeah, come in."
Jessica walked in and went over to his bed. "Um, Ike?"
"Yes, Jessie?"
"Can you drive me over to Joey's house?"
"Why can't mom take you?"
She clasped her hands together. "She said to ask you because she is busy with the baby."
He sighed. "Alright, are you ready to go now?"
She nodded.
"Ok, let's go then." He got up and followed her out of the room.

They pulled up to Joey's house about five minutes later. A girl about Isaac's age walked outside to get the mail. His mouth
dropped open.
"Who is that?"
"Oh, that's Joey's sister, Maddy."
"How old is she?"
Jessica looked at him and then laughed. "She is sixteen I think."
He unbuckled his seatbelt. "I'll walk you to the door." He got out and she followed.
Maddy met them at the porch. "Hey Jessie! I didn't know you were coming over. Joey's upstairs." She then looked at Isaac.
"You must be her brother?" She asked with a smile.
"Yeah, I'm Isaac. Nice to meet you Maddy."
She shook his hand. "Yeah, nice to meet you too."
Jessica had already went inside so it was just the two of them.
"Well, I better get back inside. I'm helping my mom with a few things."
He nodded. "Ok, well I'll be back to pick Jessie up around five."
She smiled. "I'll see you then."
"Yeah, see you."
She walked into the house and closed the door.
He was so amazed by this girl. She was ten times prettier than Veronica. Maddy had big green eyes, long honey colored hair
and she was pretty tall too. She was almost at his eye level.
He got back in the car and tried to get his thoughts straight. He pulled out of the driveway and started back home. He couldn't
wait to pick Jessie up at five.

Zac skipped a rock across a small pond which was near his house. He was bored. All of his friends were out and Isaac and
Taylor were gone. He got up and walked along the edge of the water. He walked a little ways and then he noticed a few bikes.
He then heard voices and laughter. Zac was now very curious. He ran through some trees until he got to the end of the pond.
He saw a few girls swimming in the water.
"Eww, that's gross." He whispered to himself. The pond wasn't the place for swimming in his opinion.
One girl looked up and noticed him. "Look, you guys! There's some guy spying on us!" She laughed and so did her two friends.
"I'm going to go see what he wants. This will be fun." The oldest of the group, maybe thirteen, swam over to where he was
standing.
He was instantly embarassed.
"Hey there stud. Looking for something?" She got out and sat on a huge rock that was half in the water and half out.
His cheeks flushed. "No..."
She flipped her hair. "That's a shame. I was looking for something. But I think I found it." She grabbed him by his shirt and
kissed him on the lips. Her two friends were now having a laugh attack. They couldn't believe what she was doing.
She pulled him into the water and went after him.
"Dang girl! What's your problem?" He splashed water at her and tried to swim away.
She blocked him. "The name is Macy. Not girl."
"Well Macy, get away from me." Zac tried once again to get away from her.
Macy tried to kiss him once more. He was so disgusted by this girl. He ducked underwater and swam around her. Jumping out
of the water, he turned and looked at her.
"You are such a weirdo! Look what you did to my clothes?"
Her friends were now quiet. "Sorry, maybe you should have taken them off."
He dropped his mouth open in shock. "I'm sorry, but I would never do that. Not for some swampy, pond smelling, fungus
wearing, nasty looking girls. You stink! I have probably caught some disease from you! Do you know how gross this water is?
Well, I do. Some of my friends have come here to pee!"
So, the last thing wasn't true, but he was trying his best to freak out the girls. The other two girls screamed when they heard him
say that. "Goodbye..." He turned and ran back through the trees.
Macy jumped out of the water. "Let's get out of here!" She yelled to her friends. They quickly got out of the water.
She walked with her friends until they came to the sidewalk. She couldn't help but notice which house Zac went in. She smiled
to herself and turned onto her street.

Zac ran into the living room looking for his mom. He found her sitting on the sofa watching cartoons with Mackie.
"Mom! Look at what some freaky girl did to me!"
Diana looked up and jumped a little at the sight of her son. "My goodness Zac! What did she do to you?"
From the looks of him, he could have said anything. When he got out of the water, he picked up some mud on his clothes as
well as weeds and some other green stuff.
"I was at the pond and I started walking when I heard voices. Well I saw a few bikes and then I saw the girls."
Diana nodded. Mackie was staring at his brother like he had a tree growing out of his head.
"Go, on." She said to him.
"One of the girls... her name is Macy... swam over to me, said some stuff, kissed me on the lips and then pulled me into the
water. She wouldn't let me get around her! I had to swim in that nasty water and jump out behind her." His lip shook a little and
his eyes watered up. "Look what she did to my new shoes. They are ruined. I hate that stupid girl."
Diana gave him a sympathetic look. "Sit here Mackie. I'll be right back." She handed him his juice cup and took Zac into the
laundry room.
"I can't believe she did that to you. Are you alright?" She stroked his wet hair.
"Yeah, I'm fine I guess. I'm still a little upset though."
"Well you should be. This Macy girl doesn't sound like a very nice person." She grabbed a laundry basket. "Let's get these
clothes off of you now."
Zac took his shirt and jeans off and put them in the basket. "I'm going to take a shower now." He said standing in his boxers.
He rubbed his back. He then got a funny look on his face. "Zac honey, what is it?" She asked.
He quickly jerked his hand back and it was covered in blood.
"AHH! Mom, what is wrong with me?" He yelled in panic.
Diana gasped and turned him around. On his back was a leech from the pond. "Oh, my. You have a leech on you..." She made
a disgusted face at it and grabbed some tissues. She pulled it off and quickly flushed it down the toilet.
He was still in shock. There was alot of blood on his hand. Diana took him into the bathroom and cleaned up his back. There
was a small cut and she applied some peroxide on it and then a bandage. He rolled his lip out a bit.
"You'll be ok. Go take a shower now, and if the bandage comes off, I'll just put another one on."
"Alright, thanks mom." She handed him a towel and he headed to the upstairs bathroom.

Taylor did his goodbye thing with Phoebe and left when her parents got home. He was thinking about when the right time
would be to ask her out. He wanted to, but it had to be special. Not just any other day. He wanted to plan it out. He opened
up the front door and went into the living room.
"Hey Mackie." He went over and sat next to his youngest brother.
"Tay!" He leaned over and gave him a small hug.
Isaac came down the stairs looking giddy. "Hey Tay! You're back I see."
"Yeah. Where's Zac?" He asked.
"Oh, up in the room. You would never believe what happened to him today."
Taylor waited a few seconds and he still didn't say anything. "Well... tell me!"
"Oh, yeah right." He sat down beside him.
Mackie hopped off and ran into the kitchen where Diana was making coffee.
"Ok, well he went over to the pond by our house and he saw some girls swimming. So, one of the girls swims over and says
like, 'hey there stud' or some junk like that, then grabs and kisses him."
Taylor laughed. "Man, is that it?"
He shook his head. "Then she pulled him in the water and like attacked him!" Isaac busted out laughing with his brother.
"That's too funny man!" They gave each other a high five.
"Ok, that's enough you two. Zac was very upset." Diana said coming into the room with her cup of coffee.
They tried to keep straight faces when they looked at her.
"He had a leech on his back. That scared him half to death." She took a sip of the coffee.
Taylor made a face. "Those things are nasty!"
"Yes, they are. He had alot of blood on his back. Poor thing." She shook her head.
"Did he happen to get the name of the girl who kissed him?" Taylor asked her.
"Well, he said her name was Macy. There were a couple other girls, but I don't think he got their names."
Mackie came back in the room and crawled into his moms lap. Avery wandered in and picked up her barbie doll that was
laying on the floor, then returned to her room. Diana kissed Mackie on the forehead.
"Zac said for you to come up when you got home Taylor."
"Oh, ok then. I'll go see what he wants." He hopped up and ran up the stairs.
Isaac looked at his watch. "I gotta pick Jessie up in an hour."
"Oh, I can go if you'd like." She said.
"No, no...I'll go. No problem at all."
She smiled at her son. "Well, alright then. Oh, remind me to give you that plate I borrowed from Joey's mom. Her brownies are
so good."
"Ok, sure. I'm going to go practice my guitar for a little while. Call for me if I forget what time it is!" He yelled going through the
garage door.
"Ok, sure I will!"
He picked up his guitar and tuned it while thinking of Maddy. Just for fun, he played the song Madeline a few times.

Jessica and Joey sat on the bed talking. Jessica looked at her watch. It read: 4:20. "I have to go soon." She said to her friend.
Joey looked up from her magazine. "Maybe your mom would let you stay the night. My mom won't care... you know that
already."
Jessica smiled. "Yeah cool! I'll ask my mom when Ike drives me home."
There was a knock at her door.
"Come in!"
Maddy walked in with some jeans that were just washed. "These are yours Joey." She sat them down on her dresser.
"Thanks, Mad."
She rolled her eyes. "Please don't call me that... Joe."
Joey looked up at her. "Alright. I get you. Sorry."
Jessica laughed. Maddy leaned against the dark oak door. "You have a nice brother Jessie. I can't believe I didn't meet him
before today."
"Yeah, he is way cool for an older brother."
Maddy smiled. "So, does he have a girlfriend?"
Jessica shot Joey a glance and smiled.
"Nope."
"Oh, well I'll leave you two alone now. I call for you when he gets here." She closed the door.
"Maddy likes Ike?" Joey asked.
"I guess so... I think he likes her. He was all asking me questions when he saw her outside."
Joey giggled. "I guess they'd make a cute couple." She put her magazine down.
"What did Zac do today?"
Jessica shrugged. "He was gone when I left. I don't know."
"Oh." Joey picked at her jeans.
"He's funny."
Jessica was now staring at her. "Yeah... real funny."
She blushed from the thought of him.
"Do you like Zac?"
She looked up. "No! What would make you say that? He's not my type..." She explained trailing off.
Jessica shook her head. "Ok, then."

Taylor walked into the kitchen and put the boz of chocolates in the fridge. He smiled to himself. Maybe he'd ask her that night,
instead of waiting.
Zac came into the kitchen looking depressed.
"Are you still bummed about this girl? I thought we talked about it."
Zac put his hands on his hips. "Yeah, she ruined my brand new shoes and she kissed me! I'll never get over that!" He cringed at
the thought.
"Was she really that bad?"
"No, I don't know... I didn't want to kiss her. She forced herself on me! I don't like her for that." He took out the chocolate
milk mix and the milk.
"Make me a glass too." Taylor said sitting down at the table.
He grabbed another cup.
"So, what does she look like?"
"I don't care what she looks like."
"No, I don't mean it like that."
Zac sighed. "She has short blonde hair cut above her ears and like brown eyes." He stirred the milk. When he put the milk
back, he noticed the chocolate.
Ok, who's the owner of this candy?" He asked.
Taylor laughed. "They're mine. I put the box in there to keep the candy fresh."
Zac looked confused. "Ok, so why aren't you pigging out on them yet?"
"I'm going to GIVE them to Phoebe. I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend. I thought she'd like that."
Zac turned his head a little. "Well, sure! Don't all girls like chocolate?" Zac smiled a little.
"I guess. But in your case, they like short, blonde haired boys covered in mud!" Taylor laughed.
"Oh that was funny Tay! You get a ten for that joke." Zac walked out of the kitchen laughing a little.
Taylor looked at his watch. It read: 4:50. He heard the garage door open and Isaac walked into the kitchen. He turned on the
water and started washing his hands. After he was done he grabbed his keys.
"Where are you going?" He asked him.
"Oh, I have to go pick up Jessie from Joey's house now. You wanna ride?"
"Yeah sure." He got up and followed Isaac outside forgeting about his milk.

Taylor looked over and noticed Phoebe and her parents going to the car.
"Wait! Stop Isaac! Where are they taking her?" He jumped out of the car before it came to a complete stop.
"Dang Tay. Chill already!"
He ran over to Georgia. "What's going on? Is something the matter?"
She closed the door. "Well, we don't know. Phoebe bent her back a little too much and it popped. We don't know what she
has done."
He looked in the car window and smiled at her. She smiled back.
"Is she in any pain?" He asked her mom.
"No, and that's the strange part. She says her back feels fine! I believe her, but I want to get a doctors opinion."
He nodded. "Ok, well tell her to call me when she gets back. I need to see her tonight."
Georgia smiled. "Ok, I'll have her call you."
"Thanks Mrs. Blue!" He waved and ran back to the car.
"Ok, can we go now?" Isaac asked.
"Yeah sure. Everything is alright."
"Good." He took the car out of park and began to drive again.

Maddy heard a car pull up and she looked out the window. It was Isaac and Taylor. She ran her fingers through her hair and
brushed off her shirt. The doorbell rang. She walked over and opened it up.
"Hi, Isaac." She said smiling.
"Hey! Is Jessie ready?" He asked.
"I think so. JESSIE!" She yelled.
He laughed. Jessica ran into the room a few seconds later.
"All set?" He asked her.
"Yep. I'll go wait in the car..." She ran out the door leaving him with Maddy.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later." She said.
"Yeah..." He started walking to the door, then he stopped. "Would you like to go out sometime?"
Maddy blushed a little. "Yeah, I'd love that!"
He relaxed a little. "Really? Wow, um how about tomorrow night we go do something?"
She thought for a moment. "Sure. What do you want to do?" She asked.
"I don't know... man this is hard. I though I had this whole thing planned out before I got here." He turned a little red.
She laughed. "Well, lets just make this simple for a first date. How about we go on a walk and get to know each other better?"
He smiled. "That sounds like a great idea. I'll come over tomorrow around eight. Is that ok?" He asked her.
"Yep, that's fine. I'll see you then." She walked him to the door.
"Bye Maddy."
"Bye Isaac."
He hesitated, but then walked over to the car. She closed the door and smiled.

"Jessie let go of the rat tail! OUCH!" Taylor struggled with her while she had a fit of laughs.
"I have your rat tail! I have your rat tail!"
"Jessie, let go or I'm going to kidnap your barbies while you sleep."
She dropped his rat tail and covered her mouth. Taylor smiled.
Isaac opened up the door and got in. "This mans got a date tomorrow night."
Taylor looked around. "What man?" He asked trying not to laugh.
Jessica giggled.
"Oh, yeah. Too funny." He said rolling his eyes.
"Ok, is it with that girl who opened up the door?" He asked.
"Yep and her name is Maddy."
Jessica spoke up. "I already knew that she liked you."
Isaac turned around in the seat. "Oh, yeah?"
She smiled. "Yep. She came in Joey's room and asked if you had a girlfriend. I told her no and then she just smiled and left."
"You go man!" Taylor said with a wink.
Isaac laughed. "Um, Ike we need to probably get off their driveway now." He looked back up to their house.
"Oh yeah. That would be a good idea." He looked for cars and then backed out of their driveway.

Phoebe's dad wheeled her into the waiting room and her mom went up to the front desk. She sighed. "Dad, I told you already.
My back feels fine. Like I never even hurt it. I can walk..." She tried to get up but Clarke pushed her back down into the chair.
"Sit still. This is serious. You just can't cure your back that easy."
She looked up at her father then crossed her arms. Georgia walked back over. "The doctor can see you now. Come on."
The nurse opened up the door and her parents pushed her into the hallway. Dr. Klein met them with a smile.
"How are you feeling Phoebe?"
"I'm fine." She gave him a small smile.
"Great! Let's get you on the table." A few nurses helped get her onto the examination table, while the doctor put on a pair of
gloves.
"Ok, so what did you do to your back?"
She sighed. "I bent over and it popped. It feels great now! I don't understand why I have to come here when I'm in no pain at
all."
The doctor wrote some things down on a clipboard.
"Phoebe, your parents did the right thing. We all need to see what has caused this sudden cure. Now, I'm going to have you do
some simple tests. Please sit up."
She rolled her eyes a little and did what she was told.
"Did you feel any sensation or pain?"
"Nope."
Dr. Klein wrote something else down. "Stick your legs out in front of you please."
She did so with no effort at all.
"Any sensation or pain this time?" He asked her.
"None at all." She replied.
"Ok, this is a little harder, but I think you can do it. I want you to grab the ends of your feet with your hands and hold the
postion please."
"Ok." She said and then grabbed her feet.
"No pain at all Phoebe?"
She smiled. "Nope."
"Uh huh..." Dr. Klein wrote down some more observations and then sat the clipboard down.
"Stand up." He said.
She hopped off the table and stood right there in front of him.
"Bend over and then straighten your back."
She did so without any pain.
"Ok, well this looks really good. Can you get back on the table?"
"Yeah sure. No problem." She got back on the table.
"Alright, please lay on your stomach."
Georgia and Clarke were staring in amazement. They didn't understand how her back could just be well again. The doctor
lifted up her shirt and felt her back.
"Ahh, ok. Well, last time I examined her back, there was a sort of a hole, if I could say, in her back here." He pointed to the
area.
"It looks as if she has popped it back into place. An odd happening, but we do see it sometimes. I know this may sound crazy,
but since Phoebe is so young and her bones aren't as old, she can cure herself if possible. I am really glad this has happened. I
did not want to have to put her in operation. All we would have done is exactly what Phoebe has done to herself."
Georgia ran over and gave her daughter a hug. Clarke did the same.
"Wow, this is excellent. Thank you so much doctor!" Georgia shook his hand.
Phoebe was all smiles. "Can I walk out of here?"
Clarke looked at the doctor and the doctor looked at Phoebe.
"If you think you can. Far be it if we keep her from walking!" They all laughed.
"But, I do want you to stay on your perscription. It will help with any back discomfort you may have. And I do expect you to
still have some. Please take it easy and slow Phoebe."
She smiled. "I will."
She walked slowly to the door and laughed. "Let's go! I cant wait to tell Taylor!"
Dr. Klein smiled and handed her parents the invoice.

NEXT CHAPTER