Taylor was still unhappy when he reached Lauren’s porch, he looked at the address he’d copied from his mothers address book and knew this was it. He stepped up the porch and he stood ther for a few moments, indecisive. Couldn’t his mom just buy him a new history book? No, he had to get his own, it had his precious notes in it, stuff that kept him in track with his grades. He knocked quickly and stood anxiously praying that Lauren was not home, that someone else would be and they’d get the book for him, maybe he’d never have to see her again. No, too much to hope for.

The door opened, and Lauren stared out, her hair up in a sloppy ponytail, she was dressed in some over-baggy jeans and a tight blue tee. "Tay," her voice was full of bitterness and surprise. "Why are you here?"

"You borrowed a book from me. My history book. I need it."
Lauren paused, looking at him as if he’d spoken a foreign language. It had rained on the way there, and Taylor’s hair was wet, hanging in his eyes in wisps. God, he looked different. Upset, she’d never seen him with quite such an expression of upset. For a moment, the harshness failed, replaced by the realisation he was a person, he could be hurt and could be depressed the same as anyone could be, lately she’d forgotten that, forgotten it since knowing him. He’d always seemed to be such an oblivious person, oblivious to anything anyone could say about him, but now…she wasn’t so sure.

"Its upstairs…hold on," Lauren kept her voice calm and she headed upstairs to get Taylor’s book, she found it in her room, and she went back down to the porch outside, he seemed distant, he was looking over the rainy streets, his expression sombre.

Taylor had a lot to think about, his mother thought he was gay, it was a bad feeling to know his mother thought that about him. Had the nerve to ask him.

Lauren watched him, he didn’t seem to notice her there, "Here’s your book," her voice broke through his trance.

He turned towards her and looked at her, "Oh, right…" he took the book from her.

"You could at least say thank you," Lauren folded her arms, getting agitated again.

"Say thank you to you just ‘cause you gave me my book back? Yeah, right," he rolled his eyes and went down the porch steps.

Lauren watched him, "think you can actually go through a day without being nasty to someone, Tay?" she asked in a tone of anger.

He turned to look at her, his eyes cold, "if you can go through a day without pointing all my defaults," He answered in a mutter.

"God, you’d think you had the shittiest life in the world the way you act, Tay," Lauren folded her arms stubbornly.

"Good guess," Taylor muttered and headed down the driveway.

Lauren yelled after him, "You got it good, Taylor Hanson, admit it!"

He turned and stalked back up the driveway and up the porch steps, walking right up to her and looking down at her, making her feel so small compared to his five foot nine frame. He looked down at her, kind of staring. "You know shit about my life, don’t act like you know about it. Most of what you think is a lie!" his voice was sharp, his eyes emotional.

She pushed him back from her, "How the hell can you say that? How can you say your life sucks?! You have the career you chose, the life you wanted, the independence you worked for, money you’ll probably never live long enough to spend!"

"And what’s the fucking use of it all?! At the end of the day your friends aren’t there and you’re sitting in a hotel room somewhere or your bedroom alone! Your family are there but they’re so preoccupied with their own lives, they never notice you exist!! And when they do notice you exist they either blackmail you into doing stuff like tutoring their friend’s daughter or they ask you personal questions!"

Lauren paused, "You were blackmailed into teaching me?" she questioned.

Taylor looked away, "she told me if I didn’t…she’d cram more school work onto me since I’d have so much time, and I knew she was serious."

Lauren looked at him, it was no wonder he was so pissed off at her. In that way, she could kind of understand him being so mad at her and treating her like that.

Taylor realised he had to go, "I gotta go, I need to study," He stated, he left abruptly, maybe revealing too much about his feelings lately. He stalked home and entered the house silently, Zac was in their room, looking out the window.

As Zac heard Taylor come in, he turned and looked at his brother, "Where were you?" he asked.

"Getting my history book back from Lauren."
"Are you two talking again?" Zac asked.

"No," Taylor answered sharply, "I sincerely doubt it.

"Oh," Zac paused, realising he’d probably never see Nicole again. Shame, he decided with a little more practise she’d be good at drumming, she just needed confidence.

Taylor slumped down on his bed and decided to study, to drown out all his bad feelings right now in his history book.

Isaac arrived at the Douglas residence at six fifty five, and stood on the porch for a whole five minutes trying to decide how to make his first move. He could ask her on a date, or he could just use his subtle flirting (or if necessary some very extensive heavy flirting), either way he knew he had to make a move tonight, after two weeks of deciding, he knew it was time to give a relationship another try. He knocked on the door, rather loudly, wanting to make his presence most noticeable, he wanted her to notice him, though he realised she would since he was there to see her.

Ashley opened the door, "Ike…hi," she smiled, "I am…soooo sorry, but I am still looking for this sheet…" she motioned for him to come in, he stepped in slowly, looking around the homely house, she lead him into the living room where she was searching for the tabs to the song he’d requested. She had a couple of folders set out on the coffee table, and he looked at them, all filled with guitar tabs and other such things. She sat down, "I’ll find it in a minute, I’m sure," she said in a hopeful tone, picking up an open folder and began to flick through it.

Isaac sat down and stayed silent, watching her for some moments, he began to clear his throat and tried to come up with something to say, but nothing would come to mind, he watched her, "so…um…" he trailed off. He walked over to her CD player, she didn’t even notice him get up, he scanned over an impressive collection of over three hundred CDs, a lot of variation in the collection, from indie to rock to pop to R&B to ballad. He paused, "can I put a CD on?" he asked to kill the silence.

"Sure," she said, to into trying to find the damn guitar tabs for this song, she knew it was in one of the folders.

Isaac picked a CD and he put it in, waiting for the soft, romantic music of a very old Michael Jackson, he swayed a little, and turned to look at her, couldn’t help but stare.

Isaac, he told himself in his thoughts, you have got to ask her out, you’re so compatible with her, its perfect.

He chewed his lip, he sucked in a breath, "Ashley, I…"

"Found it," she interrupted him without realising it.

"Ashley, will you go out with me tomorrow night?" He blurted out quickly, taking the complete chance.

Ashley raised her eyes to his, she looked kind of stunned, but she took control, "I…I can’t," she took the piece of paper out of the folder.

Disappointment washed over him completely, he felt very embarrassed. No, don’t give up, try and make it work…

He paused, wondering if he had a right to ask her, he decided he did. "Why? I mean…if its just tomorrow night, we could always arrange for next weekend—" he suggested, hopefully.

"Ike, I…" she stood up and walked over, "No, I can’t," she seemed firm on this, she held out the sheet of paper with the guitar tabs on it.

He solemnly shook his head, "No…its okay, I really…I hate that song anyway," he sighed.

"Why did you want it?" she questioned, beginning to wonder if the whole guitar tab thing had just been an excuse for him to be there so he could ask her out.

"No reason – I’ll see you later or something—" he began, but she interrupted.

"No…Ike, I…I’m going back to Scotland…" she looked at him, she averted her eyes away from his.

"Scotland?" he questioned, only now realising the exact thing he’d heard in her fading accent.

"Yes…"

"When will you be back…?" he questioned.

"I don’t know."

Isaac realised she wasn’t co-operating with him very well, sighing, he headed towards the door, "See you later," he sighed under his breath and left.