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I woke in Aunt Kate’s house, lying on my bed.
I stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes before deciding to get up and find
someone. On my way out the door, I ran into my mom…and my dad…and my aunt. “Oh my gosh! Jessica! I’m sorry! I just left
the room for a minute honey and I didn’t know you would wake up and I’m sorry I
wasn’t there when you woke up!” Mom sputtered out.
“Mom,
it’s okay. I’m not Zoë’s age anymore. I don’t need you to be there in case I
wake up. Calm down. I’m fine.”
“Ok,
ok, I’m sorry. It’s just that I…well…do you even know exactly what happened? I
mean, I hardly saw any of it.”
I
thought for a minute, but I couldn’t remember anything at all. “No. All I
remember is walking towards the bathroom and then there was a crash and a whole
rush of people pushing against me and then another crash…and that’s it.”
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This part of the story is told from Zac’s point of view, for the
full effect.
After
the waitress left, Jessica looked real, I don’t know, upset.
“I’ll
be right back,” she said, still showing off that perfect, yet so obviously fake
smile. “I’m going to go to the restroom.”
“Okay
honey,” Mom said, totally oblivious. Jessica stood up and headed for the sign
across the room and through the lobby that said “Restrooms.” She was about
halfway across the lobby, when there was a loud crash. Everyone in the
restaurant (which wasn’t very many people, because of us, of course!) turned
toward the direction that it came from, exactly where Jessie was. Only seconds
after the crash, a downpour of people came running into the restaurant right to
Jessica. There were reporters and fans, but it didn’t matter, there were a
million of them! Jessica stood back, her eyes widening. Suddenly, we couldn’t
even see her anymore; there were so many people. We were all still just kind of
sitting there, shocked and stunned by all this. People were screaming and
shouting at the top of their lungs. Finally, Dad got up to do something about
this. The restaurant manager was already over there with security, clearing out
the fans and reporters. The rest of us just sat there, watching and listening.
Jessica had fallen down, and blacked out, I guess. Dad leaned down and checked
her out. I guess she was okay, ‘cause he stood back up.
“What
just happened here?” he demanded of the store manager, who looked very frazzled
by all of this.
“I’m
sorry sir,” he began, wringing his hands, “I don’t know how in the world they
got in, we had security all around. I assure you that all those men will lose
their jobs.” Mom was over by Dad now, the rest of us following. Looks like
PB& J tonight. I pulled Zoë out of her high chair since no one else
bothered. I held her on my hip and walked over with the others. Dad picked
Jessie up and we headed out. Except we went out the back door and Ike went and
pulled up the car. Aunt Kate, though, had braved the front entrance with Mackie
and Avery. The rest of us piled into the car and headed home.
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The story will now, once again, be told from Jessica’s point of
view.
I
lay on my bed and sighed. After Zac had filled us in on what happened earlier
that day, everything kind of faded away. Amazingly, we hadn’t been bombarded
with calls, but I think that was because Mom and Dad took the phone off the
hook. Ring! Ring! Guess not, there it goes.
“I’ll
get it!”
“Okay!”
a voice called from somewhere in the house, I couldn’t be sure who it was.
“Hello?”
“Hello,
may I speak with Miss Jessica Hanson please?”
“May
I ask who’s calling?”
“Yes,
I’m a reporter-,”
I
hung up before he could finish. The phone rang again.
“Hello?”
Silence. I could hear someone breathing on the other end of the phone.
“Hello?”
I said irritably. I could still hear someone breathing on the other end. I
waited. I was about to hang up when I heard whispering on the other end. All I
could hear was parts of sentences.
“Oh
my gosh, she was there…”
“She
was…”
“Yeah,
I can’t believe that…” I slammed down the phone and sighed.
“Who
was that?” someone, I think it was Aunt Kate, called from the kitchen.
“Wrong
number!”
“Okay.”
Ring! Ring! This is the last time and if
it’s a reporter or a fan, I’ll scream in their ear and call the police.
“Hello?”
I sounded really irritated, even to myself.
“Jessie?”
Oh good. Finally, Adriann.
“Hey,”
I said, trying to sound casual.
“Are
you okay, I mean, you’re like, all over the news and stuff.” I sighed. I hadn’t
thought about that. Yet.
“Yeah,
I’m fine,” I said, twirling a piece of unkempt newly blond hair around my
finger. I had forgotten all about my hair.
“Hey,
um, one more thing.”
“Sure,
what?”
“Did
you dye your hair?”
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The
next morning, I wandered out of bed pretty early. I was surprised to find Zac sitting
in the living room in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal. I guess everyone
was too tired to go to the hotel last night. Avery was still sprawled in a
chair in the corner with Mack. Both of them were asleep.
“Hey,”
I said with a yawn. I reached over and grabbed his spoon, slurping a bite of
his cereal.
“Hey!”
he said. “Don’t do that, you might have some kind of fatal disease!” I laughed,
almost causing myself to spew. I could see the mischievous look on his face. He
laughed. We sat in silence for a moment.
Finally,
Zac said, “Dude, that’s was freaky last night, doncha think?” I thought for a minute.
“Yeah,
I guess. I was so freaked out when that waitress came up and said her name was
Anna. I knew something was going to happen then, I just didn’t know what, and I
didn’t know it would be so soon.”
“Yeah,”
he agreed. “You freaked out when she said her name was Anna.”
“That
name freaks me out now, I don’t know why, but it’s always that way. Like when
everyone still thought my name was Anna, I think it was last year, this new
girl came to school and her name was Jessica. I totally freaked out. My friends
were like, ‘Anna, what’s wrong?’ Anytime the teacher would call on her I would
look up or turn around. And every time someone called her or said her name I
almost answered. I always caught myself though. The point is though, when
Jessica came to school last year, I failed all the tests I had that day. Those
two names, Jessica and Anna, they’re bad luck. If I go by Anna, Jessica’s bad
luck, and if I go by Jessica, Anna’s bad luck. It’s kind of a superstition
thing, I guess, but it’s real. Not a fake superstition.” Zac stared at me for a
second.
“That
was like, deep.” He kept a straight face while he was saying it, but by the
time he said it, we were both laughing our heads off. After our laughter died
down, Zac said, “You said something about your friends, are they as freaky as
you?” I punched him playfully in the arm.
“Yes,
actually probably more so than me. But trust me, you don’t want to meet them.”
“Why
not?” The doorbell rang, interrupting out conversation. We stared at each other
for a minute, baffled. Who would come by this early? I stood up to answer the
door. We were both dressed, but I had lived here for years and he was famous. I
guess I was too now. I put my hand on the doorknob.
“Well,
my friends, some of them anyway, are a little, um, Hanson-crazed,” I said as I
opened the door. There stood Elizabeth and Marie, staring open-mouthed at my
brother.