"Hey mom," Isaac called. "How about one more minute?"

"It's been six minutes! You've had your time!" Their mom sounded upset.

"Come on, one more minute?" Taylor begged. "Just to say goodbye?"

"Let's go, boys!" she hollared. I couldn't understand why she was being so mean.

"Okay, in a minute, we'll be there," Isaac called back.

"No. Now," mom was persistant. Isaac and Taylor finally gave in and trotted back up the steps, like guilty criminals, to where their mother was waiting. They turned to us before being dragged away and waved. And they left us. Again.

Back in our bedroom, we conversed about the Hansons. "Why is their family so mean?" Nicole whined.

"I don't know. They're probably just stressed or something," I offered.

"But they're on vacation!" Nicole had a good point.

"Yeah, well, you know how packing is," I said, then grabbed my pajamas and headed to the bathroom to change. When I returned, Nicole was in her pajamas and was writing in her diary.

"Anything interesting?" I teased.

"Just writing about our new friends," Nicole perked up.

"You mean those cute guys we're never going to see again?" I attemted to make her see reality.

"I don't know about that. You've seen how Taylor looks at you! And he held your hand! You'll see him again and we, we'll see them again," Nicole was convinced. I shook my head and pulled my blankets down so I could get into bed. As I was climbing into bed, I heard a rustling noise outside that made me freeze momentarily.

"What was that?" Nicole looked every which way.

"Nicole," I insisted, "it's just my dad. He's putting the fire out,"

"But your parents are already in bed," she said matter-of-factly.

I turned toward her, "Omigod!" I was totally shocked. Nicole pressed herself against the window and I stood behind her. It was Taylor. I smiled wildly; this I truthfully did not suspect. How did the boy get pasy mommy and Big Aunt?

>>NICOLE<<
I saw Taylor outside under the window. He waved while smiling. I hurried to unlatch the window and slide it open.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Hi," I whispered back. I looked back at Julia, who seemed to be at a loss for words. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you think that you guys could sneak out later?" Taylor asked. Was he serious? I know that my smile widened and my heartbeat quickened. I had never snuck out before. Probably because of the security system at my house; it beeps annoyingly wach time a door or window is opened.

Without consenting with Julia, I replied, "Sure, what time?" I knew that she would want to sneak out to see them, especially Taylor.

"12:30?" Taylor offered. I looked at Julia to see her reaction. Then looked at my watch. 10:30. I really didn't want to wait for two more hours. She shook her head.

"How about midnight?" she requested. I agreed with her. Taylor nodded.

"Okay. Meet us at the lean-to?" he said, then started to turn away from the cabin.

"Hey!" I called after him. He came back to the window. "How long should we wait for you if you're not there when we get there?"

"Ten minutes," he replied.

"Okay, see you later."

"Bye!" Julia whispered loudly. Taylor smiled at her, waved, and then he was gone. I closed the window and rested my head against it. I was shocked! I stole a look at Julia. She smiled mischeviously, sunk to her bed, covered her face with her pillow and started laughing giddily. I joined her because I couldn't contain myself any longer, either.

"Oh my god Nicole!" Julia exclaimed. "Can you believe that he came to our window to ask us to sneak out?"

"No!" I answered honestly. "How did he get out of their cabin? I'm surprised that their mom didn't lock them in their room for staying out past their allotted five minutes."

"I know! Aww, they must like us because they're risking so much trouble just to see us," Julia said. She was right. Their mother was so mean when they were out earlier. I could only imagine the consequences they would have to face if they got caught sneaking out.

"Aww, it's so cute!" I agreed, squealing. "But I already packed up all of my clothes! What am I going to wear?" We had already packed our bags because we were moving into a new cabin in the morning.

"Just wear your pajamas," Julia said. "I'm not changing." I shrugged, then continued writing in my diary. We talked a little to help pass the time. When we heard her father start snoring, we both smiled in excitement. Her parents were asleep.

Around 11:45 we put our shoes on as quietly as possible. Then we only sat on the edge of my bed for a few minutes, discussing our plan of action. We decided on the front door, because it was easier to access. We tiptoed to the door, which happens to be right next to her parents bedroom. Julia turned the doorknob. It squeaked fairly loudly. We bot froze, winced expressions plastered our faces.

"Jule, let's use the back door," I whispered. "It's farther away from their room." Julia stepped away from the front door and joined me at the back door. I gripped the doorknob and turned it. Squeaking soon filled the small cabin. I began opening the door and its old hinges creeked and groaned from lack of care and attention. I swung the door open wide enough for Julia and I to slip out. We both gave sighs of relief once we were securely outside.

"Okay, we made it," Julia said victoriously. I began pulling the door shut, but it made about five times as much noise than it made opening it. Damn, I thought. "Nic, there's no way we can go out this way. There's no path and I don't want to get poison ivy."

I followed her gaze at the weedy hill behind us. She was right. After all that hard work, we had to go back inside. With Julia standing beind me, I attempted to close the door again. Eek, so much noise!

"Hey, open the bathroom door and then I'll shut this door at the same time," I told her. She began to open the bathroom door. As soon as I heard it squeaking, I shut the back door quickly. Yes, success. "Now what?"

"I guess try the front door again," Julia suggested. I nodded. As we were walking around the kitchen table, my foot stubbed against a chair, making a horrendously loud noise. We both froze.

"Girls, what's going on?" Julia's mom asked from the bedroom. I looked at Julia with frightened eyes.

"We're going out," Julia declared after a few seconds of silence.

"What?" her mom asked, clearly confused.

"We're going to say goodbye," Julia said.

"What time is it?"

"Twelve."

Her mom was quiet for a few seconds. "Bruce, hun, the girls want to go out," she awoke her father.

"No! Don't wake him up!" Julia shouted.

"No, the girls can't go out. Go to sleep," her father said drowsily.

"No, stay here," her mom concluded. With helpless eyes, I looked at Julia.

"Mom, we promised we'd be there. We're going," And with that said, she opened the door without hesitation, and we were out the door.

Chapter Four