As Zac was driving Ginger to her new home, she was on his telephone, calling her best friend. After he convinced his mother to let her come home with the family and stay a while, she realized that she left home with absolutely nothing. All of her possessions were still there, all of her clothes, and everything she needed to get by. All she had with her was her purse with her wallet, a hairbrush, the keys to her house, makeup, and the condoms Zac bought.
"Kris?" Ginger asked into the phone. "Kris, you're going to hate me." Zac glanced over and smiled.
"Why?" Ginger looked up at Zac. "What did you do? Where are you? Alex keeps calling looking for you."
"Um�I'm in Oklahoma."
"What?!"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I'm here with Zac. He sort of�kidnapped me. But not really. I'm just staying with him for a while."
"What? What about school? It starts on Monday�and what is Alex going to say to Mrs. Kindle the next time she comes around?" Ginger shook her head.
"I don't have time to think about that. Listen, if my brother comes around, don't mention this to him. I can't have him finding out where I am. I don't know what he's going to do to me if he ever finds me and the reason I'm gone is to get away from him. And trust me, school and Mrs. Kindle are the absolute furthest thing from my mind right about now."
"Are you coming back?" Kris asked. Ginger smiled.
"Of course I'm coming back, Kris. I can't stay here forever. I'll be here just until things get better. And the first thing I'll do when I come home is run over to your house and give you a big hug," Ginger said.
"We're here, Ginger," Zac said. Ginger looked in front of her at the house.
"He's still calling you Ginger?" Ginger got out of the car.
"Yeah, he's still calling me Ginger."
"When are you going to tell him your real name?" Kris asked. Ginger smiled.
"Never. But we're here so I have to go. I'll speak to you again soon."
"All right. I love you, girl."
"I love you too." Ginger hung up the phone and handed it back to Zac. "I'm nervous, Zac." He took her hand.
"There's nothing to be worried about. I think Mom stopped off at the store to get you some necessities, a toothbrush and stuff, but until we have time to go to the mall, you're stuck wearing Jess's clothes."
"Jess? How old is she?"
"She's fourteen," Zac said. Ginger looked skeptical. "It'll have to do. It's not exactly your style but you look about the same size and it's only until we can get you your own clothes."
"How long am I going to be here?"
"A couple of weeks? Maybe more?" he estimated.
"I don't know�school starts on Monday and�"
"I took care of that. You're going to the high school ten minutes away so you don't fall behind. I know this is an inconvenience for you, but�" Ginger shook her head.
"No, it's all right. I guess it's better than the alternative."
"It is better than the alternative." Zac brought her inside. She looked around and immediately felt out of place. It was a lovely home, much better than hers, with elaborate detail. The one thing that struck her the most was the size. It was huge. Granted Zac had a huge family, but this was big even for his family. She looked ready to disappear. "You'll get used to it. It's pretty big, but once you walk around for a while you'll get over it."
"All right."
"Ginger," he said. She looked up at him. "It'll be okay. I know it's a big change but it's just for a little. Get past today and tomorrow you'll never want to leave." She nodded. "Come on, I'll show you your room." She followed him up the stairs and tried to keep track of which door led to what. Most of them were open and she could see inside to figure out what they were, but he didn't explain to her anything so she didn't know what was behind the closed doors. "Here we are." He opened a door and flicked on a light. "It's pretty messy, but that's just because Zo�'s a pretty messy kid. She's only four; she doesn't know what she's doing. We'll clear out a drawer or two for you to put your stuff in once you get stuff. The bed's comfortable and Zo� never sleeps in here. She's got some cool stuff; most of it used to be somebody else's and she just got the old one. She never uses any of it, but she's got the stereo, the TV and the VCR. We've got pretty much all the channels and unless you want to watch Disney movies she doesn't have any videos."
"Okay."
"Are you all right?"
"Just�just a little overwhelmed, that's all," Ginger said, giving him a smile. "I'll get over it. So, show me everything else." Zac nodded and walked out of the room.
"The door at the end of the hall leads to the attic, this one is Jess and Avery's room and this one's Mackenzie's. My room is this one down here," he said, walking to a door back down the hall, closer to the stairs. He opened it up and there was no one inside. "Nobody must be home yet. This is my room. Taylor and I share it. Ike actually just got his own place not too long ago so we're still getting used to not having him around. My parent's bedroom is downstairs, which gives us a little more privacy, but not much. I'd say I could come into your room at night but the floor creaks a hell of a lot so I wouldn't suggest doing so. I think they did that on purpose so they could see who's up at all hours of the night." Zac led her back down the stairs. As they reached the base the front door opened and two girls came in wearing black dance pants with black leotards, both of them with their hair in buns.
"Hey girls, where have you been?" Zac asked.
"We were at dance," the older of the two explained.
"Obviously."
"Then why'd you ask? Roni drove us home," the girl explained. "Who is this?" Both girls looked at Ginger.
"Oh, excuse me. Ginger, these are my sister Jess and Avery. Girls, this is Ginger. She's going to be staying with us for a while." Jess looked over Ginger and then looked back at Zac.
"Why?"
"Because I said so." Jess looked confused but shrugged.
"Whatever."
"She's also going to be borrowing some of your clothes until we get her some clothes of her own." Jess paused. "Shut up."
"But I haven't�"
"Before you do, just shut up. Why don't you take Ginger upstairs and show her your clothes?" Jess remained motionless. "Now?"
"Fine." Jess ran up the stairs.
"She's not happy," Ginger said to Zac.
"Try not to think about it," Zac said. He gave her a kiss. Avery was still at the door.
"Are you two dating?" Avery asked. Zac nodded. "Why?"
"Because that's what happens when you get older." Zac biffed Avery on the side of the head and she pushed him back. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. She began to scream and kick and Ginger got away from it as quickly as possible. She ran up the stairs to Jessica's room.
"Listen," Ginger said immediately, "you don't have to do this if you don't want to. I'll just make do until Zac can take me to the store."
"How long are you staying here?" Jessica asked, taking her hair out of its neat bun. It was long. That seemed to be a theme with this family.
"I don't know. It kind of wasn't my decision."
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't know I was coming here. I don't have anything with me except for my purse. But�you don't have to do anything for me. Zac just wants to make sure I'm happy here."
"Why are you here?"
"I really don't think that's any of your business, Jess."
"You're going to be wearing my underwear. I think I have some kind of right to know why you're here."
"My parents are dead and my brother beats me. Zac saved me."
"Oh."
"How old are you, Jess?"
"Fourteen."
"So you're in high school now, right?" Jessica nodded. "Okay. I was just wondering. I'll get out of your way." Ginger turned around to leave.
"No, wait. You can check out my clothes. I don't care what you borrow as long as you tell me what you're taking�you know, just in case I wanted to wear it." Ginger turned back around and smiled.
"Thanks, Jess." Jessica opened her closet
"I don't know if you'll like anything I wear, but it is only temporary, so it'll have to do." Ginger walked to the closet and looked around.
"No, you've got some cute stuff. This is cute." She pulled out a shirt and accidentally dropped it. "Oh, sorry." She bent over a picked up, showing Jessica another tattoo.
"Um�Ginger?"
"Yeah?" Ginger asked, putting the shirt back on the hanger.
"Are those real?"
"Yeah, they are."
"Why'd you get them done?" she asked. "I mean, they're going to be there forever."
"Well, Jess, when I got them done I didn't think I was going to live forever, so the idea of getting a tattoo didn't seem too rash." Jess looked confused and Ginger paused. "Never mind. Can I wear this shirt today? I'm kind of in the same clothes I've been in for the past two days."
"Uh�sure. All my jeans are on the other side." Jessica slid the doors to the closet over, showing off all her jeans. Ginger paused. This was too much. Back home, Ginger barely had enough clothes to last a week and this girl was fourteen and had a closet overflowing with clothes. Well, that was the difference between them.
"Jess?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"Ginger!!" Zac shouted from the bottom of the stairs. Ginger appeared momentarily, wearing the clothes she got from Jess. Her shirt was a bit tight but the jeans fit quite well and she found out they wore the same shoe size.
"Yeah?"
"Come down here." Ginger bounced down the stairs and when she reached the bottom Zac looked over her clothing. Ginger saw his brother Taylor standing near the door. Zac leaned in close to her. "Where's your bra?" he whispered.
"What, can you tell?" She looked down.
"Yes!"
"Well the one I had on is old and dirty! It needs to be washed!"
"Why didn't you borrow one?"
"Your sister's boobs aren't as big as mine. It would have done nothing for me." Zac threw his hands up in the air. "What? It's not like it's a big secret, Zac."
"Anyway�I wanted to introduce you to my brother. Taylor, this is Ginger."
"It's nice to finally meet you," Taylor said, stepping up to her. She smiled and accepted his outstretched hand.
"You too."
"Zac's told me a lot about you," he said, still shaking her hand. "He didn't tell me you where this beautiful, though." Ginger blushed.
"Oh, posh," she said, waving her free hand. "You really think that?"
"Ahem!" Taylor and Ginger jumped apart. "Ginger, will you come upstairs with me?" Without letting her answer, he pulled her to the stairs. She turned around to Taylor, Zac still pulling her arm.
"Nice meeting you!" she said, running up the stairs with Zac.
"What the hell was that?" Zac said, once safely inside his room, the door shut tight behind him.
"What was what?"
"That? With Taylor? Excuse me while I cease to exist so you can go ahead and jump him." She groaned.
"Zac, I was just saying hello."
"My ass."
"Are you like this often? If you are I am going to break you of this habit very quickly. I don't care about Taylor. I just met the guy. I care about you."
"Whatever."
"Zac, if you even start with the whole jealousy thing I am out of here immediately." He sighed. "You have nothing to worry about."
"It's just�It's just he's done this before, Ging. He's taken someone I care about and I don't want that to happen with you. He doesn't seem to have any feelings when it comes to me whatsoever so he would have no problem doing it."
"Zac. Don't worry about it."
"All right." He gathered her up in his arms. "I do care about you, you know."
"I know."
"Who knows? Maybe someday we just might get married."
"Maybe someday."