| Chapter 14 |
| Chapter 14 (Thursday) Mackenzie had a quick recovery and the week flew by. It was filled with TV appearances, magazine interviews and press conferences. She had spent Tuesday and Wednesday with the guys recording her next single. The recording sessions were so much fun and probably would have been done sooner if they hadn't fooled around so much. Chris insisted on playing jokes on everyone and just when she thought JC was going to explode at Chris for not being serious when he was trying to get the song done, he just laughed. It was things like that, that kept them so close and grounded. They all liked to have fun and now take everything so seriously all the time. Today they were all coming over her dad's house for dinner. She wasn't sure how everything would go over with her father but since she had been in New York she was spending time with her family and Megan insisted that they come over for dinner. "Hey, Gabby. It's so good to see you." Mackenzie said hugging her little sister when she came home with 2 of her friends. "Hi, Kenz! I can't believe you are home! Stacey and Michelle are going to stay for dinner. Do you think the guys will care?" she asked Mackenzie was completely surprised that her sister wasn't yelling or screaming at her. "They won't care at all, but who are you and what have you done with my sister?" she asked "Nothing, Kenz. I just realized a few things." "How are you two doing?" she asked Stacy and Michelle "I'm so excited! Nsync is coming over here and we are going to meet them!" Stacy shrieked. "Ok I think we need to have a talk about the guys coming over tonight." she said pulling them into Mackenzie's room. "Whoa, what happened to all the posters?" Mackenzie asked when she saw Gabby's room had been changed around. "Well, we figured that if one of the guys goes upstairs and sees Gabby's room, they might be a little freaked out with pictures of themselves on it." Michelle said laughing. "I think your right." Mackenzie spent the next few minutes telling them the dos and don�ts of hanging around the guys. She told them if they were themselves and had fun the guys would like them. �The guys will be here soon and I've got to go help Megan out downstairs. I'll see you in a little bit. Calm down, relax, they are just people." She wasn't worried about what they would say or do she was worried about what her dad would say. She hadn't seen him all day since he was at work in his office but she was sure he was going to have a few things to say. After helping Megan and showering she went downstairs to play with her youngest sister. "Victoria...." she called "Tori where are you? Tornado Tori I know you�re in here." she called again when she saw her youngest sister hiding behind a chair. "Hey there Tori.". "Hi Kenzie!" she yelled excitedly jumping into her arms, "Mommy said the Bye boys are coming over today." Mackenzie smiled when she heard her call them that. Ever since she had heard their latest single, "Bye Bye Bye" she had called them the 'Bye Boys', "Yep, they are coming over for dinner and you gotta promise me that you are going to be good." "I will." "Ok good, because they don't like little girls who scream and cry." "I don't cry, Mackenzie." she said seriously, "I'm a big girl." "That's right you are." "Are you gonna marry Jason?" Tori asked "What? No and his name is Justin, sweetie, but no I'm not going to marry him. Why would you think that." "Well, Mommy says that when ever you talk about him your eyes lit up, but I don't see your eyes lighting up so maybe she was wrong. I don't want your eyes to lit up that's scary." "When did your mommy say that?" Kenzie asked "When she was talking to Daddy. I don't think your eyes are going to lit up but I do think that you want to kiss him!" "Tori!" Mackenzie yelled while Tori giggled in her arms. The doorbell rang and Mackenzie cringed when she heard 3 pairs of footsteps running down the stairs to the front door. "Hey guys." she said opening the door and letting them in. "How are you?" she said hugging each of them. "Hello there guys. Just come on in dinner should be ready shortly, I'm Megan." "This is my dad." Mackenzie said when her dad walked into the large foyer. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hope. I'm JC. Thank you for inviting us over." he said shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you, JC." her dad said Mackenzie said a quick prayer thanking God that her dad was being civil. "Guys, this is my sister Gabby, and her two friends Stacy and Michelle." she said putting Tori down. "And this little monster is Tori." she said holding Tori's arms as she wrapped them around her legs. "Hello Tori. I hear they call you Tori the Tornado." Chris said squatting down to her level. "Yep!" she said proudly, "It's because when I was a baby I used to break everything. How do you know?" "Kenzie told me. She talks about you a lot! I'm Chris." he said standing back up "I'm Lance." he said shaking her father's hand then saying hello to Gabby and her friend. "Aren't you the one who broke the car? You can't come in our car because you'll be in big trouble if you break it." Tori said pointing a finger at him. The guys laughed when they heard her reprimand Lance. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Joey." Joey said shaking hands with Mr. and Mrs. Hope "Hi, I'm Justin." he said to her mom and dad "Honey will you help me in the kitchen?" Megan asked her husband before pulling him away from the foyer. "Hey Victoria," Justin said squatting down to her level, "I'm Justin." "I know. Guess what? Kenzie wants to kiss you!" she said giggling and then running off. Mackenzie's face immediately turned red as everyone started to laugh. "I don't know where that came from...Umm....Victoria Lynn get you butt back here!" she said running back to get her sister. Mackenzie picked her up and walked back over to the guys still embarrassed. "Gabby, how about you show everyone around. Maybe you guys can play pool or something. I'm going to see if Megan needs any help. Make yourself at home, guys." "Mackenzie are you mad at me?" Victoria asked a few minutes later. "No, honey I'm not mad at you. I wish you wouldn't have said that, that's all." "You told me no, but I still think you want to kiss him." she said with a giggle "Oh yeah?" Mackenzie said while picking up Victoria and tickling her. Victoria squealed and ran down the hall until she ran smack into Justin's legs. "Hey there, cutie." he said picking her up. "Umm...Dinner's ready." Mackenzie said still embarrassed from before. "Ok, I'll go tell the guys." Mackenzie watched as he turned around and started walking back in the direction he had come from. This was going to be one hell of a night, she thought. |