Chapter One - June 03, 2003 - Orlando, Florida

*Kyrii*

"Florida, here we are!" I grinned as I stepped out of the van, stretching my arms over my head and breathing in the fresh air. We'd taken a plane from our home in Dix Hills, and then caught a van for a two hour drive the the house we'd be sharing with Hanson for a week prior to the Next Generation Tour.

"Thank god," Sekana sighed, climbing out of the van and stretching beside me, "That has to have been the most cramped ride of my life." I nod in agreeance, before going around to the other side of the van and opening the door, poking Alex and Ty, whom had both fallen asleep during the ride.

"Wake up guys, we're here," I said, shaking them both gently.

"Guh, must sleep," Ty sighed, pulling his baseball cap over his head.

"C'mon, get up," Alex said, rubbing his eyes sleepily, "If I have to wake up, then so do you."

"Ugh, fine," Ty groaned, sitting up and pushing his cap back onto his head, "I'm up. Are you happy now?"

"Very," I smiled at them, before following Sekana around to the trunk of the van and grabbing my bags out of it before moving so Alex and Ty could get their things. I followed Sekana up to the house, where she slid the key into the lock and opened it. "When's Pat gonna get here?" I asked her, in reference to our manager.

"He called earlier and said sometime before seven," Sekana replied, before looking at her watch, "And it's now... oh, six. We arrived in time for dinner."

I nodded, following her into the house, Ty and Alex behind me. "Hello...?" Alex called out, "Anybody home?"

"Guess we're the first one's here," Ty commented, "Isn't Oklahoma like, an hour behind us?"

"Yeah, I think so," I replied, "Well, might as well make ourselves home and claim rooms before Hanson does."

*~*~*~*

*Taylor*

"Are we there yet?" Zac asked for the millionth time, just because he knew he was annoying me.

"Almost Zac," Dad replied, "We've got another half hour before we land."

"And another half hour of Zac asking if we're there yet," Isaac rolled his eyes playfully, having read my mind.

"Nah, I'm annoying myself by saying it now," Zac shrugged, settling down in his seat beside Dad, "What're these people we're touring with like? What kind of music is it?"

"Rock music, I think," I replied, "They're promoting their first album on this tour, so they just came into the music scene recently."

Zac nodded, thinking about this bit of information. "I wonder what they look like," he said thoughtfully, "Is it an all guy band?"

"No, there's two girls and two guys," I told him, "I think I read an article about them in the newspaper a while ago..." I trailed off, looking through my bag for the newspaper, "Here. It's in there somewhere."

I handed the newspaper over my head to Zac, who was sitting behind me. He took it and I could hear him searching through it, looking for the article on Flaming Emotion. That was a cool band name, and original too. I wondered what they were like. Their music was supposently different than our's. We'd kinda agreed to the tour without much information about them. But I was sure it would be a fun tour. For our sets, we were doing only Acoustic things. We had a bunch of new songs for the new album that would be released next year, and we'd decided to perform Acoustic versions, so our fans could see just us, without any backup peformers and such.

"Finally!" Zac grinned as the plane landed, "I need to get some fresh air."

*~*~*~*

*Sekana*

"Hello?"

I looked up from the magazine I was reading as the front door opened and a voice called out. Must be the Hanson's. I stood up and walked over.

"Hi!" I smiled, "I'm Sekana, and if I'm not mistaken, you are the Hanson's."

"Sure are," the one with long londe hair smiled widely, sticking his hand out for me to shake, "I'm Zac."

I shook his hand and smiled again, before meeting Taylor, Isaac, and then their father, Walker. "Where's the rest of your band?" Isaac asked me, looking around at the house.

"Upstairs unpacking," I told him, "You guys can go claim your rooms and get settled in. Pat, our manager, should be here eventually. He was driving here and got caught in traffic."

After they disappeared upstairs with their bags, Kyrii came downstairs and jumped onto the sofa beside me. "Hey!" she smiled, "I just met the Hanson's."

"Yeah, well I met them before you," I grinned, laughing as she stuck her tongue out at me.

"Can we order dinner now?" Alex asked, coming back in from out back, "I'm starved and craving some pizza."

"Well, let's go order about... ten pizzas?" Kyrii grinned, "I know how you and Ty eat pizza, and we don't know now much the Hanson's would want. I'll go order it."

*~*~*~*

*Zac*

"PIZZA!!!" I grinned, running the rest of the way downstairs, "How come no one told me we ordered pizzas??"

"We did," Tay nodded, "You were busy with your Playstation."

"You have a Playstation?" Kyrii grinned at her, her eyes twinkling, "PS One or Two?"

"Two," I smiled, grabbing a slice of pepperoni pizza and sitting down beside Tay on the sofa, "You play video games?"

"Don't get her started," Sekana laughed, "She's got PS2 AND a Game Cube. Not to mention Game Boys."

"Wow!" I grinned, "You can be my new best friend."

"Thanks," Kyrii smiled at me, taking a sip of her Pepsi, "Wanna play after dinner?"

"Sure," I agreed, "You do fighting games?"

"Tekken?"

"Yeah!"

"You're on," she smiled at me, "Be warned, Tekken is my ultimate game."

"So anyways," Isaac interrupted, "How old are you guys?"

"I'm 19, Alex is 22, Ty is 21 and Kyrii is 18," Sekana replied, "And how about you guys?"

"I'm 22, Tay's 20 and Zac's 17," Isaac replied, "Next question. Where do you guys live?"

"We're from Dix Hills in Long Island, New York," Ty spoke up, "And you're from Oklahoma, right? Where's your southern accents?"

"We lost them on the plane," I grinned, grabbing another slice of pepperoni pizza before it ended up vanishing.

*~*~*~*

*Taylor*

I wandered outback of the house, looking around. It was getting dark out, being as it was around nine pm already. The house had a pool and there was a little cemented area that came off right from the house, but which turned to grass, which covered the majority of the backyard. There was also a pool room and an outside bar-like thing.

Everyone else had gone off to either chill or do their own thing after dinner. I went back inside and into the living room where Alex was watching a movie on TV. I'm somewhat surprized that Dad agreed to touring with them, but then I realized that we hadn't seen their pictures or anything before agreeing.

I sat down with him on the sofa and said, "Hey. Whatcha watching?"

"Jeepers Creepers," Alex replied, glancing at me, "It's a horror movie."

I nodded, settling back to watch it. "I like horror movies," I said, "Zac's more into the gruesome and gory kind."

"They rock too," Alex smiled, "Especially Re-Animator. That's got gore galore."

I laughed. "Nice rhyme," I smiled, "So, are you guys in Flaming Emotion related or anything?"

"Kyrii's my cousin," Alex began, "My Mom and her Dad are sister and brother. Ty's my best friend and Sekana's her's, but we're all always been really close. Our Dad's do standup comedy together. They've been friends practically forever."

I nodded, listening to this. "Are you Dad's funny?" I asked.

Alex nodded. "Very funny," he agereed, "They like to take jokes about things that everyone cam relate to, so the crowd always gets a kick out of their sets. They're supposed to be having a video coming out about the Comedy Tour they just did together."

"Sounds cool," I smiled, "Can we hope to watch it when it's released?"

"Sure can," Alex smiled.

*~*~*~*