"Yeah!" Christen said for what seemed like the tenth time since she'd give Nicole the good news.

"That's awesome Chris!" Nicole exclaimed. "Thank you so much for inviting us! I'm going to call Ike right now, okay?"

"Perfect," Christen said. "Call me back as soon as you get an answer."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later," Nicole said.

"Okay, bye," Chris replied.

Nicole hung up the phone and hurriedly dialed Isaac's number. It was Sunday afternoon, and she prayed that he was home from church. After two rings Jessica's melodic voice rang over the line.

"Hello, Hanson residence," she said politely.

"Hey Jess," Nicole said. "Can I speak to Ike please?"

"Sure," Jessica said. "Hold on a sec." She heard Jess call out to her oldest brother and seconds later Isaac picked up another extension.

"I got it Jess," he said, then after the click, "Hey Nic. What's up?"

"Ike, I just got the greatest news!" Nicole cried. "Chris sold the most sponsorships for her school yearbook, so she gets to bring four friends skiing in West Virginia with her Yearbook Staff, which is seven other people. So she invited Me, You, Tay, and Zac. We leave next Friday. Can you guys go?"

"Hopefully," Isaac said. "I've always wanted to try snowboarding, and so have Tay and Zac. But mom's about to have the baby, I swear. It's going to happen any day now. We probably won't be able to go if she doesn't have it by Friday."

"Well, ask first, and I'll keep my fingers crossed," Nic said. She stayed on hold for a moment while Isaac went to discuss the trip with his parents.

"NIC!" Zac shouted into the phone a few minutes later. "We're going SNOWBOARDING!!! Aaaaaaaaah! Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!"

"Zac!" Nicole said, shouting to be heard over his shrill yells. "Did they say you guys could go?"

"Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!" Zac said. "We can go Nic! This is awesome! I can't wait. I'm gonna snowboard. It's going to be so cool! I love you man! Tell Chris I love her too!" Then she heard to the phone fall to the floor as Zac ran through his house screaming 'I love you mom', and 'I love you dad'.

"Nic, you still there?" Isaac said, picking up the phone a few moments later. "Sorry 'bout that. He's had one too many Snickers bars this afternoon. We can go though!"

"All right!" Nicole said. "This is going to be great."

"I know!" Isaac said. "Are your parents home yet?"

"Nope," she said, sighing. "They decided to go ahead and stay all this week too."

"Oh man," Isaac said. "I'm sorry Nic. It gets lonely over there, doesn't it?"

"It sucks," Nicole replied ruefully. "And it's all starting again, isn't it Ike? They're going to be gone all the time again."

"I don't know Nic," Isaac said. "But no matter where your parents are, I'm here for you. So are Tay and Zac. We all love you and we'll always be here."

"Thanks Ike," she said, smiling slightly.

"Hey, you want to come over and hang out with us?" Isaac asked.

"Sure," Nicole said. "I'll be over there in a minute." They hung up seconds later and Nicole made her way out of her house and over to the Hansons'.

"But I thought I owned this one too!" Zac argued, frantically searching through his stack of card.

"I give up," Isaac said. "This game is too boring."

"Yeah, Monopoly isn't my choice for a fun-filled afternoon," Nicole said. She had stepped outside on her way to the Hansons' house only to realize that the sky was a dark shade of gray. It had started pouring rain only minutes later, and now the four of them were stuck inside until the rain let up. The younger Hansons were in the playroom watching a video with Mrs. Hanson, and Mr. Hanson was in his office upstairs.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going insane from being inside too long," Taylor said.

"Me too," Zac chimed in. "Let's go somewhere. Ike, do ya think dad would let you use the van?"

"Maybe," Isaac said. "Hey, why don't we go to the mall and check out the snowboarding equipment at that new skater shop. I saw some boards in there last week."

"They've probably got the jackets and stuff too," Nicole said as Ike hurried upstairs. When he came back down, he had a huge grin on his face.

"Not only did I get the keys," he said, "I got a credit card!"

"Yes!" Zac said, slapping him a 'low five'. "I'm gonna get the coolest snowboarding stuff there is!"

"Guys," Taylor said, "we should probably just get the clothes. I mean, we can rent the snowboards at the ski resort, so if we don't like it, we won't be stuck with three expensive boards we can't use."

"Good idea Tay," Nicole said.

"Yeah, I guess we should just stick to the basics," Isaac agreed. "So what exactly are the basics?"

"Well, Chris told me to get a jacket, wide pants, a tee, thick socks, and long underwear," Nicole said, listing everything she could remember. "Plus stuff to keep our necks, hands, and faces warm. She's never been either, but one of the guys who's going is a really good snowboarder, and thats what he told her to bring." "Cool," Isaac said. "Well, what are we still standing here for?"

"Let's go!" Zac cried, and they left for the mall.

"Nic, you want to come to our house tonight?" Zac asked. "Since your parents aren't home?"

"I really would," Nicole said, lifting her head up from where it rested on Taylor's shoulder, "but I think I'm just going to go home and go to bed. I'm completely worn out."

"Oh, I'll drop you off then," Isaac said, turning onto her street. Seconds later she was climbing out of the van and saying goodbye to the Hansons. As she made her way up to the door, she saw that the light was on in her living room. She slowly opened the door, wondering who could be there. She walked down the hall and through the kitchen, only to find the person she'd least expected sitting on her couch.

"Matt!" she cried, running to her nineteen year-old brother and giving him a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey Nicki," Matt replied. "I didn't have anything to do tonight, so I figured that I'd come check out the new place. Dad gave me the key last week." Her brother smiled the same smile that could make all of Nicole's female friends melt. He and Nicole looked exactly alike except for the one thing: Matt had beautiful, emerald green eyes that Nicole wished she had inherited. They shared the same dark brown hair and facial features though. "So where are mom and dad?"

"They didn't come back this week," Nicole said with a sigh.

"Man, not this again," Matt said, shaking his head. "I thought maybe things would change for you since they started the new office."

"Me too," Nicole said. "I guess we were wrong, huh."

"Yeah," Matt said.

"Matt," Nicole said, "what was it like. I mean, when you were growing up, and they were always gone. Did you handle it okay, or was it hard for you too?"

"It sucked royally," Matt said, a lock of his ear-length brown hair falling into his face. "But I always had you here with me. That's one of the reasons I came tonight. I figured that they wouldn't come back, so I thought you might need someone here."

"Thanks," Nicole said, giving him another hug.

"So where's my room?" Matt asked.

"It's the first one on the left," Nicole said. "You gonna crash?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Me too," Nicole said. "Good night."

"Night sis," Matt said as he shut his door. Nicole felt great that he was here, and she drifted off to sleep with thoughts of her brother and the ski trip on her mind.