two days later, sutton woke up early so she and the boys could go out to lunch and over to the amphitheater to hear renese play again. she quickly pulled on a pair of boot cut jeans a small short sleeved shirt and tennis shoes and met Ike in the bathroom. she stood next to him at the double sinks and quickly brushed her teeth. “what’s up?” she asked and sat on the floor behind Isaac when she was through. “not much.” he grinned as he watched sutton pull up the leg of her jeans and inspect her wound. “you did all that just by jumping off a swing?” he asked as he leaned against the counter and pulled his hair back. “yes, and it hurts like crap.” sutton said and carefully peeled off the bandage and reached into the bottom cabinet for the ointment and a new bandage. “look, there are still little rocks impeded in my skin. it hurts too much to try to get them out.” isaac laughed at sutton and agreed, “they will probably stay there, but i think you’ll be okay.” sutton put on a new bandage and pulled down her pants leg and quickly stood. “well, that’s what i get for always having to beat taylor at everything,” she laughed as they exited the bathroom and met taylor and zac at the bottom of the stairs. “finally ready?” taylor smirked as he opened the door and everyone filed out. “sutton had to change the bandage on her playground wound,” isaac smiled and patted her on the head. sutton pushed isaac into taylor, and allowed zac to jump on her back for a piggy back ride. she held up his legs as he wrapped his arms tightly around her neck and covered her eyes for a few moments. “ah zac, i can’t see!!” she cried and bumped into taylor. “i’ll tell you where to go,” he grinned as she stumbled. “how about you take your hands off of my eyes?” she said and stopped in the middle of the road. “gosh sutt, you’re no fun anymore,” zac said and took his hands away from her eyes. “gosh sutt, you’re no fun anymore,” sutton mocked, and began running down the road and through the elementary school with zac on her back, him laughing all the way as taylor and isaac were left behind. “its kind of amazing who she never lets anything to get to her; she exerts this facade that is so strong and untouchable and never lets anything bad in. she messed up her knee two days ago and now she’s running along like it never happened,” taylor absent mindedly commented as he stuck his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. “i’ve noticed that too,” isaac agreed. “especially with her parents being halfway across the country right now. i haven’t seen her cry once.” “i have,” taylor said. “when?” isaac asked, surprised. “the day we got back from dinner, she was talking to her mom on the phone in the kitchen. you and zac ran upstairs but i had mackie and he wanted something to drink...” “she was crying?” “yeah, when she hung up. i gave her a hug, i don’t know what good it did but she stopped crying and acted like nothing had touched her, like she wasn’t sad anymore. i don’t know...” taylor’s voice trailed off. “you don’t think she’s showing her true feelings?” “i think she’s really sad and confused and doesn’t know what to do or what to feel so she just acts like she’s okay with everything and not sad, but you can tell that she is sometimes. if you just look at her sometimes she’ll just have this deep look in her eyes, you never really know what she’s thinking about.” taylor said as they approached sutton and zac. “you think we should talk to her?” isaac quietly said. “i don’t know,” taylor shrugged as sutton turned around and looked at them. “where are we going?” she asked as zac mocked her, still on her back. “taco bueno again?” “mcdonalds,” zac said. “that okay?” sutton asked. “sure,” isaac said and they quickly crossed the street and up the road to the mcdonalds near the center square of downtown tulsa. several minutes later they reached the mcdonalds and sutton dropped zac off of her back before they entered. they quickly ordered and paid, and found a booth in the back of the restaurant. “when was she supposed to go on again?” taylor asked as he took a bite out of his sandwich. sutton and zac ordered happy meals and inspected their cartoon toys before they began to eat. “ah, she plays at 1pm today and again at like 4 or 5, so we have like an hour before she starts.” sutton said as she ripped open the package of her toy as she chomped on a fry, and winded it up on the table. “how many days has she been here?” ike asked. sutton looked up at taylor who was seated across from her at the booth and had taken her toy. “hmm. did she say it was her first show when we saw her?” “i don’t know, she just said she was doing small appearances around some states and that she was going to be here until friday,” taylor replied. sutton looked over at ike and shrugged, and inspected zac’s toy. “you know, you two are like little kids,” taylor joked and stuck a couple of fries in his mouth. “you acted like a kid yesterday,” sutton smiled and pushed zac out of the booth. “lets go play in the playground,” she said and kicked off her shoes and put them under their table. “that’s for five year olds, sutt,” ike commented. “there’s no one even in there,” zac said and put his shoes under their table and dragged sutton into the playground area of mcdonalds. “has she ever talked a lot about her family or leaving them to you?” isaac asked after they had left. taylor chewed on her straw and looked at sutton chasing zac up a tunnel. “kind of, but she doesn’t really say a lot. its obvious that she misses them, but it kind of seems like she’s hiding something.” “she seems to open up to you though, tay she’s been spending a lot of time with you lately, too. maybe you should try to see if anything is wrong,” ike said and threw his trash in a nearby trash can. “i don’t know, i don’t want to prod.” taylor paused. “when we were at the school the other day she didn’t say anything at all, but she looked kind of sad sometimes.” “its only been a couple months,” isaac and taylor stood and he grabbed their toys and Isaac grabbed their shoes. “she’s bound to still be somewhat sad.” “yeah,” taylor agreed as they entered the play area and waited for sutton and zac to come out of the tunnels. zac ran though the colored balls that only came up to his knees and peaked his head out of the entrance way. “come on guys, come in here with us.” “where’s sutt?” taylor asked. “she’s up there somewhere,” zac pointed above him in the tangled mess of brightly colored tunnels and slides. “come on, have some fun for once,” zac said and fell back into the balls and pretended to swim. “fine,” taylor said and put their belongings in a corner and took off his shoes. isaac followed suit and climbed up the tiny stairs to the above tunnels as taylor climbed into the balls. sutton heard taylor kick around some of the plastic balls and laughed to herself, covered in all of the balls. she took a deep breath and suddenly jumped out of the balls and pushed taylor down into the balls with her. “oh my gosh!” he gasped as sutton rolled off him, laughing as she gave zac a high five. “god sutt, you scared me half to death!!” he said, sitting amongst the colored balls. “that was her point,” zac added as he threw a bunch of balls over at taylor. “oh you’re on, little boy,” taylor cried as he rushed towards zac and pulled him down into the balls. sutton rushed over to taylor and wrapped her arms around his stomach and pulled him down into the balls. “nobody messes with my accomplice,” she laughed as taylor tried to pull her down. he grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her towards him as she landed on top of him, laughing and tired from all of the activity. isaac heard all of the commotion below him and quickly slid down one of the slides and joined in the fun as zac jumped on his back and began throwing balls at everyone. taylor began covering sutton back up with all of the colored balls, suffocating her beneath the balls. she pushed them away and kiddingly pushed taylor away as they play wrestled. several minutes later, one of the McDonalds employees came into the play area and began yelling at the four people in the colored balls. “get out of here right now! this play equipment is for young children only!” sutton and taylor stumbled out of the balls after isaac and zac, bringing several balls with them that fell onto the floor. “sorry, sorry!!” isaac called, embarrassed, as the employee left and everyone collapsed onto the floor. “god, that was fun!” sutton laughed as she pulled on her shoes. “i can’t believe someone had to come out here and make us get out,” zac cried. “no one even comes in here anymore.” “its precautionary, zachary,” taylor said in a prissy voice. “we wouldn’t want a famous singer to get hurt, now would we?” he laughed and reached for his shoes. everyone shared in a round of giggles, and sutton jumped up from her place at the floor and grabbed a couple of the balls that had fallen out of the play set. “what are you doing with those?” isaac looked at her with a grin on his face. “nothing,” she said and stuck them in her pockets. “yes, that doesn’t look the least bit obvious, sutton,” taylor smirked and rolled his eyes. “here zac, put these in your pockets. they’re bigger than mine,” she thrusted two green balls at him that he obediently put in his cargo side pockets. “alright, lets leave before we get in some serious trouble,” ike warned as they rushed out the door and into the sunny day.