Written 2-1-99. Rewritten 4-13-02

Episode 1: Boomerang

"You know what, girls?" announced Tayla during a lazy band meeting at Venus' house. They were discussing--er, attempting to discuss--what they'd do with the extra money they had recently earned. "I think we should start playing instruments. That might liven up the band a little more."

Kenya's eyes lit up. "Wow, what a cool idea! That would really give us a boost!"

"Oh, please, spare me the hard work," said Madeleine. "Isn't singing good enough?"

"Singing is good, but playing instruments is better! I really think that with all the money we have now, we could buy instruments and have the chance to make ourselves famous!"

All debated over this idea for quite some time. Then Venus, who had become much more open with the girls as time passed, piped up with the "fantastic" idea of planning a vacation before school started again, which blew away Tayla's idea by a long shot. They happily chatted away, choosing Florida as their destination. They didn't have enough money to so someplace huge, but they'd still enjoy the sunny beaches and warm weather, and that was a good enough vacation for them. Tayla tried so hard to convince them to put the money towards the band, since after that was how it had been made. This wasn't anything new; for weeks since the disappointing turn-out of the national concert, the others' interest in the band had slowly deteriorated, with Tayla desperately trying to take the lead. Apparently, Tayla was no leader, because she just couldn't get a word in when all they could think of was sunshine and sandy beaches, and not to mention cute boys. She pouted silently, trying not to show it yet inwardly hoping that they would notice.

"Oh, don't cry about it, Tayla," said Kenya, rolling her eyes. "It will be fun!"

Tayla did not want them to see her cry, however. She held her tears back as best she could and argued, "I am NOT crying!"

"No, but I can tell you're about to because the bridge of your nose always turns red when you're about to cry!"

Tayla humphed and looked away, and now her cheeks were as red as her nose because of embarrassment. Without Tayla's consent, they had all decided; they were going to Florida!

They dropped their bags on either of the hotel room's twin beds as their chaperone, Venus' mom, opened the blinds to reveal a crowded beach that looked like it should be on a postcard. She was so excited she might as well have been one of the high-school girls herself. Tayla couldn't help but realize how excited she was now, but still, an unaccomplished feeling nagged at her. If only they had spent the money on instruments, then maybe she'd feel worthy of this trip.

As quickly as they could, they dressed in their swim suits, loaded on the sunscreen, and headed out to the beach. Of course, the first thing on Kenya's mind was boy hunting.

"Come on, Tayla!" she said excitedly, grabbing Tayla's hand and ready to take the lead. "After we meet some hot guys, there's no way you'll be able to say this trip wasn't worth it!!" They boy hunted for a little while, but couldn't resist the coolness of the sea and soon dove in to escape the heat.

Later on, they all went up to land to get some lunch. It seems that whenever you search for something you can't find it, but when you stop looking for it, there it is. The girls, too hungry to care about almost anything but food, were casually walking along the sidewalk when Tayla heard the familiar sound of small wheels on pavement grow louder and louder behind her. Almost out of nowhere, two boys on skateboards went zipping past them.

Venus gasped. "Did you see that guy?! He was sooo cute! Look! Look at that body, he's not wearing a shirt!" Madeleine and Kenya were quick to notice him, but Tayla had her sights set on the other boy. What caught her attention was his hair--gorgeous, white-blond hair. ~If only I could see your face!~ As if the boy had heard her thought, he turned his head to the side to look at something and revealed his youngish profile. Tayla melted like ice cream in the sunlight.

But speaking of ice cream, Tayla was starving and wanted to eat first.

Their vacation was set for three days tops. For the entire three days, the four girls couldn't stop thinking of those dreamy Florida skateboarders. Of course, they never imagined that they'd see them again. The girls were merely taking a little walk nearby the hotel when Kenya noticed two skateboarders doing tricks on a set of stairs. When they realized it was the same two boys, they went hysterical snuck behind the bushes to watch them.

It was amazing what tricks they could do, and the girls tried hard to stifle their giggles so they wouldn't get caught. Suddenly, the blond boy's skateboard slipped out from under him and flew skyward. Tayla didn't notice where it had gone until it was nearly on top of her; then…SMACK…it was on top of her.

That was the last thing she remembered when she began to wake and saw a pair of violet eyes watching her. The head turned and Tayla faintly heard a male voice say, "She's waking up!" Her forehead felt a little cold; there was an icepack on her head where she had been hit. Finally, she was fully revived and realized that the violet eyes belonged to the brown-haired boy, who had been tending to her. He helped her sit up, and her friends and the blond boy stood watching, with relieved expressions on all of their faces.

"I am soooo sorry!" said the blond boy. "If I had known you were there, I would have been so much more careful! I had no idea--I--I…" the boy stuttered nervously.

Tayla smiled. "Relax! I forgive you."

"Will you be ok?" asked the brown-haired boy, who seemed to be a bit older than the blond from close up.

"Yeah, I think so." He began to help her up, and then the other boy came to her other side so that they could pull her up together. "Thanks…uh…what are your names?"

"I'm Anthony," spoke the blond, "and this is my brother Adrian."

"Wait a sec, you're brothers?" asked Kenya, surprised. "But you don't look alike at all!"

"Well, we're stepbrothers," explained Adrian. Kenya nodded in understanding.

"So, how long was I out?" asked Tayla.

"Just a few minutes," Madeleine said. "You should be fine."

"But you had enough time to get me an ice pack?"

"Well, Adrian's a fast skateboarder," explained Anthony jokingly. They chuckled. Because they felt bad, the boys volunteered to escort the girls back to their hotel.

"Nice shirt," Anthony commented to Tayla along the way. She remembered that she was wearing a Hanson T-shirt.

Tayla was a bit surprised. "You like them?" she asked.

Anthony laughed. "For awhile, Adrian and I were in a band modeled after them, but our third guy moved away! Right, Age?"

"Oh, yeah!" said Adrian, "and we called ourselves 'Boomerang,' named after their first independent album."

"Wow, no way!" exclaimed Tayla. " The exact same thing happened to us too! We had a band called 'Wannabe' named after the Spice Girls, but one of the girls quit."

"Aw, that sucks. Can't you continue on your own?"

"Sure!" said Kenya. "We haven't given up yet!"

"Oh, haven't we?" muttered Tayla under her breath, so quietly that only Anthony, walking next to her, heard.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. The other girls had begun talking to Adrian, so it was safe to speak.

"It means I wish the other girls would be a little more progressive. They just don't care anymore. Me, on the other hand, music is my life!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Adrian and I still play, but we don't perform anymore."

"Wouldn't it be cool if we could join our bands together? That would be funny."

"Yeah! Except we live on opposite sides of the country." He laughed.

"How did you know we're from another state?"

Anthony paused. "You mean…you don't live here?"

"No, we live in Illinois."

Anthony's face lit up. "You're kidding! Well, that's another thing we have in common--me and Adrian are from Illinois too!!"

"You guys are from the same state as us?!" exclaimed Kenya, overhearing Anthony's statement. Everyone became excited, and they realized they lived within the same area of the state. They finally reached the hotel, and before Kenya followed the other girls into the room, she exchanged numbers with the boys, which was simple since they were brothers and both lived in the same house of course.

That evening, the girls boarded the plane for home, slept during the flight, and finally arrived at their houses one by one. The next day, Tayla received a surprise phone call.

"Who is this?" Tayla asked the person on the other line, totally oblivious.

"This is Anthony! You haven't forgotten me already, have ya?"

Tayla squealed with delight, and then apologized to Anthony for hurting his eardrums . "How did you get my number?"

"Your friend Kenya gave it to me." They chatted for a little while…actually, they chatted for a rather long while.

"You know," said Anthony, "you're a really cool person."

Tayla giggled. "Oh! Thanks!" She blushed. "I think you're cool too!"

"You wanna be my girlfriend?"

Silence. Tayla was shocked speechless.

"…Hello?"

Tayla finally made her reply. "Yes! Of course!"

"You know what else? Adrian and I would like to join up with you girls to be one band."

Tayla hopped up and down with excitement. "Reallyyy??!"

"Of course that means you'll all hafta learn how to play instruments."

"That would be…that would be beyond great!! But where would we get them from? We're out of extra money."

"Ah, I'm sure there's some old stuff that me and Age have that we can lend to you. We'll even teach you how to play. Luckily, we don't live that far from you!"

Tayla tried her best not to squeal in his ear again.

Over the next few weeks, the guys and girls saw a lot of each other, and once again the Wannabes were motivated. Except now they weren't the Wannabe's anymore, and the boys weren't Boomerang; they decided to combine their names, and became Boomerang Spice. On top of that, Tayla and Anthony grew very close--they were like a match made in heaven. So Kenya had been right after all; the trip to Florida was indeed well worth it.