I wake up before even Lynn does. I shower and get dressed before I look for and find bacon, eggs, pancake mix, ham steaks and toast. I look at the clock on the coffee maker to find out that it's 5 in the morning. I roll my eyes as I make some coffee for the guys, Andi and Lynn. 'Thanks, Josh.' I grab a big glass of Lynn's delicious iced and lean on the living room door frame, watching Andi and the guys sleeping for a minute before I start breakfast. I smile and turn around, heading for the kitchen. I pull the pans I'll need to make this breakfast for them, I cook the bacon and ham steaks in separate pans and at the same time. I make the pancakes in a third pan and prep the eggs to be cooked (I can only make scrambled eggs). I cut red, green and yellow peppers, broccoli, and mushrooms up and put them in the eggs. I put the scrambled egg mix in the pan for the eggs and start to cook the mix. I put 6 canisters of biscuits in the oven. I'm almost done and it's almost 6am.

I hear someone in the living room waking up."Mmmmm. Ham, bacon, eggs, pancakes, and biscuits. Coffee too?" I see JC come around the corner into the kitchen with a sleepy smile on his face.

I smile as I see him grab a mug and get some coffee before he turns to face me, leaning back on the counter. "Morning, Josh."

"You're up at the ass crack of dawn."

"So aren't you."

"Touche. Was my analysis of aromas correct?"

"Yes, your nose is right."

He smiles even bigger, still half asleep. "What did you put in the eggs?"

"Broccoli, mushrooms, red, green and yellow peppers."

"Cool. They're colorful. Like you." He has that smart ass smile on his face.

"Isn't it too early for you to be a smart ass?"
"Not when I'm woken up by the smell of food. I love being woken up by the smell of good food."

I make our plates up as I cook. I put the biscuits in a bowl as everything else finishes around the same time-three pancakes, some eggs, bacon and hamsteak for everyone. I put the butter, syrup, OJ, apple juice, milk and ketchup on the table. "You wanna see how I can get the rest of the guys and Andi up using five words?" It's almost 6am.

"Sure."

I walk into the living room. "Hey, food's on the table!" Justin, Joey, Chris, and Andi jump up and run for the kitchen. Lance gets up and quickly walks out of the room, making sure to mutter his thanks as he passes me and JC. I cross my arms and look at JC, with a 'told ya so' smirk on my face.

He nods at me. "Impressive." We walk back to the kitchen doorway.

I look at Justin. "Go wake your mom." He groans, gets up and knocks on Lynn's bedroom door. "Momma, Jazzy made us breakfast."

"Be out in a minute."

"Ok, momma." He walks right up to me.

I pat his cheek. "That's a good boy, Justin." I giggle at his 'fuck you' face. "That's so cute." He smiles and flips me off.

JC sits down. "Might not wanna piss her off, I like when she cooks for us like this."

Joey, Chris and Andi agree. Lance smiles. "Even though it's early, she's being nice."

Lynn comes out and smiles at me. I smile and nod at her. "Morning, Lynn. Thank you, James. Someone appreciates my cooking or is kissing up."

JC quietly chuckles. "I know I'm not kissing up. I really liked what you made the other night. I'll tell you if this tastes horrible."

I look at him with a slight hint of annoyance. "Josh."

Lance smiles. "You know JC is always gonna be brutally honest."

I nod and we all sit down, say grace and enjoy breakfast. I hear a chorus of 'mmmm's, 'this is good's, and 'sure you're only going on 13?'s as they eat. Even from Andi. "I love your cooking! I grew up with Lynn's cooking and everything, but this is soooo good. You have to teach me when we come back."

I smile. "Thanks. Of course I will. Make sure you pay attention because I don't measure my ingredients." She nods and everyone is so focused on their food, that only Lynn and I are even talking. "Lynn, is there any other recipes you may need?"

"I'll find out from the boys and Andi."

Chris looks like he's in heaven as he eats his pancakes. "Get her pancake recipe!" he loudly requests after swallowing a mouthful.

Joey, JC, Lance and Andi agree. Justin hasn't touched his yet. "Are her pancakes that good?" They all nod at him. He takes a bite and starts pointing and 'mmmmm'ing about the pancakes.

I smile. "Thanks. It's my gramma's recipe. Those are her sweet pancakes."

I look around the table and see that each one of the boys and Andi are in heaven as they eat. Lynn gets my attention. "So far they want me to get the recipes for your mashed potatoes, homemade mac and cheese, and pancakes."

"At least you get to expand your cookbook."

We laugh. "Justin always says he loves home cooked meals."

"Joey would go absolutely out of his mind over the lasagne, stuffed shells and homemade spaghetti sauce my mom and I make."

Joey snap his head up. "Canooakeitwhenwegetack?"

I look at him. "Chew, swallow and repeat your request or question."

He swallows, drinks some of his apple juice and looks at me. "Can you make it when we get back?"

"Yes, I can manage that. The sauce takes a day to make, I can make homemade meat balls, the sauce, pasta, sausage, lasagne, stuffed shells, and manacotti."

"Thanks! You know how to spoil an Italian."

"My mom dated one. Mangi. Enjoy this."

Joey goes back to eating and I smile at all of them. Almost twenty minutes after Joey's request, we've all eaten our fill and they clean up the kitchen. JC smiles at me. "You did good."

I nod. "Thanks."

Justin is groaning, most likely because he ate a little too much. I'm glad I made some extra pancakes and eggs. Just enough for everyone to enjoy seconds. Chris is rubbing his belly, looking like he could just fall asleep. Lance is in a very good mood. Joey's looking forward to coming back. Andi is so calm. I get told by the six of them to go in the living room and they'll take care of putting it away and washing the dishes. Andi pushes me out of the kitchen. "Get out of here, we got it."

I put my hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok, I'll wait in the living room." I head in the living room, look at the Sega and decide to find out if they have any Sonic games. "You guys have any Sonic The Hedgehog games?" Chris comes in and pulls out the Sonic games and quickly darts back into the kitchen to help with cleaning. I put in Sonic 2 and start whooping Robotnik's ass. Hey girls play video games and some of us really do get really into them. I'm one of them. By the time they finish up the kitchen and let me know they're even in the living room, I've almost beaten Robotnick's ass for the third time. I get the last hit in on Robotnik and get excited. "Whoo! Robotnik, you just got your butt whooped! Yeah!"They try not to laugh at me.

JC mangaes to say he thinks it's great how I get excited about beating the enemy. "Well, it is. I love it." He finally breaks out laughing. I shrug and continue playing. I get bored and switch to the first Sonic. I put in the master code which brings me to the level selection screen. "How in the-?"

"My little secret." I start one of the Chaos Emerald/bonus levels.

"Teach us."
"Watch my fingers." I restart the Sega and re-enter the code.

"One more time." I do it once more. "I got it."

I look at them, one at a time. Everyone but Lance caught it. I pass the controller around and have each of them try it. I have Joey try it first, then Andi, Justin, JC (he takes five tries to get it right...perfectionist), Chris (three tries) and Lance looks at me as I pass the controller to him. He shakes his head. "I'm alright."

"Come on. Try. For me?" I pout.

He looks at me and sighs before taking the controller. I sit behind him on the coffee table and show him the buttons a couple times as he watches my fingers. He quickly gets it and copies the sequence, getting it right. He smiles and looks at me after the level select screen pops up. (Yes, there really is a sequence of buttons that can cause the level select screen to pop up for the first Sonic game and it only works for the Sega Genesis version. I've tried for other systems that have Sonic.) "That was easier than I thought."

"Just like the dance moves."

"Yeah, just like the moves."

We all take turns playing levels of Sonic for the next 3 hours. Around 10:30, Lynn tells us to turn the game off and make sure we have everything ready to go. Their flight departs at 2:40 this afternoon. JC sees me shuffle past his door. "Jazz." I turn to face him and he gives me a reassuring hug. "We'll miss you too. We're only a phone call, letter or text away. We're only gonna be gone for a few months."

"More like a year, if not longer."

He pulls away and looks at me. "It's not the end of the world and we will keep in touch. Ok?"

I nod and he hugs me again. "Do you think your parents would be ok with bringing me to the airport to say bye to you guys, Andi, and Lynn?"

"We can find out once you check if you have everything packed and ready."
I nod and smile. "Thanks." I run off and make sure I have everything ready to go. I walk back to JC's room, my bags in my hands (one bag for dirty clothes and one for clean), and he's not even in there. "Josh?"

"In the living room, Jazz." I walk in as he gets up. "Ready? Bringing those over now?"

"Yeah, might as well since I'll be spending tonight and tomorrow night there." I shrug.

"Makes sense. Let's go."

We walk over to his parents' and he hears them in the backyard. Heather sees me and comes up. "Hey. Mom and dad let us take today off to see the guys off at the airport."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Where can I put my clean clothes" I lift my right hand "and my dirty clothes?" I lift my left hand.

She laughs. "Sure. Come on." She leads the way to the laundry room and up to her room. "Do you have a bathing suit in your bag?"

"Three, as a matter of fact. They're bikinis."
"Ok. I'm gonna miss Josh."

"Me, too. I'm gonna miss em all."

"Heather! Jazzy!" Roy yells for us.We look at each other and shrug as we turn to run downstairs and out to the yard. We stop right in front of him. "Jazzy, do you want to come with us to see the boys, Andi and Lynn off at the airport?"

"Yes, please. I wanna see them off."

"Ok, it's settled then. We'll follow you guys in the station wagon."

JC nods. "Thanks, dad. Jazz, you staying here until it's time to go?"

"When's that?"

He looks at his watch. "In an hour."

"What time is it?"

"11:30. We leave early so we can have time to say good-bye."

"What time is your flight?"

"It departs just before 3."

I nod and hug Josh. "I'm gonna miss your grumpy moods."

"I'm gonna miss you too."

He walks back over to Lynn's and finishes getting everything ready to go with everyone else. We leave right around half past noon to get to the airport and see them off. They check in and we meet at the gate. They all hug their families and me. The guys and Andi give me a group hug. "Don't go forgetting me... I'll kick your ass if you do."

They all look at me, smiling. JC speaks for the six of them. "Really now, shorty?"

I sniffle, obviously fighting back tears. "Yeah, I'll beat your asses senseless if you do. I'll find a way."

They each hug me again, JC hugs me a few seconds longer than the others. "I'll take your word for it." Their flight is called over the speakers. "That's us. You have to let go, Jazz." I let him go. "Be good, stay strong and keep in touch."

I nod. "I will." I step back and let Tyler hug me as I wave to the guys, Andi and Lynn. I feel a few tears slide down my face, from my blue eyes to my chin, before landing on Tyler's shirt. "I miss them already."

Tyler rubs my back. "We all do."

Roy pats my shoulder. "Come on."

Tyler pats my back. "Let's go back home." I nod as I keep trying to fight back the tears, losing the battle. The whole drive back to the Chasezs, I can't manage to get a word out. When we pull up at their house, Tyler smiles at me. "We're here." I nod and get out. They tried to console me the whole way back from the airport. We get back to their house right around dinner. I go in the backyard and lay in the hammock. I lay in it like I did with Justin and Lance, across it so I can push it like it's a swing. "Are you mad?"

"No. Just thinking. I'll be ok in a few minutes. It just has to sink in that they're not here and that it's gonna be ok."

"You know you have me, if you ever need anything, right?"

"Yeah, I know I have you and the rest of the guys' families. I'll be in a few minutes."

"Alright." He heads inside and I stay there for about ten minutes, take a deep breath, think of the notes I had put in their carry on bags and luggage. It makes me smile. They all have five notes. They each have notes saying I'll miss them and they have a reason for why I'm gonna miss them, even Andi.

I go inside and Karen smiles. I can tell she misses them already too. "It's ok, Mrs. Chasez. They know we love and miss them, even Josh. They miss us too."
We have dinner and hang out, talking about what we're gonna do in Tampa. We hit the beach tomorrow! WHOOOOOO, TAMPA!!! Heather, Tyler and I pick up after dinner and do dishes. Roy comes to us around 9 and tells us it'd be a good idea to go to bed. "We're getting up at 5 to be out the door for 6:30. We want to get there by 9. If we get there early enough, we'll get a good spot on the sand."

Heather and I talk about working on our tans and swimming in the ocean upstairs in her room. I'm excited cuz the last time I went to any beach was Hampton Beach in New Hampshire this past August.