You are the middle child. Of seven. You have three older brothers, all of whom are teenagers. Being teenagers, they often forget that you're a girl and that you don't like to be bothered and teased and roughhoused, especially when you're 12. Twelve is different from being 11. Suddenly your little sisters and brother aren't as much fun as they used to be, and you feel different and everyone treats you weird. It makes you want to scream, and you do sometimes. That just makes everyone mad. Your older brothers are a little bit afraid of you. This hasn't stopped them from teasing you.

You are the oldest girl in your family, and therefore the first to experience this. Your mom has never dealt with this in one of her children before, and it scares her and makes her feel old. You try to talk to her, and it usually makes you feel better, but there's something she's still not quite getting. But you have no idea what it is. You can't talk to your little sister because she has no clue, just like your dad. Your brothers are beyond scared. They're petrified. And you wish they weren't, because you're still the same. You're just not the same.

They're gone a lot, and they take your dad with them, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. You miss them when they're gone, or maybe you just miss your family being together. They're gone because they're famous. They're a very strange variety of famous. Girls like them. Girls who are your age, some even younger. Girls scream and cry at them. Girls say that they're madly in love with them. Girls want to marry them. When you make friends, you have to wonder about why they want to be your friend in the first place. Do they like you or do they like Taylor? What if they like you and Taylor? Are you OK with that? Will you show her his bedroom when she comes over your house to watch movies on Saturday? You don't want to.

Because of the music they make, and the things they stand for, there are certain things you can't do. You can't like Nsync. Or the Backstreet Boys. You can't buy Teen Beat, and why would you want to anyway, because they're probably in it. And you don't even like seeing them at home lately, never mind in your magazines. You can't think Nick Carter is cute, and you most certainly can't hang posters of him on your walls. Because they'd roll their eyes and accuse you of insubordination. You will never scream at a concert.

You love them, and you want them to be happy, and to be good at what they do, but sometimes they forget. They forget that they're not the only ones in their universe. They forget that they're not the only ones who are under a lot of pressure. They forget that they chose their own spotlight. And they forget that your name is Hanson too.