TAYLOR

A Story by crispycream

Prologue

I have never really fit in but I always had two amazing friends, Charlotte and Timothy. Well that was until April when Timothy died in a car crash last year. He died the day after my thirteenth birthday. Charlotte and I weren’t really the same after that... I woke up after a perfect day and found my parents in the living room on the phone. They told me they were sorry but there was nothing they could do to comfort me. His funeral was about two weeks after that and the only time I would leave my room was to go to the bathroom or eat. The funeral was depressing, everyone from school showed up giving their support pretending like they knew him. Charlotte and I were the only ones who truly knew him which made me feel worse. Charlotte never really talked to me after that, she always had other friends but timothy was the only reason she stayed. We were never super close but she was my best friend, after we got that news it was like the last eight years never happened.

Two weeks later my family and I moved out to a suburban town in Maine. My parents spent the summer unpacking the house, and I just wandered around the town trying not to be noticed. I unpacked all my stuff and just spent my summer reading books with my headphones in. Today is the last day of summer and the only people I have spoken to all summer is my family. You would be surprised how little you leave the house when you have no friends.

Chapter 1-

I am sitting on my pink bed wearing black shorts, a black and white horizontal striped tank top, black flip flops, with my hair tied back in a French braid. My black rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of my nose. I stand up go into my closet and lay out my clothes. When I finish I go downstairs, jumping lightly on the balls of my feet down the stairs to find my dad reading the newspaper, my mom reading the news on her iPad, and my older sister Cynthia is watching TV with her boyfriend Brandon, whom she met at the pool at the beginning of the summer.

I sit down beside Cynthia and pull out my iPad, put in my headphones in, and turn on Taylor Swift’s fearless album and open iBook and read the last chapter of The Giver. My mom stands up and goes into the kitchen. I turn off my music and put the iPad stand up and sits down at the counter as mom makes dinner.

The next morning my mom woke me up and said

“Taylor, Taylor wake up you don’t want to be late for your first day of High School”

I groan and get out of bed and she leaves so I can get dressed, I get dressed in skinny jeans, a grey long sleeve t-shirt with a T on it, and black converse. I tie my blonde hair into a high ponytail and put on my glasses. I put my notebook into my backpack and go into the bathroom. I go downstairs and pour myself a bowl of cereal.

My mom walks in, in a black long sleeve t-shirt, jeans, and silver flats. She has her hair tied up in a half-up-half-down. She pulls out a small box and places in front of me. I unwrap the box slowly revealing an iPhone 6. I squeal and give my mom a hug. She laughs and says

“It is already set up with my number, your dad’s number, the home phone and Cynthia’s number, as well as all your favorite apps”

I put my phone in my backpack and Cynthia comes down wearing jeans, a yellow short sleeve t-shirt, with white flats, and her hair tied back in a French braid. I say goodbye to mom and run up to say goodbye to Dad, and Cynthia drives me to school.

I get out and go in following Cynthia who was walking into the school like she owned it. I pause a moment in the doorway thinking, if I have done my calculations correct, which they probably are, there are 724 days of High School, which means, that is a lot of days of sitting alone at lunch. Cynthia smiles and goes in and sits with her friends whom she had met over the summer. I go into the corner and wait for them to hand out schedules.

A man walks up to the microphone in the front of the cafeteria and says

“Students with the first names M-Z please come up here” I go to the front and a lady with bleach blonde hair and too much plastic surgery says

“Name sweetie?”

“Taylor Jones”

She shuffles through some papers and hands me my schedule. I go and sit down and see which classes I have:

Period 1: Spanish Room- 267

Period 2: Advanced History- room 345

Period 3: Gymnastics- room 312

Period 4: Advanced English- Room 343

Period 5: Chemistry " Room 325

Period 6: Advanced Math " Room 322

I stand up and go to Room 267 my Spanish class. It is taught by a short woman in her late fifties with short brown hair and big brown eyes. She has us stand in the front of the class room and she has us seated and I sit in the third row back in the fourth row over. I take out my notebook and pen. The teacher goes up to the white board and writes in big letters:

Ms. Juryman

She turns to look at us and says

“Welcome to Spanish part two” Without saying another word she writes the things we will need on the board.

When I get home later that day I take out my notebook and look at my supply list:

- 2 5 subject notebooks

- 1 three subject notebook

- 1 2 inch binder

- 1 6 pocket folder

- 1 accordion folder

- Mechanical Pencils

- Pens

- Highlighters

- A calendar

- Dividers

- Index Cards

- Lined paper

- Ultra-fine sharpies

- Different coloured pens

- One composition notebooks

- A planner

I go downstairs and find Cynthia waiting for me by the door.

“If you want to get your supplies before Christmas you are going to have to hurry up”

I hop down the stairs and get in the car. Cynthia and I get the supplies and then meet up in the line to pay for them. I get a notebook and three extra accordion folders. She pulls into Sephora and I go to the lip gloss section I pick up the Cotton Candy flavor and put four more in the basket and then go over to the hair section where I put three packs of bobbins in the basket. I go over and find Cynthia looking at eyeliners. We pay for the make-up and drive home.

I put my make-up away, and put my notebooks with dividers in between them, with lined paper in the back. I put it in my backpack, then I pick up my accordion folder, and put in my composition notebook, my planner, and my three subject notebook. I put my binder, accordion folder, and homework folder in my backpack. I put my backpack next to the door and put the calendar on the door. I take my orange, blue, and pink sharpies and fill in my month’s events. I put all my sharpies, post it’s, different coloured pens, index cards, mechanical pencils, and pens in my pencil case in my backpack and put my makeup away.

The next day Mom drives Cynthia and me to school and I give her a kiss on the cheek as I get out. I sit in the corner of the cafeteria with my head in my book. They make the morning announcements and then we are off to class.

At lunch I go and sit down at an empty table. A group of girls all with blonde hair and neon highlights and cheerleading clothes on come up to me and their leader says

“Um, like what are you doing?”

“I’m like um eating” I say mimicking

She frowns and says

“You will regret ever crossing our path or my name isn’t Courtney Terming”

I go through the rest of the day taking notes, doing my work, and staying quiet. As I walk out of school, I take out my phone and plug in my headphones. Taylor Swift’s forever and always starts playing. I see my mom’s car and get in the passenger seat. She smiles and starts driving and when we get home I go into my room and sit down and quickly do my homework in thirty minutes.

I change into yoga pants and a sports t-shirt and tie my hair in a ponytail. I put in my contacts and to our indoor gym my parents turned our extra garage into when we moved in. It has pale blue walls and every work-out machine you could think of. Then in the back corner there is ballet bar where Cynthia practices her ballet after school. There is a mirror that stretches around the entire wall about five feet tall. At first it freaked me out but then I got used to it. I plug my phone into the stereo system and get on the treadmill and bring the remote with me.

By the time mom texted me to come in for dinner I had ran through two cramps and gone through my twenty song playlist five times. I quickly shower and change into my pajamas and go downstairs for dinner. Mom has all the dishes set at the counter but not quiet at the table yet, so I take the muffs and care the trays over and fill the glasses with water.

We had potatoes with salt, broccoli, and cooked carrot, and by the time we finish all I wanted to do was crawl up in a ball in my bed and never come out. All they talked about the entire time was Timothy and how I will deal going back to school. I tried to change the subject but all they wanted to talk about was how well I would deal with High school without Timothy and Charlotte. When I finally make it to my bed, I pull my blankets around me and cry myself to sleep.

When I wake up the next morning my eyes are baggy and red from crying. I roll out of bed and stare at myself in the morning. I take my concealer and spread it under my eyes. By the time I finish with my makeup it is seven o’ clock, so I quickly get dressed in a white long sleeve Abercrombie top, a navy knee length skirt, and grey converse. I fishtail my hair to the side and put on my glasses.

I grab my backpack from the floor and put my book inside as I walk down the stairs. I eat my cereal quickly and kiss my parents goodbye as I walk out the door and sit on the steps and wait for Cynthia to come out. Cynthia comes out in a super short cheerleading skirt and crop top with her uber blonde hair tied back in a French braid. She struts into the school and I wait for a moment before going in.

The school had white tiles with red and grey squares in the center. There were red lockers and a fingerprint pad on each locker. I go to my locker and put my backpack in, and grab my binder. I go to Advisory and sit down in the middle seat. I keep my head down as the teacher calls attendance

“Courtney Adams?”

“Here”

“Jessica Brown?”

“Here”

By the time my name came around I was so into my book I didn’t even hear it,

“Taylor Jones?”

“Taylor!”

My head snaps up and say

“Huh?”

Everyone laughs and the teacher smiles sympathetically and says

“We are taking attendance”

I nod my head and she goes on to the next person, though I could still feel everyone’s eyes on me. I tried to dig myself lower and lower into my seat and I felt like I would be there forever when he walked in. The door opened and in walked the most gorgeous, perfect, incredible human being the world has ever produced. He smiles at the teacher and gives her a pass, then sits in the front row, four rows ahead of me, and three seats over.

Throughout the class I try and look at him subtly but whenever I do my whole body turns to mush so I have to avert my eyes. My eyes wander around the classroom, it has all its desks lined up in rows with a cream carpet, and a smart board in the front. There is a digital clock in the front about the door. When the bell rings I am the first one out the door and down the hallway like a rocket.

At lunch I sit down and read my book. When I am called up for lunch I stand up but as I walk passed a table a girl sticks her foot out and I fall flat on my face. Everyone laughs and I get up glaring at her. It was Courtney. I get my lunch and sit back down as quickly as possible.

For the next week I keep my head down and just read, I get all my homework done by four and go back to reading. Reading gave me an escape from the world, I get to live in another world for a bit before getting sucked back into mine. Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, and Courtney’s torments still continued but they became smaller, easier to live with.

On the morning of December 2^nd I wake up and roll out of bed. I get dressed in jeans, leg warmers, knee length Uggs, my black avengers t-shirt, and a navy parka. I tie my hair back in a French braid and put on my glasses. I eat my cereal slowly and when I finish I go up to my parent’s bedroom. My mom is getting dressed in black trousers, a white top, and black blazer. She has her blonde hair twisted in a French twist. My dad is wearing a suit and a tie with blue stripes on it. I kiss them both goodbye and meet Cynthia by the front. She gives my outfit a once over and says curling her lip

“That’s what you’re wearing?”

I look at her confused

“What’s wrong with my outfit?”

She shakes her head

“Nothing come on”

We get in the car and go to school. English was first today and she got right to it.

“We are starting essays today, choose your topic on one of these general topics and please choose a more specific topic off of one these; Media, Terrorism, Bullying, Beauty”

I open my notebook and title the page: Terrorism and I begin my essay.

Terror is found everywhere, if you look for it, you can find it. You could also say the same about Happiness, you have to have a certain mind set to seek out terror. Terrorism itself is the act of purposely causing terror on another. There is lots of terrorism in the world and in this essay I will be telling you about the type of terrorism I am talking about and the affects it can have on the people who suffer from it and the entire community around them.-

The bell rings and I shut my notebook and put it back in my binder. My next class is History and I was really not looking forward to it. I am the first one in line when I get there so I open my book and start reading. A line forms behind me within two minutes so I put my book down again and pay attention to the teacher who was waiting outside the door.

“We are beginning a new topic today on World War Two”

She lets us in and I go to the third row back, middle seat. It’s the perfect seat because you can still participate but the teacher doesn’t call on you as much. The class was pretty interesting I got about two pages of notes. By lunch I figured I was a normal day, Courtney humiliated me like usual and then I just went back to my book. I had a nutella sandwich for lunch with bananas in it, my favorite.

The rest of the day was normal the same as usual and I even wanted to get a bit of exercise so I told Cynthia that I would walk home. I put my headphones in and Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud. I stop to let the car go by but as it starts moving I hear Courtney snicker behind me and shoves me and I go flying in front of the car. The car connects with my hip and I go flying into the road, slamming into the side of another car passing by.

I couldn’t feel any pain yet but when I looked up the boy from my homeroom was holding my head. It was him, he was the most magnificent creature ever created. He holds me in his lap and I could hear sirens from about three blocks away. A crowd had formed around us, but I was staring into his eyes and it was like as I looked into them it was just us in the world. Then probably just to ruin the moment my legs start burning with pain, they felt like they were on fire. He could probably see it on my face because then he pulled my hair away from my face and said

“Shh, it’s alright, it’s going to be ok”

An ambulance served around the corner and two guys pulled a stretcher out and pulled me onto it, pulling me in. They strap an oxygen mask to my face, the boy jumps in, and before anyone could tell him otherwise he had his strap on. He holds my hand tightly, interlocking his fingers within mine. He didn’t let go and I just held on just as tight. They probably put in anesthesia, in the mask because I found my eyes getting heavier and heavier and within seconds I was asleep….

When I wake up the next day the light is shining through the window everything is blurry but I could make out somethings; there are tubes all over me there is an I.V in either arm, and a nasal cannula in my nose. I tilt my head slightly to the side to see the boy sitting in a chair next to me reading a book. He looks up and smiles, he reaches over and puts my glasses on my face, and I push them up my nose shakenly.

I smile at him and he smiles back and says

“Hi, I’m Aaron”

“I’m Taylor”

“I wanted to stay the night but my parents said you wouldn’t wake up anytime soon so I gave your parents my number but I ended up not needing it after all” He chuckles and says

“I’m ramble when I’m nervous” I laugh and say

“Why are you nervous?”

“Because you’re really pretty” I beam from eye to eye and say

“Well you’re not so bad yourself”

He chuckles and walks over and sits beside me on the bed. I glance at the wheelchair next to my bed and I say

“Aaron, how long exactly have I been asleep?” He looks sheepish and says

“Two weeks”

“TWO WEEKS?!”

“The doctors had to put you in a coma to see if your legs could recover themselves but…”

“They couldn’t” I finish for him. He smiles and says

“Hey do want to race, the hallway we’re in is pretty much always empty, I mean says your nurse Daisy who comes in here pretty much every half hour so it would be the perfect way to learn how to use it” I smile and say

“Sure just let me get dressed” I gesture to the clothes sitting on the table across the room. Aaron rings for Daisy and she comes in, about thirty seconds later. Daisy has chestnut brown hair with big brown eyes. She is wearing a cotton candy pink nurse top with her hair in a French braid. Aaron leaves the room to go get another wheelchair from down the hall and to go get a snack from café. Daisy helps me into the wheelchair and makes my bed.

She helps me get dressed and shows me how to put on jeans. I am wearing dark wash jeans, gold Uggs, a white and gold horizontal striped top, and cream leg warmers. Daisy ties my hair in a crown and I put on my glasses. Aaron comes back with the wheelchair and he says

“Ready?”

“Game on”

Daisy gets us set up in the hallway and gets a napkin says

“3, 2, 1… GO”

Aaron and I zoom off, the wheelchair was easier than it looks, you puss once and it goes zooming off. It ended up being a tie. We go to the café for lunch and I get mac ‘n’ cheese and Aaron gets a sandwich. By the time my parents came, we were having so much fun, I forgot about my accident.

We were back in my room when there is a knock on the door, Daisy comes in and says

“Taylor, your parents are here”

My mom walks in and she rushes to my bed, and pulls me into a hug

“Oh sweetie” She starts sobbing and my dad pulls her into his shoulder.

“Hi dad” I say and he smiles sympathetically, Cynthia is standing in the doorway and I call over to her

“Cynthia come in”

She walks over to the bed and says in a small voice

“I am so sorry, this is all my fault”

I look at her shocked,

“Is that what you think? This is not your fault in the least, I said I was going to walk home, I was pushed. That’s why I was hit” She looks at me her eyes gleaming and hugs me and whispers in my ear low enough so Mom and Dad can’t hear

“By the way nice score on Aaron by the way, he’s hot” I laugh and look over and Aaron who looks as flabbergasted as my parents. For the next week they teach me everything about living in a wheelchair from getting into bed to putting on my make-up. When they finally release me from the hospital it is December 23^rd, and we are already on Christmas break. I get home that day at noon, Mom and Dad let me go out to hang out with Aaron, I am wearing jeans, a black hoodie, and converse, with a black parka. Cynthia braids my hair for me, and helps me put in my earrings.

Aaron meets me by my house and we go to the park, which is empty because it is about ten degrees. We walk around the park on the trails and then we go back towards town and get lunch at Johnny Rockets.

When I get home I give Aaron a tour of the house and show him my new room, which had been moved downstairs, due to my wheelchair. The insurance gave us two wheelchairs, a normal push one and another one with a motor and battery for long walks.

They had changed everything though in my room other than my bed sheet, they kept my duvet the same, the blue and white polka dot, I have always had. There is now a chain to help me get in the bed, and a board you push up and down for once you’re in. Even the bathroom has changed the bath has a roll in bath with a door and seat that I sit in, then the toilet has the same chain my bed does.

The next morning I wake up at nine o’clock and I pull myself into my chair still in my pajamas. Mom and Dad are both up and