Chapter 2

A Chapter by bella

Chapter 2

My room was the same as I had left it. The beige walls still had random writing all over it. The curtains were still white and long but with gray dust sprinkled all over the long wrinkles. My bed was made and my nightstand was still cluttered with books and late homework. My floor had been recently vacuumed and my windows had been recently cleaned.

"I tried to clean up a little bit before you got home so you would have a clean room to come home to," my mom said. I jumped, for I hadn't known she had entered. She smiled weakly at me and leaned up against the doorway.

"Thanks, Mom," I said. I walked to my bed and sat on it, the comforter giving way.

"I used to sit in here, sometimes for hours and just pray that you were safe," she said. There she went again, trying to make me feel guilty for leaving. I said nothing as I looked around at my room once more. I had definitely missed it.

"Did Monique go home?" I asked. My mom paused.

"She lives here, Taylor." I furrowed my brow.

"Since when?" I asked. My mom laughed a bit nervously and ran her fingers through her hair, a thing she always did when she was thinking.

"About three months ago. Two months later, your brother proposed," she sighed. "Kind of sudden, don't you think?" I stopped myself from making a judgement on my brother.

"When did he meet Monique?" I asked. My mom paused and looked up at the ceiling, trying to think.

"They went to college together, once they graduated, they started dating," she said. I looked around again, not really knowing what to say.

"Can I be alone, now?" I asked. My mom seemed taken aback at my request, but she understood. She nodded and trudged out, closing the door behind her.

The silence bugged me. I had been so used to noises, cars honking while I slept, people fighting outside my door and my best friends whispering beside me trying not to wake me up. Texas was so much different, it was always quiet and peaceful. I missed it. San Francisco had definitely not been my cup of tea.

There was a knock at the door, interrupting my train of thought. "Can I come in?" It sounded like Monique. I was I could've shouted "no" or to tell her to go away, but I didn't, I just let her assume she could come in.

"I like your room," she lied. I raised my eyebrow and tried to smile, but failed, yet again.

"I was going to ask you something," she started.

"Yeah? What."

"Well, as you know, my wedding is coming up," she began. "And it's going to be here in your family's backyard. And I was wondering if you would like to be my Maid of Honor." She seemed like she wanted to take back her words as soon as she said them. I didn't know what to say, I had just met the woman and she already wanted me to be her Maid of Honor as if she had known me her whole life. I paused and thought.

"Don't you have a sister or friend for that?" I asked. I tried to be as sarcastic as I could. I already wasn't that fond of her and I wasn't about to be her Maid of Honor.

"Most of my family's dead. My parents died in a car crash when I was eleven and I never had any brothers and sisters. The only family that's going to be at my wedding is my Aunt Ellie," she said. I wondered if she wanted sympathy from me. And it worked. I felt my heart ache for her, I thought I had lost alot.

"Sure, I'll be your Maid of Honor," I replied. I knew I was going to regret this decision, but I couldn't help but feel sympathetic, she truly had nobody else to take on this role.

"Thank you, this truly means a lot to me," she smiled whole-heartedly.

"No problem."

The next morning I awoke to humidity swimming through my room. I had forgotten how bad it could get after a night shower. I pried the comforter off of my body and kicked my feet over the side of my bed. I let the rug tickle my toes for a minute before standing up and letting the silky rug engulf my feet in softness. I could already hear everyone walking around below me. I glanced at the clock, it was around noon. I wondered why nobody had thought to wake me. I stretched and left my bed room to enter the bathroom, which was right across the hallway. I looked at my reflection for the first time in nearly a week.

My skin was nearly colorless; almost gray. My stark blonde hair was long and wavy, a quality I had always admired about myself. But now, it felt dead and lifeless and a bit ratted so I pulled it up. My eyes were kind of red but the purple bags under my eyes were finally beginning to fade. My nails were still tinted yellow but they were regaining their natural color and finally beginning to grow. Feeling a little better about myself, I headed downstairs.

I was greeted by my mother, brother, Monique and Callie. They were all sitting at the table and seemed like they were waiting for me. Callie's eyes lit when she saw me and there was almost a sigh of relief from everyone else.

"You missed breakfast and we didn't want to eat another meal without you," my brother smiled. Monique smiled at me as well. She was really taking a liking to me.

"Well, don't just stand there, come and take a seat," my mom said and patted the vacant chair next to her.

"Pajamas and all?" I joked. My brother laughed.

"Pajamas and all," my mom smiled at me and I went to take a seat next to her. I was so excited to eat now that I was finally hungry. We began to pass bowls and plates arond. I grabbed a cob of corn, a drumstick left over from last night's fried chicken, leftover mashed potatoes and a roll. I felt everyone's eyes on my as I devoured my lunch and kind of smiled at them when they began laughing.

"Look's like someone didn't get enough food in San Francisco," Travis laughed and I laughed with him. There was silence for awhile as everyone ate.

"Do you want to go to the lake, today?" Travis asked me once I finished my food. I smiled and nodded.

"I would love to," I said. Monique and Travis looked at each other and began giggling. "What's so funny?" I asked. They both smiled and my mom joined in.

"You've only been back for nearly twelve hours and you've already got your accent back," Monique giggled. I hadn't even noticed.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah," my mom said. There was silence for awhile again.

"We'll leave for the lake in an hour, okay?" Travis asked. I nodded.

"Okay."

The lake was just as beautiful as it always had been. The luscious landscape around it was still as green as it was, the trees still as big and shady.

"Come on, let's go swimming!" Callie cried, pulling me out of Travis' truck.

"Okay, okay," I smiled. I was kind of nervous to pull of my baggy t-shirt, what if my ribs still stuck out? I brushed off the thought and pulled it over my head, revealing my black and gold bikini that I had found stuffed in one of my drawers. I imagined I reflected the sun, as white as I was. My ribs still stuck out, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be.

I followed Callie to the dock where she jumped off in a cannonball, splashing the warm water all over me.

"I'll be over here," Travis said. He was walking to a group of older guys drinking beer. I sighed and sat at the edge of the dock, dangling my feet in the water. In the distance was a group of teenage boys messing around in the water. I payed them a bunch of attention, they were all cute. I almost felt my heart skip a beat when the tan, blonde one looked my way. I could make out his bright blue eyes all the way from over here. I covered my white stomach, nearly ashamed. I wondered what he thought of me as he mindlessly glanced at me.

I tore my attention away from him to focus on Callie, who was doing flips in the water. Her eyes smiled at me through her fogged goggles.

"Watch this, Taylor!" she shouted, causing all the boys to turn around again. I felt my face flush an unattractive shade of red. The blonde one smiled at me a little. At least, I hoped so.

"Taylor!" someone called. I turned around to face Travis. "Aren't you going to go for a swim?" I smiled weakly and shook my head.

"Probably not," I said. He rolled his eyes, I had never been big on swimming ever since I quit the highschool swimming team. I had also never wanted to get my hair wet, especially in front of the cute group of guys now, not far away from me. Travis must have seen me staring, once again, because he chuckled.

"Not in front of him, right?" he laughed. I didn't understand why this amused him as much as he did, it was serious. And this guy was seriously gorgeous.

"Come on, Tay," Callie shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth. Travis raised an eyebrow at me, I knew what he was thinking. I stood up abruptly.

"Travis, don't," I said, spacing him from me with an outreach of my arm. I sighed, it was no use, my strength was nothing compared to his. He gathered me up in his arms.

"Travis, Travis, stop," I said. I looked down at the murky water just a few feet below me. "Stop!" But it was too late, he had already flung me out of his hold and I crashed into the water below me.

The water was a pleasant greeting, it washed the sweat from my body and I kind of sat there at the bottom of the lake. The mud engulfed my legs and I opened my eyes. All I could see was a light brown kind of darkness that nearly scared me. But the silence was nice. All I could hear was the sound of the waves around me and it was peaceful. I thought to myself, if only I had gills, I would stay down here forever.

I ran out of breath sooner than I thought I would have and rose to the surface, smoothing my hair back away from my face.

"Travis, you jerk!" I shouted. I looked around me, Travis was standing on the dock and Callie was swimming in circles around me. I couldn't make out the group of boys through my blurred vision. "That wasn't funny." But yet, he continued to laugh. I propped my elbows up on the dock and pushed myself up onto it. Someone whistled, but I was too concerned with the way my swimming suit sort of sagged off my body from the water.

"Jerk," I repeated.

"Oh, you know you love me," Travis called as I began walking back to the pickup truck. I grabbed my t-shirt off the passenger side seat and pulled it over me. "Come on." Travis lead me back to the dock, where the boys were.

"Jace, this is my sister, Taylor," Travis introduced me to the boy. The boy smiled his cute smile at me and I flushed that unattractive shade, yet again.

"Hey," he said. He was so calm and collected, I felt so insecure around him. Was that a good thing? I bit my lip, I couldn't remember the last time I was so nervous around someone. The three boys he was with made the notion to get out of the lake so they all did. All at once, we stood dripping wet on top of the dock while Callie was still consumed in her own world. I tried to pry my focus off the boy butI could feel his eyes on me the whole time.

"How did you two meet?" I asked, dragging my eyes from Travis to Jace.

"Jace is a few years younger than me, he went to my highschool," Travis said.

"Where do you go now?" I asked. Jace seemed a bit confused by my question. "College?"

"Oh," Jace chuckled. "Nowhere, my mom's sick so I had to put off my college plans for awhile until she can be on her own again. If she can ever be alone again." I looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry," I said. He smiled and nodded.

"I heard you've been in San Francisco," Jace changed the subject. The rest of the boys notioned to him that they were going to head out and left.

"Yeah, I have," I said.

"It must be nice to get out of this town," he sighed. Travis looked down at his watch.

"Tay, we have to go," he said. I looked at Travis and gave him a mean look.

"Do we have to?" Callie shouted from the lake.

"Yeah, we do," Travis said. "We have to meet up with the rest of the family back at the house for dinner." Callie sighed and began getting out of the lake. I looked back at Jace.

"Maybe, I'll see you around?" he shrugged. I nodded and smiled a big, dumb smile.

"Yeah, maybe."

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