Chapter two

-Chapter 2-1

Am I not pretty enough?2

The beautiful smell of fresh rain went through Taylor’s nose. She took a large breath in and enjoyed the peace and quiet. She was about to rest her eyes again, when she heard “Taylor! Hurry up and get down stairs, so I can take you to school.”3

School; was the only word that registered in her head. She immediately checked her watch to make sure it wasn’t April fools day. Her dad had got to be kidding. What kind of normal teenager goes to school, the first day they arrive in a new place? Then again, was she a normal teenager?4

Grunting slightly, Taylor pushed herself off her bed with all the energy she could produce. She wiped her eyes and slowly and forcefully dragged her legs down stairs. “Why aren’t you dressed?” said Sam, where her face entered the kitchen.5

“For what?” Taylor replied, dreading the answer.6

“For school of course, it’s the first day of term.” He replied happily.7

Taylor rolled her eyes and laughed. “Good joke dad, but it isn’t April fool’s day!”8

“Stop kidding around young lady!” he said in what sounded like an angry voice. “You will eat your breakfast, go straight upstairs to get dressed then come back down here so we can leave.”9

Taylor jumped back slightly and then was rooted on the spot from shock. She did expect her father to get so angry about it so suddenly. Back when her mother was alive, Sam would have taken Taylor’s words as a joke, and then they would probably laugh it off by going somewhere for the day and not go to school. But ever since she passed away, he was so different.10

He jumped at loud noises; he was very hesitant and was a lot grumpier. He was like a totally new person all together. The pain Taylor suffered from everyday because of her mum and dad was unbearable, beyond anything she had ever experienced in her life. It was more painful then hundreds of knives piercing her broken heart. 11

Taylor slowly dragged her tired legs upstairs again. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was not ready to go to an American school. Her looks had never bothered her at all in her life, until now. He breathing became heavier. She tried forgetting about school, but the degree of nervousness she was suffering from was making it quite difficult to succeed in. 12

She picked up her brush and stroked it through her hair. It was red and curly. The hair of a ‘Ranga’ according to Americans. Taylor got dressed into something half decent, well according to her anyway. It was her favourite clothes; a green shirt with yellow pants. Taking one last desperate look at herself in the mirror she regretfully walked down stairs. 13

“Finally, what were you doing up there?” Sam said, sounding as if he was back to his usual cheery self.14

“Nothing,” Taylor replied grimly, trying to fight the tears that were beginning to form in her beautiful eyes.15

Taylor grabbed her school bag and through it over her shoulder. She walked out the front door, hoping her dad was about to tell her he was joking about having to go to school. But those words never were spoken. Taylor’s heart fell, if possible, even further.16

Taylor slammed the car door closed and sat down. This was it. She was definitely going to school. She could not believe she was getting so worked up over school, for someone who never worried about anything. Things happen, people change, and Taylor, sadly related to this. 17

“There you go,” Sam said as he pulled up into the schools car park. “Out you get. Did you want me to come in with you?”18

Taylor just looked at him with the anger etched into her face. She did not reply to him, but simply turned away and headed towards the school. She walked up the pathway. There were teenage kids everywhere. As she walked through the crowd, it went silent. Everyone watched her as she walked. This really freaked Taylor out. She started walking allot faster, until she was in a slight jog. 19

Eventually she got out of the weird crowd. She had a map in her hand. Just before she left for school, her dad told her what to do. “Go straight to the office, do not linger and speak to anyone,” were his exact words. Taylor decided to follow this rule, seeing as she just wanted to be invisible, not noticed. Because being invisible meant no one would bother her, tease her, or make her life miserable, they would just ignore her. 20

Taking a deep breath, Taylor pushed the door open. She headed up to the front desk, trembling all over. “Hello dear,” said an elderly lady with a warm smile. “How can I help you?”21

“Hi,” Taylor said quietly. She had always been quite a shy person. “I’m Taylor Grace; I’m a new student here. I was told to come here.”22

“Oh yes, that’s right, we were expecting a new student. Welcome to Monte Carlo high, I hope your time here is wonderful. We have a very safe and healthy working environment, and I am sure you will make friends soon enough,” she replied happily, handing Taylor a timetable as she said this.23

“Thanks,” Taylor said, although she doubted what the lady had just said to her. Turning around she headed back out the door. She looked at her timetable. Her class said 10.4- Ms James. She headed towards the class room. Eventually after about five minutes of looking for it, she found it. 24

Before she knocked, she checked the time. 9:05am; she was late. Great, that’s exactly what I need, to be late on my first day, thought Taylor. Taylor raised her wrist and knocked very gently and silently on the cold door. She waited. No one replied. She raised her wrist again, and knocked with a lot more force. 25

Suddenly the wooden door creaked open. A really ugly person stood before Taylor. She had orange hair that was extremely long and curly. She had buck teeth, which required some serious attention. Her eyebrows were raised at the sight of Taylor, causing many wrinkles to be etched in her face. In Taylor’s opinion, she really needed to hire a plastic surgeon, and perhaps a dentist. 26

“Yes?” she said in a grumpy voice.27

“I’m Taylor, I’m a new student,” Taylor said nervously.28

“Oh there you are,” Taylor and Ms James heard coming from around the corner. “I will introduce you two to the class, seeing as you are both new.”29

Taylor tried to speak, but all that came out was a small squeak. The principle, Mr Edwards walked in the class. “Morning 10.4,” he said in a cheerful voice.30

The class murmured ‘morning’ back, but on half heartedly. Half of them didn’t even both to open their mouths. How rude, Taylor secretly thought to herself, she decided not to sound this out loud. 31

“This is your new teacher, Ms James. It is only her first year out of university so I want you to make her feel welcome,” Principle Edwards said smiling, completely oblivious to that lack of interest of the class. “And also I wanted to let you know we have a new student joining us today from all the way in Joville, Australia. This is Taylor, Taylor Grace. I want you to make her feel welcome as well.32

With those few last words, he left the classroom. Ms James looked at the class. “Hi, I’m Ms James, as your principle just said, and I will be taking you for the rest of the year, due to the fact of the sudden illness your previous teacher just obtained.”33

“Hi, I’m Tristan, and I will be disrupting this class for the rest of the year,” interrupted a kid, sitting in the back row of the class.34

The whole entire class cracked up laughing, except for one girl at the front. She had a shy look to her, and had a look of deep disgust on her face. Were we the only ones who thought of that remark as utterly rude and disrespectful? Taylor thought.35

Looking around at the whole class, red in the face from laughing, Taylor saw a particular girl who stood out from the rest of the class. Her face was unbelieveably beautiful, and her hair looked like the hair off a television commercial. She was laughing uncontrably, a little too dramatic if you asked Taylor. 36

She put her arm around Tristan saying, “Good one love, keep annoying the hell outta of that crazy person standing up the front, who actually thinks she will teach us something.”37

Taylor didn’t know what annoyed her more. The fact that the girl had actually said that about someone, or the fact that she didn’t even bother to keep her voice down, so everyone could hear her, including the teacher. 38

Once again the whole class cracked up, except for that lonely girl at the front. “Settle down now,” Said Ms James in a cranky voice, “and what is your name?” she added pointing at the stunningly beautiful girl sitting next to Tristan.39

“Joanne, Joanne Dezcio,” she replied, trying to keep her stifles of laughter in, however she was not succeeding to well.40

“Well I want to see both you and your little smart mouth friend Tristan after class,” she said after staring at them for a while with disgust.41

“Now Taylor, you can sit where ever you want dear,” Ms James said, her voice changing instantly from being nasty to sweet. 42

Taylor gave her a slight smile and looked around. The only free chair was next to the girl at the front. She is probably the only girl I would want to sit next to anyway, Taylor thought. She headed over in her direction. The class started whispering. Taylor ignored it, but she found it extremely difficult, due to the fact that people were now yelling out “Nice clothes’ or ‘Ranga alert’. 43

Taylor slumped in to the seat besides the girl. “Hi, I’m Lily,” she said happily. Her voice was so soft unlike the rest of the class. 44

“Hey, does the class always carry on like this?” Taylor said raising her eyebrows, referring to their horrible behaviour and attitude towards pretty much everything. 45

“This is them on their good days,” she replied sighing. “I don’t really think our last homeroom teacher became suddenly ill. To be completely honest with you, I don’t think she could handle the class at all, so she simply just left.”46

“That is horrible, how could people even behave so immature?” Taylor asked, looking around. The class was calling out rudely, walking around the room when they pleased and completely refused to listen to Ms James.47

“I know. But the main perpetrator is Tristan Green,” she said looking towards him. “He acts like this tough, rebellious guy for the attention, and of course the rest of the student body follows him. He is the most popular guy in our year, and he is dating the most popular girl. They are the perfect couple, well everyone thinks so anyway. But I honestly think deep down, Tristan is a whole different person. Some times I accidently walk in on him, and he is just sitting there, with a guitar singing the most beautiful songs you can imagine, that have so much meaning and emotion put into it.”48

“I don’t like him,” Taylor said simply, but instantly. As she said this, the school bell ringing echoed through the school. All that could be heard was the scraping of chairs on the hard surface, and the chatting of the many students. Taylor stood up, wishing she was at home. Before she went to school that day, she decided to keep quiet about why she moved. She was not in the mood for people to say ‘I’m so sorry about your mother’ because that would just make tears form in her eyes. 49

The rest of the school day Taylor spent it with Lily. They talked as if they had known each other for years. They related to each other so much. Lily started talking about her family how she was abused by her father so she now lives with her mum. When Lily revealed all this to Taylor, Taylor thought it was time to tell her about her mum. They talked for ages about everything. 50

At home that night, Taylor cried herself to sleep. She really missed her mum, she couldn’t put it in words how badly she wanted her back. Darkness completely filled her new room by 10:30pm, and by 11 she was sound asleep. 51