CLEAN || Taylor Swift Adoption

ONE

"I'm alone, on my own, and that's all I know
I'll be strong, I'll be wrong, oh, but life goes on"

~EVERLEIGH~

July 15, 2019

"Alright, we have our winner!" I called, gesturing to the seven-year-old girl sitting in the colorful plastic chair in the middle of the room I was standing in. "Congratulations, Sadie! You're the musical chairs champion of Little Explorers!"

"You know the only reason she won is because she's the only kid that actually wanted to play when you started playing Taylor Swift songs," Vallie, my co-worker, told me, leaning over and whispering in my ear so none of the kids could hear. Well, technically she wasn't my co-worker–I was fourteen–but I was a counselor in training, and I had been working all summer with her and her two co-workers, Rowan and Jase. Even though I wasn't getting paid, I still considered myself to be their co-workers; after all, it was easier than trying to come up with a more in-depth explanation of my role at the camp.

I rolled my eyes in response to Vallie's remark. "Hey. Taylor Swift is good music."

"I never said it wasn't good music," Vallie said in response. "It's just... I think she's a bit overplayed. That's all. And I think some of her newer songs have been overhyped."

I shook my head again, absentmindedly looking across the room as Jase and Rowan helped all of the kids to sit down in the corner of the room so Jase could read them a story. "Okay, so see, there's where you're wrong. For one thing, there's no such thing as overplaying Taylor Swift music," I said, "and for another thing, 'ME!' and 'You Need To Calm Down' are both extremely fun songs."

"You know what, I'm not even gonna fight it," Vallie said, shaking her head. "You got the kids to be occupied for twenty minutes, which is more than is usually possible, even on a really good day. So I'll just let you have your little Taylor Swift moment while you still can."

I laughed, faking a hair flip with my ponytail. "Thank you. I appreciate it greatly."

"Mhm," Vallie hummed in reply. "I'm sure you do."

"Okay," I nodded, turning towards the chairs that were scattered around the middle of the room. "I say we tackle the chairs first, and then we should probably start getting ready for pick-up."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Vallie agreed, starting towards some of the chairs and beginning to stack them up. "You know, you're not half bad at your job, Squirt."

I rolled my eyes at her use of the nickname I'd been given by Jase. He, Vallie, and Rowan were all going to be juniors in high school, and since I was only going to be a freshman, Jase had gotten it into his head that I was light years younger than him and his co-workers. Hence the seemingly endless stream of nicknames he'd given me, and of course, the relentless teasing that I got from him, Vallie, and Rowan altogether. It was definitely something I wasn't used to, but I didn't feel any need to complain. As far as I saw it, it was a much better experience than some of the other ones I could've had over the summer.

"I'm not even getting paid, so it's barely a job," I responded. "But thanks."

"Damn– I mean, darn, you can't even take a compliment when it's literally handed to you on a silver platter," Vallie smirked. "Girl, I'm trying to tell you that you're doing a good job. Take the compliment."