A Girl on a Mission

Fifteen

"This is it," I murmur to myself as I take one final look in the mirror. It's the first day of my senior year in high school, and I'm totally ready to go. My blond hair cascades down my back in curls, my blue eyes are surrounded by the perfect amount of mascara and eyeliner, and I'm wearing my favorite white sundress with matching sandals. I hear a honk from outside and instantly head to the door, calling a quick 'goodbye' to my mom on the way.

"You look stunning," Abigail Anderson, my best friend, tells me as I slip into her car. We hug and then she puts the car into reverse as I put on my seat belt.

"Why thank you! You're looking pretty damn good yourself," I return the compliment. She smiles and glances over at me.

"Can you believe it's our senior year already?" Abigail asks with a sigh.

"No! It feels like it was just yesterday that we were fifteen, walking through the doors on the morning of our very first day" I respond, and she laughs.

"It really does. How in the world did the years go by so fast? And how did we change so much in three years?" she questions.

"I honestly don't even know. We've been through so much in the past few years. God, if I could go back in time, I don't even know what I would tell my fifteen year old self. I mean, we've learned so much, but how do you put all of that into words?" I ask her.

"How about the fact that dating a football player is not the most important thing you'll do in your life?" Abigail suggests. I laugh and nod.

"That's a good one. And the ever so obvious, don't forget to look before you fall," I add.

"Or the fact that you shouldn't believe everyone that tells you they love you," Abigail gets really quiet, and I instantly know what's on her mind.

"Abby," I start, but she cuts me off before I can say anything.

"Taylor, don't worry, I'm fine. It's almost been three years now. I can handle it. I just can't believe my first time was with such a jerk," she mumbles.

"You loved him, Abby. You can't blame yourself for actually feeling something," I tell her, and she nods.

"I know, I know. That's why I would tell my fifteen year old self that he doesn't actually mean it. Anyways, we're here," she changes the topic as she parks the car. We both get out of the car and grab our bags. We walk into the school and immediately see Drew Hansen, our other best friend, winking at a girl that was most definitely a freshman.

"Drew," Abby growls menacingly.

"What? I was just going to tell her that I haven't seen her around here before," he says innocently while Abigail proceeds to punch him in the arm.

"You would never date a girl that's that much younger than you, now quit getting her hopes up," I laugh.

"You two are no fun," Drew grumbles as he puts his jacket in his locker. We just roll our eyes and open the locker that we share, which just so happens to be two lockers down from Drew. He leans against one of the lockers between ours as he waits for us to unload all of our stuff in our locker.

"You know, one day that locker is going to explode. I mean look at it. You don't even have your books yet and it's already almost full," Drew comments. "Why don't you just use your locker, Taylor?"

"Because my locker is all the way down the hall and impossible to get to between classes," I mumble. And it's too far away from you I add in my mind. Drew has been my best friend since we were little kids. We grew up next door to each other. Our rooms even have windows that face each other. Normally, Drew rides to school with Abigail and I, but this morning he had a football workout to go to before either of us were even awake. I've had a crush on him since 8th grade, but admitting that to anyone has yet to happen. Especially since Drew made the varsity football team and became instantly popular. It's shocking that he even hangs out with Abby and I still, considering the fact that we aren't anywhere near popular. As a matter of fact, we are the butt of many of the jokes made by the people who actually are popular.

"Here comes the Pretty Committee," Drew warns us in a low voice. The Pretty Committee, also known as a group of the most popular girls in school, led by the one and only Alice Bell. Abigail and I had given them the nickname back in freshman year when we were discussing how pretty and cool these girls all thought they were.

"Hey, geeks," Alice says in her typical icy tone as she walks up to us. "Hey, Drew," she adds with a smile. He nods at her and moves to our other side. The only downside to the location of the locker Abby and I share: Alice has one of the lockers in between us and Drew, and the other is Madilyn's, Alice's best friend. Abby and I ignore her 'geek' comment and hasten to finish setting up our locker and walk away.

"God, I hate her," Abby mutters once we're out of earshot.

"So does everyone outside of the Pretty Committee," I say, which makes Abigail giggle.

"Hey, you're forgetting the half of the male jocks that can't wait to get in her pants," Drew adds, which sends all three of us into a fit of laughter.

"Wait, there's a half that doesn't like her?" Abby asks once she's caught her breath.

"Maybe not a half, but there's a good amount. Who do you think I talk to at practice?" Drew chuckles.

"Okay, so if half wants in her pants, and less than half don't like her, then what's up with the leftovers?" Abigail questions.

"Simple. Those are the ones who have already gotten in her pants," I explain, which makes Drew and Abigail burst into laughter again.

"And there's our senior class, described by how they feel about Alice Bell," Drew announces.

"Well, this is us," I say as Abby and I stop by the door to our first hour class.

"Do you guys have first hour together every year?" Drew asks.

"Pretty much, yep. And it's a really good thing we had it together freshman year. Otherwise, we may not have even become friends," Abby comments. While I've known Drew for the majority of my life, I only met Abigail my freshman year. We had had assigned seats in my first class of the day, and I was sat by the friendly redhead. Soon enough, we were best friends, and we've remained best friends since then.

"Oh, and what a tragedy that would have been," Drew teases.

"Just because you want Taylor all to yourself doesn't mean you can have her all to yourself," Abby teases back. Drew just laughs and walks away.

"See you guys next hour," he calls over his shoulder.

"So, when do you plan on telling me about your insane crush on him?" Abby asks as we sit down.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I try to say nonchalantly, but I know that Abigail can read me like a book, and no matter how casual I act about this, shes not going to believe it.

"Yeah, sure. That's why you turned beet red the instant I said something about him having you all to himself. Now fess up girl, how long?" And there it is. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull this off forever.

"How long have you known?" I counter her question with one of my own.

"Nope. You first."

"Eighth grade."

"Seriously?" she growls. "You never told me? I only started to suspect something at the end of sophomore year, and then you just confirmed it more and more last year. Why haven't you told him?"

"Have you even seen him, Abby? He's cool and popular and just everything I could ever wish for. We may be friends, but there's no way he'd date a guitar playing geek like me," I sigh.

"Oh whatever, Taylor! You have to tell him, you guys would be absolutely perfect together," she squeals.

"No," I say. She narrows her eyes and I know I'm going to regret that flat, simple response.

"You have until next Monday, or I tell him," she finally says, and I groan.

"Abby, you can't tell him! Promise me," I beg.

"No," she says in response. I guess I had that one coming.

AN: Yay! So I thought this was a pretty cool idea. Basically, each chapter will be based off a song, and hopefully by the end of this I will have a cohesive story based entirely off of Taylor Swift songs! Whoo! Please, please, please comment, vote, and share! Also, I will include a link to the Taylor Swift Youtube video for each song in case one pops up that someone hasn't heard.