Girls Never Go Out of Style - A Kaylor Fanfic

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Look at that! Not even here a week, and already someone's got a secret admirer!"

"Oh, Mom." Taylor turned her attention away from the pressed flower she had been holding, cracked open one of the textbooks sitting beside her breakfast plate, and slipped the delicate thing back between the pages.

It was Friday. Taylor had been carrying the flower around with her since Wednesday. Every time she looked at it-which was more often than it was really dignified to admit-she felt the same flush of charmed excitement that had suffused her when she went to her locker to switch out her books and found it peeking through one of the vents in the metal door. That little pop of purple. A violet.

"It's not that big a deal," Taylor said.

Andrea Swift beamed a hopeful smile across the table at her daughter. "It's okay, baby. You're allowed to be excited about it."

Am I? The thought was bitter and immediate in Taylor's mind. She tried to push it down.

"I just wonder who it is?" Andrea mused. She chewed a bite of toast meditatively. "Have you met any nice boys at school?"

Taylor shrugged. "Everyone's been really nice," she said, noncommittally.

The statement was true enough. She was starting with a clean slate. No one knew her as anything more than the new girl, the pretty, unfamiliar face. People were friendly enough, in a detached sort of way. A group of girls had invited her to sit with them at lunch, but so far she had yet to meet anyone who seemed to have the makings of a real friend. Everyone had already established their groups and were just biding their time until they got their diploma and their hard-earned freedom. No one really had time for Taylor. No one except...

Karlie.

"I'm glad you're fitting in," Andrea said, pulling Taylor out of her reverie. "You know, your dad and I really believe that this move will be good for you. Especially after... Well."

Taylor felt so many words bubbling up in her throat, hot and prickly. But she looked down at her plate, silent.

Andrea was oblivious to her daughter's discomfort. "You know, I was thinking that we might do some shopping tomorrow. I have a new skirt pattern, and we could pick up some fabric at that little shop we saw. Fall's coming. I think a nice tweed..."

"Actually, Mom, I've made plans."

"Oh?" Andrea's eyes brightened. "Maybe with your mysterious admirer?"

"No, just one of the girls at school. She's going to show me where the other kids hang out."

Andrea was quiet for a beat. "That sounds fun. Finished?" And then she was a bustle of activity, clearing the breakfast plates. Taylor could hear a clatter of cutlery and the splash of the faucet from the kitchen. She stood and began gathering her school things.

"I think the bus is here," she called out to Andrea, walking toward the front door. "I'll see you this afternoon."

Andrea appeared in the foyer, drying her hands on a dish towel. "Have a good day, baby. I love you."

"I love you, too."

And she did, Taylor thought as she closed the door behind her and stepped out onto the sunny front porch. She loved both of her parents. She had always worked so hard to be the best daughter she could be, with perfect grades and perfect poise and perfect... everything. She had never wanted to disappoint them. And that, in a way, was what made everything so much harder.

But Taylor didn't want to think about any of that. She didn't want to think about her parents and their expectations and what they had made her leave behind in Pennsylvania. Not when she would see Karlie tomorrow.