It Had to be Taylor

Chapter 1

(HALEY'S POV)

"Haley, I can't believe you hate Taylor Swift!"

"She's the best artist out there!"

"You really shouldn't be a hater."

This is what I hear daily. It's not my fault I absolutely hate that slut that so many girls scream over. I constantly get remarks about why her music is so "inspiring" or why she is so kind and caring.

I go upstairs to my room and sit down on my bed. Under my pillow is a picture of me and Elaine, my best friend who got adopted 7 months ago. I look at her and feel my eyes start to water. I really miss her. She's called about once a month. I wish she would more often, but she claims she is too busy with all her family drama and crap. She was the only one who was there for me and respected my taste in music.

The doorknob starts to rattle and I shove the picture back under the pillow and wipe my eyes. In comes Jacquelyn, the biggest Swiftie at the orphanage, and I of course happen to be stuck in the same room as her. She now takes over the bed that used to be Elaine's, and her "Swiftie squad" takes the remaining two beds in the room meant for four. I couldn't say she hates me, but it's obvious she doesn't think I'm the pick of the litter.

She ignores me and opens the top drawer and pulls out a speaker for her MP3 player. I stare at it, trying to hide my look of disgust. I know what's going to happen. Apparently she notices and mirrors my face. "What are you looking at?" She asks. I shrug my shoulders and she rolls her eyes and grins to herself.

I take out my old iPod and plug my earbuds in and hit shuffle. I also pull out my old green notebook with pink swirls on it and flip the first empty page. I let my mind wander off as I start to draw something. I end up drawing a picture of Elaine and I on a swing set.

My train of thought gets interrupted when I hear a knock on the door. "Come in," I answer.

Ms. Coulter, one of the orphanage directors comes in. "Haley, I have some big news!" She says with a smile. "You might just be getting adopted!"

Oh. Well, that was unexpected. When I was 11, I got adopted by a kind family, and I really liked it there. After almost 6 months, my "father" died of drug overdose, and my "mother" just couldn't take care of me, especially since her other two kids were already a struggle and a new one that would have been coming in a few months wouldn't make things easier. I was devastated, and I cried for days. After, I was set up for 11 possible adoptions,in which 7 of those were interviews, but I was turned down by all of them.

"Great," I choked out with a fake smile. "Anything I need to fill out?"

"No, I'll take care of it. I believe you may be getting interviewed and you don't need to fill out the interests paper. Unless you want to, of course," she explains.

"Eh, no thanks," I sighed. I've filled out that interests paper too many times before. This was my 13th shot at having a real family. I hope it's time. "When is the interview?"

"Wednesday. You'll be pulled out of our classes, and you'll find out what they said after school," she answers.

I nod and sniff. Ms. Coulter furrows her eyebrows in concern. "It's just allergies. I'm fine," I say casually. A little too casual I think.

"Haley, it's not even allergy season." She sits down on the bed next to me. "What's wrong?"

I sigh and lower my head. "What if I don't get adopted? This is my 13th possible family."

"Haley, don't let your hopes fall. This might just be the one."

I doubt it. I just nod and she stands up. "Well, I hate to do this to them, but I better round up these girls down there," Ms. Coulter says. The girls downstairs are having a dance party, which happens about every week. A shrill shriek rose up from downstairs as the familiar drumbeat of one of Taylor's most popular, and annoying, songs: Shake it Off.

Moments later, Jacqueline, Kelli, and Morgan run to the room. I sigh and mutter something under my breath to myself, but Kelli overhears. "Don't judge us," she said with an evil giggle, which the other girls join in with. I roll my eyes and add some minor details to my drawing from before.

About an hour later, we get called to dinner, which is pasta and salad. I sit over by Ms. Coulter, who is really the only decent person around here. I finish my dinner slowly and sit on the couch in the main room downstairs. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights are game nights. The orphanage has about 100 girls. I should have friends, but the only really decent people are the younger girls, like Bethany. I play a game of Uno with her and Ms. Coulter. Then we play a round of Headbands.

I excuse myself early to go to my room. Since nobody was in there, I turn on Doctor Who on Netflix. I rarely get to watch because my roommates always watch shows like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars, which I have no interest in, and also a little bit of crime shows, which they always make comments about Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson, which are apparently Taylor Swift's cats.

They storm into the room and sigh to see the show that plays on the tv. "Um... There's a new Grey's Anatomy episode coming on in like, 5 minutes, and we REALLY need to watch it," Jacqueline says.

I shrug my shoulders and pause. I hear Kelli mutter something about Doctor Who being a "nerd" show to the other girls. And also something about how I don't like Taylor. Sighing, I lay down and turn on my music, slowly drifting off to sleep.

(A/N So, I hope you liked that. I honestly wasn't trying to offend anyone and I'm truly sorry if I did, and you can tell me. In no way am I trying to make fun of anyone, and I know Swifties are not jerks, but in this story some kind of are for the sake of it. Comments and feedback mean a lot!❤️ bye!)