Emma-Lou // Taylor Swift Adoption Fic

June 18th, 2026

I don't want to go back to school tomorrow.

Today was awful and maybe it was my fault, but still, Alesha shoved me at recess and I landed on my knee. Now I know I'm pretty much a teenager (12), but it hurt so of course I had let a few tears spill over once we were at the school nurse.

Javia went with me and did all the talking. The nurse asked me at one point if I wanted to call my parents to come and get me because it was a big enough scrape, but I wasn't planning on telling Taylor and I'm still not.

I got through the rest of the day with the bandage she had put on it and now I'm wondering what I'm going to do when I have to change it eventually. I'm not sure how long I can leave it on for, but I do know that bandages need to be changed every so often so keep the wound clean or something.

Hopefully I can find everything I need in the bathroom so that I can do it myself.

I wish I had a good excuse not to go tomorrow. Could I fake being sick? I don't want to lie and what if Taylor found out I was pretending? I would probably be in so much trouble.

I might have to suck it up, but that means I need to avoid Alesha tomorrow at all costs. That will be hard.

---

All throughout dinner, I found myself wondering if it would hurt to show Taylor my knee. She would ask me what happened and that would be the worse part of it for sure. I don't want to tell her that it seems I'm being bullied. I don't get bullied --- at least not to this extent. So, maybe it's best if I stick to my original plan and don't tell her.

I'd probably have to write it on a piece of paper again anyways. I hate how embarrassing that is when I think back on it.

I wish I could just talk to her and not feel as though my insides are twisting.

Because it actually does get lonely when I don't talk to anyone outside of school. All I have are my thoughts and my journal. Sure, I can listen to the conversations that Joe and Taylor have and Michael tells me funny stories about his day, but it's not the same.

I'm just watching life pass me by.

I want to have an actual connection with my new family and I suppose they want it too. They adopted me, so why wouldn't they?

But... let me stop my rambling because dinner was a little more eventful tonight.

Joe started asking me questions, but they were questions like Taylor would ask. I could answer them without speaking and I appreciated that. It almost felt like we were beginning to form a connection like I've been sort of doing with Taylor.

And then, he asked me, "how would you like to go to the movies with Michael and I on Saturday? Taylor is going out with friends that night so it will just be us three."

I nodded after a moment of contemplating. I haven't been to the movies in a long time.

I wanted to ask what movie we were seeing, but it took all the courage that I had left to speak up and even then, only Michael could hear me because he was sitting right next to me.

Thankfully, he blurted out the answer. It's a children's movie, but one that is also enjoyable to older audiences. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Like the Dispicable Me franchise. It's a movie like that and I don't mind that. I'm kind of excited actually.

I'm going to get some sleep now because it's late. Maybe in the morning I'll know what to do about my anxiety around school tomorrow. I hope I have a way out or a way to deal with it by then.