Call It What You Want To

Chapter 7: Taya

I was a nervous wreck all Monday morning, thinking about the essay I had in my binder to turn in after lunch. It felt as though I was already caught, and Mrs. Reynolds was going to laugh in my face when I put my essay in the tray at her desk.

"You're fine, Tay, I promise!" Dylynn reassured me at lunch. I had been texting her under my desk about it all morning.

Despite Dylynn's positivity that nothing could happen, I was still anxious during the hour that led up to my AP Gov class. I was, in fact, so nervous that I was texting Kyler and asking if she'd ever been found out about her little essay gig.

K: nope and i plan on keeping it that way

T: I'm just worried Reynolds is gonna be able to tell.

K: you literally edited the essay yesterday so it would sound more like you. your fine

Yesterday still played in my mind as well. Never, in a million years, did I ever expect Kyler Morgan to be sitting with my family at dinner. It was actually a really good night too! We all sat down at the dinner table like a normal family, Kyler and I were laughing at my dad's corny jokes, and my mom didn't seem stressed over anything, even when Mila got barbecue sauce all over her body and hair.

Kyler left last night and told me she had fun hanging out at my house, which wasn't exactly what I was expecting her to say but I'm also not sure what I was expecting.

"Who's ready for AMRAP deadlifts?" Adrielle, a girl from powerlifting, asked in a singing voice as she sat down with her lunch. Adrielle was a tall, skinny girl with long braids that had pink weaved into them. She joined powerlifting as a way to get her anger out that didn't end with her punching other people and getting suspended.

"Shoot me," Andre groaned, and we all pretty much agreed with that. I liked leg days, but they weren't my favorite by any means. The days that we were training events to failure were also not at the top of my "favorite things" list.

Conversation at the table jumped around to different topics, but the back of my head was still thinking about the essay in my backpack that I'd be turning in in twenty minutes.

My eyes glanced around the cafeteria, and as they swept past the exits of the building, I saw Kyler coming in from outside. Even though we had off campus lunch as an option, a lot of us took advantage of the free school lunch that was provided and added that to the food we'd bring from home in order to hit our macros.

Ky glanced over in my direction, and then kinda did a double-take, almost like she was checking that it was me. I gave her a tight lipped smile and raised my eyebrows as a very awkward way of saying, "hi". Kyler moved her hand from the strap of her backpack and waved her hand a little in my direction. She was wearing a pair of black ripped jeans and a navy blue crewneck sweatshirt that looked like it had some sort of college logo on it.

"Taya!"

I zoned back into the conversation asking, "Huh?"

Dylynn gave me a side eye, as if to ask "What's your deal?" while Adrielle asked, "I asked if you were still thinkin' of doin' a hotel the night before the meet next month."

"Uh..." I trailed off, "Not sure. Depends on if my mom and dad need me at the house the night before."

"Okay, cause my momma said she'll get a room for all the girls, that way she knows we're safe and everything. She just wanna know, like, if it's all of us or whatever so she can pick what size room," Adrielle said, twisting a pink braid around her finger.

I nodded and told her that I'd let her know as soon as I could. "What about the boys? Doesn't she care if we're safe?" Andre asked, laughing while putting his hands up in a "what?" position.