Call It What You Want To

Chapter 10: Kyler

The week passed weirdly. I had spent almost all of Saturday over at Taya's. Then by the time Sunday rolled around, I was so dazed about whatever was (or was not) happening between us that I was hardly there mentally when I went to Target with my mom and Milana on Sunday. There were plenty of moments where the camera was in my face and I had to snap back into attention from thinking about every conversation I had had with Taya the day before.

Monday was weird, with all this new information I had gotten over the weekend. Last week I had started to notice Taya more, but now it was almost as if I was subconsciously going out of my way to see her. My conscious brain told me it was a coincidence that I saw her more in the hallways, and that was the story I was stickin' to.

The actual game changer was the first time I noticed Mason in the hallway. Despite never having any classes with him, I could remember what his face looked like from when we were younger. So that first time I saw him in the English hallway, with himself draped all over Adrielle, all I could see was fire.

Remembering how I held Taya's hand while she was crying along with the instinct of being the protective older sister was telling me to go confront Mason, followed by absolutely rocking his shit. I had made a promise to Taya though that I wouldn't tell anyone, and as far as the school knew Taya Beckett and I weren't even talking to each other. There was also the fact that Mason had at least six inches on me and about forty pounds of muscle. Part of me knew that if he hadn't been afraid to grope a girl in public, then he wouldn't be against hitting one, especially if I swung first.

By Wednesday, I had turned in my Film Lit. paper and handed off the freshman biology paper to my newest stoner client. By Wednesday night, after our weekly family editing session, I was coming to the realization that I may not have my homework or someone else's this weekend. While that was theoretically great, it also meant that I could be subject to any one of my mom's video ideas for the weekend. I needed to come up with an idea, and fast.

Taya and I had started just normally texting throughout the week, so it wasn't too weird when I texted her Wednesday around 8:00 what she was doing.

T: Stats homework, I got a test Friday.

K: ooh sounds exciting lmao

T: No, the exciting part of my night was Mila throwing up on me five minutes after my parents left for the night.

K: your parents aren't home?

As soon as I sent the text, I knew what it sounded like, and I could internally feel Milana thinking the same thing if she knew this was all happening. I started to try to think of a way to recover from my seemingly "very forward and suggestive" text, but luckily Taya overlooked it and rolled right into the next message.

T: Yeah, they've got that meeting thing tonight.

Vaguely I had remembered Taya briefly mentioning that her parents went to a support group meeting for parents with disabled children. I texted her back that I remembered her mentioning that, and I guess I had never put two and two together that meant Taya was babysitting every other Wednesday.

K: if you want help or anything next time, just let me know

My conversation got interrupted by my sister walking into my room. "Knock much?" I asked as Milana made herself comfortable in my lounger chair. "What if I was naked?"

"You got out of the shower an hour ago. If you were still not dressed by now, I'd be concerned for your mental well-being," Lani said, rolling her eyes with a smirk. For only being twelve, Lani could have a very dry sense of humor. "Are we going to the Taylor Swift movie this weekend? Mom said you'd take me."