REPOST - [ camp discovery ] - a tayvis short story

chapter eleven.

JUNE 29, 2013

16:34

"Thank you for calling Camp Discovery, where little minds discover their passions. My name is Tree. How may I help you?" Tree said into the phone, seeing a number she didn't readily recognize on the caller ID.

"Hi, Tree. My name is Kimberly Jeremiah. I'm the social worker at Hendersonville High School in Hendersonville, Tennessee. I was informed that one of my students, Taylor Swift, is at this camp with you. I was wondering if I could speak with her, if that is okay with your establishment's policy." Kimberly got out all in one go, without Tree interrupting her, which she was surprised by.

"Ms. Jay, I have heard great things about you," Tree told the woman, putting the phone on speakers and placing the receiver on the hook. "Even if I hadn't heard wonderful things, you are on Taylor's emergency contacts, so yes, you are allowed to speak to her." Tree informed the woman on the other side of the phone.

"I'm on her emergency contact list, and I had no idea she was there until last night?!" Kimberly asked. Tree wanted to laugh at the woman's statement, but she also knew that this small group of people who cared for Taylor deserved to know of her whereabouts.

"I will call her to my office for you," Tree said. "Give me one second." Tree picked up her walkie-talkie and spoke into it. "Come in, Kylie or Taylor," she said.

"Go ahead," Kylie said almost instantly.

"Kylie, do you have eyes on Taylor, by chance?" Tree asked the girl on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"She should be on her way to you now. She said she was coming to get her dress and Michael's suit so we could get ready for the dance," Kylie told Tree.

"Okay, thank you," Tree said, putting the walkie-talkie back on its charger. Just as she did so, there was a knock on the door, which soon opened, revealing Taylor. "Just the person I needed to see."

"Hi, Mom," Taylor said, a huge smile on her face.

"TAYLOR ALISON SWIFT!" Kimberly's voice came through the phone speaker immediately after hearing Taylor's voice.

"Uh oh," Taylor said.

"You damn right, uh oh! What the hell?! You have us all worried sick!" Kimberly said, her voice returning to a normal volume.

"I'm sorry!" Taylor said, walking around Tree's desk and sitting in her office chair. "I was going to call you when I got a new phone."

"You don't have a phone?!" Tree asked, hearing Taylor's confession to the social worker. "What did you give me if you don't have a phone?"

"It's my phone, but it doesn't have a SIM card in it. I took it out before we left. I didn't want them to find me, which obviously didn't work," Taylor's head dropped slightly. She thought leaving anything that tracked her location at her parents' house would hinder them from finding her, but apparently, where she was going was obvious, so they found her anyway.

"So you didn't even tell the people who care about you where you were going?!"

"No," Taylor admitted shyly. "I didn't think about it all the way through."

"Of course you didn't. You never do. I admire your willingness to take a chance, however," Kimberly told Taylor. When Taylor put her mind to something that she really wanted to execute, there was no stopping her. Kimberly, however, wishes she had thought more about the future when she came up with these plans.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Jay." Taylor apologized. She knew the woman was right.

"Ms. Jay, if I would have known she didn't tell anyone where she was going, I would have made her call you the second she got here," Tree informed the woman that she knew Taylor loved and gave credit to helping her with Michael, finishing high school, and getting into college.