Help Me To Love

Surprise, Surprise..

Chapter 1

Taylor’s POV

“And the “Most Likely To Succeed In Musical Arts” Award goes to Taylor Hawkley!”

The words replayed in my head more than 5 times before I could finally process what was happening before me. I came back to reality due to the loud clapping echoing through the large auditorium. I stood up and smiled genuinely, making my way over to my professor who was holding my award in his hands.

Another half hour or so passed before my name was called out to go and receive my diploma. My senior year class had more than 400 people in it, so you can imagine why it would take so long for me to get my diploma. After another hour, the words I had been longing for flowed out of my principle’s mouth;

“Congratulations to the amazing class of 2013! I hope you all make great choices…”  By then I had already zoned out. We all took off our royal blue graduation caps and threw them in the air like they did in movies, laughing excitedly at the fact that we were done. IM FINALLY DONE WITH HIGHSCHOOL! I couldn’t believe it.  And apparently, neither could one of my best friends, Jade.

“We’re going to college Tay! Oh my God…I’m not gonna see you.. WHAT AM I GONNA DO WITHOUT YOU ALLLLLL THE WAY IN PEPPERDINE?!” She exclaimed in her high-pitched voice. I just laughed and shook my head, grabbing her hand to take her with me to the remaining group of my best friends. There was Allie, Paige, and Jade. These three were my best friends since I was little; especially Paige. Well, Paige was actually my first cousin, but she’s also my best friend. We tell each other literally everything.

Allie was average height, 5’5ish; skinny, yet curvy; she had brown hair with a bunch of curls; brown eyes. Paige was tall, almost 5’7; curvy, with long legs; she had wavy/straight brown hair; brown eyes. And Jade was also tall, a little taller than Paige; she was skinny, with long, thin legs; she had dark brown, wavy (almost straight) hair; and also brown eyes. All my friends had the simple look; brown hair, brown eyes; but they were all very pretty.

“Guys! This summer we have to do something big so that we can make it extremely unforgettable!” My friend, Allie, exclaimed.

“Well sure… maybe if we have time after you get back from Hawaii and Spain!” I said, envious that she had somewhere to go, while I was stuck here, in Los Angeles, with only my parents and brother.

“That’s true...” she said, laughing nervously. “Well, after I get back then”, she said sending me a toothy smile.

“Taylor! We gotta go!” My mom said, approaching me. I turned around, gave my three friends hugs , and followed my parents and brother to the car. As usual, when I got home, my entire family, including Paige, was there, ready to celebrate our highschool graduation. I had a huge family.  My dad had 2 brothers and 5 sisters, each of them had 1-3 children. All of my uncles and aunts live in California, except one aunt, who lives in Lebanon with her husband and two children.

My aunts and uncles all greeted & congratulated me, before I went over to the food table & piled my plate with 2 slices of pizza and salad. I was starving. After grabbing a can of Sprite, I found Paige inside and went in to join her. She was sprawled out on the couch on her phone, smiling like an idiot. She was probably texting her boyfriend, Austin. They were whipped. Sometimes I would get envious of Paige because she had a boyfriend. It’s not like I couldn’t get one, its just that I prefer not having serious relationships that involve real feelings and shit. I’ve had bad experiences in the past, so now I just like to stick to hooking up & talking. I know what you’re thinking; what a slut. Well, I’m not. I just don’t like involving feelings in relationships. Hell, I don’t even like relationships. The last thing I had that was close to a relationship was when I was 15. I got my first kiss, my first boyfriend at camp. Right when camp ended, he moved back to Oregon & ignored me. That’s when I realized that I don’t trust guys anymore. All they want is your body and your lips, not your heart. It saddens me to think like this, but I still haven’t found the guy who could possibly change these stupid trust issues. I accidentally scoffed at my thoughts, and Paige gave me a weird look, before going back to texting. I sat down on the couch next to her and started eating my feast.

After finishing our meal and cutting a small cake, everybody started making their way out. I internally groaned, happy that everybody was finally leaving after this long day. I climbed up the stairs to my room, changed into a black T-shirt and pink shorts, brushed my teeth, and tucked myself into bed. I lay in my bed that night thinking about the future. I couldn’t believe I was actually 18. That I was actually going to college in less than 3 months. I was going to USF, University of San Francisco, to the Performing Arts Department. I was planning on getting a degree in Performing arts and do something with singing and performing or some shit. I still had a while to decide for sure.

I plugged my headphones into my iPhone and started playing some soothing music. Ed Sheeran’s beautiful voice flowed through my ears. As soon as my eyes started to feel heavy, my music stopped playing and my Facetime ringtone went off. I jumped up, startled from the sudden noise. I checked the screen to read that I was getting a Facetime request from my friend, Kyle. Kyle lived in San Francisco and we had met in camp a few years back. I was really close to him and we talked almost every day, but we haven’t talked for almost a week now due to my Finals and graduation. He was like a brother to me; he knew things about me that I didn’t even know. He’s now 20 and just ended his sophomore year in college. I checked the time; 2:16. Really Kyle? I groaned and accepted his call, waiting for the cameras to connect.

“Hey T! How was the graduation?” He said, a little too enthusiastically for this time of night.

“It was great.” I said, wanting to keep this conversation short so I could go back to sleep.

“That’s good” He said smiling. “Well, I called you this late to tell you that everything between me and Lola are going great and I wanted to thank you again for encouraging me to ask her out” he said, blushing at the mention of Lola. Kyle had been in love with Lola for 7 years now. Yes, SEVEN. He would constantly complain about not being with her, so I finally forced him to ask her out, and she said yes. I smiled back to him, genuinely happy for him. “Oh, and I will pay you back for it, so don’t even worry about it” he said, winking at me. I laughed and shook my head, before my laugh was interrupted by a yawn.

“Oh shit, sorry. I forgot you’ve had a long ass day. I’ll text you tomorrow, go sleep.” He said, before we both exchanged smiles and our ‘goodnights’ and hung up.

“Taylor! Wake up! There are people here to see you!” My mom’s voice woke me up. I groaned loudly and checked the clock; it was already 12:07. Damn, I hadn’t slept in that late for months. After dragging myself out of my warm, comfy bed, I went to the bathroom. I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face and walked back into my room. It was messy as always, there were clothes piled up everywhere I simply shrugged and picked up a random blue T-shirt and a bra to change into. I kept on my short-shorts, expecting it to be just Paige or one of my friends. As I made my way out of my room, I heard a male voice talking to my mom from downstairs. What the hell? I quickly walked down the stairs and what I saw completely stopped me in my tracks.

“Kyle…?” I said, extremely surprised he was here when he lives in San Francisco.

He smiled and got up, coming to me for a hug. “What’re you doing here?” I asked.

“Well it’s nice to see you after a year too Taylor!” He said, pretending to be offended.

Right when I started laughing, I heard someone come out of the bathroom. I turned around and couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Arin?!” I yell as he wraps his arms around me.  Damn I had always imagined how it felt to be wrapped in his arms…