Forward

I learned early on that when things start getting better, life just takes a second to turn it all around. 

{FLASHBACK}

" Get up your leaving." I stood unresponsive in front of the mattress I had been sleeping on for the past three weeks. Held in my hand was the tattered and torn blue blanket, the only thing Whitney ever left me. "Now," the woman spat in my ear with the scent of alcohol lingering in her breath. 

I shuddered and gave her a questioning look. "You take up my time, money, and space and the only thing I ever get in return is a sour look of displeasure. You are going to be someone else's problem now. I am done with this crap. And if we are being honest I couldn't be happier."

I understood completely. The words she didn't say were written on her aged face. She was jealous of my beauty and lacked my wisdom. I knew more in my twelve years then she would know her whole lifetime. "Okay," I said as I began packing my things. Once I was finished I stalked out of the room, without a second look back.

{END OF FLASHBACK}

"Taryn, honey, breakfast time. Come on down," she said with her "perfect mother" tone.

I walked down the stairs grabbed my bag and walked out. Leaving her in the kitchen with her plate of pancakes with a whipped cream smile. I shoved my boots on my feet and opened the front door.

"Goodbye hon-"

I slammed the door leaving her midsentence. 

The bus was pulling up right as I reached the stop sign. The five kids and I walked on. I started walking to my normal seat, the last seat on the righthand side in the back. I could feel the judgemental eyes on me. I had almost reached my destination, when a big hand wrapped around my waist pulling me onto it's lap.

"Taryn, babe, how's your-" 

My slap shut him right up, as I stood up and finished walking to my spot. I sat down and immediately put my earbuds in. I was over this crap. High school was so cliche. You had the bitches, who sat around and talked about everyone else for the whole day. You had the jocks, like that idiot who tried to get me to sit with him. All they cared about were touchdowns and getting some. You had the nerds and the drama geeks, you had the artsy kids who were always creating something, and you had the preppy kids who would kiss anyone's ass. And out of all those groups there was me. I never belonged with anyone and never found my true calling, so therefore I was labeled a burnout. 

The bus pulled up to the school. The American flag was whipping around on top of the flagpole and it looked like the typical day had begun. Two kids were fighting one another, a group of kids were studying notes I'm sure they already had memorized, two girls were hugging each other like they were long lost sisters even though it had only been about twelve hours since they had last seen each other, and there was the teachers running around trying to solve everyone else's problems when they themselves had a mortgage and a drinking problem to worry about. 

I walked to my locker, eyes down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. As I twisted open the lock, I heard the voice of Biana Tyler shout to one of her other minions, "Look at her," she paused, almost laughing too hard to continue, "it's the freak from the foster home!" 

She could barely contain herself, shrieking with her group as they died of laughter. I felt my grip tighten, I turned to face her. "Oh my gosh!" I paused mocking her laughter,"Biana! Is that your Michael Kors purse, from last year? Not so hot hun..."

I watched her face redden and her friend's faces register what I had said. They gasped and all turned to stare at the purse, I could see Bianca trying to hide it and I could hear how she insisted it wasn't last year. I smirked, grabbing my things and heading to my first period class. I had won this time, but I knew I was in for it.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, classes went as normal, I sat there like usual knowing the answers to all the questions, acing all the tests, as everyone struggled to keep up. School for me was effortless, I guess that was one thing I was lucky I had; intelligence. 

I sat on the bus, with my headphones in, reluctant to go home. Avoidance was the key word when it came to my life at home. They were so perky and happy. Too happy. It made my stomach churn and my head ache. 

I walked in the front door and was met with the most amazing sound. Silence. I walked into the kitchen to grab some food and saw the note on the countertop.

Taryn,

Went to run some errends and go to the gym.

Hope today was great! Be ready for a family dinner.

We have some things to talk about. No excuses!

See you soon, 

Mom

I rolled my eyes. Even the simplest things could turn into Barfsville with the way she said it, or in this case wrote it. I went to my room and did my homework. Easy. I finished and started cleaning my room. I wanted to leave no trace of myself or personality in this room. It wasn't permemant. Nothing ever was. I laid on my bed and listened to music, closing my eyes, I fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder. 

"Honey it's dinner time!"

I swear to gosh, this woman has no sense of space or privacy. I shoved her off and walked downstairs.

I hate family dinners. They just sit there, staring at me waiting for me to open my mouth. Well guess what, I had nothing to say to them. 

We sat there in the awkward silence of forks scraping plates and seemingly loud chewing. Distgusting, absolutely disgusting. I tried hard to finish my dinner quickly, I finally finished after what seemed like ages. As I began to get up I was stopped, "Taryn, honey, wait we need to talk about something."

Oh my gosh, what could possibly be so important, "What?" I sighed.

"You're leaving."

It wasn't the first time I'd here those words, and it definitely wouldn't be the last, but the next words that came out of her mouth weren't the ones I had expected, "You're going with your mom."

This couldn't be real.

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We will be writing this story together, this chapter we wrote together, but we will be switching off every other chapter. We will let you know who is writing which. Hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter! Look FORWARD ( get it? ;) haha) to more!

XO

L & S