Behind the Mask (Taylor Swift/1D FanFic)

Give Them What They Want

Later that week, I had plenty of hate, and I cut myself a few more times. Lies were easy to tell, lies about why there was scars on my hands. I thanked God that Demi wasn’t there, she would’ve noticed, and asked about it.

Teagan was too busy loving the fame to notice. I made her an Instagram, and she posted pictures occasionally. About two weeks after the Grammys, I was about to go onstage for Ellen. I loved her, and she loved Teagan, so I knew performing and talking would be great.

I had on a very pretty blue dress, much like the one I wore for the One Chance photoshoot, and my hair was down. I had a bit of makeup on my cuts, they weren’t visible. Teagan looked adorable, in a gold sleeveless dress that was tight around her upper body, and puffed out like a tutu on her lower. It went to her knees, and she wore a black bow with gold tule on it. Her hair was in one french braid, and she wore black flats with gold tule bows.

Ellen called us, and the stage manager nodded. Teagan skipped out, smiling, and the crowd clapped, giving us a standing ovation. Ellen hugged me, and then Teagan, who grinned.

“Hi girls!” She said.

“Hi Miss Ellen!” Teagan said, grinning.

I laughed, “Hey.”

“Did you tell her to say that?” Ellen asked.

“Um, no. I tell her to be polite, and respectful.” I said, giggling.

“Wow. So, Teagan is six?” Ellen asked, and Teagan nodded, “We saw you sing at the Grammys, what else do you do?” She asked.

“I dance, also. I do a lil gymnastics.” She said, grinning.

“Wow. Do we get to see you dance or do gymnastics today?”

“I think so?” Teagan said, looking at me.

“Yes, actually.” I said.

“So, on to the more serious questions, the ones I’m sure people are asking. So, why did you introduce her now, instead of years ago?” Ellen asked.

“Well, we were trying to keep her out of fame as a young kid, because we didn’t want her to have to go through the hate, and the paparazzi at like, two years old. Also, we were planning on waiting till she was older, but it got really ridiculous how much it took to hide her.”

“How ridiculous?” Ellen asked.

“Okay, well, if we wanna got to a waterpark, sorry, you gotta buy out the whole park, and then make the lifeguards sign confidentiality agreements. You wanna go to a concert? You have to hire someone to sit next to you with your sister.” I said, shaking my head.

“Oh my gosh. That’s insane. So, why does Teagan live with you?” Ellen said.

I started sweating a little. This was the question I was fearing. I had memorized what to say. “Well, my dad died when Teagan was one, and at that time, my mom got very depressed, and she couldn’t take care of Teagan, because she had to go live at a facility. My mom is way better now, but we still agreed that I should have custody over Teagan.”

“So how do you do school?” She asked.

“We do online school, and we make sure she gets at least 4 hours a day.” I answered, and Teagan nodded, excitedly.

“Well, you’re excited, aren’t you?” Ellen asked, a huge grin on her face.

“Yes! I love singing and performing. I even like when Tay and I just sing along to songs on the radio. I love dancing too! I’m going to be on the competition team for my studio for dance!” She smiled, and looked at Ellen, she was smiling. She had known about Teagan, but agreed to pretend she didn’t.

“Well, Teagan, do you want to show us a dance? I know your sister told me you were ready to perform.”

“Yes, yes, yesssss!” She sang, and dashed backstage. Ellen laughed, and smiled at the camera.

“You’ll get to see Teagan Swift perform, after the break.” She smiled, and the camera guy waved to say we were off air.

“I’m gonna go check on Teag, I’ll be right back out.” I said to Ellen, and she nodded. I got up, waved to the audience, and walked backstage. Teagan wore one of her solo costumes, for her first solo. It was a royal blue sequined leotard with a gorgeous matching skirt. She had on tan jazz (dance) shoes, and her hair was in a tight bun. I helped her stretch, doing the stretches she told be her teacher wanted her to do. She did the splits on both sides, a handstand, a roundoff, and a triple pirouette. She did the middle splits, and did a straddle leap. I smiled as she ran through her routine. She really was talented, and she had natural flexibility, that was enhanced from all of her gymnastics training.

Soon, I heard the camera man say “We’re on in 30 seconds!” I sent Teagan onto the stage that had all of the lights dimmed. No one could really see her, and she sat down, in her starting position.

I walked over, and stood by Ellen, who smiled at me. She smiled as the camera’s red light came on, and announced Teagan, “Now, here’s Teagan Swift dancing to Happy by Pharell Williams!” She smiled, and the song started singing. Teagan got up from her starting pose, being sassy, and cute. She did a roundoff backhandspring, and smiled. She did a few pirouettes, and some acro tricks. She finsihed, the dance, doing really well. At the end Ellen and I walked onto the stage, where Teag was sweating, but grinning, bigger than ever. I high fived her, and so did Ellen.

“That was great! How long have you been dancing?” Ellen asked.

“Since I was two. I love it!” She giggled, and Ellen smiled.

“Are you two going to sing next?” She asked, and the crowd roared.

“Yup!” I said. The crew set up microphones up for us, and Teagan ran backstage, changing back into her dress. She wore her normal shoes. I smiled, and the music started.

“Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street,

Faster than the wind,

passionate as sin,

ended so suddenly…” I trailed off, and the song continued, Teagan even hitting the high note with me. At the end, we were smiling, and the crowd roared, giving us a standing ovation, like they had to Teagan’s dance. Teagan smiled, and waved.

“Now I’m going to sing a bit on my own.” She grinned, and I walked offstage, standing next to Ellen again, as they played We Are Never Ever Getting back together. Teagan sang, and performed with so much sass everyone was loving it. I filmed a bit of it on my iPhone, and posted it on Instagram.

Teagan is having a ton of fun on the Ellen show!  Again, I put the two pink hearts, and instantly got tons of likes. I put a video of her dance earlier onto her Instagram account. On her account, I saw a hate page.

@hatebothSwifts: they are both stupid, untalented attention whores that should go die

@Teaganshoulddie: ahaha @hatebothSwifts I totally agree

I gasped at the comments, and swallowed the lump in my throat, ignoring the hate. I watched Teagan finish, and we took a commercial break. After a great ending to the show, we hung out for a little bit, and then Teagan and I went home. She watched TV in the family room, and I reached for my razor, drawing another cut across my wrist. This time, I reached for my fat stomach. With the blade, I wrote whore and smiled at the pain. It hurt, but it felt really good. I dabbed the blood, and put on a long shirt and leggings. I covered the cuts on my arms with concealer, and smiled as I watched Despicable Me 2 with Teagan, only drinking my Diet Coke and eating one handful of popcorn.

I put Teagan to bed, and turned off my phone, feeling somewhat better. I was going to give them what they wanted. A skinny, better Taylor.