Living with the Taylor's

Chapter 1

How do carrots reproduce?
A. Sexually
B. Asexually
C. Budding
D. Sporulation

What kind of question is that I muttered as I rushed to complete my biology exam. Only 5 more questions I thought to myself as the phone started to ring. Ugh there goes my concentration.

"Ms. Parker, the office would like to see you right away." Mr. L said before going back to doing who knows what on his labtop.

What could this be about I wondered entering the office. "Olive Parker?" The secretary asked I nodded my head. "Mr. Doll would like to see you. The first door on the right just go right in, honey."

Why did the guidance councilor need to see me? I'm doing great in all my classes I'm in the top ten and everything.

"Olive, take a seat." he said without turning away from the window. "I have some rather bad news"

"You need to get to the hospital immediately" Mr. Doll said.

"Why?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"It's your parents..." That's all he could say before I was out the door. I ran to my moms car that she let me barrow for the day. Put it in drive and I was on the road. What could have happened? What if they're not okay? I couldn't think like that I thought. I decided to turn on the radio. Blank Space by Taylor Swift roared through the speakers. I love this song. Finally something to distract me.

I pulled into the hospital after what felt like hours even though it was only 15 minutes that I ran out of Mr. Dolls office.

"I'm Olive Parker. I'm looking for my parents." I said frantically to the first nurse I saw.

"Oh baby. Come with me." She said looking nervous. "Just sit down the doctors will be with you shortly."

It felt like hours had went by before an old guy with white hair in blue scrubs came into the waiting room. I didn't even notice all the other people in the waiting room had left and it was just me. He came over and sat down next to me.

"Hi Sweety. Do you have any other family members you could call?" He asked. "No. It's just me." I responded. Both my parents were only children and my grandma was in a nursing home. The rest passed away over the years. I had no other family.

"I'm sorry. I did all I old but I couldn't save them." He said without even looking at me. He has to be kidding right. There's no way they were gone. He's lying. "I need to see them." I demanded. "I'm sorry but I can't let you do that. Who can I call to come get you?" I thought about it for a second "I have no one."

Shit. What about Hailey?

The next week when by like a blur. The wake. The funeral. The burial. I remember nothing. Now here I am sitting at the airport flying across the country to live with a family that I've never met and know nothing about. Great. My life couldn't get any worse.

Kelly, the mom, called me right after she heard the news. She was my god mother and offered to fly out and help pack up and sell the house if I wanted but I refused. I wasn't ready yet but I knew if I didn't leave now I never would.

I packed up all Hailey's things while she was at daycare and only took the bare minimum of my walk in closet. None of my clothes seemed me anymore. I felt like a whole new person. A whole new dark, empty person.

My friend, Kate, drove us to the airport the next day. She tried to keep a strong face for me, but I knew it was killing her inside. God am I going to miss this girl. She hugged Hailey and me goodbye and we boarded the plane an hour after. Hailey started watching a movie on my iPad and just sat there trying to figure out how I was going to make it through. After getting off the plane, "Olive, Hailey over here!" Some blonde lady yelled who turned out to be Kelly. It was just her though. Does she live alone I wondered?

We got in the car and she tried to make small talk on the way to her house. I wasn't feeling it so I just remained quiet. Hailey fell asleep in the back seat until we pulled up to this house. It wasn't just any house. It was huge. My parents were poor and we had what I thought was a nice house but this made it look tiny.

"The boys wll be home shorty." She said. Boys? As in how many I wondered. "I'll show you both up to your rooms so you can enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts."