Chapter 1

The day was just about to end for Carter, she was slipping in past 4 A.M. like usual, meanwhile Taylor was just waking up to begin her day. She coordinated an early morning SAT prep group every Monday, Wednesday and Friday before classes began. She loved Carter, but she couldn't understand that lifestyle. She was all about having fun and doing things that made her happy, but what future would that leave her? Taylor knew it was more important to work hard and study now, there would be time to have fun and enjoy life once she completed all of her goals. She knew she wanted to go to Stanford, it had been her dream since she was a little girl.

She had been 9 and was watching a movie about a young woman who had grew up living in a car with her brother and Mother. She would go to school early every day to work in the library, and then after school she would head straight to What-A-Burger and work until they closed at 10 PM. Then at the end of the week she would take her paycheck and put half of it into a bank account her mother didn't know about and the other half she would use to feed her family during the week. Her mother tried to find work, but she could never quite keep a job long, always being fired for showing up late, or simply not showing up. Her mother slept in the front seat of the SUV they lived in, and her brother had all of his things set up in the far back while she kept her school books and the few clothing items she had in the middle of the SUV. They had a 24 hour coffee shop around the corner they would use for the bathroom when it got too cold to go outside in the alley her mother parked the SUV in. The girl continued saving and working hard, studying and at her after school job, that when she finished high school not only had she gotten into Stanford, but she had received a scholarship, and so she was able to use the money she had saved to set her mother and brother up into an apartment, paying months in advance before she moved into the dorms.

Taylor at nine years old realized the only way she would escape her crazy life was by getting into a good school and getting a scholarship. Her twin sister Lyndon had been kidnapped when they were only three, and her detective mother had spent the next six years looking for her and working over time at the police department, while her father staying in his study "writing" or really just staring off into space while he blamed himself for leaving the twins alone for a few minutes, enough time for one of them to be taken. They used every penny they had trying to find her sister, paying to have her face put on everything they could hoping someone would find her. She was left to cook and clean for herself and basically raise her baby brother, Grant, who was born when she was four. She did everything they expected of her, but she looked forward to the day she graduated high school and moved away to college, that is until Carter came home a few months ago. She was sixteen now, and Lyndon who had been raised believing her name to be Carter had been arrested with her friends for smoking pot in a park after hours. She finally thought she could be a normal teenager now, and not worry about everyone else all the time. Sadly, Carter was a whole new problem to worry about, staying out all night with her friends, fighting with her mom and dad, resenting them for taking her away from her "mother" the woman who had kidnapped her all those years ago. She now was even less noticed by her family, as Carter took center stage.

So at 4 AM as she heard Carter settle into bed in the room next door, she got her clothes ready for the day and headed to take a shower, getting ready for her SAT group and knowing that getting a good SAT score, and then a scholarship to her dream school was the only way out of this insane asylum she called home. She would accomplish her goals, with or without her family's support. It was time to head into the school and as she went down the stairs she ran right into Max, Carter's best friend and their current house guest. He had showed up when Carter first moved in and hadn't left. He helped reason with Carter, which is probably the only reason her mother and father let him crash on the sofa in her dad's study.

"Taylor!"

"Max!" They narrowly avoided bumping into each other as Taylor had her head down rummaging through her backpack making sure she had all her books for the day and Max was obviously high, most likely having just returned from some party with Carter. He reached out and steadied her, his hands lingering on her for an extra minute or two. Taylor was not used to guys touching her, her best friend may be Gabe, a guy, but he never touched her unless it was to high five her or shove her. "Are you okay? I wouldn't expect to see you sneaking out at 4 AM."

"I'm not, I'm headed to my morning study group."

"Ahhhh, that's the Taylor we love" She was taken aback she and Max didn't interact much, other than him thanking her for dinner, which she cooked most nights. He was actually the only one who thanked her for dinner, come to think of it.

"Well have good night, or morning." She never knew what to say to him, he was always so happy-go-lucky and she was always so serious, they would never be friends. Gabe liked to have fun but he was also serious about school and the things that mattered. Max seemed like nothing could ever bother him, sometimes she wondered what that would be like, could she ever let her brain rest and not be stressing over a paper due, or a project she would have to get started on soon.

The say went by like it always did for her, always someplace to be, and always there 5 minutes early. She would never understand how Carter could be late to every single class, family gathering or party that was being held. It didn't matter if she wanted to be there or not, she physically could not show up at the right time. Taylor had begun lying about what time things began in hopes Carter would accidentally show up on time, but no luck. She was thinking about what she would have to make for dinner tonight, she knew she had the ingredients for stuffed chicken breasts, she made sure to always buy extra servings since Carter moved in. Max was always at dinner, and normally at least one more of Carter's friends. She some how had a bigger social circle then Taylor, even though Taylor had been going to school with these kids forever, but Taylor had friends and she was happy, at least she always thought she was until Carter shook up her life. She loved her, she really did, it was her twin and she did feel as if a part of her that had always been missing had finally returned since she got back, but it was hard to compete with Carter's life story, so she decided not to try. Chicken was dinner, what had gotten her so off track, she really had to pay attention to what mattered and not care about things out of her control. She needed to stop on the way home to pick up salad dressing but other than that she should be good. She would pick up Grant on the way to the store, Carter was probably off with one of her new friends so Taylor only waited a few minutes after school for her and then headed to Grant's middle school.

"Hey buddy is stuffed chicken breast okay for dinner?" She asked as Grant got into the front seat.

"Yeah sure everything you make is good Tay, where's Carter?"
"I don't know she didn't show up at the car after school so I headed here, she normally has a ride home anyways. I need to stop off at the store for salad dressing, do you want anything special?"

He was already lost to his phone, playing some sort of game that consumed his attention, Taylor and Grant had always been very close, she basically raised him, and he always knew he could come to her for anything. She made sure he knew she loved him, since their parents were too consumed with losing Lyndon, to pay attention to either of them.

As soon as they got home she headed to the kitchen to start prepping dinner and he went up to his bedroom to play some shooter game he always went on and on about. She had her iPod playing in the background and she couldn't help herself, started moving along to the lyrics, dancing around the kitchen was one of the few secret, let loose moments, she allowed herself. It was normally uninterrupted time and she couldn't help the fact that she loved to dance. She never actually got to dance with other people, but when she was alone, she would let herself go to the music. What she didn't realize was that today, she wasn't alone while preparing dinner. It's true Grant was lost to his video games and wouldn't bother coming down until she screamed that dinner was ready, and Carter was off with her friends at the mall, she had texted Tay an hour after school had ended, letting her know she didn't need a ride home. Her mom would be at work until much later and her dad was meeting with his editor, he had left a message for her not to wait on him for dinner as he would probably be home late. Max on the other hand had no interest shopping at the mall with Carter and Bird, both girls were awesome and fun to hang out with, but shopping for clothes was just not his cup of tea. So after he heard Grant and Taylor come in, he had finished his phone call to his Mom, even though he dropped out of school last year and hadn't been home in forever, he still talked to his mom regularly. She loved him and he loved her, she was just hard to live with. He could hear music coming from the kitchen so he went to see who was there with Taylor, and figured he'd grab a drink and then head up to play video games with Grant, but he was stopped dead in his tracks.

Taylor was alone in the kitchen and she had her eyes closed and a huge smile on her face as she stirred something in a bowl at the counter. Her hips were swaying perfectly to the music and she looked peaceful, which was not a word he ever thought he would use to describe Taylor. She had never been so beautiful either, totally free with no one there to judge her, she let herself finally enjoy something. He liked Taylor from the first time he met her, true she was his complete opposite but he liked how practical she always was. It was cute when they would all be drinking and smoking at Ofe's house, and he could see her exhausted and wanting nothing more then to go home and sleep, but she always waited until Carter was ready to leave to drive her, and normally him back to their house. She never drank or smoked for that matter, which although Max enjoyed both quite a bit, he couldn't help but be impressed by someone who didn't just go along with something because everyone else was. He didn't know where the urge came from, but he suddenly wanted to know more about Taylor, what made her tick, what made her so driven, what made her want to take care of everyone?

Unfortunately she was only at peace for a few more seconds until she opened her eyes and saw Max standing there staring.

"Oh my god, I didn't know you were here Max." She had assumed he was out with Carter and obviously she had been wrong.

"Please don't let me stop you, you looked like you were enjoying yourself. Can I help you with anything?" She was so embarrassed but she was also something else, no one had ever offered to help her with dinner, they always thanked her and told her how great of a cook she was, but they never tried to help her.

"That's okay, I'm sure you have better things to do than help me make dinner."

"I really don't have anything better to do, I'm not exactly a chef like you, but I can probably put a salad together for you."

"Thanks Max, that would be nice." She certainly couldn't dance anymore, but having company wasn't so bad, it was nice having someone to talk to while she stuffed the chicken.

"So Taylor why do you always cook dinner? Do you ever get a night off?"

"I wish, but sadly we'd all end up with food poisoning if my mom made dinner."

"Are you coming to Bird's party Friday night? It's supposed to be epic, at least that's what she and Carter keep telling me. You should come, you can show me some more of your moves." She turned bright red when he brought up her dancing again but for the first time in a long time she actually was looking forward to a Friday night at Bird's house.

"I have to come, or how else would Carter get home."

"If you want, you can have some fun Friday, I won't drink so I can drive us home. It's not fair to always make you be our designated driver."

"I don't really like drinking. I had a bad experience and now I avoid it for the most part."
"What happened?"

"Gabe and I stole his dad's whiskey while he was working one night, I have never been so sick in my life. Ever since that night I decided I would rather be sober and watch everyone else make fools of themselves. It's actually a lot more fun than you would think."
"I think I'll not drink just to watch that for myself. You're right most of the time people act like idiots when they're drunk. This was fun Taylor we should hang out more often, when you have free time, I know you're a busy girl." Max smiled and bumped her shoulder with his as they stood side by side at the kitchen counter. She turned and smiled at him, "Well I may make some time for you in my very important schedule."

They both smiled and Max couldn't help himself his eyes dropped to her lips. She was too good for him, and deserved a Harvard boy, not a drop out who works at a gas station, but in that moment he wanted to kiss her and he would have too, if Carter hadn't walked in.

"Hey guys! I'm starving, Tay whats for dinner?" Taylor turned towards the oven to check the timer for the chicken she had put into it, and Max walked around the counter to give Carter a half hug.

"Chicken, it'll be ready in a half hour. I have to go work on my Calculus before it's ready. Call me when the oven beeps."

"Okay, see you in a little while. Hey Max what are you up to, bothering poor Taylor?" Carter was completely oblivious to the tension in the room. Taylor and Max knew the moment was ruined as soon as she opened the door, but Max hoped it wouldn't be the only moment they had. This Friday he would make sure she had fun at Birds.

"I was just helping Taylor with dinner, everyone is so nice to let me stay here, I figured I should try to earn my keep. Did you and Bird find your party outfits? I really hope so because I have no urge to take you shopping if you didn't."

"HAHAHA Max, I'm good I know what I'm wearing tomorrow night. Is Taylor okay? She seemed to leave as soon as I came home."

"I think shes fine, you know Taylor, schools comes first she probably just wanted to finish some work before dinner. I'm going to shoot some zombies with Grant, I'll see you later?" Carter was Max's best friend and he told her just about everything, but he didn't want to talk to her about Taylor, she would get all involved and try to force Taylor into something, and he wanted to know if Taylor was interested without Carter forcing the issue.