Thanks again to all my reviewers!! My next chapter might take awhile to write, but probably will be up by next week. I've sort of hit a dry spell, so this chapter may not be very good, but give it a shot. I was very hungry while writing this and I don't get supper until my friend comes back from the airport, so that may be why. Review loveys!!
Beginnings
Seventh Grade was supposed to be the beginning of things. The first year of middle school, no more elementary school. The first year where you were no longer considered a small child, the first year you got your taste of freedom. Above all, it was supposed to be cushy. Seventh Grade was supposed to open new doors to everyone, and for everyone to make new friends. A new school (middle school), a new start. At least it was a new beginning for every child except the children of the Newport elite. In Newport, if you went to private elementary school, that meant you stayed in private school. Coincidentally, that meant that the same children were considered popular all throughout elementary to high school. If you were pretty, most likely blond, and had a lot of friends, you would be considered a popular. And if you had no friends, you stayed that way.
For Taylor Townsend, the latter was true for her. With her auburn hair, wide hazel eyes, and enormous glasses, she was not considered pretty. Which meant she couldn't hang out with any of the popular girls. But it wasn't only her appearance that put people off. Apparently she was weird, which meant that she liked superheroes, anime, and disliked materialistic things. She had never been popular. Not even Seth Cohen, the class outcast, spoke to her. Taylor's only companions were her books. Maybe people didn't like her because of her she-wolf of a mother, but she would never get a chance to ask anyone. Whenever she stepped close to one of her classmates, they made an excuse to get away from her.
And who made these decisions about who was popular and who wasn't? Marissa Cooper and Holly Fisher, whose gang included Summer Roberts and many other girls in the class. Taylor couldn't hold it against those girls though. Those girls probably learned it from their mothers, or at least Marissa and Holly did. Summer had grown on Taylor, at least until the day Taylor gave Summer her poem. The deal was, she would give Summer 'I wish I was a mermaid' if Summer invited her to her birthday party. Summer told her it was two Saturdays from that weekend. When Taylor had come over to Summer's house, dressed in her finest, an embarrassed Doctor Roberts had told her that Summer was on vacation with Marissa, her birthday party had been a week ago. That was the last time Taylor had trusted any one of those plastic girls.
It wasn't fair. Not only was she subjected to her classmates ridicule daily, but as soon as she got home, her mother's sharp tongue started up. If there had been bullying at school, then the words at home could've been considered verbal abuse. Taylor Townsend had no friends, not even her own flesh and blood. She was subjected to not only her mother's humiliation, but to her school mates taunts. Even Seth Cohen made fun of her, and he was no more popular than she was. So what if she was smart, so what if she got better grades than the lot of them? Did it really matter if she wasn't beautiful, if her existent didn't depend on gossip? Rejection hurt, and Taylor had been rejected by almost every possible person. Her own parents didn't even want her as their child. But slowly, she was getting used to it.
She picked her books up off of her desk and walked off, trying to find her locker. "Excuse me, excuse me!" She practically shouted, trying to make her way through the big crowd. People shoved her, intentionally and not, but she just ignored it. She was just used to it, this was her life and nothing could change it. She wasn't one of the popular girls; she was barely even considered a geek. She was just Taylor Townsend; she was just here. No one cared about her, unless they needed a target for their insults. But it didn't matter who said those words to her, because they would always be the same. Even at the young age of 12, Taylor knew that in ten, twenty years she would be a sophisticated lawyer/doctor/actress and one of the popular kids would be the mail guy.
But she would just have to wait until then. She would just have to endure their words and make them believe that they were crushing her spirit. But in reality, her spirit was much stronger than that. She may lose her pride and a bit of hope, but she would never let it get so bad that she turned into someone else. Taylor Townsend knew how to make them think that they didn't matter to her, but she also knew how to make these childhood bullies think that they got under her skin. In reality, they didn't know anything about her life. They didn't know about the hours she spent locked in her bedroom, crying over her mother's words. They didn't hear the scathing comments her mother said about her own daughter.
Taylor Townsend was no coward, but every morning before walking into her seventh grade classroom, her legs shook and she bit her lip. But every day she spent here, at school, was another day she wouldn't have to come back. It was one less day until her graduation, one less day until getting away from Newport and all of the phonies of the Orange County. It wasn't like this place was her personal hell; it's just that no one liked her here. She liked a few people, she thought they would be nice to have as friends, but no one thought of her that way. It would be better to get out of everyone's lives quickly after school, and no one would even notice she was gone. It was her dream to go to Harvard or Dartmouth to study law, and both of those places were sufficiently far away. Taylor walked into the cafeteria, her eyes scanning the room until she bumped into someone.
"Look out, Dorksend," Holly Fisher said, flipping her pale blond locks back. The small 12 year old was carrying a rather heavy pink purse which had just hit Taylor's leg. Taylor didn't glare at the girl, but just looked at her sympathetically. She felt sorry for the blond, because in twenty years, with her brain, Holly wouldn't be judged by her mind, but by her breasts.
"I'm sorry." Taylor muttered, now looking at the ground. She hated how people's gaze raked over her judging her because of her glasses and her slightly frizzy hair. It wasn't fair how Luke Ward was considered special just because he looked good. Seth Cohen seemed much nicer but all he ever got were shoves.
"Wait." Holly grabbed onto her arm before Taylor could turn around. "Riss! Sum! Dorksend just bumped into me." The platinum blond pouted and Taylor had to grasp her hand so that she wouldn't hit the girl. Suddenly, two girls flanked Holly, one small with long, dark hair, and the other tall with a crown of golden hair.
"Hey Dorksend," Marissa sneered, her blond hair pulled back over her perfect purple polo. Taylor envied this girl because of her obvious beauty and how she could look pretty without even trying. Taylor couldn't even look half that good if she tried her hardest.
"Marissa, Summer." Taylor kept her cool, though her fingers were tightly clenched on her red tray. She was not in one of her better moods, but she prayed the girls were in good moods and wouldn't make her day worse. Her mom had already yelled at her for a full fifteen minutes about her flabby arms.
"Dorksend made me spill my juice all over my sneakers, so I say we show her what it's like to get something spilled all over you." Holly smirked, laughing while Marissa nodded. Summer just looked queasy and twirled a strand of her exotic dark around one of her slim fingers.
"Please don't," Taylor replied, trying hard not to beg. She knew bargaining wouldn't get anywhere with these sort of girls, and begging would just drag her dignity through the dirt. But it was too late. Holly brought her arm down onto Taylor's tray, knocking everything down, while Marissa picked up her chocolate milk and spilled it over the stunned Taylor.
The three girls walked away laughing, though Summer did shoot her a regretful look as they walked away. As Taylor furiously took a napkin and started rubbing it against her blouse, she found it to be useless. "Hey!" She looked up, hearing the shout, and saw the skinny figure of Seth Cohen being practically lifted up by Luke Ward. Her eyes widened as Luke groupies started to laugh and make comments like "Cohen's a tool" and "You suck".
Taylor gritted her teeth and marched over there. She stepped in between Luke and Seth and glared at the blond boy. "Leave him alone! You should be ashamed of yourself. What did he ever do to you?"
"He was born." Luke's groupies laughed and started to circle like vultures again. Taylor bit her lip. "Listen, Dorksend, if you don't get out of the way, I-I'll…"
'You'll hit me?" She quirked an eyebrow, her bravado suddenly making her feel foolish. "You and I both know you don't have the guts Luke, so just step away from Seth and let him go." She tried to sound as confident as possible, but her voice wavered at the end of her small speech.
"Townsend, move." When she didn't, Luke clenched his fist but didn't hit her. He rolled his eyes and stepped back. "Come on guys, this is getting lame. If I didn't know any better, I would say Cohen got himself a girlfriend."
Taylor crossed her arms and waited for Luke's gang to go away. Finally, they all walked off, but not before singing, "Dorksend and Cohen sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, and then comes marriage and here comes another loser in the baby carriage!" She rolled her eyes, wondering how boys managed to come out with the most awkward rhymes.
"Are you ok?" She moved closer to Seth, making sure that there were no new bruises on him. He looked fine, except the blush in his cheeks and the anger in his brown eyes.
"Leave me alone!" He replied, brushing past her. "I didn't need your help. You're cursed, Dorksend, so just leave me alone." Taylor felt her eyes well up as Seth walked away. She had expected a thank you, maybe even a smile.
But she had forgotten that Townsends never had friends.
…
"Taylor," Summer said, her brown eyes wide and filled with sadness. "That's so sad. I'm so sorry about that, we were all just having a bad day a-"
"And you took your anger out on me. It's ok Sum, I've heard it all before." Taylor sniffled for a moment before smiling at her friend. "I don't hold it over you, just so you know. School was hard on everyone in their own way, and if people needed to pick on me to feel better about themselves, than its fine."
Taylor looked up at Ryan, expecting to see his eyes filled with pity, but instead found them hardened with some sort of determination. "What is it?" She asked softly, wondering why he looked so utterly composed.
"It's just, we have so much lost time to make up for. I want you to feel as special as you are, especially since you missed out on some of the best things in life." He drew her head up and kissed her softly on the lips, as if trying to communicate something with her.
"Break it up you two!" Seth clapped his hands, looking regretful. "Taylor, I, uh…I just want to say sorry for how I treated you. I didn't want anyone to feel the way I did when I was a kid, but I guess I did just the opposite to you."
"It's ok Seth, I didn't need an apology, but I forgive you." Taylor smiled at her best friend's boyfriend before leaning her head down affectionately on Ryan's shoulder.
"Anyways, it's Seth's turn." Ryan smiled wickedly, probably happy it wasn't his turn to speak again.
"No, man, please…"
"Seth…"
"Fine. I think I've got it."
