"Hey girls, hey Jude. All ready to come down when everyone gets here?" Lena ask passing by the girls room seeing Taylor Mariana and Jude painting nails. Mariana replied, "Yep, everything's done." Lena stopped in the doorway, "Okay, You should come down in about five minutes." Jude was sitting on Mariana's bed as Taylor painted one hand and Mariana did the other. Jude smiled, "So that girl at the park the other day what's her name?" Taylor looked up from her work, "I told you all it was nobody. Just a girl from the skate park." Mariana laughed, "We won't tell moms, come on you have to tell us!" Jude continued the teasing, "Hmmm. Maybe Mariana and I will just have to go ask her who she is." Taylor had just finished Judes nails but hadn't put the nail polish made a stroke of blue nail polish across his forehead, "Or maybe she's nobody." Taylor stuck her tongue out at him. "Your next Mariana," She laughed. Callie saw the three and looked at Jude as she walked by, "Just make sure to take that off before school okay bud."
"Oh, Callie who's this?" Stef stopped when she saw the boy standing at the front door with Callie. Callie froze, "Oh this is Wyatt, I hope you don't mind I asked him to come today." Stef smiled, she would have to make sure that Lena and her talked to Callie later about the rules on boys. "It's fine. Do you know if any of the other kids have friends coming?" Callie nodded, no, she didn't think anyone had brought their friends. "Okay. Nice to meet you Wyatt." Stef smiled and left the two.
The fosters party began with a few of Stef and Lenas friends coming in and everyone beginning to talk. Taylor walked down with Mariana and Jude and tried to mingle into the crowd. Mariana dragged Taylor over to meet Garrett, one of Stef and Lena's friends kids. "Hey." Taylor felt awkward realizing she had never met anyone from the house's friends before. "Uh. I'm gonna go grab something to drink would you like something?" Taylor asked looking at Garrett. He smiled, "Sure. Thanks." Mariana was still smiling dumbfoundedly. "Mariana come help me for a minute if you don't mind." Taylor laughed, She was sure Garrett was a nobody too. Mariana glared at her sister, "Sure. Excuse us, stay here we'll be right back." Garrett smiled and nodded. "Ha. You're totally crushing on Garrett!" It was Taylor's turn to tease. Mariana started to blush, "No I'm not!" Taylor rolled her eyes, "Sure you aren't. Just friends. Anyways take this otherwise he'll think you're crazy." Mariana took the soda, "And where are you going?" Taylor stuck her tongue out, "Anywhere that isn't between you two." Mariana sighed and walked away.
The rest of the party went off without a hitch, Taylor hung out with Jude who had charmed almost everyone at the party. Jesus finally saved both Taylor and Jude by convincing his moms to let the three of them go out to the skate park. Callie was allowed to go out with Wyatt as long as she was back before curfew. Mariana went out with Garrett. Brandon went upstairs to practice his piano. Leaving Stef and Lena to clean.
"Okay little dude! You can do this!" Taylor was standing at the bottom of the ramp cheering Jude on. Jesus was standing next to Jude, "Want me to show you again?" Jude shook his head, no," I think I can do it." Jude put one foot onto the skateboard and almost instantly lost his balance, the skateboard and the one leg on it started down the ramp and the rest of the boy followed. "Oh my god! Jude! Jude, you alright?" Taylor ran over to her foster brother, Jesus slid down the ramp to Jude. "Ow." Jude sobbed. "Jesus? Should we call Stef and Lena?" Jesus shook his head. "Okay, Jude, I'm gonna help you sit up and see how bad your hurt okay?" Taylor slowly lifted Jude up. "Your heads not bleeding, that's good. A few cuts on your elbows and legs. How do you feel?" Taylor was hugging Jude tight. Jude tried to calm his sobs, "It hurts. But I can move it." He continued to sob into Taylor shoulder. His elbows and knees were cut and bleeding. "Jesus I'll grab our boards can you carry him?" Jesus nodded.
"Oh my god! Stef come here now!" Lena called as she saw Taylor running down the street and bursting through the door, "Jesus is right behind me but Jude fell. I don't think anythings broken but he got scraped up pretty bad. Jesus is carrying him back." Stef heard the last part of what Taylor said and followed her down the street to help Jude. The three brought Jude into the house and sat him on the couch. Lena and Stef confirmed that nothing had been broken, but his cuts would needed to be cleaned out and Jude would have a few bruises. Stef motioned for Jesus and Taylor to follow her, "What the hell where you guys thinking? He didn't know how to skateboard and you put him on a ramp!" Jesus was the first to talk, "We didn't think he was going to get hurt, I was right next to him and Taylor was at the bottom." Stef looked at the two kids, "Why didn't you call us? He could have been seriously hurt! You're just lucky that Callie wasn't downstairs when you came in." Stef took a breath, "Let's go see if he's alright." Taylor and Jesus nodded.
"It wasn't Jesus and Taylor's fault I just slipped, I wanted to try it." Jude had a feeling Stef had already yelled at the two and felt bad. "We know honey, we just don't want you to get hurt." Lena smiled at him. "Do you remember your first wipeout Taylor?" Jesus laughed. Taylor laughed along, "Yeah it was on flat ground, I didn't even go near a ramp before I wiped out!" Taylor smiled at Jude. Stef laughed, "I remember that!" She looked to Jude want to hear the story?" Jude grinned and shook his head vigorously. Taylor sighed,"Okay, we all went for a picnic in the park and Jesus and I brought our boards. I got cocky thinking I was finally good enough to ride through the park and try to show off. I ended up tripping on my foot when I tried to push off, I got a nice scrape across my cheeck and a few on my knees and elbows, I also runined the hairstyle and nails Mariana had done that morning." Jude laughed, "Mariana must have freaked." Taylor nodded, "Uh huh. So didn't Lena so don't let her fool you." Lena shook her head, "I don't think I freaked out." Stef laughed, "yeah you did." Jesus went and gave Jude a high five, "At least you didn't trip on flat ground, you tripped on a good ramp." Taylor stuck her tongue out at Jesus. "What happened Jude!" Callie exclaimed as she walked down the stairs.
"Uh Callie let us explain." Taylor and Jesus both stood up. Callie glared at the two of them, "It wasn't their fault" Jude tried to stand but his legs still stung from the cuts and the peroxide Lena used. Callie looked at Taylor and Jesus, "Then please explain." Stef intervene, "Let's go upstairs. All four of us, Jude we'll be right back." Stef spoke first once they closed the bedroom door, "Jude feel while he was at the skatepark with Taylor and Jesus. They got him home, he'll have a few bruises and has a few cuts but nothings broken." Callie was still staring daggers at the two,"why did you let him?" Taylor stepped in, "Because he's a kid Callie, he wanted to have fun. Okay, you already told him he had to take off the nail polish he wanted to wear and he just wanted to try something so we didn't see the harm in it." Callie couldn't speak, "I'm trying to protect him alright?" Stef stepped in once more, "Jude's alright and that's all that matters right now you two. There's no use pointing fingers now and we'll just have to be more careful before he does anything again." Callie nodded, "Yeah sure." Taylor faintly smiled, "Jude's safe at least."
"Hey Callie, You didn't yell at them right?" Jude would feel really bad if Taylor and Jesus got yelled at for his accident. Callie smiled, "No, I didn't yell. I just really worry about you." She walked over to her brother and gave him a hug. "Hey Jude, There is one thing left to do though. It's the worst part about wipping out when you live in this house." Jude stopped smiling as Taylor paused to let him worry. "We have to go tell Mariana that you messed up your nails." Everyone in the room began to laugh and Jude soon followed, "Let's go then."
"Hey Mari, Jude wiped out at the skatepark today." Taylor smiled at how quickly Mariana sat up. "Oh my god! Mariana what is in your nose!" Taylor was stunned, her moms let her do this? The fake innocence in Mariana's voice when she said "You like it?" answered Taylors question. Stef and Lena didn't know yet. "You alright Jude?" Mariana went back to being serious for a minute, "Your nails got messed up didn't they?" She frowned, "Come here we'll fix them."
When Taylor and Jude came down the stairs, Taylor looking overly secretive, Stef and Lena paused the movie everyone was watching , "What's going on?" They asked. Taylor shook her head, "wait for Mariana to come down." she mouthed. Jude and Taylor took their seats in the living room. Mariana came down the stairs making sure to show of her nose piercing, "Oh god. What did you do Mariana?" Lena whispered. Stef couldn't take her eyes of her daughter, "You pierced your own nose?" Stef and Lena sighed and about ten minutes later decided it had been a long day and everyone should go to bed so they would get up for school the next morning.
Jude walked out of his classroom, he had kept the nail polish and did a good job hiding it from Callie so he could wear it to school. "Hey, nice nails." Some kid sneered, "Wearing a bra too?" Jude pulled his hand from the kids grasp, "Why don't you grow up?" he spat. The punk got even more in Jude's face, "Why did you say?" Jude knew he didn't want to back off now, "I said grow up idiot." The punk slammed Jude against a locker. Taylor saw the encounter and began to push her way down the hall, a teacher got there first. "What's going on here? Blake, Jude principals office now." The teacher said. Taylor saw Jude's only friend, Connor she thought his name was, just stand and watch the encounter. Taylor ran off to find Callie, Callie had been right they needed to protect Jude.
"Jude, What happened today at school!" Callie came running in through the door. Jude was sitting with Lena and Taylor at the kitchen table. The twins were out with Lexi, Brandon at piano and Stef was still working. "Jude had a little confrontation with some of the other boys because they saw his nail polish." Lena explained. Jude hadn't looked up since Callie had walked in and Taylor had kept her eyes locked on Callie. Taylor whispered something to Jude. "I told you to take that off before you went to school Jude! Why didn't you listen?" She yelled at him, Jude finally looked up, "Go! Take it off now Jude!" Jude stood, "You don't always get to tell me what to do!" Jude yelled. Callie was stunned, Taylor looked at her again, "I'll go help him get it off." Taylor said looking to Lena. Lena nodded. "Callie sit." Lena said.
"Callie, Jude's a special kid." Lena started. Callie nodded, "I know and I love him but I can't have him think that the world is as safe as this house is. He can't go around thinking he can wear nail polish and not get hurt. We aren't always going to be here and he'll get hurt." Lena sighed, "Not everyone in the world is like the people in this house thats true, but Jude needs you to love him no matter what he wears or does." Callie was stunned and muttered how she had homework. Lena nodded, "I'll be upstairs."
"Why does Callie always get to tell me what to do?" Jude was throwing stuff around under the bathroom sink looking for nail polish remover. "Everyone else was fine we me wearing nail polish." He muttered. Taylor sighed and pulled Jude back from the sink sitting him on a stool, "Callie is just worried about you getting hurt thats all." Taylor handed Jude the bottle of polish remover. Jude began scrubbing vigorously at his nails. "Want to hear something? It probably won't make you feel better." Jude shrugged, "Sure." Taylor looked at Jude, "I got into a fight once. Just like you did at school." Jude looked up for a minute then back down at his fingers. "Yeah," Taylor nodded, "They were being bit...I mean jerks because I wore a blazer. They kept asking me if I was a guy now. If I was confused or something?" Taylor stopped, "Jude try this", she handed him a washcloth. At this point Lena had been outside the door for a minute or so, listen to the two kids. "Anyways," Taylor continued her story, "I wanted to so badly walk off but they kept at me. I told them to get a life and find something better to do. One of them shoved me and I punched her square across the face." Jude looked up astonished, "What did Stef and Lena do?" Taylor shook her head, "They don't know about it. A teacher didn't see me like they did you." Jude nodded, "So I should have hit the kid?" Taylor shook her head again, "no. That's just part of the story. It didn't make anything better, in fact it made it worse. But I never wore the blazer again. People are ignorant, they're never going to change unfortunately. I know that now, so does Callie. I know you feel like Callie is just being an idiot and not letting you wear the nail polish but she thinks this was a better way to protect you." Jude sighed, "This isn't coming off." Taylor rolled her eyes, "You're going to rub your skin off doing that, try actually getting the nail not your finger." At this point Lena knocked on the door. "May I?" She asked. Jude nodded. Lena sat down to help Jude take the nail polish off. "I'm gonna leave." Taylor stood to leave. "No stay." Jude pleaded. Taylor sat back down.
"Okay," Lena started, "When Stef and I are at home we hold hands and kiss," Jude had a questioning look on his face, "Really?" he asked. "Well we use to before we just got really busy." Lena tried to explain. Jude looked even more confused this time. "What does being busy have to do with holding hands?" Lena sighed, "Okay we're getting a little off track here." Taylor laughed. Lena shot her a look. Lena began again, "My point is, sometimes when we're in a new neighborhood or out late walking to our car, we won't hold hands." Jude didn't seem to take his eyes off Lena, "Why?" He asked. "Some people out there are afraid of what's different, they want to hurt people like Stef and me. So every time we're out and I want to hold Stef's hand but I decide not to I get mad. Mad at the people who might want to hurt us but mad at myself for not standing up to them." Jude's face was filled with concentration, Taylor sat there, realizing that Lena had been standing outside the door for awhile. Lena continued, "So the thing is, if you're taught to hide what makes you different. You end up feeling a lot of shame about who you are and thats not okay. There's nothing wrong with you for wearing nail polish, just like there's nothing wrong me for holding Stef's hand. What's wrong is that there are people out there who want to hurt us." Jude smiled smiled at Lena. Lena just took a small breath, to keep herself from crying. Taylor sat there frozen.
Jude decided to leave the rest of his nail polish on. "I'll stay here and clean up sweetie you go downstairs." Lena smiled at Jude. She was glad he had decided to leave his nail polish on and try to stay true to who he was. Taylor seemed to wake from her trance and stood to leave, "Uh, Taylor mind staying to help clean up?" Taylor nodded, "Sure." Maybe Lena hadn't heard what she said. "Good speech Lena. I think you made Jude feel better." Lena just looked at Taylor, "you did okay yourself." Taylor stopped cleaning, "Oh. You heard that. I was just trying to make him feel better." Lena nodded, "How'd you manage not to get caught?" Taylor shrugged, I was in back of the school. It was after school and I was getting ready to walk home. Guess no one happened to be there." Lena sighed, "Okay." Taylor stopped and looked at Lena, "That was a pretty good speech." Lena smiled, "I like to try."
"I'll keep an eye out at school for him." Taylor was in her room with Callie. "A few of my classes are near his I'll check in with him and find you if anything goes wrong okay?" Callie nodded, "Thanks Taylor." Taylor nodded, "Can I ask you something?" Callie sighed, "I don't know. I just don't want him to get hurt and he's so young that I don't think he should say anything." Taylor was surprised, "How did you know what I was going to ask?" Callie shrugged, "Because a lot of people have wondered."
The next day Jude was worried about going to school, he didn't want to get into another fight and had kept the nail polish on. Taylor had been saying hi and asking what's up a lot. During lunch Jude had a pleasant surprise, Connor had painted his nails blue to support Jude. Taylor could help but smile when she saw the two and decided the progress was something to celebrate, all during this day without anyone but Lena and Jude noticing, Taylor had worn her blazer just like Jude had worn the nail polish.