Hi there, thanks again for the reviews.

Cole takes the lead in this chapter, giving us a slightly different perspective. Hope you enjot it.

Here we go...

Chapter 26: From The Outside

The atmosphere in the Earhardt house was very different to what Cole had first walked into. In the days following the big party he joined them for, there was an air of tension permeating the house and it made him very uncomfortable. He had never been part of a big big family before but from everything he'd read about them, this was not the way things were supposed to be.

Mr. Earhardt spent most of his time out of the house as did Marah and Kapri. Rose would come by the study ever so often to switch out books she was reading but didn't say much else. Mrs. Earhardt was on the phone a lot, but whenever Taylor walked into the room she would start talking about how she had never been more embarrassed in her life and often demanded of her daughter how she was supposed to show her face to Mrs. Drake ever again, but Taylor ignored her mother. Taylor and Jen had not spoken to each other since. The blonde would leave the house for a morning run before Jen woke up, returning only after the latter had left for work. In the evenings, she would either go out or escape to the backyard when Jen was home and would retire to their shared room only when the elder was asleep.

Cole didn't know what to do, his uncle had told him to let them be and only encouraged him to spend more time with Taylor when she took off into town. He imagined she would be against the idea but to his surprise she never refused the company. Growing up, the only person he had close to his age was Camille, not that he spent much time with her, so following Taylor around the city and meeting her friends was a completely different experience. It was very confusing, yet fun at the same time. But no one confused him more than Taylor, sometimes she did things that shocked him, but at others she actually seemed nice. Alyssa, whom they often met for lunch explained that, that was who her friend was, tough and thoughtful at the same time.

He found a good listener and teacher in the soft spoken girl, she listened to his stories, laughed at his jokes and explained a lot of things to him, especially why he shouldn't do things that Lady Pimvare's tutors taught him. She was the complete opposite of Taylor, right from the colour of their hair to their personalities and it amazed him how two people who were so different could be such close friends. As he sat down on the floor surrounded by old journals, supposedly working, he thought back to the last afternoon he'd spent with them.

"How are you two friends?" he blurted out, interrupting Alyssa who was talking about a field trip she was planning for her students. Taylor immediately turned to him with a stern gaze but Alyssa just smiled.

"What do you mean Cole?" she asked sweetly.

"I mean… you…you're so nice and well Taylor's…well Taylor's…not," he said hesitantly casting a wary glance at the blonde to see her reaction.

To his surprise she just smirked and leaned her elbow against the table and resting her head in her hand as she gestured for Alyssa to proceed. The petite girl laughed before focusing on Cole with a smile. "We weren't always friends," she explained. "In fact , back in elementary school she scared me a little with how straightforward she was. And I didn't think she knew I existed. She was always a little aloof from us all, and would hang out with older kids. She was also awfully rude when someone spoke to her. I always thought it was because everyone admired her sister and that she didn't want to be in her shadow."

Taylor scoffed but otherwise didn't interrupt. Alyssa continued smiling and took a bite of her sandwich, chewing politely before continuing with the story. "Anyway, one day we were on a field trip at the museum. I got separated from my group and ended up wandering off with a group from another school. When I realised I made a mistake, I tried to find the others and ended up bumping into some older kids who were trying to pull a prank on one of the guards."

"What happened?" he pushed when she paused to take a sip of her drink .

"Well… they obviously weren't happy about being found out. They were glaring at me and I just stood there wide-eyed and frozen. The only thing I could think off was running but my legs wouldn't move."

"Did they hurt you?" he asked, concern lining his voice

"Oh no…" she laughed. "They were the ones that ran away leaving me still standing there when their trap tripped and the sleeping guard ended up with a bucket of ooze dumped on his head."

Taylor smiled to herself while Alyssa chuckled at the memory. Even Cole had to laugh at that image but he sobered up pretty quickly, eager to know what happened next.

"It sounds funny now but back then I was so scared, the guard so furious that he looked like a rabid monster and when he turned on me I was so frightened I couldn't open my mouth to say anything. And obviously since there was no one else around he thought I did it. So he grabbed my hand and pulled me along to the administrator's office. Then he was yelling and screaming about bratty kids till this lady came in and scolding me while trying not to laugh at the guy."

Taylor still had a smile on her face but turned away from the conversation, paying more attention to the coffee in front of her. But Cole was intrigued and couldn't take his eyes away from Alyssa who continued telling him how sacred she was, especially when they started talking about calling her teacher and parents. "I was so scared I almost started crying. Then Taylor walks in with an empty jar of slime in her hands. Without a word she hands it over to the lady and nods her head to the window where we could see the two boys from earlier. I just stood there stunned, I had no idea what she was doing there or where she came from. But there she was, standing in front of me having a staring contest with the adults and all she said was, 'She's too puny to have done it on her own'."

"What happened then?"

"They believed her, as shocking and inconceivable as it might sound, they believed her and caught up with the other group. We were asked to wait outside while the two boys and their teacher went inside after they found a similar bottle in one of the boys' backpacks. Apparently, the teacher freaked them out so much that they confessed."

"That's it!"

"The story's not over doofus," Taylor interjected without looking at them.

"She's right… when they came out of the office, we were still standing there waiting for our teacher to come get us. One of them saw us and recognised me. And the next thing I know they're both walking over to us with these scary looks on their faces."

"They thought you told on them…."

"Exactly… but they didn't really get a chance to say anything."

"Huh?"

"Well…" Alyssa turned to smile at her friend before going back to the story. "Someone beat them to it."

Cole pointed to Taylor with a quirk of his eyebrows and Alyssa nodded. "She walked right up to them and said, 'do you really think beating up a little kid because of your own stupidity is going to win you any points with your friends? Or better yet, how about we tell them that you two got beaten up by a girl. That sounds so much better, doesn't it?' And she shoves a fist right into their faces."

"Did she hit them?"

"Nope, Ms. Appleby decided to show up and ruin all my fun," Taylor replied with a wistful sigh.

"After that I pretty much followed her everywhere," Alyssa grinned.

"So that's how you became friends?"

"It involved a long lecture on how I should stand up for myself and put my big brain to use because even if I wasn't stronger that the bullies I was definitely smarter. But it ended with an assurance that if I couldn't deal with it myself I should go get her. That's how we started out. And because I realised she wasn't so scary, if you're not being a jerk, our teachers started pairing us up together for projects and it turned out we worked well together and eventually became best friends."

"That satisfy you?" Taylor asked him.

"No… not really it still seems unlikely that the two of you would be as close as you are now," he mused.

"I guess from an outsider's perspective it might seem like that, our personalities do seem quite at odds with each other. But it's never been a problem for us, we just approach things differently and though we don't always agree we balance each other out."

He still didn't understand but nodded and backed off after that, the word 'outsider' ringing through his head. He didn't know what she meant by that but for the first time he left like wasn't a part of their little group like he thought he was. And it made sense, since he got here, as much as the Earhardt sisters included him in everything they did, he had always been watching them from the outside. But when Alyssa said it, it made him feel very uncomfortable.

"Hey there," Taylor called out as she poked her head into the study. "I'm heading into town, you want to tag along?"

"What?"

"I'm meeting Alyssa in town, do you want to come along? You're uncle said you've been working too hard."

He blinked up and her before looking around the study, he had been there all day and he really liked going into the city, it was a lot more freedom than his uncle allowed back in Briarwood. But if Alyssa didn't want him around, did it make sense for him go anyway. Taylor frowned at his lack of response and said she was leaving and that he had about two minutes to come with or not. He watched her leave before dropping his eyes to the open book on his lap, he hadn't moved past a page for a while now. He heard the door slam shut and dropped the book as he scrambled to his feet to follow after Taylor.

"Is Jen going to be home soon?" he asked, as she pulled out of the lane and turned onto the main road leading into the city.

"Hmm… I guess so. Was there something you needed?" she replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the road.

"No… it's just…"

"Hesitating? That's something new. Usually, you can't hold it in."

"You're avoiding your sister," he blurted out.

She turned to him with bemused eyes but turned her attention back to the road almost immediately. "That's an astute observation. Why are you pointing it out?"

"You're family, family shouldn't do that."

"Cole," Taylor sighed. "You haven't been here very long, but when we're all together like that there's bound to be drama. Though usually, I have to admit, it's between my mom and me, I'm the 'problematic one' as she likes to point out. But it's over and done with, and at some point and so will this one."

"You sound confident."

"I am. Look, I know you're not used to big families, especially one like this but it happens. We all have strong opinions and like to voice them. And Jen, Jen just wants to do what she thinks is the right thing. I don't really expect you to understand this whole Alex Drake situation but she needs to learn to draw a line or risk getting hurt, again. It's not really something I can explain to you, but it's nothing you need to worry about. We'll figure it out."

"There's so much I don't know," he said softly, eyes dropping to his lap as he fidgeted with his seat belt.

"Huh? What are you going on about now?"

"It's uh… its nothing."

"Yeah right, you haven't been annoying self since we had lunch with Alyssa the other day. She's worried she said something to offend you, because you haven't said much to her since then."

"Taylor…"

"Out with it Cole," she demanded.

He turned to the window and continued fidgeting with the seatbelt. "I got the feeling she didn't want me around," he whispered.

A sharp pain to the back of his head jostled him and immediately grabbed his head wincing. He couldn't believe it, Taylor actually whacked him on the back of his head. When he turned back to her she was shaking her head and calling him an idiot. "That's not what she meant when she said 'outsider'," she continued without looking at him.

"Huh?"

Pulling the car to a stop at a red light she turned to him with a sigh. "Cole, what Alyssa meant was that anybody who is not either her or me won't get how we work. 'Outsider' meant any third person who interacts with us. The last thing Alyssa wanted to do was make you feel like you don't belong. She would never do that. That girl is too nice to be mean to people she dislikes and she definitely doesn't dislike you."

"Dislike?"

"Hate is too strong a word to use in the same context with Lysaa," she shrugged.

"Oh…I didn't…I…"

"Don't worry about it, you just misunderstood her. It's not a big deal. Just make sure to apologise when you see her tonight."

"But…"

"She'll understand. She's too nice for her own good."

Cole nodded but Taylor's reassurance had lightened his mood. Ever since he had come to Turtle Cove he had felt like an outsider like there was so much he didn't know about the people around him. And the one person who had genuinely been nice to him saying something like that thad hurt him. Besides he really liked Alyssa, more than he would allow himself to admit.

Cole laughed to himself, the one thing he had gotten used to was Taylor's strange way of being nice to him. She wasn't sweet and didn't force herself to be nice. She just treated him like she did everyone else and that was refreshing. However, his discussion with his uncle had begun to weigh heavily on him. His uncle expected him to marry Taylor and while he did like her he had begun to see her as a sister, one he had come to lean on, even though she was younger than him.

He watched her as she pursed her lips while pulling into a parking space. Beneath her angry façade Taylor was simple and straight to the point. She had never pretended to be anything less that she was and had been straight with him right from the beginning. Sliding out of the car he adjusted his jacket and made a decision. She had been upfront with him so he was going to do the same. On the way home he was going to tell her everything.

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Till next time...