Hi and thanks for all the reviews. I know readers want to know the reason behind Josh's return. I am going to tell you but it'll be a while yet. I'm planning to do something amazing for chapter 100. already planned it actually. It's quite heartbreaking but includes the reason behind Josh's return (although it mostly includes Nicki, Tom and Taylor)


Friday usually came with a sense of relief as it was followed by the weekend. However this Friday had been dreaded by all of Taylor's class for they were scheduled to have their first exam (Geography) in the afternoon that day.

Next to music, Geography was Taylor's weakest subject so she was nowhere near confident. In fact, she could feel herself shaking as she feverishly flicked through the pages of her textbook at lunch, trying to do some last-minute revision before they actually had to sit the exam itself.

She was no nervous- she felt like her heart was going to arrest. Well, at least if it did she'd have a pretty good excuse NOT to sit the exam: she'd be in hospital... either that or she'd be dead. Right now though, the thought of a comfortable hospital bed or a coffin seemed very tempting to Taylor.

'You seem pretty terrified,' sighed Dynasty as she observed Taylor with a concerned expression on her face. Taylor was indeed, breathing much faster than usual and her eyes were wide and full of fear.

'Do I?' Gulped Taylor quietly, her tone shaking. No matter how much she revised, Taylor just couldn't remember all the facts and statistics required to pass this exam. We was sure that she was behind everyone else, despite the fact she hadn't missed a geography lesson since she'd started at this school.

In the hall, they had to sit in desks in alphabetical order. Thankfully, 'Barry' and 'Boston' were close in the alphabet so Dynasty and Taylor were sitting near to each other. Taylor looked frantically around. How was it that everyone seemed so calm? She'd forgotten everything already!

She looked down at her exam paper... she didn't want the exam to start... not yet.

Nevertheless, they were soon told to turn over their papers and start the exam. Taylor's eyes scanned the questions quickly... all of them seemed to be written in some foreign language to her- it was hard to understand any of it. She looked for a question she could easily answer... question 6b didn't appear too bad.

Taylor started to write, her hand numb. She couldn't fail this exam... it would be horrible!

The exam seemed to drag on for hours. It was hard to believe that it only lasted an hour and a half- it felt much much much longer to Taylor. She wasn't confident about this at all. She wasn't sure that any of the answers she'd put in were valid either.

Taylor was glad when the day finally came to an end. She was sure that she'd failed the exam.

Outside, Taylor leaned against the bike rack, trying to steady her brain. It wasn't the end of the world if she didn't pass the exam...

As soon as Taylor saw Barry walking towards Kacey and her bike, she took a deep breath and approached him. If she wanted to improve her life, the least she could do was make her feel less awful with Barry.

Spotting her, Barry determinedly stared in the other direction however Taylor didn't care. If he wanted to act childish then that was his problem, 'hey,' she spoke to Barry, making him scowl at the ground, 'I don't care what you think of me because I know you hate me. I know things can never get back to the way they were but I just want you to know that I am sorry and I would do anything just for us to be friends.'

'Friends,' muttered Barry, still not looking at Taylor, 'that's a term I'm not familiar with...'

'Well perhaps you should do your research. What I did was unforgivable but you know better than anyone that no one's perfect. Of course I don't expect you to forgive me but can there not be any tension between us? It only adds to all of our other problems.'

Barry sighed before finally looking into her eyes. This had been the spot where they had nearly kissed, one million years ago.

'Nothing will ever change,' he murmured before adding, 'but fine. No tension. I'll treat you like I do anyone else.'

'So that's still like dirt right?' Snorted Taylor.

'Yup.'

'Well. Just as long as you know I'm truly sorry... see ya loser.'

'Whatever,' said Barry. As Taylor walked away, she turned around briefly and winked at him.

Barry watched her leave the school gates. He couldn't help it. He smiled.


'How did the exam go sweetheart?' Asked Nicki as Taylor entered the house.

'I don't know' sighed Taylor tiredly.

Nicki smiled at her daughter comfortingly, 'you couldn't have done badly. You're a clever kid. You remind me of young me actually. And anyway it isn't the end of the world if you do fail. Geography was never my strong point either. I always used to get Brazil and Russia mixed up.'

'That's not as bad as me thinking that Argentina was a city in Scotland,' sighed Taylor.

'Really?,' chuckled her mother, 'well I thought that Nepal used to be a continent.'

'Well I thought that the Eiffel Tower was in Germany.'

'Well I thought that Greenland was in South America!'

'Well I thought that Tehran was the capital of Iraq, not Iran.'

'Is it?'

Taylor laughed. That had made her feel a lot better.

Also, it was great that she'd finally expressed her feelings to Barry. At least he knew now that she still regretted her betrayal more than anything currently.

In addition, the geography exam was finally over so that was one less thing to worry about and Taylor had no homework due for the next day as it was now the weekend which meant that she could spend the rest of the night not doing anything.

Taylor thought she was doing a good job in trying to have a fresh start, She was feeling better about herself already.

Maybe she could take up a hobby, perhaps join a club. It would be a good thing to do in her spare time... that was if she actually got any spare time among all of the revision that she had to do. Taylor had also learned that spending quality time with her mother, Tom and Josh lifted her spirits a considerable amount. It was great to be around people that understood her and cared for her no matter what she did.

Josh was not only like a brother to Taylor, but also like a best friend and Tom was the most caring person ever- the closest thing to a dad Taylor knew.

Taylor was not going to make any more mistakes- she couldn't


When shopping the next day, Taylor saw Harold outside a dvd shop.

Taylor wondered whether she should go and talk to him. If she wanted to be a better person then it was a start wasn't it?

'Hey...' she said, walking towards him.

As soon as Harold spotted Taylor, his face lit up in a wide grin, 'hi. Wasn't expecting to see you here. How do you think you did in the exam?'

'No idea,' sighed taylor, 'don't really want to know.'

'Yeah I know what you mean,' mumbled Harold bitterly, 'I really struggled with my exams last year.'

'What did you get in Geography then?'

'Erm...' Harold inclined his head in thought, 'fifty? Sixty percent?'

'Well that ain't even too bad.'

'Thanks.'

Taylor smiled at him. She had had no idea that he was only a year older than her- he looked so much older...

When Taylor finally told him that she'd better get going, Harold's smile faltered slightly before he hitched it back onto his face, 'okay.'

His eyes followed Taylor as she walked away.

When she'd gone, he leaned back against the wall smirking as he pulled the cigarette out of his pocket and continued to smoke it.


'I hope Taylor's doing alright with her exams,' said Tom as he joined Nicki on the bench in the garden.

Nicki looked at him, frowning, 'well she said she was...'

'All kids say that.' sighed Tom, 'Perhaps she is, perhaps she isn't. She probably is though.'

'She should be. She's actually quite smart.'

'Smarter than you,' Chuckled Tom playfully.

Nicki grinned at him and punched him gently on the shoulder before touching her belly lightly. It was becoming something of a habit now.

Not an hour passed where she didn't think of the baby. She couldn't wait. What was more, it would connect her and Tom forever. She placed her free hand on Tom's.