Chapter 2: Pain
Taylor's P.O.V.
Today is Monday October 8th and one month of school has gone by pretty quick. On Friday night, me and the group went to our school football game seeing Zack, Reno, and Cid play and win big against the Modeoheim Huskies (our school sports name is Mustangs) and the three of them broke a school record from 35 years ago. Zack is the quarterback of the team while Reno and Cid are his top wide receiver and tight end. Aerith and Selina were on the cheerleading team rooting for our team (and it was pretty cold that night too). I saw Yuffie and Cissnei in a huge blanket to keep each other warm. I saw Legend and Cloud sit together with Tifa talking. Legend looked and saw me walk away wondering where I was going. I walked to the parking lot seeing Reno's car with Zack's truck and Cid's car, looking around and saw no one in sight, climbed into the back of Zack's truck and stayed there for fifteen minutes looking up at the stars in the sky. That's pretty much I remember of Friday night. Now back to today.
I sat down in math class and saw on the board that my class was having a test today. I looked at his desk and saw packets with our names on it and I knew that everyone is not gonna have the same questions on our tests. Mr. Wallace always does his tests that way so that nobody cheats on their tests. "We have a test today!" said Selina. "Yeah, we've been told about this last week." I said. "I am so not prepared for this." said Selina. "Of course you didn't." said Aerith. "You forgot to put it as a reminder on your phone did you?" I asked Selina. "God dammit." said Selina. We looked next door seeing Reno, Zack, Cid, and Cloud in their history class bored out of their minds. "Why did their teacher leave this door open?" Aerith asked. "I don't know but now I know what I'm gonna do." I said. "What are you doing?" Selina asked. "You'll see." I said.
I opened my bag and took out an empty pie tin and filled with shaving cream. "You sneaky little." said Aerith. My plan was to get either Zack or Reno with the fake pie and run as fast as I could. Selina took out her phone ready to record the whole thing. We looked and saw Zack asleep while the other three were still bored and awake. "Go." said Selina. I snook into the room, behind Reno and got him. "Smack Cam!" I said and ran. Zack woke up and looked with Cid and Cloud wondering what just happened to Reno. "Lazarus!" Reno yelled and ran after me. The three boys saw Selina and Aerith laughing. I ran to Mr. Carter's room and hid in the lab. Reno ran to the room and then saw Selina and the group run up to him. "Please tell me this was your idea Selina." said Reno. "Nope. It was all Taylor's idea." said Selina. Reno looked at the guys and saw them laughing. As they were talking I snook back into my math class and saw Mr. Wallace and boys' history teacher, Mrs. Ruby looking at me. "So… your plan worked huh?" said Mr. Wallace. "Good job Taylor." said Mrs. Ruby. They were in the plan all along. "Thank you, thank you very much." I said happily. We looked and saw them return and they saw me after Reno cleaned off the shaving cream. Reno put me in a headlock and gave me a little nuggie as we both laughed. "Ok boys back to class." said Mrs. Ruby. "Yes Mrs. Ruby." the boys said in unison.
As they were heading back to their class, Cloud and I looked at each other and he ruffled my hair a little which made me smile and he smiled back. "Alright ladies back to your seats." said Mr. Wallace. "Yes Mr. Wallace" said Selina, Aerith, and I in unison. We sat down and Mr. Wallace gave us our tests and we begun our tests. I looked at my test knowing all the easy questions in a snap. When I saw my final question, I was pretty surprised. It was to sing a verse of the song King by Years+Years. I've been practicing this song for a good week and a half plus Mr. Wallace and Mrs. Ruby like hearing me sing. I turned and saw both Selina and Aerith were done their tests. "Ready Taylor?" Mr. Wallace asked me. "Ready." I said.
We looked and saw Mrs. Ruby walk into the room again after telling her students to keep taking notes and leaving the door slightly open. "She better not ask Taylor to prank me again." said Reno. "I heard that smartass." I said. We heard Cid, Zack, and Cloud laugh at Reno from my insult. "Shots fired." said Zack. Mrs. Ruby quietly shut the door. "You know what she's going to do?" said Mr. Wallace. "I believe I know what it is." said Mrs. Ruby happily. "Alright then, Taylor take it away." said Mr. Wallace. I looked and saw Aerith take out her phone to record me. "I had to break myself to carry on. No love, no admission. Take this from me tonight. Oh, let's fight(x3), oh." I sang. "That was beautiful Taylor." said Mrs. Ruby. "Thank you Mrs. Ruby." I said happily. We looked and saw the four boys peeking through the door. "Aren't you boy supposed to be taking notes?" said Mrs. Ruby. They went back into their class and I saw Zack giving me two thumbs up for my singing.
"Mr. Wallace? May Selina, Aerith, and I please go to the bathroom?" I asked. "Yes you may." said Mr. Wallace. The three of us walked out of the room and walked to the bathroom. "Hey Lazarus?!" said a voice. We turned around and saw Tifa walk up to us. "What do you think you're doing on my turf?" said Tifa. "Since when was this your turf?" I said. "Since freshman year its been mine" said Tifa. "You've gotta be fucking kidding." I said. "You have ten seconds to leave or you're getting broken" said Tifa.
I put my bag down and stared at her. "Taylor let's just go." said Aerith. "We're not letting you get hurt again." said Selina. I walked up to the bathroom door glaring at Tifa. "That's it." said Tifa. She charged at me and we began fighting. "Taylor?!" Aerith and Selina yelled. We both kept punching each other but I saw Tifa barely hurt at all while I was a an injured mess and I didn't notice Selina was recording the fight. "How long have you had your phone out Selina?" Aerith asked. "For a couple minutes." she said as she recorded the fight. During the scuffle they saw a man with long silver hair watch the fight as well. Tifa pinned me to the lockers as I was covered in bloodshed. She had broken my left arm and right leg and saw my blood and bruises. I looked and she pulled out a pocket knife and she gave a scar on my left eye (thank Gaia that my eyes were closed!) and stabbing me at my shoulder and torso a few times. "Taylor?!" Aerith yelled. I looked at Tifa seeing her put the knife's blade at my throat as I coughed out blood. "Still the same weak kid after all these years huh? Any last words before you go?" said Tifa.
"Stop this madness right now!" said a voice. We all looked and saw him for the first time. "Principal Sephiroth!" said Selina. Tifa threw me to the ground and I groaned in pain. I looked and saw Principal Sephiroth looking at my injuries and seeing Tifa have no injuries whatsoever. "You two back to your class. You in my office. And you are going to the hospital." said Principal Sephiroth as he picked me up. I looked at Aerith and Selina seeing them worried for me. I gave them a little smile before being tooken to the hospital. "How are we going to tell him?" said Aerith. "Well we have evidence now. We'll show him at lunch and see how he reacts." said Selina.
Cloud's P.O.V.
I walked down to lunch with the guys after I got a text from Tifa that she's in the principal's office. I asked her why but she didn't respond. "Anything good for lunch today?" said Cid. "I have no clue." said Reno. "They got Hamburgers today? Yes!" said Cid. Zack and I laughed a little. "Hey Reno?" said Zack. "What?" said Reno. Zack picked up his food and almost threw in Reno's face and it scared him. "God dammit Zack! I swear you're turning into Taylor." said Reno. We laughed happily and then walked into the cafeteria.
As we were walking to our table, we saw Selina, Aerith, Cissnei, and Yuffie crying. We decided to walk over to them and sit with them. "You girls alright?" Cid asked them. They shook their heads no. I looked and saw Taylor's bag next to Aerith. "Where's Taylor?" I asked Aerith. We saw the girls look at each other and then look at me. "Show him the video." said Aerith. "What video?" I asked. Selina took out her phone and the four of us saw Tifa fighting someone. "Who's she fighting?" said Cid. We kept watching and then saw that she was fighting Taylor. Our jaws dropped in shock seeing Taylor getting hurt. "Still the same weak kid after all these years huh? Any last words before you go?" said Tifa in the video. My eyes widened in shock hearing her say that to my best friend and watching her cough out blood and seeing a blade at her throat. Selina stopped the video. "That's why Tifa is in the principal's office." said Aerith.
I looked at the group still in shock of what happened. "Jesus Christ." said Reno. "Where's Taylor now?" said Zack in concern. "She's in the hospital having surgery now." said Selina. I grabbed Taylor's bag and walked out of the cafeteria as the group saw tears in my eyes. I walked outside to the football stadium and sat on the bleachers seeing no one in sight. I hugged her bag tightly and put my head on her bag while crying. As I cried, I had flashbacks of me and Taylor when we were little kids playing together, seeing her cute little smile, dancing with her, cuddling with her by the fire, and the little ride we had on my 16th birthday. I could hear her voice in the flashbacks all happy and warm. "Taylor." I said as I cried. I looked into her bag seeing her cellphone inside and I put it in my pocket.
I've had a crush on Taylor ever since I was twelve years old and it's because of her kind heart and loving personality. She was the first girl that made me feel special just for being me. She's the one person who makes me really happy whenever I had a bad day. That's the kind of person she is. Just a girl with a very kind heart, that's what I love about her. "Cloud?" said a voice. I thought it was Taylor calling my name. I looked up and saw Zack and the rest of the group sitting beside me. We all did a group hug and I saw the group cry too. About five minutes later we all walked back inside the school walking to Principal Sephiroth's office. "Hey Cloud, does this mean that you and Tifa are done?" Reno asked me. "Yeah I'm done with her forever. She crossed the line by hurting Taylor like that. Me and Tifa are done for good." I said. "Atta boy Cloud." said Zack.
As we made it to the office, we saw Tifa walk out with the principal and they saw us. "Hey baby." said Tifa. "Don't touch me." I said angrily. "What's wrong?" she asked. "It's you." I said. "What do you mean it's me?" said Tifa. "You know what you did to Taylor." I said. "You're gonna take her side? Why are you doing that?!" she yelled. "Because I love her!" I yelled. Everyone looked at us shocked and surprised. "It's over Tifa. I never want anything to do with you ever again." I said. Tifa left the office not saying a word. "Mr. Strife, do you and your friends here wish to go see Taylor at the hospital?" said Principal Sephiroth. "Yes we do." I said. "Very well, you and your friends here are dismissed today. Go see your friend. And don't worry about Tifa, she's been expelled from here and she'll be in jail for a long time." said Principal Sephiroth. "Thank you sir!" we said in unison. We grabbed our bags and ran to our cars and bikes and drove off to the hospital. "Don't worry Taylor. I'm coming." I said in my thoughts.
Taylor's P.O.V.
I woke up in my hospital bed seeing my parents right next to me and I saw tears form in their eyes. "Mom, Dad please don't cry. You two know I've been through worse things than this. I'll be ok, I promise." I said. "Are you sure about that honey?" said my Mom. "Positive." I said. "You are just like your father being this brave and you are talking like him." said my Mom. "That's my girl." said my Dad. Of what I mean of been through worse things than this, I went through falling off Mt. Nibel during a family trip and tore my ACL in my left leg during a dance competition. "How did you guys hear about this?" I asked. "The school called us and they told us everything you remembered about the fight." said my Dad. "Is the school on my side or hers?" I asked. "They're on your side Taylor." said my Mom. I smiled happily from her response.
We turned around and saw the doctor walk in and she sat beside us. "Mr. and Mrs. Lazarus it's a pleasure to meet you both. My name is Dr. Adria." she said. "It's very nice to meet you Doctor. How serious are her injuries if I may ask." said my Dad. "When I first saw her injuries I thought she was in serious condition but as the surgery started we saw that her stab wounds were not as serious as we thought, not puncturing any organs in her body so the stab wounds will heal the fastest. Her left arm broke from her wrist to her elbow and it should heal completely in 6-8 weeks. Finally her right leg, the fibula bone is broken in three places and it should take 3-4 months to heal completely." said Dr. Adria. "What about this big scar on her face?" said my Mom. "We got it stitched up and it should take 10 days to heal and then the stitches come off." said Dr. Adria. She turned to the door and saw a group of teens standing by the door. "Looks like you have some guests Taylor." said Dr. Adria.
I looked at the door and saw Aerith, Selina, Yuffie, Cissnei, Reno, Cid, Zack, and Cloud walk into the room. "Hey guys." I said happily. "Hey there crazy girl." said Selina. "How are you doing?" Reno asked me. "Alot better than I thought. I guess that medicine is really working." I said. "Well that's good to know." said Reno. Selina and Yuffie laughed happily. I looked and saw Cloud talking with my parents and I began to blush and looked away shyly. As I was talking to everyone else, my parents and Cloud saw a nurse walk in with discharge papers and gave them to my Mom, signed them all pretty quick, gave them back to the nurse and saw the nurse leave. "What was that about?" Cloud asked my Mom. "Those were discharge papers. After someone finishes signing those papers they are allowed to leave the hospital and go home." said my Mom. Cloud smiled happily knowing now that I don't have to spend the night here.
My Dad walked up to me and told me about the discharge and that we all get to head home tonight and I smiled happily. "Need some help bud?" Cloud asked me. "Yeah. I would love some help." I said. "She doesn't need the wheelchair Cloud. You can carry her if you want." said my Dad. Cloud and I looked at each other all embarrassed for a minute and then he picked me up and then we all walked out of the hospital together. I watched the group head home for the night while I headed home with my parents and Cloud. I looked seeing my bag on Cloud's shoulder while his bag was in his bike. About five minutes later we made it back to my house. "Anything else I can do for you Mrs. Lazarus?" Cloud asked my Mom. "You can put Taylor in her room for now. I'll help her later." she said. "Ok." said Cloud.
We got to my room and Cloud put me down on my bed putting an extra pillow under my broken leg to keep it elevated. "They told you everything about what happened did they?" I asked him. "Who did?" Cloud asked me. "Who do you think?" I said with a smirk on my face. "Yeah they did. I never knew that Tifa was the girl that bullied you all these years. I'm so sorry Tay." said Cloud as he layed down beside me. "It's ok. You didn't know until now." I said. "After they showed me the video and seeing you get hurt like this I realized that I made the biggest mistake of my life of dating her." said Cloud. "They recorded the fight?!" I said surprised. "Yeah they didn't tell you?" said Cloud. I shook my head no. Cloud laughed a little and then he ruffled my hair again happily. He sat up beside me, wrapped his arm around my waist keeping me close to him. "So… are you and Tifa done for good?" I asked him shyly. "Yeah I'm done with her. I broke up with her before I came to see you." he said. "How sweet of you Cloudy." I said.
We both laughed and then went silent as we stared into each other's eyes. As I looked into his blue eyes, I can hear my inner thoughts telling me to kiss him but I knew that I wanted to wait a little while for him to get used to being single for awhile. I looked at him wondering what he would do and then he kissed my forehead and smiled. "You're too cute." said Cloud happily. "You're cute too Spike." I said happily. He smiled from my response. My Mom walked into the room seeing me wrapped in Cloud's arm and almost asleep. "I guess that she wants you to stay for the night. Will that be ok with you Cloud?" said my Mom. "Sure. I don't mind staying over." said Cloud. "No funny business up here you two understand?" said my Mom. My face turnt bright red in embarrassment. "Mom!" I said. "Don't worry we won't be doing anything I promise you that." said Cloud. "Ok I trust you. Goodnight you two." said my Mom. She left the room and I put my head down in embarrassment. "Aww is wittle Taylor all shy again?" said Cloud in a silly voice. "Shut up." I said shyly. We both laughed happily.
I cuddled up to him putting my head on his shoulder. "Oh here you left this in your bag." said Cloud. I saw him take out my cellphone from his pocket. "You didn't hack into my phone did you?" I asked him. "No. Why would I do that?" he asked me. "Zack did that to me last time and he locked my phone for two weeks." I said. "So that's why you didn't respond last time I texted you." he said. I nodded my head yes to his response. About a half hour later we both fell asleep. In my dream I was smiling happily knowing that I have my best friend beside me keeping me safe.
Thank you for reading Chapter 2 of this series! So that fight was pretty scary for Taylor knowing that she could've died if the principal wasn't there to stop it. Sephiroth makes his debut in the series as the principal of the high school! I wonder how many students he can handle in his office almost everyday? I honest to God don't even want to know. And the song Taylor sang here, I do not own the rights to the song.
We also saw that Taylor can be a little prankster in the group. She knows to be a good prankster is that timing is key to everything. Her pranks only go as far as the pie prank because she really doesn't want to hurt anybody at all. And we saw that Cloud has a crush on Taylor and how he really feels about her.
Two new characters make their debuts, Mrs. Ruby and Dr. Adria! Mrs. Ruby is a history teacher at the high school and is also Cissnei's mother. Dr. Adria is a doctor at Nibelheim hospital and is one of the best doctors there. If you want to know more about all the characters, I'm thinking about making a tumblr and putting their bios there and also ask them questions if you like.
Next time, Chapter 3: Party at Reno's. Reno has a party at his house and invites the group over and they play a little truth or dare! What could possibly go wrong?
