A/N: Wow, three updates in one weekend? This must be a new record...

Part 1: Taylor Swift

3. Outside

Joy Mercer

I didn't know what I would find
When I went looking for a reason, I know
I didn't read between the lines
And baby, I've got nowhere to go

Saturday had always been Joy's favorite day of the week. It was a full day off from school where she could do whatever she wanted without the foreboding feeling that usually came along with Sundays when she realized she had to wake up early the next day.

Joy had always been busy on Saturdays - either having a rom-com movie marathon with Patricia, hanging out with Fabian, getting mani/pedis with Amber, taking a trip to the park with Mara, or eating a quick snack with Mick. She would even hang out with Jerome and Alfie on a rare occasion as well.

But there she was, on a Saturday night, sitting on her bed and staring at her sheets while trying to hold back her tears.

No one else was home. Mara was catching a movie with Jerome, Eddie was up at the school talking to his dad, Trudy had a date with Fabian's uncle, and Mick was in Australia. Even Victor was gone - he'd gone to town to get Corbiere waxed, or something like that.

And Fabian, Patricia, Alfie, and Amber?

They were with her.

The American that had come in and stolen all her friends the second Joy had left.

Because even if everyone else had been home, nothing would've changed. Joy would still be up in her room by herself while everyone else in the house purposefully avoided her like the plague.

What made the whole thing worse, though, was that she knew she wasn't even innocent in the whole situation. Part of it was her fault. She was the one that had purposefully broken Nina and Fabian up, she was the one that had written the nasty article about Nina, and she was the one that had sent in her own article instead of Mara's to the Article Competition, instead of submitting Mara's, like she said she would.

And she knew she shouldn't have done any of those things.

Perhaps if she hadn't, she wouldn't be feeling so totally and hopelessly alone.

I tried to take the road less traveled by
But nothing seems to work the first few times.
Am I right?

There were some girls out there that might've called it quits after a new girl came in and took her friends away from her. There were some girls out that would've given up after a new girl came and started dating her almost-boyfriend, claiming that "if he's happy, then I'm happy, too." And maybe Joy should've been like that too, but she wasn't. She always took the road less traveled by, and more often than not, that road turned out to be the hardest. But Fabian had been hers first, and if she had anything to say about it, he would be hers again. And besides, Nina wasn't the only girl that Fabian had ever been happy with - he'd been happy with Joy, too.

And she'd tried to get him back, she really, honest to God had tried.

But it hadn't worked. Instead, she'd just ended up screwing it all up and causing everyone to hate her.

It's wasn't like she really blamed them, though.

She hated herself, too.

So how can I ever try to be better?
Nobody ever lets me in.
I can still see you, this ain't the best view,
On the outside looking in.
I've been a lot of lonely places,
I've never been on the outside.

And the thing was, no matter how badly she wanted to, she couldn't even try to apologize or try to make things right. Every time she went up to Fabian or Patricia or Mara or anyone else to try to talk to them, they just glared at her or sent her nasty looks or walked away. So she would walk away, too - her purple binder clenched tightly in her tiny hands as if she was using it as a shield to block out all of the hurt in her life - and sit at that too-big-for-one-person science table all class while everyone else sat with their friends.

And that was the worst part - watching all of her friends go on without her, as if they didn't even remember a time when she had even been a part of their lives. And she knew she deserved that. She knew that when you do something so terrible, you get punished for it, and this was her punishment and she deserved it, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

And God, did it hurt, watching all her old friends buddy up with Nina and treat her like scum.

It hurt so badly.

Joy knew plenty about feeling alone. She'd spent a whole year locked up in her room with no human contact and nothing to do but play Sudoku and virtual chess all day, for crying out loud. But this? This was much, much different, and much, much worse. This time, Joy wasn't being shut in.

Joy was being shut out.

You saw me there, but never knew
That I would give it all up to be
A part of this
A part of you

And after days and days of feeling this utterly and completely alone, she was starting to feel less and less bitter about Nina. It wasn't because she had decided that Nina hadn't really and truly replaced her, though - she still thought that with all of her heart. No, the bitterness was decreasing, only because her want to be let in was increasing more and more. She would've given up every mean thought she'd ever felt about Nina if it meant she could be a part of everyone's lives again.

She was starting to realize that she valued her friendship with Patricia and Fabian and Mara and the others so much more than she valued getting back at Nina.

If only she'd realized it sooner.

And she wondered if the others even knew that she felt that way.

And now it's all too late so you see
You could've helped if you had wanted to
But no one notices until it's too
late to do anything.

And the thing that was so horrible about it all was that, except for ocasionally Patricia, no one had even noticed that Joy was unhappy. No one had noticed how alone and replaced she'd felt. Everyone had been too wrapped up in Nina, and it had taken Joy being outwardly cruel towards her for them to finally realize it.

It was almost sad, really.

And now everyone hated her. And even if they did want to help her, even if they did care about how she felt anymore, it was too late.

The damage had already been done, and it was starting to look like no one could fix it now.

So how can I ever try to be better?
Nobody ever lets me in.
I can still see you, this ain't the best view,
On the outside looking in.
I've been a lot of lonely places,
I've never been on the outside.

A/N: I'm not really sure if British people play Sudoku, so if they don't, sorry. Also, this songfic was kind of short, and sad, but whatever.

Not to overly promote myself or anything, but I posted an Amfie oneshot yesterday called "Three Plus One" that you guys should definitely check out. :)

Also, I'm thinking of writing two new stories – Amfie Drabbles, which is where I make up/take requests on Amfie drabbles and write them, and House of Imagine Dragons or Imagine Dragons (haven't decided on the name yet but it's probs gonna be Imagine Dragons because House of Imagine Dragons sounds dumb) where I write songfics about characters and couples from HOA set to songs by Imagine Dragons. Thoughts on these ideas?

Thanks for reading this chapter, and please review!

Next chapter: Tied Together with a Smile