Chapter 8: 7:55 A.M 08/11/2004 (Summer of 2004)
Taylor Hebert
"Taylor! You ready?" Her mom called out from downstairs, the smell of breakfast calling out to her as she rushed through brushing up her hair.
"Yep! Coming!" She squeaked out, absentmindedly pushing up her glasses.
She passed the brush through her messy hair a couple more times, more for her mom, than herself, her curly black hair always managing to get messy again by recess, anyway. 5th grade was finally here, she couldn't wait to be there.
She stepped off the little stairs Papa put in front of the sink for her, and rushed to her room to grab her dark-blue fairy backpack.
She managed to get her mom to get her the grown-up, dark-blue version, not that baby blue one. New grown-up shoes, too- ones that clicked on the floor, like Mom's, not her baby light up ones that she secretly thought looked one hundred billion times cooler.
Anything was baby-related was out of the window for her. She had to be a good example for all the little kids in school, she was going to be a hall monitor, after all.
She couldn't wait to see Emma too, her best friend, for pretty much, ever.
So, with that, she sped downstairs, her hair bouncing with every step.
7:55 A.M
The trip to school was boring, but now that they were here, she couldn't feel more excited. School had started a few days ago, which was sad, because it meant no more summer sleep-overs with Emma, but now she could spend all day with her, so it was okay.
So, as soon as Papa slowed down to a stop, she popped off her seat-belt, and opened the door, already looking of her BFF's red head in the sea of the little fourth, third, second and first graders. Getting off, and saying good-bye, she started making her way through the crowd.
A little screech of happiness sounded from a few steps away from the main door, and all she saw was a blur of red hair fluttering before she was wrapped up in a big hug.
"Hi! Did you see the new episode of Gleam-Girl?" Emma said in one breath, her dark blue eyes wide as she hopped around, explaining what happened on last night's episode of their favorite show.
She liked it, sort of, but she always liked the comics more. Gleam-girl was a brown-haired, part-time model and cape, and in the show, she was a girly-girl, which Taylor didn't… really like. Still- she nodded, as Emma start going on about what she liked about it.
Waving her Papa one last good-bye, she followed Emma into school, walking through the wide, large doors, into the main hall, the marble floor click-clacking as everyone rushed to breakfast.
Shifting her backpack, she felt just a little bit of nervousness settle into the bottom of her belly like the time she ate all her Halloween candy, as she looked into the moving crowd of kids.
Some of them were bigger than her, and even Sophia, one of the tallest girls in her class.
She couldn't help but wonder how things were going to go this year.
Following the crowd and Emma into the lunch room, they settled in line to grab some breakfast, the usual muffins, fruits, milk.
She avoided the milk, she'd learned the hard way to triple check the milk's date, after drinking one that was so bad, that some rude kids still hadn't stopped bringing up if she dared take a sip of milk since. Plus, her ma made her some food today.
It wasn't really funny, though. She really didn't get why those kids hung around. Was it so hard to leave her alone?
Like, sometimes she had to be careful about what she said because some kids would hear it, and make up random things just to make fun of her and Emma.
She couldn't make their little jokes from their times at camp, or sleep-overs, or complain about other girls, because she wasn't really sure if she was allowed to even say stuff like that, now that everyone seemed to listen in.
Still, Emma was going to come over this weekend, and they'd watch Glam-Girl wayyy past when they should, and talk about whatever they wanted, so it didn't even matter.
Emma's hair shuffled as she swiveled around, looking for a table that wasn't taken by boys or other girls. Sometimes the girls were worse than the boys.
A little gasp escaped Emma's lips, and she could only figure that she'd spotted a free table.
She scurried behind Emma as she hurried over to the table, before sitting down, and setting their breakfasts down, as Emma scooted to the edge of the table and patted the seat next to her with a big smile.
"I heard something… interesting." Emma hummed, her eyes looking at straight at Taylor's, looking a little like she was wasn't sure about what she was about to say.
"Oooooh, what? Tell me!"
"There was a new kid on the bus today-" She paused, like she was trying to get her full attention.
"Yeah?"
She had it.
"-well, he got in a fight. With Dexter."
"Dexter?! No way."
"Yes way. He almost beat him, until Dexter's friends came in, but the security guards stopped it quick." She responded, leaning forward, her eyes wide. Taylor didn't like Dexter. He was too loud, and made fun of how Emma loved Gleam-girl, and the comics they liked to read, but everyone knew he was a mean kid that everyone didn't want to bother.
'I wonder what happened?'
"Dexter ran into him, then he just went crazy." Emma explained, before her eyes flicked up, her attention elsewhere.
She followed her stare, and her eyes lock onto a kid, being avoided like the plague.
His eyes were darting from corner to corner, and his fingers were gripping into the straps of his back pack, his lip an angry red around a cut, that looked like it was a little swollen. He reached down to a rolled up sleeve, and fidgeted it around a little, as she caught a glimpse of his hands, bruised red.
She felt her nervousness grow, but she couldn't help but look away from the boy, her eyes locked on to Emma, as they started talked in whispers, leaning into each other.
"He looks kinda of scary." She pointed out. Frowning, Emma rested her chin on a propped up hand.
"Dexter probably started it. Poor new kid, he looks hurt." She cooed softly, eyes locked onto his hands.
"I don't know, Emma. Didn't you say he went crazy? Looks like trouble to me." Taylor pointed out, feeling a little scared of the way his eyes were shooting all over the place.
She squeaked as his eyes locked right onto hers, his eyebrows angry, and sharp. Did he hear her?
Frowning, she gave the boy one last look, before taking one small, angry bite of her food. She couldn't wait till this weekend.
{A/N: It must have been close to month now since my last post, and I have come back with mixed news! I have spent some time solidifying my plans for the arcs within this book, so that I can write with more of a clear concept in mind, and not wing it with vague future plot points, like I have until now. Now, for the mixed news- I will be changing my release schedule, to two chapters every two weeks, to be able to proofread and double check if what I have written properly lays for what I want to write. If not, I'll have to hold off on release- I want to make sure you guys read the same story I'm envisioning in my head. Please, let me know your thoughts about this chapter, it makes my day, when I read feedback! RM out!}