1 Chapter 1

It was crowded. Too crowded. Taylor tossed and turned, restless and trying to get away from the crowd. Eventually her eyes snapped open as she took in her surroundings. She was in her bedroom, not surrounded by people in a small area. She took a deep breath and calmed down. Untangling herself from her blanket, she sat up. The raven-haired girl reached for her phone, which was lying on her bedside table. She pressed the 'on/off' button on the side, turning on her phone and showing her lock screen background, which was a picture of her and her black cat, Shadow. The screen said '5:53 am'. She sighed as she switched her phone off. What could she do in the meantime? She couldn't go back to sleep, and she couldn't wake up her mom or older brother. Wondering if she was going to regret her decision or not, Taylor settled on taking an early morning walk to the park. She got out of bed properly before standing up and walking over to her wardrobe, her feet submerged in her soft powder-blue carpet. She opened both large wooden doors to reveal hoodies and jackets hanging from a metal rod, drawers full of shirts, pants, shorts and other everyday clothes in the middle, and shoes, sandals and slip-ons at the bottom of the wardrobe. Taylor opened the top drawer, which was full of dark-colored shirts, and selected a black shirt. Then she opened the second drawer, which had one half filled with different lengths of shorts and the other half filled with sweatpants and pants. She grabbed a pair of light gray shorts, along with a pair of dark underwear and black miniset. She took a quick shower, slipped on her clothes and grabbed her phone, connected her black wireless earbuds, quickly scribbled a note to let her family know where she went, and left it on the kitchen counter. Afterwards, she slipped on her dark blue sneakers and closed her front door.

Taylor started walking along the sidewalk, passing by other houses and enjoying the beautiful early sunrise. After looking both ways before crossing the road, she arrived at Windskye Park; a clean and beautiful place, perfect for a picnic or a nice afternoon stroll. Taylor walked over to her favorite spot: a bench placed right under the shade of a beautiful apple tree and sat down. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her music playlist, eventually settling on "Her Last Words" by Courtney Parker. She wasn't suicidal, she just liked the song. Taylor closed her eyes and leaned back, enjoying the gentle breeze. After a good few minutes, she heard someone talking.

"Taylor, you're up early again?" Her eyes snapped open, and standing in front of her was the park's caretaker: Mr. Sorenson. Since Taylor usually woke up early, she always saw the kindly caretaker tending to the flowers and plants around the park. The caretaker was the closest person Taylor had to a real friend. She smiled and pulled out her earphones.

"Yeah, I haven't been able to sleep past six a.m. lately. I suppose I'm just nervous about starting my new school." she explained, turning off her music. Mr. Sorenson gave her a knowing smile.

"Don't worry, Taylor, it's completely normal. Especially for highschoolers like you." he said as he sat down beside her on the bench. She didn't refuse.

"Whatever you say." she muttered. Deep down, Taylor knew that the caretaker's words were true. She just couldn't bring herself to agree.

"So," He turned to her, making sure she didn't miss a word. "What school are you going to?"

"Evergreen Highschool." She answered simply.

"You're attending your brother's school?" Taylor nodded. "At least you won't always be alone." Even if Taylor rolled her eyes at Mr. Sorenson's so-called joke, she knew it was true. She turned her head towards the warm amber sky, not a cloud in sight. "Actually, my son is also attending Evergreen Highschool, maybe you can be friends with him." She was about to decline his offer when a soft, friendly voice, laced with exasperation and amusement, broke through their conversation.

"Dad, a hedgehog's stuck in the lilies again." They both turned to the source of the voice to discover a blonde, hazel-eyed boy who was inspecting a bed of white lilies. Taylor allowed a soft snort of laughter to burst from her lips, and he turned from the lily bed, grinning.

"That's my son, Daryl. Daryl! Come on over." The boy jogged over, his eyes flicking from Taylor to his father.

"Taylor, this is Daryl. Daryl, Taylor. Both of you'll be attending Evergreen High together. I hope you can be friends! Daryl, why don't you show Taylor how to get the hedgehog out of the flowers, and I'll meet you round at the pond. It needs a little scrubbing."

"Sure, dad." Daryl beckoned to Taylor, who reluctantly stood up and followed him to the bed of lilies.

"See the little dude over there?" Taylor squinted between the fragrant, pink-white flowers, and spotted a small blob of brown. Daryl bent further into the flowers, pulling a towel out of his belt.

"Okay, just watch me." He reached out slowly toward the blob, and safely covered it with the towel, pulling it out of the dirt. Opening the towel, he gently tipped the hedgehog right-side-up, where it sat, looking miffed. Taylor giggled as Daryl handed her the towel, and examined the tiny, spiky animal, which was rolling around contentedly on the towel, leaving brown streaks of dirt on it. As she continued to watch the hedgehog, Daryl said casually,

"So, you're coming to Evergreen High?"

"Yep." Taylor answered softly. Daryl smiled.

"It's my first year as well. Do you have anyone else attending the school with you?"

"My older brother, Tyler."

"Oh! I know Tyler. My older sisters were always obsessing over him and his good looks." Daryl grinned widely. Taylor chuckled.

"He may be good looking, but his personality is more attractive, honestly. He's very supportive and encouraging, especially the few years I was battling my social anxiety disorder."

"That's really nice to hear. I'd rather listen to that than my sisters' five billion exclamations about how his hair flops just right over his left eye and how he smells so good and how he's so tall and has abs-"

"Wait, people have seen my brother shirtless?!" Taylor choked.

"Football. Don't you know?" Daryl shrugged. Taylor snorted mirthlessly, not wanting to hear more about her brother or his abs. Daryl spoke suddenly. "Speaking of sports, are you interested in any?"

"One, but it's a little silly." she muttered the last part quietly, suddenly becoming overly interested in a patch of pretty pink lilies.

"I won't laugh." Daryl promised, setting his mouth in a straight line.

Taylor hesitated for a moment before whispering, "I'm interested in volleyball." There was silence between the two. She started to worry, a million thoughts swirling through her head until Daryl spoke.

"What's wrong with being interested in volleyball?" Relief washed over Taylor, and she smiled.

"Is there a volleyball team at the school?"

"No, but I heard that this year some juniors wanted to put one together."

"Really?" Taylor said excitedly. He nodded, grinning. Then Mr. Sorenson called from the pond.

"Daryl! Are you dead or something? I just found another patch of algae that needs to be scrubbed!" Daryl turned to go, but at the last moment, he turned around, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Can I get your number? So we can, you know, chat, if you're having any problems at school?" Taylor hesitated, but Daryl looked expectant, so she slowly brought out her phone and handed it to him. Seconds later, her phone was thrust back into her hand, and he was sprinting off to the pond. Glancing at her phone, Taylor saw that the time was 7:45. High time she should be getting back to the house so she could make breakfast. Pushing her phone back into her pocket, Taylor jogged off.