Chapter Text
For the fourth time that day, Emma let out a haughty laugh, the ringlets that her hair was styled into bouncing up and down as she did so.
“A commoner like you thinks she can go to a prestigious academy such as this! Truly preposterous!” Everyone in the class laughed alongside with her, forming a cacophony of annoying assholes.
Winslow was anything but a “prestigious academy”. It was a high school for one, and probably the least funded one in the city. Maybe even the whole state. But ever since Taylor had entered high school, this was how Emma acted, and no one seemed to find it strange. Hell most people seemed to play into it. Emma had even taken to wearing big expensive dresses, the kind that required someone else’s help to put on.
It was all insane.
It was easy enough to ignore Emma and leave the classroom, the laughter of her former friend right behind her. The teachers never cared when she left, nor did any of them seem to care about Emma standing in front of her blocking her view of the chalkboard. Or Sophia who would loudly tell the class how much she didn’t have a crush on Taylor. Or, worst of all, Madison.
Taylor couldn’t help but shiver at the thought.
The thought of seeing Madison was enough to convince her to ditch school for the day. Any guilt she might have once had was completely buried under nearly two years of constantly dealing with this.
It was a nice April day, and Taylor was the unluckiest girl in the world because it was barely three minutes of walking before a familiar voice rang out.
“Oh! Amy look! It’s Taylor!”
Glory Girl slammed down into the ground in front of Taylor, Panacea held in her arms. The sidewalk was ruined, the section where Glory Girl landed was completely covered in cracks. Taylor waved the dust out of her face, coughing heavily.
“Oopsie!” Glory Girl gave a peace sign with one of her hands and gave her most apologetic smile. It wasn’t very apologetic.
Taylor sighed heavily. She really did not want to deal with these two today.
Panacea, as per usual, was hiding behind her sister, peaking over her shoulder. Once, a year ago, Taylor would have waved at the shy girl and tried to talk to her. She knew better now.
“H-hello… Miss Herbert…”
Taylor couldn’t help the automatic response that came.
“It’s Hebert.”
Panacea’s face exploded into a blush, and Taylor could faintly make out the words, “oh my god she talked to me, she’s so perfect I can’t believe how lucky I am to even breathe the same air particles that she does.” All a bit much for Taylor’s taste.
“Do you two need anything? Because I’m a bit busy.”
“Oh that’s so funny Taylor, you’re so cute! Anyway, do you want to go on a date?”
“Don’t you have a boyfriend?”
“He’s okay with sharing, tee hee.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter that he is, because no. I do not want to go on a date with you.”
Glory Girl was certainly pretty but she was also insanely annoying. Still, if she had to choose out of all the people who wanted to date her… she was better than Madison. And her sister. A sister that was currently glaring at Glory Girl.
“Awww… well, I was just taking Amy home. Do you have anything else to say, Amy?”
“Um… Miss Herbert… can I have… some of your… hair?”
It took Taylor a moment to make out what Panacea had said. When she finally comprehended, images of Taylor clones filled her head and panic set in.
“NO! No, you can’t! Okay, bye!”
Taylor ran and was able to make it three blocks away before she felt tired. Thank god she had taken up running. She walked the rest of the way home and thankfully wasn’t interrupted by anyone else.
Once inside, Taylor made sure to make a meal, not wanting to eat her bare-bones lunch. Some mediocre spaghetti was better than the sandwich she’d put together two minutes before she left home. She made sure to take her meds once the spaghetti was done, waiting for the estradiol to melt under her tongue.
She had originally thought that Emma would have brought that up more. The fact that she was trans, that is.
It had hurt to hear from Emma that they were no longer friends, not three weeks after she’d come out. But it had been long enough for her to know that at the very least, her being trans probably wasn’t the reason why Emma had broken off their friendship.
She didn’t know why Emma said they were no longer friends, but with her attempts at bullying her, Taylor would have thought for sure that she’d use everything she could to hurt Taylor, things like her mother’s death. But, in reality, her jabs were more annoying than hurtful, and the worst thing she had called her was “commoner” and laughed in an incredibly annoying way. And honestly, Taylor was more worried for her sanity than she was angry at her.
“YOU!”
Taylor jumped out of her chair and nearly screamed. The loud shout came from directly behind her, and she spun around, the plate of spaghetti shattering on the floor.
A blonde girl, around her age, with the most enraged expression Taylor had ever seen stood in her living room, clearly having crawled through the open window in the living room. Her clothes were dirty and ripped in places, giving her an almost feral appearance when combined with her absolute rage.
“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! IF I KILL YOU IT’LL END!” The girl ran towards her, hands outstretched, likely prepared to choke Taylor to death. Before Taylor could react, the girl tripped on the rug in the center of the living room and slammed into the floor.
Taylor couldn’t help herself. She did grab a knife first, but she went over to the girl to check if she was fine.
“Are… are you okay?”
It felt so silly to hold a knife in her hands as if she was going to be able to use it. At least it would be threatening if the girl really was dead set on murdering her.
“It’s all you’re fault!”
Her voice was muffled and she made no move off of the carpet, apparently finding it comfortable.
“Um… can… I ask what’s my fault?”
There was a cry of despair and the girl went completely limp. Taylor was briefly worried that something had happened to her, that she had died or passed out somehow, but she spoke before Taylor moved to check.
“You… you don’t even know… do you?”
“Um… no?”
She started crying and Taylor felt awful. Which was strange because this girl had broken into her home and threatened to murder her, but well she was sort of pathetic. In an endearing way. Mostly just a pathetic way.
“Are you okay?”
There was a choked sob, and the girl slowly rolled over. Tears were pooling in her eyes and her voice was wobbly as she spoke.
“N-no.”
“I… Let me help you up.” Taylor grabbed her arm and pulled her up, wincing as the girl groaned. She helped her walk over to one of the couches and sat her done.
“Do you want some tea or something?” She shook her head, and Taylor tried to remember what else she had in her fridge.
“Ice cream, maybe?” The girl took a moment, but she nodded her head slowly.
“Um, before I go, can I ask your name? I’m Taylor.”
The girl shuddered, and more tears streamed down her face.
“I’m… I’m Lisa. W-why are you being so nice to me?”
That took Taylor by surprise. She thought a moment before answering.
“Um… you kinda look like you’ve had a bad week. Like a really bad week. And this isn’t really the weirdest thing that’s happened to me.”
She paused a moment, gathering her thoughts.
“And I kind of want to know what you think I’m responsible for.”
That seemed to satisfy Lisa. Taylor made her way to the kitchen, thinking about how weird her life was.