Chapter 3 — My New Beginning

TAYLOR'S POV:

*Two Years Later*

Ever since I stepped foot in New York two years ago, my life was amazing. I expected nothing on my first day of school, but surprisingly, my class welcomed me with a party.

The lifestyle in New York was so different than in my hometown, and I liked it much better. Even though I’d only been in New York for two years, it already felt like home.

Truth be told, I had been scared that my new group of friends would turn out like Melissa, who was mean and cruel, but they weren’t like her. They were kind, funny, talented, and pretty much badass, especially my girls.

During the party, they introduced me to all of their extracurricular activities and the games they usually played, like Truth or Dare and Chug That Beer, in which two people would see who could drink the most and the loser had to skinny dip in the pool. I was glad I didn’t lose that one. It was a good game to play during the party, and I truly enjoyed it.

It was the best thing that had ever happened to me. My squad was the most popular in school, and it consisted of four boys and four girls.

The girls' names were Emma, Ava, and Charlotte. The boys' names were Kayden, Jayden, Daniel, and Zach. Basically all of us were in the same English and math class, but we were separated for the others.

Emma was a very cheerful person even though her family background wasn’t that good. She was also really brave and smart, especially when she called the police on her dad; he had been doing drugs, and she had feared for her safety. It must have been hard for her, though, considering that he was her father.

Ava was the party queen in our school. Every weekend, she hosted a big party for our school, and she was the chairman of the activities club. She was the type of girl that no one messed with, because if you did, you ended up regretting it.

Charlotte was the prefect for our grade, and let me tell you, if any boys tried to get in her pants, she made sure they left with a broken nose and a broken dick.

Kayden and Jayden were fraternal twins. Despite being twins, they were very different in a lot of ways, especially when it came to the types of girls they liked. Kayden liked girls who were only interested in one-night stands, but Jayden liked girls who would commit to a relationship. Still, both brothers communicated well with each other, so I guess it really was a twin thing?

Daniel was the class clown. He helped to brighten up people's days, especially mine on my first day of school, when I was shy and introverted. One time, he literally glued Mr. Potter to his chair, and he was stuck in the chair for the entire class. When he found out that Daniel was the culprit, he gave Daniel detention for an entire month.

Zach was student council president. He was hard to figure out because no matter how close we got, his expression was always a closed book, just like mine in the past. The both of us really worked well with one another, even though sometimes we disagreed, mostly about student council. All the girls were really interested in him, and sometimes I saw girls sneaking him notes during class, but every time they ended up in the trash can. He told me once that he was not interested in any girl, which was weird.

We didn’t like being called nerds just because we were smart. It was unfair and a nasty thing to say as we all studied really hard for our grades.

I was currently captain of the cheerleading squad and vice president of student council. My friends forced me to audition when they saw that I could actually dance. So, I did, and I eventually earned the position of captain.

I really liked cheerleading because I loved choreography. I didn’t really have a choice back in my hometown because Melissa and her group of friends formed the majority of the cheerleading squad, so I would've never made it through tryouts.

I snapped out of my thoughts when someone pinched my arm. I slapped Daniel, who was sitting next to me and said, "What did you pinch me for? That hurt like hell."

"I've been calling your name, but you were in your own La-La Land. So I decided to pinch you," he said, laughing.

I flipped through my textbook and said, "Oh shit! Did I miss anything important?"

He laughed and said, "No, but your face was hilarious when I pinched you."

"Stop laughing or both of us will wind up in detention, which I definitely don't want."

He smirked and said, “What if I don’t want to stop?”

All of a sudden, Mr. Shawn shouted, “Daniel, you've earned yourself one hour of detention for disturbing Taylor. See me after school in my office. Otherwise, I will call your parents.”

He immediately stopped laughing, and I smirked, sticking my tongue out at him, teasing him now that he needed to stay late after school.

After class, I went to the cafeteria with all my best friends. When we had all sat down, Emma said, “Does anyone want to hear some juicy news?”

All of us squeezed closer to Emma, and I asked, “What is it?”

“I heard from one of the teachers that a bunch of students from Taylor’s hometown are coming to visit our school.”

I was shocked when I heard this because I was honestly scared. “Did you hear what school they're from?”

She shook her head in response, and Zach chimed in, “We're having an assembly later. The principal will probably announce the news then.”

Everyone went back to eating their food except for me; I did not have an appetite anymore. Charlotte saw that I was not eating and put her hand on top of mine, saying, “Don’t worry, we will always have your back.”

Everyone nodded their head in response, and I almost teared up at their words. “You are all the best, and I love you all to death.”

Everyone around me laughed, and the topic was long forgotten as we continued our chit chat.

After we finish eating, we made our way to the gym for the assembly. The principal walked up to the microphone and said, “Please settle down so that we can get started.”

All of us quickly found a seat, and once everyone was seated, he started speaking.

“Many of you have already heard the rumors going around that some students from another school will be visiting ours. Well, I’d like to announce that the rumors are true. We've been given the privilege of hosting this group of students.”

When everyone heard that, they started clapping. I waited to hear which school these students were from. I would definitely not clap if they were from my previous school.

He waited for the applause to die down before continuing, “The group of students will join us for three months to learn about our education system. So, while they're here, I need everyone to welcome them and plan some fun activities with them to make them feel at home.”

Suddenly, Zach shouted from his seat. “What school are they from?”

He replied, “That's a good question, Zach. The school is called Westfield High School.”

I heard some girls in my class gossiping behind us, saying, “I hope some of the new boys are handsome.”

I immediately felt like throwing up. How could they even think about other boys when they already had one? What cheaters!

The principal continued, “We hope that everyone will be on their best behavior. Please do not disgrace our school name. Anyone caught bullying these new students will face detention. Does everybody understand?”

Everyone responded, “Yes, Mr. Wilson.”

He said, “Okay, everyone is dismissed except for Zach and Taylor. Please meet me in my office. I have something that I want to discuss with you two.”

I looked at Zach, and we nodded, waiting for everyone to leave. After everyone left, Zach and I made our way to his office.

“I hope he doesn’t give us extra work to do,” Zach said, looking at me. I smiled and said, “Hopefully.”

I knocked on the door, waiting for him to invite us in. I opened the door for both of us, and we sat down on the chair in front of Mr. Wilson.

Zach started the conversation by saying, “Why did you ask to speak to us, Mr. Wilson?”

He said, “As you know, we have a group of students coming, and I need both of you to help organize everything for them, including a welcome party.”

He picked up a few papers from his desk and passed them to us to read.

He continued, saying, “Taylor, you have a list of things that both of you need to do. Zach, your page is the roster of new students.”

I nodded my head in response and said, “Mr. Wilson, is it alright if we ask for more manpower to help us?”

He nodded. “Of course, the more the merrier, but please make this event fun for them.”

Zach stood up. “Of course, Mr. Wilson. We will.”

With that, we bowed to Mr. Wilson and walked out of the room.

As we left his office, I scanned through the list of things that we needed to do and said to Zach, “I hope there aren’t that many students coming because there are a lot of things on this list.”

He nodded his head in response, and we exchanged the papers we had. I started to read the list of students.

Scanning through the list, I saw the exact names I was hoping weren’t there…