The day I feared the most came quicker than I thought. A whole week passed since we moved back to Misthall, and from today, I would officially attend a local high school. Don't get me wrong, I might not be thrilled, but at the same time, I guess I was somewhat curious. I didn't see those kids for ages and knowing the people here, I was pretty sure most of my previous classmates from middle school decided to stay there.

At first glance, Misthall has strived to act as a cohesive community, however, if you've lived here as long as I had, you'd quickly learn that how it looked and how it was were two completely different things. Misthall liked perfection. Perfect houses, perfect white fences, and of course perfect families. We used to live in a flat, my parents divorced when I was a kid, and since my mom worked hard every day, she didn't participate in school activities (which, without a doubt, meant social suicide in our neighbourhood). I hope I don't have to explain why exactly we didn't fit in.

Naturally, every child looks up to their parents. In practice, it meant that while parents wanted perfection, their kids wanted even more. They judged your every move and really liked to criticize your flaws. In my case – my looks, my high-pitched voice, and my height. Apparently, I used to look too girly to be a normal boy, and not only that, boy or girl, it didn't matter as they liked to call me the ugly duckling. My nose had a small bump, my face too many freckles, my lips too narrow, and my hands always trembled. In addition, my blond hair, which they say looked like feathers, also helped with that nickname.

Boys didn't want to be friends with me, and girls thought that talking to me would mean being outcasts, too. Practically, this meant that I spent whole days either in silence or pressed against the lockers they shoved me into. Of course, not all of them. My best friend Kathy always got my back. At least, she used to. When I moved out 4 years ago, I decided to leave this entire town behind, Kathy included, and after a while, I cut contact with her. Dick move, I knew it before, and I know it now. Because of that mistake, I had another thing to be worried about.

"Are you ready?" My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my mom's voice. She was just as nervous about my return to school as I was, if not more so. Her fear was justified as I never lied to her about how I got the bruises or what happened to my belongings. She knew about everything that happened to me in this town and that's why she was against us going back. However, I was convinced that one day I had to face my fear, and at the same time, Richard was offered the salary he deserved, and he and my mother could finally fulfil their dreams, which I definitely did not want to spoil.

"Kinda?" I spoke in a wavering voice. Even though I knew I was already a different person, I was still scared of what would happen when they recognized me. I had enough strength to fight back, but at the same time, I hoped that I would be able to finish high school without any problems. I never had a problem with anyone in Gladwater, and I hoped I could manage the same here.

"Well, you can always start next week," she suggested. I had no doubt that she would arrange it for me, but it would only cause unnecessary problems that neither of us needed.

"Nah, I like to rip off the Band-Aid quickly, you know masochist and all," I laughed sharply in response. In some strange way, it really was the truth. Not the part about masochism, but the waiting part. If I had to wait another week, I would probably lose my mind.

"All right, just don't chop off someone's head, you masochist." She chuckled.

"I'm pretty sure, it doesn't work that way, mom." I shook my head at her in amusement.

The car suddenly stopped, and I finally decided to look out the window. The whole ride I focused only on myself and calming my mom down and refrained from looking at the town. But now I had no other choice.

From a distance, the school looked like any other high school. A large block of red bricks sitting on a green lawn with many windows so there could be enough light inside. And of course, massive parking lot as if all students could afford to have a car. The same parking lot we were currently in. Suddenly a wave of panic rushed over me, and I gulped. It was stupid, but it was as if my body automatically remembered all the wounds, it had once received in this town and now decided to remind me of them all at once.

"Here we go, I guess." My voice became unwillingly weaker. Mom noticed too and looked at me with concern.

"Are you sure you're okay, honey? You can still be home-schooled if you want." She proposed like she did many times before. We couldn't afford for me to be home-schooled, and we both knew it, but she insisted that she would work something out if I really wanted to.

"I'm fine," I assured her and quickly opened the car door, so I could get out. The longer I sat there, the more unnecessary worries I caused her.

"Wait!" She shouted, but I promptly cut her off.

"I love you, bye!" I slammed the door and went straight for the entrance. A few heads turned my way, but I acted like I didn't see them. I felt my hands start to shake slightly, so I quickly shoved them into the pockets of my denim jacket.

Walking through the doors of Misthall High School was a feat I have never thought I would be doing. Or at least, not with a clean slate. As I walked in, I looked around. The halls were already full of students who chatted loudly with their friends. If I was in my previous school, I would do the same, but right now, I was kind of lost.

"Hey, hottie." Suddenly an arm appeared on my shoulder. I suppressed the urge to shake it off immediately and instead glared at the person shorter than me who decided to grab me in such a friendly gesture. On my left hand stood a blonde, whom I could not place anywhere. She didn't look like someone I used to know, or maybe she just changed so drastically. I wouldn't be surprised since I did too.

"Hey," I reciprocated the greeting. I looked her over from head to toe with a quick glance. I had to admit she was really pretty, and I had no doubt she was popular with the school's male population.

"You look lost, must be new. I can help with that." She smiled at me, and I could swear that she trained this smile at least a hundred times in front of the mirror just to be perfect. With a perfect smile, long blonde hair that curled at the ends, and a slim figure, she looked like she could walk on stage and win a beauty pageant at any moment.

In any other situation, I probably wouldn't have talked to her as it would have meant drawing unnecessary attention to myself, but right now I didn't have much of a choice. I didn't want to volunteer to reach out to anyone else and she had already offered to help me.

"Directions to the principal's office would be nice." I smiled at her with my fake smile and hoped she wouldn't notice. Needless to say, she didn't. She was too busy playing with my collar for that.

"Follow me, pretty boy." She grabbed me by the elbow and hooked her arm through mine. In that short time, she found several ways to touch me, and it wasn't very pleasant for me. Not that I'm not a contact person, but she was practically a stranger to me.

"I'm Jessica, by the way." Her name fit her personality. Names like Nicole, Jessica, Brittany, or Tiffany immediately made me imagine the person as a blonde who pretends to be stupid just to get everything she wants.

"Taylor." Well, maybe she thought the same about mine. You never know. Either way, with her help, I was the person who found the principal’s office.

…

With Jessica's help, I found not only the principal's office but also my new locker. Luckily for me, Jessica then saw some of her friends and left me alone. I finally had a moment of silence so I could think.

"Hey. New kid, right?" I spoke too soon.

I turned in the direction of the girl's voice, and instead of another annoying-looking person, I found something much worse. Or rather someone.

"Yes. And you... are?" I cleared my throat and hoped she wouldn't notice. My expression must have resembled that of a deer caught in headlights.

Her face immediately changed from friendly to confused, and I knew I messed up.

"I'm Kathy, Kathy Peters. Sorry, have we met before? You look kinda familiar." Her voice got pretty puzzled too, and I quickly looked around to see if anyone was paying attention. Fortunately, they couldn't care less, but that didn't make my paranoia go away completely.

"Maybe." I tried to give her as little as possible. If she finds out, she needs to do it herself. "I'm Taylor, Taylor Peyton," I told her my new name.

She gave me a dazed look of bewilderment. I could literally see wheels turning in her head. Then shaking her head, she said: "You really thought you can outsmart me, huh." Her mouth spread into a wide Cheshire Cat grin.

"Well, did I?" It was clear she had figured it out, but I wasn't going to be the one to say it out loud.

She smirked. "Taylor Clark. Changing friends, changing the name. It really does sounds like you." Despite her words, there was no reproach in her voice.

"Shhh," I tried to silence her, and her eyes widened a little. Looks like I gave her the last proof she needed.

"Fuck, it really is you, huh." She leaned against the locker next to mine with a loud bang and crossed her arms. It looked like a dramatic moment from the teenage movies we were once obsessed with.

"I don't remember you cussing that much," I tried to lighten the mood. I still had no idea how she felt about me being back, and although she didn't look upset, her potential anger could only be suppressed by surprise at the moment.

"And I certainly don't remember you telling me you're coming back. Not like you talked to me anyway, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised." All right, that escalated quickly. I couldn't blame her though. I would probably react the same way.

"Yeah, sorry for that." I apologized, but even I knew it wasn't enough. But it was a start, wasn't it?

Kathy and I used to be best friends. We knew each other since we were little kids and always had each other's back – or more like she had mine. She protected me no matter what, even when it meant that she ended up with bloody knees herself. We had all these crazy fantasies about growing up together, going to our first party, getting the entire collection of Harry Potter books, learning karate, and much more. But of course, I had to ruin it. Now when I looked back, I very much regretted it. She was the first person who cared about me, and I bailed on her. I hated myself for that, but I could try to earn her friendship back. At least, I hoped I could.

"You're lucky you at least had the decency to come back. But just so you know, you're a dick." Apparently, we had the same opinion. I smirked at her words since it meant she decided not to throw our friendship away completely. I still had a chance to fix everything.

It was quite a paradox since it was my bullies who had a lot to correct and not me. The worst thing I ever did was cut off contact with a friend, and while it was a low blow, it was certainly less than bullying and stealing.

"I figured," I assured her. She stuck her tongue out at me, and I began to laugh. Honestly, this small gesture from a familiar face calmed me down so much that I was no longer worried about how today would turn out.

I guess my little laugh was contagious because the sour look on Kathy's face didn't last long enough, and in no time, we were laughing like little children who had succeeded in mischief.

Yeah, it really might not be too bad, after all.