Sparks Fly: A Kaylor Love Story

Chapter 1: The New Girl

It was a Monday morning. The school hallway hummed and buzzed with activity. A hundred conversations, punctuated with occasional bursts of laughter and the opening and closing of locker doors. Sixteen year old Taylor Swift navigated the crowded space, making her way to her locker.

When she arrived at her locker, she saw her best friend Selena Gomez waiting for her.

"Hey Tay!" Selena said, waving.

"Hey Sel." Taylor replied, pulling her earbuds out and reaching out to unlock her locker.

"Soooo" Selena said, with a knowing grin "you never told me how your date with Tom went on Friday night."

"It was okay." Taylor said with a shrug. She took a book from her locker and closed the door, locking it again.

"Just okay?" Selena said, as the two of them began to walk towards their first period English class.

"Yeah" Taylor responded "he took me to dinner and it was nice."

"Tay, he's the cutest guy in school, surely you can think of something more than 'okay' to describe it." Selena said, a slightly puzzled, slightly amused look on her face.

"It just... it wasn't that special really." Taylor said.

"You're the only girl I know who could go out with the cutest guy in school and just describe it as 'okay'." Selena said. "Did you guys kiss at least?"

Taylor just shook her head.

"I mean, he's nice and all..." Taylor began.

"But you just didn't click." Selena finished.

"Exactly." Taylor said.

"Taylor" Selena said, a hint of frustration in her voice, suggesting that this wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation "that's the same thing you've said about every guy you've been out with. This is high school. You need to stop with the impossibly high standards. What were they again? Tall, hot..."

"Tall, handsome as hell, and a little bit bad." Taylor said, as though reciting a speech from memory. In fact, in a way, she was. Since she could remember, she'd fantasized about her perfect love. In her head he was tall, handsome, and a bit of a bad boy. She also knew that there was something else. An undefinable X-factor. She couldn't quite figure out what it was, but she was sure she'd know it when she found it. Thus far, no boy she'd been out with had possessed this X-factor. They'd been tall, handsome, and had that rebellious streak that Taylor found so appealing, but none had made sparks fly.

The girls reached their English class and went in. They sat at their usual seats. They continued to chat until the teacher entered. At this point a wave of hush travelled across the room, as the students gradually realized that the teacher was there.

As soon as the room was totally silent, the door opened and a tall, blonde girl wearing jeans and a tshirt entered. Taylor looked up at her. She was pretty. "She could be a model." Taylor thought to herself.

"I'm Karlie Kloss" the girl said to the teacher "I'm the new student."

"Oh yes" the teacher said, surveying the class to find Karlie a place to sit "there's an empty seat over there next to Taylor."

As Karlie walked towards the empty desk, her and Taylor made eye contact. She gave Taylor a smile, which Taylor attempted to return – albeit sheepishly – and then something happened that Taylor didn't expect: she felt nervous. But why? She usually didn't feel this nervous around people, especially when it was just some new girl in her English class. Taylor tried to ignore the strange anxiety she felt as a result of sitting next to this Karlie girl. She spent the entire class attempting to focus all of her attention on what the teacher was saying, and for the most part she was successful. Although once or twice she found herself snatching a glance at Karlie.