Lost In A Memory (A Taylor Lautner Story)

Taking Sides (Kaylen's last chapter~!)

OMG guysss~! this is Kaylen's last chapter~~! OMGOMGOMG IMMA CRYYY~

But... Imma cry even more if you guys don't vote! I know I've got some really dedicated fans out there. :) So VOAT! :)

Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it~!

The next chapter will be Taylor's point of view again! But I assure you, i won't skip the whole Aeropostale thing. That would upset people.

XOXO,

Rhonda

Chapter 23- Taking Sides

18 months later

            It had been a year and a half since my relationship with Rob had ended. A year and a half since my friendship with Olivia had ended. A year and a half since I’d had a boyfriend, or any close relationship of the sort. And most importantly, it had been a year and a half since I had been truly, undeniably happy.

            Casey had come crawling back, claiming that she really had no reason to hate me. “I don’t like what you did to Olivia, but I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same,” she had said. Quickly, we had picked back up on our friendship, and Casey and I were still in alliance against Rob.

            Ah… Rob. There was another issue. While I had been ready to keep things friendly between us, he had had other plans. Abusing girls was one of them. I’d had a few friends at the time… Rob had showed up and broken their hearts, and somehow managed to pin the blame on me. I didn’t hate him for his hostility. I couldn’t find myself to hate someone who I had wrecked.

            Regardless, he and I weren’t on speaking terms. I didn’t want to speak with him, and he likewise. He’d rather try and ruin my life instead. But the best part was… I wouldn’t let him. I always grabbed a friend or a strange guy and made conversation when around Rob, just to make myself seem happy. It was the only defense I had against his attacks. I used it to my advantage.

            Little did he know that on the inside, I was spiraling into depression. My mom had taken a creative approach, sending me to therapy and suggesting I take medication. They didn’t make me, claiming therapy was enough. It wasn’t.

            I still rarely smiled, and if I did smile, it was generally fake… or simply without real humor. I had given up on getting a boyfriend, since (it seemed) there was only one guy for me. Everyone around me accepted it, except Casey, of course. She was always plotting new ideas for me to date this singer, or kiss that football player. Her plans never worked out. I was floating in a sea of faces, and I didn’t really care about getting to shore. Content to drown forever, I had become apathetic toward Olivia and her issues: the rape, the lack of a boyfriend, all of it. I no longer cared.

            I still, however, did manage to speak to Jeremy on the phone every so often. We didn’t speak at school; it was just one of those understood agreements between friends. I didn’t speak to him for fear of getting odd looks from people, seeing as he was sort of a jock, and I was now the weird little depressed nerd. I had no clue why he didn’t speak to me.

            Part of it had to be because of his relationship with my ex best friend, Olivia. A few months after I’d told Jeremy about the rape, he had subtly made his approach. He did a good job, making her notice the loving, caring qualities in him that he probably didn’t know he had. He told her the honest-to-God truth, saying that he really wanted her and that he genuinely could help her get over this traumatizing event.         

            He won her over.

            I wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand why Olivia didn’t just apologize. Or in the very least make some kind of attempt to mend our friendship. It wasn’t like Jeremy had turned out to be a jerk. It wasn’t like he’d told the whole world that someone raped her. So why couldn’t we fix this? Maybe it was my pride; maybe it was my apathy toward Olivia, but I really wasn’t planning on making the first move.