My heart was pounding in my chest as I looked in the mirror and the bandages were unraveled from my face. I was just seven years old when my life was turned upside down and my face was permanently disfigured, most noticeably from my nose and my mouth. My mouth was torn on the left side of my face and showed about two inches length of my teeth when closed and my nose was crooked and I had a torn nostril on the left side too. Along with my pale skin and black hair I looked deathly ill, but these were the cards played out for me, just lucky enough I survived the accident.
The accident was, something I'll never be able to forget no matter how hard I've tired. I went through my stage of denial, then grief, then anger, then finally acceptance. It wasn't my fault and even years after did I finally accept that, all those years later I wasn't able to visit my dad. The accident had taken his life, leaving just me and my mother, left to figure everything out on our own. My mother grieved the most over the lost of my dad, she never did move on. They didn't have a bad relationship, their love story was something like out of one of those cliche movies that comes out near Valentine's Day, or along the lines of teen romance and high school lovers put together that got to live happily ever after. But happily ever after doesn't last forever, so it was just us. We moved around a lot as it was hard to find a apartment that aloud a dog so sadly, we had to give up our husky Bella. On the bright side she went to me aunt so I still get to see her and my cousins love her and I know she's in good hands with them.
That was ten years ago, I'm now seventeen and my name is Taylor Orlin. I've since decided to wear a face mask that covers my mouth and nose when I go out in public and even at home -alone or not- so no one can see what's underneath and luckily enough in recent years they've become popular so no one really questions me wearing it, not like I get much social interaction anyways. I attend school kind of normally but since high school started I've done all my work from home besides going in periodically to write tests or hand things like work and projects in. But only when a large majority of students aren't around, so in result no one really knows who I am or that I'm even a student at MarkField, until today.
Today is different. It's the beginning of the final semester of my last year and I've decided I want to do it right, that I can handle attending full time and being around everyone. I know it's going to be hard but on the bright side I've gotten permission to keep my mask on but I know it's going to raise questions. That isn't what I'm worried about right now, right now my goal is to find my misplaced shoes so I can leave. I had already got dressed, wearing light grey-blue jeans, a large grey sweatshirt with it, my black letterman jacket I always wore along with my plain black mask for today, but my hair was a mess as always. It curled very slightly and the middle was longer then the rest of the length so it looked like a black shrub or at least a uncontrollable mess.
I sighed in relief as I finally found my shoes which were just worn out black DC's and I got them on with slight annoyance and difficulty, it was just too inconvenient sometimes to undoing the laces to get them on but it did make them harder to get in and off. I had my bag on my back and I made sure I had my keys before locking up the house as my mom wasn't home and she got paranoid if it was left unlocked or even a single window was left open. I couldn't really blame her in all honestly, better safe then sorry as she always says. I made sure it was properly locked and the windows were shut-along with closing the garage- before starting my dreadful departure to the school that was only a couple of minutes away give or take, but nonetheless my legs were shaking and my knees buckled a bit. I could feel the fear in my throat, I'm not use to being around people my age let alone more then five people at once and those people are always my family. The thought of being around so many people, in a small building, in even smaller classes increased my heart rate drastically. Being judged or harassed by my peers never seemed appealing to me so I mostly just talked to a childhood friend of mine- Shannon, who I met when I was nine- and I see her a few times a month when she comes and visits me, usually staying for the week or weekend depending on our schedules.
Shannon is someone you would refer to as a actual ray of sunshine, someone who is always there for her friends and does the best she can but we have wavering opinions on a lot of things which can lead to very little or huge arguments between us. But regardless Shannon is like the sister I never had, and the only friend I've really got. Everything from her light brown hair that reached her shoulders and the bangs that just passed her eyebrows, slightly tanned skin and honey brown eyes and the dimples on her cheeks were all so perfect to me and those pink diamond studded earrings- she has so many pairs of those- that she always insisted on wearing, that's probably why I use to have a crush on her.
Unfortunately though those were just puppy love feelings I had and it was never spoken about between us or anything serous and my feelings have since faded but now I see her as family, and that's far more important to me then some dumb crush a ten year old version of myself had on her. Sadly she doesn't go to MarkField but as she said, "It would be a great opportunity for you to push yourself to make some new friends of your own", and she was right, I truly only have her and it's not that I don't want to extend my branches, it's that I'm scared to.
Before I could continue my train of thought I was at the school, about to walk in before a cupcake was thrown at my face. It didn't make a huge mess but it did get on my mask a bit and stood out against the black material as the icing was, of course, vanilla. I looked over at where the treat came from and saw a gingered boy with a huge grin, hunched over a little and trying not to laugh. I sighed as I went to walk away and ignore this scene before he called out to me, "hey wait, come over here." he insisted. Assuming I would maybe get a apology or explanation at the least, I walked over.
"So, what was that for?" I asked a bit sternly, I was clearly annoyed but I didn't bother to not let it show. "I thought you were a buddy of mine until I saw the color of your hair, but by that time I had already thrown it and it was too late, so sorry man. What is your name anyways? I've seen you like once or twice." The guy asked, as he stood up proper and cleared his throat. "Taylor.." I spoke hesitantly as I looked at him, thankful we were the same height-maybe a inch or two difference- so I wasn't breaking my neck trying to look up at him. "Matt, it's short for Matthew but that's my grandpas name so everyone has just called me Matt for most of my life, plus Matthew makes me sound like some old professor" Matt smiled as he explained the origin of his name, it really did seem to suit him more then Matthew judging by his appearance alone.
"Alright..well I guess I should be going. Maybe I'll see you around?.." I questioned, as I turned and went to walk off. "Yeah, I'll see you around Taylor." Matt assured as he sat down on a bench, oddly enough I assumed that meant he wasn't going to class or he was waiting for the next victim to throw cupcakes at. I nodded as I waved and walked off, smiling under my mask as I finally noticed the slight blush on my face and the tight feeling in my chest.
Maybe high school wasn't going to be so bad after all.
ESTÁS LEYENDO
Sweet Like Candy
RomanceTaylor had lost his interest with people after the accident that permanently changed his face and caused his father to leave his life. Ten years later he's ready to try again and finds his reasons to keep going and that maybe life isn't so bad.
