SKYLAR
The time on my phone read 11:03 over the lock screen picture of Connor and me. I'd considered changing it to a picture of Taylor and me but decided against it and changed the home screen wallpaper instead.
I came here on Sunday and it was Tuesday now which meant I had exactly a week until school started. I wasn't looking forward to it but at least I'd have something to occupy myself with, and I'd always gotten good enough grades so I'd never had a hard time keeping up with my schoolwork.
The Jones's, Alice and Pete, weren't bad foster parents either. Pete worked as an architect so he was away a lot and Alice spent most of her time in the small jewelry store she owned with a friend. It was nice that they trusted me to stay home alone but since I didn't know anyone here, I found myself wasting a lot of time on my phone in bed or on the couch in the living room.
I could hear Alice in the kitchen downstairs as I lay sprawled on my back on the bed and stared out through the small window. My cream-colored bedroom was on the second floor, and it was small but not too small to feel claustrophobic. I'd put up a poster that Connor had given me from the RED era on the wall above my bed, and the framed picture of my mom sat on the dresser, but that was basically all I had decorated.
Connor and I had talked on the phone a few times during the past two days. He'd made an announcement on swift-show, letting them know that we probably wouldn't be updating there for a while, and the people in the comment section had been surprisingly upset about it.
I felt my phone vibrate in my hand and held it up over my face to check it. I smiled when I saw that Natalie had DM'd me on Instagram and swiped my finger across the screen to see what she'd said.
natxoxo: Hey Skye! I just wanted to check in with you and see how you're doing 💜💜 I saw the post on your other account, did something happen?
I sighed and contemplated how to answer her. We hadn't gone into any details in the caption, and I wasn't sure if I wanted her to know about my situation, but finally decided to just tell her.
skyejoy13: hi nat☺️ it's nothing serious, i'm fine.
skyejoy13: im a foster kid and was placed in a new foster home in kentucky a few days ago, so i had to kinda quit my job
skyejoy13: they were super nice about it and said that i could come back if i ever moved back but that's why i won't be able to update as usual
skyejoy13: it ain't too bad here so don't worry about me but if you come up with a way to get me outta here let me know lol
The last message had been a joke and I didn't wait to see what she replied before going to the bathroom. When I came back, I saw that she had written back.
natxoxo: Wow I rly didn't know that. I'm sorry you had to move and quit your job😢
I'd not expected what she sent me next; telling me that she was here with her boyfriend in Kentucky, and wondered where I lived and if I wanted to meet up. Without thinking it through, I sent her my address and she replied that it wasn't far from where he lived. She sent me a location where we could meet up — that wasn't too far from my house — and I said I would be there.
I felt a tinge of excitement as I grabbed my phone and left the room. I had never been one of those unruly kids who disobeyed and lied to their parents — not that I had any parents to lie to — so this would be the first rebellious thing I would do. Not that people would actually count it as rebellious anyway — lying to meet up with some friends — but it kind of was for me.
I found Alice in the kitchen, mixing something in a green plastic mixing bowl, and she looked up when she heard me walking in.
"Hi, good to see you up and about," Alice said and gave me the hint of a smile. "Ollie was always out doing stuff."
Ollie had been their previous foster kid and I had probably been compared to him about a dozen times since I moved in.
"Uhm, yeah..." I smiled sweetly at her. "So, I realized I have a friend who doesn't live far from here... Her name is Natalie, and I was wondering if I could go see her?"
It wasn't a complete lie, and I was kind of proud of myself for coming up with it. This would surely not count as a rebellious teenage thing.
"Really? I didn't know you knew anyone outside of Tennessee. Sure, you can see her, I just need her address and a phone number."
I felt the panic slowly start to rise but then suddenly knew what I had to say. "I can text you the address, but her mom works nights so she's, like, almost always asleep and won't answer the phone. You have my number though and I'll have my phone on me."
She eyed me for a moment and I was sure she would see through my lies but, surprisingly, she just nodded. "Okay, that's fine. We're having dinner at seven so make sure to be home by then."
"Thanks!" I said and turned to leave, trying not to walk too slowly or too quickly to make her suspicious. I was probably overthinking it though.
I texted her the address where Natalie and I were meeting up, which turned out to be a gas station, and prayed that Alice wouldn't decide to look it up.
There were only three cars parked in the parking lot so it wasn't hard to spot Natalie in the yellow Beetle. Last time I saw her she'd had short, straight, blue hair but now she had short, wavy, pink hair. I ran over to the car, and she reached over the passenger seat to unlock and open the door for me.
"Hey girl! Great seeing you again!" she exclaimed happily once the car door flew open.
"Hi, good to see you too," I replied, closing the door behind me with a smile but the door didn't shut.
"You gotta slam it," Natalie told me, reaching her arm out in front of me to point at the door.
Just like it had on the bus, our conversation flowed naturally and all of a sudden we were pulling up outside an old apartment building.
"Kai is the best, I know he'll like you," Natalie said once we were walking up the stairs to the apartment. I followed her inside and through the small apartment until we came to the kitchen where a guy stood with his back facing us. His long black hair was pulled back in a man-bun — revealing a shaved part above the neck — and I realized he was smoking a cigarette by a small open window.
Natalie walked over and wrapped her arms around his torso, and he turned around with a smile.
"Hey, we're back," she said, standing on her tiptoes to reach his lips. I hadn't realized how short Natalie was until I saw the height difference between her and Kai, but I was still a lot shorter.
"I can see that," he chuckled, taking a drag of his cigarette. She turned her head around to look at me with a disgusted face — which I assumed was because of the smoke — making me laugh.
"Kai, this is my friend and fellow Swiftie, Skye, and Skye this is Kai."
Kai nodded a hello to me and gave me a smile.
"Hi... I heard you took Nat to the Rep tour. That was an awesome boyfriend move," I said, taking a few steps closer to them. He laughed.
"I'm glad you approve. Personally, I think I should be nominated for boyfriend of the year..."
I nodded and raised my eyebrows in a smirk. "Honestly, yes."
"Yeah, you wish," Natalie said, slapping Kai's arm. "I might reconsider if you stopped smoking. Keyword, might."
Kai looked over at me and held up a pack of cigarettes. "You smoke?"
Natalie gasped. "Absolutely fucking not!" she yelled, and I started laughing at them. Kai made a face at Natalie and it made her join me in laughing until we were all laughing together. It was the first time since I spent the evening with Joe and Taylor that I felt like I was happy just being and enjoying the moment. I didn't need to pretend to be something or behave in a way to make others content, and it felt wonderful.
I had a really nice time with Natalie and Kai. We had a late lunch together and Natalie put on a Taylor Swift playlist that we danced and sang along to, and even Kai joined in whenever he knew the lyrics. I hadn't even realized how much time had passed until I happened to glance down at my phone on the coffee table.
"Shit!" I exclaimed when I saw the time and the dozens of notifications. It was 8:10 PM and I had missed a bunch of calls and text messages from Alice, Pete, Susan, Marge, and even Taylor.
"What's wrong?" Natalie asked me, looking up concerned from where she was resting her back against Kai's chest.
"I-I totally lost track of the time. I gotta go! Ah, they're gonna kill me, they're all gonna kill me," I said, both to her and to myself, working myself up.
"Do you need a ride?" Kai offered and I met his dark brown eyes.
"Really? Would that be okay?"
"Yeah, sure. It's cool. I'll just grab the keys and we'll be on our way."
As soon as Kai dropped me off outside the house, the door burst open and Alice and Pete rushed outside.
"Where the hell have you been?" Pete yelled at me and Alice grabbed my hand, dragging me into the house.
"I-I'm sorry, I totally lost track of time."
They led me into the living room and had me sit on the couch while they stood and stared down at me.
"Who was that, dropping you off?" Alice asked, her voice actually scaring me a little.
"Uhm, that was just Kai. He's Natalie's boyfriend," I mumbled and looked down at my phone in my hands. I noticed my hands shaking so I sat on them to try to make them stop.
"Boyfriend?! He looked to be at least ten years older than you!"
"You have some explaining to do," Pete said, staring directly at me with cold eyes.
And so I ended up telling them about Natalie and Kai and about how I'd lied to them. They were both super mad but thankfully didn't hurt me in any way. They told me I was grounded for a week until school started and that they would take away my phone, and honestly I thought it would be much worse.
Before they took my phone away, I got to take it up to my room to make some calls, so I hurried up there and lay down on my bed. I decided against calling anyone though and just sent a text message to a new group chat with Taylor, Susan and Marge.
skye🦋: hi, i'm sorry i didn't answer when yall called. i was at a friend's house and had accidentally muted my phone but im home again and fine. i did get grounded for a week tho and they're taking away my phone so you won't be able to reach me until school starts. //skye
I kind of regretted sending the same message to all of them because I formulated it with my social worker in mind, but Susan and Taylor actually cared about me and I should've sent them something more personal. Oh well, what's done is done.
When I went to give them my phone — that I thankfully remembered to turn off first — Alice muttered that Ollie wouldn't even have thought of doing something like this, but then Pete cut in and called her out on her lies. While they were bickering, I went up to my room again but realized to my horror that this meant that — for the first time in, like, ever — I wouldn't be able to listen to Taylor Swift for an entire week...
***
I spent the next two days reading the book that Callie had recommended, and sang and played some songs on the guitar. It got a little boring after a while of doing the same things, so I had to alter the activities and take some naps in between.
Alice and Pete still had to go to work but now they were calling me every other hour from a neighbor's phone, asking me what I was doing. It surprised me that they still let me be alone at the house, but I guess Susan had told them that I usually never did stuff like that, and they weren't too worried now that I didn't have my cell phone.
I was sitting outside on the porch, softly playing Tim McGraw on my guitar, when I saw a girl around the same age as me make her way toward the house. She stopped right below the steps and just watched me with a smile, so I stopped playing and gave her a questioning look.
"Hi? Uh, can I help you?" I asked, scratching the back of my head. The blond girl blushed and looked away for a quick second and then looked back up at me again.
"Hi, sorry, I wasn't staring- I mean, it wasn't..." She cleared her throat, and I smiled over at her. "I'm Maeve. I live in that white house over there," she said, pointing to a house that was three houses down across the street. "I saw you sitting here through my window and I didn't have anything to do- okay that sounded like I was, like, spying on you which I totally wasn't."
I couldn't help but to laugh at her and she seemed to relax a bit as her lips curled up into a small smile.
"Sorry. What I meant to say was that I didn't have anything to do, I saw you sitting here, and I thought I'd go and say hi. So, here I am. Hi."
"Hi again," I sniggered.
"I haven't seen you here before, did you just move in?" she asked, leaning against one of the white pillars.
"Yeah, two days ago. Alice and Pete are fostering me."
"Oh, so you're like an orphan?" She sounded intrigued and I figured she'd seen Annie or some other kids show about orphans.
"N- well, not exactly. I'm a foster kid. I'm in the foster system and I don't live with my parents, but my biological dad is still alive — and he hasn't, like, totally abandoned me or anything — so I don't really consider myself an orphan." She looked at me without showing any signs of understanding so I added, "If that made any sense at all."
Finally, she nodded and gave me a small smile. "Yeah, I get it. So were you playing Tim McGraw just now or was I imagining it?"
I was glad she didn't keep on asking questions about my personal life or tell me how sorry she was like most people would have. It made me even happier that she knew Tim McGraw.
"Yeah! It was! How'd you know that?"
"Oh, I am the biggest fan of Taylor Swift! I'm practically in love with her and I don't even like girls that way."
"Really?" I looked around, moved over on the porch swing and patted the empty spot next to me. "Would you maybe like to sit?"
She wore a wide dimpled grin as she climbed the steps and sat down next to me on the swing.
"What's your favorite song?" I asked. I knew exactly what I needed to do but I felt like I needed to get to know her before I could ask for favors.
"Uhm, right now, it's either I Knew You Were Trouble, Bad Blood or This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things. It changes a lot depending on how I'm feeling. But my favorite album is definitely Speak Now."
"Oooh, tell me, who's hurt you?" I said intrigued, forming my mouth into an 'o', raising my eyebrows and leaning in closer to her. She laughed at me and shook her head.
"It's stupid. My best friend and I just got into this huge fight and now she's hanging out with the people we always used to hate."
"I wish my life was as interesting as that. That's some drama you've got going on." I leaned back in the swing and hugged the guitar to my chest.
"What are you talking about? You're literally an orphan and you play the guitar just as well as Taylor."
That was, like, the best compliment I'd gotten in my entire life and I was afraid that my cheeks would hurt from smiling so much. "Oh my god, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, thank you so much. And also, foster kid, not orphan."
"Tomayto, tomahto," she replied, waving her hand dismissively. "I take it you're also a Swiftie?"
"Hell yeah. I'm going to her show in Nashville in, like, three weeks."
"Oh my god, you're gonna love it so much! I went to the one in Louisville and it was the best day of my life!"
We continued to talk about Taylor for a while, but I asked her not to tell me any spoilers about the show. I had tried to avoid stuff having to do with the tour on social media so that it would be a surprise, and I'd managed surprisingly well. There were only a couple of things I knew and most of them were from the pictures and videos that Taylor had posted.
"Hey, Maeve? Could you do me a huge favor and let me borrow your phone for a minute? I'm actually grounded so they took away my phone until school starts, and I just really want to speak to someone."
"Yeah, sure, no problem."
She handed me the phone and I thanked her and told her I would be back soon. I went inside, leaving her with my guitar to get some privacy.
I had memorized Taylor's number for emergencies like these and texted her beforehand to let her know it was me before I called her. She picked up almost at once.
"Skye? Is that you?" she asked, and she sounded out of breath.
"Yeah, I can't talk for long, but I wanted to hear your voice," I said, sitting down on the armrest of the couch.
"Sweetie, where are you calling from? I thought they took away your phone?"
"They did, I borrowed a neighbor's phone."
"So you're making friends already? That's great!" I could hear her smiling and it caused me to smile.
"What are you doing right now?" I asked, closing my eyes to imagine myself in my bedroom in Jackson.
"I'm preparing for the show here in Pittsburgh. I can't talk for long either. They will probably tell me to hang up any second now to be honest."
"Oh, I totally forgot... uhm, do you know if you can do that thing that you told me about at the hospital?"
I barely dared asking but I had to know and we didn't have a lot of time.
"No sorry buddy, I haven't had time yet. We're really busy over here. One of my outfits was gone for a while and Paul thought he might've lost one of the guitars... it was this whole thing. Okay, yeah, they're calling for me now. I gotta go, but I'll talk to you later when you've gotten your phone back, alright?"
I sighed. "Okay, bye."
"Bye sweetie, love you," she said and hung up.
Maeve was strumming the guitar when I came back outside, and she smiled up at me as I sat down next to her.
"Did you manage to reach the person?" she asked as we exchanged my guitar for her phone.
"Yeah, thank you so much."
"No problem."
"Hey, since I haven't had access to my phone, I haven't been able to listen to music in a while. Would you mind if we listened to Taylor, just to make my mind stop racing?"
I honestly think I'd gotten addicted to listening to music because I almost felt depressed after not having been able to listen during these past two days.
"Yeah, of course. Which song?"
"Uhm, how about Shake It Off?"
She laughed as she went to search for it, and I asked what she thought was so funny. "Nothing, it's just, out of all her songs, you choose a song that's playing all the time on the radio."
I told her about my job at the preschool and why that song made me feel so happy. She put the song on, and we started singing and dancing along to it and collapsed back in the swing when it finished.
"Woah, you're such a good singer! You should make a career out of it or something."
I told her about the swift-show account and she looked it up and followed it.
"You are amazi- oh my god! Taylor has liked this video!"
I laughed at her as she bounced up and down in the seat excitedly.
"I know, I freaked out when I saw it."
She went through a bunch of our posts and liked almost all of them until she turned her phone off and looked at me. "Hey, if you want, I could help you film another video to post to the account? I love photography and stuff like that so it probably wouldn't turn out too bad."
"That is so nice of you. We could definitely do that but maybe some other time? I just kind of want to spend some time listening to Taylor and talking right now, if that would be okay?"
"Of course! Which song do you wanna listen to now?"
"Wildest Dreams?"