The First Aider

22 ~ Back To Square One

~~~

Taylor pushed open the front door, having just finished dropping Jacob off at hockey practice, much to her chagrin. The house was relatively quiet, and her eyebrows furrowed. She wasn't used to it being so quiet, and then again, she wasn't often home by herself.

"Mom?" She crept into the kitchen, pacing around in search of her mother, who appeared to be missing. Taylor shrugged to herself and kept her backpack slung over her shoulder, heading for her bedroom.

"Taylor, come here please."

Taylor's heart and stomach dropped at the tone in her mom's voice. She was in for shit. She turned down the hallway and entered her mom's room, which seemed much larger with her dad's stuff gone.

Her mom was sitting on the edge of the bed, fiddling with her phone on her lap. The bags under her eyes were smaller, but they did nothing to hide the look in her eyes. She raised an eyebrow in Taylor's direction, ignoring the long strand of caramel hair that fell in her face.

"Do you have anything you want to tell me?"

Taylor shuffled her feet, listing things in her mind that she could've been caught for, but only one main thing popped up. She had been caught. Slowly, and testing the waters, Taylor shook her head.

"Really," Her mom said. "Because that was Uncle Clark calling."

Taylor silently cursed out her uncle for telling on her.

"He said that you quit the team. Is that true?"

Taylor's eyebrows furrowed and she ducked her head to look at her feet, her face heating up with embarrassment. "Yes."

Her mother let out a sigh. "I'm not mad dear, just disappointed and confused. Why did you quit?"

Taylor shrugged, keeping her gaze on the floor. Her mom reached out and gently pushed Taylor's chin upwards, making direct eye contact with her.

"I need to know if it was something really bad Taylor. Were you threatened?"

Taylor shook her head quickly. "No," She coughed out. Her skin felt like it was on fire with embarrassment. "It wasn't anything like that."

"Well, Uncle Clark needs to know too, especially if there was a danger or something. He needs to address it with the team."

Taylor's eyes widened. "No. Absolutely not. I am never going to fess up if he tells the team. I'd rather go to the gallows." She quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening with what she had just confessed.

"So something is wrong," Her mom's eyes narrowed and she stood. "What is it?"

Taylor shook her head. "I am not going to tell you if you tell Uncle Clark. I don't want him to know, because then the team will know, and I am not going to suffer from that embarrassment."

Her mother sighed. "If I swear on our ancestors' ghosts that I won't tell him what happened, that I'll even come up with a fake story to cover you, will you at least explain to me what happened?"

Taylor tilted her head slightly, thinking it through. She knew she wasn't going to make it through the next couple of days alive if she didn't tell her.

"I don't want you to bottle everything up and have to deal with it on your own," She said. "I love you Taylor, and I want to know what is wrong so I can help."

Taylor let out a resigning sign. "Promise you won't tell Uncle."

"Swear on the ghosts."

Taylor ducked her gaze, her ears heating up with embarrassment. "I kind of began to like someone, and then I saw him with someone else, and I got upset, and I didn't want to be around him any longer."