The sound of a car being turned on was heard in the distance as Taylor cleaned up the dirty apartment.

"TAYLOR YOURE SO STUPID SOMETIMES YOU KNOW THAT? YOU ARE THE MOST WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT I COULD HAVE ASKED FOR!"

His voice trailed in her mind as she picked up the newspaper and tossed it in the garbage can. Her hands shook as she finished up and walked over to the window. She watched her dad clumsily pull out of his parking spot, already part way drunk. Before he had realized the mess that was the house, before he had called her a worthless piece of shit she had told him she would be home late that night. After all, it was Friday, the night of her date. She thought better of telling him, considering it didn't take much to piss him off now a days whether her was wasted or not, so instead she told him she had a really important meeting at the school about raising money for the Acadec program. He said he couldn't make it and that he had a meeting at work. Taylor gazed at the street as she watched him turn left…his work was to the right. She shook her head as he drove off to the local bar.

Her dad had changed over the past months. She thought about this as she pulled three twenties out of her wallet and put them in the pocket of his dirty pants, knowing he would find them and at least have enough money to make rent. She had had to up it now since he rarely went to work. She assumed they kept him around because they knew about the situation. She almost hoped they would fire him to teach him a lesson. But the thought of what he would do to her when he came home angry like that made her shudder. You could see it in his eyes; he wasn't the same man she used to know. Even when he was not drunk he was angry now. He no longer looked at her and her sister like they were daughters anymore, to him they were just one more annoyance he had to put up with to get through the day. He no longer looked at Taylor and told her that she looked exactly like her mom. He came home, insulted, and left, then came home and did the whole routine over again before passing out. Taylor was strong and didn't let it get to her half the time; she just silently nodded and went off to do her list of chores. Today she had let it roll off her back, she would dwell on it later, but for now, she had a date to prepare for.

She walked into her cramped room and found Neveah playing with her dolls, something she always did when her dad was home, Taylor was good at getting Neveah out of there and taking the blame. Her sister looked up at her and put her doll down.

"So where are you really going tonight?" she asked as she hopped off the bed and put her doll in the closet. Taylor glanced at her sister stupidly before answering, "How do you know I wasn't telling the truth?"

"Because you play with your rings and you pull your hair behind your ears when you lie, you've been doing it since I can remember."

She gave her sister another weird look before answering again, "You're crazy I do not."

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Then where are you going tonight Tay?"

"I told you I'm—" her hand subconsciously traveled to behind her ear as she said, "to an Acadec meeting." She paused and watched what she had done and shot her hand down. "Fine you win," she said as she sat down bitterly.

"Where you going?"

"I have a date."

"Oooohhhh! With whoooooo!?" Her sister giggled as she crossed her legs on top of her bed and looked at her big sister. Taylor grabbed a pillow and hit her with it.

"No one!" she yelled as she hit her softly, "just some boy from school, his name is Chad."

"Is he coming over?" she asked dodging the second blow of the pillow.

"Nope, maybe next time," she said while pulling her hair behind her ear, silently cursing her now found out habit. She stood up and going over to her closet and picking out her outfit, which of course included her shoes, she barely went up to his shoulders without them. She did her hair and makeup with the help of Neveah before going off to her work.

Meanwhile Troy was sitting on a brown beanbag chair in the corner of Chad's room as he shuffled through his closet.

"Dude I can't believe she actually said yes to you," Troy said laughing as he reached into a bag of chips and ate some. He wiped his greasy hands on his practice jersey.

"I think it was more of a reflex after the whole vine thing cracked," Chad replied as he came out with a couple nice shirts.

"Ya Gabs hasn't told her mom about that one yet," said Troy as he licked his fingers.

"Ok man," Chad said holding up a blue stripped shirt and a plain black one, "Which one should I wear?"

Troy looked up at his best friend in disbelief, "You did not just ask that."

"Dude come on I'm serious here which one?" he replied impatiently.

"Chad are you sure you like girls?" Troy asked as he stuck his hand in the bag again and smiled at his best friend wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut the fuck up Troy I'm serious!" Chad said frustrated as he threw a pillow at him.

"Fine fine fine!" Troy said dodging the pillow, "The black one…don't know why…it just has a nice vibe to it."

Chad tore his own sweaty shirt off that he had worn to practice and pulled the black one on, buttoning it up. He walked up and stole a chip from Troy who glared at him as he walked into his bathroom and put cologne on. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and took a deep breath. He was so nervous for tonight. He was never nervous, ever. He was kind of known as a smooth talker at his school. He had hooked up with a lot of girls, but he had never been serious about them. Taylor was different and he liked that, he wanted a challenge. He walked out of the bathroom and turned to Troy, "How do I look?"

Troy sighed as he rolled the bag of chips up and placed them in his own secret stash that he had in Chad's room and stood up.

"Dude, you look fine. But really," he said while placing a hand on his friends shoulder, "She is just a girl. You've had a lot of them. Chill out."

"Yes but this one's different man, she is…different,"

Troy laughed at his friend as he grabbed the car keys off the desk, "Yes she is, she is a nerd, so try not to say the same adjective in one sentence, or she might get bored."

Not noticing the fact that his friend was being sarcastic Chad instantly stammered out the next sentence, "Re-really? Do you think…should I carry a thesaurus with me?"

Troy got wide eyed and stared him down, "Ok you need to calm down, that would be bad. Act like you would if you were going out with any normal girl, and my god get a grip dude, you're acting like a pansy." And with that he left his friend in his room and left while texting Gabs.

Chad got in his car nervously to pick up Taylor at her work, why she would be at her work he did not know, but he didn't ask questions as he pulled in and saw her waiting by her car. He pulled up beside her beat up '91 Camry. He got out quickly to open the door for her.

"Hey Chad," she said slightly. They both leaned in like they were going to hug. However one hesitated and one pulled away and it ended up being way awkward. Great way to start Taylor. She slid into his car and waiting for him to get in.

"Hey Taylor how was your day?"

"It was good," she lied playing with her rings.

It wasn't long before they got to the restaurant and they were seated. The awkwardness died down as they began an actual conversation.

"So tell me about your family," she asked.

"Mom named Annalisa, Dad named Mitch, I have an older brother who is at UCLA on a swimming scholarship, his name is Jared." Chad said while picking at the food he was almost done with, "How about your mom and dad, your family."

Taylor shifted awkwardly in her seat. She didn't really want to pull out the whole my mom is dead card on the first date, that would be incredibly awkward. Maybe he wouldn't ask me back out after that right? Which would be convenient because I am definitely not going out with him again, waist of my time. I can't believe I agreed to go out with him. Wow, his eyes are really deep…and brown…a lovely brown. And oh God his shoulder muscles…mmm..wait. No! Bad Taylor! She decided to say, "Well my dads name is Mike, and I have a sister named Neveah," she prayed he wouldn't say anything about her mom.

He did look at her funny, but chose not to test it so instead he asked, "Neveah? That's an uncommon name."

"It's heaven spelt backwards," Taylor said casually, "My mom picked it out, long story." She bit her bottom lip. That was an opening for him to ask her why she didn't mention her just now or something like that. She silently prayed again.

"That's pretty tight. I wish my parents were that creative. Although if I mentioned it my parents they would probably say something like Chad, we would have named you Lleh."

A smile spread over Taylor's nervous face and she instantly started to laugh. She hadn't laughed since last time she was at Gab's house; it was funny how he seemed to make her at ease.

"Lleh," she said still smiling, "Very funny."

They finished their food and he payed before she could even protest. They got back into his car and drove to her work. On their way they talked about a lot of things. Troy and Gabriella and their constant need to be in touch with one another, basketball, Acadec, and more about her sister who Chad decided he really wanted to meet. He pulled into the parking lot of her job and jogged around to open her door. She humored him by staying in there so he could.

As they walked to her car, their hands brushed up against each other's in the awkward I-want-to-hold-your-hand-but-I-wont way. She smiled lightly at each other and Taylor leaned against her car while saying goodnight.

"So I actually had fun tonight Chad," she laughed slightly as he looked deep into her eyes, she asked a question that had been bugging her for a while, "Chad?"

"Yes?"

"Would you really have hung there until I said yes?"

Chad stared into her deep brown eyes, for a second forgetting the question, but snapped out of it. He answered slowly a slight smile creeping out of the corner of his mouth.

"Taylor, I really like you. There is something about you, so yeah, I would have hung there…as long it took."

Taylor stared at him, trying to see if he was genuine. No guy had ever put this much effort into getting her attention. The only guy she was used to was her father who was currently passed out at the bar most likely. She didn't know what to make of it, whether to run or stay, cry or laugh. By her silence he panicked and tried to cover his sudden emotional statement.

"I mean," he laughed, "Like you really could have resisted me much longer."

Taylor gave a weak smile and then he asked her if he could see her again. Despite her head going NO, NO, NO! Her stomach did a flip and she smiled brighter, lighting her eyes up.

"Yeah…yes…yes you can." She smiled up at him.

It was his turn for his stomach to do a back flip. He smiled down at her. He got the sudden urge to kiss her. His breath quickened as he leaned in slightly, then, he pulled back and coughed awkwardly.

She grabbed her keys out of her purse, and leaned in too…for a hug. They lightly embraced each other before she stepped into her small car. She was about to shut it when Chad turned around.

"Hey Tay?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you still not like me?" He smiled slyly while walking backwards towards his car.

She smiled too; putting her keys in her ignition, "Better believe it." She closed her door and drove off smiling the whole way.

A/N: I know, I suck. Believe me I feel bad. But I have a lot of stuff going on with school softball and school in general and really I had no motivation, and without motivation, they wouldn't be good stories anyway!