A/N- I'm feeling particularly inspired this week, so here's another chapter for you all this week. Please read and review. Thanks to all who read and reviewed the last chapter. Hope you enjoy this one.

Taylor glared at her cell phone angrily. Chad had told her that he would text her sometime in the morning telling her what time he was coming over, but she still hadn't received the text and it was already two o'clock in the afternoon. She sighed aggressively and pushed her phone off of the couch, smirking at the satisfying clunk it made as it hit the floor. It was a month since Troy arrived at the school, and during this month most of Chad's time was spent with Troy. The two boys had everything in common: from simple things such as color (they both loved the color red. "Wildcats!" Chad would often exclaim, eagerly awaiting the day that he could follow in his older brother's footsteps and join East High's Varsity basketball team. His older brother, Jack, was a junior and currently the captain of the team. Chad wished nothing but to be like him) to favorite video game (Taylor often wondered how many hours Troy and Chad wasted playing Halo. She didn't see what was so appealing about video games. She thought they doomed the brain to mush. But then again, she didn't see what the appeal was for basketball either). Taylor began to question why her friendship with Chad had lasted so long. She and he never really saw eye to eye on a lot of major things, but she distinctly remembered how they became friends…

FLASHBACK

"Give it back!" a three-year-old Taylor whined as the mean boy held her favorite picture book just out of her reach. She jumped and reached for it and the boy snickered at her failing attempts at getting her 'A Picture Guide to Bugs' book back. She had been looking at the pictures on a rock at the park, when a group of boys came over and took it from her.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that" the boy taunted her. He and his friends laughed. Tears began to form in her eyes. She wondered why the boy was being so mean.

"Please give it to me," Taylor's lip quivered. She didn't want to start crying because she knew it would make the boys laugh more. But, the anticipation of her tears sent them howling with laughter. Taylor started to cry. She sat back down on the rock and pulled her knees to her chest.

"HEY! What do you think you're doing!?" a four-year-old boy with crazy hair marched up and asked the bully.

"We're just having a little fun" the bully replied, looking around at his friends who nodded.

"Well, I don't think it's funny at all," Chad said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Who asked you porcupine head?" the bully retorted.

"Just give her her book back," Chad said, exasperated, "What kind of bully needs to pick on little girls anyway?" The bully looked down embarrassed. He threw the book down near Taylor's feet and then motioned for his friends to leave with him.

"I'm not a little girl!" Taylor pouted.

"Oh yeah? How old are you?" Chad asked.

"Three," Taylor said, putting up three fingers.

"Well, I'm four. So, I'm a big boy and you're still a little girl" Chad replied. Taylor rolled her eyes. "I'm Chad," he introduced himself.

"Taylor," she replied.

END FLASHBACK

And then there was the day that Taylor knew that she and Chad were going to be best friends forever.

FLASHBACK

Taylor and Chad were playing in the park, around the rock where they had first met. Every day, they came to that spot and played together. Their mom's met and became fast friends, and soon after the dad's met too. The families became friends and the Danforths and the McKessies became family friends. Chad, currently, was chasing Taylor with a work on a stick.

"Chad, stop it! That's icky!" a four-year-old Taylor shouted.

"It's just a worm, Taylor! It's cool, look!" the five-year-old Chad shouted back.

"Chad, put it down!" Taylor ordered. Chad reluctantly put the worm down. Taylor walked back over to Chad and they sat in the grass.

"Taylor, will you promise me something?" Chad asked. Taylor nodded. "Will you promise me we'll be friends forever, no matter what?"

"I promise," Taylor said. They linked pinkies.

They moved over and sat on their rock. They began to look for shapes in the clouds.

"Chad," Taylor said.

"Yeah?" Chad asked.

"You're the bestest best friend" Taylor replied.

END FLASHBACK

Taylor sighed. How can such a close, tight-knit bond turn into something so distant with the addition of a new person? She shook off the thought, "Just because he's been distant lately doesn't mean that he doesn't want to be friends anymore. He promised that we'd be friends forever, no matter what, and Chad's not one to break promises," she thought. She looked expectantly at her phone, as if sheer will power would make it ring. It remained silent and ring-less. She got off of the couch, frustrated, and went into the kitchen to grab a snack. After grabbing a snack, she decided to walk to her friend Martha's house, which was a few streets down from hers. She left her phone at its place on the floor, so she wasn't able to receive the text message Chad sent her ten minutes after she left for the kitchen: "sorry couldn't text sooner, phone was dead and had to buy a new charger. I'm coming over in an hour… sound good?"

Taylor spent two hours at Martha's house. They discussed strategy for the East Middle School science team and then they decided to pop in a movie. By the time Taylor got back to her house, it was three hours after she had left. She saw Chad sitting on the step at the front door. She looked at him surprised.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Waiting for you like I have been for the past hour and a half. Where have you been?" Chad replied.

"Oh, I didn't know you were coming over," Taylor said.

"Didn't you get my text?" Chad asked.

"No, you never sent me a text," Taylor replied.

"Yes I did, I sent it right after I got back from the Verizon store to pick up a new charger," Chad said.

"Oh…" Taylor said, feeling guilty that she thought Chad had forgotten about her, "I just assumed you were with Troy…"

"And forgot about you?" Chad interjected. Taylor nodded. "Come on, Tay, you know I wouldn't forget about you. You're my best girl friend, and Troy's now my best guy friend."

"Okay," Taylor said, feeling even worse now.

"Come on, let's go hang out," Chad said. Taylor nodded and they walked into her house.

- - - - - -

Another month passed since the day Taylor found Chad sitting on her doorstep, and during this month Taylor noticed that Chad really was becoming more distant. He gave her a "hey" and a brief smile in the halls, or sometimes just a half-nod. He was constantly engaged in conversation with Troy. Chad and Taylor rarely talked, and he and Troy now sat at a table with to other basketball-obsessed seventh graders, Zeke and Jason. Taylor was left to sit with Martha, which she didn't mind much because she and Martha were friends, but she was still bothered that she was feeling such a disconnect from Chad in the past month.

"If it's really bothering you that much, just go talk to him later," Martha advised.

"I really don't know whether that's a good idea," Taylor replied.

"Well, you never know until you try," Martha said. Taylor bit into her apple and looked over at Chad, who had Troy, Zeke, and Jason all cracking up at a joke he said.

"I guess," Taylor said, looking back at Martha, who was looking at Taylor sympathetically. After lunch, Taylor went to Chad's locker and waited for him to return from the cafeteria. She heard his laughter before she saw him round the corner. He looked surprised to see her at his locker.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?" Chad said to Troy, Zeke, and Jason.

"Yeah, man, no problem," Troy said.

"What's up?" Chad asked Taylor once his friends had left.

"Are we still going to Lenny's Pizza after school?" Taylor asked. When they were 9, Taylor and Chad had created a tradition where they would go to their favorite pizza place, Lenny's Pizza, one Thursday a month after school, and this Thursday was the Thursday they had designated the past month.

"Oh shoot, Tay, I'm sorry I forgot! I'm playing ball with Troy after school. Can we reschedule?" Chad answered. Troy waved him over. Chad waved back and then left.

"Umm sure… I guess" Taylor replied. She sighed and walked to her next class. "Come on, Tay, you know I wouldn't forget about you," Taylor repeated sarcastically under her breath, remembering the conversation she had had with Chad a month before, "Yeah right."

A/N- So… what did you think? Please review! So far, I'm just trying to give a little bit more background before I go to present-day HSM. For all who read the original version of this, you'll notice that I didn't do this first time around.