After the weekend was over, I was pretty afraid to go to school. Barbara had been leaving threatening messages on my answering machine, and I had been getting a ton of crank calls. I hadn’t really seen Tay, because I felt it was in the best interest of his life for him to stay away. I really didn’t want to go to school because of Barbara and what she might do.
I climbed out of bed and had a cold strawberry pop tart(the kind with the icing and sprinkles). Then, I pulled on my Dickies overalls, and my white halter top. I looked in my closet. I had no shoes that matched my outfit. I dialed Zac’s personal number at the Hansons’ hotel room.
“hi Zac?” I asked.
“hey GWEN! havE yOu TaLked To TAY in a while? No one can find him.” Zac asked me.
“I haven’t talked to him all weekend, I wonder where he went?” I told Zac, and then added,” You remember your boots from Swell.....the yellow ones?”
“YEAH, whY?” Zac replied.
“Can I borrow them?” I asked him.
“Sure, NO PROBLEM.....I think Ike can drive me!” Zac said.
“Thank you so much Zac, hey if I see Tay I’ll call your mom, ok.”I told him.
“Ok, LaTeR GwEn!” he said, and then hung up the phone.
Well, I had a some time before Zac & Ike would be here. So I plopped down on my pink sofa and started to paint my fingernails. I had just gotten a new color from M A C, it was called Jet. I let them dry and then proceeded to do my eyeliner in the bathroom. I spread a drab line of purple, sparkly Hard Candy eyeliner. I walked back into my room and sat down on my bed with a copy of Madmesoille magazine. Suddenly I saw a shadow move across my window. I froze, paralyzed with fear. It’s just a tree branch or something, I thought comforting myself. I saw the same shadow again. Slowly I moved across my room to my window. I reached for the pink shade and yanked it down and then ducked behind my sofa. Then, I saw the shadow again through the mesh screen.
“Gwww.......eeee...nnnn,” said a muffled voice outside the window. It sounded like Tay’s. I let the shade fly up, and I peered out the window to find my 17-year old Tay hanging from the window sill. I didn’t really know what to make of this picture. Tay’s buff arm was clinging to my window about 30 feet off the ground on the 2nd floor of my house. I reached out and grabbed his arm.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked him.
“Gettin.....g.....away from Barbara, that’s WHAT! now get my inside before I fall!” Tay replied.
Suddenly we both heard a car door slam.
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“What’s our brother doing hanging from Gwen’s window?” Ike asked curiously.
“I DON’T KNOW, HE’S WEIRD!” Zac replied stringing his yellow boots over his shoulder.
“Hey Taylor, what are you doing?” Ike called to Tay.
“I’LL EXPLAIN LATER, GO heLP GWEN GET ME INSIDE!” Tay called back. I let go of Tay’s arm and ran downstairs to let Zac & Ike in.
“Here’s the boots Gwen,” Zac said and walked casually in.
“This is no time to just stand there guys let’s go get Tay down!!!!!!” Ike said hysterically.
“GEEZ Ike, don’t have a spaz,” Zac said loudly.
I led them upstairs and into my room. Zac ran to the window.
”TAYLOR WE’RE COMIN’ TAYLOR, WE’VE GOT THE POLICE, THEY’RE COMING TO GET YOU DOWN,” Zac joked in a hic accent. Ike pushed Zac aside and ran to Tay. He reached out, took firm hold of Tay’s arm and yanked him halfway inside. Tay somersaulted the rest of the way down, over my couch, and onto my pink, velour carpet.
“Thanx, guys,” Tay said.
“Now, why were you out there in the first place?” Ike asked Tay.
“It’s kinda a long story,” replied a disheveled-looking Tay. His face was dripping with sweat, and his hair was sticking to his face.
“Ok, see, Barbara was on her way to school in her car, and I was on my way back to the hotel, from going to the store for dad. So, I was in my car and she spotted me, and tried to follow me. I tried to lose her, but she wasn’t giving up, so I parked my car by a 7-11 and began to run. Unfortunately, she parked her car and ran after me. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran to Gwen’s house. When I got there I was trapped in the coldisack, and so I began to climb the wall until I found myself hanging from Gwen’s window. Barbara seemed to have accepted defeat, so she left me hanging, and then you guys found me,” Tay said. We just looked at Tay strangely as if to say Really?
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Barbara had been giving me strange looks the entire day. I tried to avoid her, but she seemed to turn up everywhere I went. She followed me to Spanish, Lunch, to my locker, English, Math, and Bio. It seemed as though she was planning revenge against me.
