Nothing Can Compare in This World to You

Taryn Olivia Taylor. That’s me. The misfit from Chicago. I am the youngest of three children. First there's my brother, Tevon who is the oldest with five years on me. And then there's Trisha, my sister whose only got two years on me. We had moved from Chicago to Huntington with our mom and Darryl, our step father when I was twelve. Being uprooted at that age was surely hard for me, but it his my brother and sister worse. Tevon had one year left of school and Trisha had to leave her vast network of friends behind.

Tevon didn't stay with us that long though. He joined the army once he managed to graduated high school, very much to mom's protest. That was a year ago, when I first started eighth grade. I'll tell you now that if either of us children had a choice we would be living with our father. But he died quite a few years ago, I was only six. He was a ranking officer in the military, though he was the kindest, gentlest man a lot of people have ever known. He was Tevon's inspiration to join the army.

Of course his death hit mother hard for a month or two. Then she got with Darryl and forgot all about dad. Darryl, he can be a nice guy when you get past his OCD and his strictness and seriousness, but he definitely isn't father material, nor a family man. He's the reason we moved to Huntington, he's some big business man for some stupid billion dollar company. And mom is his secretary. Actually she has been for about ten years now. Weird? Suspicious? Let's just say that if I were a bit younger he would be my dad.

I really didn't like it here on the West Coast at first. Everything that reminded me of dad was back home in Chicago. And I didn't make any friends as fast as my brother and sister. No, it took me two years to make three friends.

I met my friend Rebecca first in the seventh grade. I think the most we ever talked to each other was when we were science partners for a week or two. We weren't really friends outside of out science class until the beginning of our eighth grade year when she realized I didn't have any friends. She's how I met Rachael, her identical twin sister. They looked and acted exactly the same; it was like they were both one person. It was pretty crazy.

I met my best friend Michael halfway through eighth grade; he met Rebecca and Rachael through me last summer. If anything he's the closest too me and he's always there for me. We both have around the same background; both born in different cities, both have dead parents, both have bitchy sisters and both have controlling step parents.