Drunk.

When I woke up in Tay's house the next morning, I felt something I wasn't used to. At first, I was fucking terrified because I couldn't remember getting kicked out of my house the day before, so my first thought was that I was kidnapped, but after I looked around the room and the events of last night came flooding back, the thoughts went away and my heart rate slowed down. The first thing I noticed after calming down was the strong smell of eggs and bacon coming from downstairs. To anyone else, like Tay and her siblings, this was a completely normal thing, but to me, this is a completely new feeling that I haven't been able to experience since my mother left. It was such a simple thing - your mother or father making you breakfast every morning, but when you have a mother that I don't even know what state she lives in and a father who doesn't give a damn, leading you to eat dry, flavorless cereal and a glass of water every morning, the little things like this seem to stick out much more.

I looked over at my alarm, surprised that it was only 7:47. I remembered that I had forgotten to set my alarm the night before, and I let out a sigh of relief that I didn't oversleep.

There was no way to describe breakfast other than awkward. The entire time, Tay's mother and sister kept giving each other strange glances from their seats across the table. No one said a word, and although my eyes remained glued to my plate almost the entire time, I could catch Tay staring at me a few times before shaking her head and turning away.

After breakfast was over and Tay's mother announced it was Devin, Tay's brother's turn to put the dishes into the dishwasher, I shot up from my seat and walked as fast as I could to the guest room. I was upstairs with the door locked and my back against the wooden door before anyone could even get up from their chairs. I could hear Tay and her sister talking, but after what her sister said last night, I didn't bother to pay any attention. I just sat for a few minutes, trying to get over the awkwardness of the meal before getting up and dragging myself over to my bag and picking up the first shirt and pair of pants I could find, which happened to be a light grey t-shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. I then decided to dig to the bottom of my bag to pull out my black, blue and white flannel. After pulling everything on, I looked all over the room, searching for my black vans, taking about what felt like and hour looking for them when they were right by the window the whole time. I quickly slipped them on and headed toward my bag again to find my toothbrush and toothpaste before heading to the bathroom and brushing my teeth. After I had finished getting ready, I put my sleep clothes back into my bag and made the bed. After I finished, I looked at the clock and noticed that I had around fifteen minutes before I had to leave, so I decided to just stay in the guest room. I knew that Tay and her siblings were all getting a ride from their mother today, as I heard them talking about it slightly at breakfast before stopping all conversation when I came downstairs. But I was just going to walk to school, as Tay's house was a good twenty minutes closer to the school than mine, so it would be a twenty minute walk instead of a fourty minute walk. Not to mention the fact that they probably didn't even want me to go with them because I would most likely make everything awkward like I did at breakfast.

I waited in the guest room for another ten minutes when someone knocked on the door. I didn't bother to ask who it was, only muttering a simple 'Come in' to find that it was Tay. I saw her head facing towards the stairs talking to her brother before she turned towards me and smiled.

"Hey, my mom is driving my brother, my sister and I to school. Do you want to come with us?"

I was a bit shocked that they even asked me, but then I silently came to the conclusion that Tay was probably the only one that wanted me to come with them, so I decided to just say no, as I needed a good twenty minutes to just clear my head and reflect on the past fourty-eight hours, which have been nothing but hectic.

"No, I'm just going to walk. Thanks anyway, though." I gave her a smile to at least make it seem that I appreciated the offer, even though o was getting a bit annoyed that they would act so distant around me and then goo and act like nothing had happened. All I really wanted was to yell at Tay and ask her to give me some explanations, but I decided not to. I also then realized that it might have been a good idea to listen to what Tay's sister thought I was hiding, so at breakfast I could clear things up, and tell them that whatever they thought about me wasn't true, and we'd all laugh about it, and then maybe this gut-wrenching feeling that I wasn't wanted here would finally go away.

She looked at me with a confused expression, as if she was wondering why I was turning down a ride to school and would rather walk instead, but just nodded and smiled.

"By the way, if you're going to walk, I would leave now if I were you," she hinted before turning away and closing the door behind her. I sighed, throwing my head back onto the white pillow. In all honesty, I didn't want to walk to school, as my legs still hurt from walking so much yesterday, but I would rather walk to school for twenty minutes on my own than have a five minute ride in the car with Tay and her siblings.

And then the voices came back.

You're acting stupid Kellin, how bad can a five minute car ride really be?

Walk to school, Kellin. They don't want you here, why would you make things worse for them?

I ended up listening to the second voice. It's always louder, always overpowering, and always the one I end up listening to.

I slowly pulled myself off the bed and over to the corner of the room, where I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder before walking towards the door, pulling it open, and stepping out. The house was quiet except for the running television downstairs, so I figured that everyone was trying to pass some time before they had to leave. Of course, I was leaving earlier than them, as they were driving and I was walking. When I walked down the stairs, Tay looked up, but then focused her attention back to the television when she realized what was making the noise. I noticed that everyone was sitting on the couch, except for Devin, who was standing by the arm. Everyone was focused on the news, where they were talking about someone who was murdered in Hollywood. I wasn't particularly interested, so I just headed towards the door.

"See you at school Tay."

I didn't get a word back.

It took me twenty-five minutes to get so school, so I had about five minutes to get to my first class. But as soon as I walked through the doors, I noticed that something was different. Normally, no one even bothered to even acknowledge the fact that I was there, so it was a bit strange when I walked through the halls and could feel everyone's eyes on me. I only looked up from the ground once, and when I did, I could see almost everyone in the hallway looking at me, as if they were talking about me and then noticed I was there. Anyone who wasn't staring was whispering to each other, some people laughing. I could only guess what they were whispering about, but I think we all knew.

I walked faster than usual to class, because I A- Had not even a minute left to get to class, and B- I was trying to get away from everybody as fast as possible without making it obvious and bolting into a sprint.

The bell rang the minute I walked into the room, and by the look on the teacher's face, he didn't seem to mind, my guess is that multiple do the same exact thing. And my thoughts were confirmed when I saw about seven kids try and bust through the door all at the same time, making some of the kids, including the teacher, laugh. But after pulling away from, the sight at the door, I came to the realization that the exact thing I was trying to get away from was here, too. No one was paying attention to the people who just trampled each other to get into the class room. Instead, they focused on me, and I still had no clue why. All I could do was walk over to my sit next to Vuc and sit down, wondering in silence.

I barely listened as the teacher started the lesson, my mind somewhere else, when Vic lightly tapped me on the shoulder, yanking me away from my thoughts. I turned towards him, not muttering a single word, but I'm sure the look on my face spoke for me.

"So, I heard you spend the night at Tay's house last night," Vic spoke dryly, his lips growing into a small smirk. I knew right away that that was the reason everyone was looking at me. I was confused as to how everyone managed to find out, but I didn't let my face show that. Instead I looked at Vic with a completely blank expression, as if I couldn't comprehend what he was saying.

"Yeah, I did, why do you care?"

His eyes grew a bit darker, and I could tell he was upset with the way I spoke, but he just rolled his eyes and turned his face away from he and towards the teacher at the front of the classroom. I let out a small sigh, before repeating his actions and looking towards the front of the room, my thoughts drifting from one thing to another the entire class.

Every class was the same. I would walk into the classroom, and everyone's eyes would turn towards me, most lips stopping mid-sentence. I still didn't know what made the fact that I spent the night at Tay's so special, but I just didn't bring it up, and instead acting like I didn't realize what was going on, although that was all I could think about.

I decided to skip lunch, as I really didn't need anymore people looking at me as if I was an alien that just walked out of a spaceship. By the end of the day, I was ready to scream of frustration. I wasn't so badly just to ask why I seemed to be the center of attention today, but like always, I stayed silent.

On the way to Tay's, I finally got some relaxation. I didn't see anyone from school the entire time, so I didn't have to deal with anymore stares, which I was thankful for. But when I walked up the steps to Tay's front door, that relaxation slowly faded away. I heard Tay and her mother aruging, and they said my name too many times than I would like.

"Mom, stop! He hasn't even done anything to you! You barely even made an effort to talk to him!"

"I don't care! There's something off about him, I don't want him staying here!"

"He has no where else to go!"

"Taylor Jardine, I am not allowing him to stay here and that is final."

I heard nothing else after that, and quite frankly, I didn't want to. All of my thoughts had been confirmed- I wasn't wanted here, and that's all there was to it. I knew I had to leave, I couldn't hear a conversation like this and choose to stay in a house where I knew I wasn't welcome. I didn't know what I was going to do, or where I was going to stay, but I knew I was going to leave tonight, and hopefully Tay won't find out that I heard her and her mother.

I didn't want to walk in right after, as it might become obvious that I heard, so I decided to walk around for a little while. I hadn't been in San Diego long, so I never really got the chance to explore. And now that I was trying to avoid going back to Tay's house, I decided to go and look around.

As I was walking down the sidewalk, I remembered that whenever I walked to school, I went by the local park, but I had never gotten the chance to go there. On the way home from school, I once noticed that there was a trail in the woods, and I decided that I would go there, just to see what the world had to offer.

As soon as I got there, I noticed that the park was basically empty, except for a few parents with their kids near the playground, or some people with their dogs. Again, no one from school, so I was happy. I started to walk over to the woods, when my phone went off. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked down, seeing that I had a text message from Tay.

Hey, where are you? School ended a fourty minutes ago, it only takes you twenty to get here.

I sighed, before typing a quick response that I was on my way and stuffed my phone back into my jean pocket before making my way back to the house. I guess I would have to look around another time.

When I walked in the door, no one looked at me. Devin was watching some reality show, and Tay and her sister were both on the couch staring at their phones. I didn't know where Mrs. Jardine was, but I didn't bother to look for her. I just sat down on the love seat and started to watch the show on the television screen, although I was thinking about how I was going to make a believable excuse to leave. By the time dinner was ready, I had the words planned in my head, and although I didn't know where I was going, I knew where I wouldn't be.

I passed on dinner, as I had a constant feeling in my throat that made me feel like I was about to burst into tears, and all I really wanted was some time to think. But when I got up to the room I was staying in, my heads was pounding, and all I did was pack my bag and throw myself onto the bed, my hands sweaty and shaky.

I could tell when dinner was over by the sound of rustling plates and the sink running, so I knew that was when I had to do it. I grabbed both of my bags, made sure everything was neat, and heading downstairs.

"Hey, Tay, the whole situation at my house is fixed, and I'm going to head back, okay? Thanks a lot for letting me stay here." It was a pretty shit lie, but Tay seemed to buy it, as she just smiled and nodded, before saying a small 'you're welcome' and turning her attention back to her phone. I was a bit upset that she didn't really care, but I saw it I coming. I didn't bother saying anything to her family and walked out the door, a burst of cool air hitting me.

By the time Tay's house was out of sight, I pulled out my phone and opened up the phone icon. I didn't have a choice. No matter how much I didn't want to do this, I had no where else to go, unless I wanted to sleep in the park. With shaky hands, I dialed the number on my phone, and for a minute, I debated whether or not I should dial the number or just sleep on a bench in the park. But I knew that as bad as this decision could be, I would rather do it than sleep outside for the night, so I hit the call button and put the phone up to my ear. It rang for about a minute before I heard some rustling and a voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mike?"