in my best dress [kaylor au]

t w o

Taylor sets her backpack down on her bedroom floor next to her desk. Time to spend the next 500 hours doing homework. Taylor sighs. She knows if she doesn't start her assignments immediately, she won't start at all. After a few hours of rewriting her psychology notes and studying french vocabulary words, there's a knock at her bedroom door.

"Yeah?" Taylor says, still focused on the flashcards laid out in front of her.

"Hi honey, how was school?" Taylor's mom, Andrea, asks, opening Taylor's bedroom door and stepping inside.

"Mom!" Taylor musters as much excitement as she can after hours of studying, Seeing her mom is one of the best parts of her day, because her mom always knows how to make her feel better. Andrea puts a hand on Taylor's shoulder and presses a kiss to the top of her head.

"School was fine. The theme of the Winter Formal was announced," Taylor piles up her flashcards and closes her binders. She's had enough school work for one night. "It's Winter in Paris."

"I know, it sounds beautiful. The parents got an email about it." Andrea replies. "Are you planning on asking anyone this year?"

Taylor pretends to be preoccupied stuffing all of her school stuff back into her backpack, "Um no, I don't really know who I would ask."

Andrea nods her head slowly, "Okay sweetie, that's fine. Well if you find someone to ask, or if you get asked by someone else, let me know and we can plan to have your makeup done and we'll go dress shopping together."

"That sounds great," Taylor smiles at her mom, holding in a sigh. She desperately wishes she could tell her mom everything on her mind. Andrea rubs Taylor's back, sensing tension in her daughter's strained voice, but not questioning it.

"Okay, well I'm making a pot roast for dinner," Andrea's tone lightens up and Taylor relaxes, "I'll call you down when it's finished. When we're done eating, we could watch a movie or something. As long as you're done with your homework, of course."

"Sounds great mom, you know I love your pot roast!"

After her mom leaves the room, Taylor shuts the door and grabs her guitar. Recently, she's been writing her own songs. She's trying to put together an album before she heads down to Nashville for college in the fall. That way, she can try to sign with a record label, or at the very least, have original music to play at gigs in cafes and coffee shops.

The song she's currently working on is one of her favorites. Strumming her fingers over the guitar strings, she begins to sing quietly.

Your beautiful eyes
Stare right into my eyes
and sometimes I think of you late at night
I don't know why

She spends about half an hour writing lyrics and figuring out chord progressions before her mom calls her to dinner.

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Karlie knows that she should be studying for her chemistry test tomorrow, but instead, she's sitting at the kitchen table, scrolling through online stores on her laptop, looking at dresses.

"What do you need another dress for, Karlie?" Her mom Tracy asks when she sees the laptop screen.

Karlie shrugs. "I don't know, mom. I'm just looking for fun." All of these dresses are gorgeous, but they're not exactly what Karlie is looking for. She's getting frustrated.

"Okay, dear." Tracy drops the subject and begins focusing on preparing dinner. "Did you finish your homework?"

"Yes," Karlie lies, pushing her unfinished chemistry review packet further into her backpack.

"What's that you're smuggling into your bag?"

Groaning, Karlie grabs the review packet and sets it in front of her. "I have a science test tomorrow and this is the review packet. It's no big deal."

"Are you struggling in that class, Karlie?" Tracy's mom voice becomes more prevalent with every word.

"No, mom, I just...can't do any of it."

"Is it your teacher? Because if it's your teacher, I can email him. I'll get you in for extra help. Maybe he offers some type of extra credit."

"I'm fine," Karlie's voice sounds more and more tired as the conversation goes on, "I'll ask dad to help me study."

Tracy pauses to look at her exhausted daughter, strict concern in her eyes. "Okay dear, as long as you are sure you're fine."

Karlie briefly nods and goes back to her laptop. No, no, no, no. These dresses are all wrong.

"I got a call from Andrea today," Tracy interrupts the silence.

"Taylor's mom?" Karlie is awake now. "That seems very out of the blue.." Why would Taylor's mom call mine? Sure, they're friends....well, acquaintances maybe.

"She was asking me if I was going to volunteer for your school fundraiser coming up and then we got to talking about college and the winter dance. Did you know that Taylor is going to Tennessee next fall?"

Taylor had only briefly mentioned college to Karlie, but that once was enough. Karlie knew that her friend wanted to go somewhere that would allow her to pursue a singing career. "Yes, I knew."

"And your winter formal theme is Winter in Paris. Isn't that exquisite? Oh, is that why you are looking at dresses? Do you have someone you'd like to ask?" Tracy wipes her hands on her apron and hurries back over to where her daughter is sitting. She points to the screen and her eyes gleam with energy. "This blue one is very nice. Do you like this one? Or this black one. It has lace. Oh! This lilac dress is stunning!"

"Mom," Karlie rolls her eyes affectionately. "I will not be needing a dress because I will not get asked. As I said before, I'm just looking. But if I had to choose...I prefer the blue one." She can definitely picture herself in this dress, standing in the high school gym, swaying to the music...

"You ask someone to the dance, and I'll order it for you. Now get back to that science homework." Tracy closes Karlie's laptop, picks it up, and walks out of the room.

Karlie just stares at the mess of notes and equations in front of her. It's going to be a long night.

A/N: sorry this chapter is boring lol the next one will actually involve some plot advancing 🤘🏻