CAROLINE'S POV
I woke up with a feeling of dread on Tuesday morning. It would be my first day back at school since Taylor was outed. Taylor and I got back to Nashville on Sunday night, but I had convinced her to let me stay home 'sick' from school on Monday. We both knew I was really staying home so I wouldn't have to face my classmates and so I could keep an eye on Taylor.
I'd been especially worried about her ever since we said goodbye to Karlie and flew back home to Nashville. Taylor was trying to be strong, but it seemed that Karlie was the only one who could truly make her feel like herself. Taylor had another anxiety attack on Sunday after finally picking up her phone and going through all her messages and emails. She had told me she wasn't going to look at headlines or posts about the situation, but I'm sure they were hard to avoid. Thankfully, Karlie was there for that one, which wasn't the case when she got all upset again yesterday. But surprisingly, she was able to calm herself down without much trouble, which was a step in the right direction.
I had also been thinking of Karlie a lot lately. Taylor was the one who had bad anxiety, but Karlie had to be feeling awful too about this whole situation and on top of it all she was trying to be strong for Taylor. I just hoped she was okay.
Thankfully, as far as publicity goes, Tree's plan was working. For the most part, people felt bad for Taylor and Karlie because they were outed. And I'd seen at least 15 Facebook posts from middle aged Christian women saying that real Christians support the LGBT community, which was also a plus.
Still, that day at school I wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible so I opted for sweatpants and a hoodie. When I came out of my room and looked at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, the exhaustion from the last few days was prominently shown in the dark bags under my eyes. I shrugged away my appearance and threw my hair into a ponytail.
I was surprised to find Taylor awake when I went downstairs for breakfast. It was 8:30, but I expected her own exhaustion would have kept her asleep.
"What are you doing?" I asked when I arrived in the kitchen and found Taylor drinking a cup of coffee and stuffing the unread newspaper into the trash.
"Good morning to you too." Taylor said sleepily.
"Why are you awake?" I asked as I poured myself a bowl of cereal.
"I couldn't sleep, my anxiety was keeping me up." She said, taking another sip of coffee. I was thinking that coffee might just make her more jittery, but I didn't say anything.
I sat down at the counter and ate my bowl of cereal while Taylor stood opposite of me and drank her coffee. Her eyes were fixed on the counter, but her face didn't hold the emotionless expression it did a few days ago. She looked determined almost. Determined to do what? I don't know.
"I'll probably still be at the studio by the time you come home from school." Taylor stated, coming out of her trance and making eye contact with me.
"Okay." I said as I shoveled another spoonful of cereal into my mouth. It was a little surprising to me that she was working today, just a few short days ago she seemed like she'd never be up to leave the house again. I was happy she was with working though, it would be good for her.
Not long after this, I felt my phone vibrate in my lap. It was a text message from Kelsey.
'You coming to school today?' It read. All I said back was a simple yes. On Saturday morning I had texted Kelsey and Grace telling them the whole story of Taylor and Karlie so they could hear it at least a little before the world did. They seemed kind of hurt by it all and I really wasn't sure why. I guess it had something to do with me lying to them. It was a completely necessary lie, but now they don't know what else I'm not telling them. Needless to say, their seeming lack of support for my family was irritating.
