Not Quite Alone

1

2nd August, 2023

  "Miss Swift, are you paying attention?"

  Claire lifted her head and looked up at the teacher, nodding slightly, although she wasn't a slight bit interested in English literature. 11th grade was a pain in the ass.

  "Oh, talking about Miss Swift, isn't it your 16th birthday today, Claire? 2nd August. Happy birthday," the English teacher said. Mrs Keller was sweet, but gave too much homework for Claire to possibly stay sane.

  Her classmates clapped unenthusiastically, then went back to taking notes.

  Claire went back to daydreaming. She never needed to pay attention in class, mostly because everything that she learns sticks in her mind, somehow.

  "Okay, class is over," Mrs Keller said. Before she could give the homework of the day, the whole class had dashed out of the room. They've finally learnt from their mistakes. Never stay long enough for Mrs Keller (or any other teacher, in fact) to give homework.

  School is over. Finally.

  "Babe."

  Claire turned to see a dashing young man with thick brown hair and icy blue eyes staring at her with a smirk. She rolled her eyes and walked into his embrace.

  "Happy birthday, Claire," James's deep voice said, passing her a stalk of rose.

  "Thank you! How was class, James?" Claire asked, one arm around his waist.

  "Meh. Boring, as usual. Where's Taylor? Is she going to pick you up?"

  "Yeah. You wanna come along?"

  "Um, duh?"

  "Okay then," Claire said, taking James's hand and pulling him to a black SUV that had just pulled up outside the school, "let's go now!"

  "Hi, Taylor," James said, opening the front door so Claire could enter before getting in the back.

  "Hi James! So nice to have you with us today!" Taylor exclaimed from the driver's seat. She gestured to a duo sitting in the back beside him. "The twins were probably going to burn down the house, so I brought them along."

  "Why do you always say that, Mom?" Ronan asked, grinning and showing off his perfect pair of white pearly teeth. "It's not like Lau and I would be up to mischief." 

  "Yeah, Ro is correct," Laura agreed. She brushed a curly blonde lock behind her ear, looking just like Taylor when she was 4.  "Dad is also coming home today. We wouldn't dare to misbehave, Mommy."

  Claire never understood how her siblings were so eloquent. When she was 4, back in the orphanage, she could only use very basic words, but here her twin siblings were, spitting out fancy words like they were in a contest.

  "It's looking like a contest," Taylor sang, "of who could act like they care less... but I liked it better when you were on my side."

  "THE BATTLE'S IN YOUR HANDS NOW, BUT I WOULD PUT MY ARMOUR DOWN IF YOU SAY YOU RATHER LOVE THAN FIGHT," Claire yelled, her Swiftie instincts immediately kicking in. Apart from being an amazing daughter, she was an amazing Swiftie - and everyone knows that Swifties  are amazing human beings, so she was an amazing human being too.

  Taylor laughed and shook her head when Ronan attempted to sing it too... and ended up just tripping over his words and looking confused. "It's called The Story Of Us, Ro," Claire tried telling Ronan.

  "Ooh! Which album is it from?" Laura asked, her mood immediately lifting. She loved songs and songwriters. "Maybe I know it!"

  "It is from Speak Now," Claire said. She swore her sister has heard The Story Of Us at least five times already, considering that the only music playing at home was Taylor's nowadays, so she was surprised to hear that Laura had no idea about the song.

  "Oh... Speak Now..."

  "Give me a fact about Speak Now," Taylor said, turning the wheel. 

  Her youngest two children had no idea that Taylor was the Taylor Swift that Laura was so crazy about. Sure, Laura always questioned her mother why Taylor Swift looked and sounded so much like her, and Ronan and Laura didn't understand why man with cameras followed their mother and not others, but Taylor didn't want them to grow up thinking that they were different from other kids because their mom was Taylor Swift. Besides, it was funny hearing Laura go on and on about how good Taylor Swift was and even the way Laura said "Taylor" was so weird that Taylor would always start laughing when Laura mentions Taylor.

  "Oh, okay," Laura cleared her throat importantly, "Taylor Swift wrote this album all by herself when she was really young. All by herself. I'm super proud for her."

  Taylor couldn't help but go "aww".

  Laura could never forget the day when she heard a Taylor Swift song playing on the radio at her Uncle Austin's house, and Grandma got really excited. Later on, she asked her mother who Taylor Swift was, and was told that she was "a singer who loved a lot of boys and has a lot of really nice fans". Then, she asked her parents to get her a Taylor Swift album, and they got her an album called 1989. Taylor was surprised that she hadn't figured out that the Taylor Swift she worshiped was actually her mother. 

  James reached in front and took Claire's hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it.

  "Quit with the kissing stuff," Claire said, feigning anger, "there are little kids here, you don't want them seeing shit like this." Before Claire knew it, the words were out of her mouth and she clamped her hand over it.

  "Don't repeat that, Claire said a bad word," Taylor yelled.

  Unfortunately, Laura fully intended to repeat the word and she uttered, "Shit. This sounds familiar, Mommy. Shit."

  Taylor almost facepalmed.

  "Oh, shit!" Laura exclaimed. "I know! The word shit is mentioned in the song I Did Something Bad by Taylor Swift. Claire let me listen to it."

  "You let her hear that?!" Taylor shrieked. She could have practically strangled Claire.

  Claire felt herself go pink. "I assumed she wouldn't remember it!"

  "You cannot assume anything about these little kids!!" Taylor scowled. "They remember almost about every fucking thing they are told unless it has anything to do with house chores!"

  The whole car turned silent as Taylor realised what she had just said. "Oh fuck," Taylor said, before her eyes widened. "Holy shit! No, no, no, don't repeat that, don't repeat a single fucking thing about... oh shut up Taylor Alison Swift, shut up." Taylor sighed in defeat while Claire and James burst into raucous laughter. 

  "Why are you telling Taylor Swift to shut up?" Laura asked. "You are the only one talking, Mommy."

 Taylor really wished she could just sink into the ground and die at that very moment.