"L A B E L S"

Episode 19

Nick's on the football field at practice Monday afternoon when Cody turns to him while keeping his focus on the footballs he is supposed to be catching. "So, dude, I heard Taylor broke up with you." He smirks and runs back a few feet to catch the football headed for him.

Nick runs backwards towards him and looks to him. "Who told you that?"

"Dude, it's all over school."

"Would you stop calling me dude! And how the hell is it all over school?! It just happened last night!"

Cody looks over at him with surprise. "So she did dump you?"

"What? No!"

"But you just said-"

Nick interrupts him with irritation. "-I know what I just said, okay! But it's only temporary...I'll have her back within the day. I always do."

"Honestly man, I don't understand why you even care. Chelsea is way hotter than Taylor and she is all over you!"

"Chelsea is an air head."

"Dude, Taylor doesn't even put out!"

Nick looks at him like he's stupid. "And why do you think I have Chelsea?"

Cody nods and points a finger at him like he just said the smartest thing in the whole world. "Duuuude!"

Nick snickers and shakes his head in disbelief before turning back to the field, catching the football headed for him.

The coach blows his whistle and calls the team over to him. "Alright, now I've made some position changes."

Nick swallows the lump in his throat, expecting the worst.

"Jake Cameron?"

Jake steps forward as the coach calls his name. The coach glances up from his clip board. "Quarterback."

Jake nods with a pleases smile as Nick's mouth drops in disbelief and he takes a few steps forwards. "What?! You have got to be kidding me! Coach, you can't do that! I've been quarterback on this team for the past two years!"

"Jerry! It's my team and I can do whatever I please, got that?! Now either keep your comments to yourself or get the hell off of my field!"

He calms down and glares over at Jake, staying quiet.

"Now, Nicholas Jerry?" He glances up from his clipboard. "Running back."

Nick rolls his eyes and tunes out the coach as he reads through everyone's positions.

~~~

Joe walks out of the school and sees Taylor sitting on a picnic table underneath a big oak tree. He smiles and makes his way over to her. "Hey."

She looks up from her notebook and smiles at Joe. "Hey."

"Can I sit?"

Taylor nods and sweeps a piece of hair behind her ear as Joe sits down in front of her and glances down at her notebook. "Writing lyrics again?"

"What?"

He motions to the notebook in front of her. "The notebook. Last week I noticed you were writing lyrics."

"Oh, yeah. I tend to do that when I'm bored. I usually have a song stuck in my head most of the time so when I doodle it just kind of gets put on paper." She smiles and closes her notebook.

He nods with a smile and looks around at everyone leaving school. "So, what are you doing out here?"

"Oh...I was just waiting on someone."

"Nick?"

She nods and glances down at the table.

"You know, there's a rumor going around that you two broke up...you might want to straighten that out."

"Yeah...well, I guess I should figure out if it's really just a rumor or not first."

His eyes widen and a small smile can't help but show through. "You really did break up?"

She shrugs and begins tugging at the sleeves of her sweater.

"Did you have a fight?"

She nods. "Yeah."

"Bad?"

She looks up at him with a small sad smile. "No worse than usual." She looks around before picking up her notebook. "You know, on second thought, I think I'm just going to go home. I can talk to Nick later. There's no sense waiting around here until five." She puts her notebook back in her bag and absentmindedly pulls her sleeves up a little, not realizing that she was showing Joe the marks she had been hiding for weeks.

He glances down at Taylor's arms and squints his eyes to see what the markings on her arms were. She moves a little so the sleeve raises a bit more and he sees fucking ugly wrote on her arm. He reaches across the table and grabs her arm without thinking and pulls up her sleeve.

She realizes what he's doing and quickly pulls her arm away, pulling down her sleeves. She blushes in embarrassment and looks up at him with sad eyes.

He speaks softly with deep concern. "Taylor..."

She looks down at the table and swallows back her embarrassment before talking in a small voice. "Don't, just don't. I'm fine."

"Really? Because your arm tells a different story. Taylor, why would you write that lie on your arm?"

She looks up at him with frustration. "It's not a lie."

"It's the biggest lie I've ever encountered."

She closes her bag and tosses it over her shoulder before standing up and walking off.

He quickly stands up and rushes after her. "Taylor! Taylor, you can't do this. You can't think this! How could you believe such an obvious lie?! Who told you that you were ugly?! They must have been blind!"

She stops abruptly and turns around to face him, almost making him collide into her before speaking with an undeniable anger. "Stop! Stop talking to me and stop pretending like you care!! I don't need you and I don't want you in my life! I'm fine! I'm dealing with all of this! I'm trying to fix myself, okay! I know I'm ugly and I know I'm fat and I don't need any one telling me any different! I need to do this for me, okay?! Just leave me alone!" She turns and walks off in anger, leaving him in shock unsure of what to do or say to get her to think otherwise. He was completely confused at how someone so undeniably beautiful could look in the mirror everyday and see something so different from what he was seeing.

~~~

"Practice is over for the day!" The coach shouts to the whole team as Nick takes off his helmet and runs to the bleachers for a drink.

Cody runs up to Nick with a smirk. "So, I'm guessing you have some big, evil plan?"

Nick takes a sip of his Gatorade and looks over at Cody. "I'm working on it."

Jake runs off the field and over to Scarlett who is waiting for him by the bleachers. "Hey, babe."

She smiles and wraps her arms around Jake's neck. "Hi."

Nick sees Jake and Scarlett embracing and speaks to Cody while starring over at them with a firm glare. "Cameron is dating Westerly?"

Cody looks over and sees them together and his eyes widen slightly. "I guess so. Lucky dog. Quarterback and Scarlett? It's like that guy's living your freshman year."

Nick's smirks grows bigger and bigger as an idea develops in his mind. "Yeah...Scarlett Westerly..."