Taylor was sitting in the stairwell, white earbuds in her ears, when a pair of suited men rushed past her. Curious, she followed them up the stairs and spotted them heading into the computer lab. She wondered what was going on.
Someone pulled the earbuds out of her ears. She whirled. "What's your..."
It was a tall thin nerdy looking boy. "You shouldn't watch them," he said, urging her to turn away. "You don't want to attract their attention."
"What? Who are they?"
"They work in Punishment," he said.
She shuddered. "Who are you?"
"Jay Duncan. I...my best friend got taken by them. We were protesting Punishment online...anonymously. It was the first time either of us did anything like that...and they tracked it to her." He sighed, unaware that until Jon had made his wish, his best friend had been living her normal life. "She didn't disappear, like some people. She's still around. She vanished for a couple of weeks and when she came back...she's totally self-absorbed. She dumped all of her old friends and made new ones."
Taylor looked at him, wondering what kind of freakish town her mom had moved them to. "Sorry," she said, feeling an odd sense of concern fill her. She usually stayed out of other people's business, the way she wanted people to stay out of hers, but she felt kind of sorry for this guy. "I'm Taylor, by the way. Taylor Adams."
"You know, you look a lot like..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Some girl who left recently. I'm not. But it really gets on my nerves. I just moved here, and I have to inherit some Goth chick's reputation."
"I promise I won't," Jay said.
Taylor smiled. "Thanks, Jay. Maybe I'll see you around?" She put her earbuds back in and walked away from him and the investigators they were trying hard to avoid looking at.
Jay looked after her, curiously. Maybe it was because he missed Kyla, and hadn't known how much he liked her till she was gone. Taylor was sort of thin and wiry, like Kyla had been, although she clearly had a different personality. She was also younger than he was.
Maybe he'd made a friend. He had friends, of course, but after what happened, he'd felt this desire to interact with others he hadn't before.
Taylor had been affected by the meeting as well. Jay looked so sad, like a little lost puppy. She wanted to cheer him up. And he was...kinda cute, in a nerdy sort of way.
