Dispute.

Taylor was sprawled on her stomach, rolling around on her bed deep in thought. A very authentic green velvet notebook was left open at one end of her bed. She bit onto her pen unconsciously, a bad habit she had acquired over the years. Furrowing her brow at her notebook, she furiously scratched out her third attempt at a new poem.

Where did you go?
The light you brought,
Drove the darkene

“Terrible. Horrible. Atrocious. Ugghhhhh. Hell, I haven’t written a single line since I’ve gotten here.” Slamming her book close, she sat up and stared out the window. The sun was setting and it was a beautiful sight. Her eyes took in the large orange ball of light in the sky and the immense colours blending in altogether artistically in the purple sky. The large window of the dormitory showed a vast expanse of the school’s large campus. There was the fairly large grassy area with many shady trees that connected with the Cafeteria. Then not too far right was a basketball court, a tennis court and a swimming pool. On the left of the Cafeteria area was a football field and an athletic track. She had to admit she was impressed. The school was no doubt huge and very well equipped with all sorts of sports facilities.
She spotted a pair of boys and a girl, unmistakably Kat, with her large metallic trucker hat glinting in the setting sun. She deduced the other two must be her brother and the prick. They were playfully messing around, chatting and arguing amiably and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying each other’s company. A small sad smile crept onto Taylor’s face, she had never been so carefree in her life before and watching the three just lying there on the grass without a care in the world made her quite sad.
All her life, she’d always been the leader. She told people what to do and they always just seemed to do it. She never just had fun amongst equals. She was always the upper hand. The richer one; the more beautiful one; the wittier one. Her friends used to look up to her and when she came to think of it. They never disagreed. They always seemed to do what she wanted to do and they never fought or argued because that was how it was. It was then when she realized that even though she was surrounded by friends, even though she could be considered the most popular girl from her previous school, she was lonely. She never had real friends to confide in. She only spoke of her family problems to her bloody chauffeur for God’s sake! And she had always stayed in that comfort zone that reality had never hit her before. It never hit her this hard and this fast.
She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the three below her. And somehow she knew. She knew she wanted friends. Real friends. Friends like they had. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t stand Damien Winters for the life of her. She had a feeling Kat was going to be an amazing friend and she knew she shouldn’t let some idiot prick stand in the way of her finally having real friends. Woah, what a revelation, she thought. “Bloody hell,” she muttered as she fell back onto her bed, flipping her notebook open again.

There’s a new beginning for this story,
And it depicts a different picture.
For my mistakes I am sorry;
God let me start afresh, let me begin right here.

“Hmm. Not too bad. Not satisfactory. But well. I think I’m going to keep that for this moment.” She dropped her pen onto the bed and rolled onto her side. She didn’t know what it was but she was so unbelievably exhausted and slowly, Taylor began to drift into sleep.


Taylor was lying in the sand. Silver, warm sand that sparkled all around her. Oh, how it was comfortable. She sighed contently and stretched indulgently in the warmth around her. She’d never felt so safe in some foreign place before. Yet, everything was muted it seemed, she tried to take in everything at once, expecting a flood of vivid senses to assault her mind, but everything was subtle and controlled; almost as if her mind was holding back. As if she was afraid to reach out and grasp her new surroundings. It was confusing. How could she feel so comfortable and yet feel afraid at the same time? It was… surreal. There was no other way to explain it than that. There was an itch at the bottom of her stomach and it was really annoying. She couldn’t place it, but she really had to get rid of it. Taylor tried to stand but she couldn’t bring herself to. She was wracking her brain about it when suddenly she got it. It was curiosity. She was curious. That was the itch.

“Hey you,” she heard a faint familiar voice coming from her right. She turned with a subconscious smile on her face. It was him.
“Hey. I thought you’d never get here.”
“Wow,” he breathed. “You waited for me?”
“I don’t know why, but I had to.”

There was a moment of silence where the two just reveled in each other’s presence. Taylor tried to get up yet again but she still couldn’t. Sighing in frustration, she contented herself with studying the boy. He was casually dressed in some black slacks and a black shirt. Looking down at herself, she had never noticed it before, but she was wearing a peach summer dress nothing like all her clothes in her wardrobe. She reverted her gaze back to the boy to find that he was studying her as well. She looked down and blushed.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just…”
“Just?”
“You’re beautiful.”
“Oh.” Taylor didn’t know what to say. The sincerity in his voice had overwhelmed her. Nobody had spoken to her in that way before. It was amazingly humbling. “Th-thank you.” She smiled demurely.
He flashed her a boyish smile, his previous humility gone. “Come, I remember we said we’d explore this place together.” The boy held out his hand to her.

Looking up into his dark eyes, – greyish blue, she noticed – she took his hand and then all she knew was the overpowering feeling of security he brought her. There was something there; something unknown but immensely powerful that enveloped the pair. And she knew he must have felt it too because he seemed entirely dazed when she turned to look at him. “What just?” she began, but decided against continuing and said, “Let’s go.”

Hand in hand they hesitantly edged towards the silver foliage in front of them. “Are you afraid?” she whispered, eyes still glued to the silvery sparkle of the trees that shone before them. When he didn’t answer, she tore her eyes away from the mesmerizing sheen to look at him. “Not with you here,” he breathed. And her heart melted.


A light tap on her shoulder woke Taylor up. “Morning, sunshine!” came a bright, cheery voice from above her. She reluctantly opened her eyes, blinking three times then rubbing her eyes vigorously. “Huh? Morning already?” she mumbled in confusion. “No, silly,” replied the shadow above her, followed by a peal of musical laughter. Did anybody ever tell her that she had an amazing laugh, Taylor wondered. As her eyes adjusted, the cheeky, smiling face of none other than Kathryn Wu came into view.

“Honestly, woman, you sleep like the dead!”
“I was tired,” whined Taylor. “Jetlag!”
“Yes, yes. Nobody’s blaming you. Time for dinner though.”
“Mmm. Thanks for waking me.”
“No probs. Come, let’s.” Kat mimicked and giggled helplessly.

Taylor rolled her eyes and hoisted herself off her all too comfortable bed. Finally getting a clear view of Kat, she noticed that she’d changed. Now donning a denim mini and a racer jacket zipped all the way up, Kat was sitting lazily with her legs crossed waiting for Taylor. She was sporting yet another bright trucker hat, red this time to match her Chucks. Knitting her eyebrows in confusion, – hadn’t it only been less than four hours? – she said, “Kay, one sec. Let me change too.” Once again, Kat’s giggles filled the room. “You must be wondering why I changed again. Well, I’m not some fashion psycho, if that was what you were thinking. Damien pushed me into the pool just now. The ass.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” muttered Taylor under her breath.
Kat simply laughed again and shook her head. “Obviously you two got off on the wrong foot then. Don’t worry, I’m sure you guys will work it out sooner or later.”
Taylor couldn’t help but snort. “Please. He’s an intolerable prick. How you guys are best friends with him is beyond me. Honestly.” She grabbed a flowy green skirt and a white MNG tank, changing quickly. She also swapped her Jimmy Choos for a pair of Lacoste flats and in less than five minutes, she was good to go.

They chatted amiably as they slowly made their way down to the Cafeteria. Getting their food, the pair took a seat at a random table and continued their chatter. It was uncannily peaceful and Taylor began to wonder about the lack of students at the school. Swallowing her mouthful of pasta, she said, “Kat, just wondering, why are there so few students here at the school?”
“Mad bot a gorbin skoo,” replied Kat through a mouthful of her Thai fried rice.
“I’m sorry, what??” answered Taylor amusedly. “I suggest you swallow first.”
Kat flashed a cheeky grin and promptly swallowed very deliberately. “I said, MAD’s not a boarding school. The American students come during the day and go back home to their families. The dorms are only for us international students, Malden lets in about 30 kids like us every year. So right, it’s usually super quiet during dinner time.”
“Ah. I see. So who’re the international students here?”
“Me, Bryan and Damien are the usual ones who’ve stayed on here for forever. A lot of the international ones are mostly foreign exchange so they like change every year. Sometimes high school grads take a break before college and come here to do art before they throw themselves into full time proper studying. But that’s a different case.”
“Honestly? How odd that there are only three of you that are permanent international students here.”
“Oh no no no. There are a few more. Like there’s this African kid who started like two years ago. He’s young and reeeaallly quiet. I swear to God, I’ve never heard him say a word. Nobody knows anything about him. It’s so weird!”
“Don’t be cruel. Maybe he just isn’t confident making friends. Have you guys ever tried talking to him?”
“Oh my God. Like loads of times. He just looks at you. Damien tries to make friends with him like everyday. Then I think he gave up. The kid is truly weird. Serious.”
“Okay okay. Who else?”
“Oh, there’s Leslie. She’s Australian and she’s in our dorm. She’s really nice but awfully straight. As a ruler! She doesn’t bend any rules one bit. I’ve tried and tried to get her to go out with us but she’s always too afraid to break the school rules.” Kat rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Then there’s Annette O’Reilly. Year 10 and fancies herself Damien’s number one fan. She’s seriously obsessed with him. To a point it’s freaky. Honest. Hates me of course. She hates any girl Damien pays more attention to than her. Which is coincidentally half the female population of our school.”
She paused and swallowed a giggle. “Look, there she is.” Kat gestured discreetly to her left. Turning to look, Taylor spotted a small, very fair, petite girl with rich red curls about shoulder length. She was seemingly preaching to a group of about five other girls, gesticulating dramatically and gushing about something. She managed to catch a “Damien…” in the girl, Annette’s mini speech.
“Oh God…” she caught herself saying.
Kat turned to regard her with another melodramatic roll of the eyes. “Told ya so.”
“Ugh, I’m going to be nauseous. She practically worships him!”
“She’s in our dorm. Better practice holding in your food,” chuckled Kat.

Taylor laughed along with the Chinese girl as she took another spoonful of the pasta, which was really good it so happened. Her smile widened as Kat pulled another joke about the whiny O’Reilly girl. I think I’m going to like it here after all.

~o~

The next morning, Taylor woke up to the sound of brushing. They had gotten back to the dorms late that night, her and Kat, and there were a few people already sleeping. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, stifling a yawn as she stretched. Everything was still blurry from post sleep consciousness. Brush, brush, brush. The noise vaguely registered in her semi-conscious state of having just woken up. Brush, brush, brush. Was somebody brushing? Brush, brush, brush. It was really to begin to annoy her. What the hell is that infernal brushing noise?? She whipped around, scanning the room only to spot an amused Kat sitting on her bed, brushing her teeth and watching. Taylor realized belatedly that she must have looked a sight with her confused expression and horrendous bed hair. Before she knew it, she was lying back on her bed clutching her stomach and laughing. When she’d sat up again, Kat had gone off to gargle or something.

Sure enough, Kat’s telltale bouncy footsteps echoed down the hall coming towards their dorm. Taylor crossed her legs and sat up, waiting for Kat to come in. There was a sturdy knock. Huh? Why was Kat knocking? Taylor chuckled. Her and her antics. “Come in!” she shouted, in a singsong voice. She was beginning to burst out in giggles again when she looked up and saw a muscular male figure instead of the tall slender build of Kat. Her eyes traveled up the body to see the unknown male figure’s face, but before she recognized the boy she had heard him.

“Oh shit! I am SO sorry. I thought Kat was in. I was ju–”

Taylor recognized the heavy Kiwi accent and realized it must be Kat’s brother, Bryan. But why was he apologizing? And why did he stop mid-sentence? She opened her mouth to ask when she followed his gaze and looked down at herself when realization hit. She had just woken up. Which meant that she was still wearing her nightgown, her very thin silk nightdress; which had coincidentally ridden all the way up when she crossed her legs exposing a good deal of her creamy white thighs.
Blood rushed to her cheeks as she scrambled to gather her blankets to cover herself. Just as she managed to cover all of herself she heard a shriek and looked up.

“You bloody pervert!” Kat had begun whacking her brother on the head with her pillow. The identical expressions of incredulity on both the twins’ faces were too much and before she knew it, Taylor had forgotten her embarrassment and was laughing again.
Bryan had been overcome with shock at the sudden attack and the expression on his face was priceless. “WHAT THE HELL KAT.” He’d resorted to tackling her to stop her assault. Wow, this was like a movie, Taylor mused.
“You perve! You came here to ogle at Taylor? In her underwear?? Oh my GOD. I am disgusted to call you my brother!”
“I didn’t know! I freaking apologized alread– GOD DAMMIT KAT, STOP HITTING ME.”
Kat was sitting on her brother repeatedly whacking on the head with her pillow when she stopped and looked down at him in shock. “Why are you yelling at me?” she said innocently. She pouted melodramatically and jumped off her brother, running to Taylor. “Taaayloorrrrr! My brother was SO mean!”

Taylor was pretty much stunned. Wow, this girl is like bipolar. “Are you okay?” she asked the girl, confusion quite evident in her face.
“Oh ignore her,” Bryan replied. “She’s always like that. Works on Damien all the time. Seriously, I need someone on my side here.” He flashed her a boyish grin.
“Ew Bryan! Don’t hit on my friends!” whined Kat.
“I wasn’t –” Bryan stopped and sighed, shaking his head. Kat jumped at the opportunity of his defeat and began shooing him out of the room, turning to flash Taylor a cheeky grin. “Get dressed you bum, it’s almost time for lunch,” Kat called out to her from the hallway. “Meet you in the Caf!”

“Lunch?” Taylor mumbled to herself. It couldn’t be that late already could it? Stretching languidly one last time, she got up and walked over to her dressing table looking for her mobile. 12.30. Oh damn, it was late. The jetlag must have really gotten to her. She sighed, grumbling at herself for being such a pig as she rushed about freshening up, brushing teeth and carrying out her daily morning ritual of cosmetics and facial care. When she was done, she stood at the foot of her bed in her bright kimono bathrobe, akimbo, contemplating what she should wear.

It was tie between either her colourful Zac Posen summer dress or her favourite Calvin Klein jeans and a simple princess cut top. She opted for the dress and slipped on a pair of flats, grabbing her favorite handbag as she took off towards the Cafeteria.

On her way, she wondered why she hadn’t met any of her new dorm mates yet. Well, if you’re getting back ridiculously late and waking up ridiculously late, you can’t expect to meet anybody who goes by a normal clock, can you Taylor Smith? She sighed and made a vow to herself that by the time school started she would get to know at a few of her school mates other than Kathryn Wu and her brother. Oh, not to forget that Winters boy. She sighed heavily remembering that she was going to have to spend a whole lot of time with him when school started the next day.

~o~

Damien stood impatiently at the Cafeteria, tapping his feet as he checked his expensive Cartier watch for what seemed the millionth time. Where the hell were those two? He casually leant against a wall when he saw the pair walking down in his direction. Bryan looked vaguely ashamed while Kat seemed animatedly livid.

“You sexual predator! Oh my god! I am ashamed to be your blood relative!”
“It was an honest mistake, Kat! And how was I supposed to know you girls wore such… revealing nightwear?”

Damien quirked an eyebrow in amusement. Stepping front to meet the two halfway he said, “So who have you been playing Peeping Tom on this time Bryan?” The Chinese boy gave him an aggravated glare. “Not funny.” Despite the awkward tension between the two siblings, Damien couldn’t resist a hearty laugh. “Right. Right. I’m famished. Let’s.” Kat giggled helplessly, earning her strange looks from the two males. “Oh nothing. And hold up. We’re waiting fo– Ah there she is!”

Kat waved to somebody behind Damien and he had a sinking feeling he would not like what he saw when he turned around. Nevertheless, he fluidly turned to look behind him and his suspicions were confirmed. That annoying little arrogant twit from the plane – Smith was it? – was walking towards them dressed in a ridiculously colourful dress.

“You,” he said simply, annoyance quite evident in his voice.
“What about me?” she answered innocently, elegantly raising her eyebrows, challenging him. But before he had the chance to answer, she’d turned to Kat and began to chatter genially.

Damien scowled at her back and decided he would just ignore her presence for the day. School hadn’t started and he was going to enjoy his last day free of that girl no matter what it took. A quiet chuckling at his side reminded him that he wasn’t alone. Turning, his scowl still apparent on his face, he was greeted by Bryan trying his hardest not to burst out in laughter.

“WHAT exactly is so funny?” he snapped.
This time Bryan laughed freely and turned to look at his sister and Taylor walking off to buy food. “Oh nothing. It’s just that I’ve never ever seen you lost for words before. And at the mercy of a girl? Wow. She sure is something. Kat picks the right friends.” He chuckled again and started off towards to food.
Damien folded his arms and glowered fiercely at his best friend. “I was not lost for words.”
“So were,” Bryan called out. “And come on. Weren’t you ‘famished’ just a while ago?”
“I think I’ve just lost my appetite,” muttered Damien as he strode domineeringly towards the direction of the food stalls.

Two burgers, a bowl of Japanese noodles and a slice of pizza later, the four of them sat at the foot of a large tree, laughing and talking amiably. Well, that could be said for three of the four. Damien hadn’t managed kept his vow of ignoring Taylor. The pair had been exchanging biting comments and bickering all afternoon.

“I gotta pee,” exclaimed Kat quite suddenly. He heard the girl laugh freely, observing her shake her head. “Kat, you are awfully straightforward you know that?”
“Oh I’m sorry. I need to use the loo,” countered Kat, putting on a ridiculous British accent.
Even Damien couldn’t resist laughing at that and added, “We don’t sound like that you know.”
“Oh I know. But don’t you think this is funnier?” she flashed him a cheeky grin and stood up. “I wasn’t kidding. I really need to pee.” She extended her hand to the other girl sitting daintily to his side. “Come with me?”
The Smith girl laughed again and Damien couldn’t help but notice she had a nice laugh. Sort of twinkling with a chime to it. He shook his head. What was he thinking? As she got up and the two walked off to the bathrooms, he couldn’t stop his eyes from admiring her frame as she retreated. He had to admit, despite the overdose of colour, the dress was very tasteful and well cut. Zac Posen by the looks of it. He was shaken out of his reverie by Bryan’s voice at his side. “Man, you got it bad.”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied brusquely.
“You’ve got the hots for her. It’s effin’ obvious dude.”
Damien turned sharply to stare at the Chinese boy. “You have got to be kidding. Her?! Of all people, the one I can’t stand, you think I like her??”
“Yeah.”
“You’re dreaming.”
“Am not. You know it too. You just don’t want to admit it yet.”

Damien didn’t get a chance to reply because he heard a loud, sickly sweet voice. A voice that never failed to make the hairs on his neck stand.

“OH DAMIEN!”
“Bugger,” he muttered under his breath and looked straight ahead to find Annette O’Reilly, his young stalker. “Why hello Annette. Nice day isn’t it?”
She nearly squealed and tittered shamelessly. “Now that I’ve seen you it is!” She leaned forward to plant a kiss on his cheek but he’d jerked backwards hitting his head on the trunk of the tree. “Buggering hell!”
“Oh you poor baby!” She reached out to check his head for bumps but he smoothly evaded her and quickly stood up. “Hell, this feels really bad. I’d better get it checked. See you… uh… Yeah. See you.” He strode briskly towards the school building without looking back.

~o~

That night, Taylor lay in her bed thinking about her day. She had to admit, she really was starting to like the twins. They were fun and funny and overall really good company. She supposed she could tolerate that bigoted Winters boy. He had been so arrogant that afternoon that she couldn’t even believe it. And it was rather rude of him to leave so suddenly without reason. When she and Kat had gotten back from the bathrooms, they found Bryan laughing by himself by the tree. He’d said that Damien just left unexpectedly. Rather shifty if you asked her.

She’d manage to catch Leslie when they got back that evening. She seemed very nice to say the least. She was soft-spoken and awfully polite. Taylor figured that she would make quite a decent roommate. Most of the exchange students would only be coming the next morning. Or so Leslie had said.

Leaning against the soft down of her pillows she turned on her side and made herself comfortable. The cool Egyptian cotton against her cheek and the unbelievably feathery lightness of the comforter over her didn’t make it very hard. She smiled as she saw Kat starfished on her back sleeping soundly. Slowly but surely, her eyelids drooped and she succumbed to the bliss of sleep.


She was sitting on the silvery sands of the island waiting. She had no idea why she was waiting or what she was waiting for. But she had a vague feeling that she was waiting for the boy.

It had been a while before he appeared next to her. He was frowning and looked extremely irritated. “What’s wrong?” she whispered, and reached out to touch him. He jerked back harshly and scowled at her. The hurt she felt was so immense that it was foreign to her. Bringing her hand back to her side, she turned away from him and faced the black waters of the ocean surrounding them.

“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly. His voice was rough and pained.
She turned to look at him and was caught by his silvery navy eyes. They were so full of frustration and anger. Taylor didn’t know why, but she just had to know what was wrong.

“What’s wrong?” she repeated.
“Nothing.” His voice was distant and unfamiliar. It was like he was a completely different person.
Turning, she grabbed his arms and looked him in the eyes. “Tell me. Please.”
His features seemed to soften after hearing the pleading tone of her voice and he hung his head down looking dejected. “I don’t know,” he said softly.


The ache in his voice was so clear-cut, so real, that Taylor’s eyes flew open. “That was surreal,” she breathed. There was a dull throbbing pain in her chest as though she felt the pain that the boy in her dreams was feeling. She didn’t know what to think. Could it be love? Could she be falling for someone her subconscious mind had conjured? It was ridiculous. But somehow, she had no other explanation for what she was feeling.

And no matter how hard she tried, she could make herself fall asleep again that night.

~o~

The next morning, she washed up and slipped on a denim miniskirt and a Polo shirt and made her way down to the Cafeteria. It was preposterously early so she didn’t want to wake Kat. Maybe she would make some new friends today.

When she reached the Cafeteria, she realized she was very wrong. There was not a soul there save the food vendors setting up stall. She bought some juice and proceeded to make her way to the same spot under the tree when she heard a low, honeyed male voice from her side. “My, my, don’t you look like hell.”

She turned and glared at the source of the voice, already guessing who it belonged to. None other than world-class prick, Damien Winters. She began to come back with a sharp retort when she noticed his face. His perfect features looked exhausted and there were dark circles under his eyes. “The same could be said for you,” she said, surprise lingered in her voice. “Didn’t you sleep last night?”

“Barely a wink,” he replied in a low voice.
“Me neither,” she found herself saying as she looked at his tired expression.
There was a significant change in his posture and movement as his facial features gathered into a haughty sneer. What had looked like a tired angel to Taylor became the face of the Devil. “It’s very obvious,” he drawled.
She scowled at him. He was almost sincere a while ago. Sighing, she decided to ignore him but as she started to walk away, he grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s rude to walk away while a person is talking to you?”
“Well, you’re not a person.”
He rolled his eyes at her and said, “Well, as of today, you are sadly my responsibility. So it’d be fitting for you to at least be polite to me.”
Taylor shook off his hand; it was beginning to burn her skin for some reason, and fixed him with an icy glare. Her voice was soft, barely a whisper, but the power behind it was clear. “You’re not worth it.”

And with that, she walked away, stalking towards her destination. She closed her eyes when she was far enough from him. These first few months are going to be hell. “Bloody hell,” she groaned.

~o~

Damien stared after her. The nerve of the girl! He glared daggers at her retreating form. And he had to spend at the least a month or two showing that girl around? “Bloody hell,” he groaned.

And with that, he braced himself and strode purposefully after her.