Freeing Carter (8 page)

Rigor mortis has now set into my limbs. My basketball high
has been thoroughly
killed.
"
What
'
s up with that?
"
I'm
really trying not to sound accusatory.

"
Nothing.
"
Mel pushes up on her toes and kisses me. She sounds normal. Happy to see me. Maybe I was freaking out for nothing. My muscles loosen again and I feel like an idiot. They were just talking. It
'
s not like they haven
'
t talked before
,
or
like
Devin doesn
'
t have a reason to be here. Mel wouldn
'
t do that. She
'
s the one who always wants to be with me and I
'
m the one who
'
s been more standoffish lately.

"
How was practice?
"
I ask
,
still holding on to her waist.

"
Awesome.
"

"
Mine too. We
—
"

"
Is Travis with Trina
,
do you know?
"

Okay. So obviously we
'
re not talking about my practice.
"
I don
'
t think so. She
'
s busy
,
I guess. He asked me to
hang out
and then took off when I said I wanted to see you.
"
  These past couple days have been crazy for me. I
really
want to get back to normal. Mel is normal.
"
But whatever. Let
'
s go somewhere. We can grab something to eat or whatever.
"
I lean forward to kiss her again
,
but she stops me.

"
I can
'
t
...
I need to find Trina. We
'
re supposed to hang out.
"

"
Oh.
"
I step away a little.
"
Can
'
t you tell her I want to see you? I
'
m sure she
'
ll get it
...
I know I
'
ve been kind of a dick lately and I want to make it up to you.
"

She
'
s not really listening
,
her fingers moving
over
the screen on her phone.
"
I can
'
t
,
Carter. Not today
,
'
kay? I don
'
t wanna ditch Trina.
"

"
Whatever.
"
I take another step back
,
trying to show her it doesn
'
t bother me
,
when really it does.

"
I
'
ll see you tomorrow
,
okay?
"
With another quick kiss
,
Mel is jogging toward school again. I shove my hands into my pockets
,
leaning against her brand new VW Bug. What just happened? I mean
,
I get it. She wants to hang with her friend
,
but I ditched Trav for her.  She thinks I
'
ve been weird lately so I try
to be sweet and do something nice, and she can't get away from me fast enough
.

Whatever. I pull out my phone
to
text Travis.

CHANGE OF PLANS. WHERE ARE U?

Before I look like an idiot
loitering around my girlfriend's car in the parking lot
,
I get into my truck. It
'
s an older Ford. Not
old
old
,
but not brand new like my friends
'
cars. I wait a few minutes
,
and when he doesn
'
t text back
,
I send him another.

WHERE U AT?
Ten minutes later I realize he
'
s not going to reply. Lame.

With nothing else to do
,
I drive to Mom
'
s shop
,
frustrated that my first day of practice ended with Mel flirting with someone else and then ditching me.

"
Carter! Carter!
"
Sara yells when I
step
inside. She always says my name twice like that. It makes me smile.

"
What
'
s up
,
Twig? Are you helping Mom?
"

She shakes her head.
"
Nope. Mommy
'
s busy. There
'
s a
girl
here.
"

"
Thanks
,
Twig.
"
I pull her ponytail then head down the aisle to find Mom and Mel. There are shelves of glass figurines all around me. Some of Mom
'
s paintings hang from the walls. The lights are dim
,
but they
'
re always kind of dim in here. The store is small
,
but usually keeps pretty busy. Everyone in town loves Mom.

When I clear the aisle
,
I freeze at the sight of black and purple braids.

"
Hey
,
honey!
"
Mom waves when she sees me
,
and
Kira turn
s
around. For some reason
,
it
'
s a little hard to breathe.

Kira
'
s eyes widen
,
but she recovers quickly.
"
Hey
,
Sleepy. Are you stalking me?
"

Chapter Four

This is my perfect chance to mess with
Kira,
and I don
'
t intend to let it pass me by.
"
Me?
I think
it
'
s the other way around. English
,
Art
,
the basketball court
,
and now my mom
'
s store? You know I have a girlfriend
,
right?
"
A girlfriend I
'
m mad at
,
but still.

"
Carter!
"
Mom gasps
,
but Kira is smiling. Somehow I knew she
'
d be okay with the joke.

"
I
'
m teasing her
,
M
om
.
"

Mom shakes her head
,
but she
'
s smiling too.

"
Well
,
now I
'
m not sure I can get a job here. I
'
m already in charge of keeping you awake
—
"

Please don
'
t say in English. Please don
'
t say in English.

"
—
when you
'
re supposed to be practicing. Not sure I can handle it at work
,
too.
"

Thank you
,
Kira
,
for saving my ass!
"
Nah
,
if you
'
re here
,
that means I don
'
t have to be. You can work
,
I
'
ll sleep. I like that deal.
"
 

"
I
'
m pretty sure she wasn
'
t talking about you sleeping on the court
,
Carter.
"
Mom
'
s eyebrows
rise
. Busted.

"
What? I
'
d never fall asleep in school. Nothing like a quality education.
"
I smile at Mom and walk behind the counter with her. These are my favorite times
,
where she
'
s not just Mom
,
but she
'
s also not guilty Mom. She
'
s Sara
'
s mom and in these times
,
I can almost forget about the rest of it.

"
Sure. And I was born yesterday.
"
She
pats my cheek.

"
So
,
how was your first day of practice?
"
Kira asks.
"
Are you brushing up on your skills so I won
'
t mind going to the games?
"

I cock my head at her
,
trying to figure out why it gives me a rush that she asked about practice. It
'
s a joke
;
I know she
'
s playing off what I said to her yesterday
,
but I like it.

Before I can reply
,
Sara comes barreling
over
,
wrapping her arms around
Kira
. She
once
did the same thing to Mel
,
who froze
,
not knowing what to do. Kira hugs
Sara
back. 

I don
'
t have time to keep comparing the two because then Sara is reaching up.
"
You
'
re pretty. I like purple. I want purple hair.
"
She
touches
Kira
'
s braids.

"
No
,
no
,"
Mom says to Sara. At the same time
,
I reach over the counter.

"
Just because I
'
m allowed to pull your hair
,
Twig
,
doesn
'
t mean you can touch other people
'
s hair without their permission.
"

"
I don
'
t mind.
"
Kira turns to Sara.
"
I had red in it last time. What do you think I should do next? Too boring to keep the same style for very long.
"

Yeah. Yesterday she looked like she belonged in the 60
'
s in a rainbow bus and with a name like
Springwater
,
and today she
'
s wearing a school girl outfit. Not that I noticed or anything.

"
Orange!
"
Sara claps
,
jumping up and down.  She
'
s so happy I have to look around to make sure there
'
s not a purple dinosaur here.

"
Orange?
"
I ask. Orange hair doesn
'
t sound
very
appealing.

"
What
'
s wrong with orange?
"
Kira counters.

Oh
,
she wants to play this game
,
does she? I
'
m in.
"
Nothing. But why stop with mixing in
?
I
'
m thinking you should go
all
orange. That would be pretty
,
wouldn
'
t it
,
Sara?
"