Calling Carter.

(Still Kala’s P.O.V)

I knew Carter and I needed to talk, alone. So while Mum took Silah down to the emergency room – after dropping us at home – we went to View Hill. Carter was walking slowly, clearly thinking. As he had requested, I had cleared out his locker of his drawings. He had some in his hands now, and he had showed me another of them. If Silah didn’t want it, he was going to let me keep it, cause I loved it. It was so sweet.

I snuck another sidelong glance at him. I didn’t know he had it in him, but he was a romantic at heart underneath the scowling. I could almost see what Silah saw in him… almost. He was my big brother. That was just ew. But I know she liked him; she just tried to hide it. I thought it was silly since she was no good at it.

Silah had gathered enough energy to pull a funny face at Carter and I as we left, but she was really pale and I noticed her fighting hard to stay awake. I had a feeling she was in shock. Carter had noticed too. His face was all grim and not-smiley and I wanted to poke him until he smiled. He smiled when he thought about Silah.

I thought it was super cute that he called her Si.

As we stopped at a safe distance from the edge, I gave Carter a hug before we sat down. For once, he didn’t shake me off after a second, which told me he needed it. I was gonna talk to him while I had the chance cause when Silah came home he wasn’t even gonna notice me. Which was okay, cause it was fun to annoy him until he acknowledged me.

“Carter,” I said softly, “Caidan freaked me out today,” I admitted, talking to my brother’s chest. His heartbeat went ‘duff, duff, duff’ against my cheek and made me smile.

He got me to sit down and watched me intently as he impatiently gestured for me to explain. I rolled my eyes.

“He… he asked if I knew some guy, Eugene Parker, but I don’t. So I said no. and then…” I hesitated, and took a deep breath. “And-then-he-asked-if-I-knew-if-Silah-thought-he-was-cute.” I said all that in one really fast word.

He was sooooo angry at that. If it wasn’t so serious, I would have giggled at the funny look on his face. But we were talking about the guy who had gotten in a fight with Carter and Silah and had just stabbed her. So it wasn’t all that funny, really.

“What.” He growled, sounding all rawr-y. You know how when animals are defending something of theirs, and they have a “rawr” look on their face? That was Carter right now.

I nodded. “He said I was pretty, but not the one for him. He said Silah would be his.” I tried to be like Silah, tough and strong. But I know some of the fear was still in my voice, because Carter hugged me again. “But I know she’s not,” I said softly. “Carter, you have to tell her how much you like her.”

He looked down at me. “Kala, I don’t know if I can do that.” He said. “What if she doesn’t actually want me?” This was new. I wasn’t sure if he was asking me because I was his sister or Silah’s bestie. Maybe both? I realised I suddenly had a lot of power. I had a tiny little smile, and I kept my plans off my face.

I stared at him. “You clearly haven’t seen the way she looks at you. She gets nervous when you’re around because she doesn’t know how you feel about her, she thinks you don’t like her,” I explained softly. “You’re both so silly,” I said, shaking my head.

Carter let go of me, indignant. “I am not!” he retorted, looking sulky.

“Don’t make me sit on you,” I threatened, hoping I looked like Mum. He listened to Mum. He just grinned and started tickling me. “No!” I heard myself squeal, “Stop! Stop! You’re not sallowed to tickle me…” I complained as he eventually stopped.

He gave me an innocent look. “You started it,” he said simply, then grinned.

I scowled at him with mock annoyance. “I’ll get Silah to get you back,” I muttered. He grinned.

“She’s just as ticklish as you,” he said triumphantly. “I’ll beat you both.”

Oh. Bummer. I frowned. How had I not known Silah was ticklish? Hmm. Maybe… no, that was just icky. I looked up at him. “Carter,” I asked seriously, “when are you gonna tell her? She’s pretty much in love with you, so you have to tell her, cause if do it won’t be nearly as romantic.”

He gave me a flat look that said he didn’t care about romance.

“Don’t give me that look, Carter, I know what you’re like.”

(CARTER’S P.O.V)

Damnit. She was right. I hated it when Kala was right. My mind was reeling. Did Silah really like me?

I guess I would have to find out…

Did my heartbeat just speed up? Yeah, it did. It was plain weird admitting it to myself. I liked Silah, really liked her. And apparently so did Caidan. Maybe I hadn’t beaten him up hard enough, or, as Silah loved to say, maybe he needed another, bigger can of whoop ass. I was going to break more than his ribs, this time. I was going to break his fucking head for even thinking about Silah, and Kala.

No-one messed with my girls.

(KALA’S P.O.V)

I saw him working it out in his boy brain. I saw the light go off above his head as he came to the decision to beat the heck out of Caidan. And I smiled a little. Carter was back.

I decided we’d had our talk. Carter needed to do two things. Tell Silah he wanted to keep her forever, and tell Caidan to eff off. And then, keep him away.

I knew that I would be txting Adam very soon to let him know what was going on. He, Luc and Daniel would be very keen to help Carter keep Caidan away. They all liked Silah, agreeing that she was more than enough to handle Carter. All we needed now was for Silah to meet Alice, properly. Then everything would be perfect.

X

LATER THAT EVENING

Layny txtd me to say they were leaving the A+E and would be home in about ten minutes. I replied then told Carter. We made our way home in silence.

At home I put the kettle on to make Mum a cup of tea, and then we waited. Carter was restless, and kept clenching and unclenching his fists. The sound of the car crawling up the gravel driveway made him twitch, as if he wanted to get up but forced himself not to. I rolled my eyes and knew he would be all over Silah as soon as he saw her. It made me smile, cause it was cute. I wasn’t jealous, because I had Adam. He wasn’t as silly as Carter.

I had told Adam I liked him after he got my number and started txting me. He was so funny, and I wasn’t afraid of being myself around him. I was glad he and Carter were already friends because that way Carter already knew he was a good person. Adam had heaps of animals from the S.P.C.A, our local shelter, and even one half feral cat he’d rescued from under the school. He had scars on his arms from trying to make those animals trust him.

I sighed, thinking he was a hero. At that moment, he txtd me.
Hey. Hows Silah? Heard some hell went down after lunch ..?

I replied with a brief recount of today’s events.

that little shit.

I couldn’t agree more.