The Richardson List

Once Cole’s familiar figure came into view, Carter smiled with relief. Lately she didn’t know whether her friend would show up at the bus stop in the morning or not, disappearing with Lily now becoming a regular occurrence. Cole was already exasperated as it was with Skye, and since he saw them both chatting together after school once, he was becoming much more attached to his girlfriend. Normally Carter wouldn’t mind, but by doing so he was also ditching her in the process.

This left Carter taking the bus alone to school because Audrey once expressed her fear of that form of transportation, fixed on the idea that there was either a bomb located somewhere inside or a serial killer. Either way, her stepping onto the bus resulted in her death, as much as Carter had tried to explain that she was being delusional.

Today was different it seemed for there he stood, idly leaning against the bus stop pole as he always would before. At first he didn’t notice her, gazing out absently onto the street, his eyes following the passing cars. She was about to wave her hand frantically in the air in an attempt to gain his attention, but decided against it when she realized that he probably wouldn’t notice.

With a sly grin she pressed herself up against fence that sat beside the sidewalk with plants falling over the metal, trying not to be seen by Cole. It seemed her plan had worked because his eyes continued to flicker from each automobile that rumbled down the road. Catching her breath in her throat she silently tip-toed towards to where Cole stood, making sure that she was concealed by the vegetation.

Luckily he turned his back when Carter threw a small stone in the other direction, a mischievous smile slipping onto her lips.

“Boo!” she screamed, jumping out from the green and grabbing his shoulders.

He jumped, a gasp tumbling from his mouth as he stared wide-eyed at the girl who was now breaking down into laughter, clutching onto her side for dear life. He hadn’t screamed, as Carter had hoped, but seeing the shock written on his face was enough to make her dissolve into giggles.

Cole crossed his arms defensively with a glare in his eyes but soon he couldn’t help but crack a smile of his own.

“That wasn’t very nice,” he told her with a pout, sniffing afterward to show that he was hurt by the little stunt, but there was still a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Carter however didn’t take notice to this and was still gasping for any intake of breath, trying to stop herself from another round of chuckles. Once she succeeded in getting oxygen into her lungs and was able to form coherent words, she shot her friend a smile.

“My, have I wounded your pride?” She grinned at him innocently, shrugging as if it wasn’t her fault that his actions instigated her laughter.

He pressed his lips together tightly, obviously not very content with her remark.

“Must you always have a sharp tongue?” he asked rhetorically, rolling his eyes skyward when she shrugged once again.

“It’s not my fault your actions seem to initiate my lashing.”

As she said this with a smirk the bus rolled up. Carter waited for him to reply but he did no such thing, climbing into the transporter without a word. She rolled her eyes and followed him, taking this as a win and grinning.

When the bus driver closed the doors behind her she saw Cole steal a spot at the back, a smile present on his face. Carter grinned back. Cole truly was one of her best friends.



While grabbing her books, Carter saw Audrey’s familiar face running towards her down the hall. The warning bell had already gone, signalling for students to begin to get to their classes. When she had arrived at her locker Audrey was unusually absent, and so decided to hang out with Cole before her class began. Time had passed quickly and she soon found herself scurrying to her locker quickly, hoping that she would be able to get there and to her class on time.

She wondered why Audrey wasn’t there as she usually was, and felt a small voice inside of herself tell her it was Nina. Unfortunately or not, she was still deciding, the day before Carter wasn’t graced with the girl’s presence when she arrived at Audrey’s house. For unknown reasons she had to rush off to her house, apologizing to Audrey quickly and telling her to pass on a greeting from her to Carter.

Without her the pair both watched a movie, The Proposal, and Carter felt as if they hadn’t hung out just the both of them in a while and was glad that Nina was lacking from the event.

Audrey was also rushing, grabbing Carter’s wrist after she had successfully transferred all her needed book into her backpack and pulling her forcefully to their next class. Not so much as a greeting passed her lips while she tugged on her friend in an attempt to get to class on time.

“Whoa, hey, where were you this morning?” she tried to slip in while avoiding bumping into people that seemed to pop out of no where.

Audrey muttered something under her breath and Carter strained to hear but still wasn’t able to decipher the words coming from her lips. When Audrey stopped in front of the door, thankfully before the bell rang, Carter asked her friend to speak up.

“Oh, I was with Nina! That’s why I was so late! Her lockers a bit away,” Audrey explained before pushing open the classroom door to reveal all the familiar students they saw everyday. As per usual, Skye was stationed at the front of the class, casually leaning against a desk and conversing with his friend, Zack.

The proverbial bell sounded and Carter quickly sat in her seat, holding her breath when Skye sat down beside her. As soon as his body hit the chair his head fell into his arms, quickly forming a comfortable position in which he could easily relax in.

Beside him Carter ignored the weary boy and flicked through the pages in her binder, peering over to see his still form. With each breath his back lifted and then descended once again in a rhythmic pattern.

The teacher up ahead of the class began his lesson and all conversation abated, the only sound was of the teacher’s droning up ahead of the room. After a few minutes of looking over sheets and writing things down Carter gazed out of the corner of her eye to see Skye began to stir in his seat.

With exhaustion on his face, he regained his composure, stretching out his arms and letting a yawn escape his lips. Beside him Carter pursed her lips, concentrating intensely on the problems she was attempting to solve.

Her attentiveness was easily broken when she heard Skye’s smooth voice in her ear.

“Hey Carter,” he greeted her; his voice was laced with fatigue yet still held his confident demeanour.

“Hi Skye,” she replied in a somewhat blasé attitude, finishing another problem down on her paper in a ploy to seem uninterested.

For some reason she didn’t want him to know that he made her nervous, that he made her stomach flip and knot, that the sight of him caused her adrenaline to pump through her veins. Mostly for the reason that she didn’t want any of those things to happen, especially associated with Skye.

This of course, didn’t dent his suave style and he leaned back in his chair with a smirk.

“Your friend is really bad on trying to be sneaky. Either she’s staring at you or me, but I’m gonna take a guess and it’s me.”

Lifting her gaze from her paper she saw that Skye was correct in a sense, Audrey was constantly looking over to where the pair sat, turning her head to the side while her eyes landed in their direction. When Audrey did it once again, Carter waved at her friend. Skye, seeing that Audrey had been found out, waved with Carter.

“Yup, looking at me,” he confirmed when Audrey quickly focussed on the board ahead.

This caused Carter to scoff and his arrogance, pointing out that she could have easily been trying to gain her attention. Skye of course argued, pointing out that second after he started to wave she snapped her attention away, and he was almost positive he saw a blush on her cheeks. Carter rolled her eyes, an action that was clearly seen by Skye.

“It’s true,” he defended himself, shrugging in a sense that he couldn’t help if he attracted everyone’s attention. His smirk had grown into a grin and a pencil had appeared in his hands.

Carter felt a grin of her own find her lips, first because of his egotism but then she recalled the morning when she had “wounded” Cole’s pride. Using her peripherals once again she saw Skye’s smirk, what had caused it though seemed to puzzle her.



With Tiffany by her side Carter treaded down the field towards the usual lunch table. Cole and Audrey sat together; they were always quick from escaping their classes since there’s weren’t in the far-off portables as Carter had them.

But with her two friends sat a new arrival. A girl, that much she could determine from her distance. She had lightly tanned skin, suggesting that she had spent some time in the sun or in a tanning bed recently. Her light brown hair was pulled out of her face using a ponytail, pieces limply falling out here and there that seemed to be done of purpose. Getting closer she noticed the blond highlights hiding between her locks of hair, easily peeking out because of her hairstyle.

The girl sat beside Audrey and was animatedly explaining something to her, something that probably bothered her by the look on her face. And while she did this Audrey sat still and listened, taking in her every word while Cole sat obviously bored by the fascinating story.

When Audrey took a glance around, nodding her head to show she was still listening to the words spilling from the girl’s lips, she saw Carter and instantly brightened up.

“Carter!” she yelled out the second they met eyes, causing the girl to instantly freeze and gaze over to where Carter stood.

Audrey jumped from her seat and bounded up next to them, quickly giving a hello to Tiffany before turning back to Carter.

“Finally you get to meet Nina! She’s over there!” Audrey pointed over to the girl who wore the ghost of a scowl on her face.

As all the eyes turned to her she instantly plastered a smile on her face, waving delightedly at the group.

Slowly they inched closer to the table. Cole was unusually quiet, nibbling on his sandwich and checking his cell phone religiously. The girl flashed them a smile when they were in a close distance.

“Carter, hey! I’ve heard so much about you!” She stood up from her seat and engulfed Carter in a hug which caused her to become rigid as the girls arms wrapped around her.

Behind Nina’s back Audrey smiled and gave them a thumbs up, leaving Carter to awkwardly return the hug.

Cole seemed to notice from the table because a small chuckle rumbled in his throat before he returned back to his food and phone.

Pulling away from her Carter smiled at the girl who stuck out her hand after they had departed.

“I’m Nina Williams, pleasure to meet you!” she introduced herself cheerily.

Carter stared down at the hand for a moment, unsure of her next action. Of course she knew what was supposed to happen in a predicament as such. She would meet the girl’s hand and enclose it in hers, give it a few shakes while giving Nina her name before letting go. But, she really didn’t want to.

Ignoring her thoughts she shook the girl’s hand, stretching her lips into a smile. “Carter, Carter Rousseau.”