The Richardson List

“Do you wanna have a sleepover at my house on Saturday?”

As the words passed Tiffany’s lips, Carter stared at the brunette for a moment thoroughly confused. In the back of her mind she wondered what compelled this sort of thing to appear.

A moment of silence passed as Carter continued to stare, noting the familiar fear of rejection hidden in her eyes. She really had no idea what to say.

“Um, sure, yeah I guess,” she agreed slowly, scratching the back of her neck with a sheepish smile.

Hearing her words, Tiffany’s face broke out into a smile and Carter was relieved she hadn’t taken it to heart how long it took her to answer, considering out out-of-the-blue it was and was awkward Carter generally was.

They both were walking towards their next class, History, when the unexpected question appeared, leaving Carter to quickly make a smooth recovery after the uncomfortable silence that followed.

Tiffany giggled slightly with a hint of embarrassment when she pushed open the classroom door.

“Sorry, that’s pretty random, but my parents are going out of town and I don’t want to be all alone. I haven’t heard from most of my other friends in a while, so I thought why not? I’ll ask Carter,” she explained, evidently hoping that Carter didn’t take it in the wrong way and thought she was clingy and weird.

“Ah, no problem.”

Carter waved her hand in the air to show that she was fine with it, secretly glad that they were good friends. Lately they had been talking a lot, be it in class or over text during the day, and she wondered where their relationship stood.

“Is it okay if I invite Audrey?” she asked, not wanting to leave out her other friend on the event.

Tiffany nodded her head with a grin.

“Of course, the more the merrier! Plus, it’s always good to have more people in an empty house,” she added an exaggerated shiver for emphasis, earning a chuckle from Carter. She guessed that Tiffany wasn’t too brave when it came to being unaccompanied in a house during the night.

But neither was she, really.

They took their seats beside each other and Tiffany promptly began complaining about how much she disliked History and that she was positive that the teacher was out to get her.

Then again, Carter wouldn’t be surprised if the teacher was, considering she Tiffany a constant nuisance in the classroom and related to Skye in the sense that they both had a million unimportant questions they continuously voiced. Shaking her head, she flipped open her book and chuckled softly.

“I saw that,” Tiffany drawled, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “And you know what? One day, I’m gonna be a best-selling author, and I’m gonna show them that I will not need to know what the hell Vimy Ridge was!” she ranted while furiously finishing up the night before’s homework that was due by the end of the class.

She had already expressed her life-long dream, to be a well-known author. She was thinking Stephanie Meyer famous without the vampires, set on the idea that vampires shouldn’t sparkle but were bloodsucking demons.

The teacher entered the classroom, her posture straight and her movement stiff. Ms. Paler was notorious for snapping at children for slouching, and always seemed to walk as if something had been inserted up her ass. There were also rumours swirling around that she divorced her husband because he slouched during a dinner date. Then again, they also said she was secretly a dominatrix woman. They were all probably fake, yet still entertaining nonetheless.

She sent Tiffany a disapproving glance who obliviously continued to complete her work. Carted laughed at this, causing Tiffany to look up from her work for a moment and raise an eyebrow at the girl before returning back to her page, her confusion apparent. With a shake of her head, Carter smiled, glad that she was friends with the girl.



Audrey’s familiar head of blond hair came into view when Carter pushed open the door. Her friend instantly snapped her gaze over to where Carter stood, a grin appearing upon her glossy lips.

“Carter,” the blonde greeted enthusiastically, seemingly restraining herself in her seat.

This usually meant that Audrey had something to tell Carter, whether it be a question or simply a thought that had been eating away at her in the time they were apart.

Because of this, Carter braced herself in case it was another of her tedious shopping trips. Still, curiosity sparked in her dark eyes as she paused in front of Audrey’s desk. She still hadn’t asked whether or not she was attending the sleepover but decided to ask her after she explained her epiphany of some sorts.

“Anyways, so I was thinking,” she began, glaring when Carter gasped mockingly with a grin. “There’s this party on Saturday, and you know since you went to the last one, maybe you can go to this one with me too?” she asked hopefully.

Carter’s face immediately became passive once she heard what Audrey had to say. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t have liked to gone to the party, okay that’s a lie she didn’t, but she would have anyways for her friend if she hadn’t already made plans. Audrey seemed to notice her fallen face and stared up at her in confusion.

“What?” she asked slowly.

Biting her lip, Carter stood conflicted on how to break the news to Audrey.

“Well, the thing is…” she started off, biting her lip anxiously. “I’m having a sleepover with Tiffany this weekend…” Her voice trailed off at the end as she stood awkwardly in front of the desk, shifting her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably.

“Oh,” fell from her lips dejectedly as she stared down at her desk.

Seeing her reaction, Carter instantly cringed. “You can come if you’d like?” she offered lamely, cursing herself for not being able to come up with anything better.

Audrey smiled somewhat, lifting her gaze upwards. “Ah, no problem, Nina’s going too!” she reassured Carter who still stood guilty in front of her. The girl nodded her head, trying to make herself feel better about the whole situation and failing miserably.

“Well, that’s good,” Carter said when the teacher walked in, thankfully for her, and she returned to her usual seat. Skye was already sitting attentively at his desk, a small smirk on his face.

When she slipped into the plastic chair she felt her stomach release from the tight knot that had made its comfortable residence. It seemed that she was finding herself in these situations much more then she would have liked, and being in Skye’s presence with her adrenaline slightly pumping didn’t do much to soothe her chaotic thoughts.

“So you’re not going?” he asked abruptly, ripping Carter from her muddled train of thought.

She sent him a perplexed look, leaving him to further explain.

“The party,” he clarified. “You’re not going to the party on Saturday?”

A deep sigh tumbled passed her lips, her eyelids drooping down slightly. “Are there parties every single week?” she wondered aloud, speculating how someone could attend all these festivities and still manage their homework, which brought out the obvious answer: they didn’t.

Skye was obviously amused by this and gave a low chuckle. “Nah, but we need to celebrate my presence now, don’t we?” he corrected with a slight grin, watching as Carter groaned and let her head fall into her arms.

“I’m still a firm believer in sleep,” she mumbled into her arm, believing that the entire point of weekends was sleeping in.

Of course, many people would disagree with her but she stayed true to those words. Even so, she wasn’t someone who would smash their alarm clock against the wall angrily before sleeping through her first period, finding that by doing this it’s defeating the sole purpose of the rude awakening, however annoying it may be.

The teacher made his appearance in this classroom, Carter noticed by the volume decreasing greatly, and lifted her head to see her assumptions were correct. The teacher announced what today’s’ studies would entail, sending a glare towards Skye when he gave an exaggerated yawn, stretching out his arms high in the air before slumping in his seat with a satisfied smirk.

“You’re right Carter; I need to get more sleep.” He didn’t try to disguise his voice, speaking in his usual outside voice that Mr. Wyler surprisingly let pass, probably tired with dealing with his usual antics.

To this Carter didn’t reply, rather scribbling down the questions that the teacher wrote on the board. Of course, Skye didn’t stay quiet for long and soon his voice sounded again.

“So, who’s Tiffany?” he asked curiously, either attempting to make conversation or genuinely wondering who this girl was.

The question caused Carter to pause and scoff. “Really? You rated her on your little list and you don’t even remember?” she muttered, feeling realization dampen her mood.

For a little while, when she was talking to Skye, she found herself somewhat forget about who he was and what he did. She found herself talking to just Skye, not Skye Richardson.

But of course, this would fade whenever she remembered the cursed list, and her mood would instantly darken.

“Hm, Tiffany. The brunette, right? Yeah, what was her last name…” he continued to hum in thought, neglecting the sheet of paper underneath him that begged to have math questions written on it.

“Turner,” she supplied for him, loosening her grip on the pencil and writing the next question onto the paper in front of her.

He gave a slight gasp of realization. “Ah, yeah, her, what’d I rate her again?” he asked to himself mostly, racking his mind for the answer to his question.

Again, she sighed, slightly irritated by his laid back attitude.

“Six point nine,” she provided for him once more, releasing the pencil in her hand and letting it fall to the desk.

The teacher gave them both a stern look when she forgot to lower my voice.

“Ms. Rousseau, Mr. Richardson, stop talking or you’ll both being going into the hall,” he threatened the pair but they both remained unfazed, staring blankly ahead of them. Carter was attempting to focus on the board but Skye really had no care whatsoever.

My. Wyler gave them one last stern look before finishing a sentence on the board and retreating back to his unnaturally neat desk. When his attention was focused on his desk, specifically a test he was marking, Skye felt as if were okay to talk again.

“Ah, the dude needs to get laid.”

This little comment caused Carter to snort unattractively, gaining the attention of her peers seated around her. The teacher didn’t seem to notice and continued to mark the sheet in front of him. Her hand instantly flew over her mouth in an attempt to muffle the offending giggles, but soon others were laughing at her and she decided it was no use.

The teacher paused and sent a glare their way, immediately silencing Carter and only her. Skye had rested his hand on the back of his head, a smirk on his lips while he basked in the stifled giggles.

Audrey a few seats in front of them turned her head to see what all the disruption was about, raising an eyebrow at Carter who in return just smiled. She raised her arms in question, a motion which Skye saw who smirked at this, and Carter shook her heard, laughing slightly as Mr. Wyler evidently angered glared at his desk.

It seemed Audrey had decided to give up on communication because she gave a deep sigh and turned back to her desk, silence now gripping the air in the class.

“You really enjoying pissing him off, don’t you?” Carter asked softly with a hint of a smile as Skye began to doodle aimlessly on his page.

A few questions had been answered on his page, hopefully correctly because Carter had similar answers, but it seemed that his attention span had broke and now he found it much more amusing to scribble smiley faces.

At this, Skye nodded his head, carefully adding small details to the small drawings on his page. He added hair, a nose, and hearts as the eyes. Underneath he wrote a few words which made Carter stifle a giggle and shake her head.

He shrugged, obviously believing the statement was the honest truth.

Underneath it read: Carter when she’s thinking about Skye.

She could only hope that it never got that way.