The Richardson List

“What do you think?” Audrey asked while eyeing herself sceptically in the mirror, spinning around to get a better look on the chosen outfit.

Carter sat with her arms crossed and her eyes set in a glare, fixated on the poster of Edward Cullen pinned up on the wall, engaging in a silent staring contest. She didn’t bother to look over and see if she liked what Audrey was wearing, refusing to take any part in the before-party prep.

After Audrey’s question was met with a silence she sighed irritated and dropped her shoulders, looking over at Carter with irritation.

“Really? Come on Rousseau, it’s just a party! It’s going to be fun!” she reassured her friend once more with a vibrant smile, attempting to lift Carter’s low spirits.

In a reply Carter grumbled unintelligible words under her breath, reluctantly breaking her long stare with the sinister vampire.

“I can’t believe you’re dragging me into this,” she huffed, standing up from the flowery pink comforter sprawled across Audrey’s bed. Her arms dropped back to her sides as she glanced over at floor length mirror across from her, noticing her exasperated expression.

Audrey came up behind with a grin and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. “It’ll be great, come on. Give it a chance?” she pleaded, batting her eyelashes for emphasis.

Sighing dejectedly Carter rolled her eyes.

“How will it be great?” she asked, watching as Audrey instantly brightened up, taking this as surrender even though Carter hadn’t actually agreed to give it a chance yet.

Grabbing her hand, Audrey sat her on the chair placed in front of the vanity, beaming.

“Well,” she began, toying with a sleek strand of Carter’s hair. “Parties are always fabulous. And, Cole’s going to be there too, right?”

Their gazes met and Carter nodded in confirmation, knowing full well that if he didn’t come by choice she would drag him to the party herself. She would make damn sure of that.

“Plus, Skye’s going to be there, too, you know. I can’t believe he asked if I was going…” As she said this, her inner fan-girl shone through, a glazed look drowning in her eyes.

A cough erupted from Carter’s throat and snapped Audrey’s out of her daze, a smile instantly finding her lips once more.

“Going on,” she continued with her encouraging speech. “It’s going to be super fun and either way you’re coming; why not make the best of it?” She shrugged while once again, meeting Carter’s eyes with a smile. Carter sighed.

The girl did have a point.

Audrey began playing with Carter’s locks of hair, inspecting each piece while wondering how she was going to style it for the night. At this Carter stayed silent for she wasn’t able to think of any witty or smart response, shifting her gaze towards her chewed fingernails.

Taking this as Carter’s defeat Audrey turned her back and began rummaging through her drawers of hair products that seemed like Narnia, searching for through the cans with one hand, even though they all looked the same to Carter.

After pulling out the needed things Audrey stood behind her, contemplating once again what she was to do with the girl’s raven tresses of hair. “We are going to make you look fabulous,” she mumbled deep in thought, toying with the small stud in her nose.

Eyeing the curler on the table, Carter lifted her gaze. “How so, my friend?” she asked while running her fingers through her hair, admittedly a little bit terrified.

Audrey slapped her fingers away from her hair, causing Carter to defensively rub her hand, and parted her hair, keeping it up with a clip. “Curls, definitely curls for tonight,” she confirmed while grabbing the hot curling iron.



“I can’t believe I’m here,” Carter mumbled exasperated, eyeing the large house that sat in front of them. Audrey rolled her eyes and stepped onto the nicely cut grass, a perfect shade of green and contrasting greatly against Carter’s own browning lawn.

Cole placed a consoling hand on her shoulder, giving it a little squeeze in support. “It won’t be too bad.”

Carter looked over at the boy, snorting unattractively at his comment.

“It won’t be too bad,” she mimicked in a high pitch voice. “Of course not, not for you that is. You’re going to be snogging with your girlfriend the entire time,” she spat bitterly, crossing her arms in a bitchy fashion.

Cole beside her gave her a sympathetic look even though she had attempted to insult him.

Audrey was now making her way into the house, the glow from inside lighting up her ecstatic face. Watching her figure slowly disappear Carter sighed, looking over at Cole who had an eyebrow raised.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” she apologized quickly, dropping her arms and lowering her head.

Beside her came a low chuckle as Cole wrapped an arms around her shoulders. “Come on, I’ll hang out with you for a bit. I promise, it’s just that, you know how I don’t like that new kid, I don’t want to give him a chance to steal my girlfriend…”

When his voice trailed off Carter took this as her chance to turn around and hug him, burying her face in the crook of his neck. He smelled like he always did- of mint and cologne, which was somewhat comforting for her.

“I don’t want to go in there,” she mumbled into his skin, reluctantly pulling away to see the light from the house pouring onto his face, illuminating his features.

His gaze lifted from hers for a moment, slipping over her shoulder. She turned her body to see Lily, a swing to her walk and a glare in her eyes. Her inside slightly churned, hoping she hadn’t seen the hug.

“Lily,” Cole called, stepping away from Carter to embrace his girlfriend and plant a kiss on her cheek.

The girl sighed and layered her lips with his, leaving Carter to shift her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. Thankfully Cole didn’t deepen the kiss, as much as Lily would have liked that, and pulled away in a matter of seconds. He turned to Carter with a small smile on his face, traces of sympathy showing.

“Come on, go on there and mingle. It won’t be that hard.”

Lily slithered an arm around his waist and smiled at her. “Yea, go mingle,” she encouraged Carter who took her chance to escape the harsh stare that Lily was giving her.

Entering the house, familiar dance music pumped through her body, a steady beat thudding in her ears. People, some of who she could recognize, were all over. A sea of people who she was left trying to squeeze through. Instead of asking for directions she pushed her way passed the drunken teens, some of how tried to latch onto her for support.

The stench of alcohol wafted around her, along with the strong smell of weed as she attempted to avoid the sweaty bodies everywhere. She even felt a few small beads of her own sweat begin to accumulate on her forehead from the radiating heat. She finally found the kitchen, still quite full but more elbow room and let a sigh pass from her lips.

Audrey was no where to be found, unfortunately for her, so she settled on sitting on a bar stool, silently singing the song in her head. No one seemed to be bothered by her presence, grabbing a drink and venturing back into the rest of the house.

Tapping her fingers on the marble counter restrained from banging her head on the hard surface, unusually bored at a party. She knew she should have mingled, as Cole and Lily told her to, but she couldn’t force any conversation starters out of her mouth as people passed. It wasn’t until then did the real regret inhabit her being.

“Carter!”

Spinning in the chair she stared in the direction where she heard her name being called, her gaze surprisingly landing on Skye himself. He had a broad grin on his face, clad in a t-shirt and jeans, much different then the usual uniform Carter saw him in.

He opened his arms and leaned in for a hug and Carter felt trapped, seeing no other way to escape from the predicament, she returned the hug, rather awkwardly.

“I knew you would make it,” he told her, his warm breath spilled across her ear, causing a shiver to travel up her spine.

She pulled away and stretched her lips into a smile. “Yeah, here I am.” She shrugged; amazed that he was even talking to her, let alone somewhat happy that she had shown up.

Skye brought a finger up and started toying with one of Carter’s ringlets, firm and bouncy from all the hairspray Audrey had coated it with, causing Carter to at the time rage into a coughing fit.

“You look pretty tonight,” he complimented her with a cheeky grin, causing a light blush to dust her cheeks.

But after it began to sink in, she stiffened, remembering the list and her low rating.

“Apparently only a six point three,” she spoke bitterly, lowering her gaze onto the tiled floor where someone had carelessly spilled their drink, not caring enough to wipe the liquid up from the floor.

A chuckle rumbled in his throat, barely audible over loud music blasting from the other room.

“Come on,” he leaned in and whispered in her ear, grasping her wrist and giving it a small tug. She sat conflicted for a moment before remembering that she had nothing better to do, and this would please Cole as ‘mingling’.

Hopping off the stool she let him lead her wherever he pleased, keeping an eye out for Audrey as he jerked her wrist and pulled her into the crowd of people. But soon they were free again, outside of the house and in the fresh air, the music becoming more distant with each step she took. Cole had already entered the party for he wasn’t outside as she had expected him to be, her hope that he would steal her away from Skye sinking away into the fading music.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked nervously, looking back at the glowing house behind them.

His grip never loosened but he stopped for a moment, looking back at her with a smile.

“Its way too loud in there, you can hardly hear the person beside you; we’re going to McDonald’s. You okay with that?” he asked, dropping her wrist and gesturing to the road ahead of them, leading to small plaza that held a small McDonalds.

Biting her lip, she shrugged, wondering if she should go with him or not.

“Can I at least text Audrey and Cole to tell them I’m leaving?” she asked with an uneasy smile, quickly producing her cell phone when she saw him nod. He was silent as she sent the messages, typing at a reasonable pace and not too rushed, still uncertain about the whole idea.

Once she was done she slipped her phone back into her back pocket, peering over at Skye’s grinning face.

“All set?” he asked, receiving a nod in reply.

They both walked beside each other, houses on either side of the empty road where they ambled together. “So,” she began, trying to find a way to word the questions in her head.

“Why?” was all she could manage.

He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “Why, what?”

She started to drag her feet along the pavement, rubbing her fingers together anxiously. “Why are you taking me to McDonalds, why did you even want me to come to the stupid party? Why are you even talking to me?” Her brows furrowed together in question as their gazes met.

“Um, should there be a reason why I would want to talk to you?” he asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

She nodded her head, heaving a sigh when he chuckled. “You can’t just… talk to me. You, well, you should talk to girls who are, well, who have high ratings.” She reasoned with him, adding dramatic hand gestures for emphasis.

“Well, I want to talk to you.”

He poked her nose playfully and she rolled her eyes, attempting to restrain a grin and failing. Even though the question was answered she pushed it to the back of her mind, remembering to be hesitant but to just let some things go, noticing a pair of familiar, bright golden arches ahead.

She stuck her hands in her pockets and realized that they were empty, spare a paperclip and hair band. “I have no money though…” She emptied her pockets to prove her point.

Skye laughed and brought out a sleek leather wallet. “Don’t worry, it’s on me.”

She nodded, glancing back at the house where Audrey and Cole resided before her eyes met Skye’s once more. And for some reason, she suddenly felt a little loss for breath.