Left Behind

CARTER

“Okay so you’re doing these topics, and I’m doing these four,” Bryce said pointing to the scrapbook plans.

“Exactly,” I responded.

“Okay,” he said. “Have you decided about coming yet?”

“I don’t know. I probably won’t come. Why do you want me to come anyway?”

He took out a pack of construction paper and sorted it by color. “You just look like you need some fun,” he said smiling.

“Says the one organizing construction paper for no reason. I wish everyone would stop telling me that. Nobody knows me or my life, so I just wish people would stop telling me what I need.”

“We don’t know you or your life huh?” he said like he was solving some kind of mystery.
“No, you don’t,” I clarified.

“I think I know more about you than you think I do,” he said with a smirk appearing.
“Psh, I seriously doubt that.”

He put his hand on top of the rubric that I was scanning over making me look up at him. I rolled my eyes. “Is that a bet?” he asked confidently.

“I mean, really. You know nothing about me,” I said explaining into further detail. “You don’t know my birthday, my favorite color, my best friend’s name, how old I am, or anything.”

“Alright,” he said not looking forward to an argument.

“Alright?” I hated when people ended conversations like that. Sometimes I actually liked arguing with people because it was kind of interesting. But when someone told me alright, it made me want to scream.

He chuckled. “Yeah, alright.” He looked at me like he was trying to hold back a hugely obnoxious laugh. “You want to start on this project?”

“You want to explain to me why ‘alright’ was all you had to say?” I challenged.

“No,” he said smiling.

“Okay, no? Alright? What kind of guy are you?”

“What kind of guy would I be if I argued with a girl instead of letting her be right every single time?” he asked.

“A good one?” I replied rolling my eyes at him.

He smiled. “I had a feeling you were gonna say that,” he said.

***

I stood in the parking lot along with Casey, Drake, and Aliyah. “Girl, are you coming or not?”
“No,” I began. “I’m just gonna go on home.”

Aliyah rolled her eyes and stormed over to me. “No, you’re gonna get your ass in my car, and go to the damn party.” She grabbed a hold of my elbow and dragged me into the passenger seat of her white Honda Civic. Her car was really adorable. It was the perfect car for a teenage girl, since it wasn’t too fancy and expensive, but cute and girly.

“Fine,” I said giving in too hastily.

“Good.” She hugged Casey and told her that she would see her the next day at some crawfish boil and gave Drake a kiss goodbye. The driver’s door opened and Aliyah hopped in, putting the key into the ignition and starting it up.

She plugged her phone into the auxiliary plug. “You listen to Flyleaf? My phone is like full of all of their songs. Of course it has a little Skillet, Anberlin, Paramore, One Direction, but you know the usual,” she said pulling onto the major highway.

“Well, I'm not the biggest fan of music, but you can listen to Flygrass if you want.” I was great at making jokes and looking one-hundred percent serious.

She giggled. “Flyleaf, not Flygrass,” she corrected. “But, you’re so strange. How can you be going to a party when you don’t listen to music?”

I shot her a look with a small smile approaching on my face. “You kidnapped me, remember?”

“I’m kidding,” she laughed. “But when’s the last time you went to a party?

I thought for a bit. It had been so long since I went to a party. “Uh… I think it was when I was like seven. It was at Chuck E. Cheese or something.”

“Wow,” she said looking at me sadly then back at the road. “What happened to your teen hood?”

“I don’t even know.”

“Well, we’re here!” she pulled into a long driveway. The house wasn’t the biggest house I’d seen, but it was average. Hell, anything was average compared to what I had. There were flowerbeds and beautiful landscaping following the perimeter of the house. There was even a birdbath in the middle of the front yard. The place looked like a resting stop for angels.

“This is nice,” I said admiring the outside of her home.

“Not on the inside,” she warned. She unlocked the door and opened it for us to walk in.
When we walked into her house, I was shocked at what I saw. She lied to me. It was beautiful inside with the floors recently swept, the counters wiped clean, and the walls even smelled freshly painted. There were nice pictures on the wall of the family and I wished that I still had a home like that.

“Still nice,” I commented.

“Well, the house is, but my family is obnoxious as hell.”

“I wish I had a family that was obnoxious as hell,” I replied.

She looked at me weirdly. “I thought you lived with Lucy,” she said with her head turned sideways.

I had to think of a quick lie. I totally forgot that she didn’t know anything about my family. “Well, yeah, duh. But my parents were way too perfect. I wish my parents were annoying instead of stuck up and... They just made me feel like I couldn’t make my own mistakes, so I left,” I shrugged.

She nodded, “Oh, cool. I wish, but my mom would never let me do that. But come on! We need to find something for both of us to wear. My rooms up here,” she said.
I followed her up the staircase and into her room, and then we began picking out our outfits for Bryce’s party.

BRYCE

“Don’t break anything; Put up anything glass, and especially my good vase! Oh, and don’t forget to feed that damn dog. If anything happened to the thing, your mother would kill us both.”

“Okay, dad.”

“I’m serious,” he said bringing his last suitcase down the stairs. “And we’ll be back Sunday night. You know how these business trips are,” he said trying to make sure he had everything that they needed.

“I know,” I replied nonchalantly.

“And make sure you clean up before the people arrive, Bryce. I don’t want them thinking that we have a big, filthy house. And don’t leave the after mess for us either,” he said.

“Alright!” I said getting a little annoyed. I hated when my parents told me the same things over and over. It bugged me.

“Oh, how’s Kristen and you doing?”

“Wonderfully. We broke up and got back together this morning,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, maybe you’re doing something wrong,” he blinked. “You guys break up way too much. It can’t be all her, Brycen, so get it together, yea?” Sometimes I thought that my parents used me. Kristen’s parents and my parents were business partners. Her parents practically owned the business, and I would always think that they made sure we stayed together for their sakes. They asked me about us all the time.

“Uh-huh.”

Mom honked the car horn from outside. “I’m coming!” he yelled as he struggled out the door and shut it behind him.

“Love you too, dad,” I mumbled to myself.

***

CARTER

“Whoa! Look how many people are here and it started thirty minutes ago!” Aliyah was right. The cars were lined up down the street going either way. I was almost nervous to go inside. His house was amazingly huge, just like in the picture.

“I’m not sure I want to go.”

She yanked the key out of the ignition, got out, and stormed to my side of the car. “Get out, now!” she said. “Listen, they’re having so much fun without us! We need to go party.”

I could hear the music sneaking through the crack under the door. The music must’ve been bursting the speakers because it was perfectly clear from outside. She opened my door and dragged me out of the car. “Come on. I didn’t straighten your hair for nothing,” she said pulling me towards the door.

We got to the door and as soon as she opened it a gust of air shot out. I think it was the release of music into the outside, because it almost threw me back. The music was loud enough to burst an eardrum.

The party itself was wild. There was a person covering every inch of the floor and we had to push our way through in order to get from the front door. Teenagers were everywhere either dancing, running through the house, knocking stuff down, making out, or going upstairs to do god knows what with each other.

“Hey, I need to find Drake!” Aliyah said over the music. “You won’t go insane if I leave you alone for a few will you?”

“No!” I gave her two thumbs up and a head shake. “I think I’ll be good,” I lied. I wondered why she even bothered to bring me along if she was only planning to ditch me in the long run. I walked around for a little while eventually finding myself at the punchbowl on the kitchen counter. I fixed myself a cup, and then went back into the opening to ‘dance’.

I found some really nice people that I didn’t catch the names of, who brought me over to dance with them. I actually found myself having fun for a change. As time went by, I filled up on punch. I didn’t quite understand why I felt a little off though. I had ate school lunch and breakfast at school, as well. I had drunk water, and did the usual, but I felt almost dizzy. No, I felt very dizzy. I found myself laughing at everything and my head was spinning in circles.

“Carter! I need to hang out with you more!” I heard one of the girls say. “You’re crazy!”

Everything in my head echoed. The music was even louder and the lights were even more blinding. But on the bright side, I felt loosened up and relaxed. I felt like letting go. I was having a great time until someone was pushed into me and their red punch spilled all over my, well Aliyah’s, shirt.

“What the hell?” I screamed at the boy that spilled it.

“I'm sorry! I was pushed!”

“Asshole! Watch where you going!” I ran over to him and pushed him into the wall. I felt someone pulling me away as I kicked and tried to get back to the guy so that I could hurt him more. “Put me down! Put me the fuck down!”

“Carter, hush! You’re embarrassing yourself,” he said.