Left Behind

KRISTEN

“So, are you gonna suspend her?” I asked Mrs. Tate, the principal.

The principal shook her head. “I don’t know, Kristen. We’ll have to look everything over, question everyone in the room, and hear both sides of the story.”

“Why do you need to hear her side?” I yelled as she stared at me in disgust. “She made my fucking lips bleed!”

“Excuse me? You need to get your act straight Kristen, before you end up being suspended yourself. I’m not one of your friends that you can talk to that way. Does your mother know you use that language?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Tate. I’m just extremely angry right now. Carter walked up to me, for no reason, and punched me in the face. All I did was say that my boyfriend broke up with me for her.”

She nodded, “I’m sure.” She slid a piece of paper to me across her desk that said INCIDENT REPORT on the top in big bold letters. “Fill this out please, with everything that happened from start to finish. We’ll get Carter and a couple of other people from the class to fill one out as well.”

There was a soft knock at the door and Mrs. Tate beckoned for the person to enter. Carter entered the room with a small smile and sat at the chair next to mine that the principal pointed to. “Hi, Carter.”

“Hello,” she said a little humorously. “And how are you Mrs. Tate?”

“I’m great Carter. How is everything? Are you feeling a little better?” She responded politely as Carter nodded.

“I am, actually. Do you know Brycen Kelley? Of course you do. Well he, Aliyah Charleston, and Casey have been helping me so much, and I'm so thankful for them.”

“That’s good. I know how hard it must be right now,” Mrs. Tate said. “So, do you want to tell me your part of the story?” she asked.

“Sure,” Carter said resting her hands in her lap. “I was peacefully doing my work,” she began,” when I heard Kristen saying my name. Her friend Blaine told her to stop talking so loudly so that she could work, but Kristen doesn’t listen to anyone other than herself.”

“Don’t I know,” Mrs. Tate said as she glanced at me.

“Well Kristen came and sat in the desk in front of me. We were having a calm conversation and everything while I was doing my work. She took one of the pencils from my desk and kept flicking my hair with it. After that I got up and slapped her. We started to play fight, like immature children, I know, and I sort of accidently punched her a little too hard in the face.”

I looked over to Carter with squinted eyes. “What?”

“Isn’t that right Kristen? I’m sure that anyone from the class could retell the exact same story. It was all a big understanding, Mrs. Tate. A matter of fact, I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

Mrs. Tate pushed her rounded glasses up onto her face and looked between Carter and me. “Kristen, is that really how it went?”

“… Uh… yeah, that’s pretty much right,” I agreed. Did she just lie to get me out of trouble?

“Well, I guess this really was a waste of precious class time.”

“And lunch time,” Carter added. “Can I please go back to lunch Mrs. Tate? I haven’t eaten all day.”

“I guess so,” she replied. “Okay I guess you can both go. Have a great day and stay out of trouble.

“Yes ma’am,” we both said at the same time. As I walked out of the room, Carter turned and smiled at me. I honestly didn’t know how to thank her after all the shit I put her through. She sent over a wink and walked back to the cafeteria without a word.

CARTER

After we sat at the lunch table, for what seemed like endless hours of torture for me, Bryce invited me outside. Apparently, it wasn’t that difficult to see the uncomfortable look in my facial expressions. We sat at a table for a while and attempted to make conversation.

Bryce ended up inviting me over to his house after school and after declining three times, I finally accepted his invitation. When school was done I told Aliyah where I was going and rode home with him.

“So, why am I coming over to your house?” I ask as I turned the radio down.

Bryce shrugged and turned his music back up. “So, why don’t you like music?”

“I mean, I used to, when everything was good. I used to sing and stuff because it made me feel better.”

“And then…”

“I stopped.”

“But why?” He asked glancing at me then back at the road.

“Because when you lose all hope, you-”

“Sing.” I looked at him and he smiled, but didn’t look back at me.

“Right.”

“So, what happened in the office?” he asked looking at me.

I frowned and pointed out the windshield. “Watch the road! And nothing. She let us both go,” I replied truthfully. “So, let’s talk about something else.”

“Well…Has Aliyah been telling you things about me?”

Of course she does. Every time I say that I’m going to sit with him or go somewhere involving Bryce, she gets annoyed and panicky, almost. “I don’t think you’re important enough to even be considered in our conversations,” I joked.

“You’re lying. I know that there’s no possible way that you could hang with me and she not tell you anything.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why do you feel so important?”

“Not that I feel important, it’s just that I know Aliyah and we don’t really get along.”

I nodded because I could tell by the way she never wanted me talking to him. “How come?”

“Long story. When you tell me your life story, I’ll tell you mine.”

When we got to his house, we hung out and played video games. I had no idea what I was doing, so I was pretty sure he let me win in the beginning, but once I got the hang of it, he acted like his fingers were tired.

We were watching Charlie St. Cloud when Bryce got a call. He said that his mom needed him to pick up a prescription from Wal-Mart. His dad caught some sort of virus while out of town, and they were on their way back. He told me that I had to go with him, and I took up the offer.
While he was waiting in the line at the pharmacy, I decided to walk around, because you can never get enough of Wal-Mart. I was surprised when I ran into the guy from the party that accidentally spilled his drink on me.

“Carter?”

I smiled as he gave me a quick hug, mostly because I didn’t remember his name. “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while,” I said. “You’re the guy from the party right?”

“Yeah, Peyton,” he laughed. “How’ve you been?”

“Ehh. And you?”

“I’ve been okay,” he replied. “Better now since I just ran into you,” he laughed. I smiled at him. “Carter, you never gave me your number.”

“Oh, right.” Where’s Bryce when I need him? “I don’t have a cell phone. And I can’t really give you my house number, because it’s sort of complicated.”

He nodded. “Well, I’ll give you mine. You can call me if you want. Do you have a pen?”

Bryce walked up with the bag containing the medicine. “Pen for what?”

“Peyton was just giving me his number,” I said with a grin on my face. I wasn’t going to lie, Peyton was adorable. “So, do you have one?”

Bryce furrowed his eyebrows. “No.”

“Hey, man, you have my number; can you give it to Carter?” Peyton asked.

“Why does she need your number?” he quickly responded.

“Because, I would like to take her out… Very soon,” he said with a killer smile. “If that’s okay with her.”

“I don’t think so, dude,” Bryce claimed as he made sure not to look me in the eyes. “There’s a lot going on, and I don’t think it’s a good idea right now.”

“Well, I do,” I disagreed pushing his shoulder. “Peyton, I’ll make sure to get it from him. I’ll call you soon.”

“Good,” he gave me a hug then told me he’d see me around.

We walked to the parking lot and into Bryce’s car. After settling in and starting the car, he looked at me and laughed. Confused, little me decided to check him for jumping in my business earlier. “Are you laughing because you feel stupid?”

“Feel stupid about what?” he asked with a big stupid grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t respond for me. Especially when somebody like Peyton asks me out, okay? I’m a big girl.”

“Whatever, Carter.”

“Ugh! I swear you get on my nerves, Bryce. Always in my business.”

He shook his head and pulled out of the parking space. “I’m never in your business,” he chuckled sarcastically. “Never.”

“Let’s see then,” I said. “There was that one time at the party when I was peacefully attacking Peyton and you budded in. Then, there was that time when I was in Wal-Mart and you begged me to tell you what was wrong even though you already knew. Just now you just tried to turn down my date. Oh, and when I was trying to kill Kristen. And that time when I was about to…”

“About to what?”

“Nevermind.”

He looked my way for a second. “Nope. Now you have to tell me.”

“There you go again getting into my business,” I accused. “If I want to tell you something or want you involved, then I will ask you. Okay?”

“Sure. But when you need my help the most, I won’t be there next time.”

I laughed in his face. “Please, I don’t need you. I’ve been without you for how long now?”

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t have been as long as it has if it weren’t for me,” he said quietly, almost at a whisper.

“What?”

“Nevermind.”

Even though I heard him, I wasn’t completely sure what he meant by it. “Nope, now you have to tell me,” I said mocking him.

Bryce shrugged his shoulders and stared at everything but me. “There you go getting in my business again.”

“Tell me, I’m not playing!” I said as I smacked his shoulder.

“I’m driving, Carter! Has anyone told you not to hit the driver?” I shook my head even though everyone knows that. He flipped his brown hair and sent a wink my way.

“What did you say?” I asked sternly.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Just don’t kill yourself trying to find out.”