Left Behind

CARTER

The next couple days everything went like my first day at school. Every morning, Lucy would walk me to the showers at the pool around four and I would change clothes. We bought two more cheap outfits, but we were starting to get low on money. We barely had anything left, so those would be my last outfits for a while.

I would get on the city bus which would take me to the bus stop five minutes from the school and I would walk the rest of the way. The classes were easy because I had always been naturally smart and everything pretty much came to me.

“We’re doing partners for the next project,” my geometry teacher said. “We’re creating a scrapbook of the entire year which will include at least four units from the previous two quarters. Your partner will do one half and you will do the other,” she instructed.

Kristen raised her hand in the air for Mrs. Perkins to call on her. “Mrs. P, do we get to choose our partners?” she asked looking back at Bryce.

“No, honey,” she said. “I got my daughter to randomly put names together for me and that’s how they’ll stay. Plus I thought it was a great idea since the year is half way over and we barely know each other!” she said.

Kristen rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, all that crap, but can you just tell me that me and Brycee are together and get it over with?”

“Trust me, I made a special order for her to keep you two apart. Anyways, it’ll be due in a week so as soon as you get your partner, move with them and begin on your ideas,” she cleared her throat and took out her clipboard. Kristen rolled her eyes.

“…Kristen and Aliyah, Blaine and Patience, Morgan and Taylor, and Carter will work with… oh that’s right. Carter, you and Brycen.”

I looked at him and he was already smiling in my direction. He sat like he wasn’t moving so I walked over to an empty desk on side of him and brought my belongings as well.

“Hey,” he said as I plopped down into the seat.

“Hey,” I said back.

“It’s such a coincidence that we keep ending up together.” Bryce had a smirk on his face, but it looked sneaky or like he was hiding something. I didn’t ask.

“What do you mean keep? The last time, you followed me, so coincidently we only met… now.”

He revealed a small smile, but his eyes were squinted like he was trying to read me. “Or twice,” he said. “Not including yesterday.”

I shook my head to clear it. I’ve always had a lot on my mind and since school, my brain has been clustered. “No, I'm pretty sure this is the second time I’ve talked to you,” I said convincingly.

“Whatever you say Carter,” he said staring directly at me. I looked away because sometimes I thought that every lie that I told showed on my face. But it’s strange because people have always told me that I was unreadable in a way.

I looked behind me and I saw Kristen bitterly staring at me from the back of the class. She paid no attention to her partner, but kept all her focus on me.

“Why is your girlfriend staring at me?” I whispered curiously.

He turned around to see what I was talking about. “She does that,” he said turning back around to talk to me. His voice got softer so that she couldn’t hear, I'm guessing. “She has trust issues sometimes. She thinks I like you or something. That’s why we broke up yesterday,” he laughed.

I scoffed. “Like that would happen. Like I said, we’ve only met once, so how could you like me?”

“Why do you keep stressing that?” he said with a smile on his face, hands clasped together on the desk.

“I… I’m not,” I stuttered slightly.

“Okay,” he smirked. “But you’ve said that like three times since we’ve started talking,” he said.

I let out a small laugh because it was the truth. “Well, my bad.”

He chuckled. “Yeah,” he said staring at me.

It got awkward after a moment and I was almost positive that Kristen was still staring, so I changed the subject. “So, what topics are we gonna do for the uh… scrapbook thingy?”

“…Great place to start,” he replied.

BRYCEN

We barely got anything done. I pretty much kept distracting her the entire time and trying to make small talk, but obviously she was all about her school work. Every time I would start up a new conversation she would somehow redirect it back to the project. By the end of class we had only chosen three of eight topics that were required for the geo scrapbook. She demanded that tomorrow we worked even harder.

At the end of class Carter picked up her textbook from the floor and placed it in an old satchel type shoulder bag that she now used as a backpack. She swung the bag around her neck and started for the door.

“Carter, Wait up!” I called after her for the second time that week.

“Yeah?” She asked stopping in the middle of the hallway as I walked over to her.

“Well, Friday I’m having a party at my house. You can come if you want.”

“I don’t go to parties,” she said turning to walk away. I grabbed her shoulder to stop her again.

“Wait,” I urged, “It would be cool if you came, though.”

She smiled politely and tilted her head to the side. “Oh my bad,” she said still smiling. “When I said that I didn’t do parties, I meant that I didn’t do rich people.”

“Do rich people?” I laughed. “I wasn’t planning on doing you either.”

“Whatever,” she laughed slightly embarrassed. “I’m gonna go now, so…”

“Well just try to come. I’ll text you the address, just give me your number,” I said taking my phone from my pocket.

She rubbed her lips together and looked at the clock on the hallway wall. “I don’t have one,” she said. “And the bell’s about to ring so I’ll talk to you later, kay?”

She walked down the hallway as I yelled out an, “okay!” behind her.

***

CARTER

This was my third lunch at this school. During lunch hours, all of the students would crowd into the cafeteria shoving to the front of the lines. The lines almost went through the cafeteria door which surprised me. Before you even got a chance to eat, the bell would ring and you would still be standing in the lunch line.

I practically ran to lunch on the third day clearly learning my lesson from the days previous. Aliyah walked up to me and stood next to me in line. “Hey, girl!” she said a little too cheerfully that it scorched my brain.

“Hey,” I dragged out.

“Is it okay if I sit with you today?” before I could even answer, she took it upon herself to agree for me. “Great!” she squealed. “I’m Aliyah if you didn’t remember,” she said.

“And I’m-”

“Carter, duh!” I swear that kid was about to hop right out of her own panties. She was overly hyper.

“Okay.”

I stood in a twenty-five minute line with her rambling on and on about her boyfriend, Drake, and how they are in a complicated relationship and how hanging with him has really made her GPA plummet. I couldn’t care less.

We got our plate of nachos with a side of lettuce. It might sound pitiful to most people, but I wasn’t complaining. The food at school was way better than the leftover chicken bones and emptied raw green bean cans we would peck on. We sat at a table in the corner and not long after her boyfriend Drake and her bestfriend Casey were sitting next to us.

“Guys this is Carter. Carter this is Drake and this is my bestfriend Casey,” she pointed them out with her finger.

“Hey, I’m Carter,” I said introducing myself for the billionth time.

“Babe, are you going to Bryce’s party Friday?” Drake asked Aliyah.

“Is it gonna be like last year?” she said in return stuffing a chip into her mouth. “Because if it is then hell yeah I'm going!” she laughed.

“Casey, are you going?” Aliyah asked.

“No. I have a freaking family thing. Some surprise party for my great aunt, so I have to help out with that shit… Carter might go with you,” she said shooting me a look.

I returned their stares and shook my head. “Oh no, no, no, that is not my thing.”

“Oh please, Carter. You look like a party girl! You should so come,” she exclaimed.

“No thanks.”

She put her hands in a begging stance and put the most innocent looking face on that I had ever seen. “Please?” she dragged out. “It would make me weally, weally happy!”

“Tsk, no. I wouldn’t have anything to wear, plus I wouldn’t have a ride, and I probably have something to do Friday.”

“What’s more important than staring at Bryce when Kristen’s not around?” Aliyah said laughing until she saw the dirty look that a jealous Drake was shooting her. “Babe I’m only kidding,” she said smiling and she kissed him on the cheek.

“I’ll think about it,” I said monotonously.

“You can ride home with me, and Drake and I can drive you. And if you wanna borrow some of my clothes, you can, I'm fine with it!”

I looked at her. She was too nice for me. I was usually used to people putting me down, rejecting me, and trying their hardest to stay away, but of course that was when I would be sitting on the sidewalk with my clothes ripped to shreds.

“Well, I’ll have to ask Lucy.”

Casey smiled, “Well, who’s Lucy?”

“My bestfriend,” I said. “She doesn’t go here, though.”

“Where does she go then? The next school isn’t for thirty miles.”

I thought of a plausible excuse. I hadn’t thought about where the next school was, so I ended up telling them half of the truth. “She dropped out, but we live together.”

“Oh,” Casey said nodding. “I wish I can room with my bestfriend because I would get rid of my parents in a heartbeat!” she sang.

“Shut up Casey,” Aliyah said. “I would never room with you because we would argue twenty- four seven.” She turned towards me again. “Lucy can come, too.”

“Never! Lucy’s… she doesn’t like hanging out with a bunch of wild teenagers. She’s more of the conservative, let’s stay out of trouble type,” I lied.

“Oh, okay! Well, just let me know if you want to come,” Aliyah said. “It will be so much fun and you look like you need to have fun,” she said almost criticizing me.

***

I got onto the bus and rode to what I called my home. Lucy wasn’t there, but I was sure she would be back later on. Sometimes, before I went back to school, we would go walking around to get a small whiff of fresh air. The alley was always so stuffy and the smell was bad as well.

I sat on the sidewalk and suddenly felt extremely tired. Lucy and I had made a deal that we wouldn’t sleep unless the other was either there or one was keeping lookout. I wanted to rest, but I wasn’t going to when Lucy wasn’t there.

I sat and wondered where Lucy was as the hours passed by. Hour after hour and she didn’t show up. It had been at least three hours since school ended, and she still hadn’t come back yet. I wanted to wait it out a little longer, but I had already waited long enough. I got up from the ground and dusted off my clothes.

There wasn’t a sign of Lucy as I walked back and forth down the sidewalks. I was drowsy and I couldn’t take anymore. I just started asking around to see if anyone had seen or heard of her. “Did you see a girl about my height, very messy hair, ragged clothes, and her name is Lucy?”

“No, sorry,” was getting very tiring.

“Hey have you seen a girl this height, dark messy hair…”

“Nope.”

I walked up to one of the stores me and Lucy always used to go to just to listen to the music fly out of the open doors of the building. That was when I enjoyed listening to music. They knew us by name because we would always request songs for them to play. “Hey Mr. bourgeois!” I yelled through the doorway.

He looked at me with happy eyes, and smiled. “Oh hey there little lady!” he had one of the most southern accents that I had ever heard. It was funny in some ways. “You’re pretty dressed up today!”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah I started school the other day! Can you believe it?”
“School?” He said as he wiped off the front counter. “That’s a big improvement. But what can I help ya with?”

“Did you happen to see Lucy today?”

He thought for a little bit as he looked to the ceiling and dusted his hands. “Ah, yes I did in fact,” he started. “She walked down here about four hours ago. Maybe ‘round one.”

“You know where she went after that?”

He nodded. “She said that you had went somewhere and she had to hurry because she needed to be waiting for you at the bus stop when you returned. She got into some green car right in front of this here store. I thought she’d be back by now.”