Freeing Carter (12 page)

Yeah
,
my day was great. Thanks for asking
.

Leaning on my elbow
,
I try to focus on my homework again. It
'
s probably not even two seconds later when footsteps head my way.

"
How
ya
doing
,
Sleepy?
"
Kira stands next to me
,
wearing something different than she had on at school. It
'
s a black dress. Not short
,
not long. Okay
,
maybe a little long since it goes right past her knees. I swear this chick has multiple personalities or something. I
'
ve known her less than a week and she
'
s been dressed like a hippy
,
a Catholic school girl
,
Mel
,
and now
...
I don
'
t even know
...
it
'
s not a real style
,
but it doesn
'
t fit the other looks either.

But I don
'
t have time to worry about that right now.
"
Fine
,"
I mumble and look at the book again
,
hoping she
'
ll get the clue.

She sits across from me. The store is quiet so I
'
m assuming we don
'
t have any customers right now.
"
How was practice?
"

Annnd she has to ask the one question I would normally want to talk about.
"
Fine.
"
Eyes on the book
,
Shaw.

"
You okay? You
'
re not your usual sarcastic
,
cocky self.
"

Without moving my hand from its position propping my head up
,
I look at her. She wants me to take the bait
,
but I
'
m not going to. English. I
'
m here to focus on English and not get into another word war with her. So
,
even though I want to comment on the cocky thing
,
I don
'
t.
"
I
'
m fine.
"

"
Hmm
,"
is her reply. I try. God
,
I try to leave it at that
,
but I can
'
t.

"
Hmm? What
'
s that supposed to mean?
"

"
I just didn
'
t take you for a liar.
"

Hmmm
,
I want to say. Shows you how much you know. I
'
m the best liar there is
,
but then that would be telling a truth that I
'
m not willing to tell.
"
I
'
m not lying. I
'
m fine.
"

"
Liar
,"
she says again and smirks.

I
'
m caught in this weird place where I want to tell her where she can stick it
,
but I
suddenly wants to kiss her
,
too.
"
I
'
m ignoring you.
"
Great. Now she makes me sound like I
'
m eight.

"
Liar
,
liar pants on fire.
"

Maybe we both suddenly hit a time warp or something.
"
How old are you?
"

"
Eighteen. Actually
,
I
'
m lying
,
I
'
m seventeen. You
'
re rubbing off on me. Or maybe I
'
m not really lying and I
'
m not exactly sure how old I am. Could be seventeen
,
could be eighteen.
"
Kira shrugs.

"
Did you forget to take your medication today?
"
I
'
m sitting up now
,
trying to figure out if this girl is really crazy or not. If I like it or not.
"
Everyone knows how old they are.
"

"
Whatever you say
,
Sleepy.
"
She stands up. The ceiling fan blows the edge of my book
,
reminding me of all I have riding on this crap in my hands. Anger wins my internal war.

Whipping my head to face her
,
I grit
,
"
I don
'
t have time for this. I have a shitload of homework to do or I
'
m going to flunk English and Mrs. Z will take away the only thing I have that I actually
want
to do. Play games with someone else.
"

Kira looks at me a minute and I realize how strange her eyes are. They
'
re brown
,
but almost the lightest brown I
'
ve ever seen. Like they
'
re swirled with yellow or something.

"
Okay
...
You want to know what I made
,
Sara?
"

Holy random subject. Did she not just hear what I said?
"
What?
"

"
I
'
ll leave you alone. You finish your work—all of the work you
'
re supposed to do tonight and you can know what it is. If not
...
you
'
ll always wonder. It will drive you crazy just because you don
'
t know.
"

The bell over the front door rings while I
'
m still trying to process what she just said. Somehow
,
it
'
s kind of what I need. I open my mouth to tell her it
'
s a deal
,
but like always
,
she
'
s already walking away.
"
Hi
,
can I help you find something?
"

***

"
Do you need a ride home or anything?
"
I ask.

Kira hands me the keys to the store. It
'
s crazy how I
'
m feeling a little electric right now. Like I should have at practice today if all the other stuff hadn
'
t ruined it for me.

"
Nope
,
Lana
'
s picking me up.
"
She still hasn
'
t asked me if I finished my work and I
'
m waiting for the perfect time to tell her. Yep
,
that
'
s right. I won. It
'
s the most work I
'
ve gotten done in one night in I can
'
t remember how long
,
but there
'
s no way I would let her get me on that one. Now
,
I just have to hope it
'
s right. But I
'
ll save that hope for tomorrow. For tonight
,
I won.

"
Who
'
s Lana? Sister?
"

"
Guardian.
"

Oh.
"
Oh.
"
Wow
...
I
'
m smooth.
"
I mean
,
cool.
"

Kira looks at me and laughs.
"
If you say so.
"

Leaning against the wall
,
I cross my arms then realize I
'
m smiling. I
'
ve never known anyone like this girl before.
"
Aren
'
t you going to ask me?
"

"
What position do you play? How
'
d you know I
'
ve been meaning to ask you that?
"

A laugh kind of jumps out of my mouth.
"
I really think there
'
s something wrong with you. Have you ever considered getting yourself checked?
"

"
Aw
,
come on. You know you like it when a girl wants to know what position you play. What is it? Short stop? Full back?
"

"
Umm
,
those aren
'
t basketball
,
but good try. I
'
m point guard and you know that
'
s not what I meant.
"

She groans.
"
Fine. Did you finish all your homework? Happy now?
"

I smirk at her.
"
Yes and yes.
"
Which means I won
,
I want to tell her. Ha! You made a bet and I kicked ass. Now you have to tell me what I want to know. But that sounds lame
,
which I realize I might be
,
so I don
'
t say anything.

A car pulls up to the street.
"
That
'
s Lana. Good job on the homework. Catch
ya
later
,
Sleepy.
"

"
What?
"
I push off the wall.
"
I don
'
t think so. You said I could know what you made Sara!
"

I have to yell
,
because she
'
s already walking away.

"
You can!
"
s
he calls back.

How? Unless she has some telepathic power I don
'
t know about.
"
Then you kind of have to tell me.
"

"
I never said
I
'
d
tell you. I just said you could know. Ask you
r
sister. I never got around to telling her not to show you anyway.
"
Kira smiles
,
gets in the car
,
and closes the door. Her taillights are gone before I stop watching.

She played me. I totally got hustled by Kira.

And I like it. I don
'
t know what it is about her
,
but she gets to me. Mel should get to me like this
,
shouldn
'
t she? Even in the beginning
,
I don
'
t remember her ever making me feel
...
well
,
I don
'
t really know what it is
,
but like
this
. All smiley and giddy like a thirteen-year-old girl meeting Justin Bieber or something.

Realizing how late it is
,
I run to my truck and jump in. I need to get home before Sara goes to sleep.

***

When I get home
,
Mom and Sara are just finishing dinner.