Freeing Carter (27 page)

"
Take a little break
,"
Coach tells me.
"
Michaels
,
go in for Shaw.
"

Everything in me wants to fight the decision. This is
my
team. My game
,
and I
'
m never pulled out because I can
'
t get it done
,
but right now
,
I can
'
t.

I fall into the chair
,
burying my face in my hands. My leg is bouncing up and down like the rabbit in the deer movie Sara watches. I don
'
t even notice the last minutes of the half tick by until I hear the loud buzz letting me know it
'
s halftime. I
'
m the first one on my feet
,
needing to get to the locker room where my phone is.

"
Carter! Carter!
"

Sara
'
s voice makes all the tightness evaporate out of my body. It
'
s almost too much
,
my whole body going limp in relief. I turn to see her walking up to me with
Kira
.
Not Mom. Just Kira and Sara. Without a thought I jog over to them
,
Sara
'
s on her way toward me too.

"
Carter!
"
she says again.

"
Hey
,
Twig. About time you got here.
"
Does my voice sound calm? I need it to sound calm
,
even though
,
inside
,
I
'
m freaking the hell out.

She wraps her arms around my waist and I look at Kira
,
pleading with her to answer the questions I can
'
t say out loud.
Is she okay? Why isn
'
t she here?

"
The store was crazy busy. Your mom worried about me staying without her so she talked to Lana
,
and let me come with Sara.
"

Sara steps back.
"
Kira can drive like you!
"
The rest of her words are a jumble of excitement that I don
'
t understand.

"
Not as good though
,
I
'
m sure.
"
I wink at Kira
,
needing to joke so I can calm myself.

"
Shaw! Stop flirting and get into the locker room!
"
Coach yells.

I look at him
,
then back at the girls.
"
I gotta go
.
You guys are good?
"

"
Carter! Carter!
"
Sara
cheers
for me
,
her ponytails flopping around.

"
I gotta go
,"
I say again
,
and start running toward the hall.

"
Coach!
"
I turn back to Kira.

"
Don
'
t worry. Everything
'
s good.
"
She looks at me for a few seconds
,
her eyes trying to tell me something I
'
m not sure I understand.
"
I promise.
"

I let out a deep breath
,
somehow believing her words. Even though she doesn
'
t know everything
,
she would know if something
'
s wrong.

When Kira turns toward the stands
,
I realize for the first time what she
'
s wearing. A basketball jersey with a number 1 on it. Coach Shaw in big letters on the back.

I can
'
t help it
,
I smile. Knowing when we go back out for the third quarter
,
I
'
m really going to kick some ass
,
even if it
'
s only to do her jersey proud.

***

"
So
,
this is just a wild guess here
,
but I
'
m figuring
,
after seeing Kira
'
s jersey
,
your goofy-ass smile
,
and the way you turned into super point guard in the second half
,
draining threes like old school Reggie Miller that: A) You and Kira have something going on and B) You
'
re going out tonight
,
but not with me.
"
Travis pulls a clean shirt over his head.
"
Not that I blame you. Actually
,
I
'
m little jealous
,
but that
'
s beside the point.
"
He smirks.

"
We
'
re not together. I
'
ve just got a lot of stuff going on right now and
...
She’s
cool.
"

Travis looks at me funny for a second.
"
Yeah
.
I hear
ya
. Shit going on and all.
"

"
Huh?
"
I scratch my head. Then Travis does the same. Does he mean he has stuff going on too
,
or he knows I do? No
,
there
'
s no way he can know.
"
What
'
s up?
"

Travis laughs.
"
Nothing. You know
...
too many girls
,
not enough time and all. So
...
Kira?
"

I shrug.
"
I like hanging out with her.
"
Actually
,
I like more than just hanging out with her and if I didn
'
t feel like my life might self-combust at any second
,
I
'
d definitely want to be with her. Scratch that. I
do
want to be with her
,
I
'
m just not doing anything about it. I don
'
t think.

"
Hooking up?
"

"
Nope.
"

"
Damn.
"
Travis laughs again.

After shaking my head to get some of the extra water off
,
I say
,
"
Still don
'
t know what I
'
m doing tonight
,
though. Mom really might want me home.
"
Translation
,
she might need me home.
"
I need to talk to her and Kira too.
"

"
Okay. Text me if you come out. A few guys are hanging out tonight
,
so I
'
ll be with them. We
'
re looking for a place to party.
"
The urge to ask him about the partying climbs up my throat
,
but I shove it down
,
not wanting to look like the guy who
'
s giving him shit when he
'
s having fun after a break up. Travis doesn
'
t give me time anyway
,
sliding his hat on backward and saying
,
"
And
,
dude? You
so
want Kira. You should go for it. I
'
m pretty sure she
'
s feelin
'
you too.
"

I don
'
t have time to think about what he said
,
because I
'
m still worried about going out there and talking to Mom. She showed up a little into the third quarter. Being a coward
,
I came
straight to the locker room after our win
,
not ready to talk to her yet. Afraid of what I don
'
t want to hear in her voice or see in her eyes.

Now
...
now I
have
to face it.

Before the locker room door has a chance to close behind me
,
two small
,
manicured hands slam into my chest
,
throwing me off balance.
What the hell?

"
I can
'
t believe you
'
re going out with
her
,
Carter. Did you even wait until we broke up? How do I know you weren
'
t with her when we were still together?
"
If this was a cartoon
,
I can guarantee steam would be coming out of Mel
'
s ears. She
'
s still in her cheer uniform. A blue ribbon that matches our team colo
rs ties up her hair and she has a scowl on her face
. She
'
s like Pissed off
Cheerleader Barbie
.

It
'
s apparent that the universe hates me. I can
'
t seem to catch a break anywhere.
"
You
'
re the one who was screwing around. Not me. And I
'
m not even with Kira.
"
Unfortunately.

She crosses her arms.
"
Funny you know exactly who I
'
m talking about! She
'
s wearing a jersey with your name on it. Are you trying to embarrass me?
"
Mel
'
s chin starts to quiver. No. No
,
no
,
no. I do not want to deal with a crying Melanie.

But I have to get this over with.
"
I
'
m a little lost on how it would embarrass you when you
'
re the one who I caught in the bushes with Devin
and
you happen
ed
to be the one who dumped
me
,
but whatever.
"
Before I say anything that might get me in trouble
,
I try
to
walk past her. She reaches out and grabs my arm
,
stopping me.

Her voice is softer now and she moves closer.
"
I
'
m sorry
,
Carter. It
'
s my fault. Devin
'
s a jerk. You and I belong together. I want you back.
"

Shock freezes me. Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Have Mel back? A part of my normal? But I don
'
t want it. It
'
s done. We
'
re done.
"
Mel
..."

"
Carter
,
I miss you
.
Your
hairs
still too messy
,
but I miss you.
"
I actually think she does. Mel isn
'
t a bad person
,
she
'
s just spoiled. She wants it all. And regardless of how things went
,
we used to get along.