Freeing Carter(5)
Author: Nyrae Dawn

All I know is this is my house. This is where I’m alive.

***

My hair is wet from showering when I walk out of the locker room after practice. Mel and I always meet each other in the parking lot, so I head straight there.

"You doing anything?" Travis asks. "Want to chill?"

"You’re not going to be with Trina?"

"Nah." He shakes his head. They’re usually together as much as Mel and I. I almost ask him about it, but he doesn’t give me a chance. "She’s busy, I guess, and I’m trying to avoid the parentals. They want to ‘talk’ and that’s never good for me." Travis laughs.

"Oh. Sorry. Can’t go. Going to try to make up with my girl. Take her out or something." I’m still feeling like a live wire. This is just what I needed to feel on track again, the distraction to make everything else disappear.

"Fine, I see how you are." Trav holds out his fist and I bump it. "I’m out. See ya later." He runs down the hall ahead of me, probably meeting up with the other guys or something.

When my feet hit the pavement, I stop for a minute, and Mel’s voice floats toward me. She’s standing in the parking lot talking to Devin. He graduated last year, but his sister, Sam, is in cheer with Mel. Since he picks up and drops off Sam sometimes for school, I guess he’s doing it after practice, too.

"Shut up," Mel laughs, playfully pushing him. Devin crosses his arms and leans against his Mustang and says something I can’t hear. My muscles tense. I know Mel. Know how she flirts because she used to do it with me.

Mel crosses her arms and pretends to pout. Devin steps closer like he’s going to console my girl and she smiles. Yeah, so not going to happen.

"Mel!" I jog toward her. I nod my head at Devin as I step between them, hugging her. Is it me or is she not giving me the same death grip she usually does? Suddenly, not liking my back to Devin, I let go and face him.

"I’ll see you later, Melanie," Devin says, ignoring me completely. And then he turns, walks around his car, gets in, and drives off.

Rigor mortis has now set into my limbs. My basketball high has been thoroughly killed. "What’s up with that?" I’m really trying not to sound accusatory.

"Nothing." Mel pushes up on her toes and kisses me. She sounds normal. Happy to see me. Maybe I was freaking out for nothing. My muscles loosen again and I feel like an idiot. They were just talking. It’s not like they haven’t talked before, or like Devin doesn’t have a reason to be here. Mel wouldn’t do that. She’s the one who always wants to be with me and I’m the one who’s been more standoffish lately.

"How was practice?" I ask, still holding on to her waist.

"Awesome."

"Mine too. We—"

"Is Travis with Trina, do you know?"

Okay. So obviously we’re not talking about my practice. "I don’t think so. She’s busy, I guess. He asked me to hang out and then took off when I said I wanted to see you." These past couple days have been crazy for me. I really want to get back to normal. Mel is normal. "But whatever. Let’s go somewhere. We can grab something to eat or whatever." I lean forward to kiss her again, but she stops me.

"I can’t… I need to find Trina. We’re supposed to hang out."

"Oh." I step away a little. "Can’t you tell her I want to see you? I’m sure she’ll get it… I know I’ve been kind of a dick lately and I want to make it up to you."

She’s not really listening, her fingers moving over the screen on her phone. "I can’t, Carter. Not today, ‘kay? I don’t wanna ditch Trina."

"Whatever." I take another step back, trying to show her it doesn’t bother me, when really it does.

"I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?" With another quick kiss, Mel is jogging toward school again. I shove my hands into my pockets, leaning against her brand new VW Bug. What just happened? I mean, I get it. She wants to hang with her friend, but I ditched Trav for her. She thinks I’ve been weird lately so I try to be sweet and do something nice, and she can’t get away from me fast enough.

Whatever. I pull out my phone to text Travis.

CHANGE OF PLANS. WHERE ARE U?

Before I look like an idiot loitering around my girlfriend’s car in the parking lot, I get into my truck. It’s an older Ford. Not old old, but not brand new like my friends’ cars. I wait a few minutes, and when he doesn’t text back, I send him another.

WHERE U AT?

Ten minutes later I realize he’s not going to reply. Lame.

With nothing else to do, I drive to Mom’s shop, frustrated that my first day of practice ended with Mel flirting with someone else and then ditching me.

"Carter! Carter!" Sara yells when I step inside. She always says my name twice like that. It makes me smile.

"What’s up, Twig? Are you helping Mom?"

She shakes her head. "Nope. Mommy’s busy. There’s a girl here."

"Thanks, Twig." I pull her ponytail then head down the aisle to find Mom and Mel. There are shelves of glass figurines all around me. Some of Mom’s paintings hang from the walls. The lights are dim, but they’re always kind of dim in here. The store is small, but usually keeps pretty busy. Everyone in town loves Mom.

When I clear the aisle, I freeze at the sight of black and purple braids.

"Hey, honey!" Mom waves when she sees me, and Kira turns around. For some reason, it’s a little hard to breathe.

Kira’s eyes widen, but she recovers quickly. "Hey, Sleepy. Are you stalking me?"

Chapter Four

This is my perfect chance to mess with Kira, and I don’t intend to let it pass me by. "Me? I think it’s the other way around. English, Art, the basketball court, and now my mom’s store? You know I have a girlfriend, right?" A girlfriend I’m mad at, but still.

"Carter!" Mom gasps, but Kira is smiling. Somehow I knew she’d be okay with the joke.

"I’m teasing her, Mom."

Mom shakes her head, but she’s smiling too.

"Well, now I’m not sure I can get a job here. I’m already in charge of keeping you awake—"

Please don’t say in English. Please don’t say in English.

"—when you’re supposed to be practicing. Not sure I can handle it at work, too."

Thank you, Kira, for saving my ass! "Nah, if you’re here, that means I don’t have to be. You can work, I’ll sleep. I like that deal."

" I’m pretty sure she wasn’t talking about you sleeping on the court, Carter." Mom’s eyebrows rise. Busted.

"What? I’d never fall asleep in school. Nothing like a quality education." I smile at Mom and walk behind the counter with her. These are my favorite times, where she’s not just Mom, but she’s also not guilty Mom. She’s Sara’s mom and in these times, I can almost forget about the rest of it.

"Sure. And I was born yesterday." She pats my cheek.

"So, how was your first day of practice?" Kira asks. "Are you brushing up on your skills so I won’t mind going to the games?"

I c*ck my head at her, trying to figure out why it gives me a rush that she asked about practice. It’s a joke; I know she’s playing off what I said to her yesterday, but I like it.

Before I can reply, Sara comes barreling over, wrapping her arms around Kira. She once did the same thing to Mel, who froze, not knowing what to do. Kira hugs Sara back.

I don’t have time to keep comparing the two because then Sara is reaching up. "You’re pretty. I like purple. I want purple hair." She touches Kira’s braids.

"No, no," Mom says to Sara. At the same time, I reach over the counter.

"Just because I’m allowed to pull your hair, Twig, doesn’t mean you can touch other people’s hair without their permission."

"I don’t mind." Kira turns to Sara. "I had red in it last time. What do you think I should do next? Too boring to keep the same style for very long."

Yeah. Yesterday she looked like she belonged in the 60’s in a rainbow bus and with a name like Springwater, and today she’s wearing a school girl outfit. Not that I noticed or anything.

"Orange!" Sara claps, jumping up and down. She’s so happy I have to look around to make sure there’s not a purple dinosaur here.

"Orange?" I ask. Orange hair doesn’t sound very appealing.

"What’s wrong with orange?" Kira counters.

Oh, she wants to play this game, does she? I’m in. "Nothing. But why stop with mixing in? I’m thinking you should go all orange. That would be pretty, wouldn’t it, Sara?"

Sara nods so hard I’m worried her head might fall off.

Kira doesn’t flinch. "Orange it is."

The bell over the door rings. Mom slips around the counter. "I’m so glad your mom came today. I’m excited to have you on board, Kira. We’ll see you soon."

Mom walks over to help the customer and Kira with her purple hair and school girl skirt is right behind her. "Catch ya later, Sleepy," she tosses over her shoulder and just like last time, she’s gone, leaving me with the want to catch up with her.

***

"No! Mommy, Carter! Help!"

I’m already scrambling out of my bed, tripping over a shoe in the dark before Sara can yell again. I tear my door open and jog down the hall to her room. Mom’s already there, rushing to Sara’s side.

"Mommy! Carter!" she yells again. I get a twinge in my chest, dropping to the floor by her bed. Mom has Sara pulled into her lap, shushing her, but I can’t help but touch her hair too, just so she knows I’m here. Even if she had her glasses on, her eyes are full of too many tears for her to see.

"Hey, Twig. Shh, it’s okay. I’m here."

Sara’s had bad nightmares like this her whole life. We’re not sure why. They take a lot out of her. She wakes up scared something’s after her…or something’s after me, and it always takes half the night for us to calm her down.

"Closet." She grabs Mom’s neck tighter.

"There’s nothing in there, Twig. You’re my little sister; no one will mess with you because they know I have your back." Still, I get up to investigate the closet. Sara gets a little smile on her face, but has her death grip on Mom, who reaches for Sara’s glasses and puts them on her.

"Here, I better grab this just in case." I grab a purple blow-up bat, holding it in one hand like it’s a weapon, and then pulling the closet door open with the other. "See? Nothing there."

"In the back."

With my air-bat at arm’s-length like I’m scared to get too close, I push the clothes around. "Nope…nothing there."

"Just a bad dream, baby girl," Mom whispers against Sara’s forehead.

She makes me look under the bed and behind the curtains just in case. Once my hunt for bad guys is over, Mom says, "It’s late, Carter. Why don’t you go to bed? Sara, you want to sleep in Mommy’s room with me?"

Bed sounds better than anything right now.

"No, no, no. Carter, Carter!" Sara says. I try not to groan because I really need a good night of sleep after the couple days I’ve had.

"You want me to sleep with you, Twig?"

I get one of her big, head-fall-off-her-shoulders nods.

Her bed is a twin and it really sucks to try to share a twin bed with a little sister. "Scoot your butt over."

Mom looks up at me. "You can go to bed, Carter. We’ll be okay."

I shake my head. Mom gets up, bringing Sara to the bathroom while I crawl into her bed and pull a Barney blanket over myself. After they’re done, Mom tucks her into bed with me. "Straight to sleep, you two. There’s school tomorrow." Sounds good to me.