Freeing Carter by Nyrae Dawn Read Free Book Online Page A

another shrug. " We ' ll see. Us girls have to stick together , you know. Thanks. " She turns to leave , but Mel ' s voice stops her.
    " You ' re in my history class , right? I ' m Melanie. Carter ' s girlfriend . "
    Kira holds out her hand and Mel shakes it loosely. " Kira. I work for Carter's mom .  You guys are cute. " She points back and forth between us. " You look cute together. "
    T his is awkward as hell. Plus , what ' s that? I work for Carter's mom ? She knew me first.
    " Thanks. " Mel grabs my hand. Five minutes ago she was pulling away from me , and now she ' s getting all possessive.
    When Mel doesn ' t say anything else , Kira smiles like she realizes she ' s being dismissed and walks away. Today she ' s wearing a tank top with a sweater over it and a pair of tight blue jeans. It ' s the kind of outfit Mel would wear , except probably doesn ' t come from the same stores.
    " She ' s the girl you ' re going to be with tonight? " Mel ' s voice is harsh which , honestly , kind of pisses me off.
    " Yeah? So? "
    " Why did your mom suddenly decide to hire someone? "
    " Because she needs the help? Should I have had her ask you r permission before she hired someone? You were the one who wanted me to spend less time at the shop , so isn ' t this a good thing? " I ' m starting to sweat a little , tired of going rounds with her.
    " Whatever , Carter. It just would have been nice if you told me. "
    " Umm , told you what? " I ' m thinking it would have been nice if she told me she wa s a nutcase.
    " That you were going to be with someone hot and not someone old , which is what I assumed. "
    Ah , so that ' s what this is about. Mel always gets harsher when she ' s jealous , which I used to kind of like ... but now? Not so much.
    Willing to do anything to end this conversation and have five freaking minutes of peace , I don ' t say what I ' m really thinking. What comes out instead is , " You ' re hot , Mel. Come on. She works for my mom. It ' s not a big deal. I invited you to come. It ' s not like I ' m trying to hide anything. "
    Her frown flips up into a smile. " Thanks , baby. "  
    Crisis averted! Even more so when the bell rings. We say our goodbyes , Trina and Mel going one way , and Travis and I another. Once they ' re out of ear shot , I groan. What the hell has happened to my life lately? My calm place has suddenly grown two heads and an extra set of claws and I ' m not in the mood to deal with it .
    " Why is she freaking out? Next time I say we get pissed when they go to Sam ' s. She has a brother. Same thing. " Travis shrugs when he says this , but I stop walking.
    " They went to Sam ' s last night? " Devin ' s sister? She ditched me to go to Devin ' s house?
    " Umm , yeah. Is that bad? "
    My heart pounds , muscles tightening. She was flirting with him , went to his house without telling me , and then she freaks out because Mom hired Kira?
    " Nothing . I just .. . " Is she cheating on me? Does she like him? Am I freaking out over nothing? Wait. Do I care? I don ' t know. I should know that much , right?
    " I ' m thinking of breaking up with Trina. " Travis starts walking again. His words make me forget everything else. It ' s always been the four of us. We hang out and have fun together. " What? Why? "
    He looks at me like it ' s the stupidest question in the world. " Have you been paying attention? It ' s just not the same. Plus , it happens , ya know? You think people are going to stay together forever , but they don ' t. Why prolong it? "
    Travis ' s voice sounds strange. And I don ' t know about the forever part , but I at least figured we ' d stay together through high school. " Huh? You ' ve never said that before. "
    " It ' s just ... My ..." He shakes his head like he just changed his mind about something. " This is our last year in high school. Do we really want to spend it getting bitched at for everything? I mean , it ' d be different if I , like ... but it ' s not like that. I just want to have fun , ya