Freeing Carter by Nyrae Dawn Read Free Book Online Page B

know? "
    I have no idea what he's not telling me, but I totally get what he is saying . It ' s not like I thought we ' d be one of those go-off-to-college-together couples.  Or that we ' d  get married one day. Have the 2.2 kids or however the saying goes.  Don ' t ask me how you can have .2 kids , but whatever.
    Still , we have fun. At least , we used to. When I pictured my senior year , I pictured the four of us. We ' ve been a constant for a year now.
    " I ' m not saying you should do the same , " he says. "But I just wanted you to know. Didn ' t want it to come out of nowhere. "
    This shouldn ' t come from nowhere , because we ' ve both been fighting with the girls a lot recently , but it does. It does because as weak as it makes me sound , even though I ' m jealous as hell he ' s going to do this , I don ' t know if I can do the same. Mel will freak and as hard as she is to handle lately , I can only imagine how much hell it would be to deal with a broken-up-with Melanie. All I want is one piece of my life that has no drama and I can’t even get that.
    Before I can reply , the second bell rings , making us late for English. We make a run for it , my mind tangled with thoughts of Mel , Mom , English , and Kira.

Chapter Five
    Practice is ruined by Mrs. Z ' s voice in my head ; every play I want to call out is overpowered by her lecture because I didn't turn in anymore late assignments . Unfortunately , she ' s not the only person copping a squat in my head. I have Mom on one shoulder , needing my help at the store. Getting upset when I question her about her douchebag dad. Even if she weren ' t whispering in my ear , I ' d be worried about her. It ' s never a good day when she has to go see him , but knowing Sara will be home takes some of the worry away.
    The crappy part is , it doesn ' t stop there. Mel ' s sitting on the other shoulder , alternating between being the calm Mel who helps make me forget , and then images of her with Devin keep popping up behind my eyes. The fact is , I realize I ' d be pissed , but I wouldn ' t be hurt. I ' d almost be relieved. It ' d be one less direction to be pulled. One less person who wants something out of me.
    Right now , I could do with a little less " Carter , I need you to " and a little more , " Carter , do what you need to do. " Hell , maybe even a little , " Carter , do you need help? "
    By the time I rush to the shop after practice , I ' m in an even worse mood. Yanking my backpack out of the truck , I slam the door and head inside . There are a couple customers , but Mom ' s still here so I sit at the little round table by the front counter, where Sara does her coloring and Mom eats her meals . It ' s kind of hidden because it ' s shorter than the counter the register sits on and it ' s on the opposite side as the door.
    The only problem is on the other side of it is a spinning wrack of homemade bookmarks , jewelry , and weird little animal carvings that a lot of people come in to buy , which means pretty often there are nosey people looking over my shoulder while they ' re shopping.
    Luckily , no one is standing at it today.
    Even though I ' d really like to put my head down and take a nap , I pull out Mrs. Z ' s English stuff. It ' s numero uno on ' Carter ' s list of crap to do' . '
    Without paying attention to anything else , I try to make myself concentrate enough to figure out what happened in the play we ' ve been reading. All the ' twas ' s ,' ' eth ' s ' and rearranged words (I see , not see I) make no sense to me. Why the hell can ' t the guy just say what he means? It ' s like he writes in code so you have to try to decipher ever little word. Me and deciphering Shakespeare don ' t mix.
    " Oh! Carter , I didn ' t see you come in. " Mom steps up beside me. " I ' m heading out. Bill has Sara , but I ' m picking her up after I go see Dad. We ' ll probably be home around the same time as you. " Her voice sounds light , but I hear the stress behind it. Hear her