Betas || L. Dunbar

2.0

"Are you coming over tonight?" Mason questioned his favorite female as the two exited their last hour class. "I'm having Garrett, Violet, and Liam over as well."

"And what might we be doing?" Carter glanced at her friend as she avoided running into people to make it to her locker.

"Video games and stuff like that." Mason shrugged. "Violet really wants you there and Liam wants to get to know you. Unlike me he hasn't known you since middle school."

"I forgot we all went to middle school together." Carter mumbled as she opened her locker. "At the time my only friends were Hayden and Isaac." She put back any books she wouldn't need for homework purposes and grabbed a few folders to stuff inside her bag.

"I remember you dropping out in the 8th grade." Mason snorted. "We all thought it was because of your dad."

"Screw my dad." Carter's mind flashed back to everything that man had done to her and her brother. She used to not hate her father. Back when their mother was still alive he was a good man. But once she was gone, he changed and became the man everyone knew him as.

"But enough about my daddy issues." She slammed her locker shut and started towards the parking lot. Since Stiles wasn't here to give her a ride home, Melissa was ready to pick the girl up and go grab an early dinner on her 2 hour break in between shifts.

"Come on, Car. Your older friends always take you away from us whenever we try to hangout. You always end up texting us hours later that something came up."

A flash of guilt flooded through her veins. Since she started school again, her time got taken up quite a bit with Void Stiles. But after that, Carter had to deal with the pain of losing Allison and her brother. So she really closed everyone out for a while.

"Fine." Carter finally agreed out of guilt. "What time do you want me there?"

"Oh no. Garett will come get you to ensure you're coming. He'll be there at seven." He slapped his friend's shoulder and ran off to tell the others. Violet, Garett, and Liam had gathered to wait for the bus outside. Carter shook her head at her friends and walked towards the familiar car of Melissa.

"Hey sweetheart!" Melissa grinned as the girl got in and shut the door. "How was school?"

"Boring without everyone." Carter gave a grim smile.

"Sorry honey. They'll be back soon." Melissa drove away from the parking lot. Carter glanced out the window and saw Liam staring after her. She was too far away to smile at him.

Melissa ended up ordering Chinese food for the two girls. It was still foreign to Carter to have a mother-figure who actually cared. So when she mentioned the cute new boy and Melissa was immediately interested, she was excited to start talking.

"So do you like him?" Melissa asked eagerly.

"I just met him!" Carter laughed. "He's cute but I don't know him yet."

"Well you can get to know him tonight at Masons." Melissa smiled and grabbed some more food. "I want details tomorrow morning. If Scott and Stiles aren't back then I'll take you and you can tell me everything."

Carter's heart gave a squeeze. This is what it's like to have a decent parent. A parent that understood and wanted to know things, not for the purpose of punishment but because they care.

When Carter first moved into the McCall household, it was rough. When Carter was getting a glass from the kitchen, she accidentally dropped it and completely freaked out. She ended up wolfing out while crying and begging Melissa not to tie her up. It took Isaac half an hour to calm her down. From then on, Melissa did her best to make Carter feel safe and happy. She never wanted to see the scene of a sobbing girl begging not to be abused again.

Melissa left around 5 for her shift at the hospital. Around a half hour later, Rafael got home. The male liked Carter, but the two weren't super close like Melissa and her were. They often liked talking about past crime scenes he has seen and she sometimes joins him and Scott for their dinners when Melissas gone for the night shift.

"Are you gonna be in tonight?" Rafael yelled up at the girl as she was getting ready for that night.

"No. Melissa said I could go to my friends for a few hours tonight. But I have to be home by 11 because it's a school night." Carter proceeded to grab her phone to check the time, 6:54. Garett would be here any minute. The man was never late to pick her up.

"Alright! I should be awake then." Rafael told her as she headed downstairs to wait with him. "Did you eat already?"

"Yeah chinese food. There's leftovers in the fridge if you want them." She smiled at him. "What are you gonna do tonight?"

"Gonna fix somethings around here." He glanced around the house. "A lot of small things wrong, figured I could lend a hand." He sighed sadly. Carter looked at the man in sympathy.

"I hope you know he appreciates that you're actually putting effort." She informed him. "You made mistakes but your mistakes you can fix over time."

"Thanks Carter." He smiled softly at her. She always knew what to say.

"At least you're not like my dad. His mistakes you can't fix."

Carter rarely mentioned her father if it wasn't joking about his death or saying he was a terrible person. She never told anyone what he actually did to her. Of course the pack knew due to investigating his death because of the Kanima but she never actually talked about it.

From Blond Bimbo:
We're outside let's go

"I gotta go." She stood. "See you later, Ninja Turtle." Rafael laughed behind her as she slammed the door and headed towards her friends fancy car.

"What it do, my friends?" She ripped open the door and hopped inside the back seat, next to Liam. She smiled at him in greeting, which he returned.

"What time you gotta be home?" Garett asked as he pulled out of the driveway and started towards Mason's.

"Mrs McCall said before 11 and no I cannot stay out later because Mr McCall is home." Violet frowned in disappointment at her words.

"I'll take you home." Garett glanced over his shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "No way I'm letting you walk home in the dark."

"I can take care of myself." Carter smiled at her friend. Of course he didn't know she had fangs and claws.

"Carter could probably beat you in a fight." Liam spoke for the first time since she entered the car.

"He's got a point, babe." Violet laughed.

"Thank you, my loves." Carter smiled gratefully at her friends. Liam blushed at the name, not used to people calling him things such as that.

"Thanks for having my back." Garett smirked sarcastically at his girlfriend.

"Hey! Carter is scary!"

Carter couldn't help but frown. Sure it was meant to be playful, but if any of her friends were to actually know what she was...she was sure they would be scared. She didn't want them to be scared of her. She wouldn't hurt them ever.

Carter was snapped from her thoughts by someone's hand on her own. Looking over, she saw Liam watching her with concerned eyes.

"If it makes it any better, I don't think you're scary." He whispered so low only the two of them heard it. Carter smiled gratefully, turning her hand to give his a squeeze before the two of them pulled themselves away.

And for once in her life, Carter had butterflies in her stomach from a boy and not the worry of being killed.