Rejects // l.h.

6

"Luke! Oh my god!"

"What?" I ask, coming into the kitchen where Carmen is. She's leaning out the window, pointing.

"Look! A lake! Come on, I haven't been swimming in years,"

"Carmen, we can't just swim in a lake-"

"Yes we can!" She grabs my arm and pulls me to the back door.

"Carmen, stop. What about Freddie? If he wakes up and we're not here, then what?"

"He won't wake up,"

"Well, how about I stay inside and you go swimming?"

"I could drown, I haven't swim in about ten years. Who do you care more about, me, or the kid?" She asks, her eyes furrowed. I hesitated.

"Fine. Fine, I'll come. But not for long, ok?"

We hurry outside together. The air is pretty cool. I can see Carmen shivering. I think she's having second thoughts, but I know she's not going to give in now.

She pulls off her top and shorts, leaving me staring in shock and awe. She's standing in plain black underwear, camouflaging next to her jet black hair.

"Chicken, much?" She coos at me, before taking a deep breathe and jumping into the lake.

She doesn't come up for a second or two. I run to the edge, frantically staring out at the black water.

She pops up, breathing hard.

"It's great! Come in!" She squeals. It did look fun. I quickly pull off my tank
top and skinny jeans, before jumping in with her.

The water comes as a freezing cold shock, but if started moving around to try and warm up.

"See, it's nice," Carmen grins, flicking water at me.

"It's like fucking titanic," I said, teeth chattering.

"Oh, you. But yeah, let's get out," she pulled herself out the water, drying herself off as best as possible with her shirt. She pulled her clothes back on, and I did the same.

"Let's hope Freddie hasn't woken up," I whisper and we go back inside. There's no crying, no shouting, so we're OK. He didn't wake up.

"That was fun," I admit. Carmen smiles, rubbing her hair with a tea towel.

"I know,"

***

"So, how was babysitting?" Asks Calum as we walk back to the room.

"It was good. We swam in a freezing lake at night,"

"Who's we?"

"Carmen and I," I say. Calum grins.

"Ashton'll be way jealous when he finds out,"

"Probably will," I laugh. We open the door to our room, but find its empty.

"They're probably in the girls room," Calum says, gently closing the door. We hurry into the girls corridor and knock on Carmen's door.

Dani opens it. She grins at us both.

"Hey guys,"

"Hey,"

We step inside and see Ashton, Michael, Emily, Laura, Dani and Carmen squashed in the room. Carmen is lying on her back on her bed, fiddling with a strand of hair.

I walk over to her bed and nudge her feet. She bends her knees so I have room to sit down. In the corner of my eye, I see Ashton watching us, with an expression I can't read on his face.

There's a loud, harsh knock on the door about five minutes after Calum and I arrived. In confusion, Laura opens it.

It's Mrs Stanfield, on of the deputy heads. She tuts at the sight of us boys in the girls room, but she doesn't say anything to us.

"Carmen Smith?" She asks. Carmen jumps up and goes over to the door.

"Yes?"

There's two other people standing behind Mrs Stanfield. Carmen backs away, shaking her head.

"No," She mumbles, not taking her eyes off the couple. The man clears his throat.

"Hello, Carmen. Do you remember us?"

"I don't want to remember. I don't want to!" She says through gritted teeth. The woman smiles weakly.

"Carmen, we want you back,"

"No. You chucked me out when I was only a kid and then just disappeared. You don't deserve to be parents," She says, staring at them. We're all staring in shock.

They're Carmen's parents.

"Carmen, that was years ago..."

"No! I'm not coming back to you! Never!" She shouts. Mrs Stanfield nervously pushes her glasses up her nose.

"Ok, Miss Smith, no need to raise your voice. I'm sure we can sort this out in a civilised manner,"

"There's nothing to sort out. I like it here. I have friends who care way more about me then my parents ever did!" She yells, make up running down her face.

"Well, if that's what you want," Says her mom.

"You see! You don't even care that I don't want to come back!" Carmen screams.

Mrs Stanfield ushers the parents out the room, closing the door behind her. Carmen collapses on her bed next to me.

"Were they...?" Dani whispers. Carmen nods and rubs her eye, smearing more makeup.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Laura says, pulling a wipe from a packet and washing off all the smudgy black smears.

"Why did they come back? It's been years," She sniffs.

"They... Wanted to take you home," I say quietly. I don't know what I'd do if Carmen had said yes to going home with them. It would be so boring, so dull, so quiet without her.

"I like it here. I don't want to go back to their house. What if they chuck me out again, and I can't get a place back here? Then what?"

"Exactly," Emily nods.

***

I can see Carmen, sitting alone, on the small, crumbly brick wall, watching some boys play football. I go over and sit next to her.

"I'm glad you're staying," I mumble.

"You are?"

"Yeah,"

It's silent for a few moments.

"I can't believe they actually came here. They look so different from how I remember,"

The sun is barely there, and the sky is slowly fading dark blue. Before I know what I'm doing, I pick up Carmen's hand and hold it in mine.

"You're never leaving, ok? I won't let you,"

A/n
AWWWWWWWW