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chapter four.

( CHAPTER FOUR )
FEMALE KARATE KID

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13 OCTOBER 2007

ROBYN LET CARTER TAKE TIME TO FULL SETTLE into her new home before sending her off to public school. She knew it'd be even harder for her since the school year had already started over two months ago and because Carter hadn't been in public school since she was eleven, but Carter couldn't stay cooped up in the house all the time. Robyn had given Carter two and a half weeks to settle in, which had been a longer time than she probably should have given the teen for her to do so. They hadn't spoken to each other much since Carter's arrival. Carter didn't completely ignore her, though. I mean, how else was she suppose to get the WiFi password so she could stay in her room on her laptop and phone all the time?

But now her time was up. She couldn't lock herself away in her room anymore to avoid the outside world that surrounded her. That's why she was currently sitting in the passenger seat of Robyn's maroon Mazda, with a book bag sitting on her lap. Forks High School was only a few minutes away and Carter was nowhere near being ready to attend school again. She wasn't dumb; she knew there'd be people she went to preschool and elementary with who still went there. People would remember her. If they didn't recognize her right away, then they'd surely recognize her when they heard her name. The "tragedy" that happened to her family so long ago was one of the biggest events to ever happen in the small town. Something famous in the town of Forks, no matter how horrid it is, was something that could not be easily forgotten.

Carter felt her body tense up as Robyn pulled up to the front of the school, parking her car and waiting patiently for Carter to exit the vehicle. Carter looked around at all the teenagers congregating around their cars and in front of the school. She slowly began to shake her head and her breathing quickened.

"I don't think I can do this..." she muttered, feeling anxiety begin to engulf her. She heard Robyn sigh next to her as she kept staring at the school in fear.

"Yes, you can. Carter," the girl turned to look at her aunt when she said her name. "Carter, you are a strong girl, okay? You're one of the strongest people I've ever met. To have gone through what you've been through... and still make it out on the other side? That takes courage and compared to that, walking into that school and starting over is nothing. If you can make it through all of that, then you can make it through anything."

Carter sighed and bit her lip, grabbing the door handle and stepping out of the vehicle. She turned and leaned down to look at her aunt. "Thank you."

"No problem." Robyn smiled at her. With that, Carter shut the door and watched as Robyn waved goodbye and drove away. All Carter could think of once the woman had left was how wrong she was. Carter wasn't strong at all; she wasn't "on the other side" of everything she had been through. She was still there―she'd always be there. There was no coming back from that. She knew things that no one else did and things had never been the same since the day she discovered them. Robyn was wrong about Carter a million times over.

Carter shook her head, realizing she was still standing in the same spot since she'd stepped out of the vehicle. She noticed people whispering to each other as she began to walk towards the school doors and she knew they were whispering about her. Some were just whispering about the new girl, some of them were whispering about the girl who returned. Carter hated this. She felt like a freak show and the day hadn't even officially begun. Carter managed to make it into the building and began searching for the administration office to retrieve her timetable. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around her shoulders and she jumped, reacting quickly. Grabbing the person's arm, she lifted it over her head and turned, twisting it behind their back. Carter then shoved them face first into the nearest wall. The person yelped in both pain and surprise.