Quarter High Chronicles: Fight for the Spotlight

Innocent Stares

Carter invited me over. It is no big deal. I've been to his house multiple times, all of them with Brenda. In the begging of their relationship I was their designated third wheel. With me, Brenda could say a group of us were meeting at Carter's and that was the only way her parents would let her out. It wasn't technically a lie because you know what they say, three is a crowd. I really didn't mind. Carter is cool and Brenda and I are already awesome so we all got along really well. I wonder if I could put excellent third wheel on my resume. I think Annabelle would have come more but softball takes up 98 percent of her time so she couldn't most of the time.
This will be the first time I'll be at Carter's by myself. Plus he said that his parents are going to be home. They are out of town a lot because of work so I have not actually met them before. I know of them and see them at community events but I have never had to like talk to them or anything. I probably won't have to talk to them but Sam is dropping me off so if Carter doesn't answer the door they will probably greet me. I asked Sam to drive me because even though Carter has a car I would feel weird leaving school with him. The second the bell rings I jump up and make my way threw the hall ways. "Hey! Em!" I turn around and Annabelle runs up to me.
"Hey, what's up?" I ask as Annabelle excitedly smiles at me.
"I invited Dylan to go bowling with me."
"Wow! Is that your first date?" I ask.
"Kinda. I just asked him and I had to tone down the craziness for a few seconds and now I'm about to burst so I had to find someone to tell. I'm not scared or nervous but I'm not as not scared or nervous as the other guys I've been out with. Does that make scenes? I don't think it does. Wait, yeah it does. You know what I mean. Your Emily! Of corse you know what I mean. You always know what I'm saying. Ugh! You're the best!!! I love you!" Annabelle says extremely quickly before embracing me in a quick hug.
"Haha I love you too." I say as she releasing me. Her eyebrows furrow before she quickly pivots and runs down the hall.
"Where are you going?" I shout after her unsure what just happened.
"Softball! Batting cages!" She yells as she turns the corner about to go through the back door of the school. I laugh to myself then head to Sam's car.
When I finally make it to the green jeep I am stuck with the one and only Nancy. Again. I mean Sam is sitting in the driver's seat but still Nancy's presence makes me cringe. As I'm sitting in the middle of the back seat, she starts talking to Sam about the awesome new musical coming and how she wants to be Wendy and that there is no doubt she is going to get the part. I start to become furious and decide to ignore her while we drive the rest of the two minutes to Carter's house. When I get there, I hop out and see a magnificent house. It's large and has a big bright red door with an ashy gray brick pattern on the exterior of the house. As I go up to Carter's door and ring the doorbell, Carter's mom meets me at the door. "Well, hello! You must be Emily! I'm Mrs.Cambridge. Come on in!" With that, I walk in. The house is nicely furnished and smells just like tulips. "Yes, I'm Emily. You have an awfully nice house, Mrs. Cambridge." I reply.
"Thank you, darling! I work hard to keep it in the shape that it is. I'm glad you noticed." She says with a smile. "Yeah! I can tell you put work into it. It's great!"
"Why thank you, dear. Now, would you like anything or eat or drink?"
"No. I'm okay, Mrs. Cambridge. Thank you though." 
"Okay. Well, Carter is just down those stairs, in the basement. And I'm sure he is waiting for you."
"Thank you, Mrs. Cambridge." I said with one last reply and headed my way down the spiral staircase to the basement. When I reach Carter he is two feet away from a TV screen with a remote control in his hands strongly concentrating on what's happening in front of him. "Hey, Carter!" I say to get his attention. All of a sudden he jumps almost ten feet high off of the ground and onto his feet. When he lands, his hand is on his chest as if to control the rapid beating of his heart. I start to burst into laughter with the sight of him in front of me.
"Oh my gosh, Em! You scared me! I thought you were some kind of killer or something!" Carter says while slightly laughing and still breathing very heavily.
"Haha! Well maybe you shouldn't be playing games that have freaky killers in them!" I say in defense with laughter still in my voice.
"Haha. True." He replies laughing back. We look at each other for a second after that. It's almost a little awkward. I quickly get onto a new topic.
"So, do you want to start going over the script?"
"Sure. On one condition." He says while his lips curve into a mischievous smile. Oh no. This is bad.
"What is it?" I ask timidly.
"You have to play a level of this game with 'freaky killers' in them when we're done." He said using finger quotations.
"Deal. I could totally work with you to defeat some 'freaky killers'". I reply slightly laughing.
"Alright then, let's get started." He replies sounding determined. He walks over to the other side of the room to grab his bag. Once we both have scripts in hand, we begin the process of rehearsing. Carter really is a great actor. You can tell he enjoys being lost in the life of someone else. It's quite charming. You can't find many people like Carter who can be serious about the artistry of drama and the intensity of playing football. That's just the kind of guy he is, one of a kind.
After two hours of rehearsing, we've been through the whole play.
"Awesome! We finished it!" I exclaim giving Carter a high five.
"I know. You did great. I wouldn't be surprised if you got Wendy. Just do exactly what you did today and you will beat Nancy 100 times over." He says encouragingly.
"Thanks, Carter. That means a lot. But, you know what time it is now?"
"What?" He replies confused. I can't believe he had already forgotten.
"It's freaky killer time!!!!" I say loudly.
"That's right!" He says as equally as loud. He runs over to the TV to set up the game. I follow and sit beside him. I am no stranger to video games. Before Nancy, my brother was a nerd with no life so he hogged the tv with video games. I realized that I couldn't win over the tv so joined him. The game Carter has is unfamiliar but he has a Xbox just like Sam. I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly. Once we had it going, we didn't stop. We even ate the sandwiches Carter's mom made us while we were playing. We had beat so many levels that I stopped counting. Before I knew it, I looked at my phone and it's 11:45. Oh no! My curfew was 10:00! My parents are going to be furious!
"Oh my god, Carter! It's almost midnight!"
"What?! No. It can't be." He says not believing me.
"Yes it is, Carter! Look!" I show him my phone freaking out. When he sees the number on the screen, he starts laughing.
"Carter. What are you doing?"
"We just. Played for. Six hours. Straight." He said in between laughs. Honestly, I want to start laughing with him, but I can't get over the thought of my mom crying because I didn't call and she thought I had gotten kidnapped and my dad's for head vein looking like it was about to explode from all the anger he was trying to control. Oh, gosh did Sam tell them that I was with Carter? They are going to freak even more! My parents are normally cool with me hanging out with boys as long as I don't brake curfew! Wow. Okay. Deep breath. I manage a chuckle and ask Carter to take me home. Before we know it, I'm at my house.
"I had fun with you tonight, Sparks." He says looking at me over the console that is in between us. His eyes are especially blue in the moonlight.
"I had fun too. It was cool to be the 'freaky killer' for a little bit." I say with a laugh.
"Haha. Yeah. You were a good one too!" He said with slight laughter looking in my eyes. "You have mad skills, Sparks."
"Haha. Thanks." I reply looking back at him. We stare at each other for a moment. I don't know what's happening, but I like it. He is just staring straight back at me. I wish I could know what's going on in his mind. I suddenly realize I'm with my best friends boyfriend, and I need to break this up. Without a second thought, I turn around from our moment and jump out of the car. "See you tomorrow, Cambridge!" I shout  and start making my way to my house. When I reach my door, I turn around and Carter's already driven off. I hope what just happen didn't mean something. I mean nothing happened, right? Nah, I'm crazy. He is in love with Brenda and I love Brenda too much to ever have feelings for Carter, except friendship. That's all Carter and I feel, camaraderie. We are friends. Carter plus Emily equals amigos.