CHAPTER 18: A NEW ERA OF CARTER
Dear Diary,
I refused to let them ruin my day. This was the ultimate sign! This is why I couldn’t choose! They were exactly the same! They were the same frickin person! I realized when I saw Blane cheat on me, that he was the one I loved more. It hurt me more to see him with someone else. He was the guy I wanted to be with. But when he cheated on me, I knew that for my own self-respect, even though it was at an all time low right now, I couldn’t be with him. I still loved Abe a truck load, but when he cheated, I knew I couldn’t be with him either. That’s why I picked neither. They were both the same goddamn person.
When I told Katie, she didn’t say anything. She just calmly walked up the stairs, packed up Abe’s things, and threw them into the driveway. Then, she gave me the biggest hug and I started crying. I cried for what seemed like hours. When Bennie saw me and Abe’s things outside, he knew that something very wrong had happened and slowly walked away without a remark. She was going to cancel this big party she had tonight with her latest boyfriend Steven, but I told her to go. I wanted to be alone anyways.
XOXO,
Carter Rosenthal
I slipped into my dad’s big T-shirt and went downstairs to watch TV. Bennie sat on the couch with me and we watched the first Spider-Man movie, you know, the one with Toby Maguire. We laughed so hard during the funny parts that Bennie almost chocked on popcorn. When the famous Spiderman/ Mary Jane upside down kiss scene occurred, I started bawling. Bennie wrapped his arms around me and I let myself be held by my favorite little sixth grader.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I was about to get up to get it, but Bennie said he wanted to.
“Bennie, I can…”
“No. Nobody hurts my big sister. Not even Abe,” he said firmly.
He walked up to the door to find Abe with a bouquet of red roses. He smiled when Bennie opened the door.
“Hey Ben! Is Carter home? I really need…”
“Shut up, retard. My sister is home and she wants nothing to do with you. Ergo, I want nothing to do with you. Got that, punk? Now leave my property before I call the cops,” he said.
I was shocked at his sudden maturity. When did my brother transform into such a gentleman.
He slammed the door and left Abe standing shocked outside my door. I got up from the coach and gave Bennie a hug. As I started crying again, he whispered, “I love you, sis.”
“I love you too, Bennie.”
Soon after that episode, I decided to go on the roof again. I laid on the tiles watching the stars and just… well… being one with nature.
Then, I started hearing something in the driveway.
“You’re all that matters to me! Yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah!”
“Justin Bieber?” I asked.
“No, its actually Blane McDonagh,” Blane replied.
“Oh god,” was all I could reply. “Blane, leave me alone.”
“I can’t! I’m not losing you without a fight.”
“BLANE DONT YOU UNDERSTAND? I HATE YOU. I HATE ABE. I HATE YOU BOTH BECAUSE YOU’RE BOTH THE SAME GODDAMN PERSON. NOW, LEAVE ME ALONE BEFORE I TELL BENNIE TO CALL THE COPS. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? YOU WANNA SING JUSTIN BIEBER? MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY THE SONG HEARTBREAKER,” I shouted before crawling through Bennie’s window to go back inside.
The next day at school, Abe wasn’t there. I kind of figured he’d skip. Blane wasn’t outside in the courtyard either, now that I think about it. Maybe they had some epic duel to the death last night, I thought while smirking.
“Woah sorry,” I said crashing into this lanky boy in a red T-Shirt.
His eyes widened when he saw me and babbled, “Um no um hi um sorry uh um.”
His babbling made me giggle, which seemed to make his face get even redder.
“No um uh sorry,” he said as he scratched his head and walked past me.
“Wait!” I called, “Aren’t you in my Calculus class?”
He turned around and with his head down approached me.
“Yeah! I didn’t think you knew who I uh was. My name is...”
“Shawn, right?”
“Uh…” he said looking like a deer in headlights.
“Right?” I asked.
“Yeah! Uh yes, yes it is.”
He was actually pretty cute. He had brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. His red shirt and jeans reminded me of Florida and made me feel at home.
“Why do you always carry that guitar around?” I asked.
“Guitar? What guitar?” he asked nervously.
“The one in your hand,” I said giggling.
“Oh!” he said suddenly noticing the guitar. “I uh play it.”
“No duh, haha, but all the time?”
“Whenever I have a minute.”
“Well, we have a couple minutes before first period. Why don’t you play me something?”
“You… You… Carter Rosenthal… want me to play my guitar for you… Carter Rosenthal?” he said incredulously.
“You know, I don’t really have that many friends right now, and you seem pretty cool. Maybe you could play it for me after school?”
“You want to hang out with me? Me? Shawn Johnson? Am I dreaming?” he said to himself.
“Well, why would you be?”
“You’re the prettiest and smartest girl in school. You dated Abe Barron and Blane McDonagh, the most popular guys in school, and you want to hang out with me!” he said with the biggest smile on his face.
“Look, I’m not some celebrity. If you’re going to be weird about it, we don’t have to…” I said suddenly weirded out by the boy.
“No! Uh, I would love to. Do you want to meet in the courtyard after school?”
“Sure,” I said.
At least I would be making someone’s day better than mine. Then, Abe walked in looking like he got run over by a train.
“Abe?” I called walking past the glowing nerd.
“Eat… Sleep… Rave… Repeat,” Abe chanted drunkenly.
“Abe, are you drunk?”
“Carter… Rosenthal. The girl who broke my heart. What do you want?” he said grabbing onto a locker for balance.
“You need to get out of here, Abe. You’ll be expelled.”
“Hey, you don’t need to tell me twice, sweetheart.”
He pushed open the double doors, hitting Blane just walking in.
“Watch it , turd.”
“Eat me, punk,” Abe responded.
I turned around just as Blane said, “Carter?”
“Hi Blane,” I said moving in the opposite direction.
“Carter, wait. Can we just talk? I thought I was following the plan. I know that was wrong, but it isn’t all that bad!”
I was so tempted to lash out at him, but I wasn’t going to let the entire student body see me crash and burn. Instead, I strutted ahead and mistakenly walked into Mr. Smith’s history class.
