Carter.

3.

I've decided to hide in the bathroom for the rest of lunch. I'm sitting in the stall furthest away from the door. This way no one will talk to me. I just have two classes left and then detention and then tonight... ugh this day isn't even partly over. I've been able to successfully keep my head down for over 2 years at this school. And we are not even a month in this first semester of my junior year and it's already gone to shit.

My mother wasn't always the way she is now. She loved my dad; it broke her when he passed. She was a homemaker, never worked a day in her life. My parents meet when they were in middle school and never left each other's side. She broke when he died. She broke so much; she took me with her. But I refuse to let her take Emma with us. That is our deal, me not Emma. I still love my mother, that's why it hurts so bad. I can't let anyone find out; I just need to get Emma out undamaged. She will do great things one day. She will make our dad proud.

The bell rings signaling the end of lunch. I grab my backpack and head out. Two more classes. Then detention. Ugh.

I walk into Algebra 2 class and take my seat in the back. This class is a pretty good distraction. It passes by pretty fast. My last period is music appreciation, it's honestly my easiest class.  I just wish I could leave after it. But no stupid fucking Grayson had to go and ruin that. Now I don't get any time to myself today. Not even one fucking hour before I have to start to get ready.

Thankfully music appreciation is over, meaning the normal school day is over. I'm headed to my locker to switch out notebooks and then head to detention. Ugh I'm already exhausted from today, and tonight hasn't even started.

Detention is held in the cafeteria, which is good because that means there is plenty of space and plenty of tables so I don't have to talk to anyone. Deep breath Carter.

I walk into the cafeteria and check in with the teacher in charge, I think his name is Mr. Plank but I could be wrong. I take a seat at the table in the very back. At least this will give me time to do my homework. I'll start with algebra and then physics and then I'll be done.

It takes a good 20 minutes but I finish. Time for physics. I look up to switch notebook and nearly scream when I see Grayson sitting across from me at my table. He notices me jumps and looks up from his phone.

"Hey. I didn't mean to scare you; you were just so into your homework I didn't want to stop you." He explains in his deep voice that sends chills down my back.

"No worries." I give a half smile and grab my notebook, hoping to signal to him that the conversation is over. I start to open it when Grayson reaches his hand across the table and stops me. I flinch again.

He pulls back like he just burned himself. "Why do you do that?" He questions so fast he tumbled over the words.

"Do what?" Maybe if I play dumb, I can get out of this?

"Flinch every time I try to touch you." He states it so matter of factly there is no getting out of this. Fuck.

"Why do you try to touch me so much?" I squint my eyes at him, trying my best to understand what is going on in his head.

He lets out a deep breath and rubs the back of his neck.

"Carter..." He breathes out evenly but his face looks so unsure.

"What are you doing?" Why is he acting like we're friends? "Leave me alone before you get me into more trouble." I stand up and grab my stuff to move to another table. That was rude, but he seems like he is trying to figuring me out and I can't have that.

He looks at me but stays at the table. I sit at a table far away from him. Time for physics. It only takes me 10 minutes. That means there is a still a good 20 minutes left of detention. Fuck. The only thing to do now is think. I don't like to think. I would rather be at home mindlessly watching a show or planning my little hope for a future after I get Emma out. Four years is a long time. I honestly don't know if I'll survive that long. It might kill me. Or someone at work will take it too far and end it for me. But apparently there is a death cost, so if I do "accidentally" get murdered, mother will get paid so much money to keep quiet that she'll be fine financially without working ever again. I heard it's like a million dollars but that was just me ease dropping on a conversation of some bouncers while I was walking back to my room and mother never discussed it with me. I think you can also get purposefully murdered, like sold for that but that could just be a rumor.