The Whip of a Miracle

Chapter 2: A Nice Face

School was... school until ninth hour; English Honors III. Before then I had already became aware that I had two classes with a person (or people) from lunch. My seventh hour, Algebra III was with Chad, Michael, and Selina. For eighth hour, Home Ec., I was with Tara and Darwin.

They all treated me like I'd been there all year. They'd taken me under their wing and we were all no longer "acquaintances," but friends.

Because of this, I walked into English in a great mood, as happy as can be. I figured maybe I'd see Erin, someone I hadn't yet shared a class with. Much to my surprise, I saw Deeter, or Carson, I wasn't quite sure what to call him.

He looked annoyed, sitting in a back corner, probably feeling alone it looked like. But he wasn't alone, practically the whole class was either making eye-babies with him or asking for his opinion on something.

Oddly, when I walked in, he perked up, a smile now on his face. He whispered in the ear of an ugly looking guy sitting next to him. Reluctantly the guy moved to the front, glaring at me all the way.

"Colette!" Deeter playfully called, patting the surface of the desk I slipped into.

I was majorly confused. Just earlier he had freaked out on me becoming a part of their gang. He wanted nothing to do with me. If he wasn't avoiding me he was shit-talking me the whole lunch.

But, being the friendly person I became during my childhood, I bit my tongue.

"Hello, Deeter." I greeted, making sure not to sound delighted. To kill some time until the bell I tapped my pencil with a steady melody.

"Excited for some English?" He asked, raising eyebrows.

"Absolutely, this class is what I've been looking forward to all day." I replied sarcastically. But not mean -sarcasm, just funny-sarcasm.

"I wouldn't be so shocked if that were a true statement, honestly." He noted, shooting me a million dollar smile.

"Is that an insult?"

"Well I don't know, depends on your perspective I suppose. If you consider me thinking you are a very smart and bright girl at one single glance as an insult, then yes."

My jaw must have dropped. Did he just compliment me? This couldn't be the same guy. This wasn't Deeter, or Carson, or whoever he claimed to be. It couldn't be.

"You're Carson Deet, right? From-Lunch-Deeter? I'm not crazy right?" I queried.

"I am, yes." He confirmed, smiling.

"I don't know what to call you, people call you Deeter, right?" I said. His smile dropped instantly.

"Yeah..." He replied, finally looking away from my eyes. He took a deep sigh.

"What do you want people to call you?" I simply asked.

"What?" He was definitely caught off guard when I'd asked.

"What would you like everyone to call you?" I repeated.

"No one has ever even asked me that. I'm always Deeter." He said, his face was slapped with shock. But instantly after realizing how stupid he looked, he faked a smile.

Right then I realized who Carson Deet was. He wasn't "Deeter," just the sound of it made me feel he was foreign. He was just Carson, normal Carson. I figured out that all these years, I was assuming, all these years, he had been labeled as Deeter. Deeter, who plays football and basketball and plays all the girls after a huge breakup with Taylor Piece and gets good grades and is friends with everyone. Deeter led a simple and easy life, he was a blanket that covered Carson. Now I saw only Carson. Carson, who despite his attempts to radiate coolness and carelessness, was something much more... Much more complicated and unable for me to read at the time. All I knew was that he definitely was not the Deeter everyone made him out to be. I also wasn't sure if that was good or bad either.

"Well, which? Carson or Deeter or some weird thing no one's even heard of that everybody will think is creepy as shit?" I asked, holding back laughter so I wouldn't look stupid laughing at my own joke.

Before he could answer the bell, of course, rang. Within a second a crazy, young teacher came in. He reminded much of Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus. Despite being probably 25 years old he had lots of red hair.

The class was much harder than I anticipated. Even though the school based my classing off state tests, I couldn't bring myself to understand half the words the teacher, Mr. Elliot, was saying.

People were rushing to get out the door once the bell rung, signaling the end of school.

"Carson." Somebody whispered.

I whipped around, by now I was entering the Hallway of Hell. Behind me I saw no other but Carson standing there.

"I want to be called my first name and first name only- Carson." He explained.

"Sounds good, Carson." I told him with a grin.

And just like that, I had run into a bunch of more red hair. I quickly remembered her from lunch and algebra. Selina.

"Hey, Colette!" She squealed in an annoying, peppy voice. Even though she seemed basic and typical, I seemed to like Selina.

Weaved through all the smelly bodies, she pulled me into a hug. This was different for me, people didn't just hug for just the sake of seeing each other all the time.

"Hey, Selina." I responded.

"So on Mondays, like today, and Fridays, we all hang out at Deeter's house and watch a movie or play a game." She explained.

"Okay." I said.

"So you're coming?" She asked.

"I'm invited?" I queried.

"You're a part of our group, Colette!" She said loudly, as if it were only too obvious. "Majority voted to keep you!"

"You guys voted?" I asked, staring at her weirdly.

"Yeah! And only one person was against it, but it only makes sense, because he's like that.

"So you're coming?" She again asked, pulling out her cell phone.

"I'll need to call my parents. And I don't have a ride."

"You got me! I'm a ride!" She joked, dialing a number and pressing call.

I assumed she was speaking with a little brother based on her dialect.

I too got out my phone and texted Dad.