Freeing Carter (17 page)

Jackson nods. By then Travis is ready and we head for the hallway and out to the parking lot. It
'
s always awkward. Will we see the girls or not? Luckily I haven
'
t had to choose between
whom
to hang out with lately
,
but we still have these exchanges where Trav waits in the wings while Trina and Mel look at him like he
'
s a murderer.

I
'
m still kind of thinking about Jackson. Yeah
,
he likes Mel. Everyone does so I know where his question came from
,
but still
,
it rubs me the wrong way.

"
God
,
I
'
m so glad school
'
s over. I can
'
t wait to go out tonight
,
"
Travis says.

"
You
'
re going out?
"
I ask. There
'
s a really screwed up part of me who wants to tell him not to go out before a game day. I mean
,
this is our first home game
,
and we all need our heads in it
,
but I realize that sounds
...
well
,
like I
'
m a parent
...
or a girl
...
or like I don
'
t have a social life. 

"
Yep.
"
I don
'
t have time to ask him what he
'
s doing because he says
,
"
Holee shit
,"
the second we step outside.

I automatically groan
,
figuring his words mean we
'
re in for it
,
but then I see something bright orange behind my truck. It bobs and weaves around the back until it
'
s more in view and that
'
s when I realize it
'
s a head. A bright
,
blind your eyes
orange
head.
"
No way
..."

"
Kira has orange hair
,"
Trav says.
"
Why does she have orange hair?
"

For a second
,
he sidetracks me.
"
Why do you repeat things like that?
"

"
Some things need to be repeated
,
man. Kira has
orange
hair.
"

She does. I look over at her and smile. She
'
s leaning against my truck all normal-like. I mean
,
not like a chick with orange hair.
"
Yeah
.
Sara told her she wanted her to add some orange and
I
tried to give her shit by making her do the whole thing like that.
"
Then more to myself I add
,
"
I can
'
t believe she really did it.
"

By now the guys are all coming out of the hallway
,
mixed in with the girls from cheer. Laughs and comments about Kira
'
s hair start popping up around us. I ignore them and keep walking toward her. I take in her black stretch pants. The long shirt with little tears in it
,
little flashes of orange showing through each rip. It
'
s not an old shirt
,
you can tell
,
but purposely like that. It
'
s like some strange retro-rockstar look but somehow it works on her.

"
Who are you?
"
j
umps out of my mouth when I reach her.

"
Hmm
,
I know the hair is a big change
,
but I didn
'
t realize I wasn
'
t recognizable.
"

"
That
'
s not what I mean
,"
but that
'
s all I say. I don
'
t even know if I understand what I meant.

"
Then I can
'
t help you.
"

I can
'
t stop thinking this girl dyed her freaking hair orange. For my sister. That she
'
s walking around in public like this and doesn
'
t care what anyone thinks. I don
'
t know any other girl who would do this.
I
wouldn
'
t do it.

"
Sara
'
s going to freak. I hope you don
'
t mind if she tackles you. She gets a little over excited and this is
..."

"
Orange hair?
"
she supplies for me.

"
Yep.
"

"
It won
'
t last long. It
'
s the spray stuff
,
but I promised your sister so I wanted to do it.
"

For the first time
,
I notice she took her braid out. Her hair is now free
,
hanging in curls that go down a little past her shoulders. It would look good if it wasn
'
t orange.

"
Is she at the store tonight? I wasn
'
t sure if she
'
s there or with Bill.
"

H
earing her say Bill
'
s name shocks me a little. I can
'
t remember if Mel even knows Sara
'
s dad
'
s name.
"
She should be there. She goes to her dad
'
s tomorrow.
"

"
So you did this for his sister? Did she pay you?
"
Travis laughs
,
reminding me he
'
s still here.

"
Nope. She
'
s got style though. I might let her pick my next look.
"
She turns to me.
"
Hope you had a good practice. I
'
m going to see Sara now.
"
All I get is a little wave over her shoulder while she
'
s walking away.

"
Hey!
"
I call after her.
"
I
'
m going that way. Do you want a ride?
"

Without turning around
,
she shakes her head.
"
Nope! It
'
s a gorgeous evening to see how many cars I can get to stop and check out my hair!
"

Chuckling
,
I stand there watching her walk away
,
in her black and orange clothes. Orange hair
,
head held high as people laugh and point. Me? I just keep staring.

Travis elbows me.
"
Dude
,
when it comes to that girl
,
you are so screwed.
"

He doesn
'
t have to say it twice.

***

"
Are we riding to the party together?
"
Mel and I are standing in the hallway
,
outside the locker room. I
'
m already in my uniform
,
but have a few minutes before the team has to get together pre-game.

"
I don
'
t know
...
I was thinking I
'
d ride with Trina. It
'
s her first party since she and Travis broke up.
"

I exhale
,
excited at the idea of a night just to relax. To not have to worry about my hair being messy or getting ketchup in her car. But then there
'
s the other part who
'
s a little annoyed. What
'
s the point of us being together if we
'
re never together? Do I even want us to still be a couple or am I just too big a pussy to do anything about it?
"
Mel
...
did you know Jackson came up to me and asked when we broke up? You should have seen the look on his face when I told him we were still together.
"

Her face pales.
"
I
..."

"
Come on
."
I step closer to her.
"
We
'
ve all gone together before.
"
I touch her hair to see how it feels. It
'
s still soft
,
so soft that
I want
to bury my hand in it
,
but that
'
s all I feel. I don
'
t get that electric
,
I-have-to-touch-you-now feeling I used to get when I touched her.

Testing the waters
,
I step closer again. This is my girlfriend. I should be feeling something right now. That
'
s when I realize what I
'
m doing—it
'
s a test. I need to know how things are with us. Need to know which is more powerful
,
that part of me who got happy at the thought of another free night or the one who used to be into this girl. The one who could forget about all his demons when he was with her.

Mel steps away from me.
"
Yeah
...
yeah
,
okay. I gotta run though. I
'
ll see you after the game.
"
She jogs away without another word.

"
Shaw! Get your ass in here. Coach wants us.
"
Travis ducks in the locker room
,
but then his head pokes out again.
"
I almost forgot. I saw Kira and she said to tell you good luck. She said something else about her whole future of watching our games hinges on this game or something. Whatever that means.
"

So she
'
s scared I
'
m going to embarrass her like her old school? Yeah
,
I don
'
t even need to know that to still know we
'
re going to win.

***

Eighteen points
,
eight rebounds and eleven assists. The whole gym is chanting LANCERS! LANCERS! Mel and the cheerleaders are jumping up and down because of our sixteen point win. But me? I
'
m flying. My heart is hammering harder than it
'
s ever beat before. There
'
s nothing in the world like this feeling. It
'
s like being shocked by lightening
,
but in a good way. All lit up
...
electric and invincible.

"
Carter! Carter!
"
Sara calls. I
'
m amazed that I hear her over all the noise
,
but I reach out and grab her hand before someone runs her over.

"
Did you see that
,
Twig? I told you we
'
d win.
"

She wraps her tiny arms around me.
"
Did you score points for me? You said. I watched. How many?
"
She keeps starting different sentences
,
too excited to know which one to go with.