Chapter 110

"Zac, do you have to wear that ugly shirt all the time?" Taylor asked, rolling his eyes at his brother's bright blue SPAM shirt. They were sitting at the dining room table with their books open, trying to study for exams. Diana had left the house to get a few things at the grocery store.

Zac looked down, confused. "What? I like this shirt."

"Yeah well, nobody else does."

Zac sighed. "Carter does." He stared down at his History book and grumbled to himself. "I miss her..."

Taylor rolled his eyes again. "Zac... she hasn't been gone that long."

"Why did she have to go home with Tanis? And why did she have to stay there overnight?"

"Zac, quit whining. She'll be back later. Tanis asked her to take her home. She had a... scare..."

"Yesterday you called it an episode. What the heck happened to her?"

"She went into the old garage and fell through the ceiling." Taylor looked down at his book and tapped his pencil hard.

"The old garage?" Zac paused to widen his eyes. "THE HAUNTED GARAGE?! SHE ACTUALLY WENT IN?!"

"Yeah. It's not that big of a deal."

Zac stared at his book for a moment, trying to figure out what the big deal about ancient Egypt was. "Wait... so if you found her when she fell..." His eyes widened again to twice their size. "YOU WENT IN THE HAUNTED GARAGE TOO!"

"So?"

"So? SO?! Do you know how many times when you were little that you'd send somebody else in there because you were too much of a chicken to go in yourself?"

"I never did!"

"Yeah you did."

"WHO?!"

"ME!"

"OH!" Taylor fell silent. "By the way sorry for locking the door once you were inside."

"Yeah no problem."

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Carter yawned and looked down at her watch. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and she'd been at Tanis's house for 15 hours. She leaned back against the hard dining room chair that was placed in Tanis's bedroom so that she could keep an eye on her. Tanis's parents had gone to work early and Carter didn't want to leave before she knew that Tanis was ok. Besides, Tanis was so dead set on Carter staying with her (Which Carter didn't quite understand).

Carter watched as Tanis mumbled and her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was the purple walls of her bedroom. Glow-in-the-dark stars were scattered about in various constellations. She yawned and rolled over onto her side where she saw Carter staring at her. Instinctively she jumped and back up against the wall, remembering what had happened the night before. "Carter... hi... uhm..." She was hoping it had all been a very bad dream. "What time is it?"

Carter glanced at her watch again. "3:15. How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"So uhm..." Carter paused not sure what she wanted to say next. "Why were you in the garage?"

"You don't know?"

"No."

"Taylor didn't tell you?"

"No."

"Good." She sighed slightly. "So at least you don't think I'm a total freak. You should have seen the way Taylor looked at me."

Carter nodded. "So can you tell me what happened? All I know is that you fell through the roof. Meli told me that."

Tanis sat indian style on her bed and looked at the floor. "I wish I hadn't gone up there. I wish I didn't know."

"Know what?" Carter shook her head. "This whole thing has me so confused. First you're in our attic staring off into space like there's something fascinating growing out of the walls. Then you scream and disappear from the house... then next thing I know Taylor is carrying you inside yelling for help."

"I..." Tanis paused. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok." Carter looked down at the floor not sure what to do or say next.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"Before Gabi... died... she told me that she felt bad about all the things she did to you."

Carter raised her eyebrows.

"There were just so many things that nobody else saw in her. She was very motherly to her friends."

"More like controlling."

Tanis shook her head, frustrated. "No. Remember the time Melissa came home completely smashed from being at a party at Gabi's house? Well what you don't know is that Gabi is the one that made Todd drive her home. She was very worried and made sure that Melissa got home ok."

"So what?"

"She did that for everybody. Gabi was the only one at that party that wasn't completely bombed."

Carter laughed. "You mean you got drunk there too?"

"Hell yeah. I don't remember much about it. All I remember is that I was doing these blue jello shots and at one point Gabi came up to me and made me stick my tongue out. My lips, my teeth, my tongue, even my forehead, for some strange reason, was completely blue. Then she asked me if I was drunk and I shook my head about forty times and said 'no'. And she just looked at me and glared and I said, 'ok that was a lie'. She was... she was a great person, she just had problems."

Carter smiled and nodded. Meli told me some pretty cool stories about Gabi. I just... it's too hard for me to get past all the crap she pulled. Did you know she spend a week camping out on our balcony trying to get Taylor to have sex with her?"

"No." She laughed. "I did not know that." Tanis smiled. "But it is good to have somebody to laugh with again..."

Carter nodded. "Hey I have an idea. How would you like to have a helping hand in the prank of the century."

"The what?"

"Well Taylor has been bragging lately about how he had the best prank ever when he put my bed in the pool."

"That's true?! I thought that was just a rumor!"

Carter sighed. "Sadly, yes. But I have one that will top it and I need all the help I can get."

"Ok what can I do."

Carter proceeded in telling Tanis the plan and the two of them cracked up for a while about how funny it would be to see the look on Taylor's face. Carter knew Tanis needed to get her mind off of things so she figured she could help out. "So Zac and Isaac are in charge of the heavy lifting. Meli will be on standby with the walkie talkies. I just need you to meet me in front of my house at midnight tonight to set everything up. Taylor is usually fast asleep by eleven and if he isn't, I'll call you. And Jade said it would be ok to use her driveway."

"So everybody is in on this?"

"Even Diana and Walker. I cleared it with them this morning and they said as long as nobody gets hurt."

"And you don't think Taylor will have a heart attack?"

"Nah he'll be fine. We gotta be careful of his cast though." Carter replied referring to his snowboarding injury.

"Yeah that might get in the way. Ok then, we're all set."

Carter jumped up and let out a shriek. "THIS IS GOING TO SO RULE!"

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"You have the old walkie talkie right?" Zac asked crossing the last of the items off his list.

"Got it. Everything is in place except the main character. I just hope he doesn't wake up." Carter spoke into the walkie talkie from her station outside. "If anybody is a heavier sleeper than me, it's him. Wait, did cranking up the heat work?"

Zac grabbed the blanket that was underneathe Taylor and smiled at Isaac who had a hold of the other end. "It worked. Ok let's get this booger in gear."

___________________________________

Taylor mumbled and rolled over. His room was surprisingly cold tonight, but that wasn't what woke him up. His eyes were still closed and he wasn't quite alert, but he was sure of what he heard. Over his moniter he heard the familiar sounds of Carter sleepwalking. "Meli," He muttered, still half asleep, "Check on Carter, she's moving around."

Melissa faked her sleepiness and growled into Carter's moniter. "She's fine. Actually, she's heading towards your bedroom so don't be surprised if she climbs in with you again."

Taylor sighed and rolled back onto his stomach, his face burried in his pillow. "Can't she climb into bed with Zac? Geez." He listened carefully and recognized the sound of Carter dragging her blanket behind her down the hallway. Something hit him though, he thought about how horrible it would be if she missed the turn in the hallway and fell down the stairs. And then, it happened. He heard the crash and then he heard Melissa scream.

"TAYLOR WAKE UP! SHE FELL DOWN THE STAIRS!"

Taylor instantly threw the covers off of himself and jumped out of his bed, He ran across the gravel driveway and into the street... then... he stopped dead in his tracks realizing that he had just run across the gravel driveway and into the street. He turned around and his jaw practically hit the ground. There, in Jade and Nique's driveway was his bed, complete with his dresser, desk, computer, nightstand, and walkie talkie, set up exactly how it would be if he was in his own room. Even his bookshelf was filled with every book he owned, arranged alphabetically, the same as it would if it was in his bedroom. "Whoa..." He was stunned. Carter had pulled it off. She had conducted the prank of the century. Nothing could top it.

And then Taylor felt the chill. Not only had he been sleeping outside for the past three hours, he was butt naked. He remembered sometime around midnight kicking the covers off of himself, completely engulfed in excess heat. When that didn't work, he stripped off his boxers and went back to sleep, wondering who had cracked up the heat. Not knowing what to do next, Taylor darted as fast as he could to his house. He slammed the front door shut behind him, grateful that it had been unlocked. Then, he grabbed the quilt that was laying on the couch and wrapped it around his body.

"CARTER!" He screamed, somehow knowing she was upstairs in Zac's room. Zac had to have been in on it. When he made it to Zac's bedroom he was shocked to see Carter, Zac, Isaac, Melissa, Tanis, and Jade sitting on Zac's bed smiling. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "You... YOU!" He pointed at Isaac who months before he referred to as his best friend. "YOU HELPED?!"

"Hey somebody had to help carry you outside."

He turned his gaze to Melissa. "And you? You knew all along?"

"For about a week now." She smiled. "Hey, you and me... you know... but I have some loyalty to family first."

Taylor glared at Zac. "Yeah, I don't have much loyalty towards my family."

"But how? I heard you fall down the stairs!" He yelled, pointing at Carter.

"Yeah, it's amazing how much a dining room chair wrapped in a blanket sounds like a human body bouncing down the stairs." She grinned.

"BUT I'M NAKED! I WAS OUTSIDE NAKED!"

Isaac laughed. "Hey dude... you took your clothes off all by yourself. I had no hand in your nudity... so to speak."

"YOU ALL SUCK!" His pride grately bruised, Taylor huffed and went to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

"Hey Tay, where are you going?" Carter called after him, laughing.

"BACK TO BED!"

Jade laughed. "Yeah you might wanna get your bed from out of my driveway first."

"SHUT UP!" He yelled and then laid down on his bedroom floor and went back to sleep.

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