Tanis pushed her long, dark blonde hair out of her eyes and leaned against her bedroom wall, frightened. Standing before her was Gabi, wearing a long, green, sleeveless dress. Her hair was pulled into a low ponytail and her eyes were bright and intense. The thing that scared her was that she hadn't been standing there a second before. "What... are you doing here?"
"You still haven't helped me."
"How am I supposed to help you if I don't know why?" She thought back to their past encounters. She knew Gabi needed help getting back... but back from what, she didn't know. "I just don't understand. Why won't you parents let you come back? Did they kick you out?"
Gabi shook her head and a look of despair filled her eyes.
"So you ran away and they're mad?"
She shook her head again.
Tanis laughed. "Ok so you can't tell me. I understand that. Everybody thinks I'm crazy. They think I'm seeing ghosts." She laughed again but her heart jumped into her throat when she saw the look in Gabi's eyes. "Don't look at me like that Gabi... you're freaking me out."
"I'm sorry."
"You're so different now, what happened to you?"
"I'm different."
"Yeah, I know. But why?"
Gabi shook her head. "I AM different from you. Why don't you see it?"
Tanis closed her eyes and sat down on her bed. When she opened her eyes, Gabi was sitting down next to her. Normally this would be fine, but Tanis was strangely aware of the fact that she didn't feel Gabi sit down, and she didn't feel any extra weight on the bed next to her. And in a moment, she knew. She took a deep breath and stared straight ahead.
"Don't be scared of me. You weren't before."
"Yeah well, before, I thought you were alive. You know that I'm scared to death of ghosts, yet you have to come waltzing into my life like a person..."
Gabi laughed. "I'm sorry, I just need your help."
"Yeah, so you've said. Why? And how?"
Gabi sighed. "I screwed up a lot of things and I don't really know how to fix it. I need you to find a way to make Taylor and Carter friends."
"They are friends."
Gabi laughed. "They're friends but... I need you to make them closer."
Tanis sighed. "Ok. In what magical way should I do that?"
"I have no idea. Manipulation is so much easier on the negative side."
"And it helps to be alive, too."
"So you understand?"
Tanis nodded and then shook her head, but instantly nodded again. "Yeah. Kind of... I don't know."
"You're smart. You'll figure it out."
Tanis sighed and leaned foward, placing her face in her hands. "I have an idea!" She lifted her head to look at Gabi, but Gabi was gone. She sighed and laid down on her bed, falling asleep for the night.
When she woke up, she was groggy and didn't remember much of what happened the night before. It was a dream, she was sure, but she still felt the need to carry out her plan. She remembered a time when Todd and Bianca told her how Carter became overwhelmingly drunk after drinking 9 Rum and Cokes at Dillie's. He told her that since she was so tiny, it became dangerous and Zac spent the night taking care of her.
She wasn't sure how she would pull it off, but she knew she needed some help. Somebody would have to get Zac, Isaac, and Meli away from Carter so that the only person around to help her, would be Taylor. She also needed to get her drunk somehow. That would be the hard part. It might even call for some good old breaking and entering.
"See ya." Carter slumped onto the couch and sighed.
Zac stopped at the door with Melissa and Isaac and walked to Carter. "You sure you don't want me to stay home?"
"I'm sure." She sighed. "I don't really want to go to a party at Justine's house anyway."
"I wish she would have invited you. I never realized she hated you so much. I'd sneak you in but seeing as though she said 'please please please come and don't bring the whore, I don't think that would be a good idea. "
"Yeah well, have fun." She jumped up and hugged Zac. "Don't worry about me. I can finish up my homework."
"I think it's weird that we got invited at such short notice. I won't have fun without you but mom thinks it's a good idea for me to get out and have some fun." He rolled his eyes.
"I love you." She smiled and kissed him.
"I love you, too. I'll be home at midnight."
"K." Carter watched as he left the house with Isaac and Melissa and then went to the kitchen for a drink. She grabbed the two liter of Coke out of the fridge and looked around. Her dad was out, Melissa was out... SCORE! She took the Coke into the living room and drank straight from the bottle. She hardly noticed the funny taste.
Taylor laid on his bed holding his book in the air, reading silently. He was wide awake and bored. He looked at his watch wondering why he wasn't invited to Justine's party. It was only 6 o'clock. He rolled his eyes when he heard Carter dancing around in her room. He almost laughed when he heard her singing as loudly as she could.
"Touch of her skin feeling silky smooth. The color of cafe au lait. Made the savage beast inside roar until he cried... more ... more ... MORE!" She belted out Christina Aguilera's part to the new version of Lady Marmalade. Taylor hated the new version of that song but he knew that Christina Aguilera's favorite singer in the world. He rolled his eyes when he heard a loud thud, followed by an, "OUCH! SON OF A BITCH!"
The room was silent for a while and Taylor went back to his reading. He jumped about three feet when he heard, "TAYLOR!!!" coming from his walkie talkie. "WHAT?!" He yelled back. There was no answer.
Three seconds later, he heard the sound of thudding footsteps in the hallway, and then Carter burst into his room. "HA!" She shouted and jumped through the air to the middle of his room.
"What... is your problem? And how the hell did you get over here so fast?"
"I FLEW!" She yelled again. He noticed that her voice was an octave higher and several decibels louder than usual.
"What is wrong with you? Are you drunk?"
Carter shook her head, no, and answered, "Yeah, I think so."
"Where did you get the alcohol?"
Carter sat down in the middle of his bedroom and stared up at the ceiling. "In the fridge. It was in the Coke bottle. I think my daddy is inconspicuously boobing."
"You mean, boozing?"
"It's a very hard word." She shook her head, feeling overwhelmed.
"That... it is." He stood up and walked over to her. He grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. She fell forward against his chest and snorted. "How much did you drink?"
"THE WHOLE SHEBANG!" She screamed and then burst into a SheDaisy song.
"Good Lord, woman!" He yelled and pulled her over to his bed. "Can't you just sit still for a minute while I figure out what to do with you?"
"I can try." She sat down on his bed and bounced around.
"Yeah, trying real hard there aren't you? I'm gonna go get Zac, he'll know what to do."
"Nope. Zac's not home."
"Oh. Right." He sighed and sat down on the bed next to her.
"You're soooo stuck with me." She held out her finger and poked him hard on the cheek.
"OW!"
"Did I ever tell you how pretty you are?" She asked, giggling.
"I'm familiar with those words."
"WILL YOU TRY ON MY NEW RED DRESS?!?!"
"No."
"Damn." She laid back on his bed and closed her eyes.
He sighed and within a few minutes he realized how quiet she'd become. She was asleep. "No no no no no..." He jumped up and leaned over her, shaking her violently. "Carter, wake up! CARTER!"
Carter's looked at him wide eyed. "What?"
"Don't do that."
"Don't do what?"
"Don't fall asleep!"
"WHY NOT?! I'm very tired."
"Because... I'm not an expert on alcohol but I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to fall asleep."
"Sleep is good." She laughed and sat up, falling into his chest again.
"Geez." He put his arm around her. "Come on." He sighed, pulling her up and leading her out of his bedroom and to the stairs. "Let's go downstairs."
"Why?"
"Because while sleep may be good, walking is even better. And water is great."
"Water rules. Can I get some water? I'll pay ya."
He sighed again and led her down the stairs to the kitchen. After a full glass of water, Carter declared that she had to pee, and she headed for the backdoor.
"What are you doing?"
"Hey, if you and your brothers can pee outside, then so can I."
Taylor rolled his eyes, realizing he wasn't going to stop her, he waited until she returned to the kitchen. "How'd it go?" He asked, trying not to laugh while she fulled with the zipper on her jeans.
"That was really fun but I think the neighbors cat is PISSED OFF." She widened her eyes for a second and made a flying motion with her arms. Taylor didn't know what that meant, but he knew it was funny. He laughed.
"I don't even wanna know." He put his arm around her waist. "Come on, let's go watch tv."
"Can we watch ALF? ALF was cool."
"Sure..." He sighed and took her to the living room. They spent the next 6 hours there, watching tv while Carter declared that the Blueberry Chick from Willy Wonka was her new hero. "She was HOT." She shouted into his ear. He laughed while she leaned her head against his arm and tried to stay awake.
Carter
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