Carter pushed open the large metal doors of the hospital and instantly a shiver shot up her spine. "I hate it in here." She rememebered sitting by her mother's bed, Taylor's bed, and she remembered being in a bed herself. She hated the hospital. She held Taylor's hand tightly and found Todd sitting on a chair with his face in his hands. "Hey!"
Todd jumped up and shook his head. "They still won't tell me a damn thing. Who gives a shit if I'm not family."
"Where's Nique? Shouldn't she be here?" Taylor asked loudly , letting go of Carter's hand and looking around.
"I couldn't find her. She's probably out with friends." Todd gave Carter a thankful look. "You got here fast."
"I'm a bad driver." Carter smiled. The metal doors flew opened and hit Carter on her butt. "OUCH! DAMMIT!" She shrieked and rubbed her behind. She turned around to see Nique looking around the room.
"Hey, guys." Nique looked confused. "What are you doing here?"
"Where have you been?!" Todd shouted, almost angry. "They won't tell me a damn thing about Abby or Jade because I'm not freaking family. Go talk to the doctor!" He gave Nique a hard nudge.
"Geez, Todd. Chill." Nique took a step sideways after Todd practically shoved her into the wall. "Just relax. Jade's sister is in there talking to the doctor. And Abby is fine. She just scraped her forehead on the dashboard."
Todd, Carter, and Taylor all stood still for a long moment before Todd shook his head. "Wait a minute. Back up. Jade's what?"
Nique looked confused. "Sister."
"Jade has a sister?" Todd turned to Carter. "Why was I not informed?"
"Hey, we're in the dark here, too."
Todd shook his head. "My girlfriend has a sister."
Nique's eyes widened. "Ok now you back up. You're what?"
Todd blushed. He and Jade hadn't told anybody but Carter that they were together, and they had been dating for almost 7 months.
Carter spoke up for him. "Yeah, they're kind of together." She smiled lightly at Todd who smiled thankfully back. He didn't know how he would have told them.
Taylor raised a hand to his head. "Whoa. Too much information to receive in sixy seconds. Head... overloading."
Carter slapped his stomach and laughed. "I don't get it. I thought Jade came to live with you because she didn't have any other siblings and your dad wanted a female in your life."
Nique shrugged. "Well, yeah. She's actually Jade's half sister. They don't live together."
Carter made a face. "Way too many half siblings in this town. It gets confusing."
Nique rolled her eyes and squinted when she saw Taylor grab hold of Carter's hand. "What's this? Oh." She looked at her watch. "Is it Taylor's turn already? Wow. Time flies."
Carter was about to yell something when a very pretty, tall, girl with long blonde hair appeared behind Nique. She jabbed her knuckle into her back and smiled. "Wow, Niquie, do you treat your friends like that all the time or is it just a seasonal thing?"
"Katie..." Nique grumbled and rubbed her back. "Hi..."
Carter stood on her tiptoes and whispered into Taylor's ear. "I like her already."
Katie looked to be younger than Nique, but she towered over her and seemed to make Nique very nervous. It was obvious that they didn't get along. But then again, Carter wasn't sure if anybody got along with Nique.
Katie held out her hand to Todd and shook his. "Hi, I'm Jade's little sister, Katie. She's told me a lot about you."
Todd smiled a smile that seemed to say, "Really, I've heard nothing about you."
Katie turned to Carter and Taylor and examined them for a moment. "You must be Carter." She smiled and shook her hand. "And... you're... well you're either Zac or Taylor... or the other brother. What's his name? I forget."
Taylor smiled. "Isaac is the other one. But I'm Taylor. How are you?"
Nique mumbled. "Yeah, it's quite hard to keep up with which one she's dating."
Katie rolled her eyes and elbowed Nique. "Shut up Niquie. You're just jealous because you can't have any of them. And from what I hear, you've tried."
Nique blushed, turned around, and stomped out the door.
Carter laughed and smiled. "Thanks. It's really hard to deal with her sometimes. I thought she was my friend at one point."
"She admires you."
"What?"
Katie shook her head. "It's not important. Anyway. Todd, Abby is ok but there are police officers in there talking to her now. She ended up having alcohol poisoning."
Todd cringed. "And Jade?"
"She wasn't drinking."
"So why would she let Abby drive her somewhere?" Carter asked, completely confused.
Katie shook her head. "Well, apparently abby holds her alcohol really well. Practiced professional?" She looked at Todd and waited for him to nodd. "Jade says she didn't know Abby was drunk."
Todd's eyes lit up. "Jade said? So she's awake? She's ok?"
Katie nodded and ran her left hand threw her long hair. "She's fine. She scraped her forehead on the window when it broke but she's ok. I guess Abby swerved to miss a car and hit her tail end on a tree. They were lucky."
Todd sat back down into the chair and took a deep breath. "Good. I was so worried."
Carter sat down next to him and put her hand on his arm. Even though she had no romantic feelings for him, she still thought of him as a friend and had been worried about him. She knew how hard it was to have a friend in a car accident and not know if they were okay.
Katie looked around. "Do you guys know if there's a soda machine anywhere around here? I tried to find one earlier and I got lost."
Carter jumped up. "Hey, I know this place like it's home. I'll take you." She leaned down and gave Taylor a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back."
"Ok." Taylor smiled and watched as they walked away.
"So, you're Jade's younger sister? How old are you?" Carter asked, trying to strike up a casual conversation.
"Seventeen. I know we don't look much alike."
"Not really." Carter smiled. "Are you from around here? I've never seen you before."
"Lake Geneva. Pretty far."
"Oh. So you won't be around for long?"
"Actually..." Katie smiled. "My parents are worried that Jade is getting caught up in the wrong crowd. They're trying to talk Nique's dad into letting me move in too. Plus, it's been pretty hard being away from her. We were like best friends."
"I bet. My sister and I have gotten a lot closer lately."
"So..." Katie stopped in front of the two soda machines and chose a Coke from one of them. Carter grinned. "What?"
"Nothing. You drink Coke."
She nodded. "Yeah. Pepsi is just kind of..."
"The Coke for wussies?"
"Exactly."
Carter laughed. "What were you going to say before?"
"Oh yeah. You said you know the hospital really well. Do you work here or something?"
Carter frowned. "No. I could never work here. Too many bad memories."
"Oh." Katie stayed silent, not sure if she wanted to stir up the memories for Carter by asking questions.
"My mom died here. Last year I was in here in a coma and the year before, Taylor was here."
"I'm sorry." Katie frowned. "Taylor... he's very cute. Although I don't think cute covers it. You're lucky."
"Yeah." Carter smiled as Taylor and Todd came back into view. "I am."
"Have you guys been together long?"
"Not... long. I'm not sure we're completely together yet. I just got out of a serious relationship. It's a little weird."
"Zac?"
Carter laughed. "You're well informed."
"Jade keeps me updated."
"Cool." Carter smiled. "I've always liked Jade. I know she hated me for a while. But I think I'm lucky she's my friend. I don't have a ton of them. When you live next door to your best friend you tend to be a little sheltered from everybody else."
"I'm sure." Katie stopped about ten feet away from Taylor and Todd, who hadn't even noticed them yet. "Do you think that if I move in with Jade and Nique, you'll help me around? Maybe introduce me to some people?"
"Sure. That'd be great. Maybe I can even get you a date with Zac. He just got burned by some chick from the bowling alley who showed up at his house with her boyfriend. Zac thought it was a date, Lizzie thought it was a party."
"Aw. Poor guy." She laughed.
Taylor looked up and smiled when he saw Carter and Katie standing a few feet away. They both had a can of Coke in their hand and they took a sip at the exact same time. Then, the both slurped, and wiped their mouths on the back of their hand. "Whoa." Taylor turned to Todd. "Did you see that?"
Todd nodded. "Carter clicks with anybody doesn't she?"
"Not like that. This could be the start of an interesting friendship."
"I'm scared."
Taylor laughed. "Me too."
Carter
Home
Other Stories
Pictures of Carter Characters