Chapter 62

"Wow. This is one kickass doohickey." Carter looked down at the grey, plastic, box Diana placed in front of her. "What is it?"

"That's your new calculator. I got a few from the school. It's a TI-85. You can do all kinds of graphing on it. It's not the best, but it's all I could get for you guys. Just don't break it. They cost anywhere up to one hundred dollars."

Carter slid the plastic case off and widened her eyes at all the buttons. "Whoa." She stared at it for a while and then looked over at Zac. "How do you turn it on?" She whispered.

Zac was frantically pushing buttons and writing answers down on his paper. "See that button at the bottom that says 'ON'?"

"Yeah."

"Push it."

"ooooOOOH!" Carter giggled and pushed the 'ON' button. "This thing is just too cool."

"Ok." Diana laughed and sat down next to her. She handed her a piece of paper and basically told her to "do this" just to see how much she was capable of.

Carter shook her head and looked up at Diana. "I thought we were doing trig?"

"We are. There's graphing involved in trig."

"I thought that was algebra."

"It was. But it's in trig too."

"Dammit." Carter sighed and started pushing buttons. "I thought we were done with that crap after Geometry."

Diana laughed. Over the past few days, she'd begun enjoying Carter's company. She owed her a lot after all she'd done for Taylor at the hospital.

"Do I really have to do all this? Can't I just wait till Tay comes home?"

"No, because when Taylor comes home, nobody is going to want to do school work. Therefore, we do it now."

Carter sighed and continued following the directions on the paper. "So what am I doing here?"

"You're programming it."

"Oh." Carter pushed the last button and then jumped when the screen went completely blank. She lifted the calculator and whacked it on the corner of the table.

"CARTER! DON'T DO THAT!"

Carter looked up innocently. "I don't think it likes me."

Diana laughed and took the calculator from Carter. "Well, I guess we aren't going to accomplish much today. Tell you what, you go ahead and go home to change. I don't think you'll wanna be in Zac's boxers and Isaac's old sweatshirt for the Welcome Back party."

Carter jumped up and emitted a "WOOHOO!" before running out the front door. She ran up the stairs to her bedroom, threw off her sweatshirt, and started rummaging through the stack of clothes on her dresser. She still hadn't quite mastered the art of putting away laundry. She grabbed a long black skirt and a white tanktop with the words "Princess today, Goddess tomorrow" scrolled in silver across the chest. She pulled on the skirt, but before she had a chance to fully dress, she heard Zac's voice coming from behind her. "Hey you."

Carter screamed and covered herself with her arms.

"Dude what?!"

She turned around and laughed when she realized his voice was coming from the walkie talkie on her bed. "Don't... EVER do that again."

"What?! What'd I do?"

She laughed again. "Nothing. What do you want." She asked while pulling her tanktop over her head.

"Tay's home."

"WOO!" She screamed, practically running out of her bedroom.

"DUDE WAIT!"

"What?"

"He doesn't feel well enough to party yet. We're gonna celebrate his birthday tomorrow then. He's in his room if you wanna say hi."

"Cool." Carter tried to say calmly, but in actuality, she was more excited than she'd been in a long time. Her excitement was really from the fact that she couldn't wait to see him home, and comfortable. And she didn't know why.

Taylor shoed his mom away and convinced her he'd be ok. He just wanted to lay down for a while. But before he had the chance, Carter appeared at the balcony door like a breath of freshair. "Hi." She smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug.

Taylor winced, but didn't push her away.

"Sorry." She blushed.

"It's ok. I'm just still a little bit sore."

Carter smiled when she noticed he was wearing his new glasses, small, silver, wire framed glasses. "They look really good on you."

Taylor blushed and laid down on his bed so that he could see her. "You didn't come to the hospital yesterday."

"My dad wouldn't let me. He thought you needed a day of rest, which of course means a day away from my evil wrath." She grinned and sat down on the bed next to him. "So how was it without me there? Quiet?"

"Not really. I met a girl."

Carter's heart fell, but she managed to smile. "Oh? What was she like?"

"She was there with her mom, getting medical records or something transferred to Pennsylvania."

"Oh?"

"Yeah they're moving there. Probably on their way right now. She was really cool though. We sat in the lobby eating stale sandwiches and talking about weird stuff."

"What's her name?"

"Beth. She's got this really long brown hair, kinda wavy. Sort of pretty, but really plain. She was telling me about how she's moving to this really snobby neighborhood and how she dreads it."

"She sounds cool."

Taylor nodded. "She told me this really funny story about how she's afraid of Creepazoids."

Carter looked at him confused.

"That's what she calls those people that dress up in those big character outfits. Like at Disney World. She reminded me of you. You're afraid of them too aren't you?"

Carter shuddered and yawned. "Did she ever get chased down the street by a radio station mascot fox?"

"No. But she did get chased down an aisle at a supermarket by a giant tub of cool whip with a spoon."

"Poor girl."

Taylor laughed and pushed his wavy hair out of his eyes. He pushed his pillow into a hard ball and laid his head down on it. "She also got her ass pinched by Marvin the Martian at an amusement park once."

"At least she didn't get slapped by a giant chicken at a parade." Carter laughed lightly and then stopped. She was suddenly aware of her own presence. She sometimes feared she had the rarest form of autophobia; fear of herself. "I'm really glad you're back home."

Taylor smiled and lightly touched her hand. "I'm glad too." Then he blushed and took his hand away. "I hate hospitals. Heh. I didn't want to spend another minute there."

"Yeah, I don't like them much either. The smell scares me. And I'm always afraid I'll end up there."

"But..." Taylor paused and looked up at her.

"What?"

"You stayed there with me for a week. You hardly went home. Not even when Melissa came and tried to drag you."

Carter shook her head. "You were asleep. She wanted me to go home and get some rest."

"I wasn't asleep. I was resting my eyes. I heard you tell her that you had to stay there until I was better."

Carter looked down at the floor.

"Why did you think you had to stay?"

Carter bit her bottom lip.

"You have to tell me, Carter."

"Because of all the bad things I did to you."

"Just... all the times I made fun of you and made you leave Zac and me alone so we could make fun of you more. All those times I'd beat you up..."

"Yeah well, we don't have to ever mention those times again..."

Carter laughed. "Admit it, I'm a horrible person. I've treated you like shit our entire lives just because I could. Doesn't that ever make you mad?"

"Not really. I never knew anything different. Except for that month when..."

"We were boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Yeah."

"Anyway, I just figured it would be a good way to apologize." Carter sighed and looked down at the ground.

Taylor watched her for a few seconds before sitting up slowly.

"Tay... you're supposed to rest, what do you need? I'll get it."

Taylor shushed her by pressing his lips against hers and kissing her firmly. After a few seconds he let her go, only to kiss her again. When they parted, he leaned his forehead against hers and smiled. "You never have to say you're sorry to me."

Carter smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad you're home."

Taylor grinned and kissed her cheek. "You've already said that."

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