Taylor reached across the table, over his work, and poked Carter with his pencil. "Hey... I can't get this... wanna help me?" Taylor hated Calculus even more than he hated Trig. He didn't understand why he had to take it. Everybody in normal school only had to have three math credits. But his mom was always on his case about how important math was, and with Zac, the math whiz sitting next to Carter, whispering into her ear, there was no way out of it.
After Carter didn't answer, he poked her again.
"Don't talk to me."
"Come on, I know we're not supposed to copy, but this makes no sense, and you've already had calc. Please?" His voice came out almost as a whine. She hardly ever heard Taylor whine... but...
"You put my bed in the pool." She answered calmly without looking up from her English paper. She was even writing about it. Why Taylor sucks, by, Carter Annabella Porter She knew Diana wouldn't accept it, but hey, a girl has to vent.
"It didn't even get wet." He turned to Melissa who was sitting on the couch reading Much Ado About Nothing. "Right Meli?"
"Leave me out of it." She didn't look up.
"But you helped!"
"Totally your idea."
Taylor slouched down in his chair and tapped his pencil on the table loudly.
"Not gonna work." Carter grinned and continued to write. He taps way too much. It's a wonder his fingers aren't shorter by now.
"Your hair looks really nice today." He smiled at her, his sparkly blue eyes blinking lightly.
"Not gonna work either, although, thank you very much. I got a new shampoo."
Taylor grumbled and tapped his pencil harder... and harder... louder and louder until Melissa threw her book onto the floor and got up from the couch. "Jesus Christ Taylor. Shut the hell up before I have to knock you into a wall." She yelled and pushed him away from his paper. She read the problem and wrote an answer, as simple as that, faster than even Zac would have gotten it. "There. Now shut up."
Taylor, Zac, and Carter looked at Meli in disbelief as she grabbed her book and sat back down on the couch.
Carter leaned across the table and read what Melissa had written. She answered the most complex problem on that page, a problem that would have taken Carter twenty minutes to answer, a problem that required work and a lot of concentration. "Mel... how did you do this?" She asked, turning to her younger sister.
Melissa for some reason looked older sitting on the couch, reading Shakespeare. Her hair was down and tucked back behind her shoulders. She wore a pair of jeans and a maroon sweater with a high neck. "I just did it."
"But... it's Calc."
"Yeah. I had Calc last year."
Carter and Zac looked at eachother. "No you didn't. You had... wait, what did you have last year?"
"Calculus." Melissa sighed and turned the page. "And Trig."
"Huh?" Carter looked completely confused.
"You know what else? I'll be able to graduate this year along with you and Taylor. Which would explain why I'm sitting over here reading a book, wouldn't it?"
"But you're reading Shakespeare." Zac just now noticed.
"Because he's brilliant." She sighed and stood up. "And I only need one more English credit to graduate and your mom said since I'm this far ahead of everybody else, all I have to do is read some books, write some reports, blah blah." She glared at her sister. "But you didn't know that did you?"
Carter shook her head.
"You don't know anything about me, do you?"
Carter bit her lip.
"And you don't care." She sat back down and opened her book. Carter couldn't help but notice the tears in Melissa's eyes. She was lonely. She must have been lonely for a long time. Carter felt horrible that she hadn't talked to her sister more often, or even asked her what was going on in her life. Maybe that was why Meli had spent the summer partying. She needed to open up and be herself. Carter never stopped to think that her sister was in pain. All she ever saw was the sophisticated, preppy, exterior. She never noticed that she was still 15, still looking up to her big sister.
Carter walked over to the couch and sat down next to Melissa. "I'm sorry." It was all she really knew to say. She knew she had been wrong for a long time about her sister. She knew that when they were closer, before their mother had died, Meli had a brilliant mind. She excelled and flew by Carter in all of their classes. Somewhere along the line, Carter had forgotten. "I'm really sorry, Mel. I..."
Melissa looked up at her sister and smiled. All she ever really wanted Carter to do was notice her, and she finally had. "Well, at least I can go down knowing I'm smarter than you."
"You are not."
"Heh." Meli smiled. "Yeah I am."
"Ok, so maybe you are." Carter gave her sister a quick hug and went back to her paper. She felt horrible inside. She almost wanted to change the paper to Why Carter Sucks but then she remembered seeing her bed in the pool, and she decided against it.
Zac smiled at the table. "That was some real sisterly bonding over there. Made me just wanna cry."
"Shut up Zac." Carter laughed.
Melissa yelled without looking up from her book. "Don't make me come over there."
"I swear, it was like the time Taylor dared me to eat a denture cleanser tablet."
Taylor dropped his pencil. "Ok, how the hell is this like the time I dared you to eat a denture cleanser tablet."
"Well, it was like... it uhm... seemed like a good time before it started to fizz up, then I swallowed it and the fizz was still coming up my throat and then I threw up all over Melissa's shirt."
"I repeat, how the hell are they the same?"
Zac shrugged. "I dunno. I just felt like telling that story. Besides, it was brotherly bonding." He paused. "Kind of."
Carter laughed. "You're warped."
"Yeah, I know."
They went back to doing their work for about a half an hour before Carter dropped her pencil and slapped her hand down on the table. "You ate a fucking denture tablet? Where the hell was I?"
Zac, Taylor, and Melissa all laughed loudly.
"No seriously, I'm really depressed that I missed that. Would you like, do it again?"
Zac shook his head. "Hell no, once is enough."
"Oh come on... for me?"
Zac shook his head harder. "Not even for you. But hey, if you're so interested in seeing it happen, why don't you go do it yourself?"
"No. I'm not even that stupid." Carter went back to her work. A minute later, she began tapping her pencil on the table... harder... faster... until... "Ok fine." She got up quickly and ran upstairs.
Taylor grinned at Zac and Melissa held up her hand. Slowly, she counted on her fingers. "Five... Four... Three... Two..."
"SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!!"