Heart and Soul - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Living in a house full of teenagers, Carter had expected at least the mornings to be the calmest. But, with the Santoros, every morning seemed to break out like a trench war.
Apparently, the rooster gene ran in their family line. They didn't even need alarms to be up and running before seven. Fully functional. In a good mood.
All of them, of course, except for one.
"Move."
Carter turned slowly. "I got here first," he said.
"And I got here next. Now move," Bella barked.
She was a sight to behold, in the earlier hours of the day. Her hair stuck out in random directions from a sloppy ponytail; an oversized t-shirt hung awkwardly from her shoulders, crinkled and at the wrong angle; and there were red pillow marks on her sleep-swollen face.
Her mood was about as pleasant as her aesthetic.
When the necessary adjustments had been made to the rooming system, after Carter's moving in, the bathroom arrangement had been shifted as well. Bella used to share the upstairs bathroom with Frankie and Luca, while Tony shared the master bathroom with Charlie, who slept in the small 'annex room', which was really just a walk-in linen closet. The eight-year-old didn't seem to mind, though.
Then, Tony renovated the basement into a new master bedroom for himself and Carter's mom, freeing his old one for Frankie and Luca so Carter could take their room. The only catch was that, now, Carter and Bella had to share the upstairs bathroom. To say it was a difficult arrangement was a major understatement.
Just like every other time a new fight between them was about to ensue, though, Carter stepped aside with a resigned sigh. Bella pushed past him, shutting the door in his face without a word of thanks. Definitely not a morning person.
Somewhere in the background, Carter heard Luca and Frankie's argument over who between the two of them would shower first too. Mike approached Carter then, already dressed, and extended a friendly smile.
"You can use the shower in the attic," he offered.
"Shotgun on that," Luca yelled, running past them to reach the retractable stairs drawn out from the trapdoor. Apparently, Frankie had won their dispute.
Carter noted, upon moving in, that the attic was something like the Santoro house's nirvana. It had been the oldest Santoro brother, Richie, who asked to turn it into a bedroom for himself, after Charlie's birth. When he moved away for college, it became an aspiration of the eldest Santoro living in the house to move up into the attic. In the current days, Mike held that privilege.
Carter shot him a thankful smile, appreciative of the intention. "It's okay." He shrugged one shoulder. "I showered yesterday after practice anyway."
It wasn't entirely okay, though. Unlike the Santoros, Carter was not a natural morning person. He could get up early but he depended heavily on a morning shower to fully wake him up. It was his equivalent of morning coffee. Today, though, actual coffee would have to do the trick.
Carter followed Mike down the stairs to the kitchen. As he did, he took out his phone from the front pocket of the jeans he had slept in. There was one unread message, from Seth.
"Good morning, honey."
Carter looked up from the screen to smile at his mom. She shoved half a piece of toast into her mouth in a single bite, chewing it with difficulty.
"Good morning," he replied, sliding the phone back into his pocket.
Tony reached between them then, to set a plate of crispy bacon strips on the table. Another novelty of moving in with the Santoros was the constant abundance of food. Freshly cooked. Every day. Carter sat down next to Mike, taking in the sight of piles of toast, butter, bacon and scrambled eggs. He reached for the milk and cereals instead, like every morning.
"Can you drive me to school today?"
His mom lifted both eyebrows as she got up, dusting toasted bread crumbs from her pale pink blouse. "I'm sorry, honey, but I'm running a little late already." She gave him an apologetic smile.
"That's fine." Carter smiled as she put one hand on his cheek to kiss his forehead.
Tony watched her make her way to the doorway. "Want some of this for the way? I fried it for you," he said picking up the bacon and moving to the corner where Carter's mom was putting on her heels.
"I appreciate it, sweetie, but I really have to go," she said, before rising on the tip of her toes – even with the heels – for a quick kiss.
Tony shoved a strip of bacon in front of her mouth, as soon as they parted. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Just one." He winked.
Abby laughed, taking the meat between her teeth. Carter smiled a little to himself at the endearing exchange.
"Goodbye, everyone."
"Bye."
They heard the click-clack of heels on hardwood floors all the way to the entry hall, before the sound of the front door opening and closing.
"Mike could drive you," Tony said suddenly, returning to his seat.
Carter looked between his stepfather and Mike, who was just finishing his portion of buttered toast.
His stepbrother smiled. "Of course. But I'm leaving in—" he looked down at his wrist watch, because Mike was the kind of guy who wore wrist watches, "—exactly eight minutes."
"We heard that!"
Both Luca and Frankie came storming into the kitchen, Charlie running behind them. Kitchen stools screeched against the tiled floor as the three boys all but threw themselves at their breakfast choices. Carter got up then, taking his bowl with him upstairs. As he slipped away, he thought he saw Luca's tag on the back of his t-shirt, like he'd put it on inside out after showering. He didn't say anything, though.
He swallowed the rest of his breakfast in a hurry, changing as quickly as he could and shoving everything he needed in his bags. He met Mike downstairs. Luca and Frankie stood beside him – the first with an egg and bacon sandwich made from toast, the latter holding five pieces of buttered toast in one hand and strip of bacon between his teeth. Luca's t-shirt looked like it had been flipped, so someone must have tipped him off.
Just as Carter slid into the backseat with Luca, he realized with a huff he had forgotten to get coffee.
He had no news of Seth throughout the entire morning. At lunch, Carter sat surrounded by the usual people. Mostly guys from his team, girls from other sports teams and cheerleaders. There was no Seth, though. That made Carter's usual company feel strange, somehow. They were the same people as always, but the environment felt different.
The boy sitting opposite him, Joey Ashley, a green-eyed guy with sandy blonde hair, was loudly describing a conflict with his biology teacher. From the little Carter managed to catch, despite Joey's outraged remarks, the teacher had been right. The girl sitting next to Joey, Jenna Torres, wore his white and green varsity jacket over her cheering uniform of the same colors. Judging by her face, though, she couldn't be less interested in Joey's story.
Someone nudged Carter's shoulder gently and he turned his head to the side.
"You okay there?" Golden-brown eyes smiled up at him from above round, dark cheekbones.
Carter smiled, half-heartedly. Melanie Jones was junior class president, with a solid stellar GPA. She was also a cheerleader. Unlike Jenna, though, she did not wear her cheering uniform or her hair tied up. Instead, her thick, brown curls cascaded freely over her shoulders.
"I'm fine." Carter shrugged, almost comically unconvincingly.
The table erupted in laughter as Joey finished yet another of his stories.
"Cart," Melanie started softly, leaning toward him. "Have you been avoiding me?"
Carter's lips parted, ready to answer. But no words came to his head.
Melanie smiled faintly, shrugging one shoulder. "I barely see you anymore. And we rarely talk."
"I'm not avoiding you."
Mel looked at him. Waiting. She was expecting him to say something more.
"My life's just kinda... going through an adjustment period."
Melanie's face softened with a mix of understanding and relief. She had been at his mom's wedding. As his date, in fact.
"I thought you might be weird around me, because of what we said to each other at the end of summer." She smiled tentatively. "I meant my part, though. You can still count on me as a friend."
"I know," Carter muttered with a smile that felt less forced. He looked around their long, crowded table and Seth's absence rang inside his head with an irking feeling of discomfort, once again.
"Anything you'd like to share with a friend?" Mel tried again with a playful smile.
Carter let out a short, tense laugh. He swallowed down on the words etching at the walls of his throat, before he let them float back to the surface and leave his mouth anyway.
"It just used to be me and my mom, you know?"
She did. Mel had been one of his most frequent guests in their old apartment. She was well-acquainted with Carter's former family dynamic. That knowledge encouraged him to continue quietly.
"Before, it was just the two of us. Now, it's the two of us, plus her new husband, plus his kids. He has seven kids, Mel." He shot her a meaningful, wide-eyed look. She nodded, comprehensively. Cater sighed. "Two of them are in college, but that's still five kids in one house. And they're just so..."
"Hectic?" She offered, helpfully. A small smile tugged at her lips.
Carter sighed. "Yeah. Even when I'm in my room, I can still hear them. Fighting, laughing, running, breaking stuff." He huffed. "I can't even really explain it."
"That's okay," she laughed. "I have three sisters. I don't think you really have to explain." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Siblings fight. And sometimes they don't. And you never really know which one it's going to be that day until you see their face. But I grew up like this – you grew up a single child with a single mother. It's a harsh change and you're allowed to feel worn out, and tired, and even a little bit bitchy." She held her thumb and index finger an inch away from each other, in front of her face, to show him just how much.
Carter smiled – a full, genuine smile. "I feel like I can never really be alone in my own house anymore," he confessed. "So, sometimes... when I'm at school... I feel like I don't really have the energy to be with people."
"Including me." Mel nodded, understanding. Carter shrugged sheepishly and she smiled. "Hey, at least you're not avoiding me. If your problem is lack of peace, then I might have a solution. Whenever you feel like you will burst if you don't get some peace, just text me. We can go to my grandma's house, like we used to do as kids."
Carter laughed. He remembered spending entire afternoons there, during middle school. Studying, or watching TV, or just eating cookies and telling secrets to each other – the shallow, innocent secrets of middle-schoolers.
"Thanks, Mel."
"Don't mention it." She winked. "Where's Seth, by the way? I didn't see him today," she changed the subject.
Carter bit his lip. "I think he skipped the whole morning."
"Is he sick?" She asked, concern creasing the space between her eyebrows.
Carter just shrugged. "I was actually going to call him now," he said.
Melanie realized what he really meant and nodded. She smiled at him as he got up with his empty tray, ready to leave the lunch area.
As he crossed the cafeteria, Carter caught sight of Luca Santoro, sitting in a long, loud table of underclassmen. Most of them were JV players of something – Carter recognized a couple of football players, but most of them played basketball JV.
A few tables ahead, on the other side of the room, Frankie Santoro sat at a smaller table with a shaved-headed, dark-skinned guy and a tan-skinned girl with her jet black hair pinned to fall on one single side of her head and her combat boots carelessly propped up onto the lunch table. The three of them seemed deep engaged in light conversation.
Farther near the door, Bella Santoro sat at the end of a long table with a fair-haired girl and light-skinned guy. All three were laughing hysterically.
Just as Carter was about to leave, his eyes met Mike's behind his frameless glasses. There were books and notes strewn in front of him, and only a few other people scattered along the table. All seniors, the kind of students known to be on honors roll. Mike's gaze found Carter's and he smiled curtly.
Outside the cafeteria, Carter took out his phone and pressed Seth's contact ID for a call. He didn't pick up. Either of Carter's calls. The first time, Carter let it ring until the end. The second time, he hung up after the fourth beep. He was in the process of typing a text, when he approached a door. He pushed it, absently, looking up immediately as he heard a disconcerting thump and a yelp.
"Oh, my God!"