Heart and Soul - Chapter 26: Chapter 26

"Vicky Fuentes, Sienna Mathers, Hillary Lawrence."
Carter lifted his eyes from his tray, watching as crude laughter spread around his side of the table, after Scott Meyers' challenge. Bobby Gonzalez, to whom that particular set of names had been directed, smiled crassly.
Sienna Mathers sat just on the other end of the table, completely unsuspecting.
"I'd fuck them all, marry none, kill Jordyn Reyes," the offensive tackle declared.
Laughter ressurged, with Scott guffawing the loudest, as that last girl in question walked by their table with a couple of friends.
Jordyn Reyes wasn't a particularly attractive girl—acne-riddled face, thick glasses, bony figure and 'freakishly tall', according to Joey. But she was a solid A student, with an admirable curriculum regarding volunteering work. And she had once willingly lent Carter her Biology notes, without him asking for it, back in freshmen year.
"The only way any of those girls would give you the time of day is if you taped your mouth shut and put a bag over your head. And even then it would still be a pity fuck," Jenna Torres asserted with a bored tone, as she admired her blood-red nails. She sat next to Chaz Wheeler, while wearing his varsity jacket.
Joey and Scott burst out into shameless laughter, with no regard to whoever might be sitting around them. Bobby's jaw tightened in irritation.
"I think what Jenna is trying to tell you is that those girls are out of your league," Joey mused with a sneer.
Bobby's eyes narrowed coldly. "I could fuck Vicky Donahue any day. She's been giving me fuck-me eyes since sophomore year," he proclaimed.
Scott chortled.
"Anybody could fuck Vicky Donahue any day," Chaz muttered. "How do you think Scott got with her?"
His chortling stopped and Jenna and Joey both snickered.
"Hillary Lawrence is the one I'd like to fuck," Scott announced, deciding to move past Chaz's implication. "That girl really went through a growth spurt over the summer, if you know what I mean."
And with the way he grabbed his pecks over the shirt with both hands, how could anyone not?
Just to show how much he got it, Joey wolf-whistled. Jenna rolled her eyes crossing her legs and going back to inspecting her manicured nails.
"Seth scored Hillary in the beginning of the year, didn't you?" Joey chimed in, slapping a hand on Seth's shoulder.
Seth lifted his eyes from his phone, looking around at the pairs of eyes set on him like he had no clue why his name had been brought up. "Who's Hillary?" He asked blandly.
Carter pursed his lips together, taking a deep breath in. "Blonde girl, blue eyes, beauty mark over her lip," he murmured. He remembered clearly the day Hillary had approached him in the library, hopeful, asking whether Seth had mentioned her at all, after he stopped texting her back. Like he always eventually did with every girl.
The look Seth gave him was completely blank, no sign of recognition.
"Even Parrish has checked her out," Chaz said with a chuckle.
"Parrish could fuck any girl he wanted. They all fall at his fucking feet," Scott stated with a lewd smile.
"Even Jordyn Reyes," Joey added, pulling laughter out of the others. Even Jenna laughed.
"Jones could tell us better that anyone what's so appealing about our captain," Bobby taunted.
Melanie looked up from her fruit salad with a solemn look. "Sorry, Bobby. I don't kiss and tell."
Carter bit down on his lip. Somehow, he had always been able to tune out most of the usual banter that took place at the lunch table, much like in the locker room. Seth and Melanie, who always took up the seats at each of his sides, would also remain generally quiet throughout the whole period, save for the occasional comment when enticed. Which made it even easier not to pay attention, since they were truly the only people he talked to frequently.
On that particular day though, Carter couldn't tune any of it off. And their conversation was irritating him more than he would like to admit.
"Where are you going?" Joey asked, as Carter got up, hiking his school bag over his shoulder.
"Calc. Mr Thomas likes us to be early."
Mel shot him a curious look. She was in the same class, but she didn't say anything as he picked up his tray from the table.
"That's why everybody's got a hard-on for Parrish, even the teachers. He's so considerate," Bobby joked.
That seemed enough to the rest of the table, who laughed it off, retaking whatever pointless topic. It was only once Carter was already out of the cafeteria that Seth caught up with him. Carter glanced at him.
"You don't have to come too," he said.
"I know." Seth shrugged. "Thought I might surprised Mrs Abrahams by being on time a second time this year."
Carter gave into the little smile that tugged at his lips. "You might drive her into a shock-induced heart attack," he teased.
"Hopefully not. I need her to mark the improvement on my punctuality to make up for the shitty attendance." Seth grinned. It wasn't the most common sight. Not around school, where there were so many other people around.
Carter laughed, despite himself. When he got up from the table, for some reason, he had been as annoyed at Seth as the rest of the table. But he had never been capable of staying mad at his best friend for long.
"How's your mom?" He tried, as they walked the mostly empty hallways.
Seth met his tentative gaze. "The usual," he said. Which was his usual answer.
"So," Seth surprised him by adding, "...not worse."
Carter nodded understandingly. They parted before Carter could make a right, and Seth continued ahead. When Carter finally reached Mr Thomas's classroom, he made an abrupt stop at the door.
The teacher was inside, sitting behind his desk with his laptop in front of him, while he bit down on a stereotypical red apple. There were two other people inside as well. The green-haired kid, Forrest, and Johnny. Carter pursed his lips as their eyes met, looked away and proceeded to make his way to his seat.
He sat down, keeping his head lowered. When he finally chanced a glance he couldn't quite help, he found Johnny was still staring at him with an unreadable expression. But then again, Carter could rarely tell what was in his head. He made a determined effort not to look again until the room started to fill.
Mel came in behind a couple of girls and her eyes immediately found Carter's. She shot him a clear 'are you okay' look, sitting down. Carter meant to smile reassuringly, but it felt more like an involuntary facial twitch.
Roy O'Brien, Bella's peculiar friend, sat down at his side. "Hello, partner."
Carter did give into a small smile then. "Hey, Roy."
His 'partner' seemed pleased with that interaction, grinning to himself as he removed his stuff from his bag. Mr Thomas started the class on time—not a minute sooner and not a minute later, as usual. The problem, however, was the way he chose to open.
"Mr Parrish," he called. A dozen of eyes turned toward him, synchronously. "Coach Mason informed me that you will not be coming to class tomorrow, because the football team has an away game. Apparently, it has already been sorted with Principal Trevino—no need to confirm with me. So, I believe there's nothing left for me to do other than accept it."
Carter swallowed down on an empty throat, wishing he could melt into his seat or smoke away into the air. He didn't know how to answer, so he didn't and Mr Thomas started teaching. But some eyes lingered on him before they finally turned forward to the black board. A particular pair of honey-brown eyes bothered him the most.
He kept his head down the rest of the class, as he had initially planned. He gathered his stuff significantly quicker than normal and, after a quick goodbye directed at Roy, he took off. He heard someone rushing behind him to keep up and sped up.
"Jesus, will you slow down."
Carter stopped altogether at the familiar voice. He turned slowly to watch Johnny catch up. As soon as he did, Carter started walking again. He still couldn't be late for practice.
"I think I owe you an apology," Johnny said, walking alongside him.
Carter bit down on his lip. "What for?"
Johnny gave him a little eye roll. "I was out of line yesterday," he said. Carter was surprised to hear that. "Don't get me wrong," Johnny continued. "I still have my opinion, but I got a bit carried away with it. I'm sorry."
Carter shrugged. "It's okay," he said. "You're probably a little right. Most of my friends are idiots."
"They are," Johnny agreed with a smile. Carter didn't stop himself from returning it. "But it was not okay the way I talked about them in front of you. They're still your friends, I guess," Johnny added.
It's not like Carter hadn't know which type of person his friends and teammates were, in general, before his dispute with Johnny the day before. He just never thought to evaluate someone based solely on their type. Everyone was more than just the easy one-size-fits-all set of characteristics that inserted them into a certain stereotype. That's something Carter's mom had taught him when he was younger. It had never occurred to him that, maybe, sometimes, some characteristics spoke loud enough to muffle the rest.
Maybe, some of the people he usually sat with—even while ignoring them—were a little more than just 'difficult'.
Carter bit his lip. "Apology accepted?"
Johnny grinned openly. "Good."
"Good." Carter matched his grin.
Male voices reached their ears as they turned to the locker rooms hallway and Johnny stopped walking. Carter stopped with him, watching the smile on his face dissolve as he looked ahead, right past Cater and to the other end of the hallway. Carter looked over his shoulder.
Bobby Gonzalez, Scott Meyers and Chaz Wheeler stood there, their noisy conversation fading as they caught sight of Carter.
"Uhm, see you in a while then?" Carter asked, looking back to Johnny, who was already taking a step back.
"What?" His eyes snapped back to Carter, softening slightly as he seemed to catch up. "Oh, sure."
He shot Carter a small smile, which he returned in excess.
"Yo, Parrish!" Bobby called.
Johnny slipped away then, and Carter reluctantly walked up to join his teammates.
"Was that little Mason with you?" Bobby asked with a nasty smile.
"Nancy Mason," Scott chimed in, pulling an unpleasant guffaw out of Bobby.
Carter's eyebrows drew in, in confusion. He glanced at Chaz, who was running a hand through his thin blonde hair, suddenly remarkably invested in the hem of his own t-shirt.
"What?"
Scott snorted and Bobby dropped a beefy arm around Carter's shoulders as they pulled him along into the locker room with them.
"You know," he sneered. "Coach's Nancy boy."