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I check my watch, and it’s 6:04 p.m. So, the place still has some students and faculty roaming around. That somehow increases my anxiety; like someone would know I haven’t been here my entire life and tell Carter.
Carter looks from left to right. “Let’s go this way.”
I follow Carter to the football field, keeping my head down just in case. He says, “My friends and I used to run around here in the middle of the night. Security caught us once, and we had to run at least a kilometer until we lost him.”
“They didn’t catch you?” I ask innocently.
“No, he didn’t.” He continues walking to the middle of the field, looking like he really belongs. “Didn’t mean he didn’t recognize us, though. The next day, we got detention for trespassing.”
I smile as I imagine Carter running around this very field.
Then, he leads me to the side entrance of the building, leading us exactly into the basketball court where some boys are playing their game.
They barely look up as we enter.
Carter looks back at me. “Have you ever seen me play before in any of the games?”
“You played basketball?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he answers as he walks to the side of the spotless floor. “I guess you don’t remember much of me, huh? I played in the team for all four years. And you look like someone who could’ve been on the cheerleading team. We could’ve been a perfect pair then, don’t you think?”
Yeah, if I went to this school.I hold back the urge to ruin our little tour.
I laugh at his remark. “Well, I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly.”
Carter leads me out into the hallways, nodding at some of the school staff and employees. I’m guessing he really is here often.
I try to enjoy it as much as he does, but my turning stomach is completely ruining it for me. He shows me the science lab, the music room, and even the lit faculty. Then, he walks inside a closed classroom.
He sits on the arm of a chair near the board up front. Then, he points to a chair on the back, one row forward. “American History, junior year. Weren’t you seated right there?”
I’m still standing at the back of the room and much closer to the chair he is pointing to.
With that, the façade finally breaks. “Carter, I have something to tell you.”
His smile doesn’t fade, he doesn’t know I’m about to tell him I’ve been deceiving him for a while now. “Yeah, what is it?”
I take a deep breath, mustering all the courage I have. “The truth is—”
Then, someone knocks on the door.
I expect it to be a security guard, but it’s a woman about the same age as us, her brown hair pulled neatly on her back—a teacher.
“Miss Dickens!” Carter stands up from the chair he is leaning on to hug the girl. “You already heard I’m here?”
She hugs Carter back. “I actually saw you peek at the faculty. Plus, no one else but you loves visiting his old high school. It’s almost… odd.”
Carter says, “We had good memories here, that’s why.”
“Agreed.” She smiles. “That’s why I’m still working here.”
They share knowing smiles—and I’m left out.
Carter turns in my direction. “Oh, by the way, I brought a friend with me. She used to study here at Jefferson High with us.”
As Carter speaks, the cold shivers running down my spine mortifies me.
Shit.
