Saving Carter

Chapter 13 - Break Away

I think this was my favourite chapter to write so far. I’m being honest.

 

“And this is a howler monkey” the zookeeper told them. Carter stared at the monkey enclosure in boredom. The class fieldtrip had been boring so far, the only fun thing was the fact that Nick, Maria and Lucky were also in the geography class. He noticed Lucky standing, holding hands with Sam which for some reason made a lump form in his throat.

“This is not fun” Nick groaned from beside Carter making him nod in agreement. He looked over at Lucky again and saw that she was also looking at him. He didn’t know why being around Lucky made him feel so good. He always felt like his old self around her. He smiled at her and he noticed she was gesturing for him to go over to her which he did, without thinking twice.

“I’ll be right back Sammy” she told Sam who just shrugged. His lack of concern made Carter’s blood boil but he ignored it for now. They kept walking away from the group in a comfortable silence until they reached a whole different part of the zoo.

“This fieldtrip is the worse” Lucky said suddenly.

“It really is” he agreed, smiling at her but she was staring ahead. She looked as if she was deep in thought. He looked at her hands which were swinging freely and hesitantly took her hand in his as they continued walking. He smiled when she scooted closer to him. He didn’t know why he was doing what he was doing but he liked it.

“So this is the duck pond” Lucky said, as she stopped walking. Carter looked at the ducks swimming around in the water. He wasn’t a huge fan of animals but it was a nice sight to see.

“It’s pretty” he muttered.

“It is. And we’re going to feed them” she said, he looked at her in shock when she put a bag of duck feed in his hand.

“I don’t know Lucky. We’re not supposed to feed them” he said, gesturing to the sign next to the pond. Then again, he was sure Lucky didn’t care about the rules that much. Her shrug indicated that much.

“It’s okay, just put some in your hand and walk to the edge of the water” she said. “I’ll be right here” she encouraged him by giving him a small push forward. He walked to the edge of the pond, gripping onto Lucky’s hand. He had a fear of animals that could fly or at least animals that had wings. He sighed ad gave Lucky a hesitant look.

“C’mon Carter, all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage” she said. He gave her a small smile and held out his trembling hand for the ducks who all came in one go and he threw the duck feed into the pond. He smiled at the animals and then at Lucky who was giving him a proud smile. “See? It wasn’t that hard” she said, patting his shoulder.

“By the way, I know you got that line from a movie” he said, smirking at her. “So you always feed them?” he asked, pointing at the ducks who were still busy eating the duck feed that Lucky was throwing for them. Her hair was falling over shoulders as she looked down at the ducks, her nose piercing seemed to stand out even more, her brown eyes concentration on the ducks and she was flashing her usual smile. She looked beautiful. A word he thought he’d never think again when it came to girls.

“I come here all the time, my dad used to take me and now I’m old enough to come by myself” she said with a shrug. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. Lucky had the best family, her parents cared about her and she had siblings.

“Nice” he muttered.

“C’mon!” she said suddenly, he felt sparks when she grabbed his hand and had to run to keep up with her.