Carter Ortese is Trouble - completed (The Boys #1)

Chapter 13: Carter

"This is so unfair," she snarls, handing over her phone to the scowling dean. She takes the stack of papers and groans.

I breathe out. Twenty five minutes until the late bus leaves, and this test took me almost forty last time. I focus on my sheet and start calculating each problem one at a time. The questions range from simple to difficult, but none are impossible. I feel like I'm breezing through the test, but when I look back up at the clock, I cringe. I have one last question, and I'm already two minutes too late.

I ball my fists up and hold back a scream. Meredith wants to talk about things being unfair? My pencil cracks in half in my hand.

Dean Howard arches an eyebrow at the sound, eyeing me.

Inhaling, I force myself to work on the last problem and use my half pencil to finish the exam. With shaking hands, I put the pencil down and grab my backpack off the floor. I bring the test up to the dean.

"Wait here." Dean Howard brings out the answer sheet and compares my answers to the ones on his paper. Every single one is correct; there was no point in intentionally missing one this time around, not when the dean watched me retake the exam.

"Thank you for staying, Carter. I'll pass this along to Mrs. Everett and let her know about your new grade." He hands my phone back to me.

I nod, too furious to be grateful. I march out of the room, and as the door closes behind me, I glare at Meredith. She's doodling in the margins of her paper, and the scowl across her face has marred canyons into her skin. Let her fail. She deserves it.

But even if Meredith fails today, it will still somehow be my fault. That's how it works for me.

I head outside, wondering how I'm going to make it to work on time. I have no ride, so I might have to call Desmond. He's not on the schedule tonight, but I could offer him ten bucks to drive me.

As soon as the front door to my school swings shut behind me, a car beeps. Mom's behind the wheel, waving her hands dramatically with narrowed, anxious eyes. I open the door and slide into the passenger's seat. My shoulders hunch as I wait for it.

"What is wrong with you?" She slaps my shoulder. It's not the slap that hurts, but the harshness of her voice becomes the cherry on top of my already shitty day.

"I didn't cheat."

"No?"

I fiddle with the strap of my bag. "The other student did. The test scores this afternoon will prove that."

"Why'd they think it was you?"

I stay quiet.

She reaches up and grasps my chin in her hand, moving my face so that I have to look at her. Her blue eyes peer into mine. Something about my mom looks different today, but I'm not sure what it is. "Why, Carter?"

"Because I'm me."

Her eyes soften, and she pulls me in for a hug. I return it, but I want to get far away from the parking lot, from this school, from my life. After a moment, she lets go. "I'm going to give your teachers a piece of my mind."

"You don't need to go mother bear on—"

"No, I do. I do because they believe you're a bad kid, and that's not okay with me."

I let out a breath. I want to ask her why she never left our small stupid town, but I think I know the answer. Secretly, she hopes her parents will forgive her. When she was seventeen, everything changed for her. Moving would have been one more major change; one more thing she couldn't handle. A person can only take so much upheaval at once.