—Rosalie Cartier—
"You know, Rosie. I haven't heard from you in a while. I was wondering if you're avoiding me or if you just don't have time for your mother anymore."
I stopped at the house door and I waited for my mother to continue, when she didn't I turned around and faced her. She had some form of tobacco in her hand as the awful smell filled the room. It was funny how she wanted me to stay away from the friends I hung out with but she was just as bad as they were. What a hypocrite.
"I have to get to school and I have to drop Sammy off after that. By the time I get home you will be at work, I don't understand where you think I can fit time in to spend with you mother. Especially, when I would rather be at school than talking to you." I assured her,
She looked at me weirdly as if she had something to say but was scared to say it. The bitter smell of smoke passed through my nose as I almost choked as the poisoned air clogged my lungs.
"Are you getting smart with me?" She asked,
I didn't see how anything I just said was smart. It was more of me telling her the truth and speaking my mind. What was good about having a voice if I couldn't use it? It was useless; that's what it was.
Before I could answer her dumb question, my brother ran into the room with his book bag on. He was ready to go and so was I. As long as he was around, My mother wouldn't throw a fit about anything. That's what I liked about having a baby brother. Creating my brother was the most sane thing my mother has ever done.
"I'm ready to go." He says with a bright smile,
My mother gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before smiling at him. When he walked over to the door with his back turned, she shot me a glare and rolled her eyes. Honestly, I didn't know what I did to her.
I sighed before leaving the house. Zackery was here waiting for me by the curb of my house. Luckily he had my lovely girlfriend with him. I was happy to see her, I knew she was waiting to hear what traumatizing thing I went to today. It was like a daily thing.
My brother was the first one in the car out of us both. He sat in the back with Emily and Joshua like he did the other day and I sat in the front seat. Emily was the first one to greet me when she pecked me on the cheek as soon as I got into the car. Zackery on the other hand was disgusted as always.
I truly didn't get him, I mean he would do the same thing with Alona, So what was the problem with Emily and I? There was no problem, he was just being a jerk.
"So, what are we going to do after school? There's no practice around this time today and I don't want to stay in the house getting high, there's more to life than that."
I shook my head before Zackery and him engaged into a conversation. The whole car ride they were debating on going bowling or if they should just go to a park and shoot some hoops. I felt like going to the basketball court and just chilling after that meant they were going to get high.
If I had a vote, I would say they should go to an arcade or something. I haven't been to those since I was a kid. It would be fun to live moments like that again.
"Why don't we go to the carnival downtown, they are doing a fundraiser for the little kids and I hear it's going to be fun." Emily suggests,
I smiled at her idea before nodding along with it letting them know I agreed with her. To my surprise they agreed too. Actually, they agreed so much to the point where Zackery even pointed out that he was planning on asking Alona if she wanted to tag along.
Joshua mentioned that he was going to ask Delilah and I just tuned the rest of his words out. The mention of her name made me think back to the cabin. Did she know that I knew? Or was she just as clueless as Oliver?
I looked out the window as I sighed. Maybe if I just stuck to the plan of what I was doing then I could finally get down to the bottom of what I'd been planning out all along.
-
We dropped my brother off before pulling up to the school. Emily and I got out of the car together and Zackery and Joshua were fooling around but eventually they got out of the car following along like lost puppies.
"Let's ask, Rosie." Zackery says as they walk up to Emily and I.
I turned to face them with my arm around Emily's shoulder. She held my hand like she did all the time. We both then waited for Zackerey to continue his words.
"Uhh, Joshua wanted to know..." He trailed off, "What your father's name was."
I cleared my throat, "Uhh Cartier. It may be hard to believe but he only had one name." I assured them.
"Wait , so if your dad is Cartier, Who's your mother?"
I didn't really like talking about my mom but it wasn't like it was a sensitive topic or anything.
"Have you ever heard of Maya Princeton?" I asked,
Surely everyone knew of her. She was the talk of the town at one point in life. It was just the matter of if they all remembered what she was known for or did they forget?
I was hoping that they forgot. It would be better for them and it would be a hell of a lot better for me.
"Maya Princeton? That's not what your mother told me her name was." Emily points out,
Sometimes I wished that she wouldn't ever open her mouth. It would have been better for me.
"Uhh, that's because I'm adopted, moving on." I said as I sped up my walking and rushed into the school.
The bell rang and it saved me from the questions of Zackery and Emily. I mean it was no secret that I was adopted; they just never asked.
And this was the first time in history that I wished classes wouldn't go by so fast.
-
They did, classes were by too fast for my liking. I was in my second to last class and the time seemed to be speeding up.
It was the universe was working against me. The time speeding up wasn't the only reason I thought this.
Somehow, I found myself working in a group with Alona Martin, Zackery Davis and Delilah Quinn.
This could go wrong in so many different ways. Zackery could start harassing me and be angry with me for not telling him that huge part of my life; but then again he couldn't really be mad because I found that out recently for myself.
Alona and Delilah could harass me and ask how I know about the whole Oliver thing.
There's just so much things that could go wrong and I wasn't prepared for it; which was insane because I always had a plan for something.
"So, Delilah and I will work on one part of the assignment and you guys could come up with something for the second part." Alona assured before leaning over the table and looking over towards Delilah.
I couldn't agree more with that idea. I mean it would take the questions from Alona and Delilah off of me but there was still Zackery. If he got to talking then Alona and Delilah would know.
If they knew, Alona would run her big ass mouth and then the whole world would know. That was such a great idea. Just a fucking great idea.
"How about we all work together like we are supposed to? We can come up with a story topic together and discuss it. Once we're done, since there's 4 paragraphs, we all could write one." I pointed out to them hopefully convincing them.
Delilah looked at me weirdly. She was probably trying to figure out why I was all of a sudden okay with working with them.
I wasn't. That was the truth but I wasn't going to let her know that. I wasn't even going to talk to her unless I was spoken to. It draws less suspicion.
"Do the rest of you agree with this?" Alona asked,
Zackery just shook his head not even looking at me. Delilah on the other hand couldn't take her eyes off me. It was very weird and honestly, I was growing nervous and uncomfortable.
"The assignment should be simple. We could just say that Brutus was the enemy in this all. It was his fault and he was the traitor. Once we make that clear then we could use the text from the story and support how he betrayed Caesar and how he can't be trusted." Zackery explained as he looked at both Alona and Delilah.
"That's a great idea, babe." Alona assures before giving him a smile.
Delilah and I rolled our eyes. A part of me was happy that I wasn't the only one that found this disgusting. I thought I was just being a hater.
"Alright, I'll go grab the lined papers so we could write it out." Delilah assures as she gets up and walks off towards the table of supplies.
"We have to write this out?" Zackery asked,
"Our first draft have to be on paper. After the teacher checks it, by Friday, we should be able to type it up." Alona assures,
I hummed before getting up. Delilah looked like she couldn't even handle getting sheets of paper. I wondered how she was going to make it out in the real world.
When I got there she looked at me weirdly. Like always.
"Uh, We are supposed to get lined papers, Quinn. Not printing paper." I told her as I carefully took the paper from her hands.
Her face heated in red from what assumed embarrassment. I placed the paper down before reaching over and grabbing the lined paper.
I then held it up to her and squinted my eyes, "You see this? This is called lined paper...you know the little lines." I said sarcastically before she playfully rolled her eyes and playfully punched me in the arm.
I groaned before faking my injury. I then held my hand and pouted.
"I was trying to help you, and this is how you repay me?" I asked jokingly,
"Well, you were being an ass." Delilah crosses her arms and lifts her head up high.
I'd never seen her like this before. Who knows, maybe she is fun, too bad I could never explore more of that side.
"I was not." I protested,
"You so were." She says before snatching the paper and turning on her way back to the table.
I smiled as I watched her skip towards the table. My smile vanished when I felt something in my stomach. I was probably coming down with a flu or something.
"Cartier. Get to your seat." The teacher says,
I nodded before walking over to the table and sitting down.
"What are you going to wear?" Alona asked Delilah.
I didn't know what they were talking about seeing as I just got to the table but it seemed interesting.
Zackery on the other hand was just getting started on his writing. I knew I would have to apologize soon.
"Well, we are going to be busy on Friday. I think I should just cancel."
"Aw come on, you wanted this date with Joshua for the longest and now you are turning it down because of some stupid thing on Friday? Why don't we all just go together. That way you could kill two birds in one stone." Alona suggested,
A date with Joshua? She just doesn't listen. I was trying to warn her before she got hurt but I guess she'll just have to see for herself.
The bell rang and I grabbed my things before rushing out of the class. I walked into the empty bathroom and dialed up a friends number. When I heard the line answer I sighed,
"I think Oliver's planning his first attack. The girls said something about busy on Friday."
"Okay, will you be ready by then? Or do I have to send another team member?" The voice asked,
"I'm ready for this. I could do this." I assured him,
"Good."
The phone then hung up and I sighed once more. I turned around to make an exit but Delilah was standing right there.
"I think it's time we had a chat, Cartier." She crossed her arms as she gave me a glare.
Fuck.