Chapter Twenty-Seven
(Rebecca Above)
Carson's POV
(Tuesday)
"I passed!" I exclaimed as I received my paper back. I heard someone giggle from behind me. I turned slightly so I could make out who was sitting behind me. It was Rebecca. She always knew I hated History. She saw that I turned to look at her and she smiled at me. I gave her a fake smile and turned back to the friend. I don't know how I feel about her anymore. I bit down on my own teeth and inhaled slowly, trying not to think of that horrid moment. "Carson, could we talk?" Rebecca asked, tapping me on the shoulder. I flinched at her touch and turned my head to look at her. Hurt flashed through her eyes and she removed her hand. I sighed and brought my hand to my face, rubbing my eyes. The bell rang, saving me from an awkward moment. I shot up from my seat and ran to my next class. I walked into Spanish and immediately noticed Kyle sitting in our usual desk. Kyle smiled at me, but his smile slowly turned into a frown. He waved me over. I walked over to him and sat down next to him. He shifted and looked at me.
"Why do you look so pale?" he asked me. My hand shot up to my cheek and I said, "I'm pale? I didn't notice." I shrugged and looked to the front of the classroom. "Did something happen?" he asked. I shrugged. "Yeah, but it isn't important." I mumbled just as senora Rodriguez walked into the class. "Buenas tardes, clase!" she greeted us. We stood and greeted her. "Buenas tardes, senora Rodriguez!" we sat back down and she started handing out worksheets. "Dude, what happened?" Kyle asked me as Mrs Rodriguez walked by. "It's nothing, I promise." I said under my breath so Mrs Rodriguez wouldn't hear us. Kyle nudged me. "You don't just go pale over anything." he said. I sighed.
"I just had a run in with Rebecca, it's nothing serious." I said. Kyle nodded and remained silent. "You still like her?" he asked suddenly. My heard shot in his direction. "NO!" I said, a bit too loudly, getting the entire class' attentions. "El senor Henderson, que es necesario quitarle de mi clase? (Mr Henderson, do I need to remove you from my class?)" Mrs Rodriguez asked. I shook my head. "No, lo siento, senora Rodriguez. (No, sorry, Mrs Rodriguez.)" I said. She nodded and carried on handing out worksheets. "How are you so good at Spanish?" Kyle asked me. I shrugged. "My mother's side of the family was Spanish and they always spoke Spanish around me. I picked it up." I said. He nodded. "You're so lucky," he mumbled. I scoffed quietly. "Eso es lo que piensas. (That's what you think.)" I said under my breath.
~&~
I got home late that night, since I had football practice for the first time in months with Kyle, Adam and Ethan. Ethan and I haven't spoken since the fight, but we seem to be on good terms. He smiled when he saw me, but clung to Adam. Adam was chilled. He was talking to me and laughing along with me at silly things, just like we used to be, but he still seemed confused as to why I had forgiven him and I think that's why Ethan wasn't talking to me yet. He was just as confused as Adam, if not more. "I call for the shower first!" Kyle exclaimed and ran up the stairs. "No fair!" I yelled at him as he beat me up the stairs. "Suck it up, buttercup!" he yelled back and ran into the bathroom across from our rooms. I sighed and made my way to my room. I dropped my tog back on the floor at the bottom of my bed. I removed the clothes from the bag and threw them into the washing bin. I then took of my shoes and socks and also added the socks to the pile in the washing bin.
"Carson?" someone said from the door. "Come in!" I yelled back as I tossed my shoes into the corner of the room. Samuel walked in and closed the door behind him. "How are you doing?" he asked me. I nodded and smiled. "I'm great, everything's great." I said. "How about you?" I asked. He smiled. "I'm well, thanks Carson." he said. "You got home late tonight, football practice?" he guessed. I laughed and nodded. "Yeah." I said, then a thought popped into my head. "Samuel, could I ask you something? I'm kind of nervous to ask you about this, but I need to ask you." I said. He smiled and nodded. "Go ahead, I'm always listening." he said. I took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. "Samuel, I want to ask you whether you'd be alright with me asking Rachel out on a date? I admire her as Christian and I've liked her since before I became a Christian. I understand that she's your only daughter and there are obviously expectations you have for a guy who takes your daughter out. I don't know if I have them and if I don't, I hope I can develop them. I promise to treat her properly and treat her the way Jesus would and I hope I've earned enough trust to take care of your daughter." I said and exhaled deeply. Samuel had remained silent the whole way through and kept a thoughtful face on. He looked open and carefree.
I honestly hope that's a good thing.
"Carson, are you looking to make this a long lasting, committed relationship?" he asked me. "Yes, I am." I said back, a bit nervous to hear his answer. He walked up to me and smiled. "Carson, you are an amazing young man and I couldn't imagine someone better for my daughter. I trust you and I give you my permission to ask her out." he said. I grinned and hugged him. I don't know if I'm allowed to do that after what I just did, but I don't care. "Thank you, Samuel. You won't regret this." I said, pulling away. He grinned. "I hope not, Carson, and if there's one thing you need to know, it's that you need to love God more than you'll ever possibly love Rachel, because then you'll love her in the right way because the love of Jesus will shine through you." he said. I nodded. "I don't love her in that way yet, but when I get to that point, I promise I'll do that." I said. Samuel smiled smugly at me, patted me on the shoulder and said, "I'm glad you asked me before asking Rachel, you've earned my respect." he said. I smiled back.
"Dude, I'm done!" Kyle yelled from the hallway and poked his head into my room. Samuel turned around and said, "There's no reason to yell, Kyle, we're right here." he said. Kyle pointed to his ear. "Sorry, coach blew a fog horn into my ear cause I wasn't listening. He said that I wasn't using my ears anyway and now I can't hear you, sorry!" he yelled and left for his room. I laughed, recalling the moment, "That was hilarious." I said to Samuel. He shook her head with a smile on his face. "I can imagine." he said and then left. I grabbed my stuff and walked into the hallway. I saw Rachel's door open and figured that she was still at Emily's house; they had to finish a project for photography. I had to use the other bathroom, the one that Kyle used, because mine had plumbing problems. I took a quick shower and got dressed. I gathered my clothes that were scattered around on the bathroom floor and opened the door.
I saw Rachel walk into her room and close her door. I closed the bathroom door and walked to my room. I tossed more dirty clothes into my washing bin and picked it up, doing Lisa a favor since she always did my washing for me. I walked past Rachel's room, but stopped dead in my tracks when I heard a whimper. I dropped the washing basket and rushed to her door. "Rachel, open up." I said. It became silent. "Clover, please." I said again. I heard some shuffling before I heard a hiss and the door unlocked. I quickly opened the door and looked at Rachel. She looked at me and smiled, but I could see the pain in her eyes. "What's wrong?" I asked, but then caught side of her open, bleeding gash on her knee. My eyes widened at the sight of it. There was blood everywhere and the gash was huge. "Oh my gosh, what happened? Are you okay?" I asked her as I took her arm in my hand and tried to get her to sit down. She sat down on the side of the tub in the bathroom and hissed in pain again. "How did this happen?" I asked her. She sighed. "I fell down a hill, it was dark." she said. I looked at her close and I could see the evidence from the fall. Her clothes were muddy and her shirt was slightly torn at the bottom. "Oh man," I said and got up. "The first aid kit is in the cabinet below the sink." Rachel said. "Thanks," I said and grabbed the first aid kit, a cold, wet cloth and a new shirt from her closet. "Let's get you fixed up, then you can change, okay?" I said. She nodded, biting her lip because her knee hurt so much.
I carefully put pressure on the wound with the wet cloth and made sure that bleeding had stopped. I then cleaned out the wound, trying not to hurt her even more, by positioning her knee under the shower head to wash out the dirt from the wound. She hissed the whole way through, yelping and whispering that it stung. "I'm nearly done, but I still need to put disinfectant in there and that might be a bit worse." I said softly. She shut her eyes tightly and clung to my hand that wasn't assisting her knee. "I don't like pain, like at all." she whimpered. I nodded. "I know, but I have to do it, otherwise it will get infected and it'll get worse." I said and grabbed the disinfectant. I unscrewed the cap and carefully poured some onto a cotton swab. I brought it her knee and she instantly flinched away from it and whimpered. "Sorry," she said. I smiled at her. "It's okay, I know how much it hurts, remember?" I said and brought the cotton swab back to her knee. She whimpered in pain. "How did you d-deal with this much p-pain everyday?" she asked. I chuckled. "Usually poorly. I didn't always use disinfectant, which made it worse. I know everything about wounds, you'd be shocked." I said. She laughed softly.
"Carson, do you still feel bad about your scars?" she asked. I finished with the disinfectant and grabbed a gauze pad and an elastic bandage. "Yeah, I do. I try to forget about them, but they're there each time I change clothes, shower or even just look at my arms, you know?" I said. She nodded. "I'm sorry about that." she said and then yelped in pain as I put the gauze on it. I apologized and quickly and carefully stuck it firmly on her knee. I then wrapped her knee in an elastic bandage and secured with a safety pin. "There you go, all done." I said and smiled. She smiled and laughed. "Thank you so much, Carson. I don't know what I would've done if you didn't knock on my door." she said. I smiled. "Well, I actually heard you from outside and wanted to make sure you were okay." I said and looked up into her eyes from where I was sitting on the floor. She smiled down at me. "Thank you. You're a good guy." she said. I looked at her and decided that it was time.
I took a quick breath and sat on the side of the tub so I was making eye contact with her. "Rachel, I want to ask you something and I want you to listen carefully without interrupting." I said. She smiled at me. "Okay, sure." she said. I smiled at her. "I was wondering whether you wanted to go on a date this Friday after school? I've been wanting to ask for a long time and I put it off, because I was too shy, but finally got the guts to ask you today. I promise I will take care of you and treat you well and make sure you're always happy." I said to her. I searched her face for any sign of uncertainty or rejection, but all I could see was a smile on her face. "Does my father know?" she asked me, excitedly. I nodded and bit my lip. "And he said yes!" she asked, but it more of an exclamation. I nodded and chuckled. She squealed and lunged toward me and pulled me into a hug. "Yes, of course. Thank you for going through with the whole 'asking the scary, intimidating father for permission' thing." she said as she pulled away. I took her hand in mine and smiled at her. "No, he was actually really nice about it. He said he couldn't imagine a guy better for his only daughter." I said. She grinned at me. "He's right about that." she said. I smiled at her. "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for this? I literally imagined this moment so many times in my mind, I made myself mad." I said, ending with a laugh. "Well, did it happen like you thought it would?" she asked. I shook my head. "No, this was unimaginable. It was better than I could ever have imagined."
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