42 || The reason why Carter King was expelled

It was a boring Monday, the hype after my birthday party dying down. The girls and I were sitting around our table in the quad outside. Chanel had her head down and was staring off into space. Ivy was doodling in her notebook and I was looking at memes. Basically, we were all kinda over the whole school thing. The senior-ritus was starting to hit us.

"I'm so bored," Chanel whines. "And school hasn't even started yet."

She was right. Even the memes were getting repetitive and dull.

Just then Nikole ran over to us, out of breath. Her hair looked a wild mess and her clothes askew.

Ivy raised a brow. "What happened to you?"

"Guys," she panted. "I am no longer a virgin."

Chanel shot up. "What!"

"I'm surprised Nikole. I thought your first time was supposed to be romantic, not a quickie," Ivy gestured at her. "You look a mess."

"It was romantic and it wasn't a quickie. I lost it last night at Ryan's house and ended up falling asleep there. By the way Aubrey I told my parents I was at your house so you're my alibi."

I nodded. "Okay. So how was it?"

Her face takes on a dreamy look. "It was magical."

Ivy gags. "Excuse me while I go throw up."

"Oh shut up. Anyway it was amazing. The best I've ever had."

"But you've never had anyone else," Chanel points up.

"So? It doesn't matter. And I don't want anyone else. Just Ryan and his magic pogo stick."

"I'm right behind you on the hurling Ivy," I spoke.

"So the rest of us are free to lose our virginities now?" Chanel asks.

Nikole smiles. "Yep."

Chanel sighs in relief. "Good because it's getting harder to stop myself and Trevor when things get too heated."

"Ooh Chanel," Nikole winks. "My money says your next."

Chanel blushes. "Maybe..."

While they continue to talk about sex and lost virginities I rest my head in my palm, a small frown on my face. There's something that's been bothering me since the night of my birthday party.

I almost blurted out that I loved Carter. And thank God I didn't. What a disaster that would've been. But now I can't stop thinking about how close I was to saying it.

"Aubrey," Ivy shakes me from my thoughts. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Nikole and Chanel are staring at me expectantly. 

"It's nothing," I shake my head. Ivy gives me a dubious look.

"Nothing I want to talk about anyway," I stand up. "I'm going to start heading to class."

Without waiting for their replies I walk off. This is something I need to figure out on my own.

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"Today we're going to be talking about love in literature," Ms. Faye announces. "There are so many different types of loves. There's tragic love, dangerous love, innocent love, pure love, the list goes on really..."

How ironic our topic today.

I like Carter. A lot. But do I love him? I mean, I could've only almost said that because of what he did. It was really sweet, the present he gave me. Maybe I was just caught up in the moment.

I guess these are things I should start thinking about no matter how much I didn't want to. We were seniors. We'd be graduating soon. High school would be over. What would happen then? Would we just break up?

I don't really pay much attention during the rest of class. The school days rolls by and before I know it, it's over.

I catch Carter just as he's getting on his motorcycle. "Hey. Mind if I come over?"

"Yeah sure," he hands me the helmet and I climb on behind him.

At least the short drive is a nice reprieve from my non-stop thoughts.

His mom and sisters aren't home so we head up to his room. I flop back down on his bed and he puts on some music. Then he lays down next to me and spreads out his homework.

"Hope you don't mind. I have an assignment for math I need to finish."

"Of course not," I smile faintly and he gets to work, his brows furrowing as he stares at the paper and starts scribbling numbers down, punching things into his calculator.

I stare at his face like I'm examining a lab experiment. He looks so cute when he's so concentrated.

Maybe if I knew how Carter felt about me, I'd know how I felt about him. I mean, did he even see us as a long term thing? Or just some girl he'll date in high school and forget about later in life?

I realize there's some things I don't even know about him. Parts he hasn't told me. I got a little bit when Felix was here but not everything. And there is one big thing Carter hasn't told me.

"Having trouble?" I ask as he taps his pencil on the math book repeatedly.

"Yeah. I can't figure out this problem."

"Maybe I can help."

He turns to me. "Aren't you in pre-algebra?"

I roll my eyes. "Yes but I didn't mean help you out with your math."

"Oh. Then with what?"

I take his pencil from his hands and close his textbook. "You just need a break. Clear your head a bit."

He raises a brow. "Oh really? And how would I do that?"

"With a little anatomy."

"You're making me take a break from math so I can do anatomy instead?"

"What I was thinking was a little hands on," I give him a sly smile and drape my leg over his. He smirks and flips me over.

"Not this time love. I'm on top."

"That's fine by me," I breath out as his lips capture mine. We make out for a little bit and I slip my hands over under his shirt because I love to feel his pectorals. Look at me using big words.

I pull back a little so I can catch my breath. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Is it important? Because if not..." he kisses my neck and I almost forget what I was going to ask.

No! Do not get sidetracked!

"It's very important," I reply. He props himself up using his elbows and stared down at me.

"Alright, what is it?"

Might as well just rip it off like a bandaid.

"Why were you expelled?"

He groans and rolls off me. "You really do have the worst timing."

"We've been dating long enough and I think I deserve to know."

"Right now?" He sighs. I cross my arms.

"Yes right now."

He rolls his eyes and closes his math textbook. I wait patiently.

"Fine. As you know I was a different person back in England. Every teenager goes through a rebellious stage but mine was a little extreme. I was in tenth grade. My parents had just started their divorce process. It was a mutual agreement and there's no bad blood between them. They hardly paid attention to me during the divorce situation, and when they weren't handling that the twins came before me. So I used it to my advantage. Started doing some things behind their back and they didn't notice. That's when I started becoming reckless."

I remember the bar brawl Felix told me about.

"It all came to a head near the end of my junior year. There was a new teacher on campus, young, pretty. I slept with her."

My eyes widen. Wow. I was not expecting that.

He shrugs. "It was just for fun and we both agreed to never speak of it again. But I guess someone saw it and took a photo. That's when shit got messy. There were lawyers, and lawsuits, she was being charged for having relations with a minor. This was just the icing on the cake of my bad behavior. My mom started getting so much crap from the school, parents, other kids. And me, I was going to have a record."

"So she moved you guys out here?"

He nods. "Naturally I was pissed, my whole like was in England. But I guess moving here wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me. So now you know. All my skeletons are laid out. Well, at least the biggest one."

I take a moment to digest everything he's told me. Surprisingly I don't feel grossed out or disappointed. I'm just surprised to learn that's the reason he was expelled. Having a relationship with your teacher is a huge deal. No wonder he got kicked out of school.

Chanel will be so disappointed to learn he's not a drug lord.

"I guess moving out here changed me," he continues. "It made me realize my life there was toxic. I didn't hang out with the best people and I made a lot of choices I regret. Then we moved out here and everyone was different...friendlier. But there are some weirdos. Like girls with pink hair who bump into you at the beach."

"Shut up," I playfully smack him. "You bumped into me."

"We'll agree to disagree."

I laugh. "And now?"

"Now what?"

"How do you feel about the whole thing?"

He looks thoughtful. "It was a lesson learned, that's for sure. Older women equals trouble."

"And you're quite the troublemaker," I tease.

I feel better now that I know this about him. He doesn't judge me for my past and I don't judge him for his (not that my past includes a record and sleeping with my teacher) but still.

However the question about my depth of feelings for him remains unanswered, and as graduation approaches, I'm forced to face the fact that everything might not work out in my favor.

*not edited*

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