When she saw him, her heart froze.

Maybe not exactly froze, but certainly did something Carter didn't approve of. The awareness that he was back, that he was standing there, looking at her, seemingly trying to suck her soul out with a stare, made her skin crawl with anger and her mind buzz with anticipation. Good or bad. Probably both. Though a second later, when reality caught up with her and the students in the hallways became obvious, she turned and fast-walked away. She wasn't going to talk to him. She didn't want to get transported back into that world, no matter how much she missed him. She had promised herself she would start fresh, and that promise didn't have any room for Kiran Jones.

She had Calculus next. A subject her parents had urged her to take, even though mathematics wasn't her strongest area of expertise. But maybe she could use the time to disappear in a logical function, some other problem, for even an hour, and forget that she had just seen Kiran. Or, you know, you can actually learn this stuff instead of obsessing over crap no one really cares about.

Though as other students filed in, she became lost in the illogical again. Why did he have to come back? What was he even doing here, when, as far as she knew, his entire family was still in New York? It couldn't possibly be for her, could it? No, don't be stupid. Get over yourself, Carter. Of course he didn't leave everyone behind for you.

Suddenly something light hit her in the back of the head. She turned to face the idiot, and saw that Seth was sitting a couple of seats behind and to the left of her. Surprised and also kind of irritated at what he had just done, she scowled at him. He, on the other hand, had on a broad smile, "Vance, guess what?"

"What? And why did you have to throw something at my head? You could've just called me."

"Sorry. Anyway, I did it. I asked Tala out."

"And?"

"And of course she said yes. Like there was ever any doubt. She practically jumped into my arms when I invited her to come see Half Baked play."

Somehow the image of Tala jumping into a guy's arms seemed highly ridiculous. Still, she was thankful to have something else to think about, and that she had a friend to talk to, "Awesome. Just don't embarrass yourself, okay? Tala's not exactly like other girls. Your obvious charm isn't going to work on her."

"Aww, you think I'm charming? Didn't know you had a crush on me, Vance."

Carter rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless, "Oh yeah, a major crush. Like, seriously hardcore. Now back to reality, what are you doing in this class anyway? You weren't here last time."

"I just transferred in. They wanted to put me in Phys-Ed. Like forcing me to learn Calculus isn't bad enough, they wanna haul basketballs at my beautiful face too."

"See, that's the kind of charm I'm talking about," she said after a chuckle. "Maybe keep that on the down-low when you're around Tala."

"Got it. What else? What's she like? What's she into?"

Carter thought for a moment. She didn't want to say the wrong thing, make him do something that would turn her off completely. She also didn't want to give him false hope. "She gets good grades. Like seriously good grades. She's super serious about her future, and she's not really into parties and getting drunk and goofing off."

"Maybe she can help me raise my D average to a C."

"I think she's into fashion. She likes to look her best, always."

"So she's smart and dresses well. I already knew those things. Come on, Vance. Give me something more."

What was Tala into? Art history? Travelling to exotic places? There wasn't much else Carter knew about her, other than the fact that her family was psychotically rich. Though she felt it wasn't really Seth's business to know that. There had to be more. "I don't know. Just be yourself, only... don't try too hard, and don't lie to her. None of these fake claims about how every girl is in love with you, okay? If she actually does come see your band play, be real about it. Don't show off."

The conversation ended abruptly, as the professor had just strode in and demanded attention.

~

Carter didn't see much of Tala or Seth the rest of the day. Nor did she catch anymore glimpses of Kiran. Melody Anders made small talk with her between classes, but other than that, it was like she was invisible. A good invisible, like being able to walk through walls and hearing conversations and no one noticing you. Like it was a superhero power. It left her in a state of welcomed calmness, and for a few quiet moments she believed that everything this year would be okay.

Though as she slipped in and out of those moments, letting them carry her through the hallways, she noticed a small crowd around the door to Study Hall, which was located just to the right of her locker. She assumed it was to see the list of students who had made the first school play of the year. Or the cheerleading team. Or something.

She turned her attention to her locker, trying to remember what class she had last, when Sterling Foster broke out of the crowd. She and Dawn, both in their cheerleading outfits, spotted her and plastered on these strange looks of panic and confusion.

Great, what now? Carter thought, rolling her eyes, then catching herself, Wait, don't assume things. Maybe they're just upset they got cut from the team. Or maybe they found out that Taylor Swift and that One Direction guy would never, ever, ever get back together.

"Carter!" Sterling said, the panic even obvious. "Oh my God, Carter, it's terrible."

At the mention of Carter's name, most of the people in the small crowd faced her. Some smiling wickedly, some snickering. some impassive.

Have I travelled through a portal that leads to last year? "What's terrible?"

"Someone posted a list of a bunch of girls, with these gross ratings."

"Rating what?" Carter wondered if her new superhero powers came equipped with the ability to fast-forward time.

"Like... like what they've done. You know, like how experienced they are."

"Experienced in...?"

"Come on, you know. How far you've gone? It's horrible. I'm on it. So's Dawn. The higher your score, the more of a slut you apparently are. And it's like a grid, listing these code names of the all guys who've rated you and what score they gave you. Then there's an average. It's disgusting."

Did they take this right out of some pitiful teen movie? " That's pathetic. I'm sure no one's actually stupid enough to believe it. Are you sure there's no way of knowing who started it?"

"No way at all. And everyone believes it. I've already had a couple of people slut-sneeze my way. And what's messed up is that I'm a virgin," Sterling said, whispering the word 'virgin'. "Like, sure I've done other things, but there's no way I'm a 67. I should be a 30."

"Who cares what the scores are? We just gotta find out who did it, then report them."

"You don't care?"

"Like I said, anyone who believes it is stupid."

"You got an 84 though."

"WHAT?" How? Why? Who? As the number crept its way into Carter's reality, all the noise around her seemed to diminish. It was replaced with a ringing sound. Then a buzzing. Then silence again. "But I haven't done anything. I'm like a nun. Okay, maybe not exactly a nun, but pretty damn close."

Sterling shuffled her feet, then bit her lip. "We think it might be the rumours from last year."

"What the hell do I have do to get away from that? Move to another country? And you said it was a bunch of guys giving out scores. The rumours were only because Dawn's idiotic ex-boyfriend did what Ashton told him to do. That's one guy." Carter didn't wait for the girls to respond. She pushed past them, then past the crowd, and glared at the list.

It was a neatly organized chart. Colour-coded. Alphabetized. The names of the girls ran down the left side, while the coded names of maybe fifteen guys were up top. Running down the right side was an average score. Each box that intersected had a score, and some of the guys had even made crude comments. Calling the girl Easy, or a Prude, a Slut, a Whore, a Virgin. Her own row had five boxes filled in.

The coded names for her own row were JJ69, LnRngr, RaftingTom, 13AK57, and BasketballGOD.

Well, there goes  a drama-free Senior Year.