kids got to their rooms, but it was still embarrassing with him lunging next to her. Mary stopped and faced him. "Listen, Carter. I really am all right. You don't have to walk with me to class." In fact, she preferred that he didn't.
He smiled. "You said that already."
"Yeah," she said. "So…stop following me."
Carter wrinkled his brow. "Do I make you uncomfortable? Walking with you like this?"
Give the man a prize. "Uh, yeah," Mary said. "Very."
He looked a little sad suddenly. "I am sorry. I will leave you alone." He turned and walked down the other hall.
Mary felt bad. She didn't mean to make him sad. She just wanted him to stop following her. She sighed and headed down the same hall to apologize. But when she got there, she didn't see him. "Carter?"
He was nowhere. Despite the weird lunges, he apparently could move quickly.
That's when she remembered. For days, Mary had put herself through a series of guilt trips, thinking Carter was going to die or end up a vegetable. She had never considered everything going back to normal. Or, relatively normal. This was the first time she'd seen Carter since the hospital, and she had forgotten to thank him for what he had done.
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- 6 -
Rings
In Art, Mary sat at the same table with Sienna and David.
"I saw Carter following you in the hall," Sienna said. "Did he talk to you?"
"A little," Mary said.
"What did he say?" Sienna asked.
David rolled his eyes. "C'mon, babe. Give her a break. She just got back. Besides, who cares about what Carter Maxwell does or doesn't do?"
"But this is big!" Sienna said. "She's got to be the first one he's really talked to. Did he say how he got out of the hospital? Or how come his parents made him go back to school so fast?"
Mary suddenly recalled why she didn't consider Sienna a friend. She was an unimaginable gossip. But those were actually good questions, even though Mary didn't have the answers. Thankfully, the bell rang, and Mr. Edwards started class before Sienna could prod more.
Even though Art was Mary's favorite class, she was preoccupied with Carter. How was she going to thank him? Just saying "Thank you" seemed weak. Borderline ingratitude. "Thank you for saving my life. I'm eternally grateful. I pledge to thee my firstborn child" seemed excessive. Maybe she could get him a gift? That would also be an understatement, but it would be better than just "Thank you." But what would she get him? She didn't know what he liked.
With the other half of her brain, Mary started sketches for a new painting. Since she couldn't do the mobile, she decided to make a space painting instead, so she had poked around the interwebs on Sunday and found a cool picture of Saturn and its rings. She drafted several different angles to see which one she liked best.
Mary worked on her sketches through lunch. She didn't normally eat in the cafeteria, and Mr. Edwards didn't mind her bringing her sandwich into the Art room. She was the only one who did that, after all. She also wanted to avoid people, especially today if more questions came up that she wasn't prepared to answer. Maybe that's why Carter had avoided the cafeteria when he returned last week.
The lead in her mechanical pencil suddenly broke. Mary gently blew it away and examined her sketch. It wasn't looking like she imagined. She'd have to see the picture again and, for that, she needed to go to the computer lab. She gathered her things and tossed her sandwich wrapper into the trashcan. When she stepped out of the classroom, she jumped and nearly dropped her stuff.
"Gah!" she cried.
Carter was in the hall. "Hello, Mary. I am sorry. I frightened you."
Duh, Captain Obvious. And why was he talking like that? He didn't use contractions. Maybe another side effect from the accident.
"No. It's all right," she said. "Have you been standing out here all this time?"
He cocked his head to the side and repeated, "All this time?"
"I mean, how long have you been here? Outside this room?" she asked.
"Class was dismissed fourteen minutes ago," he said.
"So that's how long you've been here?" she asked. "For fourteen minutes?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I was waiting for you."
Mary wrinkled her brow. "Um okay. Listen, there's something I've been wanting to say to you."
His face lit up. "There is?"
"Yeah" she said. "I know it's kinda late, but…thank you. For saving me. That was very brave." Sweet mother