A/N: New story. Again. I know. Don't blame me, blame my mind, the boring hours I make at school. That's were this whole new plot started.
Imagine this: Carter and Abby, both at the same high school. She knows he's the rich one, he has no clue who she is. And then let them prepare a biology presentation together, while dealing with their personal problems.
There you go, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: They're mine, they're mine... no. Not yet.
Warning: I'm not a native English speaker, I'm Dutch, I do the best I can!
Reviews: Thank you for the first nine reviews, they really encouraged me!

The Young Troubled

Chapter 2 – Cheese Pancakes

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------ Biological class – 15:00

I must have been staring at the empty chair besides me since class started, still doubting if I should go to her place after school. It's none of my business, we only have to do a presentation together, and I don't want to be the geek who wants to start as soon as possible. But it's not the presentation. If I'd go there today, then it wouldn't be for the subject material that we need to divide. I'd go there for her.
There's definitely something going on in that house. And I'm sure that Abby isn't the one who would tell me that. And besides, she has her own friends. I don't need to go there, do I?

Do I? I don't know.

She obviously doesn't want me there, we don't even know each other. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to get to know her. Because I do.
I would love to know what's behind that shy smile, behind the door of the house she lives in. Behind the mask.

"Mr. Carter, is it just your body that is present or is there by any chance a possibility that we could communicate this afternoon?"

Sneering laughter fills the classroom.

"Sure, I was just…" Quickly I look over the chapter in front of me. "…thinking how eh, how the human body could be this complicated." Hopefully I look up and give him my most innocent face.

A satisfied smile appears on Watkins face. "Exactly, very fascinating isn't it?"

I nod, surprised how easy that was.

"But that doesn't mean that you don't need to answer my questions."

Oh. "No, of course not. I'm sorry."

"Good."

Letting out a deep sigh I stare at the blackboard. Chewing on my pen I try to make sense of the words in front of me, but the thought of Abby is still present.

------ Abby's place – 20:00

There I am, I wasn't even thinking straight when my feet led me here. No sign of Eric. No sign of Abby either. The curtains are half open, the house is dark.
An ill at ease feeling takes over me when I walk towards the front door and peek through the small window. It seems deserted.
I press the doorbell but feel that there's no doorbell anymore. The button is gone. Someone must have ripped it out. Her mother? I knock but don't receive any reaction.
They're not home. So maybe mom was right. What if their mother is in jail and they walked away? She seemed stubborn enough to do something like that. To just disappear.

I lean with my back against the front door with crossed arms and look over the neighborhood.

"Dear! You should go round the back!" A woman who looks in her mid sixties shouts from the other side of the street.

"Yes," she continues and walks up to me. "Their doorbell is broken, but I haven't seen them leave."

"But the lights are off."

She shrugs. "Probably didn't pay their bills. Happensall the time.You new here?"

"Ah, no. Actually, we're in class together." She observes me for a second and then looks up to me again.

"With Abigail?"

"Yes."

She nods and peeks through the window. "Maybe she's upstairs," she mumbles and turns her face to me again. "Knock again, would you?"

"It's not that important, I'll come back later."

She rolls her eyes and knocks herself. "You know what, it's good that those kids get some company."

I smile politely and step away from the door. Can't she just leave? I already decided that this isn't a good idea. And what did she mean with company? Don't they have any friends coming over?

"Okay, so she doesn't answer. The back door should be open."

"No, I don't think I should go ther-"

"I think you should. Come on."

I stay where I am, not planning to just walk in their garden. "Come on," she signs with her head to the house for emphasis.

I sigh and follow her. She holds the rickety door ofthe fence for me and hesitantly I walk through it.

"Help yourself!" Is the last thing she says and then she closes the door behind me. Great. Here I am, alone in the... backyard – if you can call it that – of a girl I barely even know.

I can go back. I could just turn around and go home, but now I'm here, I'm too curious to leave.
Men, the back of this house could really needs to be restored. The backyard itself doesn't look that good either. There are more weeds than grass and it doesn't look like they spend a lot of time here.

Still feeling very uncomfortable I walk to the back door and see through the window nothing but a deserted and pretty dark kitchen.

I'm leaning with my hand on the door handle when it suddenly flies open.

"Shit!" I hear somewhere far away in the house and startled I take a step back. That was her voice. Not knowing how to respond I take another step back and scratch my head.

"Hello?" Abby again. Footsteps in the kitchen, and then her silhouette appears at the kitchen table.

And then she sees me.

She looks at me through the window for a second, straight in my eyes. I don't even blink when she walks to the door and opens it further. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... open the door."

"You're in our garden."

"Your neighbor told me so."

She rolls her eyes and ties her hair together. Her hands disappear in the pockets of her grey hooded sweater when she steps out of the house. "Why are you here?"

She asks it like she forgot about the fact that I'm standing - uninvited - in her garden.

"Because you weren't at school," I answer.

She nods and takes some steps in the garden. "Messed up here huh?"

I smile softly and look at her when she bends over and pulls some weed out. "What's this?"

I shrug and look at the green material. "...weed?"

She smirks and gets up again. "Thought the Carters know everything."

Oh, she's playing a game. The 'Let's find out about the Carter family' game. "What gave you that idea?"

She shrugs and walks back to the doorway. Just when I thought the tension was gone she asks me the same question again. "So why are you here?"

"We need to prepare our presentation." Immediately I feel stupid and extremely annoying. I shouldn't have said that. Not that I had better options.

I nod, not exactly sure if that's what I wanted to hear. "When?"

"As soon as possible I think."

"Sure."

"When will you be back at school?"

"Is Watkins making problems?" A wave of nervousness takes over me.

"No. But you're missing a lot of subject material."

"You can explain me later," I blurt out. God, why did I say that?

"I could," he nods seriously, his eyes violently staring in mine. For a moment there's some sort of electricity between us, but it disappears just as fast as it came.

"Good." I answer simply and look at the sky.

"So when will you be back?"

"I hope Monday." He needs to leave now. I need to get Eric back from the street, and I don't want him here any longer. Especially not when he's starting to ask me questions.

"You said today last time." He hits me with his voice, he sounds disappointed.

"I know. Things happened," I smile at him, reassuring that I'm doing okay.

"Oh."

"I can handle it."

"I'll be willing to help. Not only with biology." That's sweet. Damn sweet. I almost start to believe that he's more than the rich Carter, but probably he's only being polite.

I smile and stare at my bare feet. "You don't want to."

"Okay." He sounds understanding when he takes a step back towards the fence.

I nod and take a step back as well. "Monday," I say again and close the door a little, hoping that he'll get it.

"Monday," he repeats nodding and opens the door of the fence.

"Bye," and with that I close the back door behind me. I grab the lanterns on batteries that I bought to enlighten the kitchen and the living room. There's no money left, but at least there's some light.

I should get Eric back from the street; I don't want him to stay with the Martins for dinner again. He can't eat there every day. I open the refrigerator and see nothing more but beer bottles and some cheese. I feel in my pocket, one dollar. Please let Eric have some.

"ERIC!" I shout after I opened the front door. "ERIC! We're going to eat!"

No reaction. "ERIC!"

"I'm here!" I hear his voice coming from the back of the house. I walk round the back and then see him standing there. With John.

"Oh, you still here?" I ask at Carter who's leaning against the fence, talking to my little brother.

He nods and picks up Eric's ball. This sucks, I don't want Eric to talk to him so much, he may say things that I don't want John to know. Maybe he already did.

"Eric, come on, dinner," I say again.

He doesn't react and ticks the ball out of Carter's hands. "We only have cheese," he mumbles and walks towards me.

Carter observes us when Eric presses some pennies in my hand. "That's all I've got," he whispers and leans against my thigh. "I'm hungry."

"That's okay," I answer and caress his hair.

I know that Carter heard us. He looked at Eric, he saw that he handed me the few pennies, and Eric was clear enough about the cheese.

"I got chicken," I lie. Please let them believe it. Please let Carter leave.

"Really?" Eric's brown eyes, filled with hope, look up to me. False hope.

"Yeah, come on, go inside." My God, I don't want to see the disappointment in his eyes when he finds out that there isn't any chicken.

I look at Carter, who's still standing at the same spot, leaning against the fence. I should give him some sort of an explanation.

"I forgot to ask my mother money for dinner."

"Good that there's chicken then," he speaks and takes a step from the fence. I heard the careful hint of sarcasm.

He knows that I'm lying. Why can't I lie to him? I'm the best liar in the world, I can lie to Eric, to teachers, friends, but not to him. His eyes seem to lock mine, and my face can't do anything else but confess.

Luckily he doesn't say anything and kicks the ball to me. I catch.

More and more I start to believe that mom was right. Their mother isn't with them. They're alone and don't have money for a proper meal. I'm not sure if I should ask something else.

"Bye," she says and before I realize what she's doing she's walking back to the front door.

But this time I don't let her sneak away again. "What happened to your power?" I ask after I caught up with her.

She hesitates for a second. "Broken I guess," she shrugs. "My mom will let it fix."

"Maybe there's something wrong with the fuse box," I try.

"She'll let it fix," she says again and closes the door a little.

"Why don't you let me take a look at it?" Anxiously I wait for her to answer. She knows that I want to come inside, that I want her to tell me what's going on. That she can trust me.

"Because your mother needs you at home."

Just before she shuts the door I push it open with my hand again. "Not tonight." I seem to lock her eyes again and her grip on the door lets go.

"It's behind the stairs," she mumbles with a very 'if you must,' tone and opens the door for me.

I let him in. He's inside. John Carter is standing in our house. Why? Because his eyes begged me to. Because that's the only way to let him believe that we're okay here. But I know that he realizes that we're not. And the fuse box won't change that.

"There is no chicken, is there?" Eric's voice from the kitchen. Immediately Carter's face turns from the fuse box.

"No, I made a mistake," I tell him when Eric walks up to me.

"You never make mistakes." His lower lip quivers. Don't cry Eric, don't cry now. Not now.

"You know what, I think... that there is stuff for pancakes." I really think that. Oh, men, that would be great. They were there yesterday.

"I don't believe you anymore."

"The counter above the stove Eric. I mean it."

With a pissed off face he walks back to the kitchen.

"Do you mean it?" John asks while his head has disappeared in the fuse box again.

"Yes," I answer.

"I found it!" Eric shouts from the kitchen and runs back to me. "Cheese pancakes! We could do that right?"

He fierily wipes away the few tears that were on his cheeks and looks hopefully in my eyes.

"We'll do that," I nod smiling and pat his shoulder. "I'll be right there."

"Hey Carter, do you want to stay?" Eric asks John very unexpected.

"Eric!" I lisp shocked.

"Well?" He asks when Carter turns his face once again. "We have cheese pancakes." He sounds proud of that.

Carter smiles at him and looks at me. Whatever, he knows everything already. And I don't need to tell him what's going on here exactly. He knows enough for now, enough to stay here. "Eric makes great pancakes," I say and wait for his reaction.

"I'd love to taste them," he says while he closes the door. His eyes never leave mine.

"Cool!" A huge smile appears on Eric's face and he runs back to the softly enlightened kitchen.

"Forget about that," I say and sign with my hand to the fuse box. "They cut our power."

He nods, not a single expression on his face while he walks with me to the kitchen where Eric is pouring milk in three glasses. The plates are already on the table.

"Don't we need that for the pancakes?" Carter asks softly behind me.

"Oh yeah… We could use mine." Eric answers like it's no problem to give away his milk and puts his glass back on the kitchen counter.

"Then you'll have mine," I tell him and grab a bowl for the mix.

"And you can have mine,""Carter's voice says just loud enough for me to hear when he opens the refrigerator for the cheese.

I smile softly, not sure if I did the right thing by inviting him. But maybe that's not what matters now, maybe it's the fact that Eric can have his cheese pancakes. I'm glad to see him this way; with his goofy grin and sparkling eyes. And if Carter is a part of his happy evening, then we'll do it this way.

Thanks for reading.

(Preview for next chapter: Continuation of this evening... That's all there is to say!)

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