The sound of the alarm clock filled the room. Carter rolled over and hit the snooze button once more. Rosie was sitting, fully dressed on the edge of the bed. "Carter that is the third time you've done that" rosie said, "You have to get up, we have school". "Saturday, no school!" Carter said as she buried her face into one of her pillows. Rosie couldn't help but chuckle. "Carter it's only wednesday!" Rosie said smiling at Carter.
After a few more minutes of trying to convince Carter to get out of bed, rosie was finally successfull. Carter groaned as she shuffled into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Carter showered and got dressed. When she came out of the bathroom, rosie was gone. She could smell breakfast cooking and heard voices coming from downstairs. Carter grabbed her backpack from the corner of the room and then continued on downstairs.
When she walked into the kitchen she found her dad flipping pancakes while Rosie sat patiently at the table. "Good morning!" Carter said as she entered the room and took a seat next to rosie. "Good morning pal!" Major mason said he placed a plate full of pancakes in front of them, "Dig in girls, bus will be here soon". By the time the girls had finished eating their pancakes the bus had arrived. The driver honked the horn and both carter and Rosie jumped up, grabbed their backpacks and ran out the door. Once they were in their usual seat at the very back the bus started down the road again.
Carter immediatly went to staring aimlessly out the window. She hated school most days but she really did not want to go. Today was the first day of voting for prom queen and king. Carter knew that she didn't stand a chance. The king was going to be donnie and of course Chelsey was going to be prom queen. That is just how high school works. However even though Carter knew that she did not stand a chance, she couldn't help but feel just a little nervous over the whole thing. Rosie could feel Carter nervously tapping on the seat with her hand. Rosie placed her hand over Carter's, immediatly bringing an end to the nervous tapping.
Carter turned and looked down at Rosie's hand and then up to her eyes. Rosie gave a small smile and reassuring squeeze on Carter's hand. Almost immediatly Carter felt at ease. That is until they pulled into the school parking lot.
As everyone around them rushed to grab their bags and get off the bus, Rosie and Carter stayed put for a few extra seconds. Carter was feeling nervous again. She knew that this could go one of two ways. Option one, every one ignored her completly as they usually did or option two, the bait girl name calling would drastically increase making her life hell. Rosie could that Carter's mind was spinning out of control. Rosie placed a small, quick kiss on Carter's cheek, catching her by surprise. "You will be fine Carter" Rosie said smiling.
A smile crept its way on to Carter's face as she just nodded. "Come on" rosie said as she stood up and handed Carter her backpack. They followed the rest of the students off of the bus and into the school courtyard where banners for chelsey were already hanging. Carter stood in front of one and looked at it. "Vote Chelsey for Prom Queen!" with a large photo of the future queen herself beside it. "I've already lost!" Carter said to Rosie who was standing beside her. Rosie gave a small laugh. "You know for someone who says that they didnt care about prom queen, you certainly are acting like you care" Rosie said.
Carter went to open her mouth with a witty response but nothing came to mind. "Shut up!" She said gently pushing Rosie's arm, "We have to go to class!". The two girls walked towards the door of the school and went inside. Posters for Chelsey and a few for brooke lined the hallway. "I'll see you at lunch!" Carter said rolling her eyes as she cut in front of Rosie and disappeared down a side hallway.
By the time lunch came around Carter was ready to jump off of a bridge. Chelsey's face was everywhere! Carter was used to being invisible, in fact she liked it. But today being invisible hurt. No matter what she may have said, Carter actually cared about the whole prom queen. I mean, what girl wouldn't like to be voted prom queen? Carter was sitting at her usual table by herself while she waited for rosie. Carter was just staring at her plate. Another lunch tray was placed on the table beside her. She assumed it was Rosie so she didn't bother to look up from her plate. But then another tray was placed on the opposite side of followed by two more in front of her. "Mind if we sit here?" Donnie asked.
Carter looked up from her tray and saw Donnie, and his three friends from the football team. "Uh..." was all Carter could manage to say. Donnie smiled at her and he and his three friends took a seat. "So word on the street is that you are running for prom queen" Donnie said as he took bite of his hamburger. Carter just nodded her head. She was asleep. She had to be. It was the only explanation as to why these guys, the most popular guys in school were talking to her.
Donnie turned to face Carter. "I think it's really cool that you are running" he said flashing his signature smile at her. "Yeah Carter" Ryan said, the guy sitting across from Donnie, "Finally someone is giving Chelsey some competition!". Carter was still confused as to why they were giving her the time of day. "Yeah, we all think it's really cool that you are running" Donnie said, "And we got you a little something to show our support".
The guy that had been sitting on the other side of Carter pulled a brown paper bag out of his backpack. "Close your eyes!" Donnie said as she gently covered Carter's eyes with one of his hands. A few moments later when he removed them, Carter felt something being placed on her head. Donnie stood up in his chair and started yelling. "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you your new prom queen, Bait Girl!". The entire cafeteria turned and looked in their direction. Carter reached up to feel for what had been placed on top her head but pulled back when a sharp pain pricked her fingers. Slowly, she pulled whatever it was off of her head and looked at.
"What do you think of your new crowd your majesty?" Donnie sneered as Carter looked over the crown. It was a fake plastic crown that had dead minnows and fish hooks glued to it. "Wait, you forgot this!" Ryan said as he pulled out a white plastic container and poured it's contents over Carter's head. Dirt and worms now covered Carter. Donnie and his freinds erupted into laughter. The football team and cheerleading squad that was sitting a few tables away soon joined in. Carter felt tears welling her eyes.
Rosie walked into the cafeteria and heard the laughter. Suddenly she was nearly knocked over when a crying, dirt covered Carter came running at her. Rosie grabbed her and made an attempt to find out what was going on. "Let go of me!" Carter demanded as she broke free of Rosie's grip and went running out the the double doors behind her. Rosie turned and went chasing after her. She chased her all the way to the girls bathroom.
Carter ran into the last stall and shut and the locked the door behind her. Rosie stopped running when she reached the last stall. "Carter!" she said as she knocked on the door, "Carter open up!". Carter just stood there as the tears rolled down her face. Just a few minutes ago she would have given anything to be noticed by anyone but now she would give anything to go back to being invisible. At least the invisible carter wasn't the laughing stock of the whole school.
"Carter please open the door!" rosie begged. Carter ignored her and sat down in the corner, crying as she held her knees tightly to her chest. Rosie saw the small gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. The floor was covered in toilet paper and appeared to be slightly damp with God knows what. "Eww" rosie thought to herself. But as much as she didn't want to climb around on to floor, she wanted to help Carter more. Rosie took a deep breath and got down on her hands and knees. She could help but make a disgusted face as she inched her way into the stall. a piece of toilet paper stuck to her palm and she shook it until it fell off.
Finally she was under and was able to stand back up. "Gross!" she whispered to herself as she wiped her hands on her jeans. The sound of Carter crying quickly brought her back as to why she did that in the first place and she quickly rushed over to her side. A worm wriggled around in Carter's hair and Rosie made a disgutsted a face at sight of the little creature. She took a breath and gathered every bit of nerve and courage she had and grabbed the worm, slinging it across the stall. Crawling around on bathroom floors and grabbing worms was most definitley not princess like behavior. Oddly enough Rosie found herself not caring.
She sat down on the floor beside Carter and placed her around around her, hugging her tightly. "What happened?" Rosie asked as Carter looked up at her, tears streaming down her face. "They covered me with dirt and worms!" Carter said, "But at least they gave me a crown!". Carter pointed at the minnow and fish hook crown that was lying on the floor across the stall. "This whole thing was a mistake!" Carter said, "I don't know why you even nominated me! I'm a nobody!".
Seeing Carter cry and hearing her talk about herself like this broke Rosie's heart. Rosie wiped a few tears away with the sleeve of her shirt and lifted Carter's head so that she could look her in the eyes. "Carter you are not a nobody!" rosie said. "Yeah, easy for you to say princess!" Carter said, empasizing the word princess. Rosie just shook her head. "Carter, you are a beautiful and wonderful person no matter what those jerks say or what you may think" Rosie said staring into Carter's eyes, "And if you haven't noticed, this princess is sitting on a bathroom floor surrounded by dirt and worms with you!".
Despite Carter's best efforts, she couldn't help but laugh at rosie's statement. "Don't laugh!" Rosie said smiling and nudging Carter with her elbow, "You have no idea how hard this is for me! I wouldn't do this for just anyone!". Rosie grabbed Carter's hand and laced their fingers together. She lifted Carter's hand to her lips and placed a gentle kiss on it as she stood up, pulling Carter up with her. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up!" rosie said as she moved towards the door of the stall.
Rosie grabbed a few wet paper towels and wiped the dirt from Carter's face and they finished pulling the worms out of her hair. As Rosie slowly wiped the dirt from her face, Carter just watched her. She watched as Rosie's eyes scanned her face, looking over every little feature. Rosie really was different from the other princesses that Carter had met. Beneath the title, clothes, and the crown, Rosie was really a loving and caring person. It just took a little bit of time for that side of her to come out.
"Thank you" carter said as Rosie tossed the last paper towel into the trash can. "You very welcome Carter!" Rosie said smiling. Carter reached her arms around Rosie's waist and pulled her in for a hug. She held on tightly as she felt Rosie's arms wrap around her and return the hug. The bell rang, making both girls aware of the fact that they were now late for class. "We should go" Carter said as she reluctantly released Rosie. Rosie nodded and together the two girls walked out of the bathroom.
"I said move nerd!" Donnie said as he shoved a little freshman boy down to the ground, sending his books and papers flying into the air. He and his football buddies laughed as they continued to walk by and disappeared down the hallway. Carter quickly ran over to help the boy. "Are you ok?" Carter asked as she knelt down and began helping the boy gather his things. "Yeah I'm fine" He said as he pushed his glasses up, "I'm used to it". Rosie reached her hand out and helped him stand up as he reached out and grabbed his things from Carter.
Once he realized who had helped him up he immediatly started blushing. Carter looked down and noticed the boys "Mathlete" sweat shirt. "No wonder he gets picked on" She thought to herself. "Well I gotta go" the boy said as he smiled nervously at Carter and Rosie, "Good luck with prom queen Carter, I'm voting for you!".
The boy quickly walked off and disappeared into a class room, leaving a dumbfounded Carter in the hallway. "He knew my name, how did he know my name?" Carter said turning to Rosie, "No one knows my name, it's always bait girl or nothing at all". Rosie just smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
Eventually the two girls made it class. Carter made it her personal mission to avoid Donnie and his frieds for the rest of the day at all costs. Rosie sat in class, thinking about carter and what had happend in the hallway. Rosie didn't know much about Mathletes but she had seen mean girls and apparently the mathletes were "social suicide". Judging from what she had just seen, that claim was fairly accurate.
As the clock ticked on, Rosie had finally moved into her last class of the day. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to Carter and the exchage between her and the boy in the hallway. Carter had just been embarassed in front of nearly the entire school and spent the past thirty minutes crying her eyes out in the bathroom and yet she still went out of her way to help someone that was even lower then her one the social food chain.
Suddenly an idea struck rosie. She needed to find that boy again. Rosie stared at the clock for the next twenty minutes. Finally the bell rang and Rosie was the first one out of the class. She ran down the hallway and stopped in front of the class room that she had seen the boy walk into earlier. She spotted him gathering his things in the room and she excitedly pushed her way through the other students that were rushing out of the room. "Hi again!" rosie said cheerfully as she walked over to the boy. He looked around nervously to make sure that rosie was indeed talking to him.
"Hi, I'm rosie!" She said placing her things down on the desk and sticking out her hand. "Greg" the boy said nervously shaking her hand. "Well greg it is very nice to meet you!" rosie said smiling, "I was wondering if maybe you could do me a favor, You remember my friend carter right?". Greg nodded. "Do you think that maybe I could come to mathlete meeting after school today?" she asked, "I knida need your help on something". Greg thought for a moment and looked Rosie over once as he thought, debating on whether or not to trust her. "Sure" He said, after all she had been nice to him earlier. "Great!" rosie said, "Give me like five mintes and I will be right back!".
Rosie quickly rushed out of the room and found Carter waiting for her at her locker. "Ready to go?" Carter asked as rosie walked up to her. "Actually, I'm staying after school" Rosie said. "Oh no, did you get detention because we were late?" Carter said. That wasn't what rosie had planned on telling her but she decided to just roll with it. "Yeah, I have to stay after school" Rosie lied. "Dang, that sucks" Carter said, "Ok well I guess I will see you when you get home".
Rosie watched as Carter walked with the other students out towards the buses and then she quickly ran back to the classroom where greg and the rest of the mathletes were waiting.