We Used to Be Friends

Chapter Two

Shelby walked over to the table where Lucy was sitting and put her lunch on the table. "So how do you think you did on your history test today?" Shelby asked.

"Horrible. I completely messed up on the part about General Lee." Lucy complained, taking a bite of her sandwich.

Shelby smiled. "Don't worry. You will still do better than me."

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy asked with a chuckle.

"Face it Lucy. You're super-smart."

She looked over at her best friend. "You're smart too Shelby. You just don't ever study."

Shelby laughed. "Well studying is pretty much all you do. I think you study enough for both of us."

Lucy didn't respond to that. She had never really liked school that much, but after sixth and seventh grade she found herself enjoying school. Now as they were in the middle of their eighth grade year, Lucy was starting to notice that studying was pretty much all she ever did. She took another bite of her sandwich and looked around the cafeteria. Her gaze soon fell upon a familiar face. He was over at the popular table again, laughing and joking with the other jocks and cheerleaders. This week he was sitting next to the head cheerleader, Ashley, and she was hanging on to every word he said. It made Lucy want to get sick. He seemed to have a new girlfriend every week, and they were all complete idiots. Sometimes when she looked at him, she couldn't believe that he was the same boy that she grew up with.

Shelby looked over at what Lucy was staring at and rolled her eyes. "I don't know why they think Carter's so great. He's nothing but a grade-A jerk."

"They're all jerks." Lucy replied, her eyes not leaving that table. "That's why he fits in so well." She threw the remains of her sandwich in her lunch bag when she heard the bell ring. "We better get going. If we're late to English again, Mr. Ellington will give us an after-school detention."

"Ok." Shelby resigned. She hated going to English class; she hated pretty much every class. But she didn't want to be the reason why Lucy got an after-school detention. Lucy's permanent record was devoid of any kind of trouble. She always wondered what would happen if Lucy ever got in serious trouble at school. Maybe her head would explode or she would melt into a puddle.

Lucy started walking to the door, but stopped and turned back to face Shelby. "Come on Shel-" All of a sudden, Lucy found herself being knocked to the ground. Her books and lunch bag fell to the ground next to her, scattering in all different directions. She looked up and saw that the person who knocked her down was Ashley. Of course she didn't even stopped or turn to make sure that she was ok. She knew that Ashley had to have run into her on purpose. It wasn't the first time that one of Carter's friends had done something like that to her, and she knew it wouldn't be the last either. Shaking her head in disgust, she angrily gathered up her books and ran off. She didn't even wait for Shelby. She just had to get away from Ashley.

Lucy woke up and looked at the clock. 6:03. She had to be at the hospital at 8. After debating whether or not to go back to sleep for another half hour, she finally decided to get up. She wandered into the kitchen, wishing she could get Carter out of her head.

"Hey. Ready for a brand new day?" Shelby asked with a huge smile.

Lucy ignored Shelby's question and walked over to pour herself a cup of coffee. She couldn't understand how Shelby could be so cheery in the morning, no matter what was going on in her life. She had always known Shelby to be a morning person.

Shelby knew that Lucy would ignore her question. She always did. Every morning she would ask Lucy if she was ready for a new day, and every day Lucy would ignore her question because Lucy wasn't a morning person. She was more of a night owl. Taking a drink of her own coffee, she tried to think of a good way to bring up a subject that she was sure Lucy would try her best to avoid.

Lucy looked over at Shelby after drinking some of her coffee. "I had the weirdest dream last night."

"Really? What was it?" Shelby asked. Lucy's dreams were always interesting and far more imaginative than her own.

"Well it wasn't actually a dream, so much as a memory disguised as a dream." Lucy admitted. "I keep thinking about him and what happened in middle school."

Shelby knew that 'him' was Carter, and silently thanked God for the perfect opportunity to talk to Lucy about him. "So since you're working together..."

"We're not working together!" Lucy interrupted. "We're working in the same hospital."

"It's the same thing." Shelby rolled her eyes. "But are you going to let him know who you are?"

"No." Lucy replied quickly, shaking her head. "No way."

"Why not?" Shelby asked.

"Because of a million reasons. One of them being the fact that I don't care anymore." Lucy knew she was lying, but only hoped that Shelby wouldn't figure it out too.

"That's a load of crap Lucy!" Shelby exclaimed. "You and I both know that you still care about him, or else you wouldn't be dreaming about him."

"I'm not dreaming of him! I'm dreaming of the past, which just happens to have included him." Lucy clarified.

"Whatever." Shelby shook her head, not wanting to argue about this. "But just answer this one last question. What if he remembers who you are on his own? Are you going to admit it then?"

Lucy thought about it for a moment. "No. I won't. What's the point? Why would it matter? We're not friends anymore. We quit being friends a long time ago because he got tired of us. Well I for one am tired of him. I don't see the point of bringing up the past with him." After saying that, she left the kitchen.

Shelby watched her friend leave and shook her head. Lucy was definitely in denial. Now if only there was a way to make her see that.

Carter entered the ER, intent on talking to Lucy when he got a chance. The more he thought about it last night, the more he was convinced that Lucy was the same girl that he grew up with. The resemblance was just too much to be coincidental. It had to be her. He was putting his stuff in his locker when he saw her come into the lounge.

Lucy entered the lounge and wasn't too happy to find Carter there. But she hid her feelings and walked over to her locker, which happened to be next to his.

"Hi." Carter greeted with a huge smile.

Lucy looked over at him. It took all of her restraint not to slap that smile off of his face. "Hi." She replied softly before going back to what she was doing.

He sneaked a few glances at her while she was putting her purse in her locker. "So, you..." he was going to ask her if she was the same Lucy he knew before, but Dr. Greene came into the lounge.

"Carter! Glad you're here. I have a patient for you to see." Mark exclaimed. Then he saw Lucy. "Good morning Lucy."

"Good morning Dr. Greene." Lucy smiled.

Carter looked at Lucy strangely. She didn't smile like that at him when he said hello to her. He actually found himself a little hurt that she hadn't smiled at him like that.

"Carter, what are you waiting for? You have a patient!" Mark yelled, getting Carter's attention.

Carter snapped out of his thoughts. He'd try to talk to Lucy later. "Sorry. I'll get to that patient right now."

"Good." Mark nodded, leading Carter out to the admit desk.

Lucy was glad that Carter was gone. Even though she kept trying to tell Shelby that she didn't care Carter was working at the hospital with her, she did. There was a part of her that still wanted to be his friend. But there was also the part of her that couldn't forgive him for the past. She slammed her locker shut and walked out of the lounge to find Dr. Lewis.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly. Lucy was starting to feel more comfortable around the ER. Everyone was very nice, and she could tell that she was going to get along with Dr. Lewis. She walked out of an exam room with Dr. Lewis after treating a patient with a bad bacterial infection. "So what's going to happen to the patient now?" Lucy asked out of curiosity.

Susan looked at her young med student and smiled. "I think he'll be ok. We'll get him admitted and antibiotics should clear the infection up in a couple of days."

"Good." Lucy smiled.

Susan looked at the clock. "You did well today Lucy. But what time does your shift end?"

Lucy looked at the clock. "Oh wow. It ended an hour ago. I guess the time flew by."

Susan laughed. "It has a tendency to do that in this place. Go home and get some sleep. You'll need it for tomorrow because there will be a whole new batch of sick people coming in."

"See you tomorrow." Lucy smiled, walking into the lounge. She walked over to her locker, thinking about how well today had gone. She had helped people—real people. Up until now, she was studying and reading about how to help people. But now, she was actually making a difference. It made her feel good. She was so deep in thought that she didn't see Carter sitting on the couch by the window.

Carter watched Lucy come in, knowing that she had no idea he was in there. She looked too deep in thought about something. He got up and walked over to her. He had been waiting for her shift to end, knowing that she would have to come into the lounge before she left. "Hi Lucy."

Lucy was frightened by the sudden appearance of another person in the room and jumped. She looked over and saw Carter standing only a few feet away from her. "Oh, hi."

He decided to bring up a neutral topic first before diving into the serious subject he wanted to bring up. "So how are things going with you? Are you enjoying this so far?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "This place is great." She knew that she had to at least try to be polite and courteous to him. "Do you like it?"

"Definitely." He smiled.

She stood there, not enjoying the awkward silence that had developed between them. "Well I'm hungry, so I'm going to go get something to eat. I'll see you tom..."

He saw an opportunity and jumped in. "Mind if I join you? Cause I'm starved. I didn't get a chance to have lunch."

She did mind if he joined her. But what was she supposed to say? No I don't want you to come? She couldn't say that. She plastered a fake smile on her face. "Sure."

"Great." He replied as they left the lounge together. "So what are you in the mood for?"

"Chinese, if that's ok." She replied, not looking at him. Instead, she was trying to figure out how she was going to get through this dinner.

"Chinese sounds good."

The walk to the Chinese restaurant and the beginning of their meal was silent too because they were both thinking about the same thing. Lucy was trying to keep Carter from recognizing who she was, while Carter was trying to find a nice way of asking Lucy if she was the Lucy he used to know.

Finally, Carter couldn't stand the suspense or the silence anymore. "You remind me of someone." He stated.

Lucy was using chopsticks, or at least trying to. She wasn't very good at it, and never had been. When she heard Carter's statement, she jumped, causing the shrimp and rice in her chopsticks to fly across the table. "Oops." She laughed nervously.

He laughed too. "You aren't going to be a surgeon, are you?"

"Uh, no. I'm definitely not a surgeon. I don't think I'd do very well since I can't even control chopsticks." Lucy laughed. Despite herself, she was actually starting to relax and have a good time.

"So like I was saying before, you definitely remind me of someone." Carter told her again. "Oddly enough, she even has the same name as you. Isn't that weird?"

The relaxed feeling she was having earlier suddenly left. "Uh, yes. It's very weird." Lucy replied, hoping that he hadn't figured it all out.

"She also couldn't control her chopsticks." He was trying to trap her into admitting the truth.

"Well that's not uncommon." Lucy replied, shrugging. "The majority of people in this country can't use chopsticks correctly."

"I suppose. But you look exactly like her. So either you're identical twins separated at birth through some horrible hospital mix-up, or you really are the same Lucy that I grew up with and for some reason you're pretending that you don't know me. So which is it?" He stared at her. "Horrible hospital mix-up or funny practical joke?"

She didn't know what to do. A part of her wanted to admit the truth and start screaming at him, but another part of her wanted to just keep pretending that she didn't know him. It would be rather ironic. After all, he spent years pretending that he didn't know her. So in a way, he deserved it. "It must be a horrible hospital mix-up." She told him, looking down at her food and then back at him. "I think I'd remember if I grew up with you, but I just met you yesterday. I think you're mistaken."

He could tell that she was lying because of the look in her eye. He recognized that look. She was the same Lucy, and she was pretending that she didn't know him. Now all he needed to do was figure out why. "Well I'm sorry if I mistook you for someone else."

"You have." Lucy told him, looking at her watch. "If you'll excuse me, I should get going. I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow."

He watched her walk out of the restaurant. He couldn't figure out why she was being so distant to him. Was she still mad that he ditched her and Shelby in middle school? Cause that was a long time ago and if given a chance, he'd apologize for his actions.

Lucy entered the apartment, throwing her purse on the couch. She should have looked at the couch before throwing her purse there though because Shelby was sitting there.

"Ouch! Lucy! Are you trying to kill me?" Shelby exclaimed, putting her purse on the floor and rubbing the part of her head that the purse hit.

"Sorry Shelby. Didn't see you there."

"Obviously." She looked at Lucy, who looked upset. "You ok?"

"He remembered who I am." Lucy reported.

"So what did you do?" Shelby asked, turning off the TV. Who needed a TV show when she had total access to all the drama she could ever want through Lucy's life?

"I told him he was wrong." Lucy replied. "I don't think he believed me though."

"Of course not. He may be a jerk, but he's a smart jerk." Shelby pointed out. "Honestly! Did you actually think that he wouldn't remember you? I mean you guys grew up together. Whether you like it or not, he knows you."

"No, he knew me. I'm not the same person I was back then."

"Maybe he isn't either." Shelby pondered out-loud.

"Whose side are you on? Mine or his?" Lucy asked, getting angry. "Have you forgotten what his so-called friends did to me through-out middle school, and how he never once stood up for me or tried to stop them?"

"No of course I haven't forgotten that." Shelby sighed. "You know I'm on your side Lucy. I always have been and I always will be. But I just want to point out that maybe Carter's different now. If you've changed, then why is it so impossible that he has too?"

She was silent for a moment. Maybe Shelby was right. Maybe Carter was different now. Maybe he wasn't a jerk anymore. But what if he was? "I don't want to talk about this anymore." She told Shelby, walking out of the room.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story! Since there seems to be an audience for it, I've decided to continue writing it. Thanks!