Chapter 8:
A Prom date and Unexpected Apologies:
(Friday April 21st 2017; 5:15pm)
It had been a little over a week since Jack had confronted the Ultras and their leader Chris Hargensen in front of Ewen High School, and then soundly humiliated them, and ruined their reputations, by threatening to release their dirty laundry to the public if they ever came near Carrie again. And just as Jack had predicted, the students who had witnessed and recorded what had taken place had spread what they witnessed to everyone else in school, and onto their YouTube channels as well. Because of this, the power and reputation of the Ultras that they'd spent so much time building up over the years at the school began to crumble slowly away.
When the videos that had been put on YouTube were seen by Jack's three younger triplet sisters back home, they showed them to their brother's classmates, who on seeing the videos were all astonished to see Jack stand up to school bullies in another country, something they never ever expected to see. Many of them gained a lot more respect for Jack to see him do that, especially standing up to bullies they had never seen before.
When he came into Ewen High School on the following morning after the incident, Jack was congratulated and praised by many of the other students of Ewen High School, either those who had witnessed what had taken place or those who'd seen the video or photo evidence for it afterwards. Quite a few of them had also been bullied or harassed by Chris or the other Ultras at some point during their time there, and they were all very pleased to see that someone finally had the guts to stand up to them which no one in school had ever done before.
Jack simply accepted their praise, saying it was about time someone stood up to them. Inspired by what Jack had done, other students in the school, some of whom were often forced to bully people like Carrie due to peer pressure, left Carrie alone and started to stand up to Chris and the Ultras too if they ever went near them.
(With Jack)
Jack was in his apartment, as it was Friday afternoon and school had finished for the day. He had just finished putting an apple pie together, one of his mother's recipes she served in her bakeries, and was putting it into the pre-heated oven to cook. After closing the oven door and checking the time, he began cleaning up.
He did ask Carrie if she wanted to come over and spend the rest of the afternoon with him, but she had to decline the invitation as her mother was keeping a close watch on her. Apparently, Margaret was starting to get a little bit suspicious of her daughter's new levels of confidence and unusual happy attitude, and had decided to keep a close watch on her; however, she decided not to question it for now but would wait for the right moment, and as a result of that Carrie didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. However, she agreed to meet up with Jack in the morning outside his apartment and spend the day with him, as Margaret would be working all day on Saturday, like she usually did, from 8:00am right the way through to 6:00pm.
Jack had just finished cleaning up and just turned his eyes over to the dining table on which sat the large package from home he had picked up at the reception desk downstairs after he got back from school a little earlier on, when he was distracted by two knocks at the door. Going over to the door, Jack looked through the tiny peep-hole; he could see the familiar face of Rita Desjardin waiting just outside. Smiling in relief that it was someone he knew, he opened the door.
"Hi Rita, come in…how are you?"
"Hi Jack, I'm fine. I just came to talk to you. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Rita said, as Jack stood aside so she could come in. Jack closed the door behind him.
"Oh no, not at all. I've just finished cleaning up in the kitchen. I've literally just placed an apple pie in the oven you see." Jack said, as they entered the kitchen area. Seeing the oven, Rita briefly looked in through the glass front.
"Looks like a nice pie in there." Rita said, as she turned to face Jack.
"So…what do you want to talk to me about?" asked Jack, as he looked at Rita. Her visit at this time of day, when school was over, was a little unexpected, but he didn't mind that one bit. He had already begun to see her as an older sister, something she had picked up on and went along with. Rita actually found it to be quite cute and would tease him about it, telling him it was her duty, as an older sister, to do so.
"I won't be very long…I just wanted to pop in and give you this." Rita said, reaching into a pocket on the inside of her jacket and pulling out a brown envelope, which interested Jack. Taking the envelope, Jack opened it and looked inside.
"Two tickets to the prom!" he said, in surprise. "But…but how did you get these for me? I'm not even from this part of the world." Jack said. Rita just smiled.
"Well…it didn't take too much to convince Principal Morton to get tickets for you, since he's also aware you helped Carrie and stood up to Chris and her cronies last week without any fear, which he finds to be quite an admirable thing to do. Also, he knows quite well how hard you've been working in all your classes since you arrived and so he feels you deserve the chance to cut loose and have fun while you're here. So even if you're from another country, you've more than earned this reward."
"Thank you very much." Jack said, as he stepped forward and gave Rita a hug, which she returned.
When they released each other from the hug, Jack took another look at the prom tickets.
"Hey, you gave me two prom tickets. If one of them is for me then who's the other one for?" he asked. Rita just smiled slyly at the now unsure Jack.
"Well, it's for your partner of course. The person that you're gonna bring to the prom. It can be anyone you choose, but I've a feeling who it is you're gonna ask." she said, while wiggling her eyebrows which brought a bit of colour to Jack's cheeks.
"Just so you know, those are the tickets that Chris Hargensen and her boyfriend Billy would've gotten if she hadn't skipped detention for what she and the other Ultras did to Carrie in the girl's locker room on the Friday before you arrived." Rita said. Jack chuckled, knowing how furious Chris would be if she knew he had her tickets right now.
"However Jack...the only thing I would say is this: don't leave it for too long. It's April 21st now, and the prom's gonna be held in a little over a month from now on Friday May 26th with the Senior's Graduation ceremony to follow on Friday June 2nd. Oh, and just so you know…I'm positive that she'll say yes." Rita said. Jack smiled; he knew exactly who Rita was talking about.
"Well…as chance would have it, I'm meeting up with her tomorrow. And I'll ask her when the chance for it arises." Jack said, as Rita smiled while checking her watch.
"Good luck with that, Jack. Anyway, I'd better get myself home and get dinner ready. I'll see you on Monday morning, and please let me know every detail of it, and it better be romantic." Rita said, as she and Jack walked towards the door.
"Okay, I'll call you first chance I get and let you know." Jack said, as Rita opened the door.
"All right, Jack, I'll wait for the call. Bye for now." Rita said, as she stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
Going back to the kitchen, Jack picked up the envelope with the two prom tickets and had another look at them. Many thoughts were swirling through his head; How should he ask? Where and when should he ask? Would she say yes? However, one thing was quite sure in his head; he knew exactly who he would ask. All he hoped was that she would say yes.
After going into his room and putting the tickets into an inside pocket of his jacket, he went back to the package and opened it. Inside, taking up the whole package, was a cardboard box filled to the top with his mother's cookies and brownies. Jack was very pleased to get this, as he was starting to miss his mother's baking.
Soon, the apple pie had finished baking and, donning oven gloves, Jack took it out from the oven and placed it on a cooling rack. It smelt really nice, and he was really looking forward to having a slice with some ice cream once he'd eaten dinner.
By 6:30pm, he returned to his apartment with a takeout order from the nearby K.F.C. and settled down to eat while watching a movie on his laptop, Smokey and the Bandit (1977). As he ate and watched the movie, it began to rain outside and soon it was bucketing down very heavily with the sound of it being clearly heard pattering away on the roof, reminding him of water from a hose being aimed and sprayed onto the windows at home.
Pausing the movie and going over to the window, Jack watched for a few moments as the rain pelted down, creating a sound that reminded him of hailstones hitting the ground, before the thick droplets ran down the window in streaks and obscured his view. There was no lightning to be seen in the distance or thunder to be heard; what was occurring above was simply a heavy rain storm. Then Jack turned away from the window and went back to sitting on the couch and to carry on with his food and watching the movie.
Once he finished eating, he paused the movie and set about cleaning things up and putting the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. When that was done, he cut a slice of the apple pie, which was still warm, and served with it two scoops of ice cream from the large two-litre tub in the freezer. After sitting back down on the couch and unpausing the movie, he settled back to enjoy the pie. It was delicious, yet no different to his mother's home baking. The thought made Jack feel, for the first time since the start of the month, a little homesick, but the thought of Carrie and the upcoming prom quickly removed thoughts of home from his mind.
"Just another seven weeks to go, Jack. Just another seven weeks." he said to himself, as he carried on eating.
(The next morning)
After getting up at 8:05am, Jack pulled back the curtains and opened the window; he was pleased to see the rain had stopped, though it was overcast and the air was a little bit colder than it had been during the last few mornings. The roads and sidewalks were glistening with dampness and Jack could see that puddles of varying sizes had formed in quite a few places. Looking back into the sky, he could see the overcast was starting to break, promising the sun would come out and dry the ground.
After a few minutes, and with the cold morning air starting to get to him through his thin cotton pyjamas, Jack closed the window and got ready for the day ahead.
(9:55am)
Now freshly cleaned, shaved and dressed, and having eaten a good breakfast to ready himself for the day ahead, Jack with his laptop bag and camera in hand and sling bag on under his waist jacket, after taking the lift downstairs, went out the main doors on the ground floor and out into the parking lot ready to meet Carrie. He didn't have to wait for very long; after two minutes, he saw her approach from down the street.
"Morning!" she called, as she came up.
"And good morning back. Did you sleep well?" Jack asked, as they hugged each other, which made their faces light up brightly.
"Yes, I slept quite well, even though it rained very heavily last night." Carrie said, as they released each other form the hug. But what Carrie didn't mention was that the reason she had slept so well was that her mother hadn't thrown her in the prayer closet the previous evening.
"Yeah, I haven't seen rain that heavy in quite a long while. It really just…pelted down very heavily last night. So much so, I thought the roof was gonna collapse. It sounded very much like hailstones hitting the roof." Jack said, as he thrust his hands in such a way to represent hail falling heavily from the skies. Carrie simply smiled at what Jack was doing with his hands.
"So, shall we head into the mall?" Carrie said and, putting their arms round each other's waists, they crossed the street and went over to the mall.
Soon, they were in one of their favourite bookshops, this one was up on the fourth floor, and were looking through the shelves for books they wanted. At one point, Jack paused by the window and looked outside; he could clearly see the large park across the way and people walking by through it. In the sky, the dense bank of overcast clouds was breaking up and more sunlight was streaking through, which was really starting to brighten up the park. Through the growing gaps in the clouds, Jack could see bright blue patches of sky and getting larger as the clouds gradually thinned out.
"Looks like it's gonna be a bright sunny day after all." Jack thought as he turned back to the shelves and continued browsing. He was soon in the military history section and browsed through a selection of books. A few minutes later, with two books he wanted to buy in hand, he met up with Carrie and they went to the checkout. Leaving the shop with their purchases, they went round the mall for another two and a half hours.
Soon, they found themselves in the aquarium. As they strolled on by all the different sized tanks, Carrie, who had never been to a place like an aquarium before, gazed in utter fascination at the fish, of all different species, colours, shapes and sizes, swimming by just a foot or two from her on the other side of a glass window.
Carrie and Jack soon reached the biggest tank in the aquarium; the shark tank. For a while, they stood among the other people around them and watched as the Sand Tiger Sharks swam slowly and serenely by among the other fish in the tank, including a few silver skinned barracudas, two large green turtles, blacktip and whitetip reef sharks and many other brightly coloured fish. Though to Carrie these brown slightly humpbacked sharks looked fearsome, especially when they were very slowly approaching her head on and with those twisted jagged teeth on show in their partially open mouths, they were actually quite harmless sharks.
"These sharks won't bite a person, will they?" Carrie asked, with some concern in her voice, as one of the sharks slowly swam by immediately in front of her, with its curved, jagged teeth clearly visible in its mouth.
"No, don't worry Carrie…these sharks won't bite anyone at all. Unless, that is, you're silly enough to put your hand in its mouth. I've heard a few stories of foolish people who've done it. They didn't lose their hands, but had them scarred up for a long while because of it, though I can't verify whether those stories are true or not." Jack said, in a matter-of-fact voice. Carrie felt herself shudder a little at the thought of it.
A bit further on, they encountered a large tank depicting marine life in a small coastal harbour; in the tank were a number of different fish, including Atlantic mackerel, shrimps and silver Bass. Crawling along on the bottom of the tank were a number of different species of crabs and lobsters. As Carrie and Jack knelt down and looked through the thick glass wall of the tank and watching the fish swim by in the large tank, Carrie still watched the fish go by in fascination.
"You know, Carrie…I once got one of my fingers pinched by a lobster." Jack said.
"Really?" said Carrie, as she looked at Jack.
"Yes, it was about two years back this July when my family was on holiday in Kilkee in Co. Clare for a few days. It was only a very small lobster, and it only pinched my finger for a few seconds, but believe me, even the small lobsters actually have quite strong claws on them." Jack said.
"Well then, if I ever do get hold of a lobster, I'll be very sure to keep all of my fingers well away from its claws." said Carrie.
"Make sure you do." Jack said, remembering how sudden the pain was when that small lobster's claw pinched his finger, though it only lasted for a few seconds.
(12:00pm)
Now finished up in the aquarium, Jack and Carrie left the mall and went across the road to the park. The clouds in the sky had now completely cleared away and now the sun shone brightly from a bright blue sky, and a very gentle breeze was blowing. Entering the park through the west entrance, they strolled along one of the tree lined pathways under the shade of the trees among other people who were just walking about, jogging along or even going by on their bikes.
At one of the playgrounds in the middle of a wide open area with flat grassy land surrounding it, children could be seen playing on things such as the slides, swings, climbing frames, see-saws and even a pirate ship made of smooth varnished timber which had three masts sticking up out from the middle of it. Passing a part of the open area, they could see people, including some families with young children, eating their lunch on some of the picnic tables while some children played together on the grass close by.
Reaching one of the large ponds in the middle of the park, which had a fountain with carved marble figures sitting right in the middle of it, they slowly walked round the pond while taking everything in. They watched as elderly people or younger couples walked by and listened to water pour from the fountain in the middle of the pond. Some were even seen relaxing on picnic blankets on the grass or under the shade of the trees. It was quite the peaceful setting on such a nice late spring day.
"Hey, Carrie, do you want to sit over here?" Jack asked, indicating to a bench a few feet from the edge of the pond.
"Sure, I'd like that." Carrie said, nervously, as she and Jack went over to the bench and sat down on it. Carrie was shaking a little with anticipation, wondering why her first and best friend would want to sit here in this romantic spot where she'd seen other couples sit before. Her face heated up a little as her mind was filled with romantic, heart-warming thoughts of Jack sitting her on his lap while gently wrapping his strong arms round her and holding her very close to him while kissing her on her lips in a very sweet and gentle way.
"Hey Carrie, are you feeling okay?" asked Jack, waving his hand in front of her face, which broke Carrie from her romantic thought filled trance and she looked at him.
"W-what? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking of something else there." Carrie said.
"It's okay. I understand. Anyway…the reason I brought us here is…I want to ask you something." he said, turning so he was sitting and facing Carrie with one leg over the other, before he reached to one of the pockets on the inside of his cross body sling bag under his waist jacket, as Carrie looked at him nervously.
"This is almost like a marriage proposal! I don't know if I'm ready for this yet." she thought, as she looked at the boy who she had strong feelings for.
Jack then looked Carrie right into her beautiful eyes, and took in a deep breath to keep steady his own nerves.
"Carrie White…would you like to go to the prom with me?" asked Jack, as he produced the two prom tickets from the pocket inside his jacket and waited for her answer. Carrie's mind slowed to a crawl as she tried to process what she just heard him say.
"G-go to the prom w-with you? But why me? You could ask any girl in school. I've seen how they look at you. Any of them would say yes, and they're much prettier than I am. After all, I'm just Creepy Carrie." she said, as she looked down at the ground as she felt her previous insecurities starting to come back.
"Hey…" Jack said gently, as he placed his hand on Carrie's left shoulder. "…you're not creepy. There's actually NOTHING creepy about you at all. You're actually, without any doubt, one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen in my whole life. And besides, those other girls in the school are nothing compared to you, and I know that we'll have an amazing time together. Much better in fact than if I went with one of the other girls. So, I'll ask again…Carrie White, will you go to the prom with me?" asked Jack.
Carrie's face slowly lit up, but was unsure of what to say; Jack had taken her old securities and, very gently albeit, trampled them into the ground and told her she was one of the most beautiful girls ever, and that they would have a great time together. She could sense he was telling her the truth.
So, taking in a deep breath, she summoned up all the courage that she could muster, and then she looked Jack in his eyes.
"Yes, Jack…I'll go to the prom with you." she said, with a shaky smile.
"Yes! Whoo-hoo! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Jack said excitedly, but quietly, while giving his right arm a fist pump. Jack was very good at keeping his excitement under control when he was out in public, so Carrie wasn't the least bit embarrassed by her friend's excitement and she just smiled.
"You're very good at keeping very calm when you're excited." Carrie said with a smile, as Jack looked back into her eyes.
"Well…that's just the way I am. Carrie…I'm very happy you're going to prom with me. This means a lot to me." Jack said, as he gave a big smile.
"You're welcome. I guess this means I'll have to go dress shopping." Carrie said, as Jack's ears perked up at the thought of getting something to wear at the prom.
"Absolutely, and I'll need to go and get myself a good suit and some new shoes for the prom too. Maybe we could match?" Jack suggested.
"Maybe we could." Carrie said. Then she felt her stomach rumble and placed her hand over her stomach.
"Are you feeling hungry?" asked Jack, noticing this.
"Yes, I am. Shall we go get something to eat and discuss what we should wear to the prom?" Carrie said.
"Sure, let's go over to my apartment for lunch. I've plenty of food there and I received a package from home yesterday containing baked goods my mother baked in one of her bakeries. I also baked an apple pie yesterday evening after I got back from school." Jack said.
"That sounds good. Let's go." Carrie said, as she and Jack picked up their things, stood up and headed towards one of the park gates.
As they walked back from the park towards Jack's apartment, he and Carrie continued on talking about various subjects.
"Last week, when you confronted Chris and most of the other girls in front of school, you mentioned that your French teacher back at your school in Dublin was a much nastier person than Chris is. Just how bad is the teacher in question?" Carrie asked.
"Oh, she's quite a nasty piece of work, with a notoriously short temper. How she ever became a teacher in my school in the first place with a personality as vile as that, I'll never know. I and everyone else who has classes with her always all secretly call her "The Witch", particularly since her face and hair cause her to resemble a witch. She also has a habit of being intimidating to students she teaches and has given detention to students who don't fully complete their work to her exacting standards. Even threatened to slap people if they didn't do their work; she's a really horrid person. Actually, she's easily one of the worst teachers that I've ever had. Even many of the other teachers at my school hate her." Jack said.
"You've never had any detention, or trouble, from her, have you?" Carrie asked, wondering with some concern what lessons with a teacher with such a nasty temperament like that would be like to study under.
"No, never. In fact, I've never had any detentions while I was at school back home at all. Though, with my French teacher, I did have a few near misses…as did quite a few others in my class, including a few of my friends. So, I guess I was just very lucky. Much luckier than a certain Chris Hargensen." Jack said, as Carrie just smiled.
"In fact, the two prom tickets I have, which Rita gave to me just yesterday afternoon actually, are the ones that Chris Hargensen WOULD have been given if she hadn't gone and skipped the week of detention she and her friends got after what they did to you on the Friday before I arrived." Jack said, as Carrie smiled a little and nodded.
"Well, it serves her right for what she did to me, I guess." she said.
"Yes, but just don't tell her, or anyone else for that matter, that I've got her prom tickets in my possession. I've got no doubt that she'll be furious if she finds out about that." Jack said giving Carrie a smile and a wink, as she smiled and nodded.
(A minute or two later)
They soon crossed the street and approached the apartment building where Jack was staying, and they'd just crossed the street when they noticed two familiar looking vehicles parked beside each other quite close to the main entrance to the building with four people gathered together, who were apparently waiting for someone to arrive.
As they got closer and closer, Jack and Carrie could see the four were Sue Snell and Tommy Ross as well as Heather Shyres and Roy Evarts. Wondering why two of Carrie's tormentors and their boyfriends were standing outside where he was currently staying at made Jack feel very suspicious inside. He turned and looked at Carrie, and could clearly see she was starting to get very nervous, as she was beginning to tremble all over.
"Hey, don't you worry about a thing, Carrie. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. If they're here for trouble, then I'll take care of them, just like I did with the others last week." Jack said, reassuringly. This helped, as Carrie calmed down and stopped trembling.
Approaching the two couples, Jack noticed there was no hint of anger on their faces, only a mixture of anxiousness and fear. What surprised him the most, though he didn't show it on his face, was that he noticed determination on Sue's face.
"Ah, Sue Snell and Tommy Ross...and Heather Shyres and Roy Evarts; so...to what do I owe the pleasure of your…unexpected visit?" he said, trying to sound friendly, but with his gaze boring into theirs.
Sue, a little bit shaken up, cleared her throat and stepped forward a little before she spoke.
"Loo, we didn't come here to start trouble, I swear to that. We came here because we want to make things right." She then turned to look at Carrie.
"Carrie…Heather and I came here because we want to…no…we NEED to apologise to you for want happened. And not just in the locker room, but for everything else that's happened."
"Yes, Carrie. We're really, really sorry for everything we both put you through or things that we said to you or did to you that you didn't deserve." Heather said.
"We promise we'll never do anything like that ever again, either to you or to anyone else in school." Sue said.
"We're not expecting you to forgive us. We wouldn't blame you if you didn't, but Sue and I are just asking for a chance to make it up to you. Afterwards, you'll never have to see us again if you want." Heather said.
Both Heather and Sue looked completely drained and leaned on their boyfriends for support and waited, with baited breath, for the reactions of Jack and Carrie.
Jack was silent for the time he listened to Heather and Sue speaking, trying to figure out if they were being honest or were lying about everything.
"I see; how should I know you're both telling the truth? How do I know you're not saying this to catch us off guard? For all we know you both could be conspiring with your friend Chris Hargensen to get revenge on me for exposing all their secrets." Jack said.
"Chris is no longer our friend! The bitch can rot in hell for all we care!" Heather said, as she snapped suddenly, which surprised Jack and Carrie.
"That's right! We both decided we no longer wanted to be her friend after the locker room incident!" Sue yelled, which again, surprised Jack and Carrie. Supposedly, Heather, Sue and Chris had been best friends since early in grade school; so, what with them had changed? Taking a deep sign, and letting go of Tommy, Sue gave her explanation.
"She stopped being our friend when she posted that video! When I confronted her in the gym a few days afterwards, I asked her what Carrie had ever done to her; you know what she said? She said that Carrie had been "begging for it" since First Grade. When she said that, I knew that I wanted nothing to do with the other Ultras." Sue said.
"Yeah, I later spoke with Sue about it. And…I realised, as did Sue, that posting that video on-line was going too far. And...right then and there, I decided I'd been with the Ultras for long enough." confessed Heather.
After taking a few moments to calm down from their confessions and to compose themselves, Sue turned to look at Carrie before she spoke again.
"I was going to make it up to you by asking Tommy to take you to the prom…" she said, which surprised Jack and Carrie; "…I wanted Carrie to experience the one magical night all girls dream of experiencing, even if it meant I wouldn't. But after seeing how close you two were getting together, I figured you would be going to the prom together so, after I spoke with Heather about it, we both decided to come and apologise face to face to you. We both feel that even though you mightn't accept the apology, at least it would allow us to clear our minds of what had happened." Sue said.
"I see…" Jack said, looking briefly at Sue and Heather before turning his gaze towards Tommy and Roy, who were both standing a few feet behind and a little off to the side of their girlfriends. "…what about you, Tommy? Were you gonna go through with it, despite knowing what your girlfriend had done?" You must understand how suspicious this looks to Carrie and myself right now." Jack said, while raising one eyebrow.
"Well Jack…I'm not gonna lie, I was against the idea at first, but not because I hated Carrie or anything like that. All I just wanted was to go to prom with the girl I love." said Tommy, with an honestly Jack seemed to detect.
"But, despite that, Sue begged me to take Carrie to the prom to make up for her mistake in the girl's locker room. And the more I thought about it, the more I was open to the idea. I was going to ask Carrie late last week, but then the four of us saw you suddenly ambushed by Chris and the other girls in front of school that afternoon, and how you, Jack, stood up to them. All four of us were very impressed by how you took all of them down by yourself, and we all realised right then that if I showed up and asked Carrie to the prom, you'd be suspicious." Tommy said.
"Ya got that right, Tommy." Jack said, as he scoffed a little.
"But I can tell you this, Sue and Heather aren't trying to trick you and really want to make amends." Tommy said. Jack was still for a moment before nodding his head.
"I see…and your views, Roy?" Jack said, again raising his other eye brow while turning his attention to Roy Evarts.
"I agreed with what Tommy just said. I really genuinely believe that the two girls really are trying to make amends for their mistakes." Roy said.
Jack was really impressed deep inside at the way the four of them were trying to make amends for everything that happened, though he didn't appear it on the surface, yet he knew the decision wasn't his to make. He turned and looked at Carrie.
"Well...what do you think, Carrie? After all, it's you they're apologising to, so it's up to you whether or not to accept it. But remember, I'm in your corner no matter what." Jack said, before he turned back to face the two couples, who waited anxiously.
Carrie was silent for the whole time as she listened to Sue and Heather profusely apologise to her and how they wanted to make amends for their mistakes. Listening to Sue saying to her that she had asked her boyfriend, one of the most popular boys within the school, to take her to the prom had completely taken her and Jack by surprise. But hearing how honest both of Sue and Heather sounded made it hard for her to come to a decision.
Taking a deep breath, she came to a decision before she faced Sue and Heather again.
"I appreciate the fact that you both decided to apologise to me face to face, but before I give you my answer, I just want to say this. For all the time you and other girls in your group bullied, tormented and made me feel like I was lower than dirt were the worst years of my life! It made me feel like I was utterly worthless and didn't deserve to live! If I didn't believe that taking one's own life was a sin, then I probably would've more than likely ended my own life years ago!" screamed a now very emotional Carrie as tears ran down her face, much to the shock and horror of everyone else. Jack immediately wrapped his arms round Carrie into a hug, which she returned without hesitation and sobbed into his chest.
Sue and Heather gasped and held their hands to their mouths upon hearing this; they immediately felt tears of guilt and shame begin to well up and fall from their eyes. It was only the fact their boyfriends were holding onto them that they were still able to stand up. Both Roy and Tommy were pale as they couldn't imagine the only reason to stay alive for feeling so worthless was faith alone. Both had a new sense of respect for the girl who was crying into the arms of the young handsome Irishman who had made it his personal mission to protect her from all threats, no matter what they were, and to change her life for the better.
A few minutes went by as all three girls sobbed into the shoulders of their respective boyfriends, but then Carrie gently let go of Jack and wiped her tears away before facing the others, who were trying to stay as composed as they could.
"But if there's one thing my faith has taught me…it's easy to hate but it's much harder to forgive. But…Sue, Heather…I forgive you. I won't trust you fully yet, but you've both got a chance to earn it. For now, you'll have my forgiveness." Carrie said.
And with that statement, both Sue and Heather felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders; they hadn't gotten Carrie's trust, but now they had a chance to earn it.
"Thank you, Carrie. I swear you won't regret this." Sue said.
"We'll do whatever it takes to earn your trust." said Heather.
"And besides Sue...there was really no need for you to ask Tommy take Carrie to the prom. I actually already asked her in the nearby park just a few minutes ago...and she accepted my invitation." Jack said.
"Oh, well then...congratulations on acquiring your date for the prom, Carrie." Sue said, feeling relieved inside that Carrie had gotten her date for the prom.
"Thank you, Sue." Carrie said.
"I think that you'll both make a good couple at the prom." Heather said, as she felt herself smile a little.
"Thank you." Carrie said, as she looked towards Heather.
"How about we go dress shopping tomorrow morning? Jack and your friends, Freddy and Norma are welcome to join us." Sue suggested.
Carrie gave a small smile. "I actually won't be available anytime for shopping tomorrow. But how about we go on Monday afternoon after school instead?"
"That'll be fine. We'll see you over at the mall after school. And many thanks for accepting our apologies." Sue said.
"Likewise, Carrie! Thanks for that!" Heather said, and with that Sue and Tommy climbed into Tommy's jeep as Heather and Roy got aboard Roy's car. Then they pulled out of the parking lot and drove away leaving behind Carrie and Jack, who were bewildered and unsure of whether the events they had just gone through had actually happened.
"Oh Carrie…" Jack said, as he got her attention and pulled her into another big hug. "…I'm really so sorry. I really didn't know that it was that hard for you in school." Jack said, as he tried to prevent the tears falling from his own face. Carrie tightened her hold round Jack's chest.
"It's okay, Jack. I've not thought about that since you became my friend. Since then, you've just brought me so much happiness and light that I can't thank you enough for all that." Carrie said.
After a few long moments, the two reluctantly released their hug as Jack gave her a deeply apologetic, sympathetic look.
"Well…today was when I was supposed to make you happy, not unhappy or even open very bad memories of your past." Jack said.
"I am happy." Carrie said. "Sure, it didn't end like I expected it to, but it was still a happy day. Don't be sad, please."
"Well, I'm happy as long as you're happy. Now, how about we go up to my apartment and get lunch. I'm starving and I think we've earned it." Jack said.
"Sure, and have you got ice cream too?" Carrie asked, smiling at the thought of one of her favourite desserts.
"Sure, I've got two tubs of ice cream in the freezer and the apple pie I baked last night as well as cookies and brownies from home I received yesterday." Jack said.
"Well, let's get up there then." Carrie said, and they went inside and up the elevator to the sixth floor and then onto Jack's apartment. Soon, they were sitting on the couch in the living room area and enjoying heated portions of the apple pie Jack had baked with bourbon vanilla ice cream, as well as some of the baked goods Jack received from home, while watching one of Jack's favourite childhood TV shows on his laptop, the famous British TV series from the 1960's, Thunderbirds.
And so, for the rest of the afternoon, until Carrie felt she had to return home before her mother got back from work and noticed she wasn't there, they just enjoyed each other's company in the apartment and watched a few episodes of Thunderbirds on Jack's laptop, including the very first episode of the series, Trapped in the Sky. Carrie had never seen such a show like Thunderbirds before, and she loved each moment of the episodes she saw, including the various special effects seen in the show, the iconic music by Barry Gray as well as the launches of the different Thunderbird craft, and the secret locations on Tracy Island where they were stored until they were needed and how the Tracy brothers accessed their assigned craft.