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Chapter 9

Claire

I was curling my hair and staring at my reflection in the mirror. My blonde hair was naturally wavy and it just reached my chest, so curling my hair made me look like a different person since it made my hair shorter and much more voluminous. I liked the way it made me look though, which was exactly why I had woken up early.

Even though I wasn't sure if it would work, my first plan was to basically seduce Carter. I was going to dress and look extra nice for school in hopes that he would notice me and forget all about his feelings for Blair. The plan didn't sound very good, I knew, but I had to try something and that was my first idea.

Finishing curling my hair, I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror and took in my features. My blue eyes were large, my skin was soft, and my hair was a rich blonde. I knew I was pretty. Confidence was something I never lacked, but I still felt nervous. I really liked Carter and I wanted him to like me back.

Taking a deep breath in, I told myself to stay positive. No one wanted to be around a negative person, so I had to keep my hope alive and try to win his heart. I was going to make sure I achieved that my senior year.

*****

I entered the cafeteria and I swear everyone's eyes went to me. Everyone, guys and girls, seemed impressed when they saw me walking in a fitted pink dress. Admittedly I was a bit overdressed for school, but no one seemed to mind as their eyes followed my every move. Their attention gave me more confidence.

As I neared my table, I saw that my entire clique's eyes were on me. They seemed more shocked than in awe, but that soon changed as I reached them. Jake smirked, Maya smiled, and Tori's eyebrows rose. Ryder seemed stunned.

Suddenly, Tori whistled, leaving me blushing. The guys chuckled and Maya laughed, which left me smiling.

"Wow Claire, way to make Carter know he's missing out," Tori said, grinning.

I laughed at that, hoping Carter was thinking exactly that. I really hoped he was thinking that he should be with me, rather than Blair.

"Damn Claire," Jake said, winking. "If you need a friend for the night, I'm here."

Tori scoffed in disgust and I rolled my eyes. But still, I found myself smiling. Jake did have good intentions, I knew. He just had a really weird way of showing them.

I went to sit at the table. Sitting next to Ryder and Tori, I was surprised to see that Ryder was leaning towards me. I turned to face him, wondering what he wanted as he brought his mouth to my ear.

"You look beautiful," Ryder whispered, surprising me.

I stared at him, shocked by his words. He simply smiled and that led to me smiling as well. Ryder was a really sweet guy. Although he did act like a typical teenage boy at times, deep down I knew he was the kindest soul out there.

"Thank you," I whispered, causing Ryder to grin.

"So, this is for Carter," Tori suddenly said, bringing my attention to her. "What's your plan?"

"Seduce him?" Jake asked. "Because that's a smart plan with you looking like this."

Tori slapped Jake's shoulder and he jumped. Jake stared at her, confused, and Tori looked away. I stared at Tori and saw she was angry, which left me feeling sorry for her. She never told me she liked Jake, but it was so obvious at times. I knew she was jealous, so I tried to lighten up the mood.

"What do you think I should do to win Carter's heart?" I asked.

"You won my heart right now with your outfit, so I think you're already ready to win his," Jake joked, causing Tori to shoot him a look.

"Seriously," I said, hoping Jake would stop flirting before Tori would kill him. "I really want to be with him."

"You should try to talk to him. Let's be honest, Carter and you have never spoken so it's unlikely he'll fall for you right now," Ryder said.

I found myself wanting to say that he liked Blair and they never talked, but decided not to bring that up. Nodding my head, I decided to take Ryder's advice seriously.

"Be bold," Jake suddenly said, surprising me. "Just go up to him and talk to him. Hell, tell him how you feel becasue guys are dense, so he'll probably never know until you tell him."

I wouldn't dare tell him how I felt, but I decided to listen to their other advice. Carter and I had never spoken and I had a feeling Carter didn't know about me. I did need to talk to him and hope he would fall for me. That was my best shot at the moment.

*****

    In English, I purposely sat in the seat next to where Carter usually sat at. Tori sat next to me, scrolling through her phone since I was too nervous to talk. As I waited for Carter, I found myself fidgeting as I wondered if my plan would work.

    Blair was already in class and she was talking to Erin. As usual, we didn't acknowledge each other. It was kind of strange how we acted like strangers when we had literally shared a womb, but I didn't want to bring it up to Blair. After three years of us going our separate ways, admittedly I wasn't sure if I had the right to bring up how distant we were. Especially since deep down, I knew I was the one who pulled us apart.

    Suddenly, I saw movement at the door and my eyes flew over to it. In came Carter and blushing, I looked down at my table as Carter walked over to his usual desk. I thanked the world for letting Carter sit next to me and with a racing heart, I went through my plan in my mind.

    Finally feeling ready, I stared at Carter for a moment, taking him in. He was so gorgeous. So stunning, but my heart felt uneasy as I watched him stare at Blair. His eyes were soft when they were on her and I felt like throwing up as I knew he was really into her. It was so obvious, but I told myself to relax. I couldn't just give up, so I forced myself to talk to him.

    "Hey, Carter right?" I said, bringing Carter's attention to me.

    He turned to look at me and when his hazel eyes met mine, I swear I felt like fainting. I was frozen in my spot for a moment becasuse I had dreamt of making eye contact with Carter. To me eye contact was so intimate and I was left speechlesss.

    "Yeah, that's me," Carter simply said.

    Carter seemed bored as he stared at me, which left me gulping. Telling myself I was just imaging him already turning back, I blurted out my question I thought of just then.

    "Did we have anything due today?" I asked, even though I knew we didn't.

    "No," Carter said, turning around before I could say anything else.

    Stunned, I stared at him and found my heart dropping. Carter literally didn't care about me. It was so obvious from his nonchalant attitude and it hurt. Admittedly, I felt so embarrassed and lame, and I moved my eyes to stare at the table. I didn't think getting Carter to notice me would be so hard.

    I felt a bit hopeless then as I wondered if Carter would ever be interested in me. He clearly didn't care about me, even when I had dressed up for him, so I wondered if I was just wasting my time. But thinking back to what Ryder said, I knew I couldn't just give up. It was better to try and fail than to give up and regret, so I told myself that I had just started my plan to make Carter fall for me. It would take time, so I just had to be patient.