Carter's Army - 5. Chapter 5

November 30th

Will felt a new trepidation as he walked through the front doors of the High School and into the lobby. He was early that morning, his bus usually dropped him off at the school a half hour before it was due to begin, a great chance to socialize with his friends before the rush of the day swept them off. And it was a great chance for him to get his hands on a cup of coffee.

Lisa always brought a thermos and a couple of her mother's muffins with her each morning which she was always ready to share with Will, knowing all to well what break fast was usually served to Major Carter's troops. He grinned at her as he sat down dropping his backpack alongside the table and accepting the mug she handed him with a sigh of relief.

"Anyone ever tell you your beautiful first thing in the morning?" He said as he took a pull on the cup, feeling the rush of the warm liquid down his throat.

"Your such a flirt Carter!" she accused as she began to unwrap the muffins. "My mom wants your opinion on this batch of muffins," she said matter of factly, "she was experimenting and since you eat just about anything..."

He picked up the muffin and sniffed it carefully, "Banana?" he asked.

She nodded watching him break into it, she didn't mind brining him an extra muffin each morning, her mother had practically insisted after she had heard the oatmeal story. Her mother was fond of Will in that maternal way with good reason; he needed someone to shower him with affection. Lisa's Mom, June Highbury, was just one of those phenomenal women that seemed to care for just about every one without a second thought. He had, on several occasions, been subjected to her temper after one of their pranks had backfired, and he loved her in return. She was just a cool mother.

"Isn't that a Condor's jacket?" she asked as she picked at her own muffin lazily.

Will stopped and glanced down at the jacket he had slung over the back of the chair and he looked up at her, "Yeah Andrew leant it to me..."

"Andrew Highmore?" she asked incredulously, her muffin forgotten for the moment.

He winced as he nodded, "Yes."

She gave him one of her looks that demanded he tell her everything, but before he could Jared had joined their table.

"Hey guys," he said as he flopped into his chair pushing his raiders cap out of his eyes and staring at them with a look that said mornings were not his favourite time of the day. "Will, biology lab did you..."

Will rooted in his backpack and produced the notes cleanly prepared; he separated Jared's copy and handed it over to him. "All done. I was out of it yesterday but it's all done."

Jared smiled, "Cool, thanks eh?" he turned to Lisa, "Did you hear they're canceling the Dance? There's supposed to be a heavy storm that night and they don't want to risk it."

She pushed her muffin away from her in disgust, "Well there go my plans."

Jared grinned, "No, cause my parents are out of town this weekend," he held up a set of house keys.

Lisa's eyes lit up, "I could kiss you..."

"Umm..." Will held up his hand, "you have a boyfriend remember?"

She scowled, "Yeah if he ever shows up. She sat back into her chair and looked over at Jared, "What times the party?"

"I have a couple of the boy's driving over to Hull to buy some Liquor so any time after eight people should be showing up. BYOB..." He rested a foot on the edge of the table and gave her a grin;"You can bring Brody if you want."

Will sat quietly watching the exchange, he was an afterthought. What did it matter though; it wasn't as if he would actually be able to go to it. He downed his coffee and fished in his bag for his math textbook, he might as well get started on those quadratic problems he had procrastinated over.

"Party Jared?" Andrew's voice caused Will's head to shoot up. Highmore was standing leaning with both hands on the Jared's shoulders looking down at his teammate.

"Yeah Dude," Jared replied arcing his head back to look up, "My place on Friday night."

"Cool." Andrew said motioning to the empty chair at the table, "That taken?" he asked looking at Will.

Will shook his head, "Nope."

"Good." Andrew said as he sat down and smiled over at Will, "You get home okay yesterday?"

Will nodded, "My Dad was mad at first...about the coat thing, but he got over it."

"That's good." Andrew said nonchalantly as he leaned his chair back on two legs and looked around the cafeteria, "Do you still need my jacket?"

Will took it off the back of his chair and handed it back across the table. Andrew accepted it and shrugged it on.

Lisa and Jared exchanged a look that said they were confused, but Will didn't feel like elaborating. He smiled at Andrew again, "thank you again."

"All part of the service," Andrew said extending his hands as he grinned, "Your coming to Jared's party Friday right?"

Will balked, he hadn't thought about it, "I...er...well..."

Andrew glanced at Jared, "It's okay if Carter here comes to the festivities right? My guest?"

Jared nodded emphatically, "Sure, he's always invited he's the reason I am passing biology."

"Actually," Will said with a smile, "You do all the work I just write it up, so technically you're the reason I'm passing..."

Andrew gave a satisfied nod as he stood up, "Cool, now I have to go find out what's going on at the gym. Catch you all later." He stood up and smiled, "Take care Carter." He said hesitating a moment and smiling again before he left.

Jared excused himself and left with Andrew leaving Will in the clutches of one very confused, but very determined Lisa.

"What was that?" she asked her voice raised an octave.

"What was what?" Will replied as he looked at her.

She pointed the back of the Captain of the school team, "What was that?"

"Andrew Highmore I think." Will said with a grin as he poured himself another cup of coffee from the thermos.

"Don't get cute with me Carter." Her voice took on an edge of warning, "first you turn up with his jacket, then he joins us at our table and then he invites you to a party..." she looked at her friend, "And what was that whole 'take care Carter,' thing about?"

Will shrugged, "He gave me a ride home on Monday night after some jerk stole my jacket. We got stranded in a snow bank and spent the night trapped in the car. Its no big deal..."

"Oh my god." She said her eyes wide in shock, "That's like a movie...did you eat each other?"

He turned his head and stared at her, "What?"

"Like that movie alive where the plane crashes and they eat each other to stay alive..." She smiled.

Will shook his head, "No, it was just a cold night, we just talked."

She nodded, "Well that explains that, Cool so you're friends with the Captain of the team, that's like circle jumping and since I'm your best friend I get to jump with you. Hello popularity... I need a new wardrobe..."

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud shrill otherwise known as the morning bell. And they both stood to head for class.

Lunch came entirely too quickly for Will, it seemed as though he had blinked and he was heading down towards his locker. It had been a surreal day for him, Andrew always seemed to be about, either passing him in the halls and nodding, or already in the places he was heading. Purely coincidence. It wasn't as if he was following Will, just that Will hadn't really paid attention to how small the school really was.

It only had 400 students spread out across five years, and everyone knew everyone else. There were still the usual social divisions that existed in schools everywhere, but here they weren't as important, and often the social lines were blurred. But each time Andrew nodded and said hi to him people noticed. There were even a couple of cheerleaders that stared at him in a whole new light. If he was worthy of Andrew Highmore's notice then they had to notice as well.

He was glad just to be away from the attention as he slipped into the basement heading for his locker. He drew up short when he saw the door had been hammered back into shape and reinforced with new brackets. He stared at it dumbfounded for a moment; the maintenance staff were never that quick...

"It's just a locker Dude." Brody said leaning on the row of lockers beside Will, "Lisa told me what happened so I borrowed some tools from shop."

Will grinned at Lisa's boyfriend; Brody was the schools living legend that never seemed to break his stride. The teachers hated him, other students were jealous of him, but he never let that get him down, he was just one of those people that did what made him happy. A free spirit.

Will smiled at him, "You didn't have to do that..."

"Yeah I did." Brody said with a nod, "I also found something of yours..." he held up Will's jacket, "Donny Morgan had it and was bragging to his stoner buddies. I convinced him it didn't look good on him," he shrugged, "He was very sorry."

Will accepted his coat gratefully, one less worry he had to think about. He put the ski jacket away in his locker and turned back to Brody. "Thanks... I owe you."

Brody nodded, "Yeah you do, now I'm going out for a smoke before you get all sappy an' shit."

Will laughed watching Brody retreat to the emergency exit, another man that watched out for him. He suddenly felt very lucky, not a bad week so far. He turned to head back upstairs and nearly walked right into Jennifer.

"Will." She said in surprise, "I've been looking all over for you."

He allowed himself a smile at her, she was only four months pregnant but she was beginning to have difficulty hiding it. But no matter how hard he tried, he just wasn't attracted to her.

"I've been around," he said quietly, "I just had to get my coat back..."

"I heard your going to Jared's party," She set herself to rest on the stair rail, "I'm going as well... if you want we could head over there together. It would save some time and I would have someone to talk to..."

He winced inwardly at the thought, he liked her, and he really did. She was a wonderful person, they had such a good connection, but tying himself to her at the party? It was his first chance to do something social, and Lisa was going to be there.

Typically he caved, "Sure thing, I'll swing by yours Friday night and we'll walk over."

She gave him a warm hug, "Thank you."

He tried to appear enthusiastic, "Sure, no problem..."