Let's face it, it's been way too long since we've seen high school Carter and Mason.

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"Owens. Owens. Owens."

Carter continued to ignore the buzzing of the irritating fly by keeping her eyes closed and her head turned away. But she couldn't when she felt a sharp poke in her side.

"Owens."

Annoyed, Carter lifted her head off the desk, twisted it to the other side, and set it down again on her notebook, glaring up at Mason. She didn't say anything, attention was enough for Mason to respond to.

"Owens, do you ever question our existence and the reason we are here?" he asked.

Carter blinked slowly at Mason and when she didn't instantly respond, he raised his eyebrows in exasperation as if her lack of immediate answer was a nuisance.

"Well?" he asked.

"Mason."

"Yeah."

"It's eight-thirty in the morning. I just finished a pop quiz. I am not dealing with your existential crisis with you."

"So you don't question why you're here?"

"I might but not at eight-thirty in the morning."

"You're telling me I should ask you later then."

"I'm telling you to shove your stupid existential crisis up your-"

"Mr. Douglas," Mrs. Harlow said.

"Yes?" Mason said, giving Carter the opportunity to turn away.

"Please be considerate of the other students who haven't finished their quizzes."

Mason didn't answer but since Carter wasn't looking at him, he figured he'd nodded. When the low hum of scratching pencils on paper lulled Carter back into her light dozing, she received another prod in her side. She ignored it. But when it happened a second time, she snatched Mason's finger and bent it back. He let out a sharp hiss of pain.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay I give in," he whispered.

Carter released his finger and calmly continued to act like nothing happened and she was halfway to sleep.

"Owens," Mason whispered.

"I swear, if you try to talk to me about the reason for life, I will murder you so you no longer have questions."

"Thoughtful of you."

This made Carter turn her head towards him and open her eyes. To her surprise, Mason had his head on his desk like hers and looked at her.

"What do you want?" Carter asked, knowing it was probably a stupid idea to even ask.

"I want to see if you'll go out with me."

Carter blinked once but other than that nothing in her face changed.

"Is there a bet going around or something about me? Since, let me guess, I'm the outcast that is seemingly undateable?"

"No."

His quick response made Carter smile in gratification. Boys were such idiots and easily predictable. She'd sensed something was off since she'd walked into school that morning.

Usually, she was ignored wherever she went but she'd caught a few of the guys in her class giving her looks. Since her appearance was what it always was, she knew that something had to be going on.

By lunch, she'd planned to have one target in mind to corner and get the information out of. She hadn't expected Mason to be the unintentional snitch of the whole operation. Though why they would do this, she didn't get. Yes, was she a junior and had never dated? Yes, but there were a lot of other girls who hadn't either.

Maybe it was because all the guys she crossed paths with she usually sent away with their pride destroyed. This was their revenge. It was a pathetic sort of revenge. She wouldn't have fallen for their attempts to date her since she wouldn't have believed them.

"I feel like now that you know, you should help me out and just accept my offer so I can win," Mason said.

"What would I get in return?" Carter asked.

"A date with me, obviously."

Carter just stared at him without blinking until he rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll split the money with you at the end."

"Okay, but you won't tell them you won until the end of the day," Carter said.

"Why?"

"Because you'll take away my amusement if they know you won and don't approach me."

It was Mason's time to stare at Carter without blinking. "You are disturbing, Owens."

"Thank you."

She turned her head away from him. "I don't actually have to go on a date with you, do I?"

"No, we can just say we did."

"Okay then."

Carter let that be the end of their interaction, going back to her dozing until the bell rang. As she collected her backpack, Mason gave her a nod that made her roll her eyes since it was very movie spy-like.

The moment Carter stepped out of the classroom and cut into the hallway flow, a guy slipped in beside her. Derek.

"Hey Carter," Derek said, smiling at her.

"Derek," Carter said without looking at him.

"How are you doing?"

Carter weighed quickly how she wanted to handle this first interaction. Give him hope to crush him later so others tried different tactics, or crush him right at the beginning making the other guys terrified?

Which would be the most amusing to her, that was the real question.

"Ummm..." Carter said, making her tone a little uncertain. "Fine, I guess."

"I don't know about you but I hate Tuesdays," Derek said, casually. "There's something worse about them than Mondays."

Carter looked at him, softening her face a fraction. "I find all days of the week pretty bad."

"You can't hate Fridays, though? I mean, it's Friday. Freedom." He nudged her arm with his teasingly.

She playfully rolled her eyes and chuckled a little. Her reaction had an interesting effect on him, making his smile turn from friendly to slightly smug. He believed he was gaining ground.

"Okay, Fridays aren't that bad," Carter conceded.

"You know, the new romance movie Written in the Stars comes out this Friday."

"I wasn't aware."

Derek cut into her path, facing her. "We should go. I mean that you and me. We should..." He hesitated in a way that came off bashful and Carter imagined how many girls would fall for it. "We should go together if you want to. I would like to go with you, Carter."

Carter wanted to applaud Derek, his delivery was flawless. Bashful, hopeful, and eager. Paired with his perfectly curated appearance, it was a perfect package.

After a thought, Carter did clap, slowly with a look of astonishment on her face.

"Beautiful," she said. "That was a stunning display. I truly see why so many girls look past your massive ego and feel flattered by your performance. Even my heart fluttered."

"It did?"

"No."

"So you're saying you won't go out with me?" Derek asked.

"I'm saying it would be about the most boring thing I could imagine doing and I've contemplated staring at a wall for six hours straight. A date with you would be worse."

All attempts to make himself endearing to Carter were gone and Derek stared at her. And she knew she was seeing who he really was under the pretty hair and easy smile.

"You're losing out," he said.

She smiled widely at him. "No, I don't think I am."

The next encounter Carter faced was when she stood in front of her locker, exchanging notebooks before her next class. Chad appeared right beside her, leaning on the neighboring locker. He stood so close Carter almost coughed on his body spray. Though she expected it was expensive, any scent in heavy doses was nauseating.

"Hi, Carter," he said.

Before he could get much further, Carter put her hand on his chest and pushed backward.

"Girls like personal space, Chad," she said.

He grinned and allowed her to usher him back a few steps.

"I apologize," he said. "I'll work on that."

"An apology, a solid start," she said. "Where do you plan to go from here?"

"I think I should be straightforward with you. I would like to go out with you."

Carter leaned against her locker, mirroring him. "Okay. Why should I go out with you? A concise list of positive attributes, go."

Chad looked caught off guard but it only lasted a second before he jumped in. Carter figured he handled the demand better than others would due to his father being one of the top lawyers in the country.

He held up his hand and ticked off fingers as he made his list. "Good looking. Own a Tesla. Wealthy family. High social standing. Soccer star. Everyone in school likes me."

Carter waved these traits aside. "Too shallow. Go deeper."

"A straight A student. Funny. A good listener. Huge supporter of feminists. Close with my mom. Rarely post mirror selfies."

Carter stared at him with narrowed eyes. "I only believe half of those."

Exasperated, Chad dropped his hands. "What do you want me to say, Carter? What will make you agree to go out with me."

"Oh, nothing. I was just curious how you would describe yourself and if any of it would be worth anything."

Chad looked annoyed and Carter held in her laughter. He looked like she'd made him run a mile for no reason. But maybe having to sell himself to a girl was something he'd never had to do before and so it felt more exhausting than running a mile.

"So you won't go out with me?"

"No. But I'm curious if the whole straight A thing is real."

Chad sighed. "Yeah, it's real. My dad said he'd kill me if I ever had lower than a 3.85 GPA."

"Sounds like a stellar father."

"The best."

Carter nodded once. "Okay, well this was amusing."

"You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

"Yeah, almost makes me wonder why you'd ever want to date me?" Tapping her chin ponderously, she walked away.

Carter managed to make it to lunch and her isolated table before she dealt with her next victim.

Wyatt set his tray down on the table before sliding in next to her. Without a word, Carter stole his chicken strips and replaced them with a bag of chips.

"Happy to share," Wyatt said with an easy, lopsided smile that Carter knew girls found endearing. She'd admit that it did make him seem more approachable than some of the other ego-centric guys at the school.

"I'm not sharing," Carter said. "These are mine now. You're stuck with just the chips."

Wyatt laughed. "Okay. Doesn't seem like a fair trade-off since you still have that sandwich, but I'm willing to make a deal to handle the overbalance."

"Oh? And what deal will that be?"

He rested his arms on the table and leaned in. "Go on a date with me?"

Carter had to wonder about these guys' tactics. Did they not see the flaw in all of them asking her in one day? Even the densest of girls would have to wonder what was going on. But clearly they didn't think this way, which was fine by her. It meant that it wouldn't be dragged out over the week and she got chicken strips out of it.

"Why should I?" Carter said. "Besides the reason that somehow a date would equal me taking your chicken strips. Which I should point out, doesn't. The chicken strips aren't that good."

"I think we'd make a good match," Wyatt said.

"Why? And I don't want some half thought-out argument. I want a well-delivered argument. I'll give you a full minute to think."

It was almost adorable how Wyatt took her at her word and sat in silence for a full minute in thought. In the time, Carter ate a full chicken strip.

"Okay," Wyatt said, straightening. Carter raised her eyebrows in a taunting manner. "I think we should go out because you're someone who knows what she wants. I like that, you don't beat around the bush, you're straightforward and that's a nice attribute."

Straightforward, what a diplomatic way to say blunt to the point of insulting.

"You're pretty, but you know this. I think you try to downplay it by wearing your clothes looking like you slept in them. That means I think you want someone to like you for your personality and not your looks. Which I do. You're smart. Antagonistic but that makes life interesting. We've barely interacted but I want to get to know you more."

Carter had to hand it to Wyatt, out of all the approaches so far this one was superior. She almost felt flattered by what she said. If she didn't know that money was on the line, she might have even believed some of it.

But since she knew money and pride were at stake, she didn't believe a word of it. Definitely not the line about her being pretty. She saw how the girls around her looked. Put her in comparison to them? Ha, pretty was not the word anyone would use for her.

Carter took the plate of chicken strips and tossed it back onto Wyatt's tray.

"You're right, I do know what I want and it's not you. Chicken strips aren't worth it. Keep the chips, Wyatt. It will be payment for the one I did eat."

With her final statement, she stood, collected her sandwich, and left the table and Wyatt watching her, rejected.

Before she could even get to the cafeteria doors, Dylan cut toward her. Carter laughed once, mockingly, said, "No" and kept walking.

In the library during free period, Troy walked over to the table she was at, took out a chair, swung it around, and sat on it backward.

"Hey, Carter," he said, in a voice she assumed was his flirty voice.

"Troy, answer me this," Carter said, not even looking up from her work. She rattled off a long equation then looked at him for the answer.

Troy smiled but didn't respond.

"No answer?" she said. "You sitting here is a little pointless then, isn't it?"

Troy's smile slowly faded as he considered her. "You're not going to care about what I have to say, are you?"

Carter dramatically put a hand on her chest. "You do have a brain? Oh, what wonders! There are miracles in this world."

For one more second, Troy simply sat there. Then slowly, he stood, returned the chair, and took a step back.

"Good talking to you, Carter."

She smiled widely. "Such a pleasure."

She went back to her work, listening to Troy's retreating footsteps. But she paused when another set approached. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the shoes just beyond the table and knew who it was.

"Owens, what did you even say? That one didn't even last a full minute," Mason said.

He mimicked Troy's move with the chair but didn't look as pompous, which to Carter was a disturbing sight. Mason doing anything less than obnoxious was unsettling. But maybe she'd been dealing with so many idiots that he didn't look so bad in comparison. Maybe that's why he kept so many around him. If so, well played, Mason.

"It lasted longer than Dylan's."

"That's right, I think it was half a second, wasn't it?"

Carter flipped her ponytail. "What can I say, I'm efficient."

"I think the correct word is terrifying."

"That's what I said."

Mason grinned. "I have gym last period with all the guys in on it. I'll announce then that I won. I think to sell it you should let Smith give you a ride home."

"Fine by me. Will it be cash or transfer?"

"I don't think any of these guys know what cash is."

"Transfer it is."

"What are you going to do with your winnings?" Mason asked.

"Buy a house."

"It's not that big of a bet."

"I don't need that big of a house."

Mason smiled and Carter returned it.

For a second, they sat there smiling then instantly they both stopped. Carter backed away and Mason jerked out of his seat. He flipped the chair around and tucked it under the table.

"See you after school, Owens."

"I better not read an article tomorrow about how you gave a ride home to a commoner. My presence in the car is not a political tactic."

"Like I would let your name tarnish mine. Please, you're going to have to wear a paper bag over your head the whole ride home."

"The car has tinted glass."

"It's for my sake. Staring at you for too long gives me stomach pain."

"I think that's your conscience trying to communicate that you should be nicer to the common man."

"Well since you're a woman that means I'm off the hook. But I'll keep it in mind when I deal with the elite males of the school."

"I don't think your conscious will care too much about them."

"Then I'll live without stomach pain for the rest of my life."

Carter smiled. "True. Until the poison I've been slipping into your food finally takes effect."

Mason titled his head in thought. "Uh, that explains why my food testers keep dying. And I just thought they were trying to get out of a job."

Carter snorted but tried to cover it up with a cough. Mason grinned and walked away.

She watched him go and shook her head. It hadn't been that funny. Maybe she'd laughed out of pity. Or to make him leave. Since he'd left that meant her plan worked.

As Carter made her way to her last class of the day, Trent intercepted her. Before he could even speak, she beamed at him and placed her hand on his chest.

"I knew it," she said brightly. "I had a dream that you would find me. It's fate. We're destined to be together. I knew it. You feel it too, don't you? We're meant to be together. I don't want to wait, let's get married."

Trent jerked back so fast he bumped into a student behind him, lost his footing, hit the floor, scrambled to his feet, and hurried off.

"Where are you going? We're meant to be together!" Carter yelled out.

Trent threw a terrified look over his shoulder at her and she grinned. He quickened his pace and ducked into the first hallway.

"I guess the stars were wrong," Carter said, ignoring the strange glances from people around her.

With Mason making the announcement during the last class, Carter was able to enjoy a trip from her final period to the parking lot without being bothered. Though it had made the day interesting, it was not something she'd want to deal with longer than a few hours. But after that day, she had a feeling she'd never have to deal with them again.

Except for Mason, but he was the kind of person who didn't go away even if you tried to verbally hit him. He simply took the blow and swung back.

At Mason's car, Carter waited. When Mason appeared, she noticed the many gazes that were trained their way. Clearly, this departure together wouldn't go unnoticed. It would only affirm that Mason had won the bet.

"Get in the car, Owens," Mason said, holding the back door open.

Carter crossed her arms and didn't move which made Mason roll his eyes.

"What is it now?"

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," she said.

"You're questioning the ethical issue of taking money from guys who were using you to win a bet?"

"No, I'm questioning if whether I can stand getting my reputation tarnished by being seen driving off with you."

To this, Mason rested his arm on the top of the door and stared at her.

"Your reputation. Let me tell you something about your reputation. You are a social outcast that no one likes and think you're arrogant and temperamental."

"Exactly, do I want to lose that perception? It could look like I'm selling myself to gain leverage in the Hamilton hierarchy."

"You are. You're getting half the winnings. But don't worry, tomorrow I'll destroy whatever progress today might have made to your reputation." He waved his hand toward the interior. "Now that's settled that this will have no lasting damage to your perfectly isolated existence, can we please go?"

Carter still held her ground and Mason looked like he wanted to leave without her.

"You promise you don't say anything nice about me?" she asked.

"I couldn't, even if someone held a gun to my head. Now, can we go?"

That was true. And so it meant Carter was safe. She climbed into the back of the car and Mason slammed it shut. What the observing crowd around them would make of that, she wasn't sure.

"We don't have to talk, do we?" Carter asked as Mason took the seat beside her.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't," Smith said in the front seat.

Carter and Mason exchanged a look, grinned, frowned, and turned away.

When they reached the entrance to Carter's lane, Mason pulled out his phone.

"This is your half," he said.

Carter checked her screen and held her face from showing her shock.

"Get that house you wanted," Mason said.

"Send me a housewarming present," Carter said, getting out of the car.

"This car ride was the most I ever want to think about being in a relationship with you, Owens."

"I'm going to block this entire interaction from my mind Mason, just to save me from the trauma of it."

"Sure you will. Have fun seeing me in your dreams!"

"My dreams are just as violent as I am. You better hope my dreams are the ones that don't come true."

Carter closed the door and headed down the lane to her apartment. A few hours later, Captain came home to find her at the dining room table with containers of sushi laid out before her. At his arrival, she held up a pair of chopsticks for his taking. Captain eyed the display of colorful but also expensive-looking dinner.

"Sarge," Captain said. "This is sushi."

"How astute you are. It makes sense why you are an agent."

Captain looked at her with skepticism and regret. "Carter, you know we can't afford something like this right now. Not with the car needing all its repairs."

"Oh I know but I became the target of a betting match today, made a deal with one of the participants, and won some cash. So... sushi!"

The regret and skepticism quickly morphed into surprise, curiosity, and concern.

"I don't know if I should warn you against betting rings or be proud of you for dealing with the situation?"

Carter slid one container over to him. "You can do both while eating sushi."

Captain picked up one of the rolls and popped it into his mouth.

"You shouldn't get involved in betting rings," he said through his mouthful.

"Noted for future reference. Now do you want me to tell you how I took them down?"

Captain swallowed and smiled. "Yeah, I do."

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*Happy sigh*

Will high school Carter and Mason ever not be my happy place? Oh jeez I hope not! I need this happy place!

What about you? Have anything thoughts to share on the happiness that is this pair together? 🗯💬💭

I'll keep this on the short side because my week was...

So yeah! I always like throwing Carter into situations that are written in Teen Fiction and see how she reacts. Not gonna lie, doesn't disappoint. I don't know what it is but teenage Carter is a different breed

Yeah, do I love how she grows and matures as a person? Of course but there's a special place in my heart for savage teenage Carter.

I hope you enjoyed this! Hopefully you did but probably not as much as me!

Vote, comment, follow, only if you feel you must!

Shout out comments from: Taking Him Along (part 4)

I have that same feeling for Zander and Sophia!

😂 Perfect description

I love Mason as a dad! It's such a different side of him!

Our two conspirators!