Chapter 3

Sam jogged to catch up to Carrie who was quickly shuffling her way back to her house. She heard someone running behind her and quickly turned around in fear it was Tommy Ebert, the boy on the bike who would always sneak up on her and scare her. She momentarily let out a sigh of relief when it wasn't him but quickly turned pale when she saw who it was.

"Hey Carrie." Sam said happy that he remembered her name. Carrie gulped as he approached her.

"H-hello." She stuttered nervously.

"Mind if I joined you? My house is down this way." Sam said. Carrie was dumbstruck, why would someone like Sam want to be with her? This must be a trick.

"Stop tricking me!" Carrie said as she quickly brushed past him.

"This isn't a trick, why would I do that?" Sam asked confused. He then remembered how Tommy and George mentioned she was bullied really badly and that she must have trust issues.

"Hey." He said walking up to her. "I'm not like those other kids." Carrie wasn't buying it. She remembered back her freshman year when Chris, Sue, and Tina all pretended to be nice to her and wound up humiliating her in the end. She would never forget that day.

3 years ago.

14 year old Carrie White found herself gagging at the sour smell of the freshman football team as they headed to the showers from morning weightlifting. High school was a whole new world for her. She thought elementary school was scary, high school was horrifying. The school was much bigger and the students much meaner. What was worse was the nearly everyone from elementary school had followed her to high school, including the ultras. Carrie looked at the piece of paper that had her locker number and made her over to it. Since she was a freshman, her locker was located on the top floor while the seniors had their lockers on the first floor. As she fumbled with the lock she overheard a familiar clique walk her way.

"Just ignore them." Carrie thought to herself as Chris, Sue, Tina, and the twins Nikki and Lizzi walked her way.

"Hey Carrie." Sue said in an unusually friendly voice. "Watcha up to?"

"N-nothing." Carrie responded waiting for the fire.

"Look, we realized we were pretty nasty in grade school and, we are sorry." Chris said. Carrie could not believe her ears, was this really happening?

"What?" Carrie asked confused.

"Yeah that was soooooo uncool what we did." Tina said. "We wanna try an make it up to you."

"R-really?" A smile crawling across her face. This is what she had been waiting for! A chance to fit in! "I forgive you! This is so exciting! Thank you!"

"No problem friend." Nikki said putting her arm around Carrie's back.

"Anyways." Chris said. "We are all gonna go hang out at Tina's tonight. you in?"

"I, I don't know, Mama won't like if i'm out too late." Carrie said fearing her mother's wrath.

"Oh come on itll be a blast!" Sue said putting her arm around Carrie.

"You'll be back before curfew." Nikki said.

"Come on! I know you want to go out and have a little fun!" Chris said. Carrie thought about it. Going out did sound like a lot of fun! Especially since she never got to go out in grade school. This was her chance to finally fit in and have friends! How could she possibly turn this down? But what would Mama say? Mama didn't like it when she didn't come straight home, she especially wouldn't like it if she was hanging around with Chris.

"Y-yes that sounds nice!" Carrie said finally deciding. Mama could throw her in the closet for as long as she wanted, Carrie wasn't gonna pass up this oppurtunity.

"Sweet!" Chris said putting on what seemed like a genuine smile. "Meet us at Tina's at six, you know where she lives right?"

"No." Carrie said feeling a wonderful warmth over take her.

"She lives just two blocks down from school. See the house over there?" Chris said pointing to a large brick house two blocks down. It was a three story home with a large driveway with four cars including Tina's new Audi she got for her eigthteenth birthday.

"I see it, so there at six?" Carrie asked.

"Yup, see ya then Car!" Chris said walking away smiling. Carrie couldn't believe this was actually happening! Chris wanted to be her friend! For so long she wanted to have a friend, someone to hang out with and talk too. Someone to count on if she needed help. Although she loved her mother, Carrie got awfully lonely. Never a fun weekend to look forward too, or a birthday party to get excited for. This was the best day of her life! Carrie debated what to do, Mama wouldn't let her leave the house if she knew she was going to Tina's. She had two choices, sneak out or lie. Carrie knew it was wrong to lie, after a debate in her head, she decided sneaking out would be the better option. Mama usually didn't bother her once she went into her room. Carrie smiled for the first time in a long while as she happily skipped home. Tonight was going to be so fun! They would laugh, talk about cute boys in their class, tell stories, maybe have a fire and watch the stars. Carrie remembered what Mama told her about God being gracious to those who are faithful and are patient. How her faith and patience had paid off! Carrie approached her home and walked up the stairs and hummed the tune 'Ave Maria' to herself.

"Hi mama!" Carrie said happily to her mother, Margaret, who was sitting at her chair reciting a passage from the Book of Psalms. Margaret notice a change in her daughter's demeanor. Normally she would come home sad, tired, and sometimes crying. But today, she was smiling, and even laughing!

"You seem awfully happy today, how was school?" Margaret asked happy for once her daughter didn't come home crying. Carrie quickly stopped, she couldn't tell Mama she was going to Tina's! She had to come up with something quick!

"I-It was good!" Carrie quickly said. She wasn't a very good liar.

"What are you smiling about? Did those nasty heathen whores finally leave town? Margaret asked referring to the clique of girls who had made her daughters life a living hell for the last nine years.

"No mama, I just had a good day is all." Carrie said getting nervous. Mama would be very upset if she caught her lying.

"Well I'm glad to see you smiling." Margaret said. "Keep praying and it will all get better."

"Yes mama." Carrie quickly running up to her room. Carrie quickly shut the door and threw her bag on the bed. She looked at the time, it was three o clock meaning she had three hours till it was time to go. Carrie figured if she was going out she would have to spruce up a bit. There might be some cute boys there. Carrie grabbed her robe and walked to the bathroom where a large tub lay on the floor. Mama said showers were sinful so there was never one put in. Carrie turned the tub on as warm steamy water flowed out of the faucet into the tub. The mirrors steamed up as Carrie slowly took her clothes off. She then went to the tub which was half full. She slowly put her foot in and yelped at the hot temperature. She twisted the knob as the faucet sprayed out cooler water to even out the hot water. Carrie turned the tub off as it came close to filling up and let her body slide in. The warm water putting ease to her tense muscles. Warm baths were one of the few things in life Carrie looked forward to. Carrie submerged her body under the water as she rubbed the bar of soap across her body and face. She then grabbed her bottle of shampoo and ran it through her hair. Once she was done she pulled the plug and the water drained leaving her fingers and toes wrinkled and pruny. She stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself to dry off. Carrie walked over to the mirror and grabbed the brush from one of her dolls when she was younger. Mama didn't approve of brushes so she had to keep the one she used for one of her childhood dolls hidden. She hummed happily to herself as she ran the brush through her hair. She wanted to look as pretty as possible to impress her new friends. Her brunette hair hung neatly combed over her face as she popped the pimples that had made their way onto her adolescent face. She brushed her teeth and wrapped her robe around herself and went back to her room. Dressing nice was going to be a problem. She didn't own any jeans or tank tops that girls her age usually wore. Mama said anything that exposed cleavage or was above the knee was only worn by jezebel sluts. Carrie sighed as she put on one of her old skirts and tops that resembled a sunday dress from the nineteenth century. When she was done Carrie looked at the clock and saw it was 4:30. Had she really spent ninety minutes getting ready? She debated what to do for the next hour before she headed out. She figured Chris and Tina would have something to eat at their house. Carrie went underneath her bed and pulled out a pile of magazines that featured athletes and celebrities. She had collected these at school over the years and often read through them to find ot the latest news. Her young girly mind drooling over pictures of handsome shirtless NFL players and band lead singers. She knew it was wrong to feel such lust but she couldn't help her curious mind. Soon 5:30 rolled around and Carrie put the magazine back under her bed.

"CARRIE! DINNER!" Margaret called. Carrie jumped as she was caught of guard. She needed an excuse to not go to dinner. She didn't want to lie but she had no choice. Carrie slowly walked down the stairs pretending to feel disoriented.

"Mama I don't feel that good." Carrie said holding her stomach. "I think I'm going to just lay down."

"Okay, the chicken will be in the fridge if you get hungry later." Margaret said. "Don't forget to say your prayers."

"Yes Mama." Carrie said as she walked back into her room. She tried to figure out out how she was going to get out the window. She couldn't jump since it was from a two story house, plus she did not have the athleticism to land such a far jump. She couldn't climb down as there were no nearby trees. After some careful scanning, she decided to use her bed sheets. She grabbed her blanket and her two bed sheets and carefully tied them together remembering the knots she learned how to tie at summer camp a few years ago. She tied one end around her bedpost tightly and let the rest dangle out her window. She gave the rope a good tug and gulped as she looked out the window. It looked a lot higher than it actually was and it took Carrie a while before she mustered the courage to leap out. She wasn't just afraid of climbing but what Mama would do when she found out that she had snuck out of the house. Carrie finally gathered the courage and stepped out of the window and slowly slid down the sheet keeping her feet on the wall as she repelled down. She gave a silent shriek as she looked down and hugged the the sheet tightly, regretting her decision. She took a few deep breaths and slowly began to lower herself down again. She suddenly slipped and she tightly shut her eyes waiting for impact as he heart nearly stopped. She fell for a few inches before feeling the ground on her feet. She slowly opened and let out a smile as she realized she made it down! She looked at her watch and saw it was 5:45, she silently moved through her front yard hoping to avoid her mother's gaze. She finally made it down the street and let out a heavy breath, she felt a strange sense of exhiliration as she walked down the street. As much as she didn't want to, breaking the rules was kind of fun. She finally made it to Tina's house where she saw a bunch of people moving around in the living room. it was 5:59, Carrie walked onto the front lawn and yelped as she was felt a stream of freezing water cover her whole body. She jumped out of the way only to be hit by another. She quickly realized the sprinklers were on, she then heard the sound of laughing as she looked up to see the whole group of friends pointing and laughing at her.

"Hey eat this scratch ass!" Chris yelled throwing a rotten tomato at her that exploded on her face. Carrie suddenly broke down as she realized it was a trick. All that anticipation to do something fun was for nothing.

"Creepy Carrie! Creepy Carrie!" They chanted as Carrie broke down crying. She tried so hard to look pretty tonight and now she was soaking wet and covered in tomatoes. She got up to run away but slipped on the now muddy front lawn and landed in a pile of mud only adding fuel to the laughter and ridicule she was receiving. How could they be so mean to get her hopes up like that? Carrie's anger boiled over as she muttered words she never thought she would say.

"I HOPE YOU GO TO HELL!" She yelled running away and crying. She did not stop running till she arrived home. She slowly and miserably walked up to her front steps, she didn't even care what her mother would do to her anymore. Carrie brought her hand up to open the door but it was pulled away as her furious mother looked down at her.

"The fourth commandment, honor thy mother!" Margaret White yelled grabbing her daughter by the wrist. "Deceit is the devil's language you sinning harlot!"

"I-" Carrie tried to say as she was smacked hard across her mud crusted face. She fell to the ground and held her burning cheek. She screamed as she felt her hair get grabbed hard as her mother dragged her across the floor.

"To break a commandment, is to break God's word. Your sin must be punished, you must beg for forgiveness!" Margaret yelled throwing her distraught daughter into the prayer closet. Carrie continued to scream as her mother slammed the door in her face once again hitting her head. Carrie fell back and curled up into a ball and cried the hardest she ever had.

Carrie still shuddered at the memory, she was left in the closet for two days with no food or water and suffered from severe cramps and delirium from the lack of nutrients. She learned that day to never trust anyone.

"You're just doing this to pull a trick on me." Carrie said turning away.

"No I'm not." Sam said. "I've only known you for a day, why would I wanna trick you?" Carrie had to admit he brought up a good point. There was no way he was already in on picking on her after one day. Besides, he seemed to be friends with Tommy Ross who was a nice kid.

"I-I guess." Carrie said shying away. "You can walk with me." She said so silently Sam barely heard her.

"Sweet, this will be a lot more fun that walking alone." Sam said happy he finally got somewhere with her.