Adopted by Heathers: The Sequel

Here We Are, First Day of Sophomore Year!

September 2016

"48...49..." I peel off the backing of the pale yellow planet sticker Katie gave me and stick it on the wall, the little corner wall that's barely wide enough to hold a poster. I should know, I've tried before.

"...50." I said to myself, backing up and looking at the mess of outer-space themed stickers, each with a number, 1-50, in the corner and some of my messy handwriting scribbled in the middle.

See, I have a chronic blood condition, and I've known about it since I was thirteen. It's been two years now, and while the hospital trips have dwindled in number, they still happen from time to time. For my fourteenth birthday, my aunt Katie gave me 25 stickers, each one of them representing a different trip to the hospital from when I got adopted up to my birthday.

And every time I've been to the hospital since then, a space-themed sticker was slipped in some possession of mine from Katie. 

The reason why all the stickers are outer space themed is because of a special pair of pajamas I got from my brother Evan that have stars and planets all over them. They resemble a hospital gown I once had. Every time I go to the hospital, I bring those pajamas with me.

That, and my most prized possession, which I can see out of the corner of my eye as I throw away the sticker's backing. 

A faded, ratty, oversized light orange blanket neatly folded on the corner of my bed. I smile and wrap the blanket around me. My other aunt gave this blanket to me before one of my surgeries, and it's been my security object ever since. I can't sleep without it, and I usually can't go to the hospital without it. Though there have been one or two times I've forgotten it at home.

My name is Catlynn. I was adopted about two years ago by Elle McLemore when she was still in Heathers. My biological dad was a piece of crap. My mom was all fine and good, but then she died. My biological brother was my first bully, and my two sisters loved me to pieces. But Elissa, my older sister, ran away when she was my age and I don't even know my younger one's name.

And then my dad decided to pin me to a wall. And that's how I found Elle. And the entire rest of the cast. My family. 

"Sunshine! Your friend Red's here!" Elle said.

Elle was lying when she said "friend." Or maybe I'm lying. Red Ashley, my best friend since eighth grade, was actually my girlfriend.

We got together right after Red recovered from a subway crash. Then we broke up on the Washington D.C. trip. Freshman year...we got back together again. Red's out to her family, I'm not. 

"Kit." I heard, and Red was standing in the doorway of my room. I gave her a quick hug and showed her the new sticker on my wall.

"What was it this time?" she groaned. I laughed and said, "Blood test. Same old, same old. My doctor told me a few months ago that I only need tests every couple of months or so!" 

"Hey...you captioned your stickers!" Red yelled. I smiled, looking at the stickers on my wall. They're pretty generic, small captions. Just a basis of why I was going to the hospital and the date it happened. My eyes picked out a pastel orange spaceship.

First Blood Transfusion, September 2014.

Exactly two years ago today.

I sighed, deciding to ignore hospitals for now and focus on my first day of school. I pulled out my schedule from underneath my laptop and smoothed out the slightly crinkled paper. 

Red spins me around towards the mirror and pushes my bangs back with her finger and kissing my hairline. "You're beautiful." she gushes to me. It was a tradition of ours, that she compliments me on everything. From when I got braces, to when I got glasses, to when I went through that awful phase where every day a new zit appeared on my nose, Red was always there to tell me that every other thing about me was beautiful. 

I take a look at myself in the mirror, comparing it with a picture of me from when I was 13. My hair was longer now, tied up in a sleek ponytail with my new bangs pinned back with a bobby pin. My braces with the red elastics that were supposed to be there to fix my raging overbite. My thick black glasses. 

"We're gonna be late, diva." Red laughs, pulling me out of my room and marching me out the door and into Elle's car.

___________

Red's shoulders are a mess of straps, her clarinet on one, her lunch bag on the other, and her backpack on both. I, on the other hand, just have a backpack, with my saxophone in one hand and my lunchbox in the other.

"You ready for sophomore year?" Red asked. I happily jump up and down on the pavement and look around for my other friends.

While we were all separated in middle school, in high school, there's me, Red, Francesca, my first friend from theater, Axel, my saxophone buddy, Astrid, hopeless fangirl, and a new girl we met in freshman year named Shirley Cook who Cesca has an obvious crush on. 

Shirley's the first to arrive, and I can see it by her fire-engine red hair underneath her beanie. She waves to her parents and runs up to me. 

"CATLYNN MCLEMORE WHEN DID YOU GET GLASSES?" Shirley screams. I laugh. Shirley's loud and funny and charismatic. It's what I love about her. She doesn't call me by my first name all that often, she usually calls me "McLemore." So this was rare to hear.

"Over the summer!" I scream back to her. Axel's next to arrive, struggling to get his heavy saxophone out of the backseat of his mother's car.

Red pulls me into the now-open doors as I look out into the drop-off line for any sign of Astrid or Cesca. I skip in with Axel, Shirley, and Red and head to my first class.

Sitting down in my science class, I stare out the window as Shirley dumps out pens and pencils next to me, causing a huge racket and making an even bigger mess.

"September 16, 2016." I said to myself.

"Dear Diary..."

AN: CAT IS BACK, Y'ALL! I couldn't wait any longer to write this! We're gonna be introducing some new characters, and there's gonna be evil plans. Come on, you guys know me better than that! Hope you enjoyed! Catch ya later!