"So Y/n, what're your plans for today?"
It was a few days after my existential crisis on the roof, and Katelyn and I were the only ones still eating as we had both woken up late. If I had a dime for every meal I've had alone with Katelyn...I'd have one dime. But I guess it's good to cherish the few dimes life throws at you. That's what my younger sister 'taught me' at least when she was saving up money for a cat when she was 10. (Spoiler alert, most kids struggle with saving money).
I shrugged. "I haven't really been planning anything for myself. I've kinda just been tagging along with anyone that invites me! Otherwise, I laze about here."
Katelyn let out a laugh. "There's a difference between lazing about and relaxing, my friend. Going out to do something everyday can be tiring, so I feel you on wanting to stay here. If you ask me, no bills, no worries."
"That's true! But...hehe. I've spent more time inside than out. We've been here for a little over two weeks, and I've kinda been on autopilot, doing the same things I do at home," I admitted.
"Even the renowned Love~Love Paradise is nothing to Y/n! Who I heard was a bit of a bad girl in high school? Do tell! I never did buy your stories about being called down to the office," Katelyn exclaimed.
"It wasn't that big of a deal... I just had bad attendance, truth be told. Didn't care too much about school."
Katelyn nodded. "That's fair. It seems like you're doing well, whatever you ended up doing in school. Speaking of that... Teony mentioned something about you doing some good. What would that include?"
My mind drifted to the Shadow Knights and my aid in their reform. I can't bottle up high school memories forever... As embarrassing as it is, I need to reaccept everything again. "She was probably referring to my efforts in changing the villainous Shadow Knights."
"You were seriously involved with them? Impressive, Y/n. I remember Aph crying to me about them once, but at the end of her freshman year Gene and his gang actually apologized. I guess it was thanks to you."
I smiled and shook my head. "I might've helped them change, but any amending was all Gene's doing."
"Now that I think about it...I feel like whenever I'd hear about you, Gene was also mentioned..." Katelyn trailed off, her eyes meeting with mine. "Eh, the past's in the past. It'll always be important, but the present is pretty great, too. Heck, the present is awesome! Here we are talking, which we definitely don't do enough. That...actually has me thinking. What if we have ourselves a bit of a Katelyn and Y/n beach day?"
Hanging out with Katelyn, huh? "Sounds fun!"
We went upstairs to prepare for our beach day and soon set out. Once we arrived at the beach, we set down our towels and sat down.
"Say Katelyn, do you go on vacation a lot?" I asked. "Like, any family trips growing up or something?"
"Not at all... My family grew up poor, and it was hard without my mom around." She looked solemn for a moment, but she quickly perked up and joked, "Why, do I look like a frequent traveler?"
I shook my head. "Nah, it's just that my ex-parents never took me anywhere despite having the money, so I was curious. By the time I got adjusted with my actual parents, I never really had the time to travel except to visit relatives on holidays."
"So I guess this is the first real vacation for the both of us! I'd say we both deserve this after our childhoods."
I laughed. "I'd say you're right! Man, it feels like a lifetime ago for me. I'm so used to my family now, even my actual cousins..."
"I doubt it was easy," Katelyn remarked. "I remember junior year just your last name changing to Harper threw a lot of people off... I can't imagine what it'd be like to actually live with a new family and get used to them."
"My parents and sister made it easy, but it was a bit awkward with my extended family. Speaking of my sister, it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that she's starting college after summer! Seeing her graduate was crazy... I still remember when she was 9 and thought boys were gross and wanted pink hair!" Now she's 18 and thinks everyone is gross, despite being a sucker for others' love stories.
"It was the same for me with Kacey. Uh— other than the boys and pink hair part. He's only two years younger than me, but yeah, it was really emotional seeing him graduate, especially after how difficult high school was for him."
Now that I think about it, wasn't her brother hospitalized for a while in his freshman year? That definitely isn't a great start to the supposed 'best (in reality the worst) four years of your life'... I was curious about the details, but I decided not to ask as it was probably a touchy subject. All I knew about it was that he got punched or something like that... If anything like that happened to S/n, my Irene would I destroy that villain. Well, it's unlikely that such a thing would ever happen. Unlike me, S/n was super popular and well-liked in high school.
"It could be said that's how high school is, but... I feel like PDH had some sort of curse." Not sure if I even mean that as a joke or not. High school was genuinely too much.
Katelyn laughed. "Y'know what, I can't disagree."
I gazed at the lapping waves of the clear ocean as it washed away peculiarities from the shore. Suddenly, a dorky idea popped into my head, causing me to smile.
"How's life, Katelyn?"
Her brows furrowed. "It's okay, I guess. Still working toward my dreams and all that but..."
I jumped to my feet and held out my hand. "Let's wash away the problems of high school. Of our childhood, even!"
She took my hand and smiled, rising to her feet. "I never expected to do this with you, that's for sure. But y'know, you're pretty cool, Y/n. I'm down."
Hand in hand, Katelyn and I sped toward the ocean as a wave crashed down us, knocking us over, sending us into a giggling mess. Like little kids, we got into a splash fight, and Katelyn's competitiveness convinced me to do a swimming race using floaties as markers. I of course lost, but it was fun nonetheless. After splashing and swimming around, we returned to the sand and tried our hand at drawing pictures in the sand. I traced around, my end result being Frosch from Fairy Tail. Well...a jacked up version of it, at least. Drawing in the sand wasn't exactly smooth. As for Katelyn, she drew what to me, looked like Travis, but she insisted it was a character from Once Upon A Time.
She sighed. "Speaking of Travis, I kinda miss the doofus. I hope he's alright..." She suddenly got into my face. "Do NOT tell anyone I said that."
I feebly nodded before daring to say, "Have you called him at all?"
She was silent for a while, and her face began to grow flushed, and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Keep laughing and you're getting lunch early!"
I tilted my head. "All our swimming has gotten me pretty hungry, so I wouldn't mind—"
She cracked her knuckles.
The realization hit me. "Oh! You were alluding...to a knuckle sandwich. Heh. Now what was I even laughing about?"
She grinned. "That's what I thought."
"Sorry Katelyn~ You're just pretty cute when you're embarrassed!" I teased.
"If that's the case, I have to confess something," Katelyn mused.
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"I'm actually your blind date!"
I gasped. "But what about the fact that Lucas was setting me up with a guy?"
"Er...I went under the alias of Kyle! But here I am, unveiling my true self, even though we were supposed to meet in about a week." She sighed. "I know it's probably annoying hearing questions about it, but...how are you feeling about it?"
I shrugged. "I kinda agreed to it carelessly. I'm honestly nervous since Lucas gave me literally no details, but...I think I trust his judgement. He wouldn't do anything to sabotage me. I think."
"Yeesh, I though you two were supposed to be childhood friends," Katelyn remarked. "You seem pretty uncertain about him."
"Well..." I sighed. "I'm coming off super bad... Rather than him, it's more so me. I have what you'd call no skills in the dating scene."
"Aw come on, you're goofy, but you're definitely a charmer. A good balance."
I shook my head. "It's nice that you think that, but trust me. I'm a bit of a wreck with random spurts of boldness."
"Hmm... Well, I guess we'll have to see if the charmer Y/n comes through on her date next week~" Katelyn teased. "Backtracking to what you said earlier, lets go get lunch!"
I smiled. Make that two dimes.
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A/n: twenty cents GETS YOU NOTHING IN THIS ECONOMY!! you'd have to have like a billion meals with katelyn to get anywhere...I mean I wouldn't mind 🤤
Thanks for reading kawaii potato cats! I love each and every single one of you very muchly! Catch you all later! Baii~ 💖Shadow🎮