By the time third hour rolled around, the whole school knew that Victor and Kathryn were no longer a couple. Kathryn had been getting the evil eye from people that were Victor's friends all morning. People that didn't even know she existed unless she was walking with Victor were sneaking disses at her.
When Kathryn strolled into English class, she couldn't help but feel as if there was a nagging feeling on the side of her head. Taking a look to her left, she couldn't help it but looked shocked as Shane took his seat exactly two rows from her.
She started racking her brain, wondering how she didn't even know that she shared a class with Shane all year. She never thought of herself as a shallow person but at that moment, she was feeling like one. Kathryn only shared two classes with Victor's friends: English and Arithmetic.
"Oops, sorry," Vanessa hissed out as she shouldered Kathryn.
Kathryn smiled sweetly and stuck the finger. Vanessa Lee was co-captain of the cheerleading team and the biggest bitch around. Vanessa always thought that she was better then everyone else but lost her captain's spot to a sophomore earlier this year.
For two weeks Vanessa had been crying her eyes out swearing that the tryouts were ridged. If there was one girl that Kathryn suspected Victor was cheating on her with, it would have to be Vanessa. She always had the hots for Victor and tried to flirt her way into his pants right in front of Kathryn.
Talk about a hoe at its finest.
"Good morning class!" Mrs. Turner greeted as she staggered through the door. Her pencil skirt had a few crinkles while a couple buttons from her blouse were undone. Mrs. Turner was a beautiful Caucasian who was sleeping with the principal.
The whole school new about it and so did some of the teachers. But no one was brave enough to speak out on it. Kathryn wondered what would happen when the principal's wife would find out such an affair. It was such a shame how she had to work long hours and care for their disabled child will Principal Omar continued to screw one of his employees.
Mrs. Turner was married once upon a time; but her husband had called it quits earlier this year. She still wanted to be referred to as 'Mrs' rather than just 'Ms'.
"Please pull out your copies of Hamlet and we will continue from where we left off," Mrs. Turner announced as soon as she finished getting herself situated. Kathryn suspected that Mrs. Turner was tangled up with Principal Omar before school started.
Pulling out her beat up copy, Kathryn couldn't help but let her eyes drift over to Shane when Mrs. Turner picked a random student to read. She wondered why he was always quiet with his hair covering part of his beautiful eyes most of the time. She thought that showing emotion just wasn't Shane's forte and she was fine with that. She didn't mind that he was at some points an introvert.
"Shane," Mrs. Turner called out politely.
Kathryn sighed in content as Shane started reading some lines that she didn't give a shit about. His voice sent shivers down his spine. She could spend all day just listening to him say anything he wanted.
"Kathryn," Shane said picking her to read next.
He said my name. Kathryn thought to herself, a giddy feeling coursing through her veins as she tried to pinpoint where Shane had just left off. Luckily she picked off a couple of words and was able to find the spot without having to admit it to the class. The worst feeling in the world was being called out for not paying attention.
After class, Kathryn started packing her things for lunch. The smell of jasmine perfume assaulted her nose and she knew that Vanessa was around here somewhere.
"Don't even bother sitting with us today," Vanessa said loudly, drawing attention.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Kathryn replied back. She was so done with Vanessa's shit. All she is was drama and a big pain in her ass. Vanessa rolled her eyes and stormed out of the classroom. If she wasn't such a nightmare, she'd be a lot more beautiful. She was an Asian with looks and knew how to use them to her advantage. Kind of like Daphne except that Daphne wasn't such bitch to everyone.
"Need to seat somewhere at lunch?" Shane asked once Kathryn had gotten her bag over her shoulder.
She smiled at the offer. Even though Shane wasn't a talker, he was still making an effort to be her friend. Something that she liked a lot. Shane had to be at least six foot three so Kathryn had to crane her neck up slightly just to look at his face.
"That'd be great, thanks."
As Shane and Kathryn walked side by side to the lunchroom, she resisted the urge to grab onto Shane's free hand that was casually dangling at his side. She also couldn't help but notice the whispers and stares. Were they already making assumptions that Kathryn moved on to a new boy?
She looked to see if he minded that everyone was looking. But Shane looked oblivious to the stares as he continued to look forward. It was as if he was fighting with his own inner battle and didn't care about the others around him.
Naturally, the cafeteria was loud and bustling with upperclassmen. The juniors and seniors at Trinity High School were banned from leaving off campus to eat lunch because most of them never came back to school. Kathryn followed close behind Shane as he started picking up a tray and stacking the nasty lunch food on top of it.
Kathryn pulled out a couple of bills and ordered her usual meal: a club sandwich with a fruit cup and a bottle of water. Shane raised his pierced eyebrow as Kathryn paid for her lunch but he didn't comment on how she was able to pay for the good lunch food.
She followed Shane to a booth where Cora was already seated and talking. Kathryn smiled glad to know that Cora was still around. She didn't really know any of Cora's friends besides Shane.
"Hey girl!" Cora grinned as Kathryn took a seat next to her.
"Hey Cora and everyone," Kathryn greeted as she unwrapped her sub. Chorused hellos rang through the table before Cora jumped back to her story. She was talking about how her older brother had gotten arrested for one of his drunken stupors. Walking around with lingerie and singing Party in the USA.
Kathryn couldn't help but snort at the story. Cora's older brother sounded like a funny guy to be around with. He sounded like he knew how to party. Kathryn's eyes drifted over to her old table with Victor and the others.
She couldn't help it but be pissed off of the fact that Vanessa and Victor were all over each other. They haven't even broken up for a day and Victor was already making the moves on fuck buddy. But with Shane, Kathryn was taking things slow. She wasn't crawling on top of him and trying to feel down his pants like that Victoria was.
Vanessa looked up and winked at Kathryn making her ten times more pissed. Facing away, she focused her attention on a story that Leslie was saying. Leslie was this really nice girl that Kathryn had history class with. She was almost legally blind, thus the reason why she wore such thick and strong glasses. She recently dyed the tips of her hair teal and was getting a lot of compliments.
"Where's Trina?" Kathryn casually asked.
"She's a sophomore. An annoying sophomore who has boobs flatter than a table top."
"Excuse me that's my cousin your talking about," Ethan pointed out taking a sip of his chocolate milk. Ethan was an Indian boy who was kind of cute in a certain light.
"Well she's annoying as shit Ethan," Cora retorted and before Kathryn knew it, Ethan and Cora got into a full blown argument. She smiled at the fun that these group of people were having. They were so carefree and genuinely liked each other. Unlike Victor's friends who all had stab wounds from being a bunch of backstabbers to each other.
The more Kathryn had spent time with these people, the she seemed to realize how much she liked them. Ethan Knight was the goofball of the group and could burp the alphabet in his sleep. Leslie Brown was the smart one spent most of her time creating a song to remember the periodic table or even even try to find a way to defy gravity rather than party.
Paige Moore was Canadian who could sing like an angel. She had created covers of so many songs and Kathryn made a mental note to check out her YouTube when she had some free time. Cora Jackson was the leader who loved reading and writing stories. Most of her stories consisted of short stories about abusive relationships. Kathryn suspected that Cora had been through one but it was hard to know since Cora was such a tough and determined person. Kathryn didn't suspect how Cora could ever be abused.
Kathryn also discovered the Shane Campbell was a musician. He could play four instruments but his favorite was the guitar. He had also made some covers for songs and even created his own songs. He taught himself how to play said instruments and Kathryn couldn't help but admire Shane's ambition to learn.
"So tell us a little bit about yourself," Cora requested.
"Um," Kathryn said not knowing where to start, "well I have a half sister, a dad, step-mom, my birth mother passed away and I'm ambidextrous," she said with a small shrug. There wasn't anything special about Kathryn besides writing with both hands. She wasn't musically talented like Shane or Paige. She wasn't funny like Ethan or smart like Leslie. And she sure as hell wasn't creative like Cora.
She was just...her.
"Come on! Everyone has something they're good at?" Paige piped up.
Kathryn mulled the idea over. What was she good? "I can cook pretty good," she threw out in hopes of satisfying their hunger to know so much.
"What can you cook?" Cora pressed.
"Just about everything known to man. I can even make boiling water taste appetizing but I don't do much of the cooking in my house," Kathryn explained.
"You should really cook for us sometime. We'd love to see what you can put on the table," Ethan suggested with a smirk.
"You only want her to cook because you're always hungry," Leslie uttered. Ethan winked at her and Leslie couldn't help but blush.
"Okay love birds," Cora interrupted with a grin.
Kathryn smiled as she listened in into their conversation. Was this the type of fun and friendship she was missing all her high school life. She couldn't help but feel robbed of the opportunity to meet such great people. And it was all Victor's fault.
"Hello Kathryn." Speak of the devil, "I didn't see you here," Victor said as he walked up to their table with, shocker, Vanessa right behind him.
"I'm sure you didn't Victor. What are you doing here and how can I make you go away?"
Victor tsked wagging his finger in the air. God this boy irked Kathryn to no end. She hated how Victor swore he ran the world. All the money that Victor's adoptive parents had turned him from being a little boy with no home to being the biggest tyrant known to mankind.
"Why have you become so testy Kathryn? I just wanted to catch up since we had spent the last three years together. Unless those three years were nothing but a ploy to break my heart in the end?"
Kathryn scoffed. "Break your heart? You looked quite cozy over there with Vanessa. Is that how you suffer a heartbreak? Jumping on the next thing with tits and a beating pulse?"
"So you admit you were jealous then?"
"Definitely not. I hope you two end up getting married and have lots of children together."
"You know a little birdy told me that you missed me. And I know that you women have baby brains and just need the guidance and acceptance of a man so yes, Kathryn I forgive you," Victor said spreading his arms out for the taking.
"Excuse me?" Kathryn sputtered shocked, "you actually think that I need you for guidance? And what the hell is a baby brain?"
Victor rolled his eyes as if she were the dumb one. "Kathryn a woman of your caliber needs someone strong-willed to be able to provide for you. Stop these childish games and come back to me. I promise that I won't embarrass you that much."
"And a man with your caliber is a sexist pig who thinks he owns the world just because his foster parents are loaded. Fuck you Victor Mordcai," Kathryn spat out.
"Wow, what a bitch," Vanessa remarked.
Then it happened, Kathryn snatched Ethan's chocolate milk and dumped the rest of the contents on Vanessa's head. Screaming, she watched as people ran to Vanessa's aid while the cafeteria was erupting with laughter and the sound of cameras. Kathryn noticed how Cora's laugh among the others was one of the loudest. And Shane's smile was above the brightest.
"Well Vanessa," Kathryn stated once she was given paper towels to dry her hair and her now ruined white dress. "I guess you can say that I really am a bitch."