© janxel 2013 All Rights Reserved
{Please don't steal this story/ plot/ characters/ situations. I've poured a lot of my sarcastic soul and fan girl feels into these chapters so please respect that -A}
O N E: Downfall
Kathryn just barely managed to save her post before her screen turned black and the machinery within her laptop whirred to a stop.
She stared at it for moment, her left eye twitching slightly, as it usually did when her laptop coincidentally crashed before she was able to confirm whether or not a post was saved. She immediately pulled out her phone and checked her Tumblr app, too impatient to wait the 10 minutes it took to reboot her ancient laptop, and released a relieved sigh when she saw that the post had made it through without a glitch.
Satisfied with the post's successful confirmation, Kathryn returned her focus to the white laptop before her. It wasn't the latest model of portable technology, and, sure, Kathryn could probably live without its numerous malfunctions and without its hard drive weighing equal to that of a brick, but she took what she could get. Her laptop crashing wasn't even an unfamiliar occurrence, considering she'd probably fried its circuits with constant use and very little (if any) rest. If she had listened to her father and actually shut down the laptop each night instead of putting it to sleep after use, maybe she wouldn't be in this situation. On the plus side, her laptop did have decent WiFi connection and the latest version of Photoshop compatible with its outdated processor. It did its job, and that's all that mattered.
She flipped the heavyweight chunk of metal upside down, pulled out the laptop battery and reinserted it back into its slot before placing it right side up and flipping open the screen.
That's strange, she thought. Usually the screen glowed to life seconds after she removed and reinserted the battery. She blinked, her brows pinching together slightly, and repeated the process of removing an reinserting the computer's battery. She waited, hopeful. Still nothing.
She pressed the power button in confusion. The machinery inside the laptop whirred back to life, the lines of the power button glowing a fluorescent light blue, but the screen remained a lifeless black void.
Now she was panicking. Her eyes widened before she started violently shaking the laptop screen. She closed her laptop and opened it, willing it to glow back to life 3 seconds after doing so like it normally should have, but it didn't. She did it again for added measure, but nothing changed.
Kathryn's breathing was irregular now, her heart raced at a rapid speed not normal for an eighteen year old girl seeking silent refuge in the safety of the school's library. People were staring at her, peering over the walls of the library cubicle to stare at her hyperventilating self.
This is not good, she thought. The device held 4 years worth of photographs and files she'd organized according to category and date obtained. A portable version of Photoshop she may (or may not) have illegally downloaded were already installed into this computer. She hadn't even thought of transferring the files to an external hard drive, so if her laptop's internal memory wiped out she would lose everything. In the past 4 years she hasn't gone a day without her files, photographs, or Photoshop. Her laptop was her life.
Kathryn exhaled and pressed her eyes together before slamming her head down against her laptop in defeat.
"Is there a problem?" Kathryn's thoughts of panic were interrupted by a high pitched voice she was all too familiar with.
She rolled her eyes before lifting her head to greet the librarian through gritted teeth. "Nothing's wrong," she said, faking a smile. "Everything's fine."
The woman squinted at Kathryn, raising a perfectly arched, pencil drawn eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be studying for exams?" she asked.
Kathryn straightened up. "I've already written my exams actually," she explained, hoping it would be enough to diffuse the librarian's curiosity.
It was not.
The librarian let out a huff. "Then what are you doing in here? This library is for working students only." The woman's eyes were beady and seemed larger than normal staring at Kathryn through the high prescription lenses of the eggplant coloured, cat-eye framed glasses she wore.
"I finished writing my last exam today," Kathryn reasoned through gritted teeth, her voice dropping to a whisper. She hadn't realized how loud her voice was. "The principal wouldn't let me loiter the halls so she suggested I come here until the bell rang."
The librarian's brow eased. "Oh," she swallowed. "I see... Well then, carry on..."
Kathryn turned around slowly, easing her laptop screen open. It still remained lifeless. She slumped in her seat, eyes shut tight. She was unaware of the nosy presence behind her that still hadn't returned to its lurking origins.
"Is there a problem with your laptop?" The librarian's voice caught Kathryn by surprise.
She let out a sigh, eyes still shut. "Just some minor technical difficulties," Kathryn shrugged. "Nothing I can't fix myself." She shifted her body to shield the intrusive woman's view of the device.
"I was an intern at Microsoft after I graduated with a computer engineering degree in university," she bragged, her chest puffing up slightly. "Let me take a look; maybe I can be of some assistance." Her expression suddenly grew stern as she reached over Kathryn's shoulder for her laptop. Kathryn could have sworn the woman's pupils dilated.
Kathryn wanted to ask how a Microsoft intern ended up categorizing books by the Dewey Decimal System in such an underpaid high school as her own, but thought it would be a better idea to not piss off the already aggravated woman. "No, thanks," she offered an uneasy smile, leaning against the woman's arms and forcing her to withdraw. She was uncomfortable with the idea of anyone but herself touching her most prized possession.
She paused and with a frown reached for the laptop a second time. "Let me see the laptop," she huffed, her nails latching on to the device. "I can fix it."
Kathryn hugged the chunk of metal in her arms. "I said no..." she sneered, pulling at the device in a battle of tug of war with the librarian, "...thank you." She pulled the laptop into her arms, hugging it with the same defense as a mother bear protecting her cub, but the persistent librarian managed to grip onto the device tight enough to pull it out of Kathryn's hold. Kathryn watched it fall, feeling her eyes widen as it did. It landed with a thud, followed by the sound of metal clashing against metal.
Kathryn's left eye twitched madly as she stared at the fallen, but thankfully intact, wreck before her.
"Oh my," the librarian blinked, "I am so sorry." Her long nails, painted the same eggplant colour as her glasses, reaching for her laptop, like the claws of a predator jumping after its prey. "If you'd let me help you in the first place this wouldn't have happened."
"Don't," Kathryn snapped. "I said no," Kathryn began, slapping away the librarian's scrawny fingers before they could contaminate her laptop any further. She knew the librarian meant well, but by force of habit she had become defensive. "I told you I didn't need your help. Maybe if you'd minded your own business this wouldn't have happened." The librarian's eyes widened, appalled. "You've helped enough."
She'd made a scene. In the duration of the past 4 years, Kathryn had managed to steer clear of the social radar. She was nice enough to her classmates to fly just in between the social hierarchies of popular and lame. She did her homework on time, doing her best to stay on her teachers' good sides. She was quiet, observing, neutral enough to be invisible. Yet here she was, in the last period of the last day of school, yelling at the school librarian in the midst of her mental breakdown.
This wasn't how my day was supposed to end, Kathryn thought as she slowly slipped the device into its sleeve, gathering her books in her bag and getting up out of her seat. Her head down, she looked around her catching the shocked eyes of the students she'd seen in the halls over the past 4 years; the same students who hadn't even realized she had a voice capable of uttering anything more aggressive than a complaint. Kathryn gulped and didn't bother looking back at the librarian before pushing her chair back and shuffling across the yellowed carpet towards the door. She looked at the time-stained carpeted floor on her way out, avoiding the stares as she passed through the room.
She walked out the door just as the closing bell rang, her head hanging low, and made a bee-line for her locker. The school had already recommended students empty out their lockers prior to the semester's last day and, being the obedient student she was, Kathryn had already done just that. She spun in her lock's combination for the last time ever and her locker opened with a metal clang. Kathryn grabbed her rain jacket and her lunch bag and reached under her locker's shelf, looking behind her for witnesses, before feeling the photograph she'd wedged into the locker's metal corner. Ivan Lacson. She cupped the photograph of him in her hand. You got me through a rough four years. She smiled slightly, hugging the photograph to her chest before carefully placing it in the small pocket of her bag and slamming her locker doors shut for the last time.
Kathryn had been trying to blend in with the quiet library crowd, which was usually easy for a geek such as herself, but the tug of war scene with the intruding librarian didn't do her any good. Now, not only was her laptop resting in pieces but she was another step closer to being figured out. She looked around her as she made her way to the front entrance, but no one even noticed her pass by. Most were busy emptying out their lockers, or idling on their phones, as cliques of students made their way to each friend group for their final round of goodbyes before summer break.
She should have been worried that people would possibly connect her laptop malfunction with the upcoming blog-wide fiasco that was set to occur, but no one really cared enough to look into details about the school geek so she wasn't too concerned. No one would ever suspect Kathryn, a quiet, good girl who kept to herself and didn't have many friends, of running one of the internet's most popular anonymous Ivan Lacson fan blogs. No one would ever think to even put 'Kathryn' and 'world famous blogger, 'Kacy' in the same sentence. Kathryn was too unimportant. Too invisible.
Students rushed passed her in what Kathryn guessed was their hurry to get to the transit bus stop before it packed with crowds of loud teenagers anxious to get home and start their summer break. The school entrance was crawling with loitering teens.
Kathryn's brow burrowed in confusion until she saw the main attraction everyone was trying to get a first seat view of: Daniel was hosting another breakup with his flavour of the month.
Although Kathryn wasn't up to date with most things in the real world as she was with all things Ivan related, she knew enough about Daniel to know he was trouble. Once upon a time, before Kathryn dived into her own solitude and started slipping away from reality, Daniel had been some sort of a mutual acquaintance. But even then, she'd hardly spoken a word to him.
While Ivan Lacson was an international heartthrob, Daniel James was the school's senior heartsob; breaking hearts at the end of every month. It was the end of June; the end of senior year must be no exception, Kathryn thought.
Daniel stood facing Angel, a look of boredom on his face. Kathryn rolled her eyes at his pestered expression. Angel blinked in disbelief. "You're breaking up with me?"
He pursed his lips together in response, his eyes blank.
"Because it's been a month?" she shot, "We were perfectly fine yesterday - what the hell, Daniel?"
"It's not you, it's me," he said, no look of remorse or regret evident in his expression. "I know that sounds bad but I'm very serious. It wouldn't have worked out anyways. Sorry." He didn't look sorry.
Angel's mouth quivered. "What kind of rule is that? Wh-what good do you even get out of that?" Angel stuttered, her hands balled into fists.
"It's not a rule," he explained, "well not exactly."
She stared at him, shocked, before blinking and shaking her head in disgust. "Then what is it?" she asked before letting out a huff. "And here I thought you'd changed for the better," she laughed a dry laugh. "Did the past month not mean anything to you?"
"No," he shrugged, "not really." Kathryn saw the look of annoyance on his face, as if this was an interaction he was very familiar with. She glared at him from afar. As if reading her mind, Daniel's eyes shot in her direction. They made eye contact for a split second before her own eyes widened and she turned away, embarrassed.
Angel glared at him. "You are such an asshole!" she whimpered, before biting the inside of her lip and weaving her way through the whispering crowd.
Kathryn rested her backpack on the stone ledge of the school entrance's staircase, clearly unfazed by the scandal. She had witnessed enough of Daniel's countless breakups over the past 4 years to get used to the fact that the boy hadn't a care in the world unless it involved the satisfaction of his own pleasure and amusement. She resumed her search for her phone which she'd hastily thrown in her bag in her earlier attempt to get away from the nosy school librarian as quickly as possible.
Majority of the crowd had already dispersed before she was able to pull out her phone from the jaws of her backpack. She dialed her dad's work number, idly making sure her laptop was still tightly held within her grip. Kathryn never liked calling her father's work phone; she was always required to input redirecting numbers and extension codes into the dial pad - actions she thought were unnecessary when all she really wanted to do was ask whether or not her dad could pick her up from school.
She had been too caught up with the bothersome calling process to notice Daniel had been holding a basketball in his hands - a basketball that was now headed straight for Kathryn's head.