I walked into Band class, clutching my saxophone. Cesca waved and called me over.
"What's up?" she said, blowing her trumpet in my ear. I did the same thing to her with my saxophone and sat down. A boy with messy blonde hair tapped me on the shoulder.
"You the other sax?" I nodded, and said, "Yeah. My name's Catlynn." He said, "Sweet! My name is Axel. My best friend, Red, is that girl in the clarinet section who is on her phone rather than putting together her instrument." I waved, and said, "My best friend, Cesca, is that girl in the trumpet section who is making everyone deaf."
"Classic Francesca." Axel said, and I laughed. "Do you like musical theater?" I nodded, and Axel said, "Sweet. What's your favorite musical?"
"Um...I was in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee back in June."
"Oh, that's where I know the name Catlynn! You played Olive, right?" I nodded, and said, "Yeah. I had a lot of fun." Axel nodded, and then this girl in the flute section tapped me on the shoulder.
"Hey. I'm Violet."
"Hi. My name's Catlynn."
"Do you like Heathers?"
"Um, yeah. Why?" I said. I was getting kind of scared.
"Jessica Keenan Wynn, you know, the girl who played Heather Chandler, got in a car crash a couple of weeks ago. She's in a coma."
I nearly cried. I thought Band would be the one place I wasn't reminded of the crash. Cesca was the only person here who knew.
"She's...she's not in a coma."
"How would you know?" Violet snapped.
"Because she's my aunt!" I cried without thinking. Violet started cracking up, and said, "You're just a crazy fangirl. Get out of your own head, jerk, and start paying respect!" I turned towards Cesca, who whispered, "Go. I'll deal." to me.
I ran out of the band room and went down to the bathroom. I slammed the stall door shut and started crying my eyes out. I pulled out my phone and called Elle.
"Hello? Sunshine? Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Elle asked when she picked up the phone.
"I hate eighth grade. I hate it, I hate it." Elle sighed on the other line, and said, "What happened, Sunshine?"
"This girl...she told me Jess was in a coma...and she laughed at me when I told her Jess was my aunt." Elle gasped, and said, "Oh, Sunshine..."
"Can I just go home? Please? I'm having a hard time right now and I can't deal." I said, crying. Elle said, "I'll be there in a few minutes to pick you up. Ryan and Evan are at the house right now and I was going to surprise you after school. But I'll be there shortly. Hang in there for me, okay, Sunshine? I'll put Jessica on the line."
I heard Elle say, "It's Cat. She's having a bad day and needs to go home. Talk to her while I go to her school." Then, Jessica said, "Hey Cat."
"Hi, Jess."
"Where are you? Are you okay?" Jessica asked.
"What do you think? I'm in the school bathroom crying my eyes out because some jerk didn't care that I was going through the toughest time of my life and started laughing at me." I said. I heard Jessica sigh, and she said, "When did this happen?"
"Band. Which reminds me...my saxophone. You gave me my saxophone...if she ruined it..." I said. "And all my pictures are in my bag...I keep my journal in there." I said, preparing for the worst.
"Hey. Cat, I'm so sorry that idiot ruined your first day of school. Did Elle tell you Ryan and Evan are here?" I said, "Yeah." with a small voice, and Jessica said, "Remember, Jess and Cat night tonight. And Ryan and Evan might take you out for lunch. They were supposed to take you out for a celebratory dinner, but since you're coming home early, they might take you for lunch instead." I sighed, and said, "Yeah." Jessica said, "How about when you get home from lunch, we order takeout and play Monopoly. And we can watch whatever movie you want."
I smiled, and said, "Awesome." Jess and Cat night made me feel happy. At least that was something to look forward to.
"I'm getting another call." I said. "It's Elle. I'll talk to you when I get home."
"Alright, Cat. Love you."
"Love you too." I said before answering Elle's call.
"Hello?" I said.
"Sunshine, I'm here. Grab your stuff from the band room." I sighed, and said, "Okay." Then Elle hung up and I went back down to the band room.
"Hey, look, it's the girl who's crying over a celebrity she doesn't even know." Violet said. Her flute friends laughed.
Finally, Cesca stormed down from the trumpet section, and said, "Violet! What the heck? Cat's not lying, Jessica is really her aunt. And I find it so rude that you would laugh at something like that without getting your facts straight! Catlynn's been afraid to sleep because of it! Can you imagine not being able to sleep because you're worried one of your family members is going to die when you're not looking? Because that's exactly what Catlynn's going through. So I would recommend that you shut up because I am not playing around!"
Violet looked at Cesca and said, "Is that a threat?" Cesca crossed her arms and said nothing, then Violet said, "Do you think I would believe that a new girl has a celebrity for an aunt? It's obvious this girl wants attention. You're pathetic, sweetie."
I grabbed my saxophone and my backpack and practically bolted down to the front office and saw Elle standing there. I dropped my saxophone and ran into her arms, crying.
"Let's go home." Elle said. She held my hand the entire way to the car. When we got in, Elle said, "Was it really that bad?" I nodded my head, and said, "I don't want to switch schools again. I have friends here. It's just that Violet hurt my feelings." Elle kissed my hand, and said, "Oh, Sunshine...let's go home. Do you have any other schoolwork to do?"
I nodded, and said, "Tons."
___________________
I ran to my room as soon as I got home, not even saying hi to Jessica. I sat on the bed and cried, until I heard a knock on the door.
"Cat? It's Ryan. Can I come in?" I said, "Yeah." and Ryan opened the door. He hugged me, and said, "I heard what happened. Are you okay?" I started sobbing, and said, "I hate myself." Ryan hugged me tighter and kissed me on the head. "Hey. Don't say that. I know these past few weeks have been really hard, and I know you think it's all your fault. It's not."
"Then whose fault is it?"
"Not yours. That's all. Anyway, I have something that will cheer you up."
"Nothing can cheer me up. I've hit my breaking point." I said.
"Will sushi with me and Evan help? And Monopoly championships with Jess when we get home?"
I half-smiled, and Ryan said, "There's that smile I missed so much." He hugged me, and said, "Come on. Evan and Jess want to talk to you."
I went out to the living room, and Evan waved to me and hugged me. "Who hurt my little sister?" he asked.
"Violet Gardner." I said. "Flute player, total jerk." I sat on the sofa bed where Jessica was watching TV and eating potato chips. "Come here." she said. I sighed and fell into her, and she started stroking my hair.
"You want to go out with Ryan and Evan?" Jessica asked.
"I want to stay home." I said. "Can we do something fun? I need a distraction."
"Speaking of distractions, aren't you doing ballet?" Elle asked.
"That's right! Crap, Nutcracker auditions are next week! Does anyone mind doing a ballet routine with me tomorrow for practice?" I asked. Evan and Elle both raised their hands.
"Enough with ballet. Let's play Monopoly." Evan got the game out and took all the money out of it. "I win!" he said.
"Ha, you wish." I said, and started fighting him for it.
"Ah, brother and sister." Elle said. "Watch out, Elle, I am the champion." I said.
"Note to self, never play board games with Cat. She'll murder you." Ryan said.
"Says the guy who played a murderer in a musical." I said, and Ryan slapped me.
"Let's just play the game. Poor Sunshine needs a distraction." Elle said.
We all laughed and started playing.
AN: Yes, everyone, another character for you to hate. And yes, another chapter about poor baby Catlynn not getting over the crash. SHE NEVER WILL. Hope you enjoyed! Catch ya later!