Katherine frantically made her way around her room, trying to find any and everything that she could possibly need. Jinx growled at her from the bed in the middle of the room.
“I know I probably won’t need four notebooks, two binders, twelve pencils, and three erasers Jinx,” Katherine growled back, tossing a ruler into her backpack as she spoke. “But it’s hard enough going to a new school, let alone a public one for the first time in my life. I don’t want to forget anything and risk being made fun of, or worse having to talk to someone.”
Katherine shuddered and giggled at her cat’s annoyed mewl. She grabbed another book from her bookshelf and shoved it into her backpack before throwing it over her shoulder. Jinx leaped on top a Katherine’s dresser and growled.
“Everything is going to be fine Jinx. I’m sure public school isn’t as bad as it portrayed on T.V.” Katherine patted the top of Jinx’s head.
She inhaled deeply and ran out of the house to wait for the taxi that would take her to the school which despite it’s on time arrival Katherine still found herself five minutes late to the first class of the school year. She ran towards the school building swinging open the main door and hitting another girl in the back.
“I’m so sorry!” Katherine squeaked. She rushed to the girl’s side and offered her hand to help her up. The girl slapped her hand away, a low growl in her throat, “Don’t touch me.”
“I was just trying to apologize for hitting you. I’m running late and wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” Katherine hissed back, pulling her hand to her chest, “You don’t have to be a bitch about it.”
“I’ll be whatever I damn well feel like,” The girl spun around. Her copper eyes fixed on Katherine’s sapphire ones, “Who the hell are you anyway?”
“Katherine, you can call me Kitty though. I just moved here from-”
“I don't give a crap. We’re not friends, nor will we ever be,” She growled. “I’m Spikes, and I’m only telling you that so you can remember to stay out of my way.”
Spikes threw her backpack over her shoulder, fixing Katherine with a glare before she made her way down the hallway. Katherine sighed as she watched Spikes stomp down the hallway. She rubbed her hands together, quickly glancing at the hall doors around her before running down the hall to find the class she was now ten minutes late for.
…
Katherine groaned as she dropped onto one of the benches outside of school. Public high school had not been as awful as TV had depicted and yet Katherine still would not call the experience in any way pleasant. She’d been put on Display in every class to be introduced, except her art class which unfortunately Spikes was also taking. Though she’d hardly spoken a word to anyone somehow there were rumors flying of her wealth, delinquency and divorced arguing parents.
Katherine rest her head against her knees, checking her cell phone for any updates on her cab’s arrival. She jumped slightly at what sounded like a wild dog’s growl.
“I thought I made it clear that you need to stay the hell away from me,” Katherine looked up to find Spikes’s copper eyes glaring at her. She glanced at the three boys standing behind her, all looking equally unamused.
“I’m just sitting here while I wait for my ride. What is your problem?” Kitty grimaced and rolled her eyes.
“You’re in my turf, and you need to leave. Now.”
“This is public property. I can sit wherever I damn well please,” Katherine hissed, fists clenched at her sides.
“You think I look like I give a shit what the official rules are? This is mine, and you need to get the fuck off,” Spikes growled and took a step closer to her.
Katherine stood up, glaring back at Spikes, “No.”
“What the fuck is your problem? Are you stupid, I said get lost. Make sure I never see you again!” Spikes screamed, her own fists clenched as her left eye began to glow.
“And I said no. I’m sorry the public education failed you so miserably that you cannot even understand something as simple as that,” Katherine retorted. She crossed her arms over her chest and straightened her shoulders as she stared down Spikes.
“Listen here you stupid-”
“Spikes, enough. We have a job to do,” The boy with a mo-hawk interrupted Spikes’s shouting. Spikes shoved his hand off of her shoulder and her glare shifted between Katherine and the boy with the mo-hawk.
“Don’t you ever fucking touch me without my permission, Xander,” Spikes growled as she took his wrist in her hand. He winced from the pain her grip caused. Xander took two steps back from her when she released him. She turned her glare on Katherine once more, their faces only an inch apart, “I never want to see your pretentious face here ever again, you got that?”
“I go to school here, and we share a class. It’s literally impossible for you to never see me again,” Katherine retorted. She took a step back and grabbed the backpack she’d left sitting on the bench, “And whether or not you see me is not sounds like your problem, not mine.”
Spikes clenched her fists with such force she was sure she’d begin to draw blood soon. She took a deep breath, and turned around. She shoved Xander’s arm as she walked past him, barely looking over her shoulder as she spoke.
“You need more than a smart mouth to survive the real world, Princess,” Spikes almost laughed, pulling a box of cigarettes from her pocket. “And I really hope I’m there to see it when it finally dawns on you.”
Katherine inhaled deeply, her hands shook despite the glare she kept on the back of Spikes’s head as she walked to the curb where her cab waited for her.
…
The sound of shattering glass interrupted the usual silence that filled the small apartment Spikes lived in. She kicked off her boots as she fell onto her mattress, frowning at the remains of the glass she’d thrown against the wall. She had another month left before she ran out of money to pay for the apartment. She scoffed at Blade’s advice before she’d left.
“Try to find something legit,” Spikes scoffed. She stood from her mattress to pick up the shattered glass on the kitchen floor. She winced as one of the shards cut the palm of her hand. “As if it were possible for me. No one is going to hire a high schooler that looks like me.”
She dropped the glass shards into the trash and rubbed her bloodied hand against her torn black jeans. She inhaled, still trying to calm herself from the altercation with the blue eyed girl at school.
“Who does she think she is?” Spikes muttered under her breath. She threw herself back on the mattress that laid on the apartment floor. She stared at the ceiling and tried to pinpoint exactly what it was about the new girl that got under her skin. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, her thumb hovered over Blade’s contact image. She had tried to call her everyday since she had left, but had yet to receive a response.
Her jaw began to quiver and her hands shook. She screamed and threw the pillow she’d been laying on at the opposite wall of the small room.
Her eyes widened at the sound of glass shattering once more. She ran to the other side of the room, picking up the small picture frame that had fallen. In it was a picture of herself and Blade on her first day of high school and beside it a small photo-strip of herself at eight years old goofing off with her older brother. Her eyes watered as she stared at the copied image of his jade eyes.
“Takado, I don’t know what to do,” Spikes whimpered as she pulled the picture frame to her chest. “I’m so alone and miserable. I’m barely able to eat, sleep or focus in school.”
She walked back to her mattress and set the picture frame beside her. She swallowed and stared back up at the ceiling again.
“I don’t think the new girl is human,” She whispered to herself. She turned over, staring at the images of her brother as she traced circles against the cold tile. “And if she’s not human than she could be a threat. And if she is a threat, that means I have to take care of it, doesn’t it?”
She sat up again, a soft sigh on her lips. She pulled her phone out of her pocket this time resting on Xander’s contact image. She swallowed as she listened to the phone ring, almost smiling when he answered.
“Xander, about that new girl. I need to take care of her,” she forced her aggression into her voice to mask the way it shook.
“That’s my girl. You know I’ll do whatever you need,” She could hear the smirk in voice through the phone line.
“We’re going to show her that her kind doesn't belong here, so listen up.”
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