Kate

Everyone thought it was just a phase. They thought that Kate would stop painting her nails black and wearing combat boots. They thought that she would stop smoking cigarettes and getting in fights. It was normal for people to have these phases, especially teenagers. She would snap out of it soon. It was just a breakup, after all.



On the first day that Kate went to school with her new hair, she could hear the whispers. She could feel the sneers.

Just look at her.

Bitch has gone crazy.

Do you think she's trying to make Carter jealous? Pathetic.

As Kate made her way to her first period class, she was smiling. Some would say that it was the smile of a madman. Some would say that it was the smile of a drugged-up loony. The one thing that everyone could agree on was that she was most definitely smiling.

Mr. Nichols never had much of a preference for Kate. She was too bubbly, too talkative, too nice, and way too pink. He could tell she didn't like the way he called on her when she didn't raise her hand. He saw her cringe whenever he shared her essays with the class, and he never missed her eyes roll anytime he asked her to stay after class. Yet she still sat in the front row and pretended to hang on every word he said, and that killed him. All of the other teachers gushed about her, but he could tell it was all an act. Kate Montgomery hated school, hated her teachers, and hated being nice. He had a feeling that behind the flashy show she put on, Kate was bored by everything. School bored her, her family bored her, even her friends bored her. The only thing Mr. Nichols had ever seen Kate truly take an interest to was Carter Hawthorne.

On that particular Monday morning on which Kate debuted her new hair, Mr. Nichols was swiveling in his desk chair and dreading the next eight hours. He crumpled up a few pages of doodles and arched them at the trash can.

"Impressive," announced a voice he couldn't place. When he looked up, the first thing that caught his attention was the sight of Kate Montgomery with shoulder-length black hair in an obviously homemade cut. The second thing that caught his attention were her legs. The pockets were hanging out from the bottom of her jean shorts, and he made a mental note to tell one of the female teachers to ask her to change.

"I'm sorry, you can't sit there. That's Kate Montgomery's seat," Mr. Nichols joked as she sat in her usual seat. He expected her to smile and ignore him, like usual. The last thing he expected her to do was respond.

"Hilarious Josh. I think you and I both know that Kate Montgomery can go fuck herself. I'll sit here if I want," Kate retorted as she flipped open her binder. Josh had heard a few students call him by his first name before, but never Kate. Josh had heard a few students throw the f-bomb in his class before too, but definitely never Kate.

"And who might you be, then?" he asked. She had startled him, and he was curious. This certainly wasn't the Kate Montgomery he was used to, but he had a gut feeling that this was the real Kate Montgomery. The one who wasn't caked all over in fakeness and falseness. The one who didn't have a reputation to live up to.

"You don't wanna know," she stated as she twirled her pencil in her right hand. Josh detected the major changes in her voice. It wasn't nearly as high, and it didn't sound like she was overly interested. He wondered how much effort she had put into it her entire life.

Just as he was about to respond, the rest of the class came storming in. His class was full of different kids - kids who played football, kids who played guitar, and kids who played with their imaginary friends. Most of them hated each other, but today they all had one thing in common - their attention was on Kate Montgomery. It was obvious. He knew it, and Kate knew it. That is, until Carter walked in.

Carter Hawthorne was tall. He was a solid 6'4", which matched well with Kate's own 5'10" frame. He played basketball and golf, he always smelled good, and he was rich. Sickeningly rich. When he walked in the senior English classroom that day, silence took over. Everyone was staring at him. Surprisingly, that even included Kate. As every other eye in the room bounced back and forth between the two, Kate dropped her pencil on her notebook and rested her head casually on her hand as she stared at him. She was curious to find out what he would do next. Would he walk over and sit behind her like he had every other day that year, or was he too much of a coward? His eyes were everywhere but on her, and she could tell that he was nervous. When his eyes finally fell on hers, he looked down at his feet before hitching his backpack up on his right shoulder and turning to leave the room.

"Pussy," Kate scoffed loud enough for Carter to hear. Some people in the classroom laughed, some cheered, and her friends sitting on either side of her gasped. Just like they did when they saw her hair.

"Kate," Mr. Nichols warned with a stern look.

"Yeah, I'd like to see you do something about it." Kate slammed her binder shut and stuffed it in her backpack before following Carter out of the room.