BEEPBEEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEE-*crash thud*
The sound of the alarm clock against the floor was comforting to Kitty as she turned over in bed, trying to get back to the dream she was having. It had been a good one this time, and she wasn't too keen on losing it. She was about to go back to bed, when her mother came flying up the stairs to bang on her door.

"Catherine Hardwicke! You get your tuchus out of bed this instant! You are NOT going to be late for school again! And that clock better not be broken, because I'm not buying you ANOTHER one!"
"Good Morning to you, too, Mother" She grumbled as she dragged herself out from under her covers and into the daylight. She glanced down at her poor clock, which lay face down, batteries clear across the room, back broken.

"Nothing a little duct tape can't fix..." she mumbled sleepily as she stumbled to the door and down the stairs for breakfast.

"Well, look who's all bright eyed and bushy tailed this fine morning" her father commented as he looked over the top of his paper before going back to the stocks. Kitty mumbled incoherently as she poured herself a cup of coffee and grabbed a piece of burnt toast (compliments of her brother, who messed up his first piece and left it for he) Her mother looked at her and shook her head as Kitty plopped down at the breakfast table, her eyes still squinty from the sunlight.

"Honestly, Kitty, you have to start going to bed earlier. You can't stay up all-night reading books." "I'm fine, mother. I get enough sleep to make it through the day" Kitty grumbled as she jammed the rest of the burnt toast in her mouth and lumped upstairs to get ready.

She stared at herself in the bathroom mirror after she had dressed and tried to find any redeeming features about herself. Nothing came to mind. Her forehead was too large, her smile too wide, and her hair too.....brown. "Good Lord" she mumbled. Her average body type was nothing to talk about and in her opinion, her eyes weren't even that blue, they were grayish, and boring."Well, this is as good as it's going to get, I guess." Kitty sighed and brushed her teeth quickly before running out the door to her beat up, '95 Lincoln, book bag and the current novel of choice in hand.

"Another day in the hell hole we call high school" she muttered as she pulled out of the driveway and started to head towards school.

As she was sitting at a red light, Kitty noticed something weird in her side view mirror. Some punk kid was trying to steal a purse from an old woman walking down the street. The old lady was putting up a surprisingly good fight. Kitty rolled down the window and shouted "Hey Kid! You better leave that woman alone if you know what's good for you, or I'll run you over!" She'd always been known to say things like this. The kid looked up and ran away, leaving the lady to straighten herself out. She pulled into the parking lot she was next to and stepped out of the car. "Hey lady, you alright? Did he get anything?"

The old woman looked at her "No, he didn't get much" she said in a craggly old voice. "Come over here, girl, so I can thank you properly" Kitty was going to be late. Again. Why did I have to stop? She sighed, and walked over to her. The old woman looked up at her with small, beady eyes. "You have a name, child?" "Kitty" she responded. "Well, Kitty, thank you for shouting at the hoodlum." "It was nothing, lady, really. Now, I've got to be going..."

"No! Wait! Let me give you something, as a thank you gift" She said, and she rummaged around in her purse. "Aw lady, please, you don't have to-" Kitty tried to say, but she was cut off by the object the old woman out.
It was a small, glass object with many different sides, and when she held it up to the light, the spectrum of colors shone and danced about inside it. She put it into Kitty's hand and closed it for her. "To keep" she said, and started to walk away. Kitty stared at it for a moment, mesmerized by the colors, and then looked up to say thanks, but the old woman was gone. A little weirded out, Kitty get back in her car and put the object in her pocket before driving off.