A/N: Do not own any of these characters, nor did I write any of Enid Blyton's books. Sadly. If I did, I assure you, I wouldn't be writing on a computer that crashes every five minutes.
Warnings: FLUFF.
Catherine made her way down the hallway, walking as fast as her feet would take her, tears welling up in her eyes. Of course, one could only notice that fact if they looked very closely, for the big, sweet, fake smile that she forced on her face hid that rather well.
Once she arrived at the fifth form bedroom, she ran inside, making her way to the bathroom. Once she was in, she closed the door quietly behind her (for Catherine was not one to slam) and locked it. She let out a sob, her smile instantly vanishing. Covering her face with her hands, she let herself sink to the floor. Bringing up her knees to her chest, she rested her head on them, sighing.
Catherine was not one to usually cry, considering she was always the one offering her shoulder for somebody else's tears. She thought it rather unfair that no one should offer one for her to lean on now. That was probably because everyone was too busy laughing at her. They called her a "saint", a martyr, a doormat and lord knows what else. Catherine had always made excuses for their rudeness, but this time she found that impossible to do. It hurt too much this time. More than anything, it hurt because it had come from the lips of…oh, it was unbearable to think about it! But why should hearing it from this girl in particular make it so much worse than hearing it from any of the others? Of course, she knew the answer very well. But it was wrong, very wrong, and at any rate the other girl obviously didn't feel the same way. If only she knew, thought Catherine glumly.
It was too much to bear. Burying her head in her hands, she let out a strangled wail. After all, no one could hear her. They were all too busy laughing at Belinda's beastly drawings of Catherine wearing a stupid halo.
Well, Catherine was wrong, as she soon found out when she suddenly heard a knock on the bathroom door. She sighed. She knew who that knock belonged to.
"Catherine? Is that you?"
She also knew who that voice belonged to. She closed her eyes. Her head felt as though it was about to burst.
"Go away."
She knew the girl would be surprised. Catherine never told anyone to go away, let alone her beloved Moira.
"Am I hearing right? You, Catherine Grey, just answered rudely to someone? Well, at least now I know you're human."
As she heard this, another sob came out of her throat. Moira must have heard it, for her voice softened.
"Catherine, come on. Let me in. Please."
Oh, lord. There was no way she could resist Moira when she was begging. Slowly she unlocked the door and let the girl in. Then she sat down on the floor again, looking down at her hands. She couldn't possibly bring herself to look at Moira in the eye. Her heart fluttered slightly as she felt the girl sit down beside her. You're such a stupid schoolgirl, Catherine, she scolded herself silently. You should be ashamed of yourself.
"Well, this is a rather strange turn of events, I must say. You're usually the one comforting sniveling idiots like Gwendoline Mary and Maureen" said Moira dryly.
"Oh, so you think I'm a sniveling idiot as well as a doormat, do you?" burst out Catherine, more tears rolling down her cheeks. She brushed them away angrily.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, I didn't mean that. About being a sniveling idiot, I mean" replied Moira exasperatedly.
"But you did mean it about me being a doormat and a martyr, did you?"
"Well…oh, come on, Catherine, you have to admit you are a bit of a doormat sometimes. A lot of times, actually."
Catherine looked away, facing the wall.
"I'm sorry" she whispered. Moira groaned exasperatedly.
"No, DON'T apologize! See what I mean? You're always apologizing, always doing things for other people, always making excuses for other people's mistakes! Can't you see it's annoying?"
"I'm sorry! No, I mean…oh, I don't know what I mean any more" she sighed, wiping away her tears again. "I just…well, I just want people to like me." Great, Catherine. Now you sound really pathetic.
Moira snorted. "Well, that's a good technique to make people like you! Running after them, doing whatever you can for them…things they don't even want you to do for them in the first place! Honestly, Catherine, you are so dim sometimes…" she suddenly stopped, seeing the hurt look on the girl's face, and softened her voice a little.
"Catherine, people aren't going to like you for being a martyr, you know."
Catherine shook her head and wiped her eyes again. "I just…I have this feeling that…if I can make other people happy then it wouldn't matter so much if…if I wasn't." She was surprised to hear all of this come out from her own lips. These were feelings she didn't even know she had, but now she was saying them, she knew they were true.
"And, well…I thought if I could make you all like me then it might make up for my parents not liking me…" she broke down completely, sobbing loudly. She didn't care who heard anymore. She didn't care what anybody thought of her, not even Moira. Then she felt two arms wrap around her, pulling her close.
"Cathy, people are going to like you because you're you, not because of any favours you make them. You can't make people happy. Nobody's perfect, so stop trying to be" whispered Moira. Catherine shivered slightly at the closeness between them, feeling Moira's warm breath in her ear.
"How do you know people will like me for me?" She asked, looking up at her. Moira smiled slightly, cupping her face and brushing her tears away with her thumbs.
"Because I do."
And suddenly, Moira's lips were on hers. Catherine was shocked momentarily and sat still. Then she flung her arms around her neck, giving in to the kiss. Before she knew it, she was straddling Moira's lap, running her fingers through Moira's black hair, shivering as she felt Moira's hands all over her body. She tightened her grip around her neck, getting what she had wanted for so long. They finally pulled back, smiling at each other. Moira smirked.
"Not such a saint, are you?" she remarked jokingly.
Catherine laughed, swatting her playfully, and then leaned against her shoulder, sighing happily into the embrace. At last, she now had somebody to lean on.
A/N: Horribly fluffy, I know. Hope you liked it anyway! Please review! even if it's to say how absolutely horrible you think it was :)
