Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle(Wish I did though T_T)

She could feel the tension in the air as the bodies of her companions prepared to spring. Her 'friends' all leaned forward and the room was so quiet, that Kate swore that if she dropped a piece of paper, she would be able to hear it flutter and hit the ground. The internal clock was ticking to her heart beat and her companions all held a collective breath.

Ta-dump…three

Rustling could be heard as the large guy behind her shifted slightly.

Ta-dump… two

Her ice blue eyes scanned the group of face full of anticipation.

Ta-dump… one

BRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNG!

All at once, the classroom was full of the sounds of scraping chairs, loud chatter and the air of summer. All meaningless to Katrina Thurman. That wasn't even her real last name. Just her foster parents' and, quite frankly, she hated it.

She got slower than her oh-so-enthusiastic classmates and didn't bother answering the teacher's cheery, "See you next year, Miss Thurman!"

'Not if I can help it.' Kate thought sullenly. After all, she'd probably be with another foster family by the end of the summer. It always ended up that way. She'd be with a family only a month or two before something weird happened and they'd send her back to Foster Care with relieved smiles and happy tears. She was and unwanted sixteen year old. No big deal. Happened to a lot of kids.

'Keep telling yourself that Ericson.' She frowned, but used her real last name in her head. 'You're no different from other kids…..right?'

She thought deeply as she walked through the school gates, taking her sweet time, in no hurry to go to that house from the chasm. Summer vacation was here. Oh joy. She supposed she could call this the first REAL summer vacation she'd ever had. All her other Foster Families were loaded enough to be able to have her home schooled, which is why the problems always started. When you were home, parents could take more out on you and somehow she always ended up with the wackos. They'd get in her face, yelling and spitting and cursing to high heaven, she'd lose her temper and the next thing you knew…things would happen.

Kate shifted her back pack to her other shoulder as a group of 'in-crowd' kids passed her. One of them bumped her (on purpose) rather hard and yanked her backpack away. His friends snickered.

"Oooh! Look what I found, guys! A freak's backpack!" he unzipped it and glanced at Kate with an evil look in his brown eyes. "Wonder what a freak keeps in their back pack!"

Before she could stop him, he flipped the back pack upside down and watched as textbooks, pencils, notebooks and personal items hit the sidewalk and scattered. His friends laughed hysterically as Kate looked on in silent rage.

"You better hope nothing was broken, Jonathan Hills!" her voice was a mere whisper, but had plenty of threat dripping from her words.

The brunette boy and his friends stopped laughing and whatever they saw in her eyes made them take a few steps back. Jonathan turned to them and gave a nervous laugh. "C'mon guys! Let's get out of here before the freak syndrome wipes off on us too!"

They all nodded and eagerly hurried on their way, the mood returning to a light one the farther away they got from the blond girl. Kate sighed and swiped at her eyes, pushing away the angry tears. Boys were stupid! She bent down and began picking up her stuff while other kids continued to pass her and glance at her curiously. She cursed loudly, startling two freshmen as they walked by. Her Sherlock Holmes collection was ruined! It had landed in the blasted gutter! Now the pages were soaked and the ink was beginning to spread. Great, now she really was about to cry. Life was SO unfair! Gingerly, she picked the book up and slammed it shut, looking for a place to toss it. Her heart sank when she had to drop it in a recycling bin outside a store.

A few more kids ran by, one boy pumping a fist into the air and yelling, "Summer vacation! FREEDOM!"

'Freedom for Fools maybe.' Kate thought angrily, stuffing the rest of her stuff into her back pack and zipping it up. 'For the rest of us, it's just another definition of hell.'

A while later, Kate was walking by the shopping district in a foul mood. Her favorite book was gone, her school crap most likely wrinkled in her bag now and she still felt like crying. She really hated Jonathan Hills. He was such a jerk! All the time, too! What was his issue with her! Ever since she'd transferred into Geoff High School, he had honed in on her like a hunting hawk would on a mouse. Kids could already sense that she was different, but nobody really tried talking or interacting with her. Just Jonathan and he wasn't nice at all. Angrily, she wiped at her eyes again.

"Are you okay, young lady?" a dried, cracked old voice came from a shop door, startling her.

She looked up to see an old woman standing at a bookstore entrance, a broom in her hand. Huh, she'd never noticed this place before. It looked out of sorts with the big industrial buildings surrounding it.

"I'm fine." She muttered, hoping the lady would drop it. Fat chance of that happening.

The old woman chuckled. "Trying to be strong isn't always a good thing. You look like a young woman who would enjoy a good read. Come on in and take your mind off of whatever's troubling you."

Kate rolled her eyes. It was obvious this woman was fishing for business, but she sighed. After all, what could be the harm? Maybe she'd find a new Sherlock Holmes copy. She had twenty bucks in her pocket and it was just dying to be spent. Without a word, she entered the shop and began to browse. There were definitely interesting books lining the shelves and the old woman's voice drifted back to her from the counter.

"Don't be afraid to pick up anything and skim hon!"

'Oh, I plan to.' Kate told herself as she ran her finger over extravagant volumes and Beautiful titles. Her heart jumped when she saw a pristine first hand edition of Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection of Mysteries. Without a second thought, she tore the book from the shelf and rushed to the front of the store hoping a Twenty would be enough to cover the price. She laid the book on the counter and waited for the old woman who'd gone into the back room. As she waited, her eyes scanned the piles of worn books behind the counter and soon, she was staring at a book lying face-up with no title. Just a symbol. Odd, but it certainly spiked her interest.

"Excuse me?" she asked the old lady as she came out. "May I see that book?"

The old lady saw which way she was pointing. "This thing? Hardly worth the read. An elderly gentleman donated it a few months back and I can't get it to open. Old fool must have gotten something sticky between the pages." She noticed Kate still held her hand out. "Well, alright then dear. But don't say I didn't warn you." She handed her the book which Kate immediately paid for, having forgotten all about Sherlock Holmes. "No refunds honey."

Kate left the shop and tried her hand at opening the cover. It opened fine. She frowned. Maybe investing in this thing hadn't been such a good idea. The pages were completely blank! But, for some reason, she couldn't turn around and take it back.

'Suppose it would make a good journal.' She thought sullenly, stuffing it in her backpack and continuing on her way to her foster home.

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