Disclaimer: I don't own Skins, I just write fanfiction.
Notes: A one-shot that I wrote last year about Katie and the aftermath of the Love Ball. There is a small scene in here that is almost identical to one in my Jenna Fitch fic (God Only Knows), I wrote them around the same time. Please review.
Title: Leopards and Spots
There was a distinct possibility that Katie Fitch wasn't the same person. That Emily, her previously submissive twin sister, her faithful best friend, standing up to her in such a public setting had changed everything that she thought she knew. It could have been the shock of losing the battle, of finally being told that she didn't rule the roost, that set her in motion. The moment Emily left the Love Ball she was alone, for the first time in her life she had no one. Freddie had fucked off somewhere with JJ, not that she even wanted to see him again after what he'd put her through. After all, him being her date was merely an attempt at making herself feel better and trying to ignore the fact that he had fucked her over; no, he had just fucked Effy Stonem, but it was the same thing. There didn't seem much point hanging around once everyone she knew or cared about had gone. Even Pandora and Thomas had found a way of enjoying themselves, with their tongues down each others throats. Instead Katie opted for the warm, summer night in Bristol. It was one of those nights where the bedcovers only overheated you and clothes made you feel like you were wrapped up like a pig in a blanket waiting to be baked alive. The dark streets had never bothered her much. There had been a few years, after they moved to Bristol at aged seven, where she thought it quite daunting to explore the darkened streets. But by the time she hit puberty, she was used to the area and her previous fears were long gone.
"Oi-oi!" came the call of a balding, fat man driving a taxi.
It barely phased her, something that first signalled to her that things had changed. She'd loved men leering at her from cars or building sites, making their interest known in the slimiest possible way. But tonight the thought of a man old enough to be her father staring her down, while he waited for the light to turn red, repulsed her. The streets were near empty. Katie wondered where Emily and her bitch of a girlfriend had vanished off to. The more she thought about it, the more she wished the seed had not been planted in her mind. Emily had told the girl she loved her, Naomi had allowed the world to know that she cared about Emily too. It was obvious where they were, or more, what they were doing.
"Emily, Katie, is that you?" came a voice from the kitchen, her mother appearing in the doorway.
"Just me mum," Katie announced, sliding a hand through her hair.
"What in Gods name?" Jenna began, staring at Katie.
It dawned on her that she probably looked like something the cat dragged in. Her make up smudged, panda eyes from the few tears that had escaped, the cut on her cheek that only just started to sting.
"Just leave it, yeah," she tried to tell her mother, but Jenna was just as stubborn as Katie and was already analysing the wounds close up.
"That Stonem girl had better not be responsible for this or I really will call the police this time, she will pay for hurting you."
"No, mum," Katie sighed, unable to muster enough energy to explain fully. It was easier that way.
Effy was her mother's least favourite person; she seemed to get a thrill from hating her and fresh ammunition only made Katie less interested in giving her the full story.
"Where is Emily? Why didn't she come home too?"
The Psychology teacher at Roundview once suggested that parents believed anything their children told them if they said it in the right way without distraction. Lying came naturally to her when she was hiding who she really was, but it was more of a chore when she was hiding something she cared too much about.
"She's staying at a friends house."
"Not that Naomi girl I hope, filling her head with all sorts of thoughts."
It wasn't Katie's job to defend her sister and after the night they'd had she had little interest in protecting Emily's dirty little secret. Except that she couldn't tell her mum the truth. No matter how much she wanted to make the happy couple suffer.
"No; Pandora, you remember we had a sleepover there a few months ago?"
"Oh the flaky girl, I'm so glad you girls are making friends with good, innocent girls. The likes of Effy Stonem and that Naomi make me worry."
It was virtually impossible for Katie to sleep in that tiny bedroom that was only half full. Tossing and turned with her bed sheets barely covering her, it was hard to distinguish whether the inability to sleep was because of Emily's absence or the fact it was like sleeping in a furnace. Katie opted for the latter, merely to settle her own mind.
"Fuck's sake," she growled into the darkness, throwing the sheets off her body and stripping down to her bare skin.
There had been only one other occasion where Katie had left a school dance without having gotten off with a boy. She was seven. It was the first school dance she ever attended and whilst dressed like a pumpkin she hadn't been interested in boys. Less than six months later wearing a red and pink dress with hearts all over it she'd let Robbie Pickering kiss her on the cheek during the song 'Angel of Mine'. He was her first boyfriend. It had lasted barely twenty four hours as the thought of kissing him on the lips revolted her too much.
The morning after the Love Ball Emily returned to the family home. Jenna Fitch had been all over her, wanting details on her sleepover with Pandora and questioning her on the "state of your sister's face". Katie watched the one-sided conversation from the staircase and cared little for the fact that Emily didn't tell their parents the truth, about anything. She also silently wondered how Emily's own cuts and bruises from the night before had magically vanished before realising that her sister's face was caked in make up. Her body double met her in the bedroom they shared and despite having a million and one questions, snide comments and things she just wanted to tell her, Katie kept quiet. It hadn't been a case of blanking her, or avoiding starting up a conversation. Emily didn't talk to her, so she didn't talk back. The final days of college followed a similar pattern; a sort of silent truce of no words between the twins who weren't really twins anymore, just two people who shared DNA and shit.
"Bye then," Katie mumbled, watching Emily's back disappear into the taxi.
Two days after college ended, Emily went away. A so called girls holiday with friends from college. Really it was a loved up summer in Cyprus with the girl she was in love with. The very next day Katie went to the chemist and bought herself some hair dye. She didn't feel like a twin anymore and dammed if she was going to look like one. The shade of brown she'd chosen looked darker when it was on. It had shocked her, truly made her shake when she realised what she'd done. Katie and Emily had always been the fucking same. It always looked like Emily cared more about the twin thing, but Katie knew she'd held onto it for a lot longer than Emily had. If it hadn't been for her overpowering manipulative ways, Emily probably would have sent her packing long before then. It took the whole summer for the changes to settle down, for Katie to really understand what it was like to be someone else. Even though it scared her, like really frightened her, she got a strange sense of satisfaction from knowing that she could reinvent herself.
The still red haired twin had arrived home only the night before college was due to start back. After an hour or two of arguing with their parents over her later than planned arrival, their bedroom door was slammed behind her and Katie found herself staring at the girl she had decided was just a relative. The girl stared back. The red hair atop Emily's head was a much stronger shade and Katie couldn't help wonder if Emily had tried to do exactly what she herself had.
"You're brown," Emily muttered, taking the words right out of Katie's own lips, but referring to her hair and not her skin.
"So are you," Katie replied, as though it was as much of a big surprise as her hair was to Emily.
The conversation ended there and the girls who shared little more than DNA lay on their beds, side by side once more, their silence speaking volumes.
The morning college started seemed to have fallen into some parallel universe because Katie woke up to Emily using the bathroom and didn't seem to leave it until the very last minute. She dressed in the most provocative outfit Katie had ever seen her wear and though she wanted to deny it, it suited her better than it ever had on Katie. She herself chose to wear a simple grey and white t-shirt and a knee length skirt that showed off her lower legs and not much else. The doorbell rang and Emily was already out of the door before Katie could shout at her to sort James' lunch out. Instead she took an apple and a banana from the fruit bowl and handed them to him, the deja-vu not escaping her notice as her slimy younger brother disappeared down the street.
"I can't believe we're back in this shithole," Naomi was moaning when Katie caught up to the love sick couple.
It wouldn't have been too much to ask for them to wait for Katie before disappearing towards the college. It was only a ten minute walk and even though she didn't really want to bare witness to Naomi's lips sucking Emily's face off, it was only fair that they didn't leave her alone, like they had all fucking summer.
"Who's the doormat now?" Effy grinned as Katie followed the lesbians into the form room.
It might not have even been so bad if 'doormat' was what she was, but Emily didn't even say three fucking words to her the whole walk to college. It would have been a surprise if she'd even realised that Katie had been stood behind them the whole journey. Instead Katie glared at the girl, who'd hospitalised her earlier in the year, as she walked past.
"Welcome back you fucking wankers," Kieran began and even though Katie vaguely didn't mind Pandora or JJ, when they weren't acting like a couple of morons, she couldn't help but agree with every word that came out of Kieran's mouth.
The End