School Starts
By Ms. Kinnikufan
Disclaimer: I own none
Kitten stared at the ceiling in her new room at the H.I.V.E. It was rather sparse compared to her old room at home: just a set of drawers, a wobbly desk, and a bed.
Kitten always suspected that her father didn't want her around, but her forced enrollment at the H.I.V.E. confirmed it.
Killer Moth would now always be "Killer Moth" to Kitten, not "Dad" or "Daddy". Killer moth always came before being a husband or being a father.
Kitten had protested her enrollment. and not in her usual whiny manner: "Daddy, I have no special powers. I consider myself pretty damn smart, but I don't have hyper-intelligence. I don't think they'll accept me."
"Kitten let's just say a very generous donation made them accept you. Now start packing."
"You really want me out of your face, huh? I'll probably get killed during training."
"Stop twisting things around. This will give you a good education. You'll learn useful stuff like lock-picking and bomb-building instead of worthless things like writing papers and trigonometry."
"Do you really want your only daughter to repeat your lousy existence?" Kitten had asked this under her breath, but Killer Moth heard anyway and slapped her hard.
"Damn it Kitten! I'm not gonna be alive to throw money at you forever. God, maybe this H.I.V.E. education will make you less of a spoiled brat. You need this H.I.V.E. education. 'cause all you know how to do is spend money!"
This remark stung Kitten. Kitten wouldn't deny she was a brat. She was a brat and she was proud of that.
However Kitten felt she had earned all the money Killer ,at threw at her: Who drove Killer Moth to the "won't go to the cops" doctor in the dangerous part of time countless times? Kitten did! Who kept that out of control giant maggot from eating Killer Moth? Kitten did! Who kept curious neighbors, police officers and social services at bay? Kitten did! Who remembered to send the checks to the water, heat, light and cable companies? Kitten did! Who made sign the papers and made the funeral arrangements for her mom while Killer Moth was in the fetal position? Kitten did! Who kept mom's grave site presentable? Kitten did! Who did this while keeping a good grade point average? Kitten did? Who gave up gymnastics to deal with her father crap after her mother died? Kitten did!had worked her ass dealing with her father's crap. She hand earned the money her dad tossed at her, fair and square.
But still...but still it hurt that her dad didn't want her around. Daddies were suppose to love their little girls unconditionally, right? Even is the daddy in question was an idiot who dressed up in a stupid moth suite and had to be rescued from his own mutated maggots half the time. Well, it looked like Killer Moth didn't.
Kitten wish her mother hadn't died. Mom had a way of keeping things together and not go insane. Kitten wondered how she did it.
"Oh mom." Kitten murmured to herself. She felt a wetness on her face. Damn it, now her eyes were going to be red and puffy tomorrow. She was already afraid of her fellow students (she didn't doubt that the most of them could probably kill or rape her if they wanted to) and now she would have something that would make her a target.
"Class we have a new student" Pr. Mort began.
Kitten was hoping to quietly fade into the background so that the other students wouldn't notice her and thus not attack her.
"This is Kitten Walker. This is her first day at the H.I.V.E. I'm sure you'll show her the ropes."
"What are her abilities? She doesn't look like anything special." a gothish looking girl with pink hair asked.
"Yes, Kitten just what are your special abilities?"
Oh Christ, she was afraid she was afraid of that question.
"My abilities are still...in development. There's no telling what they'll turn out to be."
"So you're like a mutant or something like that?" asked a short boy clad in green.
"No! That means she doesn't have any abilities! She's a loser and a wannabe!" a black guy in some sort green helmet laughed scornfully.
Chaotic laughter erupted. Kitten wished she was dead or that everyone else was dead.
"Children! Calm down! Kitten take a seat anywhere. Now class, today we will continue our lesson on making the perfect ransom note..."
Kitten took a seat furthest from everyone else and tried to blend in, wishing she could just disappear.
Several other classes went by, all of them painful. Especially since that little dork dressed in green (she thought she heard his friends refer to him as Gizmo) wouldn't stop staring at her.
Finally it was lunchtime. Kitten stared at the incompressible white, brown, and green blobs as if staring would make them into real food. Nope, no luck there.
Kitten hopelessly looked for a place to sit.
To her surprise she saw a familiar face.
"Karen Beecher. It's been years! I'm Katharine Walker! Remember we used to take gymnastics class together before your family moved to Dakota?"
Karen gave her an icy stare.
"My name's Bumblebee. Now go away. This ain't your table new girl."
Kitten felt the faces of Karen's friends (?) glaring at her.
Kitten sat an empty table. None joined her.
She seemed to be the talk of the lunchroom, and for once that made her really unhappy:
"Gizmo, Mammoth I heard that new girl, what-her-name? Kitty? Well, anyway, I heard she really doesn't have any abilities or even machinery. Her daddy paid her way in!"
"I don't think she's so bad Jinx. "
"Ohhhh, looks like widdle Gizmo has a crush on the new girl." Mammoth gave Gizmo's cheeks a painful pinch.
"Damn it, crud-muncher that hurts. And I don't have a crush on the new girl! I mean..ummm maybe that's just a cover-up story and she's got really dangerous abilities. You know, like the ability to errr...melt people?"
"You're denying that you like her! You must really like her!"
"I so do not like her, Jinx!"
Karen Beecher, now called Bumblebee, felt guilty. The truth was that she did remember Katharine (apparently now called Kitten) from her childhood. Katharine's mom had died before her family had moved to Dakota. She remembered Katharine's mother funeral. Katharine's dad was drunk at the funeral, thus making it even harder for Katharine. She had lost contact with Katharine when Katharine later moved away to Jump city. Bumblebee had always wondered if things had turn out all right for Katharine. Apparently they hadn't. And she, Bumblebee hadn't made things any easier for her.
But she couldn't blow her cover. At least not now.
Kitten stared at her lunch. She had finished her milk, which was apparently would be the most edible part of her meal. She just couldn't bring herself to eat these lumpy blobs. She tossed the tray into the garbage.
Kitten spent the rest of her lunch period staring into space.
Several more painful classes passed. Finally, her final class for the day was over.
Kitten walked down the hall lost. She couldn't believe she couldn't find her own damn room.
There were some activity rooms for the students leisure time, but Kitten didn't go there for fear of being mocked some more. She had enough aggravation for one day.
A door caught her eye. On that door, someone has taped a piece of notebook paper which said (in big orange letters) Visiting Pr. William Randolph Wintergreen's office.
Underneath the notebook paper, guidance counselor was written.
Guidance consoler? What did she have to lose? Maybe he could help her remember the way to the girl's wing.
The office surprised her. It didn't look like a teacher's office at all. It look more like a supply room, specifically like an art supplies room with shelves of tempura paint, paper, canvases, brushes, and crayons.
The only thing that indicated that it was an office at all was a desk. There was an elderly man at the desk, listening to an Ipod and grading some sort of papers.
"Young Mr. Sampson, it appears that you're much of an idiotic horse's ass as your grandfather was." He was muttering to himself.
"Ummm.. Professor Wintergreen?"
"Yes, young lady? I'm afraid I've forgotten your face. I'm getting old. Which one of my guest lectures did you attend?" Visiting Pr. Wintergreen took the Ipod headphone out of his ear and acknowledged Kitten.
"Ummm, I'm Kitten Walker and I just started today. It said 'guidance counselor' on the door, so I thought I would come here and get some...guidence I guess?"
"Actually the 'guidance counselor is more of a 'de facto' position. Someone just wrote 'guidance consoler' on my door, and suddenly students are flocking to get my advice. "
"Oh. I guess you don't want me to take up any of your time." Kitten slowly backed away, blushing.
"Oh no, that wasn't a brush off, I just think students should know I don't have any sort of training on teen problems. I just think kids should know that."
"Well..." Kitten only meant to ask for directions, but ended up telling him her whole life story, from her mother's death to how Killer Moth enrolled her in the H.I.V.E. just to get rid of her and her current predicament of not being able to find the girl's section.
Pr. Wintergreen cleared his throat : "Well Kitten..."
They were interrupted by a door being slammed open. It was a hall monitor (a clunky looking robot with a round body and clamps for arms).
"Pr. William Randolph Wintergreen, I'm afraid that student Katharine Eliza Walker must now leave your office. It is pass beginning students crewthrough."
"She could find her room, hall monitor."
"Then I will escort her to her room (the robot clamped Kitten's arm). Oh and Pr. Wintergreen, having a female student in your office this late applies some very inappropriate thing." The hall monitor said in an almost sleazy tone.
"Hey! I thought you things weren't suppose to have a personality! Plus I'm gay!" Pr. Wintergreen slapped his forehead. He couldn't believe he just shouted such personal information, and to defend himself to a robot no less!
Kitten was thrown into her room. Fortunately she landed on her bed.
"Christ." She said the empty room.
She laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling, as she did the night before.
What the hell was she gonna do?
