Chapter Three: Typical Bullies
After two more classes had come and gone, Kate quickly ate her lunch and darted out of the cafeteria. The girl then sprinted to her fourth period classroom before it could start. However, when she zipped inside and discovered that she wasn't alone like she'd been expecting, she went rigid: Alan Smirnoff and his buddies were standing in front of her desk.
They sneered the moment they saw her tense.
"Hey, freak, is this your book?" Alan laughed, tossing an empty milk carton into the wastebasket and making his way over to her. "You didn't happen to spill anything on it, did you? Maybe while you were admiring your freakshow slot in the newspaper?"
Kate stared in mortification: the book Miss McKinley had given her was lying on her desk amongst a puddle of milk. Her lips twisted as she stared at the soggy tome, but she felt no need to respond to their antagonism and firmly locked her jaw.
They didn't deserve to hear her speak.
In fact, nobody at this school did.
"There you go with the quiet act again," Salem sighed, rolling his eyes. "You could at least act like you're upset."
Kate still didn't respond.
However, her lack of reaction sent Alan into action, and he gripped her shoulder. The girl's eyes popped open wide in surprise when he jerked her forward by the arm, but she let out a squeak when Mitchell stuck his sneaker out and tripped her before she could catch her balance: she hit the ground so hard that her teeth jolted, and she let out a muffled yelp when she bashed her elbow on a desk.
"Ow..." she croaked, rolling her sleeve up and looking at her scraped arm; she instantly winced since it was already turning purple around the edges. "Shit... if this doesn't stop bleeding by last period, I might have to go to a hospital and have it cauterized."
The moment she said it, all three boys began laughing at her.
She rarely allowed any form of emotion to break through her mask, so it was a rare treat for these guys to see her look upset. Kate rolled her sleeve back down and stared at the ground: she smoothed her face out once again, carefully putting her mask back on.
She would deal with the pain in silence: she had promised herself long ago that she wouldn't let herself be weak.
"You're so creepy!" Salem stated condescendingly, kicking her ankle; Kate bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut as a flash of pain rocketed up her leg. "Whenever I think about how ugly you are, sometimes I throw up in my mouth: looking at your face makes me sick to my stomach."
"Yeah! With those creepy eyes and all that nasty white hair," Mitchel added, speaking with a thoughtful expression, "I'd have killed you if you were my daughter! I mean, you're so pale and small that you look half dead already, and your face is just... ugh. I'd probably feel sorry for your parents if they hadn't done the smart thing and killed themselves!"
Feeling her heart aching at the mentioning of her parents, Kate slowly began to crawl back to her feet... but before she could manage it, Alan purposely lifted his leg and stepped on her back. With a startled yip, Kate crumpled to the ground and clenched her teeth when her elbow throbbed again: it felt as though the blood was already seeping through the cloth... but she was used to pain.
She'd gotten enough of it over the years that she could handle it.
Feeling nothing, she smoothed her expression once again and retained her emotionless demeanor, pink eyes losing their sheen and becoming almost dead.
"You know, even some of the teachers have been saying you're creepy!" Alan laughed, folding his arms. "The least you could do is cry like a normal human being! I might be inclined to leave you alone if you just cry and beg me to stop."
When she still didn't respond, the boys stopped grinning and became irritated: after a few more jeers, they gave up and started kicking her. Kate instantly buried her face in her arms, tensing as the blows to her ribcage and legs sent agony rocketing through her muscles. She endured it for what seemed like hours... but in reality, only a few minutes had passed. She wouldn't let them see her tears for anything... she had to be strong... she had to endure this torture like every other torture she had gone through in the past.
However, as it turned out, she didn't need to.
The door flew open without warning and a beautiful girl walked in.
The student council president, Erika Montgomery.
"Huh? Alan?" the brunette asked in confusion, blinking at the boys when they froze. "What are you doing in here? You just told me that you were heading to class a bit earlier to do some last-minute studying since you have a huge history test coming up... but this is my class, and on top of that, who are those guys?"
"Um... hey, Erika," Alan chuckled nervously, "yeah, these are my friends and we, uh... were..."
"Were what?" Erika asked, looking him with a blank expression; however, before he could reply, she noticed the milk-covered book sitting on the desk and her eyes widened in surprise. Erika's gaze immediately flashed to the girl lying flat on the floor and bristled in shock; she hastily whirled around and thrust her head out the door. "Alicia, I need a bit of help! Hurry and go get a teacher from the break lounge! It has to be someone who can handle a problem without going overboard!"
A startled voice wafted in from the hallway.
"Just do it!" the brunette calmly called, glancing at the boys with fierce eyes. "Three boys are beating up a girl in here!"
"What the fuck, Erika?!" Alan hissed, kicking Kate in the shoulder. "This freak is a witch! Why are you narking on us over this?!"
"Oh, you did NOT just kick her!" the brunette scoffed, rolling up her sleeves with a threatening expression. "Okay, boys, unless you want me to give you a butt-kicking, I suggest you get out of here right now!"
Alan and Erika glared at each other for a long, dangerously quiet moment.
Then...
"Let's go," Alan muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and slinking out the door past Erika. "We can mess with the bitch later..."
"What was that, Alan?!" Erika called, sticking her head out into the hall. "Are you asking me for a beating?! I kicked your ass in elementary school, and I can definitely do it again! Don't even THINK about touching her, you creep!"
Ow... Kate muttered silently, slowly sitting up and rubbing her sides. I'm going to have a few bruises I'll need to keep an eye on.
"Hey, are you okay?" Erika asked, darting over to help her up; when she gripped her injured arm right on the elbow, the pale girl flinched in pain and smacked her hand before shakily climbing to her feet on her own. "Ow! Hey, why did you hit me? Are you all right?"
"Don't touch me," Kate muttered, breaking the stillness of the room with her voice. "I hate it here... I feel like I'm losing myself because of these people. They call me a witch and a monster, but they act more terrible than any creature I've ever heard of... they're the real monsters."
"Hey, are you okay?" Erika whispered, staring at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Shut up and leave me alone!" Katherine snapped, face twisting up with a serious urge to cry. "You're all the same! I... I hate everything here! I hate my home! I hate this school! I wish it would all just burn to the ground so Nathan and I can leave already!"
To keep herself from bursting into tears, she snatched her things and bolted from the room, thigh-length hair flying behind her like a cloud of silver fire. Erika watched her flee with a blank expression, not comprehending what had just happened. However, after a moment of staring at the empty doorway, she looked at her hand and twitched when she saw blood on it.
Almost immediately, her mind kicked in.
"Hey, hold on!" Erika cried, running out of the room and chasing the girl down; she finally managed to grab Kate's uninjured arm, and with a firm yank she held her back. The albino merely stood in place and refused to look at her. "Come on, don't treat me like this... I'm sorry, okay? Alan has always been a jerk, even back when he was a little kid, but I'm really not like him. Look, if you want to be left alone, that's cool... but as the student council President, I can't let an injured student go without tending to them."
"If you go away immediately afterwards... fine," Kate muttered, not meeting her eyes. "I really want to be alone right now."
Several minutes later, the pale girl was involuntarily sitting in the girl's bathroom while Erika cleaned her arm with a cotton swab.
"I don't think the bleeding was as bad as you thought," the brunette murmured, eying her scraped arm with a confused demeanor before she gently applied some gauze. "There you go... hopefully you'll be good as new by tomorrow."
"Thank you for helping me," Kate stated calmly, keeping her face blank, "but I can take it from here."
"You can stop with the act," the brunette retorted, slowly turning around and pressing her carefully dried book into her hands. "I already know it's fake... I've been watching you and your brother ever since the two of you transferred here, Kate. People are mean to you because they don't know you, and mostly because you never stand up for yourself! You never speak up or try prove them wrong! Instead of doing anything useful, you go to a new classroom after school and cry until the gates close! Girl, you need to take a stand!"
Kate's head snapped up and she stared at Erika with wide eyes, not even realizing that her mask had slipped off due to the shock coursing through her.
"Who told you about that?" the albino whispered, staring at the brunette with a stunned expression. "Who told you?!"
"Nobody told me anything," Erika irritably retorted, face pulling into a deep frown. "I have a few after-school curricular activities since I'm the Student Council Prez, remember? On top of that... my brother is the janitor, so I help him clean up the school from time to time. On your second day here, I was cleaning up Miss Kensington's classroom when you caught my attention. I swear, I've never been so shocked."
"So what?!" Katie demanded, glaring at her with angry eyes. "The rumors about me are true, so why didn't you take everyone else's side?"
"Because judging a person based on gossip is stupid, that's why," Erika retorted, looking slightly offended. "Sure, I've heard all the rumors about you from my friends, and everyone I talk to says you're creepy and dark... but the first time I ever saw you, nothing I'd heard matched what my own two eyes told me."
"What did you see?" Kate hissed. "Tell me!"
"Well, you were sitting on one of the desks by the window and reading a book," Erika stated simply, folding her arms. "Personally, I don't think you look scary at all. You're just a little different... but on the day I first saw you, I thought you were glowing. You were just that bright. I stood there for a while and watched you read, but then... all of a sudden you buried your face in your knees. It took me ten minutes to realize you were crying."
"And?" Kate demanded, amethyst eyes sharpening into frigid gemstones. "Why did you sit there and watch me cry?"
"Look, whether you realize it or not, I wanted to do something to make you stop crying," Erika retorted, looking more than a little frustrated by her hostility. "I didn't know what to do, though, especially since I didn't know you back then! I've been looking out for you and your brother ever since that day, so stop interrogating me and just... trust me a bit!"
Kate stared at her with a blank expression, but uncertainty did flit across her pale face.
For several moments, the albino merely stared at Erika with an indecisive expression. A part of her wanted to trust the girl, but another part of her didn't want to be anywhere near her: her current reputation as a witch had stemmed from a similar situation.
To her, the word 'Trust' was synonymous with 'Betrayal.'
"If you ever want to talk, here's my phone number," Erika finally sighed, handing the girl a slip of paper. "I'll be willing to listen to you, and I promise I'll stick up for you when people are being horrid, okay? We're going to get rid of all the rumors about you, I promise!"
The albino girl stood there for a long moment, opening and closing her mouth in absolute shock.
For the first time since she'd joined Ivy Ridge Academy, someone had actually said something that wasn't insulting, hostile, or extraordinarily unfriendly. She stared at the pretty brunette with a baffled expression on her face... but then she nodded and left the room with her book in hand. She wouldn't give into the urge to break down just yet: she would wait, especially since she didn't trust Erika's motives.
Even so, the rest of the day was just as horrible... so much, in fact, that when classes finally ended, the girl was almost grateful to be going home. After grabbing her things from her locker, Katie left the school and walked back to her current residence alone, since Nathan had gone home with his best friend, Seth. With good reason, too, since apparently, the Social Worker had called in and said she couldn't make it.
Toni's rages alone would be something to behold.
After making it back to the house and walking up the porch stairs, she slowly lifted her hand and gripped the doorknob, twisting it gently.
The moment she opened the front door, light poured into a pitch-black house.
Katie tiptoed through the dark hallway, trying to keep herself as silent as possible: the place smelled of beer and cigar smoke, which meant Toni was in her abusive mode again. Just as Kate was taking a cautious step around the hall corner, she accidentally stepped on a shard of broken glass and the soft crunching sound caused an avalanche of screeches to resound through the entire house.
Kate winced and wondered how the woman could have possibly heard it.
"Who the fuck is crashing around up here?" Toni shrieked, making Kate flinch. "Who broke into my house?!"
"It's just me," Kate called back, voice trembling so badly that it made her feel sick with herself. "I'm back."
It was cold inside the house, as if the sunny warmth of the afternoon had refused to enter the darkened area.
Toni's silhouette suddenly filled the doorway, blocking out the hallway light so abruptly that Katie actually let out a squeak of surprise.
The girl could see the woman's wide, bloodshot eyes even in this kind of darkness: they were two glittering green orbs full of malice and disgust. Kate froze and struggled to escape from the hatred in her foster mother's eyes, but it felt like she was drowning in darkness. It was a darkness so deep that she couldn't help but be pulled under the surface.
She could feel the hatred emanating from the woman's soul just by looking at her irises.
Kate swallowed and returned her attention to Toni, staring into those jade green pools as fear involuntarily rose up her throat.
She could never summon the courage she needed to face her foster mother.
Part of the reason was the fact that the woman had never wanted her or her brother in the first place: the government had literally forced the Sanders twins upon her household. The woman never tried to be nice; she never acted as though she cared; she always made it clear that the twins weren't wanted and gave them the cold shoulder. That, or she got drunk and used her inebriated state to vent her frustrations.
Usually by abusing Kate.
Nathan had never been hit more than once since he was strong enough and angry enough to hit back.
He wouldn't hesitate to hurt Toni just as much as she hurt him.
When she took a heavy step forward, Kate took a tiny step back.
"I should have known," Toni sneered, soft lips curling in disgust. "Everything came crumbling down when you and your brother came into this house. Those disgusting eyes that look out of your mother's face... I grew up with your mother, you know: she lived about two miles away from here, and I actively hated her. She was better at everything, she always had a pack of tarot cards in her pocket, and she married a gorgeous man who treated her like a queen. I honestly should be thanking you."
Don't say it, Kate pleaded silently, balling her hands into fists. Please, Toni... don't say it again.
"After all, you were the one who killed them," the woman chuckled nastily, making the albino girl flinch. "Right, you little freak?"
Kate remained silent, hoping if she didn't speak then Toni would go away.
The woman had repeated this particular speech so many times before that the girl actually knew it by heart.
Even though it had been an accident, Kate really had killed her parents, albeit indirectly: her mother had forgotten to turn the stove off after making dinner one evening, and the house had caught fire. Nathan hadn't been home since he'd been on a sleepover, but Katherine had been quietly sleeping upstairs. Both of her parents had been killed trying to get to her.
Toni's hands were suddenly on her shoulders, forcing her against the wall.
"Are you listening to me, bitch?" she growled, looking into Kate's eyes. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
"Stop it, Toni," Kate whispered, shaking her head. "Stop..."
"Don't look at me with those disgusting eyes!" Toni screeched, smacking Kate in the face. "Those aren't your mother's eyes! Those aren't the eyes of the woman I grew up with! Those are your father's eyes! Those are the eyes of a nasty demon who took my best friend away from me! I hope that bastard is burning in hell! Give her back, you murderer!"
Kate recoiled away from the woman's hand and squeezed her eyes even tighter.
She wished the woman would simply leave her alone, but her words about her eyes were true.
Kate turned away, keeping her eyes shut tight so the woman wouldn't hit her again.
A jarring impact on her cheek sent pain rocketing into her skull, but the woman shoved Kate once more and began muttering under her breath.
When Toni stormed into the living room, the small-boned albino girl let out a shuddering breath of relief and pressed a hand to her burning cheek, slowly forcing herself to walk up the stairs into her room. Judging by how the blow was both stinging and aching beneath the skin, she knew that it might be just a tad bit bruised by the next morning.
It wouldn't be bad enough for a hospital visit, though, hopefully.
Throwing her bag onto the floor, Kate turned on her light and faced the mirror with uncertainty.
Her cheek was still burning unpleasantly with the impact of her foster mother's hand, but it wasn't as bad as the other times or even the other foster families. She'd definitely had worse than this... in fact, she was inclined to say that this was the best residence so far. There had been times when the twins had been beaten and starved to the point of death. Kate was simply glad that Toni was easy with her blows.
The woman knew how easy a bruise could kill her because of her condition, so at least she tried to be gentle...
Kate sighed and took off her uniform, gently hanging it up; after putting on a baggy sweater and a simple pair of jeans, she curled up on her bed and pulled out the book Miss McKinley had given her. Aside from a large stain on the front, the pages within were undamaged, for which she was extremely grateful. After a moment, she opened it and began to read, gently flipping through the pages.
She sat there for several hours, turning through the pages of her book, until the sun began to go down.
Even after that, she kept reading... continuously searching for an answer to her nightmares.
However, it wasn't until a flash of lightning lit up her room that she had a strange vision.
Fire... fire that almost seemed to blink.
She shivered, then closed the book and set it on her bed.
After a moment, she noticed the package Miss McKinley had given her and blinked, wondering what was really inside. Tilting her head, Katherine pulled it over and unwrapped it with curious eyes, but her breath caught when she found herself staring at a three-hundred dollar hair and makeup kit for... people with albinism?
"She bought this for me with her own money?" Kate wondered aloud, looking at the contents in awe. "No way... it even has differently-toned hair extensions, a hairband, eyebrow toner, and... eyelash ink?! No way! That stuff is almost impossible to find!"
Katie stared at the kit with stunned eyes, but after a moment she sighed and smiled a little.
Slowly getting to her feet, she grabbed her old pink pajamas as well as the make-up kit and headed over to the bathroom to take a shower.
Shedding her clothes, the girl turned the water on and waited until it was warm to hop in: once she'd finished washing and conditioning her hair, Kate rinsed herself free of the soap and merely stood under the water, being extremely careful to keep it away from her gauze-covered elbow. Then she got out and wrapped a towel around her chest. Feeling refreshed, she used the blow-dryer sitting on the counter to dry her hair, being mindful to keep the setting on low so it wouldn't damage her tresses.
Then, once everything was done, she toweled herself off and pulled her pajamas on before grabbing the make-up kit.
Wiping a small circle of condensation off the mirror, she examined her bruises with a keen eye, but fortunately for her, none of them seemed to be swelling up.
Then she looked at her face.
And stared.
Toni's right about one thing... Kate thought sadly, touching her long silver hair as she looked in the mirror. I look almost exactly like my mom, but I have my father's eyes... sort of.
The albino girl had the same shimmering white hair, the same pearly skin, the same overly-plump lips, and the same fragile build as her mother... but unlike the woman who had given birth to her, Kate's height didn't want to extend over five feet.
However, the biggest difference between the two of them was the shape of their eyes: her mother's eyes had been exotic and slightly upturned at the far edges, and in hue they had been a dark shade of pink. Kate's eyes were very big, round, and angled towards the ground at the edges.
They were so light in color that they seemed to reflect all forms of luminescence like mirrors... mirrors, it should be noted, that constantly shifted back and forth in hue from light pink to a silvery violet.
Shaking her head, Katherine averted her eyes and grabbed the eyelash ink, then leaned forward and began to apply it to herself. The ink by itself went for about a hundred bucks even though it wasn't waterproof and only lasted a few days.
Still, it was a necessity for any albino, because it gave off just one semblance of physical normalcy that people like her and Nathan constantly missed out on. She reminded herself to share it with him after she finished applying it.
After taking the time to fan the ink dry, the girl applied it to her lower lashes as well and sighed, repeating the fanning process.
Once that was finished, she examined herself in the mirror and blinked, feeling a little relieved: now that her eyelashes were black, like everyone else's, her appearance seemed a little less strange. Then she recalled Miss McKinley's statement about her hair and pulled on a long strand of it. Pensively, she grabbed her brush and gently parted her hair down the middle, feeling a little uncomfortable about what she was planning on doing.
It only took a few minutes to get right, and by the time she was done, Katherine's hair had been tied into pigtails that she carefully draped over her shoulders.
Since her hair was so long, however, the twin-tails actually stopped just below her hips.
After a moment of staring at her reflection, the girl set the makeup kit under the sink and buttoned up the front of her pajama shirt, heading for the bathroom door.
It wasn't until after she was already in the hallway that she spotted him out of the corner of her eye.
Turning her head just as a flash of lightning lit up his silhouette, Katherine stiffened when she saw Toni's deadbeat boyfriend, AJ, standing in the center of the hallway with his hands planted against the walls on either side of him. She instantly felt her heart rise up her throat, since he only bothered with her and Nathan when he was looking for trouble. Instantly whirling around, the girl bolted for her bedroom, but he chased after her: before she could slam the door, he put his foot inside it and started reaching for her.
"Stop!" Kate cried, face screwing up with fright when he gripped the front of her shirt. "Hey! Let go of me!"
"Shut up!" he snarled, jerking on the front of her shirt. "I heard you got in trouble today, so Toni definitely won't care if I have a bit of fun."
When the first three buttons popped off her shirt, her eyes widened and she did the unthinkable.
She fought back.
Lunging at him with an angry shriek, she clawed his face and attempted to slam the door, but he merely kicked it open and violently shoved her to the ground. Hulking above her, he glared down in rage with bloodshot eyes.
"You ever try something like that again," he hissed, bending down and clutching her shirt. "I'll fucking kill you, bitch."
With that, he slapped her in the face and walked out, leaving behind a shivering girl who merely curled up into a little ball and held herself.
Kate closed her eyes and fought back tears: she wanted things to go back to the way they used to be, before her mother and father had died... before Emily had died, too... but time and fate were cruel realities, and she was all alone in a hostile world. She had given up hope on being loved by other people long ago... she had given up on a future where life could possibly be happy... she had turned her back on the conniving faces of humanity, for they had done nothing but hurt her. She had promised herself not to trust anyone, ever again.
Because, after all... who could ever love a freak?
