Kat was Crying.
Mr. Morgan groaned inwardly as Kat raised her hand to go first in the poetry reading. "Here we go," He had thought out loud. Kat was up there. He was sure her poem would be nothing but her usual negative, bitchy rantings. Boy had he been in for a shock.
"I hate the way you talk to me
And the way you cut your hair"
Yup, Classic Katarina all right.
"I hate the way you drive my car"
What? Just who the hell had been driving Kat's car? Who was brave enough or insane enough to even attempt it?
"I hate the way you stare."
He looked at Kat confused. Why would she hate being stared at? She should be used to it by now. Everyone stared at Katarina. She was the bitch from hell. Whenever she went off on a tirade, she all ways got attention. Was she telling the class something? Just then he looked at Patrick. Patrick was staring at her. He looked hurt. He'd herd rumors that Kat and Patrick were going out, but he'd never believed them. Who the hell would ever go out with Kat? The rumors must have been true, though.
"I hate your big dumb combat boots
And the way you read my mind"
Someone had gotten close enough to know her that well? He was even more floored. It was all he could do to keep his jaw from hanging open.
"I hate you so much it makes me sick
It even makes me rhyme."
Once again, Classic Katarina. She took a deep breath before continuing.
"I hate it…
I hate the way you're always right"
KAT was admitting someone else was right? He'd have to record this in a journal or something.
"I hate it when you lie"
Patrick must have lied about something… and Kat seemed really hurt about it. Kat was expressing pain. Suddenly he felt sorry for her and felt sorry for pre-judging her. This poem was not at all what he had been expecting. Little did he know that the bigger shocks were yet to come.
"I hate it when you make me laugh"
He could never imagine Kat laughing, no matter how he tried.
"Even worse when you make me cry"
At that point he did a double Take. Kat cried? He could never, ever think that Kat could cry. He could never imagine it. An top of that, when she had said that line, she had started to break up, like she was about to cry right there. He wasn't the only one that was floored. The rest of the class looked confused, too. She looked on the brink of tears. As she finished her poem, she was trying not to cry.
"I hate the way you're not around
And the fact that you didn't call
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you
Not even close
Not even a little bit
Not even at all."
And with that she had left the room, tears starting to make their way out. The entire class watched in silence as she left. She was crying. Katarina, bitch from hell, was crying, or at least about to cry. And she had admitted she was in pain, and she had admitted that she didn't hate someone. What struck him the most was that Kat was crying, that she could cry. She was hurt. He couldn't get over it. Kat was crying.