The Story of Katie Bell After She Graduated
Chapter 2-The Real World Does Suck
A/N: Hi! Here is Chapter 2. When we left Katie off, she just graduated, well a couple months later, she has to still find a job. And a flat. And...a boyfriend! What happened to George? We'll have to find out...
Bridget always told me that the real world sucked. And that half of that problem was finding a job. Before, I actually went job hunting, I thought that it would be as easy as pie. Well, technically it is considering that the Apple Pie I made last Christmas was a complete failure unless the point is to cover your kitchen in flour, which I did. Job hunting sucked big time.
Of course, I needed "experience" forall the jobs I applied for. Did five and half years of being Chaser on the Griffyndor Quidditch Team matter to any one of my possible employers? Did getting hung up in the air upside down matter to them? Did getting all "O"s on my NEWTs and graduating valedictorian matter to them? No, it didn't because I ended up being a waitress at The Leaky Cauldron.
Do not ask me how that happened. I cannot stomach alcohol of any type for more than five seconds. I swear, even Butterbeer I have problems with. But, it's pathetic. I can just imagine the teachers talking. "Did Katie Bell get into the world of Quidditch?" McGonagall will ask. "Nope," Flitwick will respond. "She ended up being a waitress at The Leaky Cauldron. Pity it is, she was valedictorian, remember?" "Maybe we should've picked a student that stayed the whole year," McGonagall will say sadly. The Teachers' Lounge is very likely a cruel place
Alicia and Angelina had no problem. Angelina was able to manage being assitant captain of the Kent Sparks and Alicia was working at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. And they didn't have my grades. Well, Alicia's boyfriend was the owner of the shop so that might've helped. And Angelina had superior quidditch skill. So, maybe I was just, well, unemployable (if that's a word).
So, I ended up working at The Leaky Cauldron. But, it wasn't too bad. I made friends with Natalie Hart and Halle Carter, who both worked on my shifts. The customers weren't too demanding (as I was afraid they might be) and were sometimes engaging me into talks which included quidditch, the Dark War, Witch Weekly gossip and how idiotic the Ministry was. When I talked about the Ministry's idiotic way of "controlling" things, I smiled. I remember Fred and George wanting to call the DA, the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group. I missed them.
My relationship with George was very short. He asked me to work at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, but I said no. I didn't want buisness and pleasure to be mixed up. He argured that Alicia worked there even though she was Fred's girfriend. I said that I would leave if he didn't drop it. He didn't. I left.
Somehow, I regret it. When I'm walking down Diagon Alley, I sometimes see them in their shop. I sometimes want to run in and say I'm sorry. One time he saw me. He looked straight at me with his hazel eyes. There was only us for a moment. Then I realized that "us" didn't exsist any more. Only Katie and only George exsisted now.
Alicia, Angelina, Natalie and Halle all helped me get over "The Breakup" (which was appropiately named because it was my only breakup). On Friday nights, we would all eat ice cream out of several cartons and gossip. Painting our nails, flirting ith the totally hot tenants downstairs and pranking my bastard of a landlordwere also in the schedule for those nights. Finally, after a couple of months, it hit me that George had moved on.
Alicia told me that she and Fred went to dinner that night before with George and his new girlfriend, Bree. According to Alicia's account of the night, Bree was a slut and a bitch from what I got. She kept on draping herself (Alicia came up with the adjective) over George and kept on bragging on how she was a fasion designer for a robe designer called Jenni Cole Originals. Alicia got so sick of her that she "accidentally" kicked her with her black stilettos. Even though those shoes are totally sexy, they have given me a permanent scar from when I was kicked in the shin for breaking up with George. Alicia said I should go out with George fast before Bree settles herself down as his girlfriend or else she would go in-sane (as she always says).
Even though Alicia is my best friend, it takes a shit load of things to make Katherine Marie Bell apoligize when she has moved on just fine.
We ended the evening when Natalie said that she needed to cover for another waitress, Josie Carlyle, at The Cauldron. Then, everyone else apparated. I was left alone in my flat. I started to walk around until I reached a case of Butterbeer that was left. What the fuck? I thought. I might as well drink it. It was hot in my throat and the familiar taste of volmit I had after I drank Butterbeer was there. But I stomached both the Butterbeer and the nausea. And the Butterbeer itself wasn't too bad. Maybe I might be cut out for a waitress afterall. Maybe I couldd move up to Firewhiskey.
Work was starting to get better. But, I still needed the money from a real job. Especially because I ate nothing but mini-pizzas for breakfast and dinner. I applied for one last real job before I figured out that I was a hopeless case for emploment.
I went to the Ministry of Magic the next day to submit an application for the English National Quidditch Club. If you become a member, you can get chosen for one of the seven teams in the league. It was a better job than waitressing and I loved Quidditch completly. The application went as follwed
Application for the English National Quidditch Club
Personal Information
Name: Katherine Bell
Date of Birth: December 19th, 1979
Adress: 107 Diagon Alley Apt. 7
City/Town: London
Country: England
Magical School: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Quidditch Information
Position:Chaser
Previous Quidditch experience: Chaser for six years on Griffyndor House Team. Won three Quidditch Cups with team.
Recommendations: Oliver Wood-Keeper for Puddlemere United, Angelina Johnson-Chaser for Kent Sparks, Professor Minerva
McGonagall-Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter-Seventh year Student at Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry.
After two long months and five hellish tryouts, I didn't make it. But Isabelle Clarisse Smith made the team. Isabelle was the biggest whiner ever who couldn't spell the word "snitch" let alone mount a broom properly. That idiot made an alternate chaser.
And I wasn't on the list. The ministry had to "escort" me to the entrance because I was standing in front of the league's list with my mouth wide open. I mean, did Isabelle Clarisse Smith help win 3 Quidditch Cups? Did Isabelle Clarisse Smith hang upside down for half an hour because the idiot who found her was screaming for a teacher? WHAT IS SO FUCKING BETTER ABOUT ISABELLE CLARISSE SMITH THAT SHE MADE ALTERNATE CHASER AT LEAST?
When I told Natalie and Halle this they told me to calm down. Halle repared the beer glass I knocked down and Natalie was hushing me into calmness. The cook, Sal, gave me a cheeseburger to eat calmly. I ended up throwing it at the wall out of anger after I didn't eat it for two hours.
Halle took my shift when I was in the kitchen so I took her seven-ten shift. The time when all the men come for a drink after work so they could get drunk and hit on the waitresses. Natalie told me that one guy squeezed her ass when she was walking past him during that shift.She fired all the curses she could think of in twenty seconds. Apparently, some of those didn't mix well with the others and he had to go to the Spell Damage ward at St. Mungo's. The girl was fucking brilliant. How did she end up waitressing? She could be an Auror!
I didn't want some perverted sicko touching my ass so I walked swiftly past the tables. I was up front when five drunks asked me out (all of which I rejected)and I caught one guy staring at my chest when I was taking his order. I never knew that my A cup was that seductive.
But around 8, I saw someone I did not want to see. Yep, George Weasley was sitting with Fred, his older brother, Charlie and another red-headed guy I didn't know. I supposed that this was his brother, Bill. I looked at my list of which tables to serve. The Weasleys' table was one of them. Aren't I the luckiest girl on the planet? And the better thing yet was that the Weasley twins had a successful joke shop buisness and I was waitressing at The Fucking Leaking Cauldron.
But, I walked their with as much grace as I could muster. My head was held high and nothing, not even my job or my ex-boyfriend, could bring me down. Actually, my shoes could.
Alicia is one of those girls who can where stiletto heels without tripping. Her mother before her can do the same. And Halle can do that too. And Natalie. Unfortunately, I do not have a gene like that in my family. I was only wearing my stilettos today because I spent the night at Alicia's and she only had three types of shoes. A pair of very ugly shoes "For when I have to go meet my grandma," she explained, a pair of white go-go boots which Alicia was wearing today. And ten pairs of stilettos in colors ranging from lime green to soft pink to black. She had tie-ups and non-tie-ups. I was too lazy so I reached into her closet and prayed to God that I would not pick up the grandma shoes. I got a pair of black tie-up stilettos. They were pretty comfortable at first but when you waitress, stiletto heels are not shoes to wear because at the end of the day, your feet hurt like hell. I sadly had to find out the hard way.
So, my ex-boyfriend was there. As well as my friend's boyfriendand their brothers. So, I wasn't going to let a pair of shoes stop me from showing George Weasley what he was missing. So, I started walking over there proud and confident and then my shoes ruined it.
I think I am the only girl on earth who cannot wear heels. I'm gonna be stuck with flats my whole life. Oh well, at least you can add bows and silk flowers and rhinestones to make flats cute. And so, I was going to show my ex what I was definately not missing and then I fell head over stiletto heels.
All guys, according to my brother James,have a secret thing for wanting to save a damsel in distress. Because in my fourth year, Fred saved Alicia from major trouble with Snape. Because Lupin was away and Snape, who was subsituting, was collecting a major essay. Alicia forgot to finish it and Fred stood up for her. He told Snape that Alicia was in the hospital wing when Lupin assigned it and he didn't mention it at all for her because Fred said he would tell her about it but he forgot. Snape gave her an extra day to finish it.
So, Istarted to fall to the ground and I was sure I was going to die. To be quite honest, the floor was made out of stone and one slip would bring a concussion to my head.But I was lifted up amazingly. George Weasley saved me. And I would've kissed him right then and there if he wasn't my ex-boyfriend.
"You okay, Belle?" he asked. Belle! My heart was soaring on wings. Bell was the nickname we agreed on because I was sick of him calling me Katie-Kat and Katie-Girl. Bell sounded like my sur name but it was french for 'beautiful'. "Cause you are," George admitted shyly. Then he kissed me for the first time.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said meekly, tucking some of my stray hair in my ponytail before I remembered to do my job. "So, what'll you guys have?"
A/N: Happy New Year!