Catrina first met Boscha on her first day at Hexside.
That is, Catrina's first day, not Boscha's. Catrina Hodge and her family had only recently moved to Bonesborough from Kneecapsburg, both so her mother could find more work after Mr. Hodge had been arrested, and to be closer to him at the Conformatorium. Back in their old hometown, Catrina's father had worked for the Emperor's Coven as a contraband officer, only to be suddenly accused of using his connections to aid in the smuggling of illegal magical artifacts. Mrs. Hodge, in spite of the mountains of evidence, insisted that this simply wasn't true. Catrina wasn't sure what to believe.
Kneecapsburg was a very expensive city to live in, and Bonesborough was not; the move was decided on almost instantly. It wasn't that Catrina minded leaving her friends behind, because she didn't have any. In fact, part of her was grateful that she wouldn't have to go back to Achilles Tendon Academy of Mystic Arts. Through a combination of her shy, quiet personality, glasses, tooth gap, and frizzy hair that never stayed down no matter how long she combed it in the morning, she was an easy target for her school's roaming cliques.
What she did mind, however, was having to start over. In her many years of attending Tendon, she had gotten a handle on the politics of the hallways. Who went where on which day, and how to avoid them. When to keep her head down, and when to avoid an area altogether. Who proved to be a major risk on any given day. Now that she was attending Hexside, she would have to learn all of that from scratch, and likely lots of trial and error. And she didn't look forward to getting on anyone's bad side.
First period was a few minutes away from starting. Catrina walked away from her locker, a pile of books in her arms. Some of them she needed for her classes, some were for reading in her free time. As she headed to the beginner's healing classroom to get an early start, she hid her face in the books whenever she passed by a group of young witches. Any one of them could be the popular students looking for someone to pick on, and she didn't want to give them any more reason than they already had.
Before she could reach her destination, she noticed a pair of witches ahead of her, walking quickly down the hallway: two girls in the potions and bard tracks. The three-eyed girl in yellow walked with an air of authority that Catrina recognized all too well. Students that they passed seemed to dart out of their way so as to not incur their wrath. Catrina did the same, only to realize, to her horror, that they were heading towards her.
"You, healer girl," said the three-eyed girl. "I haven't seen you around before. You're new, aren't you?"
"I-I don't want any trouble," Catrina said meekly, staring down at the floor. "Please, I'm just trying to get to class."
The three-eyed girl raised an eyebrow, before turning to her companion. "Skara, keep an eye out for any teachers," she ordered. As Skara turned to keep watch, Catrina noticed that she seemed worried, quite unlike how she expected a popular kid to look when her more-popular friend had chosen a victim. "That's not what I want."
"I brought lunch from home, I don't have any money!" Catrina said. "I'm sorry if I made you mad in any way, just please-"
The three-eyed girl looked confused. "What are you-no, listen: you're a healer, aren't you?" Her fear subsiding but not completely vanishing, Catrina nodded. "We need your help. Look, one of our friends-"
"Boscha, we should go, Ms. Agror's coming!" Skara said in a hushed tone.
"Come with us." Boscha grabbed Catrina by the wrist, pulling her down the hallway away from their current spot. As the three of them sort-or-ran, Catrina grew more confused as to what was going on.
"I'm glad we found you when we did!" said Skara. "I think Bo's home sick today, and I wasn't sure if anyone else wouldn't go to a teacher first!" She looked at Catrina. "You won't tell, will you? You'll keep this secret?"
"I-I'm not sure, keep what a secret?" asked Catrina. "I don't know what's going on!"
"We'll explain later, just follow us and keep quiet!" said Boscha. Skara ran ahead to scout out the area, and ushered them forward when the coast was clear. Giving their surroundings one last scan, the two of them led Catrina into a girls' restroom.
"Okay, we found one!" Skara announced, which is when Catrina realized they weren't alone. Two other girls were present in the bathroom: one was in the abomination track and had dyed-green hair, and the other was in the plant track with hair of a matching color. The plant track girl sat on the floor with her back to the wall, the abomination track girl crouching next to her. The former looked quite uneasy, but the latter maintained a stoic expression.
"Oh, thank Titan!" said the plant girl, sighing in relief. "I wasn't sure if I was going to make it there for a bit!"
"Calm down, it's just a sprained ankle," said the abomination girl. She looked up. "You, who are you?"
"Um...Catrina. I-it's my first day, so I…" She trailed off. "What's all this about?"
"Well? What are you waiting for?" asked Boscha. "You're a healer, get to healing!" She nudged her towards the girl on the floor, who seemed to be favoring one leg. The abomination girl sat beside her as Catrina approached, and Skara sat on her other side, looking just as worried as the plant girl herself.
"O-okay, so...you have a sprained ankle, then?" asked Catrina, kneeling down in front of the girl.
"That's what Amity keeps telling me, but it's broken, I know it!" she said. "Just tell me how much longer I have left, doc!"
"Amelia. Get. A. Grip," growled Boscha. "Shut up and let…" She looked down at the healer girl.
"Catrina."
"...Let Catrina do her work."
Amelia whimpered, lifting up her pant leg to reveal a bruised ankle. It wasn't serious, but it didn't look like she just tripped. "What happened?" Catrina asked.
"I told you, I'll explain it all later," said Boscha. "Now, can you help, or not?"
"I...I mean, I can," Catrina said. "But, shouldn't we tell a teacher instead?"
"No! We can't!" said Skara suddenly, startling Catrina. "That's why we went to find someone! Because we'd get in trouble if we had to explain!"
Catrina just became even more confused. "In trouble…? What exactly happened?"
Boscha sighed. "We got in a fight."
"These three got in a fight," Amity clarified. "I tried to prevent it. But someone just couldn't let go of her wounded pride."
"Oh, like you're one to talk, Blight!" Boscha scoffed. "Look, Catrina-do you mind if I call you Cat?"
"Um...sure," said Catrina.
"Look, Cat, there's a pecking order at this school. People at the bottom have to respect people at the top. And when they don't...well, that's when things might have to get physical. Only problem is, if the teachers found out we were-ahem-educating some dissidents, we could get suspended, or worse. So, can you keep this a secret?"
Catrina nodded furiously. "Yes, absolutely, will do, Boscha. I-i'm sorry, I don't know if we're on first-name terms yet, I just thought-"
"Excuse me?" said Amelia. "Not to be a bother, but I think I can see a light!"
"Don't go towards it!" said Skara.
Cat's mind was pulled back to her 'patient.' The first order of business, assessing the damage. She cast an x-ray spell, and scanned the injured ankle through the spell circle. Nothing was broken, so that was good. Nothing a simple healing spell wouldn't fix.
"Is it terminal?" asked Amelia.
At this point, Cat was fairly certain Amelia was playing it up on purpose. "Like Amity said-just a sprain. Just give me a few seconds…"
Cat drew another spell circle, and the wound slowly began to heal. Amelia's skin turned back to its usual shade, and her face became significantly more relaxed. Before long, no trace of her injury remained. "Wow, that...that's much better!" she said. "Thanks, Cat!"
"It's nothing, really," Cat said bashfully, helping Amelia to her feet.
"Amelia, you're gonna be okay!" exclaimed Skara, wrapping her friend in a hug.
"Well, of course I am," Amelia said. "It was just a sprained ankle, nothing serious."
"And Cat saves the day," Boscha said, grinning at the girl. "We can trust you to keep this quiet, can't we?"
"Of course," said Cat, nodding. "I'm just glad we're on good terms now. We...we are on good terms, right?"
"I guess we are," said Boscha.
"Okay. Good. Well...I'll see you around, I guess." Cat turned to leave.
"Hold on." Amity's voice made her turn around. "Thank you for your help. We really are grateful, all of us. You didn't have to help us, but you did. Is there anything we can do for you, as thanks?"
Cat was silent. Truth be told, she really did think she had to help them, what with Boscha's insistence in keeping this a secret. She was sure they would have strongarmed her into it if they had refused. "You...you're sure?"
"Sure we're sure," said Boscha. "You saved us all from a dirty smear on our permanent records!"
"And you saved Amelia from death!" Skara added.
"We don't do this often," Boscha said, "but how'd you like to hang with us? We could use a healer like you in case anything like this happens again. Plus, new kids are easy targets around here-you won't have to worry about any of those punks with us around!"
Cat couldn't believe it. "Y-you mean...me? With you? The popular girls?"
"Yeah we mean you!" said Skara, approaching her. "So, whaddya think? Wanna be friends?"
Cat thought about it, but not much. It didn't need much thinking. As soon as she was asked, she knew. "Absolutely," she said breathlessly.
"Yay!" Skara threw her arms around Cat. "Welcome to the team!" She held the hug for a good while before breaking away. "Oh, and I'm Skara, by the way. Skara O'Hara. And these are Amelia Benning, Amity Blight, and Boscha Trioptes."
"Hello," Cat said shyly. "Catrina Hodge. But you can call me Cat, I guess, if you want."
Boscha stepped forward, patting Cat on the shoulder. "Glad to have you. And trust me, you've got nothing to worry about: I take care of my own."
"She sure does!" said Amelia. "When that one guy stomped on my leg, she went ballistic on 'im! He won't be messing with us again!"
Boscha 'hmmph'ed' in agreement. "You'll be safe with us, that's for sure."
Just then, the bell screamed, alerting the school that first period was about to begin. Amity was the first to leave. "Good luck, Cat. The usual spot at lunch, girls."
"Bye Cat!" said Skara. "I'll save you a spot at our table!"
The remaining trio exited the restroom. "See ya then, new girl!" said Boscha, waving her goodbye as she walked down the hall, away from Cat and Amelia.
Amelia and Cat, however, walked in the same direction. "You heading to history?" asked Amelia.
"Mmhmm," said Cat.
"Cool. Mr. Santis lets us sit pretty much wherever, so we can sit next to each other!"
"I...I'd like that," Cat said, grinning. Mom would be so happy to hear that she had made not one, not two, not even three, but four new friends on her first day. Dad would, too.
"Hey Cat?"
"Hmm?"
"You don't happen to play grudgby, do you?"
"I've dabbled. Why?"
And that is how Cat became Boscha's friend.