Kate

Needless to say, Kate was not looking forward to the next day. She absolutely despised the feelings she was getting of distinct not-Kate-ness, but didn't know how to prevent it. And so she kept up a façade of normalcy, sneaking into the boys' rooms – they oftentimes preferred to stay at Mr. Benedict's, and as a result had their own bedrooms there – and hanging out with Moochos and Milligan.

When morning came, however, she was atypically grumpy and resistant to going to school.

"I'm nervous too," Reynie told her over cereal. "But I'm sure everything will be fine. You'll fit in soon enough."

"I don't need to fit in," grumbled Kate, stabbing a Cheerio viciously with a butter knife. Reynie looked confused and affronted at this reaction.

They got into the car and drove to the high school in silence, dropping off an anxiously babbling and spectacle-polishing Sticky first. Kate and Reynie walked through the double doors quietly and stood at the edges of the before-school crowd. Somehow, they got separated, and Kate found herself next to the girls who'd approached Reynie earlier.

"Hi!" said one of them brightly. Sophie, was it? "You're Kate, right?"

"Yes," said Kate curtly. Then, thinking that she shouldn't be quite so rude, added a mollifying, "Nice to see you again."

"You too! Your hair is so gorgeous, by the way. Is it naturally wavy?"

"Um… yeah?" Kate was extremely thrown off by this comment.

"It's so cute." She smiled warmly – her friendliness and bubbly personality, Kate had to admit, seemed genuine and free of ulterior motives. That is, until she asked, "You know that new guy, right? Reynie?"

"Yeah," said Kate cautiously.

"He's so cute," she said. "Tell me about him!"

"Like what about him?" asked Kate, confused.

"Oh, you know. Meg, Chloe, come over here!" She waved her friends over and sat down at a cafeteria table, patting the spot next to her. "Kate's going to tell us about Reynie."

"Ooh, yeah, we were wondering!" said Meg excitedly, leaning in. "There aren't any cute guys here, so when one comes we get really excited. Plus he seems kind of mysterious. He's quiet, isn't he?"

Kate shut her eyes for a moment. This was a situation she'd never anticipated. "Kind of quiet, yeah," she said shortly.

"How do you know him?"

"Oh, we're friends. We, uh, were home-schooled together until now."

"That would explain why he seemed so surprised when we talked to him," giggled Chloe, tossing her red hair and flicking a hair elastic around it.

"So what else should we know about him? What's he like? Is he nice?" pressed Sophie.

"I…" Kate sighed, and without thinking began to talk rapidly. "He's nice. He's really smart and kind and giving. And he's stronger than you'd think, and brave, and just so intelligent. He's logical and level-headed and –" She broke off, realizing she was saying way too much for her own comfort.

"Wow. He seems like a really great guy."

"Yeah, he is," said Kate softly. "He's my best friend."

"But you wouldn't mind if, say, I asked him out?" asked Meg. "I wouldn't do anything without your permission, of course. But from what I see, you guys are like brother and sister, right?"

"You can ask him out," Kate said bluntly. "Excuse me." And with that, she got up and left to find Reynie.

She didn't see him until halfway through lunch time. They'd initially agreed to eat together, but he never showed up at their designated meeting spot. When she finally spotted him across the room, she felt a mixture of anger and relief and the same unnameable swooping in her stomach that made her feel all tingly.

"Hey, Reynie!" she called, hurrying over. To her dismay, as she got closer she realized that he was with Meg, Chloe, Sophie, and some other girls. A couple guys, too, but they gave her one disdainful look, glanced at her bucket, and returned to their conversation. Flushing, Kate stood hesitantly there, waiting to see if Reynie would respond.

"Hi, Kate," he said warily. "I don't know if there's room…"

"Oh, no, sit down next to me," urged Sophie, smiling. "Everyone, this is Kate. She's new here as well. Say hi!"

"Hi," said a couple of girls, then turned their backs on her.

"They're kind of snobby, it's okay," said Sophie in an undertone. Out loud she tapped Reynie flirtatiously on the shoulder and, smiling, asked, "Are you free tonight?"

"Am I – what?"

"You're so cute! Are you free tonight? Like, do you have plans?"

"No," said Reynie. "I'm free."

"Cool. Would you like to hang out? We could walk into town at some point and then go hang at my house."

"Who else will be there?" he asked cautiously.

Sophie laughed. "No bad guys, I promise. Um, well, I was thinking it could be just us if that's cool with you. Or we could see who else wants to come."

"No, that's fine," he said quickly, smiling back at her. Kate felt a hot, itchy feeling seep up to her face. "I'd love that."

"It's a plan. I'll text you at the end of school and we can meet up."

"Awesome." Awesome? Since when was Reynie the type of person to say something was 'awesome'?

"I can't wait." She jumped up and tossed her empty Styrofoam tray into the trash can. "I have to go study in the library. Wanna come? I hear you're really smart."

Surprised but pleased, Reynie agreed. "Sure. I can help." He gave an uncertain look at Kate. "Do you want to join us, or…?"

"No, no, it's fine," she said through gritted teeth, getting up. "I've got to go do something."

"Oh, alright," said Reynie, giving her a curious look.

"See ya!" said Sophie cheerily as they walked off.

Kate stonily got up, walked outside, and started punching the tree she'd climbed on her first day. She punched it until her knuckles felt numb and raw – thankfully, she did have exceptional strength and didn't break anything – and then, as hard as she tried to stop it, sank to the ground with her knees pulled up to her chest and cried.

Okay, so this chapter was pretty angsty, I know. I do love a bit of good angst and I have a habit of getting off track and making characters unnecessarily so. However, I think the next chapter should hopefully even it out and I think the main point of this chapter was to show Kate's emotional side. She's not an invincible lioness anymore; she's vulnerable to feelings as well. Normally those feelings are positive ones, and are magnified – strength, courage, fearlessness – but that also means that negative ones – jealousy, envy, sadness – are magnified as well.

Anyway, review and let me know what you want to see next! Thanks guys.