So there they were, September 6th; the first day of high school. "Où est-ce que le temps va s'aller?" (Where does the time go?) Dad hugged Katrina and kissed her forehead. For the first time, Katrina was going to be in the same school as Cousin Marie, and she thought that was pretty neat.

After getting out of Dad's surprisingly strong hug grip, a quick hug from Vati, and goodbye pets for Sofie-Miette, Katrina was out the door and walking to the bus stop. Annie was already there, so the two sat together, just them, until another girl came along. Neither of them had ever seen her before. "Hi," said Annie. "Who are you?"

"Aria," said the girl, sitting down. "Aria Perkins. I moved here over the summer to be closer to my family."

"Cool," said Annie. "I'm Annie, and she's Katrina."

After a few more minutes of waiting, and a few more kids arriving, the bus came and took them to Kadupul High School. It was big to them when they went on the tour in June, and now it looked even bigger. Katrina and Annie walked in together, making a point to stick their noses up when they walked past Veronica and Sasha, and looked around the lobby. There was a display of sports trophies on one side, a poster of news clippings about the school on the other, and there seemed to be posters of every club on every wall.

"So, you're the new kids?"

They turned around and found themselves face-to-face with some huge, muscly seniors. "Uh…" They looked at each other. "Yeah?"

The biggest of them smirked. "We have a certain way of doing things around here."

Intimidated, Annie and Katrina backed away closer to the stairwell. "The lunch tables on the stage are off-limits to freshmen," said the senior, "the back field is the football team's territory, and stay away from the bathrooms next to Mr. Mackey's classroom."

Just then, a paper ball flew across the hall. As the seniors turned to look at it, Katrina and Annie were pulled into a classroom. "You kids okay?"

The two turned around to face their rescuer. Katrina recognized him; that was Maxwell Vancelli! She hadn't seen him since Grade 2. …He certainly got taller.

"Yeah," said Annie. "Who were those guys, anyway?"

"Football kids," said Mac. "Don't listen to anything they say, they're aaa…" He realized his homeroom teacher was looking at him. "...aaantagonistic." He looked at Katrina. "Aren't you Glass Joe's kid?"

"Yeah," said Katrina.

"I watched your match last month," said Mac. "I can't believe you kicked that guy's ass."

"HEY." The teacher turned around and looked at Mac. Mac just shrugged sheepishly.

Annie and Katrina peeked outside the door to make sure the seniors were gone, then went to the office to get their homerooms. Merrily, they were in the same homeroom; Ms. Jewel's class. When they got there, a couple kids were already there. As the morning chugged along, more and more kids came along until the class was full. Katrina could see Masako, Aria, Kevin…and thankfully, no Claire, Veronica, or Sasha.

Once the bell and rung and the anthem had been stood for, Ms. Jewel handed out everyone's schedules and health forms.

Legal Name: Katrina Melody Beaufort
Preferred Name: Katrina
Date of Birth: July 7th, 2008
Gender Assigned at Birth: Female
Current Gender Presentation: Female
Medical Conditions: N/A
Allergies: N/A
Other Afflictions: N/A
Emergency Contacts:
Joseph Beaufort
Relationship to Child: Father

Viktor Von Kaiser
Relationship to Child: Stepfather

Amélie Beaufort
Relationship to Child: Grandmother

Louise Sanders
Relationship to Child: Grandmother


A few hours later, Katrina got to her art class, where she saw Harry, Kira, and (sigh) Claire. The teacher at the front of the room was wearing a very funky tie with zigzagged magenta and orange stripes.

"Good morning," said the teacher, "I'm Miss Lazlo, I'll be your art teacher this semester."

After a demonstration of what they were going to do that semester, Miss Lazlo gave everyone a sheet of paper and instructed them to draw anything they wanted to. Katrina decided to draw a princess dress. She drew a chiffon top with a gown-length skirt with large pleats and a gem on the neckline.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Claire giving her a cold look, and whispering to the girl next to her. She furrowed her brow and continued to stare straight at her page.

When everyone was done, the class talked about what they'd drawn and why. "I drew a flower bed," said the girl sitting next to Claire, "because there are all kinds of wildflowers that grow in my yard."

"Very nice, Isla," said Miss Lazlo, "drawing inspiration from reality."


At lunchtime, Katrina sat with Annie, Janet (who she hadn't seen all day), and Kira to eat. "Do you have Miss Lazlo?"

"I have her Period 5," said Kira.

"You'll love her," said Katrina, "she's a lot like you."

The four of them ate quietly, until a wadded-up piece of paper sailed across the table and landed next to Kira's plate. Kira opened up the paper. Inside was the message "want to hang out after school?" with little doodles surrounding it. She looked to the side, and Isla was watching for her reaction. When she saw Kira looking up, she smiled and waved. Kira grinned and waved back.


When school ended, Katrina got onto the bus and rode home. When she got home, Uncle Miles and Adalaide were over, putting together a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle with Dad and Vati. "Viens, Katie," said Dad, "joindre." (Come on, Katie, join us.)

Katrina put her bag down and sat down to help put the puzzle together. "Wie gefällt dir das Gymnasium?" Vati asked. (How do you like high school?)

"It's pretty good," said Katrina. "I have a pretty cool art teacher."

"J'espère que tes années d'école secondaire sont mieux que mon," said Dad. "Mes annees etait plein avec les amis toxique, la stresse, et un enseignement malfaisant." (I hope your high school years are better than mine. My years were full of toxic friends, stress, and an evil teacher.) He sighed, shook his head, and continued with the puzzle.