As the day went on, things were most uneventful for both Katie and Candy. Both of them spent the entire afternoon and a large majority of the evening at the house, going about their day and doing what they'd usually do back in New York; or in Katie's case, act as if it's another day in Simport. The only moment that either of them would consider 'eventful' was dinner, which was a grilled cheese sandwich with some soda on the side; but even then, all they did around that time was just talk about what tests the two had during their four years together in college, which Candy found uneventful and extremely boring for her to sit through...she swore if she had to hear anything that's science-related again, she was just going to take her chances and find a hotel for her to live in instead of staying here. Regardless, a majority of the day was completely uneventful.
After everyone finished their dinner, Katie remained upstairs and did a few things on her laptop, most of which was related to dentistry. Without her knowing about it, her father came walking into the room, with something hidden behind his back. "Kathryn, I'd like to have a word with you, dear." The tomboy's father said, closing the door behind him.
"Sure, dad." Katie says as she turns around in her chair in order to face him. "What is it?"
"As you may recall from earlier this morning, I have a present for you." Maxwell began explaining, walking towards his daughter slowly, still keeping his hands behind his back. "Before you returned to Simport, I was originally wanting to have this delivered to you on your birthday, as I believed that you were more than ready to finally be given this; however, due to what had happened a month prior, I feared that this would have been...too soon, as one would say; but since some time has passed, I believe that now is the right time to finally give you this." He pulled out his hands, revealing a white box with a red ribbon wrapped around it. "Here you go, dear."
"Thanks, dad." Katie says as she stared at the box. "But, uh...w-what is it?"
"Oh, Kathryn..." Maxwell says through chuckles. "I'm not supposed to tell you what's inside, dear; it's you who's supposed to open it up and see for yourself."
"Oh, right..." The tomboy chuckled sheepishly, as she picks up a pair of scissors that were on her desk and proceeded to cut the wrapping-paper around the box.
Once she got all the paper and ribbon off of the box, Katie removes the lid and proceeded to reach inside, pulling out what appears to be a suitcase; opening it up, the case was filled with dental tools, all of which were shiny and brand new, as if they were recently-bought. Katie reached into the box again, but this time, she pulled out a dentist uniform; a white coat with a tooth printed on one part of the chest, a blue polo-shirt, black dress pants, and a name-tag with her name on it. She reached in one last time to see if there's anything left for her to take out, but it seems like those were the only two things that were inside the box; it wasn't that big, so she kind of expected there to only be two things inside.
"Do you like it?" Maxwell asked with a smile on his face.
"I don't believe that 'like' is the right term for me to use to describe my current feelings regarding all of this, dad." Katie answered calmly, before turning to face her father. "I LOVE IT SO MUCH!" She shouts happily while hugging both of her received items, in a tone that sounds as if she was just given her own car. "THIS IS THE GREATEST GIFT YOU HAVE EVER GIVEN ME, DAD! THANK YOU!" She continued to shout while hugging her father.
"Your very welcome, dear." Maxwell replied, hugging his daughter back.
Little did either of them knew, Candy was standing right behind them in the doorway. "That has got to be the most excited I have ever seen her anywhere, anytime." She commented while shaking her head, causing the two to stop hugging and look at her.
"Don't ruin this moment for me, Candy." Katie told her cousin.
"Hey, dude, I'm just here to give you my support." The blonde tomboy says, raising both of her hands in the air. "Sarcasm aside, congratulations."
"Thanks."
"By the way, you guys need to buy some beer; the fridge is totally vacant of them." Candy says before taking a sip from the can of soda she was holding.
"Have you not read the list of rules I've left on there hours ago?" Maxwell asked his niece. "One of them is that alcohol isn't allowed in this house under any circumstance."
"Actually, I read the first three on that list, and...I pretty much ignored the rest." Candy answered with a shrug. "Most of them seemed pretty bogus to me, I won't lie to you about that; and if that's really one of them, then you haven't seen what Katie's been drinking during Spring Break."
"Kathryn?!" Maxwell exclaimed as he turned to look at his daughter, who was just silently looking down at the floor.
"I didn't drink any beer while I was in New York, not even when I was forced to go to the bar with Candy." Katie told her father, shaking her head in an irritated manner, before looking back up at her cousin again. "Now would you quit ruining this moment already?"
"Whatever, dude..." Candy muttered, before taking one more sip of her drink and headed downstairs to presumably get herself another drink.
After letting out another irritated sigh, Katie looked down at both of her presents and gave them a fond smile. "Well, at least my mood's not entirely ruined now that I've got these." She said as she went over to her closet and placed both the uniform and tool-kit inside of it. "Thanks again, dad."
"Your very welcome, dear." Maxwell replied, heading over to the door; but right before he could leave, he stopped in the frame and turned around. "Oh, and before I forget, I need you to do one thing for me tomorrow."
"What is it, dad?" Katie asked as she turned around to face her father.
"Despite receiving your uniform and tools, you're not officially hired at my office just yet. Tomorrow, whenever you've got the time, I need you to come down to my office and sign a few applications for me. Is that alright with you, dear?"
"Of course, dad." Katie answered. "But...w-when do you want me to come to your office, exactly?"
"The office always closes at approximately five in the evening, so...I'd recommend that you show up around four in the afternoon."
"Well, Candy's probably going to have a way more eventful day than me tomorrow, so..." Katie paused, before proceeding to nod her head in agreement. "I believe that's a good enough time for me."
"Alright." Maxwell replied as he gently grabbed a hold of the handle of his daughter's door. "Good night now, darling."
"You too, dad." Their conversation ended there, as Katie's father closed the door and headed off to his own room.
Now that she was alone once again, Katie sat back down at her computer and turned it off, deciding to call it a night and go to bed just like her father was; but right after she closed her laptop, she was quick to notice her bedroom window. She knew it's been hours since it happened, but she couldn't help but remember that new guy who lives next door to her now, and she was still curious about where her old neighbor went; and now that she thought about it, she probably should've asked her father about the latter's whereabouts when he was in here moments ago. Regardless, despite the fact that it was a very bad idea, especially after she startled him hours ago, she got up from her chair and headed over to the window to see if he was in that pantry again or not.
Upon approaching the curtain again, Katie took a deep breath and opened it only slightly, so that she doesn't end up being caught by her neighbor again; and the last thing that she really wanted was for her dad to hear her scream, resulting in her lying to him that it was a bug again. Peeking through the curtain now, she noticed that the man wasn't there; instead, it was somebody else. It was another man, but he appeared to be less bulky than the biker, and has short blue hair; and his outfit consisted of a dog hat, with an orange long-sleeved shirt with a pair of blue overalls. Now Katie was even more confused about this, because this guy doesn't look like anyone who would be friends with either the new or the previous neighbor; but...who was this person?
After a few seconds of staring at the blue-haired boy, Katie's phone began to ring, prompting her to pull it out of her pocket and check to see if it was Crystal calling or not; after seeing that it was her, she immediately answered the call. "Hey, dude." Katie greeted as she continued to keep her eyes focused on the window ahead of her. "What's up?"
"Nothing much, dude." Crystal answered in a causal tone of voice, sounding almost as laidback as Candy usually was. "I'm just hanging out at my boyfriend's house right now, and since he's in the bathroom, I decided to check up on you to see how things are going over there for you and your cousin?"
"It's going as 'good' as you'd expect." Katie simply answered.
"So, not good at all?"
"Actually, that's not really fair for me to say..." Katie awkwardly admitted, backing away from the curtain for a minute to say this. "Neither of us really spoke to each other after you left, except for dinner; but even then, we didn't really interact much around that time."
"Oh..." Crystal simply responds, as her best friend turned to look out the window again. "Did anything awesome happen today, at least?"
"Yes; I've finally received my dentist uniform and dental tools this morning."
"Ah, you're officially a dentist now?" Crystal asked, sounding somewhat amazed by this. "It was only a matter of time before your dream came true, dude."
"Well, I'm not hired just yet, but I will be as soon as I get a few applications signed tomorrow; and then I'll finally become an official dentist."
There was a bit of a pause in this part of the duo's conversation, as Katie wanted to see what the blue-haired boy was doing in that pantry; the latter was just looking through a bunch of tools that were in some of the boxes, like his friend was doing this morning. "Hey, dude, are you still there?" Crystal asked, interrupting the silence.
"Y-Yeah, I am." Katie answered, before closing the curtain for a quick second. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead." Crystal answered. "But be quick; my boyfriend's gonna be back in here in a couple of minutes to watch this movie again."
"When you were visiting my dad on occasions while I was still in New York, have you noticed that there's a new guy living next door to us; and do you know if our old one moved out?"
"You're asking that as if I pay attention to your neighbors, dude." Crystal stated. "Why are you asking me this question and not your dad?"
"Well, this new neighbor of ours is a...a cute boy with a motorcycle." Katie muttered as she leaned back-first into the wall beside her window, placing one of her hands on her face and lowering it down while her friend let out a slight chuckle.
"Yeah...I had a feeling it was one of these situations again."
"It's not one of these 'situations' again, Crystal."
"Bullshit, it isn't." Crystal says with a hint of a scoff. "This is sounding exactly like the time you thought that neighbor across the street from you was cute."
"Yes...then I later found out that he was a total loser who already HAS a girl he's in love with."
"The dude acts all tough and cool, but he's really a loser..."
"Stop reminding me." Katie muttered, before lifting herself off of the wall and began looking through the curtains again. "This guy actually does seem like a pretty cool guy, unlike that one; although, I'm not sure if the same could be said about his friend."
"Really?"
"Well, he's wearing a dog hat, so..."
"A dog hat?" Crystal asked, sounding intrigued to hear that piece of information being mentioned. "I don't know why, but something about these guys that you're bringing up to me, they sound kinda familiar."
"Hey, babe, the popcorn's done." A male voice says from the goth girl's side of the line. "Are you ready to get back to watching this movie?"
"You bet, sweetie!" Crystal shouts to her boyfriend, before turning her attention back over to Katie. "I'm sorry, dude; but I got to get back to my date now. I'll see you sometime tomorrow; okay?"
"Enjoy your date, dude."
"I will."
Once their phone-call had ended, Katie decided to check and see what the blue-haired boy was doing in that pantry now; but unfortunately, when she did, the latter wasn't there anymore. She had no idea of where he went off to; presumably, he either left the room in order to...do something else, or he noticed the tomboy without her knowing and is off to warn his friend about it right now; the latter being the most likely out of the two. 'Eh, whatever happens, I'm sure I can deal with it tomorrow...' The tomboy says in her thoughts, before closing the curtains, then proceeding to get ready for bed just like everyone else.
The next morning...
After waking up, Katie got out of bed and did her usual morning routine; she showered off, brushed her teeth, brushed her hair and got dressed in her usual everyday attire. Then she went downstairs to have herself some breakfast, which was usually very time lonesome, since her father would usually be at work around this time; but now that she's got Candy living with them now, it looks like she doesn't have to feel that way anymore. Speaking of whom, she's probably going to have to make breakfast for Candy as well, which isn't a bad thing for the studious girl, as she luckily took cooking class during her time in college; and she was more than happy to finally be putting her skills to the test.
Katie spent the next twenty or thirty minutes baking pancakes, which was one of the few breakfasts she learned how to make during college. It was a simple dish, but she also added blueberries in it, instead of just leaving them plan; and not to mention that Katie had a bit of a love for blueberries as well. Once she got everything made, she placed two plates down onto the dining-room table, took the syrup and milk out of the fridge, and then headed over to the stairs so that she can call out for her cousin.
"Candy, breakfast is ready!" Katie shouts, before returning to the kitchen to get them their drinks.
Upon returning to the table, Katie took three of the pancakes off of the plate she placed in the middle of it, and placed them onto her own; and then once she got around to pouring some syrup onto them, Candy came walking into the room. "Couldn't you have just let me get a few more minutes of sleep?" She asked in a tired, yet clearly annoyed, tone of voice.
"Well, you don't want to miss breakfast now, would you?" Katie asked as she glanced behind herself in order to look at her cousin, who just standing there glaring at her with her hair all messy and wearing a light pink bathrobe which was...unfortunately open; the sight of her cousin in this state made the more studious of the two lose her smile within seconds. "Uh...didn't want to get dressed today?"
"It's kinda hard for me to do that when your cousin's yelling for you to come downstairs..." Candy mutters as she continued to glare at the studious tomboy.
"Well, you're lucky that my dad isn't here right now, or else he'd be demanding you to go back upstairs." Katie told her cousin, before pointing at the plate in the center of the table. "Anyways, I just want you to know that I've made breakfast for us, in case you're hungry."
"You made breakfast today?" Candy asked, clearly sounding hesitant after hearing that said. "Should I be worried if it tastes like shit?"
"There's no need for you to be sarcastic with me, because this time, I didn't mess up the recipe."
"Yeah...I think I'm just going to head back upstairs and take a shower." Candy says, backing out of the kitchen and into the hallway behind her. "Besides, I still haven't taken one since we got here, so..."
"You can't be serious with me here, dude." Katie muttered, before turning to look at her cousin. "I said I've followed every single step correctly this time."
"I hear you, dude; I hear you..." Candy says, making her way up the stairs. "But I'd rather shower first, if that's okay with you..."
"Candy, it's not like..." The studious tomboy paused as soon as she noticed her cousin was now upstairs, and out of her sight. "Nice disco-ball tattoo on your boob, by the way!" She then shouts behind herself, before proceeding to continue eating her breakfast.
After finishing her food, Katie was about to go into the living-room and probably watch some television until four comes around, or maybe play some video-games; but right before she could enter that room, the doorbell rang. This confused her, as she wasn't really expecting anyone at the moment. Her father was, obviously, at work right now, meaning that couldn't be him; and Crystal was probably off with one of her friends, or being tormented by her five other sisters at the moment, so it couldn't be her either. Since it was mostly likely neither of them, then this was probably either the mailman or one of her other friends who decided to come out here to visit her. Either way, she went to the door to see who it was.
"Hello; and how may I help you on this fine, beautiful morning?" Katie greeted upon opening the door.
"We were wondering if we could ask you something, new girl." A male voice-one that the tomboy didn't recognize-says.
The moment Katie opened her eyes, she saw two people standing on her porch, both of whom were glaring at her with unamused looks on their faces: they were both m men that she's seen in that old man's house yesterday; however, the one whose hair was blue seemed more worried than he was angry. 'Well, shit...' The tomboy thought as she stood there silently. 'Why must this encounter happen now and not later?'
Note: So, a bit of a clumsy end here, but I finally got this entire chapter done. Originally, I wanted this to be a chapter focused on Crystal; however, while I was writing it, I felt like it wasn'tfitting to the story just yet. So, instead of focusing on her here, I decided to focus on her later; perhaps in chapter 5, although I'm not entirely certain on it. She will have a chapter focused on her sometime eventually.
Regardless, we are introduced to another person in this story, also not by name. I believe it's kinda obvious at this point who it is living next time door to Katie, but to the ones who aren't so sure, who do you think it could be? You'll all just have to wait until the next chapter to find that out.
Now, let's see what reviews we have for today are...
TheBigBunnyBoy: It didn't really make sense for BeeBee and Katie to be cousins, let alone know each other; so I didn't go with her.
lordgemini: Well, the neighbor also has a friend living with him too; although, as I've said, I think it's pretty obvious who it is, especially thanks to the mention of the blue-haired boy's dog hat. I believe it's also worth noting that, despite not mentioning him, it's not clear whether or not Crystal knows Chaz; so, that'll be left up for debate until she figures out about him.
In the next chapter, the confrontation between Katie and the new neighbors will begin. Until then, I will see you all in the next chapter.