"OK class, we have a new pupil joining us today," Miss Henderson said to her Year 7 form class. "Everyone this is Catherine Fleming,".
From his seat at the front left desk, an 11 year old Steven Arnott looked at the new comer. She was a dark haired girl with blue eyes. Her hair was scraped back in to a pony tail at the nape of her neck and any stray hairs kept in place with some clips. Her uniform like his was a little on the large size.
"Let's find you somewhere to sit," Miss Henderson said to the little girl and Steven tried his best to look as inconspicuous as possible but he knew it was a waste of time. The only spare seat in the room was next to him. He himself was new to the school and was yet to make any friends since he had joined the secondary school at the start of term. His father had been promoted and he and his parents had had to relocate to the Midlands from South London in the summer holidays.
"Why don't you sit next to Steven," Miss Henderson said to the new girl and Steven sighed as his fate was sealed. He heard some of the other boys in the class giggle as he was the only boy that had to sit next to a girl.
Whilst she made her way to her new seat, Steven set out a boundary on the desk in front of him, clearly setting out his territory with a line of pencils, erasers and a ruler. None of her girly glitter and unicorn crap would be crossing over to his side of the table.
"Hi," said the girl shyly as she took a seat beside Steven. He saw her glance at his boundary line as she sat down.
"Hi," replied Steven, just as shyly. He watched as she ducked down in to her rucksack and pull out her pencil case and set it on the desk in front of her. Steven raised his eyebrows a little as he caught sight of what was decorating her case. The Nottingham Forest logo. It wasn't the usual design that graced a girls pencil case. "You a Forest fan?" Steven asked quietly as Catherine got her pen out.
"Yeah," Catherine replied before Steven chuckled at her misfortune. "Better than being a Celtic fan," she retorted in defence, having already spotted Steven's green and white striped pencil case.
Steve stopped mid giggle, impressed at the girl's knowledge of football. Not many boys in the class would know the Scottish football team's colours. Maybe this new girl wasn't so bad after all.
"Ok, class," Miss Henderson said to the room before Steve could defend his team. "We're going to start the week with the spelling test," she announced and the whole room groaned. "Let's see how well you've done with the words I gave you all to learn over the weekend," she instructed as she handed out some paper to all the pupils. "You do your best, Catherine," she instructed the newcomer.
"Miss, you can call me Kate," the girl informed her teacher.
"OK, Kate it is," Miss Henderson replied before starting the test.
"Why do you want to be called Kate?" Steven asked.
"I prefer it," the girl replied. "And seeing as I'm eleven now it sounds more grown up than Katie,". Steven nodded sagely as he thought about what Kate had said.
The spelling test got under way and Kate tried her best but Steven could see she was struggling with some of the harder words. Taking pity on her, he managed to tap her on the arm with his pen whilst Miss Henderson wasn't looking to get her attention. Kate turned to Steve and saw that he had got his answers on display and knew he was helping her. Sharing a smile with each other they helped each other with the rest of the test and between them they managed to put an answer down for each word.
"We're going to be doing a project on Shakespeare for the rest of the term," Miss Henderson informed the class as she collected in their spelling tests. "You'll be working with your desk partner on one of his stories. I want a poster presentation and then you'll take it in turns to tell the rest of the class about your poster," she instructed them. Arriving at Kate and Steven's desk she gave them the story of Romeo and Juliet to research. The rest of the lesson was spent working in their new project before the bell went for break time.
Kate stood by herself watching nearly everyone else in the school making the most of their free time. She hated having no friends at this new school. Out of the corner of her eye she spied her desk partner also sitting by himself. He had eventually been friendly to her after that nonsense with letting her know what side of the desk he considered his. Hoping he would talk to her again she went over to him.
"Hi," she said as she sat down beside Steven. He was engrossed in watching the rest of the boys in their class playing football.
"Hi," said Steven shyly.
"Why aren't you playing with them?" Kate asked.
"I'm new as well," Steven admitted. "I haven't made friends with them yet,".
"You should ask to play," Kate said.
"I dunno," Steve said hesitantly. He was the shortest boy in the class and didn't want to draw attention to himself for fear of being bullied.
"I'll do it for you," Kate said as she started to get up.
"No!" Said Steven quickly. "It's OK," he continued. It would be embarrassing to have a girl have to ask for him. Thankfully Kate did as he wanted and she sat back down beside him.
"How come you're new?" She asked.
"We moved from London," Steve explained. "Dad got a new job,".
"London?" Questioned Kate. "How come you support Celtic?".
"My dad's Scottish. He moved to London when he married my mum," explained Steve. "How come you moved here?".
"My mum and dad are getting divorced. Mum and I have moved here,".
"Oh," said Steve. He had a few friends whose parents had spilt up and he knew it wasn't fun for them. "Where're you living now?".
"We've got a flat on the Moss Heath Estate,". It was small but it was all Kate's mum could afford.
"That's near me," Steve said. "Maybe you could come to mine after school and we could work on that project?" He offered.
"OK," Kate eventually agreed. Her mum was working late that night and she didn't want to be home alone.
"Hi Mum!" Steven bellowed as he opened the front door and entered his house. Kate followed quietly behind.
"Hi Dear," replied Mrs Arnott from the kitchen where she was making the dinner. "How was your day?" she asked as her son appeared at the kitchen door and dumped his rucksack down.
"Alright," said Steven with his usual answer. Mrs Arnott knew he wasn't being entirely truthful. She knew her son was finding it difficult to settle into the new school with no friends. Mrs Arnott saw a girl appear behind her son.
"Oh hello," she said to the stranger.
"This is Kate," Steve introduced his mother to his new friend as he headed straight to the fridge. "She's new to the school today and we are partners for a project. I said it was ok for her to come here so we could work on it," he explained as he found a carton of juice and poured him and Kate a glass.
"Oh. Ok," said Mrs Arnott, pleased that Steve had finally made friends with someone. "Hello Kate,".
"Hello Mrs Arnott," the girl said shyly as she walked across the kitchen and stood beside Steve to get her drink.
"We can sit at the table can't we?" Steve asked his mum, pointing to the kitchen table.
"Of course, dear," Mrs Arnott replied and watched as her son and his friend settled themselves down to work. "What is your project on?".
"Romeo and Juliet," Steven replied. "Do you know it?".
"Yes," Mrs Arnott replied stopping her work on making the meal. "One of my favourite stories,".
"What's it about?" Steven asked. Getting the story from his mum would save him and Kate a lot of work.
Mrs Arnott took a seat at the table and gave them a potted version of the tale of Shakespeare's star crossed lovers. She thought she did a good job but was unconvinced when her son looked a bit disgruntled.
"Is that it?" He asked. His mother nodded. "Sounds silly. I wouldn't kill myself over a girl," he pronounced.
"Maybe if you were in love with them," his mother argued.
Steven scrunched his face up. Girls were gross. He was never going to like them.
Mrs Arnott smiled. Give it a couple of years and she had a feeling her son might feel very differently about the opposite sex.
Kate kept quiet. She thought the story very romantic. She hoped she would find someone who would like her as much as Romeo liked Juliet but after seeing her parents argue before they split up wasn't going to hold her breath. She was fairly sure that type of love only existed in stories.
"I better go," said Kate as she saw the time a bit later and started gathering her things together.
"Are you going to be OK getting back by yourself," asked Mrs Arnott.
Kate nodded. Her mother had warned her about being a nuisance to people many a time and she had come to be very self dependant. "It's not far," she informed Steve's mum.
"Well OK then," Mrs Arnott conceded as she watched her son show Kate to the front door.
"See you tomorrow," Steven said as Kate left and shut the door behind her.
"Kate seems nice," Mrs Arnott said to her son as he reappeared back into the kitchen. She was definitely a good influence on her son. She'd never seen him do so much work after school.
"Her actual name is Catherine," Steve said as he sat back at the table and put his things away. "She says Kate makes her sound older. Do you think it makes her sound older, mum?" He asked, interestedly.
"I suppose," Mrs Arnott agreed as she checked the dinner in the oven. "Has she just started the school because I haven't heard you mention her before,".
"She's just moved here like us," Steven replied. "Her parents are getting divorced,".
"Oh," replied Mrs Arnott. "That's sad,".
"Mum?" Asked Steven.
"Yes dear?".
"I think I want you to call me Steve from now on," Steven said.
"Why's that," Mrs Arnott asked, but guessing her son's reason.
"I think it sounds more grown up than Steven," her son explained.
Mrs Arnott smiled to herself. Her son's new friend really was having quite an influence over her son.