Author note: This is a NaNoWriMo novel (translation: I wrote 50K of this in a month, as part of an international self-contest, and the rest in spurts from then until now) from November 2003. I post this to get feedback on whether it's any good, or mindless yet amusing drivel, so when you read, please point out my stupidities to me. I am almost completely incapable of editing my own writing, so your input would be greatly appreciated. As I tell my English teachers: Tear it up!

Oh, yeah. Enjoy, too.

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Cathlyn sat down. The old chair squeaked a little on the floor, but she didn't notice. She was too occupied with how hungry she was. As she put her brown lunch bag on the table in front of her, another appeared across from her. Sissen, a rather big girl, smiled as she maneuvered herself into her chair. She tossed her bright blond curls back behind her shoulder, and smiled with a wide, freckled face at Cathlyn, who was already munching on a sandwich.

"Wow. I really don't think I passed that test, Cath," she sighed, as she reached in her own bag. Another girl appeared at the table, but Sissen went on. "How do you think you did?"

Cathlyn shrugged. "Okay, I guess" was said through a bite of peanut butter sandwich. She swallowed. "There was that one, about some guy…" she screwed her face up, trying to remember the question.

"Oh, yeah, the guy that did that one thing!" Sissen laughed. "Be a little more specific, maybe?"

"It's no use." The other girl shook her head. "It's been more than five minutes." She pointed at her head with a dry smile. "All gone." The three girls at the table laughed. A characteristic of Cathlyn Imhold, to forget most everything on a test only a few minutes after seeing it.

Something should be said about these girls. They were all friends, to be sure, but something else connected them. They all wore the uniform of their school: dark green sweater, white collared shirt, green-and-blue plaid skirt, high white socks, and plain brown shoes. They all differed in size, from the rather wide Sissen Malone to tiny Andrea Shaporotti. Their temperaments were different, their coloring, their backgrounds, but Pauline Atta Private School united them.

Sissen Malone was, as already stated, fat. Her pink-white skin jiggled, and two darker circles of sweat-soaked sweater could always be seen under her arms. She wasn't grossly fat, just a little too big for an already ample frame. She was slow to anger, always deliberate in her actions – well, why not? So big and there were only so many different courses of action she could take after starting on one – and rather a jolly sort of person. Her mind, however, was quick as lightning. She had bright blue eyes and always carried around a giant leather shoulder bag, which no one had ever seen the bottom of.

Andrea Shaporotti, on the other hand, was short – 4'9" – and always everywhere. Her favorite topic was nail polish, which the girls weren't allowed to wear. She was very proud of her hands, though, and took extra care to keep them soft, beautiful, and graceful. Old age would probably devastate her, because arthritis ran in her family, but maybe that was why she was using her hands to their full extent now.

Cathlyn was of middle height. She didn't bother measuring, because she didn't care. Her hair was long and brown, spending most of its time in a tail at the nape of her neck. It often took her at least three hair bands to secure it. One to hold the hair, another in case the first broke, and the third for company.

Andrea nudged Cathlyn. "New girl," she said, indicating with her eyes the oriental-looking girl standing near the wall. "Nina, I think her name is."

"Aww, she looks so lonely." Sissen had managed to turn her bulk around in the chair. "Can we invite her over?" Andrea shrugged. "'S all right with me."

Nina was at the moment trying really hard not to look as though she was searching for a seat. Pauline Atta kids were a tiny, close-knit group – there were about 200 in the top three grades – and Nina was finding it hard to get in. She saw the rather big girl waving at her and smiled. Maybe not so hard after all. She made her way over to the table, long black hair swinging halfway down her back, and sat very quietly.

"Nina, right?" asked the small girl across the table. Nina nodded. "Andrea," the girl said, and stuck her hand out. Nina shook it, gratefully. "Sissen," Andrea pointed at the fat girl, who smiled and said Hi. "And Cathlyn." The other girl waved, apologetically, caught with food in her mouth, and hurriedly smiled.

"Welcome to Pauline Atta." Nina nodded again. "Where are you from?" Cathlyn took another bite and settled back in her chair to listen.

"Connecticut." When the others nodded, Nina continued. Cathlyn wasn't listening, though, because someone wearing an "Office worker" badge was bearing down upon her, fast. He held in his hand a pink piece of paper, no doubt a summons to The Office. Cathlyn wasn't worried though; it was probably just her mother calling to say she'd have to walk home again today. Soon, though, Cath's car would be out of the shop, and she could provide her own transportation.

She took the paper from the messenger, threw the rest of her lunch back in the paper bag, and left. Andrea raised an eyebrow, but at the sight of the pink paper, turned her attention back to Nina.

"Dean's office," the paper said, so, with curiosity, Cathlyn obeyed. As she opened the door to Ms. Thoms' office, she caught sight of her mother. "Mom?"

"Sit, Cathlyn," commanded the Dean. Cathlyn obeyed, and the Dean turned her face towards Cathlyn's mother again. "Now, we must talk about Cathlyn's school situation." When she was not interrupted, save for two puzzled looks, she continued. "She is missing a total of – " here she looked down at her desk for a moment "- a total of twenty-two assignments from her five classes." She fixed her gaze on the now-squirming Cathlyn. "This is not acceptable, from a student who is here on scholarship." Cathlyn, of course had nothing to say. "Less than on hundred percent effort is not enough to stay at Pauline Atta. I regret to say that, as of the end of this week, your attendance at school is over."

Cathlyn opened her mouth in protest, but her mother got words out first. "Is there no way she can make these up? Extra credit?"

The Dean shook her head. "School policy. And, as I understand it, extra credit has already been offered by the teachers."

Arlene Imhold turned the gaze of Death upon her child. "I didn't know that would happen!" protested Cathlyn. "Stop looking at me like that, Mom!"

The Dean cut in. "Cathlyn will of course need to be here until the end of the term. I believe that, because of where you live,-" she looked at her desk papers again "- she will be enrolled at South. We will transfer her credits to South." The office was silent for a few moments, and then Ms. Imhold stood up.

"Thank you, Ms. Thoms." The Dean nodded. "Cathlyn, I will talk to you at home." Then, she left.

Cathlyn looked at the Dean. "Class," she said, simply and authoritatively, and Cathlyn jumped out of her seat and into the hallway.

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Looks like most of the chapters are going to be about 2 typewritten pages in length. Wait, that makes the story 48 chapters long. Hmmm...maybe not. We'll just see. Anyway, the story is not finished as of this post, so, again, we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading.

-C.X.