Chapter 2: Failure and a Family

AN: I’m back back. :P Now we find out what math class is really like for Kat, and how her obsessions with Him are taking over her life. Her sister also embarrasses her. Yayness!

The boring, silent room that Kat entered next was for her math class. There was nothing on the walls, save a calendar and some flyers with info near the front of the room. A few of the windows were pulled open so there was a bit of a draft. Kat was wearing a T shirt, so she didn’t appreciate it very much.

As soon as she sat down, she felt something bounce off her shoulder. She turned around to see Kyle and Matt sitting side by side, grinning from ear to ear. She scooped up the Gatorade bottle cap from the floor and hurled it at Matt, hoping it was the right choice between the two. Right after it hit Matt, Kyle started to laugh. So Kat ripped out a piece of paper from her notebook, crumpled it up, and threw it at his head. This time it was Matt’s turn to laugh.

The fun and games ended here. The teacher had entered and was ready to teach. Kat slid down in her seat and stared at the blackboard as Mr. D drew diagrams of shapes and lectured the class on how to find area. He encouraged them to take notes, which Kat, as usual, completely ignored. Instead, she did what she had been doing for quite some time. She glanced up at the clock on the wall, then scribbled in the margins of her notes: “45 minutes till I see Randy.” That was Him. Almost every page in the notebook was covered with side notes of this sort. Count downs to the end of class so she could see Him in the hallway. It was pathetic.

Nevertheless, she kept it up: every class, every day, every week, on and on, relentlessly. It helped pass the time. Besides, Ray tutored her at lunch. The need to pay attention to the lesson dwindled.

Kat needed something to do. She pressed the eraser of her pencil frantically, then stabbed it at the desk to make the lead went back in. She looked at the clock, then sighed and wrote, “35 minutes till I see Randy.” This time she drew a heart around it.

It just got worse and worse.

The walk to her fifth period class seemed to take forever. She entered the French room only to find that it was in a semi-uproar, as usual. The teacher was writing English phrases on the board to be translated by the class. They did it everyday. It was great practice.

She took a seat right behind Greg, who was busy punching Jeremy in the shoulder. John hurled a paper airplane, which, Kat assumed, was made from notes to prepare for the mid-term, at Matt, who was lounging on the floor by Kat’s feet. Over across the room. Sindy was making fun of Jeff.

Madame Hesse, finished with the writing on the board, turned around and clapped her hands. “Okay classe!” she shouted and pointed to the board. “Ecrivez cettes phrases en français. Moi, je vais regarder les devoirs, et alors, sortez vos cahiers.”

The class glumly took their seats, pulling out notebooks and flipping through paper. Kat knew she would not have time for the “Randy count down” this period. Madame Hesse was too energetic to allow boredom or lack of learning in her class. This was evident as she puttered up and down the aisles with a grade book, singing loudly in her soprano way, “Cahier! Cahier! Sortez vos cahiers!”

Math class? Meh, who needs it?

Despite the energy in the class, Kat felt her mind start to drift. She thought about Randy; pictured his face in perfect detail; his black hair spiked with hair gel, his big brown eyes, his smile and dimples. It was like envisioning an angel. He was someone sent from above, meant to haunt her in her dreams. She imagined him tossing a football around with his buddies. His favorite activities now seemed sacred. For example, He liked to shake cans of soda and throw them against trees. He loved playing Devil May Cry on Playstation 2, and liked to collect ping pong balls. A little strange yes, but there it was. Kat found all this out from Lizzy, who talked to Randy’s friends online and, she supposed, made them go through the third degree to gather this info. Just for her benefit because she had no guts and couldn’t even find out for herself.

Her way of life changed dramatically. Upon hearing these facts, Kat began to do things that were just. . .strange for a fifteen year old girl. She started watching football on TV, getting every bit of info she could, memorizing team names, players numbers, scores and locations of games, hoping they would come in handy some day. She started a new hobby in ping pong, and starting playing often in the basement with her sister, struggling to gain some skill. She drank lots of soda. It felt so dumb, because she would much rather sing, or meditate, or read philosophy. But she kept thinking: Randy Randy Randy…

She’d get used to it.

“Kat?” A voice was ringing through her head, interrupting her thoughts. “Kat? Kat!”

She snapped out of it. Madame Hesse was looking at her. She leaned forward in her seat and read from the activity they had been working on. “Qu’est-ce que tu vas faire là-bas?”

“Bien,” Madame said, “Kat, tu es triste?” She looked very concerned.

Kat shook her head and tried to smile, “Non, je suis fatiguée.”

“Trop fatiguée pour l’école?”

“Oui.” The answer was glum.” Toujours.”

Kat was overcome with guilt as she strode down the hall to sixth period English. She was saying to Lizzy as she walked, “I feel terrible. I was actually daydreaming in French class. For the first time ever!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lizzy said, “Once can’t hurt.”

“I broke Madame’s heart. I’m supposed to be the model student!”

“I think I know why you were in your own world,” Lizzy said cheerfully. “Let me guess. Does the reason start with an R?”

Kat sighed and nodded.

“And does it end with a Y?”

Nod.

“And has an AND in the middle?”

Nod.

“Then you have a legitimate excuse for going out of it in class.”

“Gimme a break!”

“You do!” Lizzy looked at her friend, then hugged her. “Awwww Kat! Don’t feel bad. I’ll see what I can do.”

They headed the rest of the way to English class together.

Kat sat in the middle of her bedroom floor, legs crossed, arms outstretched. She was wearing sweatpants, socks, and a headed jacket, and her hair was tied up tightly and out of the way. Meditation. It was something she did almost everyday in a lame attempt to “clear all the troubling thoughts from her mind and start fresh.” That was what her English teacher said anyway. Yes, they meditated in English class. For whatever reason, Ms. L was crazy. Trying to “clear the mind and purify the soul” with thirty teenagers who had their hearts set on destruction? What college did she go to?

Anyways, Kat reached over and switched on the tape recorder. She inhaled and exhaled slowly as she listened to sounds of the ocean; waves, wind, seagulls. No more school, no more Randy, no more shit from teachers, no more trouble, no more-

knock knock knock

The waves disappeared. The sun exploded. Kat’s eyes flew open. “Aw!” She switched off the tape, stood up, and opened the door. There was her little sister. Pre-teen Mama’s girl. Perfect athlete.

“This had better be good,” Kat said under her breath.

“Phone!” Alex grinned and danced around, “Phone phone phone!”

“Who?”

She stopped and shrugged, “I dunno. Some guy with a deep voice. I told him you were in the bathroom shaving.” Alex ran down the stairs giggling.

Kat stood there dazed. Her jaw dropped, “Little girl, I got a feeling your whole family’s goin’ down!” she yelled. Then she turned slowly and grabbed the phone off her nightstand. “Hello?”

“Hey. Kat?”

It was Randy. Kat closed her eyes and fell to the floor with a loud THUMP!

AN: A cliff hanger. I ish good at this. Not tellin’ you what’s next this time. :P