Chapter two
Catherine
Mom kisses me gently on my forehead as she hands me my lunch. Dad enters the room and does the same. I've grown up with their love all to myself, but that means their attention too, which is why, at seventeen; I don't have a car of my own and had to throw an embarrassing tantrum just to get my license. I grab my bag from the chair and, a Mars bar in my hand, I leave the house.
Because I don't have a car, Shailene comes over to pick me up in hers most of the days- whenever her parents don't need it, or don't mind. Today, they do mind. I see her standing on the other side of the street and run over to join her. She starts chattering almost immediately and the fifteen minute walk to school could not be longer.
-
I don't know why he continues to hide behind the walls outside school. Maybe it's because he's gotten used to looking at me through cracks or from the corners of bins. It's funny because he knows how I feel. He knows how I feel about the mysterious, fair-skinned boy, the one who shared his crayons with me on the first day of school, almost ten years back now. He knows that I care, but still, he makes no moves to wedge the gap that lies between us. I can't tell if it's because I have a group of my own and he has but one friend.
I smile as I walk to the gates, Shailene by my side, her cheeks red, going on about how she might have seen her latest 'the one' outside her house at "like midnight or something, I don't even know! He was probably like spying on me or something..." her voice wonders into nowhere. My top fluttered slightly in the wind. I pull my hand down to straighten it, my head turned slightly, and again I see him there. I roll my eyes and turn to Shai, "Why don't you go on, Shai, I'll see you in the first period." She frowns, but walks in after reminding me that we need to stay back today. I walk up quietly behind Peter, the crowd of students faltering his vision, and tap him on his shoulder. He flinches and says something, but doesn't turn around yet. I wait. He finally looks back at me, realizing I wasn't ahead, but right here behind him. And then he smiles and everything is forgotten.
-
As we walk into class together, my palm fixed in his, I wonder if today is the day. Will he become a part of the community permanently now? Are the rules still the same? They probably are if he still goes around killing people for no personal benefit- or so I think. These flaws of his implemented by Oi Alloi don't concern me; I have a set of some of my own too.