On a Friday, Katie arrived early to her first hour class and sat down. The last few weeks had been very stressful and...weird. She felt terrible to admit it, but she been avoiding Zac. She had only made eye contact with him once, and he had given her a look full of so much hurt and anger that she hadn't been able to bear it. She hitched a ride to school in the mornings with Nicole, who left fifteen minutes earlier, to Katie's delight.
"Hi Katie."
Katie looked up to see one of the girls in her class, Meredith, sit down in her seat which was in front of Katie.
"Hi." Katie said, giving her a small smile. She liked Meredith, but she was very nosy, and sometimes very very annoying.
"So." Meredith started. "I heard you broke up with Zac."
Katie sighed. "Could we talk about something else?"
Meredith giggled, not getting the hint. "Touchy, huh?"
"I guess." Katie said.
"Well when did it happen?"
"Awhile ago." She answered shortly. Katie didn't mean to be rude, but she wanted everyone to know the least amount of information about it. Maybe then she would save Zac some embarassment.
"Well you dumped him, right?"
"Meredith, I'd rather not get into this."
"Oh, come on. You can tell me." Meredith urged with a giggle. Katie looked at her skeptically, then busied herself with the mechanical pencil that was in her hand.
"So was he mad?"
Katie was loosing her patience. "Meredith, I'd rather not talk about this." She snapped. SHe looked up just in time to see Zac walk in and sit down. Katie saw him eye herself and Meredith before pulling his books out of his bookbag. Katie pitied him.
Meredith got the hint finally and turned around. Katie sighed. It was only eight thirty, and already a day was ruined.
Zac slammed his locker shut a week later. How things could go from being absolutely perfect to the point where he wanted to rip his hair out was beyond him. Not only did he and Katie not talk, but they didn't even look at one another. Guess we won't be getting back together... Zac thought.
He picked up his bookbag and started towards the parking lot. The rumors had stopped cold turkey about two weeks ago, and now the new topic of conversation was how he got dumped and how he was now considered fresh bait. He rolled his eyes as he passed two giggling girls eyeing him. Didn't they understand that he just wanted to be left alone?
He sighed as he walked down the main hall. Girls eyed him, and he tried his best not to be noticed. School was his least favorite place these days. He opened the front doors and waited for Taylor as the sea of students rushed past him. Another girl walked past him and giggled to her friend. Where was Taylor? He just wanted to get out of there.
Katie hadn't realized how much her life revolved around Zac until he was gone. Not only did she not have anything to do on the weekends, but her geometry grades were slipping also. It was a Saturday morning, and she was so bored she was attempting to do the weekend's homework.
"Ulgh...what are they talking about?" She asked herself outloud as she read the directions to the equation again.
"That doesn't work....ULGHHH!" She exclaimed. She threw down her pencil.
"Why am I doing this now? It's saturday morning. Oh well...I've got two days left to do it after all...I'll just ask Nicole...Oh my god...I'm talking to myself." She said. She stood up and flopped back onto her unmade bed.
Things had certainly gone downhill fast. One day, she and Zac were happy happy happy, the next, well...He wouldn't even look at her. Not that she blamed him. But she just couldn't have been sure if he was telling the truth or not. The people you trust can hurt you the most of all if that trust is betrayed... Morgan's words ran through her head.
Morgan. That was another reason Katie rode with Nicole to school. It was too hard watching Morgan and Taylor together. They were very happy and touchy touchy when they were together, and it just made her sick. One day she caught them making out in the kitchen when she went in to get a glass of water. She had seen them, gotten her juice, and gotten out of there as quickly as possible.
Katie groaned and hid under her blankets. She knew it was almost noon, but she had no plans for the day. That was how most of her weeknds went by these days. Slow and very uneventfull. She was just beggining to fall back to sleep when Judy came in and ripped the covers off of her.
"HEY!" Katie hollered, grabbing for her covers.
"No, no, not hey. You need to get up." Judy said.
"No." Katie growled, curling up again.
"You do nothing all day. You're pathetic. Get up." Judy said, yanking the covers completely off the bed.
"Judy..."
"What?"
Katie sat up. "I just don't feel like doing anything."
"You never do."
"So?"
"So the world is not going to stop just for you go get over Zac. Now get up." She said.
"Why?" Katie asked, dragging herself from her bed.
"Because. I need to run a few errands today, and it would be good for you to get out." Judy said.
"Whatever."
"Be ready in twenty minutes." Judy said, walking out of the room.
Katie groaned again and slid out of bed. She padded over to the bathroom and started the shower. She slammed the door shut and peeled off her clothes. Her reflection in the large mirror caught her eye. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, and it was dirty and matted. Her eyes were puffy and red, and her face was white and splochy. She looked like shit.
"I've got to take care of myself." She muttered before stepping into the shower. She showered, then got out and threw on jeans and a sweatshirt along with tennis shoes. She did not feel like going all out today. She made her way downstairs, not even bothering to put on makeup.
"Ready?" Judy asked, looking her up and down.
"Yeah." Katie muttered.
"Alright." Judy said. Katie, Judy, Madison, Ben, and Kristen all loaded into Judy's suburban and they were off. Katie opted to turn on her discman instead of listening to the listless chatter of her six year old sister while they were on their way to Wal-mart.
"I love this place." Judy said as they picked out a cart.
"You do?" Katie said, winkling her nose.
"yeah. It's got the best stuff." Judy said.
"I guess." Katie said. Judy was a little too weird for her taste sometimes.
Katie wandered over to the pet section and gazed at the animals. Her eyes fell on the hampsters. She poked at a calico one, and she jumped when it sqeaked. She smiled and watched it run around it's cage.
"You must get lonely all by yourself...no one to do things with...just like me." Katie said to herself.
The hampster sqeaked and looked at her through the cage.
"There you are." She heard Judy come up behind her.
"Yeah."
"Whatcha lookin at?"
"Hampsters." Katie answered.
"Cool." Judy said. She watched Katie smile as she poked at the little calico hampster in it's cage. She hadn't seen her smile in weeks. Suddenly, she had an idea.
"Do you want one?" She asked.
Katie looked at her, surprised. She looked at the hampster again. "Yeah."
"Okay." Judy said.
"Yay!" Madison squealed.
Twenty mintues later, Katie was holding the cage of her very own hampster. She poked through the metal bars at it while they stood in the checkout line.