Leap of Faith

Day Fourty-One

*~*~* Cate *~*~*

There’s something to be said about my mom’s theory of kick ass shoes. For some inexplicable reason, I had felt a million times more confident yesterday in the heels, so this morning when it came to choosing an outfit, I automatically went for something that would be set off with a pair of shoes that would boost my height as well as my confidence.

I chose an electric blue chiffon, pleated skirt worn with a white tank top casually tucked in to the waist band. My hair had been braided into a messy fishtail style that hung over my left shoulder with a few strands loose to frame my face. I kept my accessories to a minimum because the black block heels from my mom’s collection would be enough of a statement.

Naturally, my new found sense of fashion shocked a lot of people, and I could hear my name following me down the hallways the whole morning. Of course, I had seen Georgie and Adam- although not together- and I’d tried not to let myself look too satisfied as they dropped their gazes and turned beet red as they avoided me. That said, I had to smile to myself as I walked to my locker this morning. Who would have thought that me, Cate Westbrook, would finally learn to stand up for myself?

Had I finally found my real self?

I’m not sure about finding myself, but I had found a great group of friends in Colton Spiller, Landon Harries, Zachary Adkins and surprisingly, Dean Brewer.  They had worked out that at least one of them was in each of my classes, and so I had a bodyguard at my side the whole morning. Landon was the worst of the guys, though. I think he was still feeling guilty about the whole dodgeball thing from all those weeks ago and was going above and beyond what all the others were doing. When Adam tried to pass me in the hallway, Landon stepped in front of Adam and engaged him in a stand-off that caught everyone’s attention. The hallway went quiet and all eyes were on the guys and me. I laughed off the stares, grabbed Landon’s arm and linked mine through his as I led us towards out class. Oh, I also smirked at Adam as we walked by.

Now we were hanging out in Mrs. Allen’s art studio- or rather the boys were. I was busy in my dark room, developing the stills I had taken at TJ’s soccer game yesterday. Capshaw had lost their game but none of the team seemed bummed. Coach Yeeles yelled, but it had been clear as soon as the team stepped onto the field that their hearts weren’t in the game. Not that that stopped me getting some brilliant photographs.

“Hey, Red, you in here?” Liam Lexton’s voice called from outside the door.

I got up and made it to the outer area of my dark room before opening the door and stepping outside. TJ and the guys were all staring at Liam like he was a gazelle that had wandered into the lions’ den, and I knew that they were thinking of reasons to jump at him. I rolled my eyes at TJ and then smiled at Liam.

“Hello, Liam,” I say politely. “What are you doing here?”

He held out a folded up piece of paper to me. “Take a look,” he said excitedly. “I wanted you to be the first person to know.”

“You got an A plus on the project?” My voice came out a little more shocked than Liam deserved. Of course he was going to get an A plus- he’d worked so hard. “That’s brilliant, Liam. Seriously, I’m so happy for you.”