Catch Me

Kanaya

September 6, Monday
  
  
"OH MY GOD. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOUR FUCKING HAIR, MARYAM?!"
 
 
I sighed at the shocked expression on his face. "Good Afternoon To You, Too. And Lower Your Voice Down, Please."
 
 
First day of being a senior in my school, I get a shout about my hair from my close friend Karkat Vantas. We have known each other way back since we were kids, along with Vri-... someone I used to like. Actually, we had a lot of childhood friends here. There was Terezi Pyrope, which Karkat was sort of seeing. You'll find out why I said "sort of" back there, sooner or later. And then best friends Sollux Captor and Aradia Megido which we had Gym with during Tuesdays.
 
As I closed my locker and slung my backpack, we both walked towards our last period, which was physics-slash-homeroom. Karkat and I didn't get to meet at lunch a while ago for some reason and we just got to see each other just this minute. Luckily, I got a few schedules together with him and the others.
 
Honestly, I just wanted to get my senior year over. Maybe go to Yale if I pass or something, and then fulfill my dream of becoming a fashion designer.
 
 
  
"DID YOU GET GUM STUCK IN IT?" He couldn't get over my new pixie-cut hair. It had been very long before, but certain things don't always last forever.
 
"No."
 
"HAD SPLIT ENDS?"
 
"Everyone Has Split Ends."
 
"NOT ME."
 
"Of Course Not."
 
"SAVE THE SARCASM FOR SOMEONE WHO'S FUCKING SARCASTIC TO THE TIP OF HER TOES AS WELL, KANAYA." he retorted.
 
I laughed. A few people turned their heads to look at us.
 
"WHY THOUGH?" he persisted.
 
My eyes grazed the floor. "You Know Why."
 
"BECAUSE OF HER?"
 
Why do names suddenly make you feel fragile when you're hurt? "I Am Reluctant To Agree, But Yes."
 
"DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT?"
 
"I'd Rather Not For It Might Disrupt The Delicate Balance Between Reminiscing And Moving On." Should I even say it as "moving on" when Vriska and I were never a couple to begin with? I just really had a major crush on her and had deluded myself into thinking she felt the same way about me.
 
"YOU SHOULD REALLY FIND SOME NICE, HOT CHICK AGAIN NOW THAT SCHOOL STARTED," Karkat suggested.
 
"And Break My Heart Again? I Think I'll Pass." We saw Nepeta Leijon and Equius Zahhak along our way and had nodded at them. Karkat and I had classes with them last junior year.
 
"WOW. DON'T BE SO PESSIMISTIC, KANAYA. WHAT IF NEW, HOT CHICK'S GONNA LIKE YOU BACK NOW? I MEAN, I THOUGHT YOU WERE MOVING ON AND ALL."
 
Why is he even more interested in my love life than me? "I Am."
 
"DOESN'T REALLY LOOK LIKE IT."
 
"I Met A Girl During Vacation," I replied just so he'd forget about the subject.
 
"WHOA. NO WAY. IS SHE HOT?"
 
I raised an eyebrow. "What Would Be The Difference If She's Hot Or Just Normal?"
 
Karkat appeared wanting to face-palm or something. "YOU GET POINTS IF SHE'S HOT. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT. BUT, YEAH, I GUESS IT'D BE OKAY IF SHE'S PLAINLY NORMAL."
 
"Oh. Well, I'm Not Sure. I Met Her Through Sburb."
 
Sburb was this popular website on the internet that was basically Facebook, Wattpad, Tumblr, all in one. Much, MUCH more exciting, I guess? It had nice games, too. There's this one game "Skaia" that's pretty cool. Only few know about it, though. Karkat had a Sburb account so he would know what I was talking about.
  
"OH NO." His eyes grew wide. "NOT SOME INTERNET CHICK! WHAT IF "SHE'S" A "HE"? OR WORSE."
 
"What Would Be Worse Than That?"
 
"SHE'D BE ONLY SIX YEARS OLD," he explained.
 
I gasped theatrically. "That Is Worse! Me Being A Pedophile Lesbian And All."
 
He scowled at me.
 
"Relax," I said while waving my hand reassuringly, "I Know She's A Girl And She Seems To Be Our Age. I Got To Video Chat With Her A Couple Of Times."
 
"SO YOU SAW HER THEN."
 
"Er, No." I bit down on my bottom lip. "She Had Requested Not To Use The Webcam And Just Chat Through Voice Or Whatever."
 
"GOOD GRIEF, KANAYA. YOU'RE HOPELESS." Karkat shook his head.
 
Was I really that bad? "Look, I'm Not Saying I Instantly Like Internet-Girl-With-No-Face. I Just Wanted To Let You See That I Am Moving On Like I Told You."
 
"YOU REALLY WANT TO FORGET THE BITCH, HUH?"
 
 
We had reached our respective room and was about to cross over the threshold.
 
"Please Don't Call Her That." Even though she kind of was. "She Broke My Heart But That Doesn't Mean We Should Call Her Names."
 
"WELL, WHAT DO YOU KNOW? YOUR LUCK MUST BE SO OVERWHELMING, MARYAM."
 
"What Do You Mean?"
 
Karkat nodded toward a seat where Vriska Serket was in, chatting with some of the boys in our class.
 
I couldn't help a groan. This was so not helping. All I needed was a bunch of grins or gestures from her, and I'd probably make myself hope for nothing again. I instantly chose a seat far away from her, and plunked my stuff down. She didn't seem to notice my presence and I tried to think that was a good thing. Except maybe I failed at doing so.
 
There was a vacant seat beside me, but Karkat chose his near the window that was facing the lawn of the school. He always liked that spot for some reason. I saw him stand and walk to my table.
 
"SO, WE WERE TALKING ABOUT INTERNET CHICK."
 
I chuckled quietly. "Yes. Honestly, We Kind Of Get Along Well. She Sounds Very Mature Whenever I Get To Talk To Her. And Sophisticated When We Chat. And Intelligent. And-"
 
"YOU LIKE INTERNET GIRL."
 
... "I Never Said I Did."
 
He scoffed. "YOU SOUND LIKE YOU'RE COMPLETELY SMITTEN WITH VIDEO-CHAT-BUT-WITHOUT-THE-WEBCAM-WHAT-THE-HELL CHICK. COMPLIMENTING ON HOW GODDAMN PERFECT SHE IS FOR YOU. HOW'D YOU MEET HER, ANYWAY?"
 
"I Saw Her Sburb Account By Accident While I was Skimming For New Posts To Read," I answered.
 
Karkat folded his arms. "LEMME GUESS, YOU SAW A POST FROM HER WHICH CAUGHT YOUR ATTENTION AND YOU STARTED STALKING HER PROFILE AND YOU REALIZED HER ACCOUNT'S THIS PERFECT THING."
 
"I... I Wouldn't Actually Say It Was Stalking." I frowned. "You Don't Call It Stalking When You're Randomly Going Through Someone's Profile, Do You?"
 
He looked at me like it was obvious. "IT'S GODDAMN STALKING, MARYAM."
 
I ignored him.
 
"SO WHAT'S HER NAME?"
 
"She Didn't Mention It In Her Profile Because She Said She Had To Keep Her Anonymity."
 
He rolled his eyes. "OH. GREAT."

"But Her Sburb Account Is Titled 'tentacleTherapist' And She... Has A Really Nice Voice." I felt my face go red. Her voice really was soothing, I wasn't kidding around. Like when you're at some place peaceful and there's this breeze on your skin that's really soothing.

"WOW. YOU FUCKING BLUSHED. AND I THOUGHT YOU ONLY BLUSHED FOR THE BITCH."

I lowered my voice down even though I wasn't the one who was talking loud. "She Might Hear You, You Know."

"SHE WON'T KNOW WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HER."

We both glanced at Vriska and was surprised to see that she was looking right at me and Karkat and had made a gesture of pointing her index finger to her ear, and then at the two of us.

Karkat turned back to my table. "DON'T WORRY. SHE'S JUST TRYING TO SAY SHE HAS REALLY BAD EARWAX AND SHE WANTS US TO CLEAN IT FOR HER."

I gave a chuckle but fidgeted nervously.

"SO I'M GUESSING YOU GUYS ARE FRIENDS ON SBURB NOW, SINCE YOU SAID YOU GUYS CHATTED AND ALL."

"Yes," feeling glad at the mention of the topic before, "She Accepted My Request. She Had Seemed Quite Snooty And I Often Had Snark-Off Battles With Her. But As I've Said, We Do Get Along With Certain Topics And She Is Fun To Converse With."

"IF I WAS THE SBURB CHAT BOX, I'D PROBABLY WOULDN'T TAKE MUCH HORSEHIT FROM YOU GUYS AND EXPLODE."
 
I ignored his comment. "I Haven't Been Communicating With Her For A While Though," I bit my lip. "I Sent Her A Bunch Of Messages But She Hasn't Answered Yet. She Seems Quite Busy And I Do Not Want To Seem Meddlesome Again."

"UH-HUH. DO YOU MIND IF I SEND A REQUEST TO HER, TOO?"

"Huh?" I started to protest, "But-"

"I'M NOT GONNA FUCKING STEAL HER AWAY FROM YOU, MARYAM." He rolled his eyes. "I JUST WANTED TO SEE IF SHE REALLY IS PERFECT LIKE YOU SAID."

"I Didn't Say She Was Perfect." Maybe she could be though.

"YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE SHE IS. HAVING THIS "Really Nice, Sexy Voice" OR SOMETHING."

? "I Didn't Say 'Sexy'."

"YOU PRACTICALLY IMPLIED IT WHEN YOU BLUSHED."

I heaved a sigh. "Fine. Do Whatever You Want." The teacher suddenly came in so everyone had to go back to their seats.

"JUST DON'T STEAL HER AWAY FROM YOU. GOT IT." and he walked back to his table.

I sighed again.

 
 
"Alright, settle down." Our teacher Mr. Andrew Hussie sighed as well. Probably because it was the start of classes again. Bunch of kids exhausting him to death. I kinda feel bad for the guy. He seems to be preoccupied most of the time and forgets things. And his skin was always, I don't know, squash-colored? I never saw him at the beach getting some kind of tan or whatever he does in his spare time.

"So it's the first day of class and you're all seniors now. Whoop-de-do." He didn't sound happy or excited at all. "That means you all have to get good grades and possibly join some clubs maybe to help you realize what you want to be after college. And blah blah blah blah bububluh bluh bla blabbering blah blah..." he droned on and I was sure I wasn't the only one who wasn't listening anymore.
 
A knock came from the door. Mr. Hussie went to open it. I couldn't really see who it was from my poor view of the door in my seat since I sat at the back row.
 
"Class, it seems that we have a transfer student."
 
Everyone kept silent, except for this guy who kind of said "wow". Karkat, maybe.
 
"If you please," Mr. Hussie said to the student. This was one of the things I like about him. He wouldn't get mad if you were late, as long as you had a true enough reason. Maybe she got lost which was a fair reason because our school Huckstome High is quite large. New students always got lost.
 
A girl with shoulder-length blonde hair walked inside carrying her stuff in a purple mailer's bag with this sort-of skull design on its front. She had a black headband on and wore little makeup that emphasized her creamy, ivory skin. Her weight, probably average but with a slight hourglass figure like mine (not to brag or anything). Height, perhaps 3 inches shorter than me, and I was 5'6''. Features, strikingly feminine. Movements, graceful. Her whole presence had this confident aura and-
 
 
What on earth was I doing?
 
Was I actually checking her out??
 
... I guess she was... sorta... pretty.
 
Goodness.