New friends

Chapter 16

When class ended, Katie left the classroom and felt Amber's eyes burning in the back of her head. She met up with Matt and they drove home. She flopped on her bed and tried to go to sleep. "Today was EXHAUSTING." She thought. It had only been her first day back as a  whole new person and so much had happened.

If you had told her last week that she'd go from being a sad nobody to hanging out with the most popular kids in school, dating the hottest guy, and become enemies with the spawn of Satan, she would've reported you for drug use. She couldn't help but smile at how crazy it all was. She never knew that actually having friends would make her so happy and stressful at the same time.

She eventually drifted to sleep.

Katie woke up to Matt pounding on her door.

"KATIE! DINNER'S READY!!!!" He called. "Mmmmmm..." she groaned into her pillow. She just wanted to sleep. Why did the world have to be so loud all the time. Why couldn't they just be robots that didn't need to be constantly fed for survival? She slunk out of bed, hair sticking out everywhere.

After dinner, she took a shower and started on her pounds of homework. Katie has a work routine: nap for energy, dinner to stay alive, then shower to refresh. After this she was ready to work; it was about 8:00 when she finished all her work. Not that it was hard, because Holts are good at everything, but the advanced classes were vigorous none the less.

She spent the rest of her time working on her side projects like coding and engineering. She did this until past 11:30 when she figured it was time to sleep. She dreamt of a world without complications.

The rest of the week only had a couple more incidents thankfully. On Tuesday, Amber threw her backpack in the trash. Katie did nothing. On Wednesday Amber tripped her in the hallway. Katie did nothing. Amber was constantly glaring at her and giving her dirty looks, but at his point Katie was so used to it she didn't even care anymore. Amber would shove her into the lockers in the hallways 'on accident' and Katie would occasionally get mean notes on her desk, but she just ended but getting a good laugh out of them and throwing it away.

It amused her to know how much Amber despised her. At first she felt bad, but eventually she stopped caring. The more Amber tried, the funnier it became. All Katie could think was how bored she must have to be with her life that she spends all of her time trying to make some girl's life miserable. All she could really do was not give a shit, and it worked surprisingly well, for her at least. If anything, not giving Amber a reaction would sting her more than if she beat her up.

Meanwhile, she had made many new friends. They were all really nice and she was much more content with them than she ever had been when she was all alone. Best of all, most of them saw Amber's wrath in action and eventually resented her too and stood by Katie. She met one other girl in particular who she had history with. Her name was Beatrice, but everyone called her Beezer as a nickname. Katie spent every lunch next to Shiro and talked with her group. Beezer sat with her own friends at lunch, but they'd happily say hello whenever they saw one another.

It's now Thursday and Katie walked into fourth period. She chatted with Beezer about physics when she felt something hit her hair. It was small, but weirdly heavy. She turned around to look behind her and saw Amber with a Grinch smile. She walked up to Katie with a smug look. "Katie! I love what you did with your hair! The pink really suites you!" She smiled innocently. "What pink?" Katie said annoyed and turned to face her.

Suddenly Beezer gasped from behind and pulled Katie to the bathroom excusing them from class. "What are you doing?!" Katie questioned. She was very confused. "Amber put gum in your hair!" Beezer said. "WHAT?!" Katie screamed. She turned around and saw a stringy piece of pink bubble gum hanging from her hair. "Eww! I can't believe she'd do something like that!" Katie fumed. "She's a witch." Beezer agreed.

"What am I going to do?!" Katie said looking at the disgusting mass clinging to her hair. "I don't know! Should I get a teacher?" Beezer suggested. Katie thought for a moment. This was exactly what Amber wanted. She wanted to get a rise out of her but she wouldn't let it happen. "No." She finally said. "What are you going to do then?" Beezer asked cautiously.

Katie whipped around to her friend with a wild but enticing smile on her face. She grabbed her friends shoulders and laughed "Go back to class and get my stuff." She was smiling now. "Okaaayy..." Beezer turned around to leave slowly.

Soon after, Beezer returned with her belongings. "Are you I sure you don't want to just go home? I can call you an Uber or something.." she started. "Don't worry about me." Katie said and smiled at her friend. "You go back to class. The bell's going to ring in a bit anyway." She added. "Alright. If you're sure you're okay." Beezer said.

After her friend left, Katie started rummaging though her bag. The bell rang a little bit afterwards for lunch when she finally found what she was looking for. Katie turned to the mirror, scissors in hand and smiled to herself. "Time for a haircut."

Shiro's POV
The bell rang for lunch. I can't wait to see Katie again; it's the highlight of my day; one: because I get to see my awesome girlfriend, and two: lunch. duh.

I walked into the crowded cafeteria and sat down to wait for everyone else to arrive. Everyone was buzzing with excitement of being fed the only terrible food that was available, but you know what? Food is food. Katie is always the last to arrive. Soon all of my friends are here and we're talking away. "That's strange. Katie's usually here by now" I say getting everyone's attention. "Hmm." Hunk said. I spotted that girl, Beezer?? She's friends with Katie; I see them talking all the time. "Hello, do you know where Katie is?" I call out.

She turned with an unsure look on her face. She slowly walked over to the group and said "Hey. Total bad news. That witch Amber thew some gum into Katie's hair last class. I went with her to her cleaned up, but she insisted that I leave. I brought her her stuff and she made me go to lunch. I haven't heard from her since." She spilled.

"What a bitch!" Lance said appalled. Keith was trying to calm his boyfriend down. Hunk was in disbelief. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This is why I never became friends with Amber. When we first met, she was really nice, but I soon figured out that she only wanted to date my popularity, not me. She's a selfish person who will do whatever she needs to to get what she wants.

A few gasps snap out of my thoughts. I look up to see a crowd of people. I stand up. "What's going on?" I ask. "I can't see." Matt says trying to jump to see over the mob. I shove my way though the crowd and see Katie with SHORT HAIR!! It's cut to a short bob and she looks AMAZING!! My eyes light up.

Katie's POV

I walked into the cafeteria with new confidence. I feel so light- literally! Hair that goes down to your lower back is a big difference compared to short hair. I decided that all the extra weight might as well go. The cold ac hits my neck and it feels exhilarating. I hear gasps and I just keep walking forward. I feel AMAZING! No one's going to bring me down!

I spot Shiro and see him smiling so wide. "Hey there!" I say coolly about to hug him when I hear, "You look like a rock star!!" Lance tackles me. Soon I'm surrounded by my best friends and we all laugh. "You look stunning!" Allura said. "It suits you." Shiro said as I finally got to him. "I love it!" I exclaimed. "Me too." They all agreed.

"Beezer told us what happened." Hunk said. "Let's not worry about Amber. She can do whatever the hell she wants, but she'll never tear me down." I smile. I knew that as long as I had people like my friends to keep me going, I'd be okay. I've come to terms with my new life finally. All that extra weight had physically and emotionally been lifted off my shoulders.

At the end of lunch I walked though the hallway with Hunk to engineering. I spot Amber and we lock gazes. She chokes on her water at the water fountain and I walk up to her. "Thanks for the hair tip, it was definitely the right decision." She doesn't say anything as I leave with a smile on my face.

Oh my gosh this book has been so much fun to write. All the views are insane! All your comments truly make my day and I just want to thank you guys for everything.