Holes in the fence

New beginnings

Time skip

Cathy PoV: another year of secondary school. Totally not terrifying. Anne seemed completely cool and collected about it. She was so lucky that she had all that confidence. I could never be as confident as her. So when she appears at my front door in a green sweater, black jeans and green converse with her school bag and Jane and Kitty, I feel a little better. I was dressed similarly but with blue as opposed to green. And we were both wearing the necklaces from when we were kids.
"Hey Cathy. Ready to get going?" She says and I nod as Anna and my mom come out too. We get photos taken and then it's time to go catch the bus. The four of us wouldn't be together though. Kitty had gotten into a different school than us so we drop a very grouchy year seven to her bus stop and then head to ours. I feel my heart skip a beat when I watch Anne lean casually against the wall. I really like her. More than friends. I'm a bi mess.
"Cathy we're sticking together right?" Anne asks, looking at me and I nod.
"Yeah Anne. Best friends will always stick together" I say, holding onto her hand and smiling. That had become a gesture of reassurance for us. We stay like that until the bus comes and choose to sit together. Then a girl gets on. One who went to primary school with us. Tori. She was somewhat cute. But not like Anne. In no way like Anne. She sits across from us beside Henry and winks at me. I roll my eyes and look at Anne who was fidgeting nervously.
"Hey. We're gonna do just fine" I whisper and she smiles. It doesn't reach her eyes however.
"Anne. Breathe. We will get through this. It's only the first day Bobo" I say and she laughs.
"Bobo?"
"Your full name is Anne Boleyn Seymour and bobo seems to roll off the tongue better than seysey"
"Fair enough"
"Oooh no retaliation nickname?"
"Curls"
"Curls?!" I laugh at this and so does Anne.
"Curly hair! You're curls" she says and I smile, hugging her from the side. The bus stops outside the school and we get off, still holding onto each other. First up is a welcome assembly. And then the worst possible thing happens. Different classes. They're moving us around again.

***

Anne PoV: oh god. PLEASE let that be a different Anne S they called out.
"Anne Swanson. Where are you?" I sigh in relief and look at Cathy as the next list comes up. Right below her name was mine.
"So Catherine Parr Aragon, Anne Boleyn Seymour..." the other names become an incomprehensible blur as I squeeze Cathy's hand 3 times. It was a code. 1 squeeze was to show feeling a sense of fear/feeling anxious/feeling nervous. 2 for love. 3 for reassurance. 4 for upset. 5 for comfort. 6 for encouragement. 7 for pride. 8 for excitement. 9 for showing a need to vent and 10 was for showing the need of a shoulder to cry on and no words said. We walk to the classroom once everyone has been called out and sit side by side. Tori was in our class too. She had such a crush on Cathy and sat behind her because she sat by the window. She finds it comforting to be by a window. It grounds her to be able to list things she sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels when she's feeling anxious. Which is why I carry gum with me at all times. And why we have the hand squeeze thing. Does Tori know to do that?! No! She's a bitch. The day blurs by and soon it's lunchtime. We end up sitting with Anna who wanted to know all about our day and left her usual table with the basketball team to join us. A couple of others come over too. Bethany and Laurel. I remember their names from parties.
"Hey! It's little Sis and little friend! How's littler friend doing?" Those are their nicknames for us.

***

Kitty PoV: I HATE THIS HELLHOLE. I wish I'd gone to Anne and Cathy's school. I sigh as I slump down in my seat. I got detention for punching the music teacher. It's not even my fault! He was coming on to me so I punched him in self defence. But nobody believes a kid. Nobody ever does. What's worse is they'd put me on a warning. One more time and they'd call my mom. Then I'd be in for it. Mom wouldn't understand either. Nobody would! It's not fair. She always understands when Anne gets into her tussles with others. But I'd get the whole 'this isn't like you Katherine' bull crap speech. I'd been left bring my lunch in with me. But I wasn't hungry. It's just not fair! I didn't do anything wrong. The principal is just too dumb to see past Mr Mannox's lies! I can't wait for today to be over. I wish I could be in high school like Anne and Cathy and Anna. I also happen to have a crush on Anna but I don't know how to tell my mom. Anne would be easy to tell. She told me she's bi! She'd understand completely. In the room it was just me and one other girl. No teacher.
"Hey kid. What you in for?" She was definitely an eighth grader too.
"Punched Mr Mannox for coming on to me. You?"
"Accidentally on purpose hit a girl with a dodgeball for calling me a slut" she says, folding her arms. "I'm Cassidy. You can call me Cas tho" she says, leaning back in her chair. She reminded me a lot of Anne. If Anne had the ends of her hair dyed green and had a skateboard.
"I'm Katherine. But everyone just calls me Kitty"
"Kitty. I like it. Sounds cool. Hey. I just moved here. Care to be friends?"
"Yeah. I'd like that" I say and she grins.
"Sweet. So Kitty. Tell me about yourself"
"Well I have one sister. It's just me, her and our mom at home. Then there's our friends. Anna and Cathy and their mom Catherine. All three of the others are in a different school and I'm the poor shmuck stuck here alone because this is the only place that'd accept me. I got to skip year four though"
"Getting to skip a year. Nice one Kitty" she says and I smile. She seemed nice.
"Nah. It's just me and my mom too. Nobody else. Don't really care though. I like it that way" Cas says, resting her legs on the table and grinning.