Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 7

KATE 

"How was your first day of school?" My father asked me when he came to pick me up.

"It was actually pretty good," I said in reply. "Pre-calculus looks like it's going to be a lot of fun."

My father laughed. "There's my girl."

"I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to you," I said, feeling guilty.

"No worries. I knew that you had to get to class."

I smiled at the thought of Corey pulling out of there as if her life had depended on it.

As if she knew I was thinking about her, I got a text.

COREY - Hey, I miss u already.

I smiled but decided not to reply until I got home.

"Who was that?" My father asked, his eyes still on the road.

"Oh, it was the girl that walked me to my first class. She was just telling me about the homework for science class," I lied.

I felt guilty for lying, but I didn't want to tell my father that I had made a friend until I was absolutely certain that she even was. I didn't want to get his hopes up.

"Oh, that was nice of her," he said.

I only nodded, silently humming along to the song on the radio.

Once we got home, I grabbed my backpack and headed up the stairs to my room, getting started on my homework. I put in my AirPods and hummed along to my favorite song as I wrote down a paragraph describing myself as a student for English and do twenty practice problems for pre-calc. All of my teachers had been kind enough to lend me the textbooks while I waited to order mine.

My father knocked on my bedroom door. "Hey, Kate. Are you hungry? I can make you something."

I took out one of my headphones, temporarily pausing the music. "Sure, dad. Could you make me some mac and cheese?"

My dad laughed. "Sure."

I took out my phone and remembered that I should probably respond to Corey so I wouldn't seem rude.

KATE - Haha. Yea, same here.

I put my headphone back in and the music immediately started back to where it had left off.

COREY - I HAVE to introduce u to my best friend, Amy. OMG u will LOVE her!!!

My stomach fluttered nervously at the thought of meeting another person. I did pretty well with the first one apparently, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't completely mess up the second one.

I thought a little before responding to Corey.

KATE - Cool, can't wait.

I saw the three dots appear, telling me that she'd begun typing, but then she stopped, so I shut off my phone.

A few minutes later, my father came over to me, holding a bowl of macaroni and cheese in his hands.

"Thank you," I said.

My father smiled and sat down on my bed. "Listen, Kate, I need to talk to you about something."

I turned towards my father, removing a headphone from my ear. "Yeah?"

"I'd like for you to get a job. Lots of girls around your age get them and I think it'd be good for you. I already looked into a place for you, and it's a Starbucks. It's right down the street from your school so you could walk there after school and I can pick you up when your shift ends."

"Okay," I said.

I wasn't looking forward to working, but I knew that it would make him happy if I did, and after everything my mother had put him through, the least I could've done was agree.

"I set up an interview for you for tomorrow. The manager's a girl about your age named Penny."

I nodded. "Okay, I'll put it into my GPS on my phone after school tomorrow."

"Actually, the interview isn't until four so I'll drive you."

"Even better," I responded.

"Thanks for being so understanding," my father said, kissing my forehead.

I handed him my empty dinner bowl and let out an exaggerated sigh once his steps had gone quiet.

I went up to my closet and pulled out one of the dresses that I had gotten the day before and laid it on my chair. After taking out my headphones and plugging in my phone to charge, I slipped into my pajamas and crawled into bed, falling asleep.