Chapter 1: A New Start

“ ... oh, and whatever you do, make sure to stay away from HER!”

The vehemence in the other girl’s voice took Katherine by surprise. Throughout the tour of the school she was giving, Anne-Marie had been pleasant and polite. A little snobbish and stuck-up, maybe, but Katherine was used to that. Especially from a prefect.

But then, as they entered the lunch hall and Anne-Marie started to wrap things up, she spotted something and her mood changed for the worse dramatically.

“Er ... who?” replied Katherine, scanning the assorted students redundantly. She had no idea who, or even what, she was looking for.

“HER,” Anne-Marie repeated with a growl, “the Ice Queen sitting over there with her pack of delinquent lesbian friends. A regular bad girls club, if you ask me.”

“Bad girls club?” Katherine echoed. She looked over to where the prefect was pointing. Outside the hall, visible through a window, sat four girls at a round table. They looked to be around 16 years old or so, the same age as herself. As far as she could tell, three of the girls were talking while the fourth seemed to be writing something. Nothing unusual at all. Nothing strange. Nothing ‘bad’.

As for the other thing Anne-Marie called them...

“Why did you...” Katherine began. She didn’t get any further as the other girl tore her gaze away from the group, wished Katherine well in her academic life, and was gone. It was so sudden, so abrupt, that Katherine was left stunned and unsure what to do next.

Then the reality of the situation started to hit home. She was standing on her own. In a hall full of other people. Other people who were bound to notice her any second now. And then they’d start pointing and laughing. If she was lucky, that’s all they would do.

She felt her pulse quicken as the panic threatened to set in. But worse, much worse than that, she felt the Blush start to rise.

The Blush deserved its capitalisation. Back in Katherine’s previous school, it was a point of pride for her tormenters if they could get the shy, insecure, quiet redhead’s cheeks glowing.

She did her best to hold back the tears, to hold back the angry words that would only fuel the bullying further. But, no matter what she did, she couldn’t stop the inevitable rush of blood to her face. Nor could she stop the inevitable mocking that followed.

But this was a new town. A new school with new people. This was Katherine’s chance to make a new life for herself. Nobody here was going to call her ‘Crybaby Katherine’. So she needed to move. Sit at a free table, go for a walk, hide in the toilets, ANYTHING...

“Hi. Sorry. Do you mind if I sit here?” she asked a few moments later.

Nearly all the girls at the table looked up in surprise at the interruption. Even this close, Katherine could still not work out which one was supposed to be the ‘Ice Queen’ Anne-Marie had mentioned.

There was a black girl whose clothes somehow seemed to be smarter and better tailored than everyone else’s, despite just being the same uniform. Maybe it was her? There was an air of superiority about her, although that might just have been Katherine’s over-stressed imagination.

Next to her was somebody whose bespectacled face was almost hidden under a mass of chestnut brown curls. Despite this girl’s smile, there was a sense that here was somebody always ready for a fight. Somebody who needed no excuse to defend herself with words or fists. An Ice Queen? Surely not.

The next one Katherine had first assumed was somebody from another year, a younger sister perhaps. But, as she had approached the table, she realised just how small the little brunette was. Not that there was anything wrong with being a different height, she hurriedly admonished herself, but still ... this girl was tiny! Surely she was far too short, far too petite, to be called a Queen of anything.

Finally there was the fourth. And that’s when Katherine knew instantly that she had to be the one. Tall, unsmiling, with ice-cold blue eyes and long hair so blonde it was nearly white ... this had to be the Ice Queen that Anne-Marie talked about so spitefully. She didn’t look like she belonged in a school, she looked like she was meant to plotting the downfall of humanity in a castle on a glacier somewhere. This girl was going to be trouble, Katherine could sense it.

“Absolutely.” said the black girl in response to Katherine’s request and waved her to one of the two free chairs.

The girls resumed their conversation as Katherine made herself comfortable, holding her bag on her lap as though it was some form of shield. This was bad, this was very bad. What the hell was she doing here? She’d barely been at the school for half a day and already she’d walked right into the lion’s den!

“So me stepdad reckons he can get tickets but only fir one of the shite matches. Everything else is just way too pricey.”

This was the girl with the brown curls and glasses. Surprisingly, for a school so deep in the South-East of England, she had the faintest trace of an Irish accent. It was subtle but it was there.

“You still going anyway?” asked the Ice Queen. For it had to be her, Katherine had no doubt.

“Well, ya gotta. Otherwise ya ain’t a real fan at all.”

“Is that why you support someone at the bottom of the league? Because you’re a ‘real’ fan?”

“Hey! What ya trying ta say?!”

As Katherine tried her best not to look like she was listening, she became aware of a feeling like somebody was watching her. She looked up and saw the black girl, the one with the smart uniform, staring at her as though trying to work something out.

Here we go. thought Katherine. What’s it going to be first? The red hair? The bag? Clothes? Shoes? What? What are you going to start picking on me about?

“You’re new, aren’t you?” the girl asked.

Careful, Katherine, careful. You don’t know what they do to new kids here. Don’t lie, you’ll only get caught out ... but be ready to run.

“Er, yeah. How did you...” she replied.

The other girl smiled.

“Easy. You’ve got that whole ‘deer-in-headlights’ look. As if you don’t know what to do next.”

“I ... I guess. There’s a lot to take in.”

The smile widened. Despite herself, Katherine found herself relaxing slightly. She’d seen a lot of nasty, predatory smiles over the years and this didn’t really seem like one of those.

“Well, welcome to the school. It’s not that bad once you get used to it. Just don’t eat the shepherd’s pie!” the girl said, winking conspiratorially.

“You had that last week. You liked it.” interjected the blonde, her argument with the Irish girl having failed to go anywhere.

“I was making a joke. You know? A joke? Something to break the ice? Make our new friend feel a bit more welcome? Can’t you just give me that? Huh?”

‘Our new friend.’ It didn’t actually sound sarcastic to Katherine’s ears but ... who actually says that?

“Anyway,” the black girl continued as she regained her composure, “welcome to the school, like I said, and welcome to our lunch-table. It’s a pleasure to have you join us...”

I doubt that. thought Katherine.

“ ... so let me introduce everyone. My name’s Yolanda. Next to me is Fiona.”

The Irish girl with the wild curls had started to eat an apple and was taken by surprise. She waved with her free fingers and wiggled her eyebrows in what was probably meant to be a friendly manner.

Katherine’s first impression of Yolanda seemed to be accurate. The girl had an attitude of somebody used to being in charge. And also clearly used to public speaking. This felt less like an introduction and more like a presentation.

“The one cheating on her homework is Terri.”

This had to be the short girl who, Katherine now realised, had been feverishly copying text from one sheet of paper to another.

“I ain’t cheatin’!” came the indignant response. “How was I supposed to know there was questions on the back?! Who the hell does that to a person?”

“Just as well some of us pay attention, huh?” the blonde commented.

Terri stuck out her tongue in response without looking up from her work.

“And finally,” interjected Yolanda firmly, “we have Claire. Who’s having a mood today.”

“I’m not having a mood. I’m just saying, that’s all.”

“It’s not what you’re saying, girl. It’s how you’re saying it.”

“Well, I’m just saying the truth.”

So, thought Katherine as the two bickered, the Ice Queen’s name was Claire.

“An’ what’s yer name?”

Katherine started with shock. She’d let her mind drift and hadn’t been paying attention. This was the Irish girl, Fiona, pointing a savaged apple core in Katherine’s direction.

“Me? Oh, I’m ... er ... I mean ... my name’s Katherine. Katherine Pearson,” she stammered, feeling the Blush threaten to rise again.

“Pleased ta meet ya, Kat. Ya got any food?”

“What?”

She’s not about to try to take my lunch, is she? Katherine’s thoughts raced. That’s so childish! Surely nobody still does that, do they?