ch. 3


“Catherine Delany!”, an angry voice shattered her daydreaming. Her mother was quickly advancing down the hallway. She stood up, and snatched her backpack off the floor. “Why on earth did I get a phone call saying you broke a finger, and then missed the second half of school!? At work none the least. I had a very important deposition you interrupted!”, her mother snapped, one of her hands brushing a lock of perfectly straight hair out of her face.
“I- well I just- you see, mother I got- I’m sorry.” Catherine sputtered. Her mother’s eyes narrowed and she angrily stomped away slamming her office door and once again, leaving Catherine alone. After completing her homework, Catherine took a long shower and fell, exhausted, into her bed. She thought about how amazing her day had been (minus the finger breaking and her mother yelling at her) and she wondered if she had said the right things, or if Nate thought she was just some nerdy little girl and would rather be off partying with someone like Laney. Sighing, she kissed Luigi on the head and fell asleep.

The next morning when Catherine’s alarm went off, she slammed her alarm off as usual but got right to getting ready for school. She slipped on a pair of pink skinny jeans and a floral tank top. She put on a little makeup and pulled her hair back with a little pink bow. Just as she was brushing her teeth she heard her phone buzz on the counter top. There was a text from Nate:

Don’t make coffee. I gotchu covered.
Catherine grinned and skipped downstairs, gabbing her jean jacket and pulling on her tan Uggs. She stuffed her books into her backpack and waited by the door. Checking her phone, it was 7:26. At exactly 7:30, Nate pulled up, obnoxious music pounding from his car speakers. She dashed outside and into his car. He said something but she couldn’t hear him over the music.

“WHAT?”, she screamed, leaning towards him. Nate laughed and turned the music down a little.
“I said, Good morning and I got you coffee.” He pointed to the Dunkin Donuts cup that was in the cup holder in front of Catherine.
“My knight in shining armor!”, Catherine joked taking a sip of coffee as Nate sped out of her driveway, whipping around the cull-de-sac. Nate turned up the music, and much to his horror, Catherine flipped the station, grinning deviously.
“Hey! Hey! What is the one rule of my car?!”, Nate howled as Taylor Swift poured from the speakers. Laughing Catherine mimicked him, dropping her voice to a low decibel,

“No touching the radio.” Nate laughed and replied,
“I do not sound like that!”, before he flicked the station back to where Macklemore was rapping. Catherine wrinkled her nose and sat quietly sipping her coffee. When they reached the school, Catherine saw that Laney was waiting by her car, an angry expression on her face. Catherine was accosted just as she stepped out of the car.

“What the hell, Catie! You miss school, you NEVER cut out on school. Then your car is here, and you don’t text me back!?” Laney screeched, shaking Catherine’s shoulders.

“It was my fault!”, Nate interrupted smiling innocently at Laney.
“Well, Nathaniel. I’m glad you got my little girl to loosen up a bit, but, uh take me along next time.” Laney winked bumping her lip against Nate’s. Catherine’s stomach flipped slightly, she had seen Laney act like this before. But she shoved it to the back of her mind and hurried off to class with a quiet goodbye aimed at Laney and Nate, who were oblivious. During lunch that day, Nate and Laney were talking about some Halloween that was going on that Friday.

“Catie, you have to come this weekend, its a costume party. Its going to be-” Nate started to invite Catherine but Laney cut him off.
“Catie doesn’t go to parties. Ever. She’s convinced herself that their dangerous.” Laney teased, grinning at Catherine.
Surprising everyone, even herself, Catherine replied shortly. “I’ll go. Why not?”
As soon as Nate walked away, Laney attacked Catherine.

“You like him don’t you. I KNEW IT.” Laney crowed.
“I don’t know. No- maybe. No. I don’t.” Catherine denied. She sped away from Laney, who had a confused look on her face.

Friday rolled around pretty quickly. Catherine had spent the last few days pondering on what she should dress up as. Originally, Laney and her were going to go as Siamese twins but Laney bagged out on that when Nate asked her to be Foxy Cleopatra to his Austin Powers. Catherine knew that Laney didn’t even know what Austin Powers was, but she wasn’t about to ruin the costume idea. Catherine ended up in an Alice in Wonderland costume. The dress fell to halfway down her thighs and she had white socks that covered most of her legs up to her knee. She did her makeup bright and heavy, something she hardly ever did. Her hair was tucked away in a long blonde wig, and when Laney and Nate came to pick her up, Laney wolf whistled slowly.

“Dang Catie. If your body is a wonderland I sure as hell wanna explore it.” Laney joked. She had on a skintight jumpsuit that her boobs were spilling out of. She had teased her hair up into an afro, and temporarily dyed it dark brown. She was already tan, but had put bronzer all over her face and chest. Nate was dressed in a bright blue suit, with the bellbottom pants and had big dorky glasses covering most of his face. He was wearing chunky weird black shoes.

“Groovy baby!”, he crowed, faking a horrible British accent. Catherine laughed and hopped into the car. Once they reached the party, it was in full swing. The music was pounding, and there were people dancing everywhere. Nate went up to where there was a cooler with beers in it, and grabbed three. Tossing one at Catherine and Laney, he popped the tab on his and took a long swig. Catherine put the beer down gently on the table next to her. She danced a little with Laney, and some boy who decided to grind up against anything that moved. After awhile, a very drunk Laney slurred in Catherine’s ear,

“Thomas.. Dumped me. He dumped me! Said I wasn’t.. Mature enough!”, she cackled and went dancing away from Catherine. After that Catherine lost sight of both Laney and Nate. She spent the next hour or so looking for the both of them. A couple random boys asked her to dance. She agreed and swayed awkwardly along to the music. She didn’t have much to drink, just a wine cooler, and she was feeling a little light headed. She decided to go back to looking for Laney and Nate. When she finally found Laney she was in the kitchen making out with some boy who was wearing a bright blue suit and ridiculous black shoes. His hand was quickly unzipping the clasp of her tight- Catherine realized all to soon who that hand belonged to. She gasped slightly, but luckily the music drowned it out. She spun around, fleeing from the room. All of a sudden, it was way too hot for her inside the house. She tripped outside, and pulled off the heels she had been wearing all night. Suddenly she felt ridiculous for even thinking she was the type of girl Nate would like. She looked down at herself and felt like a complete idiot for trying to fit in. Of course he liked Laney. She was outgoing, funny, and gorgeous. Catherine had lived the past three years seeing guys fall at her feet. Catherine just wanted to get home, and get home now. She collapsed on the front steps, and stared angrily at the ground.

“Hey, are you okay?”, an unfamiliar voice asked her. She looked up to see a boy she didn’t recognize looking down at her. “You a little lost Alice?” He joked. Catherine stared at him blankly, before remembering her costume, which further added on to her humiliation of the night. She forced a fake laugh.

“Oh I just.. I uh don’t have a ride home thats all.” Catherine replied.
“Well hey, I’m designated driver, so I could give you a lift!”, he raised his wrist to show her the bracelet. “I’m Will by the way.”

“I’m Catherine.” she replied, taking his hand that he offered to help her up. He guided her to his car, and opened the passenger door for her.

“Let’s get out of here, beautiful.” Will replied, smiling at her. They drove around for awhile just talking, until Will said he should get her home. When they reached Catherine’s house, Nate and Laney were waiting in the driveway (she wasn’t sure how they had gotten home considering they were both drunk).

When she stepped out of the car Nate’s eyes flashed to Will.
“Who’s that?” He asked his eyes narrowing.
“This is Will. He gave me a ride home.” Catherine replied nonchalantly. Will walked Catherine up to her front steps where Laney was sitting.

“Thanks for the ride home Will.” Catherine said, turning to Will.
“No problem Catherine.” Will replied, smiling at her and leaning towards her to kiss her cheek

“You can go now, pal” Nate said through gritted teeth, pushing Will away from Catherine.
“Chill man.” Will laughed, taking a step back and retreating to his car. Nate began backing up, towards his car when Catherine rounded on him.
“That was embarrassing, Nate.” Catherine spat at him.
“He was- why were you with-” Nate sputtered. Catherine rolled her eyes and went to close the door.
“You’re not my boyfriend, you had no right to get in his face. In fact, you have no right to be upset that I was with him.”, and she slammed the door in his face. Catherine ran upstairs and collapsed on her bed, exhausted. She laid on her bed for a half hour before mustering the energy to take a shower and pull on her pajamas. She crawled under her big pink comforter and fell into a deep sleep.