Slapping her hands over her ears to muffle the piercing reminder from her persistent alarm clock, Katiana rolled out of bed with a loud groan. Her shoulder and back muscles ached from a terrible night's sleep. She strained her eyes open, arms and legs shaking involuntarily. In her blurred vision, she stumbled her way across to the couch several metres away. Her uniform lay neatly folded across the armrest – a fitting white shirt, pleated mid-thigh navy blue skirt and pair black nylon tights.
With a great deal of difficulty, Katiana put on the uniform and stepped back to scrutinise herself in the full-length mirror standing against the wall. She hastily used her fingers to comb through several knots in her tussled blonde hair.
The tired slits that her eyes looked lifeless, and her face felt dry and dehydrated. However, overall she looked very smart in a high school preppish sort of way.
Hmm.
Katiana slipped on the small pair of black flats in front of her to complete the outfit. She placed her hands on her hips, popping her leg with a small pout.
She was hot, ready to rock the road. Get 'em coming, bitches.
*
Babies – that was all she could see. Katiana tossed in bed, her hair plastering against her hot, sweltering face. She squeezed her eyes shut as she was suddenly overcome with a sudden bout of dizziness. Fuck, she thought. Her fingernails scratched against the pillow, the harsh sound of it drilling straight into her ear. The hot stink of her body was trapped within her silky white bed sheets. She was sweating, constantly sweating...
*
At school, nothing had changed. Beatrice was the princess more than ever, flaunting off her Chanel Limited Edition handbag to the other four girls that comprised of her clique. She approached them with strong, confident steps, hand-in-hand with her new boyfriend Nathan Castano.
He was more of the shy type, Nathan. That surprised Katiana – it was rare for Beatrice to steer away from the typical popular and outspoken guy that she dated for several months before promptly dumping without a second thought. Nathan was much more different – still gorgeous, of course, but quieter than most of the boys in his group. He was considerably short at a height of around five foot six and had large emerald-green eyes framed with long, dark lashes. A good portion of his straight chocolate-brown hair fell down to form a curtain in front of his face, creating an air of vagueness and mystique.
Katiana had once dreamt of running her fingers through that fringe, pushing it back to place a soft, chaste kiss on his forehead. She eyed Nathan with a sad sort of resignation, the growing squirm in her stomach drawing away all the life from her. Her jaw hardened. Painfully, she smiled, willing her glassy eyes to grow dull once more.
*
Beatrice placed herself delicately upon the steps, legs crossed at the ankles. "So," she said bossily, flashing her blinding pearl-whites at her friends. She slipped the Chanel bag down from her shoulder and placed it on her knees. "I had this shipped from Paris on the weekend. What do you think, girls?"
"Stunning," said Alice promptly.
"Perfect," said Callie, gazing at the bag in a venerating manner as if it were her God. (Which it probably was.)
"It's very nice," said Katiana as she made her way over to the group. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. The scene before her looked like something directly ripped out of something from TV, like Gossip Girl or Mean Girls. Except her friends just weren't like that.
Yes, they were her friends. They were fake, but genuinely fake – her polar opposites. And they always did say that opposites attract, didn’t they?
“Morning, girls,” Katiana greeted them with a slight nod of her head. She ignored Beatrice’s cocked eyebrow as the girl pursed her lips, assessing her with narrowed eyes. Instead, Katiana flashed a blinding smile to all of them and placed herself on the steps beside Cecilia.
Cecilia was eating a small tub of strawberry yoghurt: ninety-nine calories, ninety-nine percent fat free. She twisted her mouth slightly as the plastic spoon entered her mouth. “Hey, Kat!” she said warmly. “How was your weekend?”
Katiana blinked. “Great.”
*
After school, Katiana allowed the tears to fall. Slamming open the door that led to her bedroom, she quickly tore the curtains shut and collapsed onto her bed, burying her face deep in the lavender-scented pillow. It was six o’clock already – she hadn’t finished any homework and her mother would be home soon, but there was no way in hell that she could bring herself to show up at Roy’s doorstep until she had gotten everything out of her system.
Abortion? a small voice whispered in her head.
Katiana lifted her head up several inches from the damp pillow. The atmosphere was clammy and humid, causing her to feel out of breath. She managed to choke out, “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
Abortion?
“I DON’T KNOW!” she screamed, her voice echoing straight back into her head.
Better make a decision before it’s too late.
A distinct retch-like sound emerged from the back of her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut.
She was pregnant. Oh, God no...
Darkness closed in on her vision, and she shrieked and cried and cried, until everything turned black.
___________________________________________
Thank you so much for reading! I feel really icky and weird, writing in that sort of It Girl/Clique kind of style. Anyway, so I'm not too happy about this chapter, so any feedback would be great. And as always, I haven't planned anything out yet. Which is just lovely.
)
