Catherine Bloom

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rrrring.

The bell rang, indicating the end of the school day. Students immediately began stuffing their notebooks and binders into their backpacks and rushed out of the room. No one bothered listening to the teacher, a petite, old lady, who was trying to hand out tonight’s homework.

Catherine rolled her eyes and lifted her feet off her desk, plopping them onto the floor. “Put my stuff away, Mia.” Mia nodded eagerly, stacking Catherine’s textbooks into a neat pile, and slipped them into her black, beat up backpack. Catherine got up from her seat and waited for the sea of people in front of her to part, creating a path for her. As expected, no one was left standing in Catherine’s way.

All except for one.

A poor boy that had lost his glasses was on the floor searching for them. Catherine’s eyes narrowed. “Yo, Nerd!” she snarled in his face. “Know your place in this school, will you?” The boy gave a tiny nod and glanced at the teacher for help.

The teacher rushed forward and put her hand on Catherine’s arm. “Miss Bloom-” Catherine glared at the old lady and she shut her mouth.

Irritated, Catherine tossed the boy down and motioned for Mia to follow her. She sauntered down the halls and to her locker. She twirled in her lock combination and swung the door open. “Um, excuse me, I’m trying to pack my stuff.” The girl’s whose locker was next to Catherine’s spoke up.

Catherine turned and looked the girl up and down. “Does it look like I care?” The girl blew air out of her cheeks and waited for Catherine to finish handing all her stuff to Mia. Finished, she slammed her locker closed and walked down the hall to find Kayla. Kayla and her little posse would do anything she told them to. Catherine leaned against Kayla’s locker. “Doodle all over Locker Girl’s locker, will ya?”

Kayla looked up from her phone and nodded. Once Catherine left, she turned to Mia. “Who the heck is this ‘Locker Girl’?”

Mia rolled her eyes. “You don’t know? Her locker is to the right of Cathy’s.”

“Ohhh, that one. And you’re still at it with the nickname?”

Mia nodded, “Catherine doesn’t mind that I call her Cathy. I don’t see why she should anyway. She doesn’t care about anything.”

“Alrighty. So it’s the locker to the right, right?”

Mia nodded and looked ahead. Catherine was at a vending machine and had just stolen a dollar from a freshman. “I gotta go or Cathy’s going to leave without me.” She jogged off and Kayla texted Alison and Zoey about Locker Girl.

Catherine was already on the way home when Mia caught up with her. “Where were you?” She asked.

“Just talking.” Mia replied.

Catherine nodded and walked up her driveway. “Do my homework for me.” Catherine told Mia.

“Of course! I’ll do your report on Queen Hatshepsut for you too.”

Catherine raised her eyebrows. “Who the hell is that?”

“Hatshepsut. You know, the Egyptian pharaoh. That one.”

Catherine rolled her eyes. “Whatever, just do it.”

Mia nodded and Catherine closed the door.

She tip toed around the house looking for any sign of her parents. It seemed that no one was home. With that comforting thought in mind, she ran upstairs and into her room after grabbing a bag of chips from the pantry and locked the door behind her. She wasn’t looking forward to her parents’ arrival. She hated them and couldn’t wait until college when she would be able to move out.