Faith Eliza Cord
Four Thousand Club
(This is still open and accepting. Sign up here: http://www.rpnation.com/showthread.php/5823-Knight-Academy-character-sheets and I apologize ahead of time for the length, it's the opening setting 
)
It was exactly because things were going so well lately that Faith Cord was beginning to grow suspicious.
Long-time experience had taught her that there was no such thing as an even remotely peaceful experience when it came to her life or those of her friends and family members. It didn’t seem to matter where they lived or what they were doing, trouble seemed to follow her or present itself in her view regardless of circumstances. More times than she could recount Faith had found herself struggling against odds that often left her physically, mentally, and emotionally drained, sometimes with little to no help or support in overcoming them, and sometimes even on the brink of death. More times than she could name she had found herself to feel entirely alone, even if this were not strictly true, for she knew, that she would always have her husband Macal and the young woman she thought of as her sister, Sheena, as her support, if she would ever ask for it- though for her to force herself to do so was an admittedly rare occurrence. Sometimes it seemed that she and those she loved couldn’t so much as breathe without being threatened by multiple sources on all sides, that just getting through the day would turn into an actual battle for their lives. And sometimes it did.
“Is there such a thing as a vacation from this shit?” she had railed at Macal fairly often, pacing, as was her usual mode, when particularly agitated, her hands slicing through the air in furious gesticulation. “What is it about the universe trusting only us to deal with all its issues? Have they even looked at who they’re dumping their shit off onto? Helloooo, if I’m voted Most Responsible, the world is in deep shit!”
But when it came down to it, living a life of chaos and struggle was something she was used to…even something that was okay with her. Too much tranquility and too few challenges would leave her feeling restless and edgy, wanting to strike out to find some, if only to give herself something more exciting to do. If she had too much down time or too few problems to be tackling, Faith would actually begin to feel an urge to deliberately create problems, just to be able to start up that adrenalized sense of purpose that came whenever she was throwing everything she had into dealing with whatever challenge had been thrown her way. She never felt more alive than when another apocalypse was taking place, and she knew that she had at least some role in making sure it never finished out.
Still, things being as relatively calm as they were now, especially given the fact that she was in charge now of a school full of hormone-riddled, supernaturally gifted kids of all ages, kids with great potential to cause chaos, was just a little too unusual for Faith to accept.
It had been years since Faith’s life had come together in such a way as it was now. Even just a few months ago things had been different. Sheena’s vampire half-sister, Evangeline, had been alive and murdering students within the school and outside of it, and as Sheena had been completely defensive of her and there had been little proof to connect Evangeline in particular to the deaths, there had not been much that Faith could do about it initially. Faith herself had been struggling to become accustomed to the role of headmaster and had at times found herself overwhelmed by its responsibilities and her efforts to maintain relationships with students and staff that balanced Faith’s general blunt attitudes and quick temper with being able to earn and keep respect and a reasonable level of obedience. There had been some attacks on students and staff from an enemy of her and Macal’s past that had been stressful and concerning, and renewed security had had to be put in place. And through it all Faith herself had felt isolated, having within the past couple of years lost numerous friends and family members she previously would have been able to turn to, whether through their deaths or through simple detachment from involvement in their lives.
But things were different now. Sheena had executed her sister at last in a manner that had made Faith very proud of her and her courage, and though Sheena was still more subdued than usual, grieving the, Faith was not overly concerned with her. Sheena’s boyfriend, Alex Sage, whom Faith considered to be family now as well, had recently discovered himself to have supernatural abilities as well and was beginning to explore their limitations. Liza, Faith’s eternally five-year-old daughter, was as cheerful and bright as ever and had considerably expanded her base of friendships in her new environment. Faith’s relationship with Macal was easy and strong as it had ever been; they knew each other inside and out, and the vicious fights they had had earlier in their relationship were entirely absent.
Best of all, Faith’s best friend, the woman she thought of as her sister, had reentered her life and joined as staff to the school, with her husband Jirro as well. Faith was thrilled to be able to have Izzy back, to finally have someone to be able to confide in and just have fun with as another woman, as an equal, as she still wasn’t always able to do with eighteen-year-old Sheena. Though Izzy had her ghosts, what with her daughter’s recent murder and her recent captivity and amnesia, she was back with her now, and Faith was glad for the half-Lycan Sheena as well, because Izzy was her first cousin, the last piece of Sheena’s blood family who was alive.
It was true that most of the kids in the school still had their issues. Mel with her ongoing campaign of vengeance against Lil, Lil, who was elusive and possibly- probably?- evil and intending mayhem at some point. Several new students, such as Nick and Mikey, whom Faith didn’t know well enough to have a full handle of any possible problems in the future. Sheena’s grief, Liza’s tendency to let her curiosity lead her directly into trouble, and one of the new student- Katarina DeSanto’s- tendency to self-destruct, made obvious to Faith even within the past couple of weeks she had been there, and in spite of some improvements she had already seen in her. Everyone had their issues, but none were yet at a crisis situation, from what she could tell- and anyway, wasn’t that what the school was for, anyway, kids who already had or could potentially get into some serious issues?
The reasoning behind Dormer Academy, at least when Faith conceived of it with Macal, had been the lack of appropriate academic and school placements for her own demi-goddess daughter and half-Lycan Sheena, coupled with her knowledge of what sort of place she would have needed, and what she had failed to receive, when she herself was a teenager, recently called into her status as Slayer, specifically of vampires. Faith's abilities as a teenager had given her greater endurance, strength, speed, and agility than anywhere near normal for girls her age, and she had often used it against others rather than to protect them. With Macal’s current inability to access the god’s kingdom he had once inhabited and its superior schools for children and teenagers such as his daughters and Alex, they were left, on Earth, with very limited choices. With this in mind, as well as her memory of what Diana Dormer, a woman Faith had loved like a mother, had taught and provided for her when she herself was a troubled teenager, Faith had set up a school designed to meet the needs of kids who were something like she herself had once been- supernaturally gifted kids who had inadequate or downright abusive homes or teaching, who were unable to control their powers or were becoming power-hungry off their own abilities. Kids who no one in their lives could understand or relate to, kids who others were afraid of or thought of as freaks, kids who may have already started down a dangerous or potentially evil path of life in reaction. A place where kids like Faith, who had once been not only a homeless street kid, but also a murderer, or Sheena, who had been a homeless ex-prostitute who had at one point ended up in jail, could have a second chance. A place they could learn new skills and control, where they could have understanding and acceptance.
This didn’t mean, of course, that the school was or was intended to be an open range, where no one had any requirements or expectations of behavior. Every student was expected to work hard and to refrain from unnecessary violence and disrespect, and Faith didn’t go easy on anyone who didn’t warrant gentleness. But they had a chance, all of them, if they would take it, and this, she was more than willing to provide. This was what Diana had done for her, the reason behind the academy’s name, and in her memory, she would do the same for others.
Still…the lack of issues lately was weird. And if it kept on, Faith was REALLY going to think something was up.
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**
Her head against the chest of the young man on whose bed she was currently lying, her hair strewn in several directions, partly tickling his face, Sheena Sadovsky kept her eyes half open from where she lay close against his side, the morning’s light streaming in through the crack of his window’s blinds. She had been awake for a few minutes now as her heartbeat gradually slowed, trying not to let her mind drift back, to piece together into more conscious memory images leftover from her dream.
She didn’t remember details, only the deep sense of foreboding and fear that lingered in part in her body even now, tensing up her muscles. Instead she simply breathed in and out, trying to rid herself of the remaining feelings along with the already nearly forgotten details of the dream.
She wasn’t breaking any rules, technically, by spending the night with Alex. The girls had separate rooms in separate wings from the boys, and it was against the rules for underage ones to spend the night together. But then again, she and Alex were both over eighteen, so they couldn’t get in trouble for it; however, every time Faith got wind of her sleeping over with him, she couldn’t resist teasing, and then asking her if she was being “safe” in a manner that embarrassed Sheena almost as much as if Macal, whom she thought of as her father, were to find out what she was up to. No matter how much she might protest, Faith never seemed to believe that sometimes when she slept over with Alex, they really were just sleeping.
Finally deciding that she was calm enough to start her day, she lightly nudged Alex with her elbow, then ruffled his curly hair.
“Wake up, Snoreface. Class before long.”
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**
Faith heard her bedroom door open before she was entirely awake, then the sound of padding feet crossing her and Macal’s bedroom to get to her bedside. Before she could sit up or even so much as open her eyes, let alone extract herself from beneath Macal’s arm to make sure she was wearing some form of clothing beneath the sheets, Liza, her five-year-old daughter, had already jumped up onto the bed and directly on top of Faith’s legs. As Faith sat up, rubbing at one eye, Liza threw an armful of stuffed animals across the bed, still clutching one battered bear in both arms and squeezing it against her chest as she whispered loudly to her parents, her voice shaking and tearful.
“Mama…Daddy…I had a bad dream. Bad, bad dream and I feel yucky inside. I wanna sleep with you and so do my friends ‘cause they’re scared. And I should keep them company, I think.”
Groggily, Faith reached for Liza with one arm, pulling her into her lap and hugging her as with the other, she subtly shoved the other stuffed animals as far to the foot of the bed as she could manage. Smoothing Liza’s hair back, she lay back down with her in between her and Macal.
“S’okay. Go back to sleep, have to be up early…did you wet the bed?”
When Liza shook her head, Faith closed her eyes again, one hand rubbing lightly over Liza’s spine.
“Good. Go to sleep, then.”
There was no reason, that first morning, to think there was anything wrong.
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**
As Katarina DeSanto finished dressing herself in the small bathroom of her dorm room, her eyes skittered, as they usually did, over her partially clad form, but she did not, as usually, cringe and look away from her reflection, disgusted with herself and her appearance. Instead, she looked for a moment, and a brief, faint smile flickered over her lips before she finally looked away.
She hadn’t done anything to hurt herself in nearly a week and a half. Eleven whole days, and for Katarina, that was an act of will that to her, was almost unbelievable.
It had been true, until recently, that she couldn’t seem to go one day without feeling the desire, no, the NEED to injure herself in some small way, to try to get out through physical pain the inner pain and sense of failure she had harbored for the majority of her life. She had graduated from biting her nails to the quick to pulling hairs from her arms, then to banging her wrists and ankles until they swelled up and bruised, to burning herself with lighters or tentatively scraping at, then cutting her skin. It had become a daily practice, with the least frustration or sadness pushing her towards coping in this dysfunctional manner.
But almost two weeks and she hadn’t done any of it. It was one of the things she had done since she and Adrian had been accepted as students here that really made her feel sort of proud of herself- something that had been almost never occurring before the past few weeks.
Katarina knew that there was no reason for her to be here, really. She wasn’t like the other kids here, after all, or even like her own twin brother, Adrian. She didn’t have supernatural powers or talents; she had, as far as she could see, no ordinary talents, even, nothing special about her at all. It was because the headmistress, Faith Cord, was being kind that she was allowed to stay here with Adrian, who had the ability to start fires just by thinking about it or feeling strong emotion. If it wasn’t for Adrian, and his insistence that he would not go to live anywhere that Katarina was also not allowed to, then Katarina would never have been here at all.
But she liked it here, all the same. It was true that she felt weak and stupid and untalented compared to the other kids here- Faith’s five-year-old daughter could kill her in half a second if she wanted to, and everyone knew it. Anyone here could hurt her. But on the other hand, most of the people here so far were pretty nice to her, and this was something Katarina hadn’t experienced much from other kids through most of her life. She had always been the outcast, one of the DeSantos, white trash, the school skank, the school joke. She had heard jokes about twincest and emo chicks and knew that her name had been written all over the boys’ bathroom stalls. And with her own parents being what they were, violent alcoholics known through their former neighborhood for their ways, Katarina had never thought she would have any friends other than her own brother; even her multiple and increasingly desperate attempts to find a boyfriend who would love her and never leave her had always ended with painful breakups soon after they got what they wanted from her, which was usually whatever she was willing to give with her body.
But here, kids for the most part were different too, outcasts like she had been. Here some of the kids had even been through some of what she’d been through, from what she heard- impoverished, born to abusive families, and Faith herself had told her that she too had run away as a teenager, that she too had not respected herself or her body with boys. Though Katarina never spoke of Alice with other kids, still finding it entirely too hard to talk about her sister’s death and the guilt she still harbored for it, even if it had been her brother, not she, who had actually started the fire that was its technical cause, she knew that other students too had lost loved ones. It was sort of nice to know that she wasn’t the only one, that in some ways, she was even lucky. She had Adrian, and as annoying overprotective as he could be of her, she knew he would always be there for her- whether or not she wanted him to be. No matter how much of a screw up she was, he wouldn’t care.
But she wasn’t screwing up too badly…yet, anyway. She was doing okay in her classes, even starting to get physically stronger, though in no way like the other kids. She liked Faith a lot, and Faith had been nice to her, going out of her way to work with her and talk to her sometimes. And then there was Bucky.
She hadn’t actually talked to him very much…well, ever, if she admitted it. He was older, and she wasn’t even sure if he was teacher or staff. She had seen him in passing several times, and each time, Katarina wanted to go up to him, but unusual shyness would seize her tongue and prevent her from moving. He was too hot for her, she knew. No way would he ever even look at her…and if he was mean to her, if she should talk to him, or just dismissive, it would hurt more than she was willing to risk.
Still, when she went into the cafeteria that morning, she found herself looking for him, almost sure that today, if she saw him, maybe she would try to talk to him after all, just to see what would happen. And when she saw Adrian wave at her, beckoning for her to join him at his table, she pretended not to see him. After all, if she went to Adrian, Bucky would never approach her. And if Adrian was sitting with her and saw her get up to go talk to Bucky, he would harass her over it later, maybe even walk up and join them. He was entirely too protective.
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)It was exactly because things were going so well lately that Faith Cord was beginning to grow suspicious.
Long-time experience had taught her that there was no such thing as an even remotely peaceful experience when it came to her life or those of her friends and family members. It didn’t seem to matter where they lived or what they were doing, trouble seemed to follow her or present itself in her view regardless of circumstances. More times than she could recount Faith had found herself struggling against odds that often left her physically, mentally, and emotionally drained, sometimes with little to no help or support in overcoming them, and sometimes even on the brink of death. More times than she could name she had found herself to feel entirely alone, even if this were not strictly true, for she knew, that she would always have her husband Macal and the young woman she thought of as her sister, Sheena, as her support, if she would ever ask for it- though for her to force herself to do so was an admittedly rare occurrence. Sometimes it seemed that she and those she loved couldn’t so much as breathe without being threatened by multiple sources on all sides, that just getting through the day would turn into an actual battle for their lives. And sometimes it did.
“Is there such a thing as a vacation from this shit?” she had railed at Macal fairly often, pacing, as was her usual mode, when particularly agitated, her hands slicing through the air in furious gesticulation. “What is it about the universe trusting only us to deal with all its issues? Have they even looked at who they’re dumping their shit off onto? Helloooo, if I’m voted Most Responsible, the world is in deep shit!”
But when it came down to it, living a life of chaos and struggle was something she was used to…even something that was okay with her. Too much tranquility and too few challenges would leave her feeling restless and edgy, wanting to strike out to find some, if only to give herself something more exciting to do. If she had too much down time or too few problems to be tackling, Faith would actually begin to feel an urge to deliberately create problems, just to be able to start up that adrenalized sense of purpose that came whenever she was throwing everything she had into dealing with whatever challenge had been thrown her way. She never felt more alive than when another apocalypse was taking place, and she knew that she had at least some role in making sure it never finished out.
Still, things being as relatively calm as they were now, especially given the fact that she was in charge now of a school full of hormone-riddled, supernaturally gifted kids of all ages, kids with great potential to cause chaos, was just a little too unusual for Faith to accept.
It had been years since Faith’s life had come together in such a way as it was now. Even just a few months ago things had been different. Sheena’s vampire half-sister, Evangeline, had been alive and murdering students within the school and outside of it, and as Sheena had been completely defensive of her and there had been little proof to connect Evangeline in particular to the deaths, there had not been much that Faith could do about it initially. Faith herself had been struggling to become accustomed to the role of headmaster and had at times found herself overwhelmed by its responsibilities and her efforts to maintain relationships with students and staff that balanced Faith’s general blunt attitudes and quick temper with being able to earn and keep respect and a reasonable level of obedience. There had been some attacks on students and staff from an enemy of her and Macal’s past that had been stressful and concerning, and renewed security had had to be put in place. And through it all Faith herself had felt isolated, having within the past couple of years lost numerous friends and family members she previously would have been able to turn to, whether through their deaths or through simple detachment from involvement in their lives.
But things were different now. Sheena had executed her sister at last in a manner that had made Faith very proud of her and her courage, and though Sheena was still more subdued than usual, grieving the, Faith was not overly concerned with her. Sheena’s boyfriend, Alex Sage, whom Faith considered to be family now as well, had recently discovered himself to have supernatural abilities as well and was beginning to explore their limitations. Liza, Faith’s eternally five-year-old daughter, was as cheerful and bright as ever and had considerably expanded her base of friendships in her new environment. Faith’s relationship with Macal was easy and strong as it had ever been; they knew each other inside and out, and the vicious fights they had had earlier in their relationship were entirely absent.
Best of all, Faith’s best friend, the woman she thought of as her sister, had reentered her life and joined as staff to the school, with her husband Jirro as well. Faith was thrilled to be able to have Izzy back, to finally have someone to be able to confide in and just have fun with as another woman, as an equal, as she still wasn’t always able to do with eighteen-year-old Sheena. Though Izzy had her ghosts, what with her daughter’s recent murder and her recent captivity and amnesia, she was back with her now, and Faith was glad for the half-Lycan Sheena as well, because Izzy was her first cousin, the last piece of Sheena’s blood family who was alive.
It was true that most of the kids in the school still had their issues. Mel with her ongoing campaign of vengeance against Lil, Lil, who was elusive and possibly- probably?- evil and intending mayhem at some point. Several new students, such as Nick and Mikey, whom Faith didn’t know well enough to have a full handle of any possible problems in the future. Sheena’s grief, Liza’s tendency to let her curiosity lead her directly into trouble, and one of the new student- Katarina DeSanto’s- tendency to self-destruct, made obvious to Faith even within the past couple of weeks she had been there, and in spite of some improvements she had already seen in her. Everyone had their issues, but none were yet at a crisis situation, from what she could tell- and anyway, wasn’t that what the school was for, anyway, kids who already had or could potentially get into some serious issues?
The reasoning behind Dormer Academy, at least when Faith conceived of it with Macal, had been the lack of appropriate academic and school placements for her own demi-goddess daughter and half-Lycan Sheena, coupled with her knowledge of what sort of place she would have needed, and what she had failed to receive, when she herself was a teenager, recently called into her status as Slayer, specifically of vampires. Faith's abilities as a teenager had given her greater endurance, strength, speed, and agility than anywhere near normal for girls her age, and she had often used it against others rather than to protect them. With Macal’s current inability to access the god’s kingdom he had once inhabited and its superior schools for children and teenagers such as his daughters and Alex, they were left, on Earth, with very limited choices. With this in mind, as well as her memory of what Diana Dormer, a woman Faith had loved like a mother, had taught and provided for her when she herself was a troubled teenager, Faith had set up a school designed to meet the needs of kids who were something like she herself had once been- supernaturally gifted kids who had inadequate or downright abusive homes or teaching, who were unable to control their powers or were becoming power-hungry off their own abilities. Kids who no one in their lives could understand or relate to, kids who others were afraid of or thought of as freaks, kids who may have already started down a dangerous or potentially evil path of life in reaction. A place where kids like Faith, who had once been not only a homeless street kid, but also a murderer, or Sheena, who had been a homeless ex-prostitute who had at one point ended up in jail, could have a second chance. A place they could learn new skills and control, where they could have understanding and acceptance.
This didn’t mean, of course, that the school was or was intended to be an open range, where no one had any requirements or expectations of behavior. Every student was expected to work hard and to refrain from unnecessary violence and disrespect, and Faith didn’t go easy on anyone who didn’t warrant gentleness. But they had a chance, all of them, if they would take it, and this, she was more than willing to provide. This was what Diana had done for her, the reason behind the academy’s name, and in her memory, she would do the same for others.
Still…the lack of issues lately was weird. And if it kept on, Faith was REALLY going to think something was up.
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**
Her head against the chest of the young man on whose bed she was currently lying, her hair strewn in several directions, partly tickling his face, Sheena Sadovsky kept her eyes half open from where she lay close against his side, the morning’s light streaming in through the crack of his window’s blinds. She had been awake for a few minutes now as her heartbeat gradually slowed, trying not to let her mind drift back, to piece together into more conscious memory images leftover from her dream.
She didn’t remember details, only the deep sense of foreboding and fear that lingered in part in her body even now, tensing up her muscles. Instead she simply breathed in and out, trying to rid herself of the remaining feelings along with the already nearly forgotten details of the dream.
She wasn’t breaking any rules, technically, by spending the night with Alex. The girls had separate rooms in separate wings from the boys, and it was against the rules for underage ones to spend the night together. But then again, she and Alex were both over eighteen, so they couldn’t get in trouble for it; however, every time Faith got wind of her sleeping over with him, she couldn’t resist teasing, and then asking her if she was being “safe” in a manner that embarrassed Sheena almost as much as if Macal, whom she thought of as her father, were to find out what she was up to. No matter how much she might protest, Faith never seemed to believe that sometimes when she slept over with Alex, they really were just sleeping.
Finally deciding that she was calm enough to start her day, she lightly nudged Alex with her elbow, then ruffled his curly hair.
“Wake up, Snoreface. Class before long.”
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**
Faith heard her bedroom door open before she was entirely awake, then the sound of padding feet crossing her and Macal’s bedroom to get to her bedside. Before she could sit up or even so much as open her eyes, let alone extract herself from beneath Macal’s arm to make sure she was wearing some form of clothing beneath the sheets, Liza, her five-year-old daughter, had already jumped up onto the bed and directly on top of Faith’s legs. As Faith sat up, rubbing at one eye, Liza threw an armful of stuffed animals across the bed, still clutching one battered bear in both arms and squeezing it against her chest as she whispered loudly to her parents, her voice shaking and tearful.
“Mama…Daddy…I had a bad dream. Bad, bad dream and I feel yucky inside. I wanna sleep with you and so do my friends ‘cause they’re scared. And I should keep them company, I think.”
Groggily, Faith reached for Liza with one arm, pulling her into her lap and hugging her as with the other, she subtly shoved the other stuffed animals as far to the foot of the bed as she could manage. Smoothing Liza’s hair back, she lay back down with her in between her and Macal.
“S’okay. Go back to sleep, have to be up early…did you wet the bed?”
When Liza shook her head, Faith closed her eyes again, one hand rubbing lightly over Liza’s spine.
“Good. Go to sleep, then.”
There was no reason, that first morning, to think there was anything wrong.
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**
As Katarina DeSanto finished dressing herself in the small bathroom of her dorm room, her eyes skittered, as they usually did, over her partially clad form, but she did not, as usually, cringe and look away from her reflection, disgusted with herself and her appearance. Instead, she looked for a moment, and a brief, faint smile flickered over her lips before she finally looked away.
She hadn’t done anything to hurt herself in nearly a week and a half. Eleven whole days, and for Katarina, that was an act of will that to her, was almost unbelievable.
It had been true, until recently, that she couldn’t seem to go one day without feeling the desire, no, the NEED to injure herself in some small way, to try to get out through physical pain the inner pain and sense of failure she had harbored for the majority of her life. She had graduated from biting her nails to the quick to pulling hairs from her arms, then to banging her wrists and ankles until they swelled up and bruised, to burning herself with lighters or tentatively scraping at, then cutting her skin. It had become a daily practice, with the least frustration or sadness pushing her towards coping in this dysfunctional manner.
But almost two weeks and she hadn’t done any of it. It was one of the things she had done since she and Adrian had been accepted as students here that really made her feel sort of proud of herself- something that had been almost never occurring before the past few weeks.
Katarina knew that there was no reason for her to be here, really. She wasn’t like the other kids here, after all, or even like her own twin brother, Adrian. She didn’t have supernatural powers or talents; she had, as far as she could see, no ordinary talents, even, nothing special about her at all. It was because the headmistress, Faith Cord, was being kind that she was allowed to stay here with Adrian, who had the ability to start fires just by thinking about it or feeling strong emotion. If it wasn’t for Adrian, and his insistence that he would not go to live anywhere that Katarina was also not allowed to, then Katarina would never have been here at all.
But she liked it here, all the same. It was true that she felt weak and stupid and untalented compared to the other kids here- Faith’s five-year-old daughter could kill her in half a second if she wanted to, and everyone knew it. Anyone here could hurt her. But on the other hand, most of the people here so far were pretty nice to her, and this was something Katarina hadn’t experienced much from other kids through most of her life. She had always been the outcast, one of the DeSantos, white trash, the school skank, the school joke. She had heard jokes about twincest and emo chicks and knew that her name had been written all over the boys’ bathroom stalls. And with her own parents being what they were, violent alcoholics known through their former neighborhood for their ways, Katarina had never thought she would have any friends other than her own brother; even her multiple and increasingly desperate attempts to find a boyfriend who would love her and never leave her had always ended with painful breakups soon after they got what they wanted from her, which was usually whatever she was willing to give with her body.
But here, kids for the most part were different too, outcasts like she had been. Here some of the kids had even been through some of what she’d been through, from what she heard- impoverished, born to abusive families, and Faith herself had told her that she too had run away as a teenager, that she too had not respected herself or her body with boys. Though Katarina never spoke of Alice with other kids, still finding it entirely too hard to talk about her sister’s death and the guilt she still harbored for it, even if it had been her brother, not she, who had actually started the fire that was its technical cause, she knew that other students too had lost loved ones. It was sort of nice to know that she wasn’t the only one, that in some ways, she was even lucky. She had Adrian, and as annoying overprotective as he could be of her, she knew he would always be there for her- whether or not she wanted him to be. No matter how much of a screw up she was, he wouldn’t care.
But she wasn’t screwing up too badly…yet, anyway. She was doing okay in her classes, even starting to get physically stronger, though in no way like the other kids. She liked Faith a lot, and Faith had been nice to her, going out of her way to work with her and talk to her sometimes. And then there was Bucky.
She hadn’t actually talked to him very much…well, ever, if she admitted it. He was older, and she wasn’t even sure if he was teacher or staff. She had seen him in passing several times, and each time, Katarina wanted to go up to him, but unusual shyness would seize her tongue and prevent her from moving. He was too hot for her, she knew. No way would he ever even look at her…and if he was mean to her, if she should talk to him, or just dismissive, it would hurt more than she was willing to risk.
Still, when she went into the cafeteria that morning, she found herself looking for him, almost sure that today, if she saw him, maybe she would try to talk to him after all, just to see what would happen. And when she saw Adrian wave at her, beckoning for her to join him at his table, she pretended not to see him. After all, if she went to Adrian, Bucky would never approach her. And if Adrian was sitting with her and saw her get up to go talk to Bucky, he would harass her over it later, maybe even walk up and join them. He was entirely too protective.
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