Maturinus: School Days

Transfer

"You're a very special girl Catherine. You're going to change the world."

"Hi there! You must be the new girl! I'm *******, that's *******, and that's *******! Let's be friends!"

"Do it again!"

"I can't!"

"You're getting out of here. I won't let them keep either of you, even if it kills me."

"Catherine... they're dead. I'm sorry."

"Freak!"

"Weirdo!"

"Stop it!"

"Hello?"

The voices died as she snapped awake, and as the dreary remnants of sleep fled she realised that she was face-to-face and hand-to-throat with a stranger, digging in tight enough to mark the skin a whiter shade of pale beneath her fingers. She jerked away at the realisation of what she was doing; staring at her hands in disbelief before bringing one to her forehead to try and calm the gentle throbbing that was spreading out from there in waves of static. Surprisingly, the young man she'd assaulted was rather unfazed by her actions, rubbing the engravings gingerly as he rose from his crouch, shooting her a toothy smile.

"Sorry about that, my fault. I should have learned not to shake dreamers awake prematurely by now; bad luck and all that."

His voice drew her back to the man she'd tried to kill. He was lean and slight like a beanpole, and if she stood up he'd be about a head taller than her, said head covered in messy black hair. He was dressed casually in a loose shirt and jeans, combined with some kind of metal choker around the base of his neck. She recalled something her Aunt had said about a similarly looking boy on the cover of a romance novel once; handsome, in a sad poet kind of way. He looked a little uneasy, but it couldn't have been due to the accident, because he'd already brushed that off. It took a moment to click that she should speak back instead of just staring at him. Not that she had much experience with talking to boys, or anyone really. Thankfully, he took command of the conversation with an awkward smile as she rose from her seat. It carried over into his speech as well, shaking a little for reasons she couldn't understand. It wasn't like she was intimidating in any way, shape or form.

"Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. Alexander King."

He held out for a handshake and was taken up in a limp fashion. Withdrawing after a single pump, he turned his attention to the tablet computer under his arm. She didn't get a chance to respond before he'd started up again.

"They've already given me a bit on you though. Catherine Holmes, but you prefer Katie for simplicity's sake. You recently turned sixteen; birthday is the 28th August 2034. Happy birthday, by the way. B negative for blood type with a mostly clean medical record for the most part, not counting that time you broke your arm falling down a flight of stairs at school. Speaking of which, you're quite the bright one, huh? School records favour high marks across the board, with an unbeaten streak of A+ in the sciences, very impressive. You enjoy science-fiction and horror novels, electronic music from the turn of the millennium and sweet foods. Dislikes include-hurk!"

His sentence was cut off as a thick appendage wrapped around his throat, pining the hand that had been reaching up for a casual scratch. Before he could utter anything else he'd been dragged down to his knees, their positions reversed as she stormed to her feet.

"W-w-who a-are you? H-how d-d-do you know all that?"

The appendage tightened, Alexander catching an unhealthy shade of red from it.