KATARINA: VAMPIRE (SLAY/LOV)ER

Part VII - SeVeN

Lunchtime used to be one of Katarina's favorite times of the school day. Unlike a lot of chicks her age she didn't think she was too cool for school and enjoyed learning; she just liked goofing off with Kayla more. It's safe to say with all the tomfoolery going on lately it was now her least favorite time of day.

"Second day in a row with no Kayla?" she thought to herself. "It's a nice little break from all the stuff going on I guess."

At least that's how she rationalized it. Truth be told she was worried about her best friend and missed how things used to be. Every young adult faces the harsh reality of joining the real world –be it college or the workforce or public service – but not everybody learns their parents were killed by vampires and now must deal with slaying one themselves with minimum training.

In a way, she has been preparing for this, even though that wasn't the intention. As a senior, she had most of her credits completed, which allowed her to dabble in extracurricular activities and clubs to her hearts content.

Katarina thought back to her years of archery club and how far she's come.

Pull the arrow from the quiver.

Nock the arrow on the string.

Draw.

Aim.

Deep breath in – exhale – and release.

Bullseye.

Rinse and repeat for multiple targets at increasing distances – like a boss ass bitch. Archery was far from the most popular choice for young women, but Katarina was able to take Everett High to the state champs with her skill and dedication.

She thought about how her and Kayla managed to be friends sometimes; maybe having such little in common was what brought them together in the first place? Like most popular girls, Kayla was a cheerleader. Basic. But it was physically demanding and required stamina, strength, hand eye coordination, and grit. Kat sharpened that same skillset through Jiu Jitsu.

In the 80's and 90's everyone was hooked on Karate. Now, Jiu Jitsu is the popular martial art to train. It's more practical as its focus is knocking your opponent to the ground and grappling them into submission though choking them out or causing unrelenting pain to one of their limbs, or both. Katarina had been practicing for about 4 years at this point and was a purple belt, which is halfway to the coveted black belt. She would not be considered a master but has a solid foundation of technique and has no problem attacking or counterattacking. She even taught the basics to white belt a few times. Jiu Jitsu wasn't sanctioned by the school, but she used her senior skip time to train between school and her internship or would train on the weekends.

One of the initial learning curves of this martial art is: size doe does not matter. Kat had seen her 5'6"-155-pound sensei toss guys twice his size across the room and tap them out with ease. Kat herself has bested opponents who underestimated her merely on size and stature. Even if it came down to a tussle, Kat felt confident in her ability to take on Derrick, or at least, not get completely overpowered.

"Yeah, I am pretty friggin' badass," she reminisced as she stabbed at her lunch with her knife, visualizing it as a wooden stake, with her lunch being Derrick. "Take that!"

Katarina knew what she was doing. She was trying to amp herself up to take on Derrick when in reality she was scared shitless.

"This is either going to go textbook perfect, or I'm going to fucking die," she assured herself. "Or even worse, have to spend eternity with that douche-canoe. He was way more attractive before I knew he was a vampire; going around and feeding on deer and being a cheater and shit." Even though he cheated on Kayla with Kat it made her feel better to call him out for it.