Withered Petals

Chapter Seven

I swallowed nervously as I looked up at the building towering in front of me through my typical yellow cat eye contact lenses which I had bought from a store the previous day. Crimson doors beckoned my footsteps, with golden engraved letters reading Milton High. I wore a dark blue fur coat which I staggered off my shoulders and folded onto my arm, revealing my coal tee shirt, with a custom imprinted picture of a sleek, slightly lighter shade of black cat with four luminous bleach white eyes. My long, dark brown hair with streaks of a dark azure blue swayed slightly in the breeze. I swiftly felt arms wrap over shoulders, and heard a familiar voice yell my name into my ear. "Hey Kath!" Egbert. I let out a deep breath I had been holding. "Scared me to death, I swear." I turned to face him, with his adorable smile plastered onto his face. "I can't believe you're in the same school as me!" He chirped. ".. Same. Heh." I stuttered, avoiding eye contact. He wore a white tee shirt with a green slime embroidered into it, and plain grey trousers. He clutched my hand, jeering the door open. "C'mon, what you waiting for?" I followed John into the building, immediately earning various states from students hollering over their individual lockers. I grasped my timetable which was scribbled onto a piece of paper.

Homeroom B3.

Literature, L7.

IT, I3.

Design & Technology, T5.

Geography, H9.

Art, A1.

Math, M3.

Drama, D2.

Music, M1.

"Is that your timetable?" John asked curiously, to which I nodded, and turned it for him to look. "Aww, the only class we've got together is Math!" He said, frowning a little. "We can still see each other out of class — Wait, is Dave in this school?" I chirped with enthusiasm. "Yeah, he's in most of my classes, so he should be in your Math and D&T." And with that, the bell marking the first lesson rang, though technically Homeroom isn't a lesson. "Uhh, where's your Homeroom?" I asked nervously. "B5. It's across from yours, I'll show you!" His voice rang through my ears and he took me by the hand through numerous corridors swiftly. His enthusiasm never seems to drain. We soon came to a stop, where hallways weren't so crowded. If was then you realised just how tall he was. Or that you were just short, or both. I looked to the open doorway next to us, labelled 'B5'. Numerous faces stared at us from their desks, and I couldn't help but blush a little, due to my social anxiety. "There's your form," He gestured towards the door opposite his. "I'll need to go now. Bye." His voice seemed quieter than normal, though I replied "Bye." without hesitation. Before I had the chance to turn away, he lightly kissed my forehead, and swiftly turned around and entered his form. For almost a second I stood bewildered, my face flushing, though it faded at the thought of confronting whoever may be in the room I was about to enter.

I stepped into the room, approaching the teacher instinctively. She had brown eyes and hair, pale skin and pink rimmed rectangular glasses, and was reading through some papers. "Hello, may I take your order?" Her voice was simple, but I could see the edge of humour she hid. I laughed a bit, face palming. "Nah, I'm kidding. I'll be your Homeroom teacher, Miss Tomlinson. You seem familiar, like a student I had at a school in England." "Well, I was in a school called Winterhill, and I think you were an English teacher?" "Boom, you're the one who went out with Andy. Anyway, Kaitlin, your seat will be next to..." She looked down to her paper, hosting a seating plan on it. "Sollux." She gestured towards a table at the far corner of the room. Glancing towards the tables around, there were many trolls equally as humans, not that it was surprising. A female troll with long, curled charcoal black hair and small, inwards leaning horns smiled at me. She had bright pink glasses, and an adorable green and blue skirt which contrasted to her black tee with the Pisces symbol in fuschia. I smiled back, then proceeded towards the desk where the boy I assumed to be Sollux sat.

He was a troll with round glasses, the right eye being blue, and the other red. He had double the horns, something I haven't seen before, shorter than the girl's, but alot sharper. He wore simple blue jeans, a black tee with the Gemini symbol and a yellow jacket with the same symbol on either side of the zip. I noticed him sigh in frustration as I sat beside him, yet I pretended not to. "Sollux, is it?" I stuttered nervously. "Yeah, that'th me. What'th up?" He faked the enthusiasm; I knew that for sure. "... You don't need to put on a monotone, y'know? I can see the fake enthusiasm, I just want to get to know people, and seeing as I'm sat next to you, isn't it better to be friends rather than enemies?" He sighed. "Okay, well, what thorta thtuff are you into?"