Always & Forever

Chapter 5

Katherine went home and she walked in seeing her dad in the living room watching TV and he turned and looked at her, welcoming her with a warm smile. Katherine's mom had left them when she was a baby to live her own life and did not want to stay and raise Katherine. Growing up, it was just Katherine and her father, Thomas. 

"Hey," Thomas greeted. "How was your day, kiddo?" 

"It was good," Katherine answered with a warm smile and nodded. "There was a new kid in school, and I met him, he was actually pretty cool, and we are meeting Friday night." 

"He?" Thomas repeated and raised an eyebrow noticing the way Katherine described him. Thomas was always very overprotective of Katherine, especially when it came to boys. Thomas knew growing up without her mother was hard for Katherine even if she never said it out loud or showed it. Thomas didn't want to see her get hurt like that again. Thomas dreaded the day where she would meet a boy, date him and he left her broken hearted. Thomas was somewhat relived when she went to high school uninterested in dating. 

"Yes," Katherine answered and laughed softly. "His name is Noah Riley and he's the talk of the school." 

"Okay," Thomas sighed and shook his head. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will dad," Katherine responded. "Please don't worry about me, I am a tough girl who can handle herself." Katherine assured him. 

"I know you are, it's just that I don't want to see you get hurt." 

"I know you don't, and I love you for that, but I need to at least go for it, I can't be the scared little girl who is scared of getting hurt by some stupid guy." Katherine said with a lazy shrug. 

For the first time in years, Noah was excited and that feeling scared him. When he started the day, he was miserable, but meeting Katherine made him feel differently. He was no longer dreading the day and doing the same things over and over again. Act human, draw no attention, move before people notice or suspect a thing, repeat cycle. Noah was a vampire who did not want to get close to anyone because he would have to move away or stay, risking revealing his secret and watching other's die. Noah resented his existence and wished he would have died a long time ago. But now, meeting Katherine made him feel curious and Noah did not completely understand why. Noah met girls like her throughout the years and none of them caught his attention. But the main difference to her compared to the rest of the girls was that the rest of the girls would constantly throw themselves at him and every word they uttered to her would be somewhat flirty and Katherine did not come across like that. Katherine seemed shy and she was sweet and funny. The rest of the girls were self-centered and shallow and snotty. Even though Noah barely knew Katherine, he knew she was different. 

 Noah went back to his new home with Veronica and went to the living room and he realized he was alone in the house. Veronica would always come home late because she was a doctor, and her work kept her busy which neither of them didn't mind. Noah was independent and no longer needed Veronica's help or supervision when it came to self-control. He had come a long way from the heartless monster that killed just because he could. Noah went to the dining room and started his homework. Noah's phone rang and he knew it was Veronica since she was his only contact besides Katherine, and he hadn't texted her yet and he answered it.

"Hey, what's up?" Noah asked as he put his phone on speaker and continued to work on his homework.

"How was your first day at your new school? Was it any better than last time?" Veronica asked. 

"Yeah, actually it was, did you finish unpacking? The downstairs looks great." 

"The downstairs, yes," Veronica answered. "Upstairs, no, that'll be your job, my new job at the hospital will be long, I just wanted to call and see how your first day was."

"Thanks, it won't be the last first day of high school." Noah joked and chuckled. 

"Ha, very funny." Veronica laughed. 

"But today was actually a good day."

"Well, when I get home, you can tell me about your day," Veronica replied. "But I got to go." 

"Alright, I better go and do my homework."

"Love ya, bro."  Veronica responded. 

"Love you too." Noah said and smiled and hung up the phone and then he went back to his homework.