I remember the first time I talked to her. I was sitting down for dinner with my mom when she brought up our new neighbours. "You know we really oughta take some treats over to them. When we were new to the neighbourhood, at least three families brought us brownies."
I chuckled. "I remember, it took us a month to finish all of them." She stood up suddenly, and opened the cupboard and pulled out muffin mix. "You go relax, I'll make them." After a bit of arguing from her, she finally let me. After an hour and a half of baking, I was finally done. It was nearly 9:30 at night, so I decided to take them next door in the morning before school.
When morning came, I quickly threw on a pair of skinny jeans and a flannel shirt. While taming my wild, curly hair, I also managed to brush my teeth. I was out the door in ten minutes with car keys in one hand and muffins in the other. I attempted to straighten my shirt before ringing the doorbell and secretly hoping she'd be the one to answer the door. I was slightly disappointed when her father opened the door. He seemed confused so I held out the basket of muffins and gave a small smile. "I thought you might like some muffins." He accepted them but still seemed confused. "I'm your neighbor, I live there." I pointed to my house and he nodded with a smile.
"Ah, let me get my wife and daughters, they'd be delighted to meet you. Come in." I stepped into their house and he called for his family. The wife and younger daughter appeared and introduced themselves, but I had trouble focusing when she came down the stairs.
"Dad I really don't have time, I'm going to be late for school if I don't leave-" She stopped when she finally looked up and saw me. "Oh. Um, hi." She looked toward her dad. "I didn't know we were expecting a visitor."
He gave me a pat on the shoulder. "We weren't. This is our new neighbor," He looked at me, waiting for a name.
Staring directly into her eyes, I answered, "Harry." She gave a small flustered nod and grabbed her backpack from the floor.
"Lovely to meet you, Harry. But I really should be heading to school." She kissed her mother's cheek and began to leave.
"Wait, are you going to Summer Valley High? That's a five minute drive from here."
She raised her eyebrows. "I'm walking."
I flashed a smile, "No you aren't. I'm driving you."
She began to shake her head, "Oh, no, there's no need. I can walk, I wouldn't want you to go out of your way."
"I wouldn't be, I attend school there as well. Come on, I'm taking you." Seemingly out of excuses, she agreed and I walked her to my car. I helped her in, and we drove off. "So, I never did catch your name."
"Oh. Um, I'm Kat." She fiddled with the radio for a bit, reminding me of Charlie.
"Kat. Is that short for anything?"
"Katerina."
I smiled. "Katerina. I like it. I hope you don't mind if I call you that."
She groaned and threw her head back. "My parents call me Katerina when I'm in trouble, please don't."
I laughed and shrugged, "Not sure if I can help myself,"
"Then I'm sure you won't mind if I call you Harold." My only response was a small chuckle, so she dropped the subject. "You know, you seem too old to be in high school,"
I laughed, "Yeah, I get that a lot. I'm an old senior. I turned 18 in June."
"So, not only am I in the car with a complete stranger, but I am in the car with an old man? Pretty dangerous if you'd ask me."
"Hey, you know my name, so I wouldn't say I'm a stranger."
"Oh yeah? Murderers have names, too." Kat smirked and it took everything in me not to just stare at her beauty. "Who says you're not just taking me to some abandoned warehouse where you're going to skin me alive and eat my hair?"
I glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "Imaginative, are we? Well, Scout's honour, I won't,"
"Mhm, and were you even a Boy Scout?" She questioned.
"Well...no, but look, we're here." I pulled into the school parking lot and found a parking space. "Does that look like an abandoned warehouse to you?"
She grabbed her bag and opened the door. "Never judge a book by its cover." She hopped out of the car, slamming the door. "All of these people could be decoys. All of this could be fake."
I held my hands up in surrender. "Ah, you've caught me. I set all of this up to trick you into walking into my evil lair." She let out a beautiful laugh and shoved my shoulder. We walked into school together, where I was attacked by Charlie.
"WHO IS SHE" He joked while looking at Kat.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "That was a poor use of that joke. Katerina, meet Charlie Peters, my disappointment of a best friend." He grabbed at his chest and stumbled back a few steps.
"I am truly wounded by your words, Harry."
I hit his arm and gestured to Kat. "Anyways, this is Kat, my lovely neighbour. She just moved in." Charlie kissed her hand, and grinned at her.
"Well, it looks like I am going to be coming to your house more often." I groaned and dragged Kat away from him.
She giggled and waved at him as she was pulled away. "What a charming guy."
"Oh yeah, charming is one word." I shook my head and gave her a smile, "So, ready for your first day?"
She took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "As I'll ever be."
~~~~~
After the final bell of the day rang, I decided to look for Kat and offer to give her a ride home. After looking for awhile, I finally found her outside the school doors talking to Carter Bailey. I didn't know much about him, except that he moved here about two years ago and had a DUI under his belt. I stood and watched them talk before she finally looked over and took notice of me standing there. "Harry! Hey, I was just talking to Carter here. You know him?"
I shrugged, "Somewhat." He stared me down and I copied him. "Anyways, do you want a ride home?"
"Oh, uh," Kat looked back at Carter. "Actually, I was going to go hang out with Carter. But thanks for the offer."
I nodded. "In the morning, perhaps?"
"That would be great. I'll see you then. Bye, Harry." She smiled and waved. I gave a small wave back and headed towards my car. When I got inside, I repeatedly hit my steering wheel. For whatever reason, thinking about her with Carter was driving me insane. I had only met her that day, but I felt an overwhelming urge to protect her, and I didn't trust Carter one bit.
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