Catherine

4. Perspective

It was midday , and Catherine was somewhere in the school, having lunch with her classmates. She had her mind in another place, and wasn't paying attention to anything. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened this morning. Would her parents find out she had been rude with the waitress? What if they met the lady with the red handbag? Would she tell them about her behaviour? She now felt guilty for humiliating the young lady she got mad with. Catherine was soon pulled out of her thoughts when she felt her arm pinched by one of her friends.

" Ouch! Lucia! That hurts you idiot! " she yelled.

" Look over there again. " she pointed. " You were looking at him weren't you? " she asked with a crooked smile.

" What? No! "

Her friend Lucia stood up, and before she knew it, she called out for a boy." Dylan! Hey, Dylan! ".

" Lucia! What are you doing? " Catherine whispered. The boy looked at them.

" Dylan! Catherine wants to make out with you! " she got an instant response from the crowd, oohing at them, and Dylan staring , a little embarrassed, with no idea what to say back. Catherine stood up to keep her from saying anything else.

" Huh... me? " the boy asked, a little jumbled.

" N-no! I wasn't thinking... I mean, I wasn't looking at you, I was thinking."

" About... me? " he asked.

" Yes! " Lucia yelled.

" No! " Catherine yelled back. " What's the matter with you!? " she pushed her friend. " Shut up! ". They heard a sudden amount of gasps from the students around them, Lucia dropped her sandwich, leaving a dirty spot on her clothes, then she stared at Catherine with a confused look on her face as if saying ' Why would you do that? '

" Jeez. Calm down. " Lucia said.

" No! I won't calm down! What's the matter with you!? "

" Look at what you did! You made me drop my sandwich... and this is my favorite shirt... " Lucia said, grabbing her shirt and stretching it out to have a better look at the dirty spot.

Catherine looked at Dylan, who seemed to be even more confused, shaking his head. The school bell rang, and Catherine packed up her things to go to class.

Long time passed in the classroom. Catherine was so done with all the whispering and giggling around her.

" Psst. Catherine. " Lucia whispered. " Are you still mad? "

" What does it look like? " she glared at her.

" Jeez. You could kill me with those eyes. " Lucia smiled.

" Shut up. "

" Girls, please, pay attention. " their teacher said.

" Why are you even mad? I know you were looking at him. Was it a bad time? " Lucia kept talking as the teacher turned back.

" No Lucia! I wasn't! " Catherine said.

" Yes you were! I saw you. " she insisted. " Why don't you say you like him? "

" Girls! Pay attention, please! I won't warn you again. " the teacher said once again, on a louder tone this time.

They stayed quite for awhile. Catherine turned to her friend, then back to her teacher, then again to her friend, and back to the teacher. There was this huge silence in the classroom, the whispers had suddenly stopped, the sound of the chalk on the hands of their teacher, travelling across the board, was getting louder, the tic-tacking from the wall clock hitting stronger and louder every second, and she found herself shaking her pencil on her hands, in a way that seemed revealing what was going on in her head. There was this feeling of anger inside of her, a feeling that she had to release in some way. She wanted her friend to feel bad about what she did.

" You're stupid. " Catherine said.

" What!? " Lucia yelled, accidentally.

Their teacher ignored them.

" I wasn't looking at him. I was thinking, not about him, but about something else. " she said.

" Uh-hum. You really think I'm gonna fall for that? " Lucia frowned.

" Why are we talking about this? What a stupid subject, it's not the first time you do this to me. Just because you have a ' lover ', it doesn't mean you have to get me one, you are just 10 years old, what could you possibly know? " Catherine said.

" Apparently, more than you! " Lucia stood up, raising her voice.

" You're stupid! And dumb! " Catherine yelled.

" Enough! " the teacher shouted. " Lucia, go sit by the window! And you, Catherine! Go sit next to the door! I really DON'T wanna kick you out, but if I hear ONE MORE WORD, and I MEAN IT!! ONE MORE WORD , you're BOTH OUT! OUT! Is that clear!? " Everyone remained in silence. Some students looked scared, probably because it was their first time hearing someone yelling that way.

" Yes teacher... " they both said.

The class proceeded, silently, until the end. Catherine and Lucia were warned about their behavior. She didn't said a word since then, and walked straight out of school once the class was over.