Katie

Chapter 5

Monday morning Katie pulled into the school parking lot. Feeling agitated, tired and annoyed, she rested her head on the steering wheel for a moment. The weekend definitely had not gone as planned. While Friday night with her dad had been nice, everything went downhill fast after waking up just to find him already gone. As Ben had suggested, Katie called Sarah and ended up spending the rest of the weekend with her. Doing what? Shopping....what else. If Katie never saw another clothing store for the rest of her life, she would be happy. Or any store, for that matter. Or a credit card, cash register, sales person....you get the point. And having to listen to Sarah go on and on did not help the situation. If the conversation didn't consist of her, boys, money, shopping, clothes, and/or make-up then you might as well not even bother. Katie honestly didn't know if a more shallow person than Sarah could possibly exist. And she sure as heck didn't want to ever find out. One Sarah was enough, thank you very much.

Groaning, Katie forced herself to get out of her car and walk into the school. Slowly trudging towards her first class, Katie jumped when she felt arms wrap around her waist.

"Sorry I couldn't see you this weekend." Ben whispered into her ear. "I'll make it up to you next weekend. Promise." He placed a small kiss against her neck.

Katie moved out of his embrace. "Seems like I'm surrounded by promises from the men in my life lately." She said, feeling slightly annoyed and put out.

Ben yanked her to a halt. "What is that supposed to mean? Don't take your 'daddy' issues out on me. I made plans this weekend because you said you had plans with your dad. I refuse to break plans with the guys just because you snap your fingers. I'm sorry your plans didn't pan out but don't take it out on me." Ben started to walk away and Katie quickly grabbed his sleeve.

"I'm sorry, Ben. I just had a really crappy weekend and I shouldn't have taken it out on you." Katie looked up at him as she spoke. "Forgive me?" she asked with a small smile.

Ben looked away from her for a second and then slowly returned his gaze to her. "Yeah...I guess."

"Gee, thanks." Katie pouted.

"What? You kinda pissed me off." Ben said. "Besides, you should've known your dad would bail out early. He always does. And frankly, I'm getting kinda tired of hearing about it. Look, I gotta get to class. We can talk later, ok?" With that, Ben turned and started walking off leaving her standing there, stunned and hurt.

'Can this day get any worse?' She wondered. Shaking her head, Katie headed off to class, ready to get this day over with.

Staring blindly at the white board, Katie had no clue what the teacher was going on about today. She just couldn't concentrate. First a miserable weekend and now the week seemed to be getting off to a bad start. Hopefully Ben would cool down before lunch and they could salvage the rest of the day.

Katie tapped her pencil repeatedly on her desk, wishing the clock would go just a little faster. All of a sudden, her pencil was yanked out of her fingers.

"What the crap!?" She yelped. She quickly glanced to the front of the room to see if the teacher had noticed her outburst. Thankfully he was still droning on about who knows what.

Katie narrowed her eyes and turned to glare at Logan. "Give it back." she demanded.

"Nope." Logan stated, not even bothering to glance at her.

"What is your problem??" she hissed. "Give me back my pencil, now!"

"You are my problem. If I have to hear you tapping this pencil for one more second I will be forced to stab myself with it." Logan said rudely, turning to look at her.

"Wow....drama much?" Katie said snottily. "Grow up and give me back my freakin' pencil already!"

"Nope"

"You are such a jerk"

"Takes one to know one, Princess." Logan responded with a smirk.

"Ok, first of all, nice comeback," Katie said sarcastically, "second of all, don't ever call me Princess."

"Then don't act like one." Logan said, looking her up and down slowly.

Katie felt her face heating up with the look he was giving her. "I do not act like a Princess." She glared at him and then turned back to face the front of the room.

Logan chuckled. "Yeah, whatever you say. Princess."

Katie did her best to ignore him for the rest of class. She was so mad right now she could strangle him. All these years of ignoring and avoiding her, and the rare times he even acknowledged her existence, it was to make her life miserable. What a jerk! As soon as the bell rang, she yanked up her book bag and rushed out of the room, anxious to get as far away from him as possible.

Later that morning, Katie threw open her locker, tossed her book bag in, slammed the door and headed off for the cafeteria. She wasn't feeling very hungry but she was hurrying to see Ben. She hadn't had a chance to talk with him at all since right before first period and was nervous, hoping he had gotten over their little spat.

As soon as she walked in she heard her name being called. Groaning, Katie saw that Sarah was already at their table with several others. Waving excitedly, Sarah called her over again. Katie unwillingly made her way over and sat down next to one of the other girls in what she liked to call Sarah's entourage.

"Hey girls," Katie said, "where are all the guys?" She glanced around to see if they were still in line.

"Oh, Ben didn't tell you?" Sarah asked, curiously.

"Tell me what?" Katie asked.

"That Jason's dad bought him a motorcycle over the weekend. The guys are spending lunch out in the parking lot, drooling." she said, causing the rest of the girls to giggle as if she said something funny.

"No...he didn't, but we haven't really had much of a chance to talk today." Katie explained.

"Oh.....you had a fight huh." Sarah narrowed her eyes at Katie. "What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything? And besides, it's none of your business. We are fine." Katie said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Just a misunderstanding."

Unconvinced, Sarah stared hard at Katie. "Well, you better be careful. There are a lot of girls who would love to be in your shoes. Don't mess it up or you just might lose him."

"To who, Sarah. You?" Katie rolled her eyes and stood up. "Sorry to disappoint you Sarah, but I'm not worried."

"Maybe you should be." Sarah muttered, looking away.

"Sarah!" Ashley slapped her on the arm. "That's not nice. You're supposed to be supportive of your friend, not a female dog."

Bursting out in laughter, Katie wiped the tears from her eyes. "A 'female dog'. Really??"

Blushing, Ashley looked at her innocently. "What can I say? I abhor foul language. That's the worst thing I could think of." She pouted.

"Oh Ashley," Katie smiled and reached over to give her a hug. "You always know how to make me laugh."

Grinning, Ashley relied, "I try."

Sarah stood up. "Well, if you two are done with your little love fest, lunch is about over. See ya." She abruptly turned and walked stiffly away.

Ashley and Katie both watched her go. "Why again do we put up with her?" Ashley asked. Katie continued to watch Sarah walk away and said, "I have no idea, Ashley. No idea at all." They both turned and grinned at each other before heading off for their next classes.