Flourished

Chapter I- Flourish

Chapter One

Flourish

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 A fierce snowstorm raged outside of Catherine’s window, and she sighed at the unrelenting and harsh weather, knowing her drive to school was going to be difficult with the crazy morons on the road, the ones that freak and drive erratically whenever the weather was just slightly off. She can never get used to the winter as it turned her world into a cold, barren, lifeless blanket of snow. Now, however, Catherine didn’t mind it so much. She never felt cold anymore, not since the gem vanished, not since it inked her palms with an intricate, fiery, almost flowery, design of the boldest reds and reddest oranges. Her parents had gone berserk when they saw her palms, but when nothing was able to eradicate the brand, they calmed. She had been seven years old then. Looking at it now, a near ten years later, the flourish had spread to mid-forearm.

With time ticking by, Catherine knew she needed to get out of bed and prepare for school. She groaned, sliding onto the unstained hardwood floor of her room, and walked, zombie-like, past her overflowing hamper and cramped bookshelf to the door. The hallway light was on as Catherine stepped into the hall; the floor groaned as she treaded heavily down the hallway towards the kitchen, and she ignored the family pictures hung in disarray on seemingly every inch of space on either side of her.

She disliked pictures from the past, especially those in the hall because half of them show her growth from birth to present. One of the pictures was of her grinning into the camera with gaps in her smile where teeth were missing, and her brown hair was nearly tamed, but wisps of it appeared around her head, seeming like a golden brown aura. Because she definitely wanted that picture hung for the world to see.

Stumbling into the kitchen, Catherine popped two raspberry Poptarts into the toaster and poured herself a glass of chocolate milk. Her breakfast of champions was ready soon after, and once she finished, she was feeling slightly less like a zombie, and she moseyed back to her room. Pulling the first things she saw from her dresser, Catherine wound up wearing a pair of loosely fitting blue jeans and a navy blue tee shirt. She then threw on a gray zip-up sweatshirt in order to cover up most of her mark and crammed her wallet into the pocket of her jeans, along with her iPhone. After using the bathroom, washing her face and brushing her teeth and hair, Catherine left, her keys jingling as she locked the door behind her.

The storm still hadn’t let up when Catherine arrived at her school and climbed out of her yellow Jeep, which was far past its prime. As she strolled unhurriedly towards the school doors, a sleek black car sped past her, narrowly missing. She glared at the hazardous car, furious at the driver for nearly hitting her, and who would step out?

Catherine didn’t know the person, in fact, she’d never seen him before in her life. He strode towards her with the grace of a feline and the pride of an equine, his chin held high, but not jutted out stubbornly. A dark mass of disheveled hair sat atop his hid, nearly reaching his ears, and she noticed when he stopped in front of her that his eyes were an intense, icy blue. “You nearly hit me!”

“Ah,” said the boy with a small, amused smirk, “but I did not. I was several meters away from you. No worries.”

“You’re British!” Catherine exclaimed at his accent.

“Gee, I wonder who told you that,” the still unidentified boy said sarcastically with an emphasizing eye roll. He paused for a moment and then continued, “I just moved here from Kent, England. The name’s Jacob. Pleasure to meet you…” 

“Catherine,” she responded to his implied question. She noted that he didn’t offer a handshake, but she didn’t question it; she wouldn’t have shaken it, and he didn’t need to know about her mark. “If you’d like, I’ll show you around.” She stated blankly, merely being polite.

“That sounds brilliant, thanks! Let’s go, you’re probably freezing!” Looking at him, Catherine realized he was wearing jeans and a tight-fitting long sleeve shirt.

She countered, passing off his lack of winter clothing for him being male, “Nah! You’re probably colder than me, but let’s head in anyways.” The two headed in, grateful to be out of the snow. “Let me see your schedule, so I can show you where your classes are.”

Jacob produced a folded paper and handed it to her, and she read over the classes printed and blanched. His schedule was exactly the same as hers. When she pointed it out to Jacob, he just shrugged, saying, “Fate, I suppose.”

“Well, I guess I don’t need to show you to your classes, so let’s just walk around. Sound good?”

“Sounds great.” At that, the two wandered around the school’s hallways, with the white walls plastered with posters for various groups, and Catherine pointed out various places like the media center and the offices. Seven minutes before the bell would ring at eight o’clock, Catherine and Jacob arrived at their first hour. Jacob introduced himself to the teacher as Catherine picked two seats in the slowly-filling classroom.

She watched as the teacher handed him a bright orange textbook and dismissed him to sit down. Class began moments later, and Jacob was told to introduce himself to the class. He stood and turned to face the students who were watching him eagerly and critically. “'Lo,” he said. “I’m Jacob. I just moved here from England.” Catherine quickly realized the rest of the day would be pretty much the same.

After school, Catherine made the mistake of waving good-bye to Jacob. His eyes instantly zoomed to the exposed mark on her hand. “What’s that on your hand?” he asked, looking kind of furious, but almost queasy at the same time. Catherine opened her mouth to answer, but not before Jacob held up his hand.

On it was an intricate design like hers, except this one was colored in various shades of intense blue, and instead of seeming to resemble fire; it flowed down to the middle of his forearm in rivulets and waves.

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cA/N: Hiya, I'm verb15! I'm coauthoring this story so I hope you enjoy it! Here's a good cycle to start: Enjoy, Fan, Vote, Comment, Enjoy, Vote, Comment, Enjoy, Vote, Comment, and continue! :D

Thanks for reading, and I'd love to hear your feedback! 

~Victoria

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Edited by: PolkaLALA728