Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 12

A/N - Kate's outfit^^ 

✡ ✡ ✡ 

KATE 

The next day, it wasn't my alarm that woke me up, it was myself. I unset my alarm and rolled out of bed, before heading into the bathroom to take a much-needed shower. The hot steam surrounded me like smoke and settled onto my body like another layer of skin. I lathered my strawberry-scented shampoo into my hair, letting its sweet fragrance consume all my senses.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering, why strawberry? And the truth was, I wasn't really sure. I'd found it in an old run-down CVS back in New York with my mother. I'd needed a new shampoo because my hair was getting thicker and my original shampoo was turning my hair a greenish color. My mother had pulled out this shampoo, saying it was strawberry-scented and that it was designed for thick hair. It was the first one she'd pulled out and we'd never needed to go back for a different kind. Not that we could now anyways.

I turned off the shower and wrapped one of my soft white towels around me before I headed back into my room. Realizing that I'd forgotten to lay out an outfit last night, I slipped on a blue t-shirt and ripped white shorts. Then, to finish off the look, I put on my old yellow converse.

Once I was fully dressed, I walked back into the bathroom to attempt to dry my hair enough so that I could style it before brushing my teeth. After I was finished, I headed down the stairs, my backpack slung lazily on my shoulder.

"I'm ready, dad," I announced, heading into the kitchen to grab my lunchbox and take my pill.

"Well, you look ready for your first day of training. Are you excited?" My father asked, grabbing a soda out of the fridge.

"Yeah, I'm ready. The hard part was getting the job, training for it should be easy enough."

My father smiled. "I like your confidence. You're so much like your mother."

At the mention of my mother, my heart sunk. My father must have noticed my pained expression because he immediately shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kate. I didn't mean it the way it sounded."

I wanted to get angry, to yell at him for mentioning her here in our new home, but I held it back. I knew that he felt horrible about everything that had happened and that yelling at him would only make things worse. So instead, I said nothing, I just swallowed my pill along with my anger and headed out to the car, not saying a word.

The car ride was silent, the tension so thick a knife couldn't even do it justice. You would've needed a sword. I didn't even bother to play music this time, making my father's shallow breaths the only sound between us.

I just stared out the window, watching every palm tree as it blurred past. Every building I saw had become more and more familiar that it was almost scary. Just a few days ago, everything was so strange and new but now it had begun to feel like New York was even further away, not just in miles, but in memories too.

We reached my school, but when I got up to leave, my father's hand closed around my wrist, a silent plea for me to stay.

"Kate, I'm sorry for bringing her up," he said, bringing her up once again. "It's just, you look so much like her. You have her eyes, her hair, even her smile. I know you're not your mother, okay? I know that." But, at this point, I couldn't even tell if he was trying to convince me, or himself.

I released my wrist from his grip, but I could still feel his fingers as if they were still pressing there, pushing the pearls of my bracelet into my skin. "I have to go to class," is all I managed to say before I left, shutting the car door behind me.