The ride to school was as filled with the same shrill chatter, as Stacy talked a mile a minute. She was going on about the plans they had made for later in the evening and how perfect the weather was supposed to be. Katrina quietly chewed on her scone and nodded at Stacy when she needed to. Stacy would stop just long enough to turn and give Donovan a flirtatious grin. Donovan concentrated on the road, but would occasionally glance back at her.
Katrina smiled to herself, but almost choked on her scone when the pain hit. Warmth from her chest started to spread throughout her entire body. The amulet was burning against her skin again.
“Kat?” Stacy called from the front seat.
“Hmm?” She cleared her throat and tried not to spew pieces of her breakfast everywhere.
“Did you forget something?”
Katrina had no idea what Stacy was talking about. She looked from Stacy over to Donovan. His dark purple shirt made his smooth skin look even more flawless. Katrina turned her attention back to Stacy. She was dressed from head to toe in purple and black. Then it hit her.
“Oh crap! I totally forgot.”
“It’s a good thing I have face paint.” Stacy rummaged through her bag. “It’s in here somewhere.”
“Uh, no. That’s okay.” The last thing Katrina wanted was to look like an Easter Egg.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“All right.”
Katrina followed Stacy’s lead out of the car and headed into the school. As, she did, she found herself lost in a sea of purple. It seemed everyone else but her remembered to wear school colors that day.
* * *
School was as obnoxious as Katrina had expected it to be. All day long was one big pre-game party. The entire cheerleading squad dressed in their purple and black uniforms and would walk around the halls chanting one of their cheers. Katrina found it to be more annoying than anything else. She spent most of her day taking the long way around to her classes just to avoid them.
After school ended, Katrina walked out towards the front and found Donovan lounging next to his car. Katrina knew the exact moment he saw her because he pulled his sunglasses down his nose a bit and gave her a big smile.
She walked a few feet towards him when she suddenly stopped. She felt the warmth once again of the necklace through her shirt. It was becoming more of a pain in the ass. She wondered if it was really worth it. Katrina’s thoughts were interrupted, as she heard Stacy’s voice.
“Man, I thought today would never end.” Stacy walked up behind her.
“Couldn’t agree with you more. I’m so ready for the weekend.” Katrina hadn’t realized how much the past week had worn her out.
As the girls talked, Katrina’s eye caught Donovan. He looked like his mind was elsewhere. Instead of adding to the conversation, he stayed quiet. He was lost in his own world, twirling his keys around his fingers.
“Donovan?” Katrina waved her cast in front of him.
“Hmm?”
“You look like you’ve got something on your mind?”
“Just thinking about the game tonight.”
“You’re going to have a blast.” Stacy batted her eyelashes and rested her face on her hands.
“Can't wait. Ready to get out of here?” Donovan quickly got up and gave both girls a smile.
“Yes,” Stacy answered.
On the way to Katrina’s, the three of them finalized the last of the details for their night ahead—well, mostly Stacy. Always thinking ten steps ahead, she had thought about everything. She even brought her clothes with her to change at Katrina’s and told Donovan to pick up both of them from there.
Pulling into the gravel driveway, Katrina could see Stacy ready to jump out of the car. Katrina was surprised, Stacy even waited long enough for him to stop before undoing her seat belt. Both girls thanked Donovan for the ride and climbed out of the car. Waving Donovan off, Stacy grabbed Katrina by her good arm and skipped happily into the house.
Stacy raced through the front door and up the stairs with Katrina in tow. She dumped the entire contents of her bag onto the bed. Katrina sat and watched her rummage through the mess for something to wear. Clothing was scattered all across Katrina's bed, which made her laugh. Stacy was never one to pack lightly, for any occasion.
“Did I miss something? Are you moving in?” Katrina stared at the massive pile covering her bed.
“I didn’t know what to wear and it’s always better to be prepared.”
“For a disaster?”
“Funny.” Stacy arched an eyebrow. “Come on. This is our first official school function together. It’s a big deal. I want to look super cute.”
“Let’s take a look at what you brought.”
“Well, I have some cute dresses.” Stacy held up a petite floral one against herself.
“No. That looks like a giant table cloth.”
“Well, he could ea—”
Katrina put a hand up to Stacy‘s mouth. “Please don’t finish that thought.”
“Help me,” Stacy whined, changing the subject back to her.
Katrina rummaged through the pile until something caught her eye. “Found it.”
“That? It’s so—”
“You.” She tossed the clothes to Stacy. “Now go try it on.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Katrina put her left hand on her hip and gave Stacy the best mother imitation she could.
“I’ll be right back.” Stacy ran into the bathroom.
“I’ll be waiting.” Katrina pushed a part of Stacy’s pile to the side and lay back on her bed.
She started to daydream about Cole, but was distracted. Her cast was starting to really bother her. She found a wire hanger and bent it as best she could with one hand. As soon as she stuck it in her cast the scratching never felt so good. She was so caught up she never heard Stacy enter the room.
“What are you doing?” Stacy asked.
“It was bugging me.”
“You should be using that powder Dr. Aldrich gave you,” Stacy scolded.
“Well, this was closer and feels much better.”
“How much longer do you have to wear that anyways?”
“Four more weeks.”
“If you’re going crazy this soon, I’m not sure you’ll survive,” Stacy giggled.
“Ha ha, funny,” Katrina mocked. “You try wearing this and not going crazy.”
“I’m good thanks. So, how do I look?”
The sleek, long sleeved black top and skinny jeans made Stacy look elegant. Katrina was proud of her choice. Though her fashion sense was often questioned, she had hit a homerun with that outfit. Jake would have been so proud of her. Jake. Just the thought of him not being there made her eyes tear up. She quickly wiped them away before Stacy could see.
“You look beautiful.”
“Thanks, Kat.”
“I’ll go throw myself together.” Katrina slowly went into the bathroom and got ready. When she was done she came out and found Stacy staring at her reflection. “You know if you stare at yourself long enough you can go blind.”
“Ha ha! Are you ready?”
“Yup.” Katrina leaned against her door jam and folded her arms over her chest. “Why? Do I look homeless?”
“No. You look fine.” A smile spread on Stacy’s face.
“What?”
“I was just thinking about all the crazy stuff we’ve done together over the years. Remember making mud pies with Todd Russo?” Both girls giggled.
“That’s right. I forgot all about that. We would always get in trouble by my dad. He would say we looked homeless.” Their laughter started to die down, when two things happened at once. The doorbell rang and Katrina’s chest started to sting. Not again!
“Come on. Time to go have some fun,” Stacy raised an eyebrow.
Katrina grabbed the scarf Jake bought her last year and then followed Stacy downstairs. She wrapped it around her throat a few times and flipped the amulet
over it. Much better. It was a nice relief.
When she reached the last step, Stacy had already opened the front door. Donovan was leaning against the porch pillar with his arms crossed. It was eerie how much he reminded Katrina of Cole at that moment.
“Ready?” He gave both girls a half-cocked grin.
“Yup.” Stacy rushed out the door.
From the time they were inside the car until they got into the school parking lot, Stacy kept the conversation going. Katrina would throw in an occasional, “Uh-huh” when she directed something towards her, but for the most part Katrina kept to herself.
Katrina followed the dirt path up towards the stadium. A few feet behind her Stacy and Donovan followed having their own conversation. Katrina walked a little further when she stopped and was blinded by a huge cluster of lights. It had been so long since she’d been to the stadium that she had forgotten just how bright it was. It took a few seconds for the swirls in her vision to stop.
Katrina rubbed her eyes and was finally able to focus on the large crowd. The entire town was there. Clusters of people lined the rows of aluminum seats. Each was dressed from head to toe in school colors. It was like looking out into a sea of purple and black.
Katrina laughed at the humor of it all and kept walking. She was halfway up the ramp when a voice stopped her cold.
“What are you doing here?”
“Watching the game, like everyone else!” Katrina snapped. Mason towered over her like a big purple troll.
“Where’s your lame-ass brother or that freak he’s with?”
“Not here.” Katrina could see a hint of fear behind Mason’s eyes when he talked about Andrew.
“Hey, come on. We need to get inside the locker room.” Robby interrupted from behind him.
“In a minute!” Mason shrugged him off and turned his attention back to Katrina, but before he could speak someone else cut in.
“There you are.” Stacy’s voice never sounded so good to hear.
“Is there a problem?” Donovan glared at Mason.
“Nope. Just having a friendly chat with Kat.” Mason clenched his fists and gave him a callous stare.
“Doesn’t look friendly.” Donovan stepped closer to Mason. His jaw tightened, but he stayed calm, never losing control.
“You need to know your place,” Mason said, through gritted teeth. “Around here, we call the shots.”
“You wouldn’t last two seconds where I come from.” Donovan edged further towards Mason.
Both of them folded their arms over their chests and stared at each other. It was obvious they were fighting over territory. Neither one of them was going to let the other win. It was like watching two dogs facing off before a fight. And Katrina felt something oddly familiar about all of it.
“Coach is calling us,” Robby finally intervened. “We need to go.”
Mason gave Donovan one last hard look before turning to Katrina. “The crippled section’s that way!”
“You’re such an ass!” Stacy took Katrina’s good hand and moved forward. “Come on. There are seats over there.”
Donovan hung back, watching Mason leave. Katrina went with Stacy over to the last set of seats. They started climbing up the steps, but didn’t get very far.
“Aren’t you a sight?” came a familiar voice.
Katrina plastered on a fake smile, while Stacy let go of her hand and kept moving. “Trudy. Hi.” With her brunette curly hair and long fake nails she was as cliché as you could get for a salon owner.
“How’s your brother doing?”
“He’s getting better.” Katrina occasionally shifted side to side to avoid being trampled by the crowd of people.
“Oh good. Tell him I said, ‘hello’ would you?”
“Sure. And I’m really sorry about your shop.”
“Thanks, but it was for the best really,” Trudy smiled, revealing deep laugh lines. “That building was old and drafty. When the insurance comes through I should have a bigger and more hip one.”
“I’m just glad no one was hurt.”
“Same here. It would not be good for business.”
“I guess everything happens for a reason.”
Trudy opened her mouth to speak when Donovan caught up to them and she turned her attention towards him. She was smiling at him so big Katrina knew it was one of her wait-till-I-tell-everyone-about-this kind.
“You must be Stella’s nephew.”
“That obvious?” Donovan gave her one of his charming grins.
“A bit. You have her eyes.” Trudy giggled like a school girl.
Katrina tried to hide her laughter as she realized what Trudy was doing. It was an eerie reflection of the scene between her mother and Alaric, except Trudy was hitting on someone young enough to be her son.
“Hey guys! Over here!” Stacy shouted, waving her arms back and forth.
“See you kids later.” Trudy winked at Donovan before going back to her seat.
Katrina had to turn her head, before she lost it and burst into hysterical laughter. Trudy couldn’t have been more obvious if she gave Donovan her phone number. Sometimes she really wondered about the single women in this town.
With Donovan right behind her, Katrina led the way towards Stacy. It took a few minutes for them to shuffle through the seated crowd to reach her. Sometimes it was really annoying that Stacy liked to sit right in the center by the band. After they scooted past the last person they were finally able to sit down.
Katrina was trying not to think about what just happened, but it was all she could think about. She was dying to tell Stacy what Trudy was up to now. That would be difficult though, because Donovan had taken the seat between them. She looked up at him and bit the top corner of her lip to suppress a smile. He must have picked up on it anyways because his face had the same look hers did.
“She’s not my type.” Donovan gave her a huge grin. And at that Katrina burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Stacy asked.
Katrina was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. She cleared her throat and pulled it together just enough to answer Stacy. “Trudy.”
“Did she try to hit on the football team again?”
“Not them.” Katrina looked back at Donovan and started to giggle all over again.
It took Stacy a second to put all of the pieces together. “Wow! That woman will hit on any guy she can find.”
“Thanks,” Donovan said.
“No. Just the ones under twenty-five,” Katrina teased.
“And with nice bodies,” Stacy added, giving Donovan a big smile.
“I’m starting to feel like a piece of meat just used for my good looks.” Donovan joined in the laughter at his expense.
At that moment Katrina was really glad Stacy had dragged her out. Being with friends and enjoying life was something she needed more than ever. It provided her with just enough escape to forget about her troubles until later.
“Game time.” Stacy wriggled excitedly in her seat.
Donovan rolled his eyes and gave Katrina one last smile before he also turned his attention to the game. Katrina followed their lead and turned to face the field. The only problem was she didn’t really understand much about football. Besides knowing what a touchdown was or when it was halftime, she would just watch the band.
For the first part of the game, she tried to figure out who ran where and why. She was about to give up and just watch the cheerleaders because they at least made her laugh when Donovan’s voice shouted over the band’s noise, “You have no idea what’s going on, do you?”
“Is—” She turned to face him and tried to answer when the tuba player hit an even louder note, cutting her off. Really! That annoyed her more, so she shouted back over it. “IS IT THAT OBVIOUS?”
“ONLY TO SOMEONE WHO’S PAYING ATTENTION.” Halfway through his response the band quit playing and Donovan's voice was loud enough that the people around them gave him irritated stares.
Katrina couldn�
��t hold in her laughter. The moment was both comical and awkward. Donovan chuckled along with her. His smile lit up his whole face.
Katrina blushed in embarrassment. “I try, but it’s just too confusing for me.”
“It’s pretty easy. I’ve been to enough games to understand what’s going on. I can explain it to you, if you would like?”
“Sure.”
Donovan spent the next quarter of the game explaining each play and other terminology to her. He would also throw in his two cents on whatever bonehead play he thought they were doing. Stacy would also sporadically join their conversation to prove she knew just as much as Donovan about football.
During the game, Katrina's eyes wandered onto Mason and Robby. They were on the sidelines and looked pissed about something. Katrina barely had enough time to see Robby waving his fists at Mason before throwing his helmet to the ground and walking off the field. As he disappeared around the corner into the locker room, the timer went off signaling half-time.
Stacy started stretching and Katrina followed her lead. After all, sitting in those rock hard seats would make anyone’s butt sore after awhile.
Donovan jerked out of his seat and stood. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” Stacy asked.
“To the snack bar.”
“Want me to come with?”
“No!” he said, a little too forceful and shocked both of the girls. He must have picked up on it because his demeanor quickly changed. “Sorry. I just didn’t think you wanted to leave Katrina all alone.”
“I guess you’re right,” Stacy nodded.
“Don’t worry I’ll be back before you miss me.” He kissed her cheek. “Can I get you guys anything?”
“No, thanks. I’m fine,” Katrina smiled.
“I’ll take a water.” Stacy tried to contain her excitement.
“Be right back.” He scooted to the end of their row and disappeared amongst the crowd.
“Did you see that?” Stacy was bursting at the seams.
“I did.”
“He kissed me! He kissed me!” Stacy shook Katrina as she bounced up and down in her seat.
“Yes, I saw,” Katrina laughed.
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