Page 10 of Always: A Legacy Novel

She wasn’t really a football person.

It was more interesting than classes with people she didn’t know, though.

Catherine was not liking her new school at all. Her brother had been right, or maybe she just hadn’t realized how difficult it was to be on the outside looking in. At her old school, she had been a part of the popular crowd. She had friends.

She didn’t need to make them.

It was strange to be … out of place.

The bell rang, signaling it was time for the students to head back inside as lunch was over, and classes would start in another ten minutes. Liliana stood instantly. Catherine stayed right where she was.

“Hey, art class, remember?”

Catherine took the schedule back from her cousin. “Yeah, I know.”

“It’s on the other side of the school, so you might want to get going if you don’t want to be late.”

“I’m going.”

“You’re going to skip, aren’t you?”

Catherine shrugged. “I’m not very artsy.”

That was a lie.

She loved art.

But not with people she didn’t know.

“You know they call home when you skip a class after already showing up to previous ones, right?”

“Maybe my dad will send me back to my old school, then.”

Liliana rolled her eyes upward. “Unlikely. And it’s not that bad here.”

“I don’t know anyone.”

“You have to, oh, I don’t know, talk to people, Catherine.”

“I tried to talk to that Natasha girl from English studies. I told you about her. She fucking scoffed at me—scoffed.”

“She’s a royal bitch on a high horse, and everybody knows it. She just hasn’t figured out who you are yet, that’s all.”

“She scoffs at me again, and I’ll punch her in the throat.”

Catherine had a big brother who used to make a game out of teasing her. She knew how to kick someone’s ass. People underestimated her because she was a girl and pretty, or that’s what her dad said.

Don’t let anybody underestimate you after the first time, Catherine, because then they deserve everything they get when they make the mistake a second time, her dad liked to say.

“I bet she won’t make one of those noises after that,” Catherine added.

Liliana laughed. “You’re going to have so much fun here once you stop sulking.”

Sure she would.

“Seriously, get to your art class,” Liliana said as she turned to head down the bleachers.

Catherine still stayed where she was sitting. Liliana turned back around and stared at her until she finally got up to follow. “You’re no fun.”