dragon story-WIP-

[shady]

This thread is between myself, and the well-known,Rett(aka gray-wolfe). We have been writing a story together for some time now, on dragons(clearly ) and i thought that if it was posted here we could get things put together in a more "professional" way, and maybe also get some input from you all.

Anyways, the story(what we have so far) will be posted soon.

~shady


PLEASE DO NOT STEAL THIS STORY IDEA, IT HAS BEEN COPYRIGHTED TO MYSELF AND RETT.

[shady]

((this is what we have so far, within the story, rett and me have worked together to compile our thoughts. so some of this is his, some of it is mine.))



The moon shone brightly down on a rather large ocean in a cloudless sky. The ocean gleamed in the moonlight, quietly lapping at the sand of the beach it rested beside. A teenage girl with long, dark brown hair walked quietly along the side of the ocean, her feet sinking into the sand with every step she took. She was wearing a white dress that came down to her knees. In the distance, a large, green object started to walk towards the teenage girl. The girl stopped, and smiled as the large, green object came closer into view. The green object nodded, its features hidden in the darkness that the sky had suddenly provided.
“Hello Catherine.” it spoke, its voice was rather feminine and motherly-like. The girl, whose name was as the object spoke, Catherine, nodded in return. The green object stepped closer.
“I’m glad you could finally make it, it took long enough to-,” the objects voice drifted off and was suddenly replaced with an annoying yelling sound. The yelling sound stopped, and the object shook its head.
“Pardon me…like I was saying, it took long enough to-,”again the object stopped and had its voice replaced with an increasingly loud yelling sound. This time though, the yelling continued and Catherine suddenly began to be shaken violently. Instantly, Catherine’s eyes snapped open. She was in her room; everything she had just been through had been a dream.
Catherine yawned and rubbed her eyes, turning to see who had been shaking her. Of course it was none other than her foster sister, Jessica. Jessica rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, “Took you long enough to wake up! Gosh, you are going to make us both late again.”
Catherine frowned, and stuck her tongue out at Jessica, who rolled her eyes and flipped her blonde hair as she turned to walk away. Catherine turned to her clock to see what time it was, and instantly jumped out of the bed. It was almost eight o’clock, and school would be starting soon. Why hadn’t her clock woken her up like it usually did? She glared down at the small blue clock with a small black dragon on top of it.
Trying not to waste time, Catherine ran to her closet and grabbed her school uniform, which consisted of a white collared shirt, gray skirt, and white tennis shoes with freaky looking knee-high socks. Of all the high schools in New York, Catherine’s foster parents had to make her go to the one with a school uniform policy. Catherine shrugged, at least the area was good. And with school uniforms, Catherine had an easier chance of blending in being as she wasn’t the most popular of her schoolmates. Actually, Catherine wasn’t very popular at all. She had very few friends, if any at all, and it was all because of her freak addiction to dragons.
Catherine sighed as she slipped on her uniform and stepped in front of the mirror. She grabbed her dragon themed hairbrush off of her nightstand, conveniently filled with dragon books and drawings, and started to brush her long, dark brown hair. She stared at herself in the mirror, not liking what she saw, even though there was clearly nothing wrong with her. Catherine gazed into her own big, emerald green eyes and sighed again, leaning her head to the side.
“Hey! Ugly Betty, come on, were going to be late!” Jessica called from downstairs. Catherine snapped out of her small delusion and grabbed her book bag, which had a black dragon and a young boy on it.
“Alright evil step sister, I’m coming.,” Catherine retorted as she walked out of her room and down the stairs. She didn’t see why Jessica had to be walked to school every day, it was just middle school. Catherine didn’t mind that much though, at least she had company, and Jessica was really pretty to her so it made Catherine feel important.
Jessica had already walked out the door by the time Catherine made it downstairs. Her other foster sisters, Emily and Lola were eating breakfast at the dining table with their foster parents, Marie and Alan. Lucky for them, elementary children for some reason did not have to go to school until 8:30 am. Catherine waved goodbye to them, only getting a response from Marie, her foster mother, and Emily, the youngest of the girls, and the nicest. She smiled at Catherine, and opened her mouth, pointing at the space in between her teeth where she had lost a tooth recently. Catherine smiled back, and did a thumbs up as she walked out the door.
As soon as she closed the door, Catherine’s smile faded. Emily was only seven, still young, but soon she would be turned against Catherine, just like the other two were.

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After she had dropped Jessica off at the middle school, Catherine slowly made her way to Northway High School, better known the worst place on earth. Here, almost everyone disliked her and saw her as an outcast, even dungeons and dragon nerds were a level higher than she was. As Catherine stepped onto the sidewalk leading into her school, she could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes on her at once. Catherine looked down, and shrugged it off, she had become quite used to it. The bell rang then as Catherine made her way to the door. Before going in, she stared up at the two story building, placed in between a conveniently placed small park and a few small buildings, as if it seemed more welcoming in New York.
As she walked in, Catherine was welcomed with a large opening, mainly known as the student area, where many students gathered and talked before, during, and after school. Then there was the front office and such located at the far opposite end of the front doors, and then the stairs on both sides of school wall, and hallways branching off every which way. First period for Catherine was art, one of the easiest classes she took. Catherine smiled, and seemed to relax as she walked into the classroom. Even though most the students in that class she was sure hated her, they all were artsy nerds, and Catherine felt more comfortable. The teacher, Ms. Knowl greeted Catherine as she walked in the door. Ms. Knowl was in her late twenties, and though she could be short-tempered, she was very nice and lenient towards her students. Catherine sat at her normal art desk in the front of the classroom as other students started to pour in, finding their place and also sitting down.
The tardy bell rang then, and a few students, mostly boys, waltzed in late as they normally were, Catherine paid no mind to them though, for she was already too into the latest project Ms.Knowl had assigned. They were painting with water colors, each student had been assigned something to paint with the water colors, and they would be graded on creativity. Catherine had been assigned a tree, the lamest of the topics, while some boy in the back of the class had gotten her favorite topic, dragons.
The rest of the class, Catherine tried to focus on her artwork, and then the bell rang, and second period soon began. For Catherine, that was history, which she didn’t much like, mainly because of the teacher though. He always seemed to have a monotone voice and would usually make them read a bunch of pages in a giant history book, then quiz them on it. History flew by for Catherine today though, because they had fortunately had a sub. Next period was math, which wasn’t as bad, though Catherine wasn’t the best at it, the teacher was fun, and made her feel good about herself. This class too, came and went just as fast as the previous class had.
Fourth period was next, and for it, Catherine had Computer Programming. Why she had signed up for it, she had no idea. It seemed like it would be easy at first, but then the teacher released the class on its own and everything went downhill from there. So, instead of doing her work, Catherine would use the time to draw random doodles of her obsession. Sometimes, she would try to talk to the boy beside her, but he seemed just as lonely as she was most times, so that was always short lived.
Today, fourth period went by fast also, and when the bell rang, Catherine was caught off guard. She had been so into drawing her newest realistic-looking dragon sketch that she practically was making herself late with every second. In haste, she neatly stuffed her papers and such into her book bag and started to walk towards the door. Before reaching it though, she remembered her sketchbook had been lying on the computer desk, and went back to grab it. She skimmed through it, making sure the freshman whom sat there after her had not bothered it.
Catherine’s head had been down, and she was not paying attention as she stepped outside the classroom door. A rather large, football playing type guy ran straight into Catherine as she stepped out, knocking her over, and causing her papers to fly out of her hands.
, “Watch it, dweeb!” he growled, and stepped over where Catherine now sat on the ground. She frowned, and tried to grab the papers before other people could step on them. She was able to grab a few without getting stepped on, or having them stepped on, but soon came at a fault. Most people had already stepped on them or tripped over her, and were starting to get really mad. Catherine frowned even more as she saw the newest drawing she had been working on become carried away by other students wandering feet.


¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

As she watched the drawing, of which she was so proud, get carried away from her by the multitude of feet, she saw a miraculous thing. A hand darted out of the mass and grabbed it, saving it from its fate of horrible mutilation by foot. It disappeared back into the crowd as the hand drew it back, but reappeared seconds later being carried by a boy. In fact, it was the same boy from her Programming class. He had black hair that just started to cover his eyes, and a kind of pale complexion, like he didn’t see much sunlight. He bent over and handed Catherine the retrieved sketch.
“Here you go,” he said. Then he started picking up some of the other scattered pictures.
“O-oh. Thanks.” Catherine stammered. She clambered to her feet, and started to help retrieve the drawings. The traffic in the hallway was starting to dwindle, and Catherine knew the bell was seconds away from ringing. She only had a few pictures left to retrieve.
“These are really good you know,” the boy said suddenly.
“Huh?” replied Catherine, mentally slapping herself for such a stupid sounding reply. He pointed at one of her drawings he had picked up. The one in question was one she did a few weeks ago in class. It showed two dragons flying together in front of a sunrise. It wasn’t her best work, but she figured it was good for just a classroom sketch.
“Your drawings. You can draw dragons really well. This is cool.” He elaborated, holding out the pictures he had retrieved to her to grab.
“Oh,” she said. “They’re not all that good, but thanks anyways.” She grabbed the proffered drawings and stuffed them in her folder.
“I don’t know,” the boy continued. “I think they’re really good.” Catherine looked down and kicked her feet a little, embarrassed by the praise. She wasn’t used to, and not entirely sure she wanted, this kind of attention. But she secretly loved it.
“I’m Lucas,” he said, putting out his hand for her to shake. But right then, the bell rang.
“Crap!” Catherine exclaimed. “I gotta go. Thanks!” She said as she started to scurry off to class.
“But wait!” the boy, Lucas, called after her.
“See ya!” she called over her shoulder as she ran off. She turned a corner and lost sight of him.

Thankfully, her English teacher was also running late, so she didn’t get a tardy. But she did get a few glances from her fellow students marking her tardiness in their minds. Whatever. Not like they could do anything about it. She took her seat, and pulled out her drawings. A few of them had footprints on them and were crumpled a bit. Most were just small sketches, and not a huge loss. But one was one of her favorite drawings. It was one of the few she bothered to color, with a green dragon flying in the sky, with clouds and a sun and even a rainbow peaking out in the corner. Catherine sighed. She had the worst luck. The worst thing was that no one had helped her. They never did. Well, except for that one boy. What was with that anyways? First, he refuses to talk to her, and then he performs this random act of kindness. She shook her head. Boys. You could never understand them.
Just then, the teacher walked in, looking slightly flustered at being late. She wrote an assignment on the board. They had to read a short story in their books and then answer the questions about it. Catherine gave another sigh and pulled out her book and started reading. But after she got half a page into the story, her thoughts kept drifting to that boy. Lucas. He was kind of cute actually.
Catherine blinked to herself in surprise. Had she really just thought that? That wasn’t like her. Unlike many girls her age, she didn’t really have an interest in boys. They all seemed like stupid, selfless, jerks. But something about Lucas seemed different. Could she be developing a crush? No. It wasn’t possible. She didn’t get crushes. So she shook her head of any thoughts of Lucas and concentrated on her work.
It wasn’t difficult, and she finished pretty fast. She still had fifteen minutes left before she headed to lunch, so she pulled out a blank piece of paper and started doodling. She wasn’t really concentrating on what she was drawing, her mind a million miles away. And when she looked down, she saw that she had done a quick sketch of Lucas. She sat there and gaped at it for a bit, slightly shocked at what her subconscious had dumped onto the paper. But the bell rang just then, pulling her back into the real world. She hastily stuffed the sketch away and left the classroom, headed for lunch.
She scurried to lunch fast, scooting past her slow schoolmates. She liked to get to lunch fast because the lines were so horribly long. She managed to get there without being knocked over again and soon had gotten a tray full of food. Well, full may be an exaggeration. It didn’t have much on it. A plastic-looking square piece of pizza, an apple, and a carton of milk. She usually didn’t have much of an appetite. Her foster mother often compared her to a bird because of how little she ate.
Catherine picked her way through the now crowded cafeteria to her usual table in the back. She placed her tray near the end of the table, where she always sat. Some people came over and sat at the other end of the table, but they ignored Catherine. Like always. Even in lunch she had no friends to talk to or hang out with. She sighed and then, with a shrug, turned to her food.
She bit into the apple and instantly regretted it. She spat out the chunk of apple she had got back on to her tray and got a disgusted look on her face. The apple was sandy and soft and disgusting. It literally felt like she was eating sand cleverly disguised as an apple. It wasn’t even cold! The apple having failed, she moved on to the pizza. As she took a bite she discovered that not only did the cheese look like plastic, but it also tasted like it too. But it was edible, so she dealt and ate it.
She thought she heard someone call her name and she looked up to find the culprit. But no one was looking at her. It was probably wishful thinking anyways. Just as she was about to direct her attention back to her Plastic Pizza, she spotted Lucas among the throng of students. She saw him from the side, but it was unmistakably him. She blinked in surprise, and then he disappeared. It wasn’t that he vanished; it was just that the cafeteria was so damn crowded he got lost in the midst of it. She shifted around; craning her neck, to try to spot him again, but it was no good. Frankly, she was surprised she managed to get a glimpse of him at all.
She spent the rest of her lunch in a sort of daze. She nibbled on the rest of her pizza, and drank most of her milk before throwing her tray away. Instead of going back to her table, she decided to spend the last couple minutes of lunch in the library. She exited the lunch room and walked the short distance to the library. Students didn’t need a pass or anything to get in there during the lunch period, but still not many people were in there, so it wasn’t too crowded. She sat in a comfy chair, pulled a book out of her bag, and read…..sort of. As hard as she tried, she found her eyes just moving over the lines in her book, not taking anything in. It wasn’t that it wasn’t good (in fact, so far, it was an amazing one), it was just that she couldn’t stop thinking about Lucas. And she had no idea why.
Again, her mind brought up the possibility of a crush. Again, she shook her head and denied it. She couldn’t possibly have a crush. She quashed the little voice in her head and concentrated on her book. But as soon as she managed to read a line, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. She growled a little at the bell, and unwillingly put her book up and left the library, heading towards her next class, Gym. She hurried, even though she hated the class. She and gym did not mix well. Gym was active, and she, well, she wasn’t. She had a tendency to trip herself up and fall.
As usual, when she got to the locker room, she changed as fast as possible and got out of there. She was one of the first in the gym room, also as usual. She found a piece of wall and sat there, waiting for class to start. Students dribbled into the classroom in twos and threes. Eventually, the coach came in and told them what they were going to do that day. Coach Smith was a bit eccentric and it was impossible to guess what activities he was going to make them do from day to day. One day they would play basketball, and the next they would do hurdles on the track. And today, they played soccer, which was a bad thing. Running around while trying to kick something required too much foot action for her, and she invariably tripped at least once when playing it. With a sigh, she joined her classmates in filing out the door and towards the soccer field.

Catherine came back in later that period, limping slightly and her gym clothes grass stained. It wasn’t too bad, despite how it looked. She was picked last (of course), and it had started drizzling near the end of the game, but she only fell down twice. All in all, it was an average soccer game. For her anyways. She changed quickly and got out of the locker room right as the bell rang. So she headed off to science, her next class, wishing the day was over already.
Her Biology classroom was pretty far from the gym, so she got there later then she liked. She usually got there with less than a minute until the bell. So when she entered the classroom, most seats were already occupied. She headed to her seat, and when she was almost there, she spotted him. Lucas. The shock of seeing him there, in her class, caused her to lose her focus, so she didn’t see the book bag placed in the middle of the aisle. Her foot caught the bag, sending her sprawling to the floor. She landed hard on her elbows, jarring her. There were a few laughs, some snickers, and someone yelled “Nice one Klutz.” She got up, her pride wounded more than her body, and took her seat.
Catherine cast a nervous glance around and, to her horror, she saw Lucas looking at her. She met his eyes, and they both quickly dropped their gazes. Catherine felt her checks flush, and hoped that her face wasn’t too red. Of course she had to trip in front of Lucas. Catherine sighed in despair. What he must think of her now. She had fallen twice today. He must think she was accident prone. It didn’t help that she actually was accident prone either.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤


“Now, now children, lets all remember that we came here to learn not to laugh.,” Mr. Bullard, the biology teacher, commented bluntly. He was a young, straight-forward boring kind of guy, with an awkward comb over and really straight teeth. He cleared his throat and scanned the room, making sure he had been heard by everyone.
, “Catherine, life would be so much more easier if you just watched where you went next time, okay?,” Mr. Bullard added to Catherine, acting as if he cared. After clearing his throat again, Mr. Bullard turned to face the board and started writing things about DNA. Most of the class started to take notes, while the others either texted or flung secret notes at each other. Catherine sighed again, for the umpteenth time that day, and slowly allowed her gaze to fall on Lucas, whom was sitting just a few seats ahead of her.
Was he following her? Catherine blinked, she didn’t remember him being in this class with her. Then again, she hadn’t really talked to him or even noticed him until just today. Mr. Bullard started talking again, but Catherine paid no mind, she was too interested in the fact that this boy, Lucas, was in the same class as her. How she’d longed to see him again after lunch, and here he was. Catherine shook her head. No, she couldn’t do this. She didn’t long to see people, and she didn’t get crushes either.
, “Catherine? Hello? Are you listening to me?,” Mr. Bullard asked, now standing in front of Catherine’s desk. Catherine shook her head again and looked around, her classmates had paired off and were talking quietly to each other. She blinked, and gazed up at Mr. Bullard who crossed his arms like Coach Smith did when he was upset, except only Mr. Bullard didn’t make such a big deal out of it.
, “I just assigned you all science fair buddies, you’re working with Lucas over there..,” Mr. Bullard motioned with his head, some how messing up his comb over. Catherine gulped, her heart suddenly racing. Why was she so nervous? She shook her head, and slowly got up, straightening her uniform before walking over to sit beside Lucas. She gazed at her feet as she sat down, not saying much at first if not at all.
, “Hello again.,” Lucas said breaking the silence, a small smile growing on his face. Catherine looked up at him, and their eyes met again for the second time that day. Lucas’s eyes were an icy gray-blue, almost covered by his straight jet-black hair that Catherine had just now really noticed. She gasped quietly and looked away, her face turning a shade of red. A quite ‘hi’ was all she could manage.
, “Hey, come on now. I don’t bite.,” Lucas said, trying to cheer Catherine up. He was actually talking more than he usually did also. Catherine took a deep breath and turned to face him, calming herself down. Once again, their eyes met, only this time Catherine looked at her papers instead of turning around again.
, “I’m sorry..,” she said quietly, fiddling with her thumbs.
, “Don’t get out much, huh?,” Lucas asked, leaning his head to the side and smiling. Catherine frowned and let her gaze fall on her shoes again. It’d never really hurt her, but when such a nice looking guy said it, it made her feel bad for some reason.
, “Oh, geez, I’m sorry. That wasn’t very nice. Here, let me fix that…I don’t think we’ve officially met anyways.,” Lucas had noticed Catherine’s feelings, no one had ever noticed her feelings, let alone notice her before. Catherine looked up only to have Lucas shove his hand in near her face.
, “I’m Lucas.,” He said, really smiling now, his icy gray-blue eyes shining. Catherine blushed again, and faked a small, half-smile, “Uhmm..Catherine.,” she said, taking his hand. For a moment, they just held hands, Lucas smiling and Catherine blushing. His hand was really big compared to hers, and it was the first time she’d actually ‘held’ a guy’s hand, even if they were just shaking hands. She felt goose bumps start to appear on her skin, and even though it was only a few seconds, it seemed like forever to Catherine.
, “Well its nice to finally be acquainted with you Uhmm Catherine.,” Lucas smiled wider. Soon though, it all ended, they had dropped hands, and Lucas had turned his attention to some papers on his desk.
, “So…science fair project, any ideas?,” Lucas asked, writing his name and Catherine’s on a sheet of paper. Catherine looked down at his handwriting realizing it was really nice, which surprised her. Most guys at Northway High School, including the teachers, had sloppy handwriting, which Catherine liked to characterize as laziness and a lack of good qualities. Lucas’s handwriting was different though, it was unique.
, “Hey sleeping beauty..,” Lucas chuckled softly, “..any ideas?” Catherine felt her face flush again, realizing that she had zoned out, too into her thoughts, yet again. And that one of his statements had been false, the beauty part, catching her off guard.
, “..no, not yet.,” she murmured, turning to look at her papers she had brought over, “..we could do something about plants though. Like how they grow. We could test different situations and see which one the plants grow best in..,” Catherine paused, she was talking too much and didn’t want to seem too self-assured.
To her surprise though, Lucas nodded, and looked over at Catherine, “Sounds like a plan, partner.,” For the rest of the class period, Catherine and Lucas talked some about their project. From time to time, Lucas would slip in random questions, Catherine would answer, and then an awkward moment of silence would ensue afterwards. Soon the bell rang, and Catherine, enjoying talking to Lucas too much, slowly got up from the desk she was sitting at to collect her things. As she turned back around to go towards the door, Lucas surprised her. He was standing right in front of her at an unreasonably close distance for an acquaintance.
, “Funny thing I learned today... we have Econ class together last period.,” Lucas backed up a little, and let Catherine walk towards the door. She blushed and smiled a little, “Really? I guess we could walk together then, maybe?,” Catherine wanted to slap herself for asking such a stupid question. Of course he wouldn’t want to, no guy, no person wanted to walk with her. Even when she walked Jessica to the middle school in the mornings, Jessica would always be a few steps ahead.
, “Sure, Uhmm Catherine.,” Lucas joked, surprising Catherine. They walked to last period in silence, with the occasional glance from one another. As they reached the door, Lucas let Catherine walk in first, and followed her to her station near the front. Catherine sat down and looked around. She hadn’t noticed that Lucas had followed her to her station and had pulled up a sit. She had actually thought he was just kidding when he said they had last period together. He smiled and stuck his tongue out at her playfully.
, “See, told ya we had this class together. I usually sit way back there though..,” he pointed to the station way in the back, out of Catherine’s sight. No wonder she’d never known he was in this class with her. More students started to walk into the class just as the tardy bell rang, only half filling the room. Catherine smiled to herself, glad that Econ was a small class, and that also Lucas was in it with her. She still didn’t think she had a crush on him, though. The teacher, Mrs.Dillman, a middle-aged women with a loud voice but nice ways, walked into the classroom a few minutes after the tardy bell rang, her hands full of cooking ingredients.
, “Sorry I’m late class, I was at Publix. And I’m sure you all know how crowded New York is this time of day.,” Mrs.Dillman placed the ingredients on the table in front of the classroom and walked over to the white board.

, “So class, tell me, what comes to your mind when I say the word, dessert? ,”

On the board, in big fancy letters, Mrs.Dillman wrote the word she’d asked about, dessert. She turned to face the class, not looking for an answer to her question, but rather seeing if she’d been heard. Most every student in the small class smiled, liking the idea of dessert.
, “Well today class, you all will be making new desserts. I’m sure your all wondering how, right? That is clearly up to you all, but you could always combine recipes of certain desserts, or combine a bunch of random sweet things to make something new. I’ll be grading your desserts on taste, or perhaps appearance, I’m not sure yet. Anyways, begin.,” Mrs.Dillman clapped her hands and walked over to her radio, turning it to a random radio station. Catherine glanced over at Lucas, who happened to be looking at her. Catherine blushed and turned her face towards the pile of ingredients at the where students were now sifting through.
, “So, partner..,” Lucas said, breaking the silence again, “..what do you want to make?,”
Catherine could feel herself smile. Someone, a boy at that, wanted to be her partner for more than just one period. Lucas didn’t seem to mind being near her either, Catherine didn’t know why though. Whatever it was, Catherine wasn’t sure, but she was going to enjoy the moment while it lasted. Catherine ran a hand through her hair nervously, and then turned towards him, smiling.

, “Whatever’s fine with me.,”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days were exactly like the day Catherine and Lucas had first been acquainted. At first, Catherine had expected to come to school the next day and have Lucas and a gang of his friends gang up on her and point and laugh. But, to her surprise, when she walked in the next day, Lucas had somehow found his way into her first block class, art. Turned out they had that class together too. And in computer programming, they would occasionally talk back and forth. So much so, that their teacher would get mad, and try to punish them. Lucas would always take the blame though, and get sent to the principle’s office instead of Catherine, which surprised her. No one had ever stood up for her like Lucas had, even if it was as small as that.
Even at lunch, Lucas had joined Catherine at the end of the table. Though they didn’t talk much, he’d cracked a few jokes. One that had made Catherine laugh so loud that the whole entire cafeteria stared at them, but that just made her and Lucas laugh harder. People had even started to whisper about them behind their backs. Starting rumors and bullying Catherine even more than before. Though no one seemed to mess with her while she was with Lucas. It was as if he had a force field around him that would just repel all the evils of the tiny world of Catherine. Lucas would tell her that it was probably just because of his ‘bad boy stature’ but Catherine liked to imagine that it wasn’t actually that, that Lucas actually did have super human powers, one of which was the ability to be able to protect her from all the evils of high school. She’d sometimes find herself laugh at how ridiculous the thought sounded, things like that couldn’t possibly exist, no matter how much she wanted them to.
Now, as Catherine sat on her bed late Friday afternoon, she couldn’t help but find herself thinking back on all of the things that happened that week. She also couldn’t help but realize just how inexistent it really was. What kind of boy, especially one like him, would want to have anything to do with her? She laid back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She held a small piece of paper in her hand, written on it, was Lucas’s number. He’d given it to her so they could set up a date to work on their science fair project together. But, Catherine was too nervous about it and had decided to debate on whether or not she should actually go through with it instead.
Just then, there was a loud slam of the front door downstairs, a few pieces of yelling and then loud echoing footsteps coming up the stairs. Catherine groaned and sat up criss-crossed on her bed. She saw her foster sister, Jessica storm by her door and then heard her slam her bedroom door. Since they shared a wall, Catherine could hear everything that her sister did, even when she didn’t want to. Something was different about Jessica though, and even though they hardly ever got along most the time, it worried Catherine. Catherine strained her ears, trying to hear if her sister was saying anything, but all she could hear was a quite, distinct sobbing noise. Jessica was crying.
Before she’d realized what she was doing, Catherine had climbed off her bed and headed over to Jessica’s bedroom door. She knocked quietly on the door, and waiting for an answer. Nothing. She knocked again, this time louder, and heard her sister walk towards the door. Jessica opened it quickly and glared through her red eyes, mascara running down her face.
, “What do you want? You want to rub it in my face, don’t you? Don’t you?,” Jessica yelled at Catherine, tears running down her face.
Catherine shook her head, “No Jessica, I just came to see what was wrong… do you want to talk about it?,” Jessica rolled her eyes at Catherine, but didn’t oppose. She closed the door as Catherine stepped in, and sat beside Jessica on her bed. Jessica had slumped over on a unicorn pillow pet and had started to cry again. Catherine hesitated before placing a comforting hand on her sister’s back. Catherine glanced around Jessica’s room quickly, taking it in. Jessica had never really let her in before and this would probably be the only chance she would get. It looked like every teenaged girl’s room, except Catherine’s of course. There were posters of teenaged boys with voices like little girls, a small desk with a computer, the bed they were sitting on and a window overlooking the rooftops of New York. The only differences Catherine noticed were by the window, in Catherine’s room there was a seat coming out of the wall surrounding the window and the fact that Jessica’s room was bright pink, hers was a pale light green.
, “He dumped me, alright. Are you happy now, Catherine? When you told me that he didn’t seem like a nice guy like six months ago, you were right. I hate when this happens. Every time your right. Why are you always freaking right? You know what, I’m going to just quit trying. Ill live in a small apartment all by myself in the middle of New York. The awkwardly unsocial forty year old virgin with like thirty cats is what they‘ll call me, no offense Catherine..,” Jessica blurted between sobs, interrupting Catherine’s thoughts.
, “…wow Jessica. I’m really sorry. I know how much you liked Jason… but unfortunately, the guy’s a jerk. Point blank…I’m sure there’s plenty of other guys out there for you, don’t give up so easily. ,” Catherine tried to calm her sister with a reassuring smile even though Jessica had just said something rude to her. Jessica looked up from her pillow pet, mascara still running down her face and stared at Catherine.
, “You know what, you’re right Catherine. I’m not going to give up just yet. And another thing you’re right about, there are other guys. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen a guy around that I kind of think is hot and totally boyfriend worthy.,” Jessica smirked at Catherine, waiting for her sister to ask who it was.
, “Tell me about him then.,” Catherine said, strangely happy that what she’d said to Jessica had actually worked.
, “Well he’s in high school, junior. I see him all the time at the arcade down the street. Ya know, where Jason always wanted to go…I think he works there, the guy, not Jason, that’d just be super weird. Anyways, he’s really nice, has this amazingly awesome jet-black hair. Blue eyes, kind of tall, not too bulky, but he’s got muscle. And he’s like a total bad ass, which is so hot, especially with that killer smile he has. And his body, did I mention his body? Of course, I wouldn’t expect you to know what I‘m talking about, you don’t really have a type, well maybe like a nerdy guy from out of state or something..,” Jessica giggled and Catherine faked a small laugh. She couldn’t help but notice that who Jessica was telling her about, sounded exactly like Lucas. Catherine gritted her teeth. No, it wasn’t possible. Jessica couldn’t like Lucas. Lucas was Catherine’s friend, not Jessica’s. Though Catherine didn’t have a ‘crush’ on him, she was suddenly becoming extremely jealous of her sister.
, “..what. what’s his name?,” Catherine stuttered, holding her breathe. Jessica smiled, “Oh, haha, silly me, I almost forgot to tell you. His name is Lucas.,” Instantly Catherine felt her heart sink and her stomach do back flips.
, “No!,” she shouted, jumping off Jessica’s bed, “I mean.. No as in no Jessica, he’s a bad kid. Real bad, worse than Jason, you shouldn’t like him. Nope. Shouldn’t like him.,” Jessica glared at Catherine where she now stood.
, “What the hell, Catherine? Just a minute ago you were totally on board, but now you want to jump ship? What the hell… wait a minute…,”Jessica got off her bed, an evil smirk appearing on her lips. She walked up to Catherine and looked at her, glaring, “You little brat. You have a crush on him, don’t you? Don’t you, Catherine? Well here’s a little word of advice for you, he will never like you. No one will ever like you, ever. Do you understand? So you might as well get over the fact that Lucas and I have chemistry and one day were going to get married, and I’m going to have his babies. Its going to happen, whether you like it or not!,” Jessica had backed Catherine up against the back of her bedroom door, and was growling at her now.
Catherine shook her head, holding back tears, “…no Jessica. I’m sorry, but your wrong, Lucas doesn’t…,” but before she could finish, Jessica cut her off, “No Catherine. Your wrong. Just cause you’re older doesn’t mean you’re always right. Like I said, NO ONE will ever like you. You’re so ugly and stupid, you might as well just go kill yourself. No one likes you!,” Jessica was screaming now, and had opened the door. She pointed at the doorway and shoved Catherine out of her bedroom, “ Get the out of my room, you manipulating little jerk!,” Jessica slammed the door, and the entire house fell silent.
Catherine stayed at the doorway for a moment, her eyes began to water. How come whenever she got yelled at by Jessica, no one in her family came to her defense? Maybe Jessica was right, maybe no one liked her. Before she could stop herself, Catherine flew down the stairs and ran out of the front door. She ran out into the street and then past her school, past all the tall buildings, the lights, the people, everything. Over head, thunder and lightning had suddenly began to produce, though the sky was cloudless, shaking the ground violently.
With tears streaming down her face, Catherine ran until she had come to a small luscious forest just outside the county she lived in. Catherine had come to it many times before, usually when she wanted to get away from all the drama that circulated around her household. As Catherine stepped into the forest, thunder rolled through the sky and lightning struck again, and then, it began to pour a cloudless rain.

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The cold wetness of the rain soon mingled with the hot wetness of her tears as she stumbled along through the woods. The tears blurred her vision, causing her to trip several times as she made her way along the animal path, but she got only minor scrapes on her hands and knees. Each time, she got back up, and kept going, barely aware of the pain. She ran along the familiar path, one known only to her. It led to her secret place, where she fled to whenever she felt the need to get away. And, to mark how sad her life really was, she frequented it often.
She entered her secret place, a beautiful clearing. It had several rocks, fallen logs, and a honeysuckle plant bush that made the place always smell nice, and sometimes provided a small snack. Not that she could smell it know, with the rain and all. In the period of time it had taken her to get to the clearing, the storm had escalated. The rain came down in bucketfuls, the rain almost heavy enough to cause pain. Strong winds were now gusting.
Catherine was in a rage. She paced back and forth across the clearing, swearing under her breath. How dare she! How dare she like Lucas, and get mad at her for already liking him first! The little-
All of a sudden it all became too much. With a defeated sob, she sunk to the ground. The ground was dirt, and now it was mud, but she didn’t care. In her misery, she hardly even noticed. She lay in the mud, curled up in a fetal position, for what seemed like hours (but probably wasn’t even half of one), allowing herself to wallow in her anger and sadness. Then, a sound made it through to her brain. It was a dull thumping sound in the air above her. Almost like wings flapping, but massive. Too massive to be wings at all.
She uncurled herself enough to look up. She looked up at the dark canopy of clouds. She saw nothing that could cause the thumping. Just rain and the occasional lightning flash. She sat up and looked around. Nothing. Her eyes kept scanning, her ears kept hearing. It was starting to sound vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place why.
Her eyes latched on to a patch of cloud. It seemed to her as if it was darker then the rest. And oddly shaped as well. She scrambled to her feet, trying to make it out. The shape was bigger now, and easily identifiable from the rest of the cloud. Catherine wondered what it could be. She watched as it got bigger and bigger. Before long, it became apparent that it wasn’t part of the cloud, but instead something in the sky. She wondered if the storm had picked up a large tarp or something.
As it got closer, she realized this couldn’t be the case. She started making out features, her imagination running rampant. That little bit could be a tail. Those could be wings… That was when it clicked. She remembered where she had heard the sound before, in various movies. Paired with the shape, it added up to one, impossible, crazy thing.
“Dragon,” she heard herself whisper. She knew it was lunacy to think this shape was a dragon, but that changed nothing. She instinctually knew that this was a dragon. And that was when she realized another thing. Two things actually. One, the dragon was much, much bigger now, and two, it was headed right for the clearing.
Alarmed, she quickly scrambled to the edge of the clearing, out of the way. She watched as the dragon flew lower and lower, in circles as it got closer to the ground. It was so close that all doubt about whether or not it was a dragon was banished completely from her mind. It was too dark for her to see it clearly, but the shape was easily identifiable. She saw the tail, the beating wings, the long neck, and the serpent like head.
With a bone-jarring thud, the creature landed. Catherine felt the ground shake under the impact of the giant beast. She clung to a tree, awestruck and fearful. The dragon shook itself, folded up its wings, and looked around. There was a tree between it and Catherine, so it didn’t spot her. She peered around the tree and watched the dragon.
The storm was starting to abate. The clouds were shrinking, the storm disappearing as fast as it had appeared. And though the clouds were gone, it grew no lighter. The sun had set during the deluge, so it was as dark as before.
It wasn’t doing much. It looked around, looked at the sky a few times, and shuffled about. Suddenly, it turned and started heading for the clearing edge, apparently intent on leaving to go explore the forest. Catherine leaned around the tree, grabbing on to a branch to steady herself, to see it better as it left.
Suddenly, the branch she was leaning on snapped with a cloud CRACK! and sent her sprawling to the ground. Quickly, she looked up to see if the dragon had noticed.
It had. It’s head had swiveled around and spotted her. It turned around and marched back to her.
Hello little one, she heard. But she heard it in her head. Catherine didn’t like that. First she was seeing dragons (or just the one rather), and now she was hearing a voice in her head. She scrambled back.
Do I frighten you? asked the voice. Catherine noticed that it was feminine sounding. Suddenly, a thought struck her. What if the voice she was hearing was the dragon’s voice? In countless books the dragons often spoke telepathically.
“Y-y-yes. Y-you do,” Catherine managed to get out.
The dragon cocked its head and blinked, as if it had just been surprised by what Catherine had said. You hear me? The voice said. Strange. No one here should be able to understand me. Unless… The dragons voice trailed off there. Then, without warning, her serpentine head shot forward and grabbed Catherine by her shirt.
Catherine heard screaming, and, since she was the only one there, she was pretty sure it was her. She was lifted up, brought closer to the dragon, set on the ground (face down), and trapped beneath a massive, scaly foot. The pressure was great enough to keep her still, but not too crushing. The dragon reached down and started pulling up her shirt with its teeth.
Catherine had just enough time to think What the hell?! when the dragon stopped, leaving her lower back bare. It gave a mental gasp and took a step back, which freed Catherine. She scrambled to her feet and started running towards home. She had hit the woods before the dragon seemed to notice.
Wait! It shouted. Come back! You don’t understand, I can tell you who your parents are, who you are!

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