Chapter Text
The song Turn Heads blared from the alarm clock at 7:00 am sharp, forcing Katie awake and out of her slumber. She reached around her nightstand without a thought, trying to find the off button, not caring how her hand knocked over various trinkets in the process, while mumbling, “she wanna kick it in my pimped out chevrolet."
Turning off her alarm and on the real radio instead, Katie swung her legs out of bed and gave her arms a little stretch, groaning in the process. She grinned a little to herself as she stood up, feeling confident today would be a good day, making her way over to her closet and carefully pulling out a pink cardigan from her closet along with a white tank top and blue jeans from her drawer.
Deeming it a suitable outfit for the day, she grabbed her backpack from the floor and made her way downstairs.
“I’m just saying dude, your schedule sucks. I mean, I had half of these teachers and they were such hardasses.” Katie heard come from downstairs. “Don, how would you know what any of these teachers are like? You’re hardly in class.” The voice, Katie now distinguished as Ash, retorted, “And anyways, I've already had them for two months and so far they are chill.”
“Boys, Boys,” Katie announced, while throwing her backpack down unceremoniously on the floor, “no more arguing, please, let's talk about more interesting things, like…Oh! I know, my amazing outfit.”
Ash and Don slowly dragged their gaze over to her, taking in her outfit. “Morning, Katie,” Don said. “First of all, we were not arguing and… uh yeah, your outfit looks nice”
“Yeah, it looks fine,” Ash tacked on.
Katie raised an eyebrow in response. “Fine? Nice? Wow guys… tell a girl how you really feel.” She walked over dejectedly, pouting, and put two waffles in the toaster, making sure to sigh as loudly as humanly possible as she moved.
After a minute of Ash snickering and the toaster crackling, Don finally gave in and explained: “It’s not that we don't like your outfit, Katie, but you wear the same cardigan pretty much every Tuesday." When Katie looked around, confused, Ash just shrugged.
“It’s true B, you do wear the same sweater every week” Schlatt commented, walking down the stairs, apparently overhearing the entire conversation. “No, it's fine,” Katie said as she retrieved her toasted waffle. “Let’s all gang up on Katie today.”
Instead of responding to Katie, Schlatt turned around, looking down at his watch. “Don, shouldn't you guys already be on the road by now? It's 7:45.” The three siblings looked around, panicked, and started to rush out the door.
“No calls from the school today! Ya hear me?” Schlatt yelled from where he stood. “Yeah, no calls, Mr. J. Don’t worry!” Katie responded as she grabbed her backpack and duffle bag while hurrying out the door.
—
The ride to school was uneventful, with the only argument occurring when Ash beat Katie to the car and refused to leave Katie’s passenger seat, but Katie preferred the car quiet. She looked over Don, the oldest of the three, one hand on the wheel with a cigarette in his mouth, then Ash, the youngest, who sat hunched in the passenger seat looking out the window.
Every day Katie was so grateful that Schlatt adopted the three of them and they found their way to each other. She loved her brothers with a ferocity that no one could match. Even in the silence of the car, she loved them.
As the three pulled up to school and stopped the car, Katie and her brothers got out quickly to still have time to see friends before first period. She watched as Don sauntered over to Duncan’s pickup truck where the rest of the Dutch bros were hanging out before the first bell rang.
She started walking to the front of the school with Ash before he veered off course, running over to his best friend Tubbo and chattering away about whatever was on his mind. That left Katie alone to walk into school, which pissed her off. I wouldn't be alone if Mike was here, she thought bitterly. Her best friend, Mike, had contracted a bad illness and was out of school for a month already, leaving Katie alone to navigate sophomore year all by herself.
Walking through the large doors, Katie desperately looked around for anyone to hang out with so she didn't lose all her aura points looking friendless. Just as she was about to give up looking, she heard a little “Katie?” come from behind her in a familiar accent.
Katie whipped her head around so fast she thought she might pull a muscle. “MIKEEEEEEEE!” She yelled while burying him in a huge hug, uncaring of the looks she was attracting in the halls. “I thought you were still sick. Why didn't you text me?!” She complained, playfully hitting his shoulder. “Yeah, my parents had me locked up all month after I got sick, but I'm feeling so much better now!” Mike smiled.
With a large smile, Katie grabbed his arm and dragged him through the hallways toward their lockers, making sure to wave hi to people and stop if Mike was feeling faint. “So Katie…” Mike started, “What have I missed? I mean, I’ve been gone for a month, anything interesting happening?”
“Nah, nothing crazy,” She breezily replied, “Unless you count me and Ewron taking a break as crazy.” When Mike said nothing, Katie sighed loudly. “What is it now?”
“That last sentence you just spoke is what's wrong. You and Ewron were ALREADY on a break when I was in school. Did you get back together with him when I left?” Mike accused and powered on before she could reply. “Katie, you and Ewron have been on and off for a year now. And after all the shit he's done to you, you STILL take him back. Girl”
“Ugh, I know, Mike.” Katie started, “But– Shit the bell. I need to get to AP Sem”
“We are not done with this conversation, Katie,” Mike yelled after her. “I KNOW,” Katie replied as she power-walked in the opposite direction from Mike, who was headed to pre-calc.
Katie found her seat in class and sat down next to Tina and Foolish, her partners for her AP presentation. They worked for the most part in silence, each searching up their respective lenses and doing their slides. At some point, Katie finished her slides for the day and turned to Tina. “Hey Tina,” she whispered, trying her best not to disturb the others in class, “do you know what we are doing in Chem today? If we have a quiz, I’m fucked dude.”
“I’m pretty sure we are just going over slides and getting our test from last week back,” Tina replied with a slight tint of pink on her cheeks. “I don't know how you guys are taking AP Chem,” Foolish interjected. “I mean, seriously, I am barely passing regular chem.” He slumped onto the table, looking over to the two of them dejectedly.
“Yeah, it's super tough, but nothing Tina and I can’t handle,” Katie said, smirking confidently and putting her arm around Tina, oblivious to the way Tina tensed at her touch. Tina smiled back at Katie before turning to Foolish.
“If you ever need help, you can always come to me, Foolish,” Tina said. “We’re literally neighbors, pop in whenever!”
“Why thank you, Tina, I most definitely will.” Foolish responded in an English accent. The three continued chattering away about random things until the bell rang, forgetting entirely about their project and more interested in their own conversation.
Katie waved goodbye to Foolish and walked down the hallway with Tina, heading to their next classes. “So Katie, I noticed you were talking to Mike in the hallways. Does this mean he's back for good?” Tina asked quietly. “I think so!” Katie affirmed, “That's what he told me! It's so awesome he's back. I've been so lonely without him.”
Tina ducked her head a little at that, wearing a sad smile as Katie looked around the hallways. Tina turned into her class, saying a quick “bye!” as Katie continued forward, noticing the Dutch bros on her way. “Hey Jeremy! Duncan!” Katie called out, “Where’s Don?” The two boys looked around for Don before Jeremy shrugged, “Probably out back smoking,” he guessed.
“Tell him not to finish the pack today!! I want one for after school,” Katie yelled. “You got it, Baby B!” Duncan laughed as Katie walked away.
Katie muttered a string of curse words at the nickname, finally arriving at her class. Katie made sure to grab a seat in the back, effectively blocking out the entire lesson in favor of catching up on some well-needed beauty sleep.
—
Katie blinked awake feeling a small tap on her shoulder. Turning her head to the side, she saw Roier standing next to her, notes in hand.
“We learned about trigonometric identities while you were sleeping,” he deadpanned, keeping his notes outstretched to her. “OH, MY GOD. ROIER. What would I do without you?” Katie exclaimed, taking out her phone and snapping pictures of all the content she missed.
Roier shrugged in turn, starting to walk out. “You’d probably still get a 90 at least in this class. You are freakishly good at math. I don't understand how you sleep in every class and still get amazing grades.”
“Ladies, Ladies. I know. The amazing Katie B is talented at everything,” Katie replied, putting both her hands up as if trying to ward off a large crowd. She thanked Roier one more time before parting ways.
—
Katie slammed her lunch tray down next to Mike, happy to only have two more classes left in the day. Katie had dominated in gym class once again, showing everyone she was a multi-sport beast, and had tried her best to draw a portrait of herself in art class, feeling guilty turning in her project. Happy to finally be eating, she shoveled mashed potatoes into her mouth, ignoring the hole Mike was boring into her head.
Once Katie finished eating, she hesitantly looked up, meeting Mike’s stare. “Did you think I’d forget?” Mike asked. “Forget what, my most favorite friend?” She smiled innocently, batting her eyelashes.
“Katie. You got back with Ewron? Cmon girl.”
“Look, Mike. I'm not with him now. Can we drop it? I really don’t want to talk about him.” Katie sighed. “What I’d rather talk about is me absolutely DOMINATING in gym volleyball today. Mike, you should have seen Juan. He was all like ‘No Katie don't spike the ball, ’ " she attempted in her best Juan impression, “and I said ‘sorry Juan’ and totally SPIKED the ball in his face.”
Mike laughed and chose to let the topic go in favor of listening to Katie talk about her day. When Katie finished talking, she turned her gaze to Mike and asked, “How has your day been so far? Is it hard being back, because you missed so much?”
Mike shifted awkwardly. “Yeah, it has been hard. I feel like I missed so much, Katie. I was totally lost in pre-calc today. The only class I was good at was Art.”
“I know for A FACT that you will easily get back into all your classes. It's only the first day, king. Keep that crown high. You know I'm taking AP Calc, so any math-related problems funnel them my way.” Katie attempted. Mike smiled, accepting Katie's response, and slid his lunch tray over to Katie, knowing he wouldn't finish the remnants.
She scarfed down what was left of Mike's food and walked with Mike to their history class, getting there a couple of minutes earlier than usual. She made sure to sit next to Mike in case he needed help with anything, passing secretive notes to check up.
The period passed quickly as Mike and Katie’s notes went from checking up to full-on conversations. The two giggled through the period and tried their best to keep quiet, failing miserably.
“Mike, I missed you so much,” Katie said, smiling so hard her jaw hurt. Mike finished walking her to class and stood outside. “Katie, I missed you too. It was miserable being home alone for a month.”
“You won't be alone again, Mike, I promise. You're here to stay. I'll see you tomorrow, Mike!” Katie waved. She walked into her class, sitting down in her assigned seat and giving Tina a little wave from across the room.
Katie reached down and pulled out her chem notebook, knowing she would have to be super focused and locked in. She set up her desk, putting away her phone, free of any distractions, ready to finish this class and end school.
—
Katie shook her hand to stop it from cramping up. Taking notes for 45 minutes really took a lot out of her. She waited anxiously as the teacher went around the class handing out the test grades from last week. After a minute of waiting, the teacher put Katie's test face down on her desk.
Katie flipped her test slowly and was horrified to see a 65 staring back at her, as well as a note at the top saying See me after class. Katie flipped through the pages, throwing her head back in frustration. She caught Tina’s eye across the room and raised an eyebrow in question. She frowned in response and tilted her head towards Katie, asking the same of her. Katie stuck her tongue out and threw two thumbs down at Tina. Katie mouthed, " What the fuck and Tina had to cover her mouth to keep the laugh in.
The class ended shortly after she got her test back, and she started packing up. “You ready to go, Katie?” Tina asked. Katie looked around before responding, “You go ahead, Tina. I have to ask a question. I'll see you tomorrow!”
“Okay! Bye, Katie.” Tina walked out of class, leaving Katie alone with her teacher, Ms. Smith. Katie picked up her test and dragged her feet over to the teacher's desk. “You wanted to see me?” Katie pointed towards her test.
“Yes…” Ms. Smith responded, meeting her eyes. “As you may remember at the beginning of this year, Katie, I mentioned that this class isn't for everyone. AP Chemistry can be a very tough class, especially for a sophomore.” Katie opened her mouth to respond, but her teacher continued. “However, I believe in you very much. I can tell that you are a very smart girl based on your grades and your first class with me.”
Katie let out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding. “I am aware you are very busy participating in varsity basketball and countless other clubs, but I am going to refer you to peer tutoring with one of my best students.” Ms. Smith slid a paper across the desk. “I expect you to be there after school. I believe it will be good for you, Katie. I can assure you that the student I have chosen is very competent and will be able to assist you.”
Katie picked up the paper from the desk, waiting a second to make sure her teacher was done before replying, “I appreciate all of this, but I don’t need a tutor. I just need to study a little more on my own. I’ve never in my life needed a tutor, and I'm not about to start today. So thanks, but no thanks.”
Katie started to walk out but was stopped when Ms. Smith started talking again. “I will offer you extra credit to work on if you attend these meetings. Trust me, Katie, this will be good for you.” Katie pondered for a moment, debating whether she should go or not. “Fine.” She replied after a couple of minutes. “I’ll go to tutoring tomorrow… As long as I get that extra credit!”
Ms. Smith let out a little laugh. “Yes, we can work something out. Thank you, Katie. I expect big things from you.”
Katie finally escaped that classroom and made a beeline to her locker, needing to grab her duffle before heading to basketball practice. I don’t need a fucking tutor Katie thought to herself I’m the FUCKING BOSS. I’m just going for extra credit, there's no way this “tutor” could teach me more than I could teach myself.
—
After finishing practice, she got into the car with Don and accepted the cigarette he gave her with a smile. While taking the first drag, it hit her: she had never asked who her tutor would even be. For all she knew, they could be a total dork.
She slammed her head on the dashboard, closing her eyes and praying that the entire class had been a nightmare. Nope, she was still in the car with a very worried Don. “Katie, what the fuck is wrong?” Don asked, confused. “Just play Lover You Should Have Come Over, please,” she verbalized after an eternity. Katie rolled down the window and sang the song at full volume, worrying about what tomorrow might bring.