I'm not a hardship. I'm awesome.

Kate suspected that she was probably never going to stop hearing about how she’d brought her boyfriend to ballet class with her.

Her instructor was like that. The lady was fond of teasing.

But other than that, it had been a pretty normal class, and by now, Kate really didn’t care about any of that. She had an insane ice cream thing in front of her, a bowl with cherry and chocolate and vanilla ice cream, with sprinkles and some chocolate sauce on top.

And she had a spoon, and good company, and grin on her face. (And hardly any of that lurking fear remained.) Really, it had turned out to be a far better day than she'd expected.

"I think I'm gonna be feeling pretty sick after I finish this."

[ooc: For the boy there with her. NFB due to being off-island.]

It had felt so weird, getting home on Sunday afternoon. Kate hadn't been back in six months, and it hit her hard, how everything was the same as it had always been.

Yeah, actually, she had been back home once after starting at Fandom High, but that didn't count, not really; she realized that now. That time, she'd taken Leto home with her, which meant she'd effectively taken Fandom home with her, too. With him there, Overland Park wasn't the same Overland Park she'd known all her life. With him there, she was looking at everything from a stranger's point of view, trying to imagine how it all seemed to him. And she couldn't even pretend her life was the same as it had always been; one look at him and she remembered all the weirdness.

And she knew it was all real.

There was nothing to do that to her now, nothing concrete to remind her Fandom wasn't just a trick of her mind. She spent all of Sunday feeling unsteady, like she was standing between two worlds, kind of unsure about everything. It was similar to what she felt during Parents' Weekend, thrown off her balance by trying to keep Fandom and her home from crashing together and screwing everything up for her.

But the feeling was fading now. Nearly 16 years spent in her hometown ensured that it was ridiculously easy to slip into that old way of being. Being who she had always been, doing the same things she always did. It was exactly why Monday afternoon found her at the mall, visiting all her favorite stores and just generally hanging out.

She was just heading for the record store and had gone past an elaborate Christmas tree and some benches when she heard a voice call out her name.

She recognized the voice instantly, and spun around before she'd even had time to think about it.

( Cut for meeting the Ghost of Boyfriend Past. ...Or y'know, just running into an ex. )

She got her phone out and sent a mass text to her friends in Fandom.

How's things in Fandom or wherever you are? Kansas is boring.


[ooc: NFB due to distance, but open to texts and calls! If you think you got the message, you got it.

I'm around pretty much all of today, but tomorrow morning I shall flee to spend Christmas internetlessly; I'll be back on Saturday. Happy holidays, everyone!]

Saturday had seen a very weird trip to the mall, and as a consequence, Sunday had been pretty quiet. Tara had woken up as herself again, and everything was a little awkward. It wasn’t as if Tara’s condition was a big family secret, but it was out now, and it affected the mood in the house. Everyone tried to do their own thing, and conversations revolved around trivial stuff. Kate’s family, in an effort to make light conversation, asked questions about life in Fandom and where Leto was from. They didn’t know how much editing went into answering them.

And today the house was empty apart from Kate and Leto. Max had gone to work, Tara had gone somewhere with Charmaine, and Marshall had gone to visit his best friend. It seemed like they were all maybe slightly running away, glad to put the weekend behind them.

Kate was holed up in her room for the moment. She had taken a shower, and after getting dressed and blowdrying her hair, she rummaged around her desk drawer until she found a lighter and a near-empty packet of cigarettes. She took one, and after opening her door a little to signal it was okay to come in, she went to smoke the cigarette by the open window.


[For the boy. NFB due to distance.]

“Are you sure you want to do this?” her mother asked as they hugged. Kate smiled and rolled her eyes. This wasn’t the first time Tara had asked her this. “Yes, I’m still sure. Really, I’m fine, Mom.” “She’s gonna be okay, Tara”, her dad chimed in, “she’s got the Gregson spirit, she can do anything. C’mere Katie.” Kate felt like a little kid as she passed straight from her mom’s arms into her dad’s. “Stay out of trouble”, he muttered into her ear, “otherwise I’m gonna look like a fool”. She answered with a little laugh, then pushed herself free. Her brother, who had been standing a bit further away as the parents staged their elaborate hugs, took a step forward and pulled something out of his bag. “It’s mostly Thelonious and Ella and Dizzy”, he said as he handed her the cd. “M.O.T.s and a mix cd? ...You’re so gonna miss me Moosh!” she grinned and pulled her brother in for a tight hug. Their mother took this as an opportunity to turn it into a family-sized group hug. Kate felt like they might never let go of her – and, just for a moment, she thought that it wouldn’t be so bad.

Kate did finally manage to disentangle herself, which was good, because that was the whole point of going to boarding school some states away. A little bit of distance between her and the Gregson family circus. She got on the plane and was on her way to Fandom Island and independence and exciting new things and people. And hopefully some sanity. Yes, after recent events, sanity and a sense of normalcy would be just what she needed. And how insane could a boarding school be?


[NFB due to distance, OOC mocking of Kate’s expectations of course very welcome.]