PART ONE
It hit his head.
Mark rubbed his head after the ball bounced and rolled away on the floor. He didn't think hard to know who it was.
Mark looked back and found Katherine marching towards him. She looked upset, but that couldn't be since she knew that Mark was just too lazy, there was no point in being upset.
'Mark, you-'
'-should be doing something that will bore you out of your mind,' he interrupted. 'Am I right or not wrong?'
Katherine stopped at her track beside where the ball stopped rolling. 'You're actually right, considering that you are lazier than a Koala.'
He was going to point out the fact that Koala bears aren't, in fact, lazy when Katherine coughed to interrupt him.
Deliberately...
Katherine knelt down and picked the ball. She sighed and faced him. 'Mark, I get it, you're not into the project. If it's up to me, I would let you be, but we have to do this because Mr. Huston said so.'
He didn't answer and took a moment to contemplate. What will be more troublesome, formulating some kind of plan to ditch the project or simply doing it?
'I also believe forming some sort of plan to get away from his clutches will take more effort that giving in, so I recommend you to just come. We're not even doing that much work today.'
Maybe Snape gave her Occlumency classes.
'In your standards,' he whispered.
Katherine stood up with the ball in her hands, probably thinking if throwing the thing on his head again was worth it or not.
'You're cleverer than your looks. A bit of effort from you will help us a lot,' she said with a smile.
Surprisingly...
Mark ran both his hands through his mess of hair and sighed in exasperation. No matter how boring the job was, she was right. It was easier just to do it.
Also, they had to leave before the hall monitor shows up, people were in classes.
Then, somebody ruined everything.
'Maa~rk, Kaa~threee~ne!'
Both froze in their places for a second.
'The loudmouth,' Mark said.
Katherine looked at him with wide eyes. 'How can you be so calm now?'
'It's no big deal.' He shrugged. 'We just need to run.'
'That irony- wai... wait!'
Mark charged towards the voice. It wasn't that loud but was echoed in the corridors. That meant he wasn't close. Mark didn't hear their names called again. That only meant somebody else was with him and shut him up, most probably Sally. She was always cleverer than that loudmouth, and most probably all of them combined. He looked back to see if Katherine caught up to him, otherwise, he'll have to tell everyone that he ditched her. Mark wasn't exactly a bad person, but some stuff happen and when stuff happens... well it happened.
Mark stopped on his track when he neared a corridor crossing and heard steps coming from one side. Katherine stopped behind him and breathed in and out slowly.
'Mark, at least tell me you're going to run-'
'I did,' Mark answered without looking back at her. There was definitely somebody coming their way. The footsteps grew louder each second.
'You reckon that's Sally and Dennis?' Katherine asked in a lower voice from behind.
'I don't know, but I doubt it. This sounds like one person.' He turned to the right and found a door to a classroom. 'We better run again.'
'Why? It could just be them.'
Mark ignored her and walked towards the classroom. Without even knocking or checking to see if anyone was inside, he opened the door. Katherine opened her eyes wide when she saw him do so.
'M... Mark, are you sure?'
He ignored her and entered.
Katherine stood in her place for a second, hesitant to make a choice. She sighed and remembered it was Mark she was dealing with. He always had these stunts, and well, he always seemed to know what he was doing.
She entered the classroom after him and found it to be empty. It wasn't old and there were backpacks and some notebooks in the desks like any normal classroom. Maybe their teacher decided to take them outside, or they were forced to work on a project for the carnival, like them.
Katherine shook her head. The reason didn't matter now. What mattered was the fact that they now had a hiding place in case it was the floor monitor in the corridor. Katherine scanned the room again to see where was Mark, only to find him jumping out of a window.
'Mark!'
He turned around and faced her. 'Shut up. She'll know we're here.'
She was lucky they were on the ground floor. Mark could not possibly expect her to jump from anything higher than the first floor. The memory of her jumping from the second floor from a week before when they were also running away from the floor monitor still lingered in her memory. It took her a while to walk again properly without limping.
Mark then turned away from her again and ran away. If she didn't know better, she would have concluded that he simply ditched her. Katherine sighed again and headed towards the window. She would be safe after this and would ditch him. What was the point in trying to drag him to do the project anyway?
Katherine placed her foot on the window rail and thought, 'No matter how smart or athletic he is, he's lazier than a Koala Bear.'
She looked forward and saw an unfamiliar face. Mark disappeared, and it wasn't the hall monitor or a teacher facing Katherine with a confused look from the other side of the window. Katherine froze and thought what to do next. She wasn't in any particular danger. the girl in front of her was a student, big deal. She wore the uniform, so she must've been a part of the unspoken oath made by all students in the world to not put each other in trouble.
'Are you ditching class?' the girl asked.
'No,' Katherine answered.
'You look like you're in a hurry and you're jumping from a window.'
'So?'
'You're ditching.'
the echo of footsteps became louder. Katherine turned behind and saw a shadow on the floor from the other side of the door.
Katherine turned back to look at the girl. 'Move back.'
She blinked and furrowed her eyebrows. 'Ok... I guess.'
Once she took enough steps backwards, Katherine lunged forward and almost twisted her ankle when she got to the floor. She quickly stood up and held the girl's arm.
'we're going to run.'
'Why?'
'Because I said so.'
Then they ran away on the school grounds. Now Katherine had an excuse for not being in class. Their project was something they had to do outdoors. She can just tell anybody who might find her outside that, but then, the girl she was dragging along with her was not someone who was part of her project. She had to know her story to make up an excuse.
Katherine led them to the school's gym, and they found a tree which they sat under. Katherine would be lying if she said the girl didn't look troubled. It was as if she had a plan that was completely ruined. They both sat on the ground under the tree heaving in breaths.
'So, what's your story?' Katherine asked.
'My story?' She faced Katherine and raised her eyebrows.
'Why are you outside class?'
The girl sighed in relief, something that confused Katherine for a moment. She then looked up at her with wide-open, hopeful eyes.
'I'm new here, and it's my first day. I've been told to go to the headmaster's office to meet my form teacher and be told where my class is, but I lost my way.'
Oops...
'When I found a familiar path, I though I can find my way to my square one and start going to his office again, but then I saw you jumping out of the window and now I feel that I've been dragged to the farthest end of the world.'
'I see. I'm sorry.'
'So now I feel like I'm lost beyond hope, but you look like a nice person. That's why I told you my story. Can you please help me find my way?'
The girl talked a lot and made Katherine feel guilty; she felt obliged to help.
'Sure, my pleasure.'
'Thank you!'
'You're welcome. I'm Katherine Armin by the way. what's your name?'
Her face fell when she heard that and she looked down at the grass. 'Lea,' she mumbled. 'Lea Goldhawk.'
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