KAT

"BUT IT'S FUN! SUPER FUN, YOU GET TO WATCH MOVIES ALL DAY!" Kat defended.

"Uh, huh," Lucas said sarcastically, waggling the red cherry in his milkshake in Kat's face. "Totally,"

"Yeah," Max agreed with Lucas, an oreo milkshake in her hands. "I still don't get why anyone would want to work in a stinky black room cleaning up popcorn spills,"

"It's cool," Kat said lamely, before continuing. "Kids your age. You'd never understand the excitement of being a part of the working class,"

"Wait, if you're working all time as well as doing college stuff," Lucas said, as if coming to a harsh realization. "Does that mean we can't meet up twice a week anymore?"

"Um," Kat hadn't considered that her and Lucas' milkshake-infused tutoring sessions would be put on hold. "Probably not twice a week, but I'll try my best to make once,"

"Damn," Lucas swore, stirring his milkshake grumpily

"I'm pretty sure we've gone over the physics textbook twice already," Kat said, snorting as she placed her own red cherry on a napkin since she didn't like the taste. 

"Well- yeah, but we won't get to hang out as much," Lucas said in protest.

"What a loser," Max scoffed from Lucas's side. "No offense, Kat,"

"None taken," Kat said. "A hundred percent agreed,"

"Hey!" Lucas exclaimed indignantly to the laughter of Kat and Max.

After the Upside Down incident, Kat's life had returned back to normal. Her arm had fully healed, though, to her displeasure, two scars ran down from the middle of her lower left arm, one of them snaking around her wrist and curving around the back of her hand. Kat felt a little chill go down her spine every time she stared at the scar, the growl of a demogorgon echoing in her mind. She had taken to wearing fingerless gloves on her left hand to hide the silvery patches of skin where her blood had clearly been reworked. She felt a bit ashamed to hide, but the patch of cloth covered her scars successfully. 

Besides, the first time Eleven saw her with it on, the girl had smiled widely before telling her how the black leather glove was bitchin'.

"You guys could hang out with me at the mall during shifts," Kat said, taking a sip of her strawberry milkshake. "Y'know, if you six haven't gotten too cool for me,"

"Nah, we're gonna be nerds forever," Lucas shook his head, laughing.

They finished their milkshake outing, Kat driving Max in front of their neighborhood opening (Max insisted on walking the remaining distance so her stepfather didn't see them) before driving Lucas home as well, a good fifteen minutes before Mrs. Sinclair got home. She then headed home herself, parking into the Wheelers' driveway with the same ease.

"Kathy! Just in time," Mrs. Wheeler said, setting a ceramic dish of casserole on the table.

"Yeah," Kat said, taking off her outer jacket. "Wouldn't miss the mashed potatoes,"

"Kathy, the board!" Mike yelled from the dining room.

"Relax, I got it, I got it," Kat said. Mike and his friends had accidentally broken their D&D board, and Mike had made Kat buy it for them before the week ended.

"Wash your hands, sweetie, the food's ready!" Karen called.

"Right!" Kat replied, tossing the board onto the stairs so Mike could take it up to his room after dinner. She went into the bathroom, pulling off her glove. Her scars gleamed in the yellow lamplight like tears in a blanket. God, they were disgusting. Kat shoved both hands under the tap, the rushing water and blue-colored soap blurring the mutilations. After drying her hands on a pink tea towel, Kat made her way back to the dining table, giving their family's grandfather clock a tap on the glass for good luck. She pulled a chair and sat down.

"How was tutoring?" Nancy asked Kat, before taking a bite of casserole.

To the utter delight of their mother, within the past week, the three older Wheeler siblings had become closer than ever. Monster fighting had its benefits, as arguments lessened in the place of a stronger emotional connection between them.

"Good, we got through acceleration today," Kat said.

"Lucas already knows acceleration, why're you re-explaining it?" Mike asked, scrunching his face.

Okay, well, the emotional connection didn't mean they coudn't fight every minute of every day.

"Mike, name the term used to define the visual journey of a projectile with a constant altitude,"

"No,"

"Exactly," Kat said smartly, and took a sip of the hot chocolate her mom had made.

"I learned about math today," Holly said, fingers covered in whip-up cream from the dessert Karen had let her eat before the rest of them.

"Oh?" Kat asked. "What about?"

Holly frowned, as if trying to sound out the word in her head before pronouncing it. "Subtraction,"

"Nice," Nancy chimed in, smiling at their little sister.

"Kathryn," Ted asked. "How's the essay comin'?"

"It's going good!" Kat replied brightly, noticing how her mother's eyes lit up at her father's attempt to interact with his children. "I wrote it on the Lafayette trip two years ago,"

"Interesting," Ted said, turning back to his mash.

"Mom, can I go to the arcade for the afternoon on Saturday?" Mike asked, widening his eyes in persuasion.

"Of course, Michael," Karen smiled. "Kathy can drive,"

"Oh, actually, I can't drive Mike," Kat said sheepishly.

"Why not?"

"I- I'm going to the carnival in Fort Wayne with my friend Steve," she said quickly.

"Oh," Karen said, a little stumped.

"Wait, what?" Nancy said, choking a little on her hot cocoa, wiping a little brown from her upper lip. "You're going to the carnival with Steve? Like, Steve Steve?"

"How many Steves do you know?" Mike said snidely.

"Wait, is this Steve, Nancy's old boyfriend?" Ted asked, awakened from his meal.

"We're still friendly," Nancy protested.

"Yeah, it is. We're friends from class," Kat half-lied.

"Wow," Nancy said, as if she couldn't believe it. "No offense, but I can't believe you have friends other than Cameron and Monique,"

"Hey!" Kat pushed Nancy's shoulder. 

"I'm just saying," Nancy raised her fork in defense. "The Ice Queen title's taking some damage,"

"-But can you drive Mike to the arcade? At least take him half of the way?" Karen interrupted, pressing Kat.

"Mom, I-" Kat began.

"I can go with Lucas-" Mike said.

"Mom, why don't you drive Mike?" Nancy cut in, noticing her older sister's discomfort.

"Oh," Karen sat back in her chair, posture slightly slumped, as if she hadn't even thought about the idea. "Right. Yeah, of course I can,"

Under the table, Kat squeezed Nancy's hand in a thank-you. She couldn't help but feel selfish that she was sacrificing Mike's Saturday night for her own, as the instinctive guilt crawled up her stomach, until-

"No, Mom, it's fine, I can drive Mike to the arcade half the way," she blurted out, taking a breath.

"Oh!" Karen smiled, her eyes crinkling with warmth. "Lovely. Thank you, Kathryn,"

Normally, Kat would grin widely in delight at being included in getting the job done, but now, there was a pill in her throat. Barely noticable, but still there, as Steve's words echoed in her head. Isn't parenting her job?

"No, switch it!" Cameron whined from the backseat.

"Shut up," Monique rolled her rich brown eyes as Joan Jett blasted from her car.

"Stop pleading for the sake of your horrible music taste," Kat rolled her eyes

"My music is great!" Cameron said indignantly.

"Sure," Kat scoffed.

"As if Black Sabbath is any better!" Cameron jabbed at her.

"Hey-"

"Would you two stop arguing for one second?!" Monique said over both of them. "Kat, which exit do I take?!"

"Shit," Kat swore, before glancing at the wrinkled map in her lap. "Uh, the one after this one. Yeah, not that one, the little green one back there,"

"Okay," Monique replied, sighing. "Jesus,"

"Don't say the Lord's name in vain," Cameron sing-songed, passing Kat a bag of Doritos.

"Gimme," Monique said, eyes on the road as Kat shoved two chips inside her mouth.

They were riding on a decently-empty highway, trying to get Monique to finally practice her driving so she could get her license. They took Monique's father's car, a spacious red ride so that Cameron could be comfortable sitting in the backseat.

"Cam-Cameron, are we still on for Thursday?" Kat asked, using the nickname he hated.

"Nah. My Pa actually ran the experiment; Lover's Lake is poisoned," Cameron sighed dramatically. "Dad said it was bull, but y'know, he'd never argue with Pa about stuff like this,"

"How'd he seperate the poison from muddy lakewater?" Monique snorted.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to filter out that type of poison," Kat agreed.

"Chemistry, I guess. Boiling?" Cameron said lazily. "Anyways, I can't hang out,"

"Damn," Kat said.

"We're better off without you anyway," Monique said, taking the exit off the highway.

"You little-"

"Ah- ah, ah. I'm driving," Monique cut him off, and Cameron sulked in the backseat with his lower lip out.

They took three lefts, stopping at a couple red lights, before pulling into the parking lot of a KFC. 

"Ah, my dream ambience," Monique said, stretching as they entered through the glass doors. "Musty fried chicken,"

"KFC is great," Cameron protested. 

"Yeah, imagine working here being your ultimate job," Kat poked at him. "Can't relate,"

"Says the girl who wants to clean up popcorn all day,"

"-And watch movies!"

"Um, may I take your order?" the girl at the counter asked, wearing a KFC hat and a nose ring.

"Right- yeah," Kat said, stepping forward. "A mega-bucket of chicken and three lemonades, please,"

"Right away," she murmured, scribbling the order on a piece of paper.

"Okay, who's cashing in?" Monique asked, staring between the other two.

"Cameron, duh," Kat said.

"But I paid for the diner last week!"

"Yeah, and I paid for movie food and tickets on Monday and Moni paid for dinner after,"

"Fine," Cameron huffed, and took out a few coins and crumpled bills out of his back pocket. He counted them (with some effort, since a few fives were crumpled to the size of a pinky fingernail), before pushing them on the counter.

They took a table near a window, seating themselves on in a booth with faintly torn leather seats, foam poking out from underneath. 

"I submitted my Bloomington essay," Monique said, leaning forward from her place in the aisle seat.

"Finally, thought you were gonna miss the deadline," Cameron said, leaning back and throwing his arm around Kat.

"Look who's talking?" Monique said to Cameron, who was taking a gap year to 'travel the big blue sea'.

"I know my journey isn't destined for wooden desks and broken pencils," Cameron waggled his fingers at Monique, gold rings glinting against the ceiling lights. "But thundering waves and wild pirates,"

"Honestly, that sounds pretty fun," Kat sighed. "Y'know, I'd do that, too, if Purdue didn't exist,"

"My mom said there's more to life than college, but college is a key to the door," Monique said, as their food arrived. "The door being working daily for five dollars an hour,"

They opened their chicken, poking straws inside the lemonade cups.

"Yeah," Kat sighed. "I feel like I'm gonna really miss high school just 'cause the world out there is so much worse,"

"Same," Monique sighed back, brown coils cascading down her back.

"Only the bigger reason to live now," Cameron pointed out, raising his lemonade cup in a toast, which the girls giggled to and raised their cups to as well. 

━━author's note ━━

not kat eating in every single scene this chapter-