"Get it, it's a binary joke." Said little mustache man.
"I got it." Kate said rolling her eyes, while quietly impressed he'd heard her. She was pretty good at whispering.
"Is that what you guys are doing?" Kate asked. "You're Deving?"
"Why not? Not much else is there?" asked squashed face.
"Hanging out with other-" Ella had started when she ducked as an empty yogurt bottle spun towards her head.
Kate had already snapped it out of the air with an ease that flowed like a dance. Then rotated with the momentum, the bottle had been open which meant a trap. She spat a snotty heavy glob into it and cocked her arm back to throw it right the hell back when a wide-eyed Ella grabbed her elbow.
"What?" Kate demanded.
"What the hell were you about to do?" Ella whispered /demanded.
"Oh, she was about to throw it back!" exclaimed squashed face, who was off his seat as if he had discovered a spider on his lap.
And Mr Metal face? Well judging by his shaky stillness someone clearly had a gun on him.
"It's just a bottle." Kate complained.
"It's not just a bottle, it's our lives!" hissed the girl, calmly taking the bottle away like Kate was holding a fully lit Molotov cocktail.
Kate had to watch Ella carefully traipse to the trash can which was right behind the duo.
There was raucous laughter. Kate stared at a bench full of girls. They were likely in her class. They were all bigger than her, which… fair enough she was twelve and they were both thirteen and fourteen.
But Kate still stared. Triss, Buttons and Pompadour would not be anywhere near campus. But that didn't make sense, the school was too enormous. Kate shut her eyes, and took a calming breath.
"I am not going to be able to get a hold of her from here am I?" Kate whispered, words they had gotten a hold of.
"What now?" Asked squashed face.
"Oh, yes. Zach. I need to explain about our insane new friend."
"Insane?" Zach asked, confused.
"Yes, she's absolutely mad and wants a giant piece of the most popular intelligent girl of the entire high school who is years ahead and out of our world." Ella said dramatically.
"What?" Zach asked, jaw low.
"Okay, Zach, you're officially embarrassing me." Ella said rolling her eyes.
Kate stepped up, her hands open.
"Let's start here, I am Katarina Simone. Otherwise known as Kate. And I can only assume your name's Zach." She said pointing to Squashed Faced. "Jupiter?"
Zach formally known as Squashed Face produced a seemingly more Squashed Face as he frowned out his confusion before turning to Ella with a sense of clear betrayal.
Ella threw her hands up defensively.
"Hey, I know exactly what you're thinking. And no. I said nothing. She guessed where I was from too." Ella said.
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A metal-faced boy, a whispered accusation, and a challenge delivered nose-to-nose. Kate doesn't back down—ever. With sharp instincts and sharper words, she cracks open secrets others are too scared to share. In a school full of silence and surveillance, she makes her presence known with the flick of a screen and the force of an avalanche. She's not here to blend in. She's here to make you watch. And when Kate starts talking, even the toughest kids learn to listen.