Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
Kathy quickly found herself regretting her decision to go to school in a foreign country. She made little friends in her art classes since they were all weird to begin with. But she had to make the best of her life, no matter how lousy it had become. She often called Neil to talk but never did she mention how miserable she was without him. He on the other hand was doing well and made plenty of friends. They often kidded about him finding another best friend. She laughed about it but deep down it hurt her to hear how happy he was.
After three months, Kathy decided she would no longer mope around at home. If she was going to be sad, she might as well take more classes to forget about it. She drowned herself in school work every night. Drinking coffee helped her to stay up late while she worked her butt off. She didn’t realize the fact that she had lost weight until she put on her jeans one morning and they slipped off. She shrugged off the strangeness and put on a belt instead.
Kathy was walking around campus trying to find the cafeteria when she stumbled upon the gym and a class was in session. Curiosity taking over as she crept up to the door and peered through the window. She found a ballet dance class in session. A smile came on her face, she had a special love for ballet since she was young. Neil never knew this since she thought he would laugh if he knew she had taken ballet at the age of four. But because she gained weight easily, the teacher told her she couldn’t continue the class. Embarrassed, she learned that people would always be superficial like that.
“You like ballet?” a soft and gentle voice asked from behind Kathy.
She was startled and began to grow flustered when she was caught peeking. “Yes…” she nodded slowly.
“Have you ever taken a class?” she was the aerobics instructor.
“When I was four.” She mumbled embarrassingly.
“Why don’t you sign up for the next quarter? You seem very interested.” The teacher seemed very sincere.
Kathy shook her head “With my weight? I wouldn’t be able to lift my leg on the bar.”
The nice looking woman tapped her chin gently “How about this? Sign up for my class, once your weight goes down, you can sign up for ballet?”
“You mean go on a diet?” she looked confused.
The lady laughed “No, no. I mean take my aerobics class, you’ll get a good workout, trust me. You won’t need to diet but if you want to lose the weight faster, you can cut down on junk food or candy.”
Kathy nodded slowly, getting a sudden urge to see results “Is it too late to join for the next class?”
She had a soft spot for the overweight girl “Yes. But you can come in and take a look so you can be prepared. If you want, you can try out a few moves?” she gave her a secret wink. It was against university rules for an instructor to let a person in a class without paying for it. But she sensed Kathy wanted to change “What’s your name?” she nodded for Kathy to follow her.
“Kathy. And you Miss…”
“Smith.” Her smile was broad as she opened the door to the class room. Inside, everyone was in leotards and body suits ready to exercise. Kathy nodded to a few glances but remained in the back as the class progressed. And so her days ended that way. She only had enough time to squeeze the exercise class at nights.
Time flew by with her busy schedule under her belt, Kathy found herself losing the weight quickly. She had to change her wardrobe completely by the end of her third year. She never bothered to weigh herself, but one day curiosity got the best of her as she ran to the store and bought a weigh machine. When she got on cautiously, she quickly stepped down and picked up the weigh while observing it. “Is it broken?” she asked herself as she shook it over and over.
When it had enough abuse, she placed it down and got back on. She gasped and practically jumped off. She had lost 90 pounds. A slow smile crossed her face as it grew wider and wider, she began jumping around the whole apartment screaming at the top of her lungs. She threw her hips from side to side singing and dancing happily. She was so proud of herself that she decided to share it with Neil. Kathy propped herself on the couch and picked up the cordless phone and dialed his number while humming a happy tune.
“Hello…” a grumpy voice answered.
“NEIL!! You’ll never guess what happened to me…you know how you been asking me where I go at night…well, I never wanted to say anything cause I was afraid you would laugh at me…anyways, I met this really cool instructor, guess what she teaches?” she paused long enough to breath before continuing “Aerobics! Well, I joined the class and man, it helped me lose so much weight…” she paused when she heard snoring “Neil?”
“Huh…what…who is this?” he asked sleepily.
“Kathy!” she screamed into the receiver “Are you listening to me?”
Neil let out a long yawn “Of course…what are you doing?”
“Did I wake you?” she asked more sympathetically.
“Yeah…but it’s okay…so what were you saying?” he sounded even more sleepy than before.
“Nothing, I’ll tell you later. Go to sleep. Bye.” They both hung up. Despite her happy mood, she felt sad that Neil wasn’t listening. She felt so proud of herself.
**********one month later***********
Kathy was able to keep the weight off since the last time she checked the weigh machine. She took the ballet class to keep her mind off of stress in school. Graduation was in less than a year and she needed something to calm her nerves. After class, she stayed back to talk to the teacher who told her about a recital. “I want you to be the lead.”
“What?” Kathy asked incredulously “I’m a first year student in ballet! I can’t take on that offer. No…I’m sure there are more people who have the better abilities.”
The slim elder woman smiled warmly “I see potential in you. You are very gifted when it comes to ballet. Are you doubting my professional opinion?” Kathy shook her head vehemently “Well, wouldn’t you think that there was something special about you since after just one year, you have showed more improvement than my whole class combined.”
“That’s quite a compliment.” Kathy sighed, inside her heart was beating so fast.
“Let me go through the program with you.” She began explaining but Kathy found herself in a daze. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The two ended up talking late into the night. By the time she was done, it was close to 11pm.
She began her usual routine, walking to the subway and taking the train uptown where here apartment was. She never realized how dark the subway got until that very night when she entered the dimly lit station. There were only a few people left and her nerves got the best of her as she pulled out he pepper spray, ready for any attackers.
She stepped through the metal retriever, which made a loud clicking sound when she passed. Her eyes darted around looking for any intruders. When it was clear she stepped closer to the bench and waited for the train to arrive. Her eyes was alert as it moved at her surroundings, they came upon a dark wet circle on the ground where she stood. She leaned in closer and found that it was a dark red color. Was it blood? Her eyes moved further and she found small dots forming a trail. She followed it without thinking and came to the edge of the station where the stairwell led to the tracks. She looked around the edge and found a guy sitting there gripping his arm in pain.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
His eyes moved up at her and a shiver rolled down her spine, it looked so cold and his face was wet from sweat “Go away.” He said coldly.
“You’re bleeding.” She pointed to the trail.
“Don’t you think I know that?!” he snapped.
She was willing to give up just yet “Do you need help? I can take you to the hospital.” He didn’t answer so she assumed it was a yes. Kathy walked cautiously down the dark steps and reached for his free arm but he yanked it away.
“I don’t need your pity. Leave me alone.” He growled.
“I’m not going to walk away and leave you to die. And I definitely don’t want to turn on the news the next morning with a report of a male dead at the subway and knowing that I didn’t help.” She said reasonably.
“I’m not going to die.” He snickered. “Trust me, you don’t want to help me.” There was a secret meaning behind it but she didn’t know what it was.
“Well at least let me take you home.” She insisted. There was something strange about him, she didn’t want to be responsible for not helping him. Eventhough he was a complete stranger, it had become personal the minute they began talking.
Again she attempted to reach for his arm and this time he let her help him up. He sucked in the pain as he got up and limped up the steps. She supported most of his weight until they sat on the bench. He looked at her intently and it made her so nervous that she had to shift her seat to the edge. He was a dangerous man but here was this girl who was willing to help him. But he couldn’t let down his guard, not yet. He wanted to make sure that she was not one of them, she could easily be someone they sent to destroy him once and for all.
The train pulled up, Kathy was happy there was a distraction. She helped him into the train and they sat there in silence the whole ride. The train stopped at uptown and she saw him standing up “It’s here.” He grumbled.
She got up quickly and helped him out of the station. When they were on the streets, Kathy looked around “So where do you live?” she saw that it was nicer part of town.
“Here.” He pointed to a tall apartment building. “You gonna stand that and gawk or come up?”
Kathy closed her mouth and smiled “I promised to take you home safely. I’ll walk you to your door.” She saw a grim smile on his face as she led him into the building.