Maquillaje

A/N: ...REAL FICTION. SOMEONE SHOOT ME NOW.

"Hey, hey Esteban!"

That's Katarina. I should say something.

"Esteban! Hello! ¡Hola, mi amiguito!"

She's talking in Spanish... She wants my attention...

"...What's so interesting about your book? It's not even open!"

The world snapped into color and vision like a rubber band snapping, with the accompanied migraine. The tan of the desk against the grey carpet of the floor and the blinding white of the book- a new thing, he hadn't even started reading it yet- made his eyes water and he jumped, a hand flying to his temple while his other rubbed his eyes. "Kate," he growled. "Stop bothering me!"

...Silence. And then...

"Do you have something to share with the class, Señor Andrews?"

It's been happening more often. Spacing out, not being able to focus...

"Señor Andrews?"

Esteban looked up. 'And it happened again, just now. I need to get more sleep.'

"Yes?"

The teacher looked at him like he was an idiot. Well, this was Spanish. He had every right to be an idiot in this class because he didn't understand a god-damned thing. "Do you have something to share with the clase, Señor Andrews?"

He pronounced 'class' as 'cla-se,' as in Spanish. Esteban resisted the urge to jump up and yell, "Yes, I have something to share. ENGLISH. The most COMMON language on EARTH."

...But he didn't. The teacher's face would have been priceless, though. "Nothing to share, sir."

"Good. No, lo dijé que el preterito..."

...Bastard. What did that even mean? Preterite tense was something about... past... but wasn't that imperfect?

You know what? Fine. Screw Spanish and its tenses. Esteban lived with a Spanish exchange student and her best friend. They'd teach him later.

Now, what was that book again? He looked down again, and the white seemed to shine, blinding him... He felt his tear-ducts go spastic on him, and blinked rapidly.

Her dress was pale white, like the moon, and her hair was black, like the night. The swords in her hands spun casually, double-bladed, with one edge completely smooth and the other cut in jagged shards. It reminded him perversely of the swords the huns wielded in Mulan, but those swords were never covered in blood.

The bell rang, and he jumpe

d. Katarina was tugging his arm. "Hey, you alright, El Dorado?"

"...M'not blond." He muttered, standing and pulling his appendage away from her vise-like grip. "...You do your English homework?" He shook off the sudden image, trying to remember where he was. Sighing, he bent to pick up his binder and the book (which he tucked into his back-pack, out of sight) as he talked.

"Aww, I'm going to get a better grade in your stupid language then you if you keep forgetting, Dorado!"

"S'not my fault that..." He waited for the sentence to continue, but it didn't, so he shrugged. His backpack, full of everything he needed for both A and B days, made the motion difficult, even if he carried the binder he pretended to use for the El Lenguaje del Diablo and really used for Science. "Maybe. Then you can tutor me."

"I already tutor you, though!" Kata

rina was from Spain, an enigma in herself. Her mother was Italian, which gave her the name of the Shrew from Shakespeare...? Her hair was curly and she wore make-up as if she had been born with a tube of mascara in her hands. This week her look was blood-red lips and kohl-smeared eyes.

Esteban wondered half-heartedly why he noticed such things about girls when he had never so much as touched a tube of lip-stick in his life. But then again, as long as he never started wearing it, it was cool... right? He frowned right down the hall and into Math. Thank God, his safe haven. Numbers = Logics. Preterite =/= Logics. Katarina shared this class with him, as did Warren. (1) 

"...Hey, Dora?"

He flinched at the nick-name. Mr. Reed let them choose their seat every day and it was customary for him and Katarina to sit in the corner across from the door, with Warren right in front of them. Today, Warren was hiding a cell phone under his desk and playing a game of pong. "Okay, the City of Gold I can deal with, but if you call me that one more time..."

"You'll what? Stay out late and neglect your homework?"

"...I don't stay out late."

Warren turned and grinned at him, displaying his make-up and the piercings in his ears and lip. Wait, it was worse then that- The piercings in his ears? They weren't in the lobe, like normal girlspeople did them. They were all up and down the sides, with tiny black rocks that sparkled in the sun... and he looked g

ood. He didn't look girly or anything, in his band t-shirts and the long-sleeved things he wore under them. Jeans with rips and chains, plus the 'emo shoes' he was so proud of completed the image. 

"Ho-ho, is someone joining the dark side? Remember, they have cookies."

Esteban looked at him blankly. "Last I checked, it was chocolate chip cookies."

"Those are getting stale. No-one took them home, so they're rotting in the cafeteria. Martha cooked us cupcakes, though, so it's all good now." It was a running joke that Warren ruled the underworld with Jessica Alba as his Queen, Edward Cullen as his Grand Champion, and Martha Stewart as his cleaning lady. 

"Oh. Well, deals off, then. Give me my soul back." His math binder was red, and stuffed with papers. He had wanted to clean it out, but kept forgetting... he was forgetting a lot of things earlier.

"Stop dodging the subject!" Katarina pouted. "If you don't go out at night, where were you last... last night." Her vocabulary was lacking the words 'sneaking out.' 

"I was at home, trying to get some rest! Needless to say, it didn't work."

"...You weren't home, 'Rado. I waited up, and in the morning you were there, but... I stayed up until three. You definitely weren't home."

"Bullshit. I was asleep! Did you check my room?"

"Normally your snoring-"

"I don't snore!" 

"-would mean that I didn't have to, but I did. I checked your room, my room, Natalie's room, the Kitchen, the Attic, the Basement-"

"We don't have a basement."

"Exactly! You weren't-" Katarina got loud when she got agitated, and when she got agitated people tended to notice her. 

Mr. Reed coughed loudly. "So, Katarina, what's the discriminant of x squared plus four x plus 4?"

Katarina stared at him until Esteban elbowed her. A piece of paper was laying next to her arm.

"Ummm... Zero?" Katarina pretended to think about her answer even as she leaned over slightly to see. 

"Very good." Katarine smiled brilliantly, until Mr. Reed continued. "Next time, try not to copy off of friends."

Katarina's smile faltered, but to her credit she did not deny the claim. The class tittered. 

(1) Totally stole that name there. Also, Mr. Reed... Rhyme with anything? XD (Warren? He's an ACTUAL emo, minus the wrist cutting... But that makes him Goth, doesn't it? Aw, forget it.)

NOTES ABOUT THE NEW POSSIBLE SERIES: This first chapter sucked, and I admit it. 

Important notes: Katarina and Warren are MINOR characters. Katarina will not end up with 'Rado. Warren, though, has yet to be decided.

That crazy chick with the swords in the flash-backs earlier? She's the Female lead. Esteban is the Male lead. However, Mrs. Swordy-lady will not show up for a bit, because I like the suspense and I want to make her intro AMAZING. 

...NO, THIS IS NOT A HIGH-SCHOOL STORY. AND NEITHER IS ESTEBAN GAY, THOUGH THAT WOULD BE BOTH FUNNY AND DISTURBING. 

Also, this is my first time with a boy main-character. Bear with me.