Imagine: The List
Fic posted by members of Vo's Imaginings YahooGroup


Chapter Four


Catherine looked at the pile of things on her bed and shook her head. Celia must have come in and pulled down her gown. She looked at the underwear that had been put on her bed and snickered. She knew her roommate had a strange sense of humor but smiley face underwear? She grabbed her wrap and went to the bathroom to take a shower. She guessed being clean would be a good thing and hot water always relaxed her.

She came out and dried her hair, considering what she should do with the short mass. She decided to braid her tail, wrapping the finished product with a scarlet ribbon, leaving the ends of the ribbon streaming over her shoulder. She walked over to the bed and looked at the gown, admiring the velvet and satin fabrics, admiring the styling and the way it hung. She pulled it on over her head, shivering as the cool of the satin switched to the cotton that lined the inside of the velvet bodice. She turned to the mirror and looked at herself, noticing how different she looked in it. She pulled the ribbons out from under the shoulderpad and looked down to grab the ribbons that tied up the bodice. She slowly laced it up, staring at herself in the mirror, wondering at the transformation. Even her bronze-colored hair looked different in the dress. She stopped to admire herself, turning to look at the simple slope of her back and the way the skirt minimized her rear. She jumped as someone tapped on her door. "Just a second, I need to find shoes," she called, hurrying over to the closet. She had bought shoes for this dress the last time she had been in town. It only took her a minute to find the box and pull out the ankle boots. She was sitting on the edge of the bed pulling them on when her door was opened to admit Mr. Rayne. "Just a second," she said, zipping the last one up. She stood up for his inspection.

He gave her a brilliant smile. "I knew that color would look good on you." He offered her his hand. "Come, let's go do this." He flipped the ribbons and she giggled. "Ah, a special thing. It matches, so we'll leave you alone about it." He led her from the room, past Celia who was sitting waiting on her, and down to the first floor. He walked her past the hallway where the classrooms were, past the labs in the back, and down another flight of stairs.

Catherine looked at this new place, basically a large amphitheater, gauging where she was now. She was led down the stairs to the sand and was thankful for choosing boots once she stepped on the warm, flowing surface. She walked over to where the other girls and three boys were, stopping in front of them. "Now what?" she asked. She was pointed to a spot on the end of the line and stood there, waiting and looking around. She couldn't see in the seats so she couldn't tell if there was someone up there watching or not, but it felt like there was. She pulled her hair ribbons down to play with, winding them around her index finger the same way she did her hair when she was thinking. She got nudged and glared at the boy beside her. "What?"

"Quit fidgeting. The waiting's bad enough without watching you do that."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're just jealous because you don't have anything to play with." From the seats, someone laughed. "See?" She looked up at where she thought the sound had come from and barely saw the outline of someone. Someone was watching them after all.

The set of stone doors across from them opened and they all turned to look at it, the girl in front gasping as she saw the people walking out. Beautiful people. Ones that were beautiful enough to have modeled for a living. There were about ten of them, and they walked past the line of people, letting them get a good look at each other. These new people stopped in front of Mr. Rayne and bowed to him.

"Children, these are the ones to be Chosen from," he said quietly, waving a hand at the line Catherine was in. "Choose who you would."

The other group turned and looked at them. Then one male stepped forward and walked up to one of the older girls. He grinned at her and she smiled back. They walked off together, heading back through the stone doors.

One by one, the others were chosen. Except Catherine. The last two didn't even look at her. Mr. Rayne smiled at her and nodded her over. "Catherine, we have a strange situation here. These two are twins, but they don't want a Chosen one. Will you be their friend, even though they didn't Choose you?"

She nodded. "Gladly. I could always use friends." She smiled at them. "I'm Catherine. What's your names?"

"Mark," the surly looking, dark-haired male said.

"I'm Andrew," the other said, holding out a hand, which she shook. "Forgive my brother, we had to wake him up." Mr. Rayne cleared his throat and Andrew smiled at him. "We did."

"I'm sure. Catherine, since you weren't Chosen here, would you be willing to be looked at by some of the older candidates? Most of them didn't want to Choose when they were this age, which is perfectly acceptable, but a few of them now want someone with them."

She nodded and grinned. "Hey, I'd like to think that I didn't dress up for nothin'."

He chuckled. "I'm sure." He took her hand and led her back through the doors, letting her look around at the hallway they were in for a few moments before leading her into a sitting area. "Ladies, gentlemen, scruffy ones, this is Catherine." He pushed her forward.

Instantly, two of the scruffy looking guys jumped up and offered her their seats. "You brought us a mascot?" one of the other scruffy ones suggested, smiling at Mr. Rayne. "How nice of you, Philip. How did you know we needed one?"

Mr. Rayne glared at him and he laughed. "Catherine, as you can tell, there's a definite difference in some of these jokers. The more untidy ones are referred to en masse as the 'Scruffy Ones'. They're very strong, very protective, and very pig headed." They all cheered.

One of the females raised her hand. "Why wasn't she Chosen?"

"Because the twins were left and they refused a partner," he told her. "I'm putting it up to the rest of the group since some of you have asked to be partnered now."

The Scruffy one that had called her a mascot growled at the female. "Ours!" he said.

She backed off. "Yours," she agreed, looking at Mr. Rayne.

Mr. Rayne groaned. "I never imagined this happening." He looked at Catherine. "How would you like to be an official partner to the whole of the Scruffy Ones? They're generally decent people, but they can be a bit intense."

She looked at them then nodded. "If that's what they want. What do I do with them, besides be their friends?"

One of the males laughed. "Don't worry, we'll tell you."

She glared at him. "I doubt it. I like men, but I don't need one right now. They're a distraction I could do without until I'm older."

Mr. Rayne clapped. "Well said. Now then, let's go get acquainted. There's a dinner tonight for all of you." He looked around the room. "Some of you still need to get dressed first," he reminded them. "Catherine has to appear." All but one of the Scruffy Ones left the room and ran down the halls.

That one looked over his shoulder at him. "I'm dressed enough," he told Mr. Rayne. "Philip, why did you make her wear so many clothes?"

"Because she needed to wear them for the dinner," he said warmly. "Go finish getting dressed, Tyler."

He looked down at himself. "Hey, I'm covered. Get over it. I'm doing you a favor by wearing clothes at all." He went back to his book. "Catherine, how are you in math?"

"Not very well, but I'm starting to understand it," she said, sitting down beside him. "I'm more of a theory person than a people person."

He wrapped an arm around her. "Don't worry, you'll get over that. How's the East Tower?"

"She's on my floor," Mr. Rayne told him.

Tyler looked up at him. "Yay. Did the boys break in yet?"

"Yes, but Celia beat one up for me." She smiled at him. "You're a nudist?"

"Yup. Clothes were an invention by men to subjugate women and separate people into groups. I got over it already." He looked her over. "You don't have to worry, I'm a 'to each their own' person." She blushed so he gave her a light squeeze. "Like I said, don't worry. But never drink and play cards with William. He got another Chosen into a game of strip poker last week. He's still grounded I think." He went back to his book, humming as he read.

Catherine looked over at the book and shook her head. "I can't even tell which language that is."

"It's Hebrew. You'll learn to appreciate the scholarly of us soon enough."

"She's probably going to end up in the business classes," Mr. Rayne reminded him. "Especially if she's your guardian."

Tyler smiled mock sweetly at him. "I'm sure you've already gotten it figured out too. Haven't you?"

Catherine nudged him with her elbow. "Quit fighting about me. I'm sitting right here. And I don't know what I want to do right now. All I know is that I'm starving because all I had was a chocolate chip granola bar while I read."

Tyler stood up and held out a hand. "Then we should go eat, shouldn't we? Don't worry," he said, catching her glance at the hallway, "they'll come find us. A few of them are walking bottomless pits." He tucked her hand under his arm and walked her out of the room. "I like your hair, especially the tail thing. That the piece you play with?"

She smiled. "Yup. You're the only one who's gotten that so far. Even my mother didn't understand that need."

"She's just too close to the situation. I'm sure she'll see the light when she meets us." She went pale. "Oh, don't worry, it won't be all at once. We wouldn't do that to any unsuspecting woman. They tend to faint," he stage whispered, just loud enough to be heard.

She stared up at him in amazement.

***


Catherine wandered back into her suite and looked down at her roommate, who was sleeping on the couch. "Isn't that thing lumpy?" she asked, waking her up.

Celia sat up and looked at her. "How was the dinner?"

"Good. I had interesting conversations the whole time. Most of the gentlemen around me were very nice, if a bit naughty at times. Mr. Rayne threatened to spank one actually." She sat down next to her roommate. "I need information. What do you know about the ones they call the 'Scruffy Ones'?"

Celia started to smile. "You were Chosen by one of them? Oh, wow. Your life is never going to be boring again!" She gave her a hug but Catherine pulled away. "You weren't? Then why did you need to know?"

"I'm their mascot," Catherine said with a smile. "It seems they adopted me."

Celia's mouth hung open. "All of them?" she squeaked. Catherine nodded. She wiped off her mouth. "Oh, wow!" She got up and stared down at her roommate. "You are one *lucky* woman, Catherine. I almost envy you their company. Oh, watch out for the practical jokes. A few of them aren't that good about keeping them safe."

"Was that who set off the firecrackers the first night?"

Celia snickered. "Probably." She looked around the room. "Well, you've now got a handful to deal with. You better go to sleep early tonight, Kate. You're gonna need it tomorrow when they stalk you around the school."

She glared up at her roommate. "Don't call me that. I hate that name." She stood up. "Okay, do I do anything different?"

"No, you wake up and go to breakfast. They'll find you. Always from now on." She waved and went to her room. "Night."

Catherine grumbled as she went to her room, telling herself that she needed a better source of information. Celia always gave her little things and cryptic advice, but never what she wanted to know. She stripped down to the smiley face underwear and got into bed, scrunching up under her covers. She fell asleep pretty quickly, but her dreams were filled with handsome men who all wanted to give her wedgies.

***


Catherine sat down at an empty table and before she could pour the milk on her cereal, four men were sitting around her and another was heading her way. She waved listlessly at them. "Hi." She took a drink to kill her morning breath.

"How did you sleep last night?" Tyler asked, grinning at her.

She put down her glass and wiped off her milk mustache. "I had strange dreams all night. First there was the one where everyone I met in the halls wanted to give me wedgies. Then I was Rapunzel and there was a group of guys standing at the bottom of my tower, arguing over who got to rescue me. Finally, one of them knocked a few down and started up my hair, but the others all pulled him down and beat him up. Then they all ran up my hair to save me together." She looked at Robbie, the so-called 'respectable one'. "The one that got beaten up looked a lot like you."

He nodded. "Sounds like me too," he agreed with a smile. "Don't worry, it was just a way of showing you what we're like. We tend to be like that. It's a very Musketeer thing with our group."

Celia cleared her throat and sat down next to Catherine. "Hi. Want to introduce me?"

"Guys, this is Celia, my roommate. Celia, these are my new friends. The blonde one with the book is Tyler. Robbie is the one actually wearing his uniform already. The one next to him is..." She searched her mind, she had met too many people last night and she was still half asleep. Hopefully no one would get mad at her for it. She gave that particular guy a hesitant smile. "I forgot."

He put a hand over his heart and sighed dramatically. "Already? How could you forget me? I'm the one who gave you the wedgie dream all night."

"Oh, then you're Alexi," Catherine said knowingly. She looked at her roommate. "This is also fireworks boy and bad smells boy. I heard a *lot* about him last night from Mr. Rayne."

"He misses his youth," Alexi snorted. "It's just sour grapes," he told Celia, giving her a taste of his most naughty grin. "So, what's up for tonight in the dazzling group's repertoire?"

"Mild party up on the fifth floor, east," Celia said, smiling back at him. "Coming?"

"One never knows," he said, winking at her. He looked back at Catherine, giving her his most innocent look. "What?" he asked sweetly.

"I heard you were grounded," Catherine said slyly.

"He is," Tyler said, nibbling on a piece of toast. "He's not going, he can't sneak out without someone hearing and I'm not putting him to bed tonight." He looked at Celia. "I'll expect you to watch out for him if he somehow does manage to show up tonight." He stared at her until she nodded and swallowed. "Thank you. Our little William is still a baby compared to some of us," he reminded his younger brother.

"Bite me," William said sweetly.

"Stop it," Catherine sighed, taking a sip of her milk. "No fighting this early in the morning, at least not in front of me. Otherwise, I'm going to have to pull out my bitch act."

Tyler reached over and patted her on the back of the head. "We look forward to it, kitten," she growled at him and his smile brightened up. "You don't like that name?"

"And she hates Kate too," Celia said helpfully.

"Oh, really?" Robbie asked. "It's a perfectly respectable name."

"It's the name of my cat, guys, really, let's not go there. Okay?"

Tyler shrugged. "Okay, kitten." She glared at him. "What? We *have* to have an annoying nickname for you, dear. It's part of the contract."

"What contract?" Celia asked.

"It was signed in blood over dinner," William lied. "Very high mass sort of event. Lots of nudity and pins." He leered at Celia. "We could get you into the next one, I'm allowed to bring a guest."

Tyler reached over and smacked him. "Stop it. There's enough rumors without you spreading some."

"Gee, parental much?" William said snidely.

"Yes, sometimes I am forced to become a parent." Tyler gave his younger brother a hard look. "We all know I'd rather not take on that role for any of you," he added quietly. "Got it?"

"Yes, Tyler," William sighed. He ran a hand through his dyed platinum blond hair. He looked at Celia. "I don't have classes," he gloated.

"That's because you're not in the program yet," Robbie pointed out, checking his pager. "Hey, my stock went up."

Celia looked at her roommate. "You live in a very strange world now. Yell if you need any of my crew, we'll be around and listening." She got up and headed over to where Liana was sitting.

"She's a blue, right?" Robbie asked.

"Yup. And my roommate. She's going to be a lawyer for the order."

Tyler coughed. "I'm glad the order accepts *everyone*," he said dryly, earning another glare from their mascot. "What? She's a bit... wild, kitten."

Catherine got into his face and growled, "I am *not* your kitten. I have a name, use it, Tyler." She got up and carried her tray away, then went up to get dressed for the day.

William clapped. "Way to go, bro."

"We've got a long way to go until we get her broken in," Alexi sighed, sipping his milk. William looked at him in shock. "She has to be able to deal with all of us, no matter what her mood or how heavy her thoughts are. If she gets that upset at some simple teasing, then what will it be like when she's forced to babysit you for a whole weekend?"

"Hey, I'll be good to our kitten," William protested. "I won't do anything to her, she's off limits for my jokes. And every other joker that might come near her had better go through me," he said with a nod.

Tyler smiled at him. "Good, William, it's good to see you taking an interest in your heritage." He looked at the younger boy's markings on his arms. "Your scales are still showing."

"Philip said that my skin was thin, that I could say they were botched home tattoos."

"As long as you have an excuse ready. You start school next year." Tyler stood up. "We'd better go make sure we're all up. I don't think she realizes that we're all in her classes now." He carried his tray up to the drop-off window and deposited it, then he walked away, heading up to his new room on the fourth floor of the west tower.

***


Catherine looked up in shock as the seat on her left was taken, looking at the man sitting there. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"We're in your classes now," Tyler told her, wrapping an arm around her to give her a hug. "Just relax," he whispered, "you're our anchor now. You help keep us steady and in our human forms. Just go with it. You'll be seeing us all the time now." He let her go, giving the Physic's teacher a smile. "Did you get my transfer papers?"

"Yes, I did," the teacher said, tossing him some books. "Catch up tonight. Catherine, show him your study guide for the test. I have lecture across the hall, please do not leave or get too loud this time." He walked out, leaving them alone.

"So," Marna said from the back row. "Found you a honey already?" she asked snidely.

"No, just a friend," Tyler said, turning to glare at her. "Shut up, Marna. You're an annoyance that can be removed." He turned back around and looked at Catherine's notebook. "Study guide?"

"Please don't make this any harder on me," Catherine whispered as she passed it over. "I'm already picked on."

"We heard," Tyler assured her. "We're here for you, that's our part of it." He patted her on the arm. "Is this all?" he asked. She nodded, grimacing. "But my class has already done this." He looked at the rest of the group. "Anyone having any problems with relativity or spatial planes?"

One girl raised her hand. "I am," she said quietly. "I have no idea why there are so many planes."

"Then let's do a review. He does a great job of teaching, but Chaos versus String Theory is always hard to get across in just one class." He got up and went up to the board. "Okay, who knows what the Chaos theory says?"

***


Catherine sat down in her Calculus class and looked around, expecting Tyler to be there too. She saw one of the other Scruffy ones, the lone female, and waved her down. "Hey," she said, giving her a hug. "How are you, Sascha?"

"Good," she sighed. She looked down at herself. "My form's stable today."

"Good." Catherine had heard last night how this one was not only a shape changer, but also a gender changer. It was that last one that had been giving her problems, at least according to rumors. "Is it just you in here?"

"Yup. Tyler volunteered to go into the Physic's class because he could teach it if he had to. I get this one, and your business classes are going to have Robbie and Benton. Alexi actually teaches your computer class already, you just never knew what he was. The others will be around and we'll switch in and out of your classes."

Catherine blinked a few times. "That's good, I guess," she said finally. "Is it always going to be like this?"

Sascha nodded. "Yup. 'Fraid so, Catherine." She leaned closer. "Do you really mind the name kitten? I know Tyler was just picking on you, trying to get you used to us, but you do seem like a kitten to us."

"No, it's not kitten. It's all pet names. My stepfather had this horrible tendency to call me every pet name in the book because he could never remember my name."

"Ah," Sascha said wisely. "That's totally different. We actually all got together and decided you should be a kitten." She smiled. "Just think of it this way, it means that William won't be able to make up horrible...."

The teacher walked in and cleared her throat. "Test?" she suggested, holding up the papers. She saw Sascha's eyes widen. "No one told you?" she asked, looking at Catherine.

"We just met last night," Sascha explained quietly.

"All right. Then you may take it later tonight. Go sit in the library." She saw the panicked look and sighed, walking over. She whispered in the girl's ear and got a hissed comment back. "Oh. All right. Ready to take it?"

"Sure," Sascha said brightly. "I can try."

The teacher started with them, handing out the tests.

Sascha shuddered as she felt herself start to change again, trying to hold it in so she wouldn't have to run from the room. Suddenly, a warm hand hit hers and the shudders stopped, the waves of change slowing down enough so she could control it. She grinned at Catherine, who was watching her. "I'm okay," she whispered.

The teacher came over and took their tests, then dragged them into the hall. "Explain," she said harshly.

"She's a shape changer," Catherine said, glancing around. "She's been having troubles staying in one form. I'm her mascot and bound to her group."

The teacher's mouth dropped open. "To the whole of the Scruffy ones?" she asked Sascha, who nodded. "And she stops your changing?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"All right. You may go to the library to finish your tests." She went inside and grabbed everything, bringing it out to them. "The librarian will show you where to sit."

Catherine took her bag and nodded. "Thanks." She led Sascha away, but the other girl pulled away once they were out of sight. "What?"

"You shouldn't have told her, someone might have heard," Sascha hissed.

"She already knew, I thought you told her."

Sascha shook her head. "Just my group affiliation. Usually it's enough." She leaned against a wall. "She could get very upset and *tell* people, Catherine."

"She won't," Catherine said, smiling. "I know something you don't." She stepped closer. "She's your mother's highest advisor, right?" Sascha looked confused. "She is. I overheard her and Mr. Rayne talking about what to do with me one night. So she already *knew*, Sascha. We just gave her a good reason for you needing to be so close during a test, a valid and truthful one." She stepped back. "Let's go finish this, I need to eat." She walked off, heading for the library.

Sascha shook her head. "How does she do that?" she muttered to herself, following along behind her friend.
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