only god knows how many times i've rewritten this chapter.

plus, you can thank celaenamoon for getting me to publish a chapter XD

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Catherine woke up without puking all over the floor for the first time in weeks. Maybe she should really consider bringing along apple juice all the time now. She twisted her neck, making an awfully loud cracking sound that had Emily poking her head out from below.

"You're awake?"

Catherine nodded, rubbing at her eyes blearily. "Is it our turn today?'

"Yeah. Sister Clarice wants pancakes today." Emily ran a hand through her hair, only to have it get entangled with all the knots. Sighing, she tediously pulled at the blonde strands until her hand was free before continuing, "Jennifer also wants to try making those peanut butter and something - "

"And oatmeal!"

" - and oatmeal cookies." Emily kicked aside the mess on the floor and got to the other bed.

Jennifer's legs were hanging over the edge again and Emily pulled at her ankle lightly. The girl muttered in her sleep and turned the other way, burying her face into her pillow and kicking her legs out. Emily pulled again but when Jennifer didn't move, she went ahead and tickled her feet.

"Stop stop stop - HEY, STOP IT! GET SOME HELP!" Jennifer shrieked, laughing so hard her voice got stuck in her throat.

Below her, Heather groaned and rolled over in bed. "What time is it?"

Catherine glanced at the clock on the wall. "Almost eight - "

"Then why is Jennifer screaming before breakfast?"

"Because it's our turn to make it, idiot." Emily yanked Heather's blanket out of her grip and waited for her to get out of bed so that she could make it. While Heather reluctantly trudged out of bed, Jennifer had leapt out and landed lightly on her feet, grabbing whatever was in their closet before dashing out of their room.

Catherine checked for Nathan's message and sent a quick text back before picking out her clothes. With a whole day ahead of her, she got to do whatever she wanted and no one could stop her. It was the weekend. The whole point of it was to relax and let loose (not like she hasn't done enough of that but her point still stands).

As Heather left the room, Catherine eyed her leather jacket. Was it too intense for the park? How hot was it going to be anyway? Maybe the tank top would do.

"Why are you still here?" Emily hissed and pushed her aside.

Catherine snorted and shoved her back, almost making the blonde hit her head against the back of the closet. "Relax. There ain't no dishes for me to clean yet."

One of the first things Catherine was told when she arrived at the orphanage was that everyone took turns to cook during the weekends. Since they didn't have to rush for school, the sisters thought that it would be a good idea to teach the kids how to cook for themselves while they were still young so that when they do move out at eighteen, they at least know how to cook a decent omelette. Only teenagers were allowed into the kitchen and they went according to their room numbers.

The first time Catherine had cooked, she had genuinely added salt instead of sugar into Emily's porridge on accident. Emily had obviously brushed it off. Who could blame her when the girl didn't even know how to boil water?

But then Emily's toast got burnt, her noodles were overcooked and then there was the one time someone had put alcohol in her orange juice.

Well, that someone had always made sure to spend the rest of her day with her friends and then waste the entire night at extravagant parties that left her wasted on Sunday morning. Emily didn't have a chance to interrogate her until she had made her switch with her on dish-washing duty.

But it had its pros, too.

For one, she didn't have to be stressed out in the mornings anymore. Seriously, cooking was stressful as hell. Get the wrong ingredients? You're screwed. You can't add too much or too little, it has to be just right. Plus, making seconds or even thirds for some of the kids who are still hungry was annoying. Why can't people just eat whatever they were given and go?

So dish duty it was for her.

By the time they had finished showering, Jennifer and Heather had already started on the batter. Emily grabbed her apron from the clothes hanger while Catherine sat on the small wooden chair at the very back of the kitchen, near the sink.

Throne of Glass was waiting for her, tucked nicely in the corner of the walls. Currently, she was at the part where Celaena was about to face off Cain in the final test. She would have finished that scene if only Emily hadn't forced her to study for their midterms. Catherine really wanted to finish it by the end of the week so that she could get the next book at the school's book sale.

Hopefully without Emily asking where all her money went.

Jennifer stood up from where she was bent down in front of the oven, her back cracking and cracking and still cracking that Catherine had to put down her book just to check on her.

"God, I feel old," Jennifer muttered, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

Catherine raised an eyebrow at her. "You sound old. What did ya even do yesterday?"

"Nothing! Just hung out with Kacy at the gym."

"Maybe you should join her," Emily teased. "Then you'll be just as bendy."

"No! Have you seen her warm-ups? They're workouts. Not warm-ups. Look, their standard - " Jennifer put a hand above her head. " - and my standard." Her other hand was so low that she had to twist her body.

"No one said you couldn't start late," Catherine said.

"But it's stupid to do that," Emily cut in, mixing her bowl furiously. "No one's bones and muscles can just stretch like that anymore. There's a reason why gymnasts start when they're a kid."

"Yes, exactly. Thank you," Jennifer sighed as Heather wordlessly poured her batter onto Jennifer's pan.

Jennifer flipped the pancakes over and slid them onto plates. Catherine's stomach grumbled at the smell of fluffy goodness. Licking her lips, she reached for the drawer for a fork.

"Catherine, go."

Catherine rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Emily. She quickly stacked the plates on a tray and headed out to the dining room.

Sister Clarice was trying desperately to get the kids to calm down and stop poking each other with forks. Most of the older kids had their heads in their arms, probably trying to catch up on sleep.

Catherine slid the tray to the nearest table with the number one deeply etched onto it. She walked up to Sister Clarice and handed her one of the plates she snagged from the tray.

"Hey, maybe you should eat first," Catherine greeted.

Sister Clarice sent her a grateful look and then vaguely gestured at the kids, before moving to the side to eat. As the matron, Sister Clarice took care of everyone, the logistics and the list of volunteers who came in every Sunday to spend time with the children. Unfortunately, as the matron, she made the rule that all sisters should go back home during the weekends to spend time with their families and go to church, which leaves her to do everything by herself.

Catherine knew Emily always tried to help Sister Clarice one way or another but most of the time, the lady doesn't say what's bothering her or what needs to be done around the house.

The only thing Sister Clarice allowed anyone to help her with were 'supervising' the volunteers who came over to hang out or help the kids with their homework.

Emily and Heather thought it was stupid, saying some of the volunteers just wanted to see if orphans were just as fucked up as fanfiction made them out to be. The rest of them were usually just doing community service for school or for some other reason, trudging into the foyer with sullen looks on their faces like they had somewhere else to be.

But Jennifer's friends ran in like they had nowhere else they'd rather be. Kacy and Laura were in most of the same classes as Catherine so it was easy for her to slip into their little clique. They spent most of their time watching My Little Pony and RWBY and sometimes, they'd even bake for the kids. (Catherine's still on dish duty because no one trusts her.) It was the perfect excuse for all of them not to do their homework, really.

Catherine turned away from Sister Clarice and her eyes widened in shock. The poking had turned into a 'sword' fight, kids swinging their forks wildly at each other and screaming 'engarde!' like they were musketeers and -

"Woah woah woah!" Catherine shouted, dodging the sharp metal and grabbing the knife in Robin's hand. "What the - why are you using knives to stab each other? Actually, don't answer that question. Don't use knives to stab each other!"

"But they're like mini swords!" Robin grinned up at her, eyes shining with glee like he just made a new discovery. "And I'm a mini samurai! I'm going to defeat all of them and be king!"

"No, you won't!" One of them yelled, lunging with his fork.

Catherine caught his wrist, snatched the fork away and pushed him back. Before the kid could start crying, Catherine snapped, "Stop it. Everyone, stop it!"

The entire dining room quietened down that even Sister Clarice stopped munching on her pancakes. Sighing, Catherine held out her hand and gave all the kids a look that told them she was really going to lose control if they didn't listen to her.

Without the forks, the kids settled back down in their seats but continued talking about samurais and warriors and ninjas. Catherine handed the forks back to Sister Clarice.

The rest of the day went by rather peacefully, apart from Robin trying to start up another fight with his cup, only for Catherine to lightly flick him on the head and snatching the cup away too.

Once the last kid had left the dining room, Catherine dumped the last of the dirty dishes into the sink and started cleaning all of them to Emily's standards as quickly as she could.

Jennifer slid over her plate of pancakes once she was done and winked. "Syrup, butter and sugar."

Catherine winked back, going back to her corner of the kitchen and digging in. Emily and Jennifer had pulled up their own chairs while Heather sat comfortably on the floor, leaning against the cupboards.

"You are so gonna get diabetes," Emily said with her mouth full.

"Death by glucose. I like it," Catherine laughed.

After their own mini breakfast, Catherine washed the plates again, dried her hands on her jeans and then poked Emily in the shoulder.

"Hey, I'm going to the library - "

"The library?" Emily whipped her head around so fast, Catherine got a mouthful of blonde hair. "Sorry! Sorry. But why are you going to the library?"

Catherine spat out the hair and rolled her eyes. "Why can't I go to the library?"

"Well, for one, I don't trust you. Two, you're probably lying. And three, you're staying here to help Jennifer with her bio project."

"What?" Catherine looked at Jennifer and crossed her arms. "What exactly do you need me to do?"

"Just help me with the drawing. That's all you gotta do, Cath," Jennifer replied.

Catherine sighed. Jennifer's art was arguably worse than Toothless' scribbles in the first movie. Just a bunch of scribbles on the page. You can't even guess what the hell Jennifer was trying to achieve.

"Can't you do it, Emily?"

"I draw stickmen. Not detailed masterpieces of blobs of our bodies."

"What about Heather?"

There was no response and everyone frowned.

"Heather?" Emily raised her voice a little but still nothing.

Which probably meant the girl had already slipped back up to their room to sleep.

"Oh my god, she really needs to stop doing that," Jennifer giggled.

"Ninja Heather strikes again," Catherine muttered. "Anyway! I can just do it tomorrow. I gotta go."

She made a move to the door but Emily got there first, slapping her hands across the doorframe like a starfish and blocking her way.

"What's so important in the library, huh? You meeting someone?"

Catherine scowled. Emily's trust issues were getting annoying. It had been months since she had tried to trick the girl in any way and yesterday, she had genuinely lost track of time.

"Yeah, I wanna meet Ms Hudgens to get a book. Because that's what going to a library implies, you know."

"What book?"

"The Bone Witch."

"I don't know that."

"You're uncultured."

"Hey, I read Shakespeare."

"Only Shakespeare. So you're obsessive and close-minded."

"She has a point!" Jennifer called from behind her.

Emily looked over Catherine's shoulder and glared daggers at her. "No one asked for your opinion! And you!" Emily wrapped Catherine into a vicious hug before she could slip out from beneath her outstretched arms.

"Hey - "

Catherine reached for Emily's wrists but the blonde was faster and crossed her arms across her waist, tugging harshly. Catherine hissed as something cracked in her shoulder.

Damn, shouldn't have slept on my side again.

"You're not going anywhere. Just get your book tomorrow. Don't put off to tomorrow what can be done today."

"It's her homework!"

"Exactly. It's homework. Higher priority. Now get to it!"

Emily pushed Catherine out of the kitchen and ushered Jennifer out with her. "Keep an eye on her." Just like that, she turned her back on them to grab herself a drink.

While Jennifer bounded up to their room, Catherine continued to glare at Emily. It wasn't the first time the girl had stopped her from going out on her own but it was really getting on her nerves. Emily's whole overprotective nature was going to make her punch her in the face one day or just straight up murder her. It didn't help that she was particularly like this when it came to her and no one else.

She sure as hell didn't like the extra attention.

When she noticed she hadn't moved from her spot, Emily turned and arched an eyebrow up at her as if to say 'what are you still doing here?'.

Catherine narrowed her eyes slightly in warning before moving off to find out if Jennifer had passed out from a sugar high yet.

One of these days, she was going to be the one who makes her blood spill.