at awoke early that morning exactly 5 minutes before her alarm would have blared away at her. She hated all alarms but had to admit waking up early enough to make sure she didn't have to listen to it that morning had already put her in a cheerful mood. She turned the alarm off and double checked it was off before slipping out of bed. She put on a robe and slippers and trudged around the bed avoiding the boxes that were everywhere.

Kat and Erick, her father, had recently moved; not just house but states. After her mother had passed away Erick was never quiet comfortable in their old home. When Kat was ready for year 11 that's when he thought a change would be good. She had protested, not wanting to leave her friends but her dad won out. Kat had to admit she was kind of glad. She got the best room in the house which was the master bedroom because Erick figured he didn't really need that much room anymore and Kat was after all a 'growing woman with needs'. Kat's had her cast iron 4 poster double bed already set up but hadn't bothered with the lacy curtains yet as they needed washing from the move. That was set up against the wall opposite the doorway, her bookshelves were still to be reassembled so where in a pile in a corner, he bedside table was in the corner and boxes where everywhere.

Half of the boxes containing clothes and books where in her walk in robe that could have passed for a room all by itself. The room was toward the right of her bed with the option of a curtain or doors to separate the bedroom. Kat opened the sliding doors and sifted through some of the boxes deciding what to wear for her first day and the local high school. She eventually chose something simple, blue patterned jeans and her favorite top which was a royal purple double strapped singlet. She grabbed a thin jumper that she would later tie around her waist and then stood musing again over the fact that she may put her alter under the window. She again admitted that a walk in robe / room with a huge window was a bit dodgy. The windows on the sliding doors that hid the wardrobes didn't seem to help. Kat was grateful for the fact that the window faced the back yard and was rather high up. Seeing in from the outside was very difficult, she knew, she had tried.

Kat sauntered over to the bathroom and noticed that Erick had completely unpacked the bathroom complete with towels. Erick always did the bathroom first as it was the smallest room and quickest to finish. That way he felt like he had done something. She added a few of her own touches by re-arranging some things before having a shower and then getting dressed. She brushed her long strawberry blond hair after she had dried it and toyed with hair styles before settling on a simple plait. She then headed back to her room dropping off her night wear and grabbed socks, shoes and her school bag. She then headed out to the kitchen to be greeted by her dad, fresh juice and pancakes.

"Morning daddy" She kissed his cheek and pilled pancakes onto her plate
"Morning Angel" He poured her a glass of juice which she took gratefully and sipped at whilst squeezing lemon on her pancake.

"Are you nervous?" Erick asked
"A little yes."
"You'll be fine, plus you look great. Seems to me you will make new friends in no time."
"You sure I look okay? That your not just saying that?"
"You're as beautiful as your mother when I first met her." Kat got up and hugged her father, what he said was a huge compliment, especially since he rarely talked about her.

"Well I have to go to work, can't be late today, the foreman will be in. I will be home late tonight too, so feel free to get your own tea."
"Oki, have a good day."
"You too."

Erick left and Kat finished her breakfast. She put the dishes away and then looked at the time. With a deep breath she psyched herself up, said a brief chant to calm her nerves and headed towards school which was a 15 minute walk away.

Kat had gathered with the rest of the school in the huge gym. She recognised several other people with the same expression she was sure was on her face. The principle got up on a mini stage and welcome everyone back both old and new. Kat was reminded of David Attenborough and stifled a giggle.

"He's so boring isn't he?" A voice whispered into her ear. Kat turned to see a girl about her age standing next to grinning "I mean it's the same speech every year."
"Really?" Kat asked
"Yep, hang on wait, listen. And so the rest of the morning will be spent with a quick tour, lunch and then a class to fix any last timetable clashes before the real fun begins" the girl quoted the principle word for word as he finished his speech. Kat laughed and was shot a look from the closest teacher.

"Ugh and the ugly hawk is already trying to send shivers down the spines of the newbies. I'm Kate."
"I'm Kat."
"Well Kat welcome to Rodenville High."
"Thanks, I think."
"Hey, it isn't that bad here. Oh quick follow me." Kat followed Kate through the crowd until they reached another a tallish man with long black hair tied back into a pony tail.

"This is Mr Tim Thornhill, he's one of the coolest teachers, we'll take the tour with him."
"Tour, what tour?"
"The one we have every year to be shown where everything is in the school."
"Hello Kate, stirring trouble again?"
"Of course not Tim." Kate replied innocently
"You just called him by his first name?" Kat asked a little shocked
"Yeah, nearly all teachers don't bother with the last name stuff. With the exception of the ugly hawk because she is a shrew and Mr Glenn Young. But then Mr Young calls everyone by their surname too so it's oki. He's big into respect along with other things."
"Other things?"
"Yep, grammar, spelling and the like. He's the head of the English department."
"Oh."

The tour of the school started and Kate chatted amiably the way through describing what the students really called the buildings and yard area's. Kat spent most her time laughing at what Kate had to say. Kate invited her to lunch to meet more people and Kat accepted. She liked Kate, she was bubbly and funny. She soon introduced her to Sarah and Maya who were known as the local married couple. After a few minutes Kat could see why. They ate lunch and Kate continued to tell Kat about the local lads.

"Most of them are taken, idiots wanting the cheerleaders, book worms or just not interested."
"Or interesting!" Sarah chimed in.
"First of all see those three guys over there, that's Marc on the left, Darryl in the middle and Darren on the right. They are the most wanted boys in school."
"I'd pick the one on the left."
"Marc, tough call, but plausible," Maya said.
"Yeah, Darryl is Kate's older brother and dating Marc's older sister, both are in year 12, as is Darren who is Kate's boy..." Sarah started.
Kate grinned "Two years" She admitted to no-one in particular
"Marc is dating Irene, rather on and off, she's very jealous..." Maya continued.
"And absolutely hates Jade," Sarah finished.
"Is Jade competition?" Kat asked.

The three girls burst out laughing.

"Well she is competition in a sense, Jade is Marc's older sister, the one dating Darryl. She's a bit of an enigma actually but really nice. Irene is always trying to come first in Marc's books but he loves his sister dearly so she hasn't had much luck, hence the reason why it's on and off all the time."
"Why does she hate Jade though?"
"Jade is open about how she feels about Irene."
"She doesn't like her?"
"Not exactly, she is openly indifferent about Irene though which pisses her off no end."
"Why would it piss her off though?"
"Irene can handle it if she is hated, she will just plan to get you disgraced, but she adores being in the limelight and Jade always seems to be taking it from her."
"Deliberately?"
"No" Kate replied
"Jade's just very..."
"Open," Maya once again finished Sarah's sentence.

The girls watched the boys from a distance. Kat watched Marc intently, almost captivated. A tall, slim figured beautiful girl walked up beside Marc and kissed his cheek.

"Is that Irene?" Kat asked.
"No, that's Jade" Kate replied
"Oh," Was all Kat could say.

Jade was almost 6 foot tall, had long wavy chestnut coloured hair that hung to halfway down her back. She was wearing a Japenese style dress that showed of her long shapely legs. Kat couldn't help feel grateful that she wasn't Irene. As she looked she swore for a moment that Jade had translucent wings. She blinked and the image was gone but Jade was staring at her. Kat suddenly felt like her soul was under a microscope and suddenly blushed. She saw Jade smile and so Kat smiled back before she was distracted by Kate poking her in the ribs.

"Huh, sorry,"
"Well you were miles away, I was asking you what your first class is."
"Oh, let me check" Kat unfolded her timetable "Maths"
"Ugh," Sarah started making choking noises.
"I have to go fix my timetable first tho, English and Art are clashing."

The timetable was a little unusual compared to the other school Kat went to. Kat still had five subjects but it was set up a little like university. She had each subject twice a week for two hours. The school had explained it as a way to give students more freedom and better learning opportunities as the class wasn't so disjointed. The theory was that you would get a chance to learn after you got unpacked and settled down. The theory sounded good to Kat, plus she didn't have to spend all day at school. After she had her timetable fixed she had Monday mornings off and Friday afternoons free.

The rest of Kat's day was fairly uneventful. She had almost all her classes with Kate, except English which she shared with Sarah and Maya. She also found out she had three classes with Marc. Kat was thrilled. She already had Kate's phone number and had already been invited to a party that Friday night. Kat had wanted to tell her dad all about it when she got home but remembered he was going to be home late. She decided to have tea and then look around the forest which extended from her back yard.

Kat had walked for about ten minutes when the sound of chopping would drifted her way. She grumbled angrily and walked towards the sound. She didn't know what she was going to do or say but she couldn't stand the notion of someone cutting down these beautiful trees. It didn't take her long to find the culprit and she burst through the clearing to see Marc from school chopping away without a top on, sweat glistening in the last of sunlight.

"You're cutting down tree's on our property," she accused.
"Actually I am cutting tree's down on our property, your property, that is if you moved into the house just East, finished about 500 meters ago," He explained calmly.
"I didn't cross any fence line though."
"I'm not surprised, as there isn't any."
"Oh, still it's a shame to cut down beautiful trees."
"Yes it is, which is why I am cutting away this dead one so that I can plant this new one just over there," he pointed to a small tree just a few meters away that was still in a plastic pot.
"I'm sorry."
"It's ok, you must really like trees"
"They'll nice," Kat commented.

Kat subconsciously touched her arm where her birthmark was as the image of her alter came to mind with the earth elemental statue that normally sat on it and mentally reminded herself to unpack it all when she got home.

"What do you do with the old wood," Kat asked making conversation.
"Well I take it home and most the time my sister carves it to make statues to sell at the new age shop in the mall."
"Oh, I haven't been to the mall yet."
"That's right, you're a newbie, you were with Kate Porter all day weren't you?"
"Yeah, my name's Kat."
"Marc." He shook her hand and Kat resisted the urge to tell him she already knew his name.
"Nice to meet you but I should get going, my dad should be home from work soon."
"Well I'll see you around sometime then."
"Yep, see ya," Kat waved over her shoulder and headed home.

Marc walked home with an armful of wood chunks. He mind was on Kat. She seemed like a nice girl. She also had a birthmark that reminded him a little of the one his sister has. When he got home he put the wood in the den and headed upstairs to the attic which was his sisters bedroom.

The attic had been Jade's room since she was 13 and she was very proud of the setup. Apart from the fact she had a whole floor to herself she had spent a long time setting it up just right. On the side of the house were the stairs that led up to her room. There was then a half door at the top of the stairs that was carved with a celtic knot. She had the room curtained off the same way hospital curtains were set up except her curtains where black with red and white Japanese symbols sewn into them. The room was sectioned of into three main areas. The first was an area for study, which had books almost everywhere, the second was the area where her bed was, and the third, which was curtained of with the help off the other curtains, revealed an attic window on the back end of the house. Below the window on the natural bench rested a book which was proped up but left closed. Jade had all her 'spiritual' stuff there in the little cupboards on either side of the bench and a rug to cover the floorboards, where she often sat and meditated. There were two other attic windows but they were on the front end of the house and overlooked part of the roof. She was sitting on the roof when Marc poked his head out the window.

"Contemplating the World's end again?"
"Not today. Instead I am wondering if there are an odd or even number of stars out tonight."
"What's the conclusion?"
"That I don't really care enough to count them all."

Marc laughed and crawled out the attic window and sat beside his sister on the slate tiles.

"What news brother of mine?"
"Well funny you should ask. I meet one of the newbies, her names Kat and she has a birthmark similar to your's."
"I wonder," Jade thought out loud and ducked inside her room for a moment and came back with a book. She flipped the book open and showed Marc.

"Did it look like this?"
"Yeah, what's it mean?"
"Earth."
"Is this one of those things I wouldn't understand?" Marc asked.

Marc knew his sister was special. He didn't have the 'gifts' she seemed to have but that could have something to do with the fact that she was adopted. That was the reason they came up with anyway. He knew enough to know that Kat was what Jade had been looking for.

"You will Marc, one day. I should go tell Darryl and Kate. If they don't already know."

They went back inside and Marc left Jade to her books. She browsed over a few more. She hoped Marc had seen right, that she was indeed wearing the sign of the Earth element. She would have to find out for certain. Her book fell open again to the birthmark Marc had on his back, a cross between the Earth and Air sign. She still didn't know what that meant, which was odd, because Jade had an uncanny knack for knowing spiritual stuff; it just came to her. After all, she was highly proficient in the element of Air.

Jade called Darryl and told him the news and he would of course pass it on to Kate. She received an invite to Kate's party and accepted, compared timetables and then just as an afterthought asked Darryl if Kate could take Kat to the New Age store she worked at. He said he would bring it up with Kate, and then said goodnight.

***

Kat's week had flown by. The timetable setup was better than the school said it would be and Kat had bundles of free time with she often spent with Kate, Maya and Sarah. They were going to go to the mall but Kat still had to unpack so they had come round to help. It was now Friday night and Kat's room was almost completely organised to her liking. She was getting ready for Kate's party and having problems working out what to wear. She had already changed four times. In the end she choose a pair of tinsel jeans and a deep blue top that was hung rather low. She didn't want to appear to 'eager' so she also put on a thin see-through purple long sleeved top over the top. The purple over the blue made a good two toned effect that changed when the material moved and Kat smiled happily at her reflection. She turned when she heard the sound of a wolf whistle coming from her doorway.

"Hi daddy, you look nice."
"Yeah, got invited for drinks tonight with a few lads from work, not too much?"
"For impressing lads yes, who's the girl?"
"No girl, just the foreman's daughter which is an automatic no go."
"I'm sure she will be impressed anyway."
"Thanks, and you, who's the guy?"
"Marc, but he's a no go either, he has a girl."
"Not for long?" Kat laughed. "Be good," Erick said getting ready to leave.
"Would I be anything else?" Kat asked innocently.
"Yes!" Erick laughed and then left the house.

Kat left not long after and headed for Kate's house. She got there safe and sound and was greeted by Kate at the door.

"You made it, great, come in."
"Thanks."
"Nice outfit."
"You too."

The party was already underway and Kat got into the swing of things quickly. Kat was surprised at how quickly she had fit into her new school and made friends so easily.

"So how's year 12?" Kate was asking Anne-Marie.
"Oh just fantastic."
"That good?"
"Yeah, I have the ugly eagle for Maths one."
"Oh that is ugly."
"Tell me about it. Is Lars here?"
"No, he called to say that he had to cancel as he forgotten about some dinner plans he had made months ago with..."

At that moment Sarah and Maya came up to say hello

"I sense you girls were talking about Lauren, I just had to share."
"Oh, fresh gossip?"
"Yeah, she's trying for the lead in the school play, I don't think anyone has told her that 'The West Side Story' is a musical yet."
"Oh no," Anne-Marie feigned a look of tragedy.
"Lauren can't sing even if her life depended on it," Kate explained to Kat.

Anne-Marie and Jade had drifted off and Kat felt a tugging on her leg.

"Are you a friend?"
"Yes Peter, she's my friend" Kate replied scooping to pick up the 5 year old "Kat this is Peter, my cousin, this must mean mom and dad are home."
"Kaaaa-Tee," Peter said.
"No Kat, like this, K, A, T" She drew the letters on Peter's tummy, "Just like my name but without the E."
"Kat, Kat-ee," Peter tried saying and Kate laughed.
"I'll be back, I'm just going to take Peter upstairs."
"Oki."

Kat watched Kate leave and sighed. Time to practice all those party mingling skills. It shouldn't be hard Kat figured, after all, just a moment ago she was thinking about how she made all these new friends, time to put it to test. Kat walked a little aimlessly until she spotted Marc. He looked up and spotted her and waved her over and Kat rather thankfully moved his direction.