5th Floor Common Room, Thursday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy had spent much of the morning making a list of all the things about her life that she was going to have to hide from her parents tomorrow when they visited. Sex, powers, Banzai, the island were obvious candidates, of course, but by the time she'd gotten to Raven's abilities, my piercings, Japanese friends, she just couldn't take it anymore. Hiding bits of her life and personality from her family was fine. She was used to that. But having to act like she was ashamed of her friends because her dad was a bigot who couldn't let history go? That was just a line too far.

So, rather than think about her parents at all, Kathy had found the most complicated recipe for strawberry cupcakes she could find, ran to the store for ingredients, and had come to the common room to throw herself into an whirlwind of baking. It was hard to think about, well, anything, when you were trying to made graham cracker crust by hand at the same time you were thickening strawberry filling in a saucepan and beating butter and cream cheese together for frosting.

Normally, she would have tried to distract herself with homework, burying all the things she didn't want to think about under piles of equations, chemical formulae, and essay outlines. It felt good to be doing the same thing with something as frivolous as baking, especially since her parents would have vastly preferred the former. And between snacking on cupcakes (for quality control!) and belting out classic rock, Kathy managed to jolly herself back into a good mood in a fairly short amount of time.

Comments

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo read over the definition, then shot Kathy a look. "I think you use big words sometimes just to show off," she accused. "That's not very mature of you."

And then she stuck out her tongue. Which is totally how a real adult would act!

[spin_kick_snap]

"Do I really come off that way?" Kathy asked, looking concerned. "I don't mean to."

[soniaroadsqueen]

There was a moment of surprise as Ringo blinked, trying to take that in. Then she burst into giggles. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "I didn't really mean it, Kathy!" It was, well, kind of weird seeing Kathy sound unsure of herself like that.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy spent a lot of time being unsure of herself. It was just a lot closer to the surface today.

Which was why she was looking very relieved to see Ringo laughing. "Really? You mean that? Oh good! I don't want to come off looking horribly pretentious!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo was still laughing, but her expression did sober a bit as she looked at Kathy. "Is it that stressful, having them visit?"

Then she shook her head. "No, sorry. I don't mean to pry." It was Kathy's business, after all, and she might not be comfortable talking about it.

[spin_kick_snap]

"It is," Kathy said, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. "I just feel like I have to hide everything from them. Everything about who I am and what I'm doing in order to win their approval. They expect perfection and I'm hardly perfect."

[soniaroadsqueen]

The cupcake in Ringo's hand was set aside, and she stepped over to wrap Kathy in a hug. It was a little bit of an awkward motion with Kathy's knees involved, but that was okay.

"I wish I had some good advice to give you," Ringo murmured. But she didn't have any parents of her own to use as examples. "All I can think to do is remind you that I think you're really awesome, and that I'm glad you're my friend."