Snippet #2550806

Catalina kept a tight grip on Kaylee's hand until she complied. "Very," she responded sarcastically when Kaylee asked if she was satisfied with the blanket being turned back to black. As soon as she lightened her force on the small wrist, Kaylee slipped out of her grasp and was bounding towards the door, piling food on a plate on her way and claiming that she was delivering food to Jade. "Hey!" was all that Catalina got out before Kaylee disappeared out of the bus.

She made her way to the door and leaned out, watching to make sure that Kaylee was in fact headed to Jade's bus. Although that was confirmed by the girl's path, she wasn't sure whether visiting Jade was even better than roaming around the carnival. Catalina often sent someone over to deliver meals to Jade, not because Jade ever asked for her to do so, but because she sometimes felt bad for the girl. She had known Jade for nearly thirty years and although she despised everything that the woman stood for, she did pity her in some respects. While the performers all had each other to hang out with, Jade had no one. Unless she was watching them rehearse or giving them orders for the day, she was alone and although she acted like she had no heart, Catalina could only imagine how lonely it got.

However, she usually preferred to send Alexa, Lucas or Ryder over with the food. Alexa was a very nice girl who got along with nearly everyone and rarely caused problems for Jade. Lucas and Ryder were similar in that aspect, where they would do what they were told to appease Jade and avoid confrontations with her. While it seemed passive, Catalina had learned that it was the easiest route to take. Even if, they were all somehow magically able to rebel and overthrow Jade without Mr. Aefric directly killing them, they would all die within a few days because they wouldn't have a supply to their pills anymore. As long as they did what they were told, life wasn't horrible at the carnival. Still, some of the others didn't seem to agree with this. Brooke had toned it down in terms of her rebellion against Jade which was a positive, but Catalina still didn't want the two to be around each other anymore than necessary. Ark was also a nice guy but he was so sensitive that again, Catalina didn't feel it would be helpful to put him near the unpredictably volatile woman if it wasn't required. Lastly, there was Matthaus. Although his relationship with Jade wasn't perfect either, Catalina didn't ask him because she simply disliked him herself. A lot of the performers had a love/hate relationship with him but it wasn't like that for Catalina. She couldn't stand him. His jokes weren't comical, his constant rhyming wasn't entertaining and his general demeanor just wasn't attractive. She had worked with him for twenty-eight years though, so it wasn't like she could constantly ignore him (although she tried to do it as much as possible). Most of the time she would fake a smile and treat him with sarcastic kindness, or more preferably, curse him out in Spanish under her breath, but there were times when she wanted "romperle el cuello de goma maldita" (snap his damn rubber neck).

In a few quick minutes, Kaylee had left, Matthaus and a young boy appeared, the young boy and Ryder had left, Lucas had gotten up to confront Matthaus- who now had a plateful of her food- about something, and Brooke had appeared from the bathroom. Catalina was never a fan of chaos. She was used to being in the crowded bus because even though it was a big trailer, when it was just the four girls in there it was crowded enough. Even though there had been a lot of commotion going on before Matthaus had even shown up, Catalina liked blaming it on him, especially after he used his despised nickname, "Kitty" for her. That alone was enough to make Catalina want to knock his frail body right off the bus. When Kaylee had been learning to talk, she would call her "Cat" rather than Catalina, because it was easier for the toddler. Catalina didn't mind Cat so much, especially since it ended up sticking with most of the other performers too, but "Kitty" was not okay. Maybe it was just because Matthaus was the one calling her it, but either way, she raised an eyebrow at him, watching as he indulged in her food.

"You better start putting your culinary skills to use because one day I'm going to accidentally use bleach instead of oil on your food," Catalina said after Matthaus made a comment about knowing how to cook. As she glanced back over at Jace, she gave her a gentle smile, trying to return to a friendly state after getting worked up from Matthaus.