Cat Tales: Chapter 3

"Cat?"
Cat's heart just about stopped. The last person she wanted to have seeing her like this, Alex, was knocking with a concerned look on his face. Quickly, she tried to wipe the rest of the tears from her eyes.

"A-Alex! S-sorry I was just u-using the...p-phone. I'm done though I-I'll get out..."

Her plan was to open the door and get out of there as fast as possible. Alex, however, pressed down on the glass preventing her escape.

"Wait, not so fast. First, tell me why you were crying in there Cat." There wasn't a hint of anger in his voice, and judging by what he said he probably didn't know about the incident in the locker room yet.

"I-I wasn't crying...I was j-just...Ummm..."

The conversation couldn't get any more awkward. It was one of those moments where all the heat in your body went to your head, and you felt like you wanted to die just to end the torture. Alex wasn't giving her any relief though.

"Cat, come on. That's not a good answer. I'm not going to tell anyone, you can trust me." His voice was calm and clear, yet authoritative.

There really was no safe way out of this. Cat felt exactly like in the position she was in, trapped in a small box with no way out. What point was there in hiding this from Alex? He was Marlene's boyfriend. He was going to find out about it sooner or later. Yes, she had to tell him about here and now. Maybe he'd take some pity on her if he heard the story from her perspective first rather than Marlene's.

"P-promise not to get mad, a-alright Alex?"

Sincerity was in his eyes. "Promise."

"W-well...M-Marlene and some girls from the s-sophomore year shoved a h-hose in my gym locker-"

"They shoved a hose in your gym locker?" Asked Alex, clearly confused.

"U-uh huh...Then, when I o-opened the door they turned it o-on. E-everything I had on me got r-ruined including my homework. I s-swear I didn't mean to. I just got SO a-angry with her. I swiped a-at her with my fingernails. I...I think I cut her really badly, there was blood everywhere. I-I ran away and..."

Alex was eagerly listening the whole time.

He opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it as if having second thoughts. Cat was grateful that he didn't look the least bit angry, at least not yet.

"I think..." He finally said. "I'll have to have a talk with her. And the principle, so you don't get in trouble for it."

"The principle!? But I-"

"No, don't worry about it. You snapped." He smiled warmly. "These things happen. Come on, I saw you were under a lot of stress this morning when you ran into me. Right?"

"I-I guess..."

He released the glass door at last. "You just weren't thinking at the time, I mean you got really sharp nails. But it's not like you killed someone, the worst she'll get is a few stitches. She'll be fine."

Opening the door, he reached out a hand which Cat took. He laughed.

"You're completely soaked; you might want to go change."

It was true, everything on her was wet and water logged. Her already tight clothing looked even tighter on her now, especially with the T-shirt around the breast area. It was something she wasn't exactly used to. She noticed Alex was staring at her as well. Yelping, she covered her chest.

"Your eyes..." He said.

"Huh?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. You have really nice eyes is all." He grinned.

"O-oh...thank you...I-I guess..." Little did she realize, her eyes had become cat-like over sleep the last night. A small change she neglected to notice due to not looking properly in a mirror before school.

BRRRRRRRING! The end of class bell went off.

"Whoops! That's the bell, crap. You don't have a lot of time! Better hurry!" He turned to run for class. "See you later Cat!"

But Cat was still in her own little world trying to put together what had just happened in the few short minutes she had alone with Alex. She whispered weakly

"Um...Okay...Bye...."

~

By the time Cat was able to put her thoughts together and put on her gym clothes, class was already thirty minutes in. Thankfully it was merely history class, and Professor Fry didn't seem too bothered by her late entrance.

"Miss. Hill?" Asked the fifty year old professor, fixing his glasses. "Do you have your assignment?"

A cold bead of sweat dripped down Cat's back. She reached into her bag and pulled out a soggy wet wad of paper. It looked more like a giant inky spitball after being sprayed by the hose in the locker room. Professor Fry shook his head as she placed in on his desk and took her seat next to Tandy.

"...Very well then. Continuing with the review on Magic and History-"

Cat took a deep breath of relief, despite having everything gone totally wrong in the past hour things weren't turning out too terribly. Tandy took the time to whisper to her, about the usual gossip while Professor Fry was busy with the lesson.

"Psst! What the hell did you do to that girl, Cat!?"

Cat was truthfully hoping to avoid this conversation until Monday, or at least the weekend. Word traveled fast apparently. "I don't know...I just sort of had enough of her. I only meant to swipe at her-"

"Swipe at her!? Some kids are talking about her needing a new FACE! Boy, you stirred up the hive big time Cat. The whole school knows about it already! There was an ambulance here and everything!"

"Look, can we talk about this later? I want to catch up on what I missed." Professor Fry had given her a bit of a glare. She was probably on thin ice as it was already.

"Sure. Sure. I need to talk to you about something anyway. Let's meet at your place after school."

~

Cat had never been so thankful to get out of school. Everywhere she went in the hallway, all she heard was gossiping about her confrontation with Marlene. Some of them were getting so outlandish and insane that she was half tempted to turn around and yell at the people speaking. Seriously, someone said that she had literally bit Marlene's face off!

It was only when Tandy and her were safe and sound on the sidewalk did she finally start talking again.

"I never want to go back to school again. Ever."

Tandy laughed and patted her on the back. "Cheer up. I actually paid attention today in history class."

"Goodie for you."

"It is good, for you as well once you hear what I learned. You'll be glad you actually help me with these homework assignments for once. C'mon."

She grabbed her by the hand and started running for Cat's home. Cat had to be careful not to dig her fingernails into her friend's hand, but could still strangely keep up with her just fine without getting dragged along.

Cat's parents weren't going to be home till dinner, as usual for a Friday night. Meaning Tandy and her had the whole house to themselves discuss whatever she had discovered. Tandy didn't hesitate to lock the door to Cat's room anyway.

She then reached into her backpack and pulled out the reading meant for history class today. There were several parts highlighted in a hastily manner, it looked like she scrambled to get every down while the teacher was talking. Something Tandy probably wasn't used to, never being one to pay attention in class.

Cat answered to the sheet of paper shoved in her face.

"So...what? You took notes in class. Well done..."

"Read!" Tandy violently tapped the highlighted bits.

With her usual super-fast reading, Cat skimmed through the page with relative ease. It mentioned a lot about the old druids that existed around the town in the past, but as it went on it got more interesting.

Cat read one bit of it aloud. "...Some of the old druids would worship animal deities. Members of their cults would create symbols like COINS of their respective gods, believing they possessed some MAGICAL proprieties!"

Cat reached into her pocket and pulled out the cat coin. "You got yourself a magically druid coin there, girl." Smirked Tandy.

"But...How...? I mean there's got to be some sort of logical explanation to this-"

"Weren't you the girl who said she always wanted to cast spells and learn magic when she was still in middle school?"

"Well...Yes but-" Cat sat on her bed; she massaged her forehead with her fingers. "Tandy...This is all too much to take in all at once. I mean first the changes, then that thing with Marlene, now this...I'm going to have a nervous breakdown!"

Tandy frowned and tried to crack a joke. "No, I doing my midterm project two hours before it was due was a nervous breakdown. Have you talked to your parents about this yet? Your mom gave you the coin right? Maybe she knows something."

"No, and they won't be back till dinner either...I don't think I want to wait for them that long either. I just want to go to bed and sleep through this whole mess..." Cat reached for her pillow, only now noticing it had been torn to shreds.

"Well listen," Said Tandy, patting her freaked out friend on the back. "Things will be alright, okay Cat? I made a small 'list' so to speak so you can record any changes the next day."

"Gee, thanks!"

"I'm just trying to help Cat...If you're really not in the mood for this I'll let you get some sleep, alright? I'll just leave this here." Tandy put the notepad on Cat's bed stand. Cat wasn't hearing any of it though, and had the remains of her pillow covering her head.

There was no getting through to her, Tandy quietly gathered her things and let her friend sleep.