Counting my steps

Chapter 5

*Spirits POV*

*School Bell*
I watch as everyone in my class rushes to get their stuff packed up and sprint out of the classroom. Trash is littered everywhere on the classroom floor and some students even wrote on the desks. Why does no one think of helping the teacher clean?
"Do you need help cleaning up?" I ask the teacher politely after packing up my stuff. She looks away from cleaning the blackboard giving me a bright smile.
"Why not? Can you clean the desks that kids have drawn on?" I nod, going to the closet and taking out the cleaning supplies. Walking to a desk I grab a wipe and start scrubbing it trying to get the marker off. I suddenly feel a tap on my shoulder. I whip around to see who it was.
"Mellon! You scared me!" I say laughing. She just nods and walks towards the closet, taking out the broom.
"I'll help you clean." Was her only reply as she sweeps up dirt and trash. For the next five minutes we cleaned in a comfortable silence.
"I'm done over here what about you?"  I ask walking over to Mellon. She just looks at me and nods, putting the broom back in its place as I do the same with the wipes. I smile brightly and wave at the teacher as we walk out the door.
"So how was your day?" I ask Mellon as we walk out of the school. She looks at the ground and shrugs.
"Same as always?" I ask looking into her dull, emotionless pink eyes. She nods sighing.
"Lets go do something together!" I say happily grabbing her hand and dragging her.
"What are we going to do?" She asked not objecting to being dragged. I turn my head towards her, not slowing my pace.
"Lets go climb a Nala tree!" I say, her eyes widen.
"Are you crazy?" She asks, her voice remaining monotone.
"Come on it'll be fun! Plus we're both cats, we'll be able to climb it easily!" I say trying to convince her.
"Technically we are both hybrids." she states looking back down.  I nod, Mellon is the only person who isn't related to me who knows exactly what type of hybrid I am considering we have been best friends since we were babies and grew up together.
"We still have cat blood in us nonetheless!" I said, quickening my pace. We soon approached the ginormous tree that grew to be taller than a skyscraper. Its lowest branch was twenty feet in the air. The tree's branches were covered in pink flowers, some black and purple ones littered amongst them. I look at Mellon who is clearly having second thoughts about wanting to hang out with me. I give her a confused look silently asking what's wrong.
"What if nagas are already up there?" She asks me.
"Nagas aren't as evil and violent as they are made out to be. Besides, it's a huge tree I'm pretty sure we can all fit. Plus there's several around this area. We can always go to a different one if we aren't too tired. Also the flower's scent naturally calms nagas and nekos down so we will be fine!"  I answer happily, shifting into my cat form. In this form I have Red cat ears and tail with black tips and razor sharp claws. I turn and see Mellon had also shifted. She has lime green ears and a long tail that is lime at the base but slowly fades to a bright pink.
"RACE YOU!" I yelled laughing as I dug my claws into the chocolate colored bark and start climbing.

Soon we reach the top panting. It's going to get dark soon but neither of us want to go back down.
"You...Won..." Mellon said in between panting. I shake my head in response.
"No I think it was a tie, we both sat down at the same time." She just shrugs not really caring about the race. We suddenly hear a familiar voice from above us.
"Why hello there Spirit. It's been a long time since I have seen you." My eyes widen as I see the male above us. His long snake tail had soft blue scales that matched his shoulder length hair.
"Hello Teo! How have you been?" I reply, giving him a big smile. He smiled back as he climbed down, getting on the same branch as us.
"I have been good, thanks. How have you and your family been?" He asks politely.
"We have been good, though mother has nearly been working herself to death." I feel Mellon tugging on my sleeve.
"Yes?"
"Who is he?" She asks simply.
"Oh! This is Teo, he would watch over me, my siblings, and the other kids my mom picked up off of the streets." I tell her happily. 
"Yea and I would always get in trouble whenever Spirit here managed to wander off and either hurt herself or get lost." He replies, rolling his light pink eyes playfully as I laugh.
"Wait...How old are you?" I ask him curiously.
"Too old." I laugh at his response and soon he starts laughing too.
"Look, the sun's starting to set." Teo says, watching the view. Mellon and I look towards the horizon at all of the beautiful colors in the sky.
"We should start heading home." Mellon says softly, looking at me. I nod and turn to Teo, giving him a hug.
"Bye Teo! Hopefully I'll see you soon!" I say waving.
"Before you go take some flowers for your mom, they should calm her down." He said, starting to pick some of the beautiful flowers. I nodded and started to pick a few as well.

Soon I was holding a beautiful bouquet of black, pink, and purple flowers. I bring the bouquet to my face, breathing in the calming scent.
"These will definitely calm mom down! Thank you, Teo! Bye!" I said putting the bouquet in my bag, starting to climb down the tree with Mellon.
"Bye Spirit! Tell your family I said hi!" He called.
"Will do!" I called back. I can't wait to get back home. Mom is going to love this bouquet!