Kitty

3

 Who the hell invented Math? Why? Did they like watching kids suffer?

"Ugggghhhhhhh," I groan, slamming my head into my homework.

"Mommmmmm can you help me with my Math homework?" I yell, lifting my head up and waiting for her response.

She comes in and leans over me, staring at my homework.

"Hell no, kid. I have no idea how to do this. And besides, I already graduated from high school. Figure it out yourself. Or call your dad up here. I'm sure he would love to help," she says, leaving my room without shutting the door behind her.

Welp, so much for parental help. I'm definitely not calling for my dad. He'll come up and get distracted poking around my room, saying, "When did you have this in your room, Leo?", "Wow, your plants are thriving, huh, buddy.", etc, etc.

I settle on texting my friends for some help, but then remember I don't have any. Darn. Guess I'll have to procrastinate til tomorrow.

I hop up from my desk, which sits next to my closet, and go downstairs.

"Mom? Dad? What's for dinner?" I say when I enter the kitchen.

"Ahhh, there's my favorite son," my dad says and pulls me into a hug.

I cringe and struggle out of his arms. "Ewww dad, save the sappiness for a son that'll appreciate it." I say, keeping my distance from him.

"Oh, c'mon honey, humor your father," my mother says, glancing over at me while setting the table.

I shake my head, cringing again. "No way mom," I say, grabbing some napkins from a cabinet and placing them neatly on the table. While dad looks sad in the corner of the kitchen, I repeat my question, and learn that we're having takeout tonight. My favorite, sushi. I celebrate and actually hug my dad back, even if my teen genes are repelling me from it.

I decide to head to the park and run around as a cat til my parents leave and come back with dinner. I tell my parents, and head back upstairs to grab a hoodie, since it is fall and gets cold at night.

When I step outside with my freshly charged phone, a black hoodie on, and a collar in my hand, I embrace the fresh fall air and inhale it deeply. I make sure to shut the door behind me, then look around. No person in sight. Good. I shift into my cat form, take a while to snap the cat collar on (which is very hard with only paws), and pitter patter down the street towards the park.

As I get closer to the park, I hear some bloke yelling, "HERE KITTY KITTY KITTY!"

Of course he's at the park. Of course he's there when I finally have the free time to run around.

I let out a small cat sigh and roll my eyes. I slink under a bench on the outskirts of the park, and watch Jay yell and shake some cat food in a bowl around. So that's why he was at Petco.

I decide to tease him a bit, and let out a loud meow then dash under a piece of playground equipment. He looks around wildly, most likely thinking that all his yelling and cat food shaking worked. I meow again, then run under a slide. Jay puts down the cat food and jogs over to where I meowed last. He looks around, then sighs sadly. I kind of feel bad now, and meow again. This time he sees me and slowly tries to approach me.

"Hi Kitty! I've read a lot about cats since I last saw you, you know. Sorry for scaring you last time, I'll try not to again," he says, talking to me, apparently. I do appreciate that he is slowly trying to approach me, so I come up to him. I decide to be a nice cat today.

I regret my decision when he freaks out and gets all grabby with me, petting my fur in all different directions. I hiss and swipe at him with my claws out. Nevermind, when have I ever been a nice cat? It doesn't suit me. He stumbles back and falls on his butt, which makes me laugh. Although, it's hard to laugh as a cat, so I probably just sound possessed.

Wait, is he crying? Oh my god. He is such a baby. I sigh and walk back over to him, rubbing my head on his legs. See? I'm not so bad. Just don't rub me the wrong way. Literally.

I sit on the ground a few feet away from him and try to rearrange all the hair that's sticking up, or facing the wrong way. He wipes his face off with his hoodie and sits up, silently admiring me. As he should.

Then he gasps, which scares the crap out of me, and I glare at him. What?

"You have a collar???" He says, pointing at the slim leather collar I put on when I left the house.

Yes, I have a collar, and a life, Jay. So go befriend a cat you can keep.

I go back to grooming myself, which doesn't last long because Jay suddenly picks me up to look at my collar closer.

I yowl and squirm, trying to get loose, to no avail. This guy has a death grip on me. I feel my collar move around, and look up to see him staring at it intently.

"What's your name, Kitty? I can't find a tag on your collar. Where do your owners live? Maybe they want someone to return you to them," Jay says to me, to which I don't answer.

I instead start growling at him, threatening him to put me down. He sighs and actually has the audacity to start walking with me still in his arms. I'm done. I've had a lot of patience with him so far, and I decide I'm done putting up with him. And I wanna go home and eat dinner.

So I bite him. Hard. I actually feel my canines reach his skin through his hoodie. Haha, take that, Jay. He snaps out of whatever he's thinking of, startled, and drops me. I take off, sprinting to my house. I hear something behind me, and risk taking a peek. This full on 17 year old is running after me, and is actually starting to catch up.

Shitshitshitshit run run run run AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I GOTTA JUMP THE FENCE TO THE BACKYARD RAHHH whew. Ha ha ha I did it. I'm alive. Thank god. I flop over onto the grass of my backyard, lungs heaving, but content. After catching my breath and shaking myself off, I groom myself for a few minutes to avoid looking scruffed up when I shift back. I turn back into my human self after making sure no one is watching me, especially Jay, and head inside through the glass sliding door that connects to our living room. I'm so glad my parents aren't home yet. They might've been able to see me shift through the glass doors if they were. Oh, let me tell you something. My clothes somehow aren't removed every time I shift. That also applies to my cat form, so next time I shift, I'll still be wearing my collar. That part of the shifting is so handy. It would be difficult if every time I shifted back to human, I would be naked. I'm glad it doesn't work that way.

I meander over to the dining table and fill glasses up so everything is prepared by the time my parents get back from picking the sushi up. Speaking of which, my parents tumble through the front door, laughing at each other, carrying plastic containers with sushi in them. My face lights up, and I snatch the containers, displaying them out on the table. I sit down, grab a pair of chopsticks, and dish different pieces of sushi onto my plate. My parents follow suit and we all start eating. I catch them up on my school life, and listen to them complain about bills and taxes.

After eating, I clear the table then let them know I'm gonna go work on homework, which assures they'll leave me alone the rest of the night. I speed to my room, and lock the door behind me. Ahhhh, the beautiful silence of solitude. I turn on a lamp on my desk, plop down on my dark green beanbag in the corner of my room, and start reading a new fantasy book I found at the bookstore. When my eyes start to shut down on me, I decide I should sleep properly tonight, instead of having my midnight prowl. I take a shower and slip into bed with my pjs on. Soon, I'm fast asleep.