Liz Gillies Requests

Cat Valentine (Victorious)

~NOTES~
I love a random idea, as you might have noticed. Cat Valentine is most definitely neurodivergent so I thought this would be great to highlight. Jade and Cat are just close friends in this Oneshot, nothing more. You can decide which neurodiverse condition Cat has, but I included specifics for autism and ADHD (my specialty xoxo) Anyway, I hope you learn something about how neurodivergent people navigate the world. Enjoy!  :)

It had been a good morning for Cat. So far. Nothing had gone even slightly wrong, probably due to her strict routines, and everything seemed in order to Cat's brain.

She had arrived at school early to settle herself for the day ahead, sitting by her locker until Andre walked in and she then talked his ear off about giraffes. Slowly, the rest of their group got to school and they headed off to their first lessons.

In math, Cat had a seat reserved for her at the front of the class so that she could stay focused throughout the hour. Not that it really helped. Being made to sit silently and still was asking a lot of Cat, especially in such a boring environment. Staying interested simply wasn't going to happen.

"Catrina, what answer did you get for number 7?" The teacher asked suddenly.

Cat looked up blankly at her and stared for a few seconds. She bit down on her lip nervously and glanced at the booklet in front of her, her head racing.

"I didn't. I have number 1, though." Cat offered.

"That'll do. And what is it?" She sighed in annoyance because Cat could do better. Cat was smart, but in her eyes, Cat was wasting her time.

"It... it's a math equation?" Cat answered with a head tilt, confused as to why her teacher would ask what Number 1 was on the page. "Shouldn't you know that?"

"Do you think you're funny, Catrina?" Her teacher asked, insulted.

"No! I'm just confused." Cat told her honestly, trying desperately to understand what that conversation had been about and quite how she had managed to get herself into trouble before 9:30 AM.

"Well maybe if you listened instead of doodling silly little pictures then you wouldn't be confused. Keep up." She warned, and that was it.

The class fell pin-drop silent and Cat lowered her head, fixing her eyes on the paper to at least show that she was trying, even if Mrs Tailor didn't believe it. Now her knee was bouncing under the desk to keep herself semi-occupied in the dull lesson. Maybe if she had passed that exam last semester instead of having a meltdown outside the hall then she would get to skip that math class, just like her friends did.

The next class on Cat's timetable was Music Practical, and there were so many reasons for Cat to love about that class. The main reason being that it wasn't Math.

A few minutes into the lesson, the students were set a task to partner up and start creating their weekly assignment. Cat instantly picked Tori since she was the only teenager in that class who Cat was familiar with. They headed into a rehearsal room and Tori sat at the piano.

"Cat, do have any ideas?" Tori asks for the second time in ten minutes.

Cat shrugs, another mute response that did not satisfy Tori. But Cat wasn't being rude or unhelpful, she was trying to regulate herself after that Math lesson that was threatening to ruin her morning.

"Cat, please stop twirling around and come help me." Tori asks and Cat hears the dramatic change in tone, even if Tori thought she was being subtle.

"'Kay 'Kay." Cat nodded, walking over to the piano and sitting on the stool next to Tori.

"Thank you. Now, do you want to sing with me or sing solo for this assignment? I won't be offended." Tori smiles, half genuine, half false.

But Cat only picked up on the genuine side of that question, and how Tori said she 'won't be offended' which prompted her to respond with: "Can I sing solo? You have a pretty voice but you always get to sing because you dominate the rest of the students because you think you're better than all of us."