Random thoughts of Louie

Kat

Listen you guys... I need to tell you about Kat. She's going to be in a story once in a while, and I feel like I should... explain her first.

It all started at the freshman orientation our school had all the grade 9's do a week before school started. The teachers split all us niners into groups, and each group would get toured around the school by a senior. But unfortunately, Huey and Dewey were in one group, while I was in another. So, I was pretty much on my own. Until I noticed a girl in my group, seeming to have a similar problem, looking kind of awkward and lost. She was a few inches shorter than me, had brown, speckled hair, was covered in little brown spots, and was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a cat on it. I thought 'Aw fuck it, I could use a friend',  and walked over to her. "Hey, you alright?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said with a shrug. "I guess I just wanted to be in my big brother's group." I turned and followed her eyes, spotting a 12th grader who looked very similar to her. I shrugged and turned back.

"Welp, we're in the same boat then." I said with a chuckle. "I'm a triplet, but my brothers are both in a different group."

"Oh, sorry." She replied.

"Eh, it's a miracle they were in the same group when you think about it." I pointed out. "Anyway, we can keep each other company, right?" She smiled a bit.

"Sure." She agreed. Then she held her hand out to me. "I'm Katy." I smiled back and shook it.

"Louie." I replied simply. And a conversation that simple started one of the best friendships I've ever had.

We hit it off instantly, both liked drawing, both liked video games, both were stupid good at math, it was kind of crazy.

I remember at one point in the day, we were for some reasons talking about our names.

"I refuse to let anyone call me by my full name." I had said.

"Why, what is it?" Katy asked.

"...Louis." I replied after a second of hesitation. She nodded.

"I get it." She agreed. "My name's Katrina, but ever since I can remember, everyone's called me Katy." I thought for a second.

"Not me." I said after a second. "Ima call you 'Kat'. Seems to match." I added, gesturing to her shirt. She laughed.

"I can live with Kat." She agreed. "And don't worry, I've got way more cat shirts to wear this year."

I wish I could say she had been kidding, but she wasn't.

First semester started the next week, and Kat turned out to be in my art class. And, like she had said, she was wearing a different cat shirt, this one was hot pink and glittery with a calico cat on it, captioned 'Meow-gical". I don't think I ever saw the same shirt twice, it was new everyday.

Anyway, the teacher said that since it was the first day, we could just Sketch in the sketchbooks he'd given us, so he could get a sense of our skills and styles. So that's what we did. Kat drew cute little cartoon cats (shouldn't have been a surprise), and I just drew a random picture of my brothers Webby and me. But Kat took one look at my drawing, and went nuts. "Oh my God, that's amazing!" She exclaimed.

"It's really not." I brushed off. I could never see why people said I was so good at drawing. I mean, I knew I was good, but I wasn't that good. But she persisted.

"No, it is!" She countered. "You're gonna be the next DeVinci, dude!"

"Shut up." I laughed, elbowing her arm.

"Nope, never." She replied. "In fact, now I have your nickname buddy."

"Aw Christ and heaven save me." I said melodramatically, looking skyward. "What is it?"