Rose
I look at myself in the mirror. My once pink-streaked hair is now a boring, greasy looking brown. My once bright green eyes are now a dull blue covered by my square brown-rimmed glasses. Instead of a fuzzy pink and green dress, I now wear a gray and pink shirt and tight black sweatpants. In place of cat ears I wear a white headband. My tail vanished. How could I have been a cat at one point? I wonder. It has been a few weeks since what I call my transformation. I’m zoned out all the time. I’m extremely careful to avoid Joe. I don’t know what to think. I guess it could all have been a dream but it felt too real. I want to talk to someone about it. Maybe my parents or Joy but I don’t. They’d never believe me. I don’t know how I turned into a cat once and it hasn’t happened since so I try to forget it. But I simply can’t. Nothing makes any sense. It defies the laws of physics. I can’t act all weird about it though. No one can know my freaky secret. I’ll be teased forever! So with no other choice, I’m forced to act like it never happened.
“Omg Rose, what the fuck is up with you lately. You’re acting so weird.” Joy notices one day. We’re walking around town near our school. “What? Oh sorry. It’s nothing . . . I’m just tired. Midterms exhaust me.” I lie. I know I aced all my midterms and I didn’t lose any sleep over them. “Yeah. Same here. The history one was so hard! I bet I failed.” She whines. As much as I hate to hear her drawl on about how much she sucks at history I’m glad to have changed to subject. “Oh my God! What the hell is that!” she squeals pointing at a restaurant. It is an old brick building with neon paint all over it. It has a big neon sign that says Le Café on it. For such a fancy name, the building looks really run down and casual. It’s covered with neon smiley faces and hearts and peace signs. In the window, there’s a big HELP WANTED sign. Since I recently turned sixteen I figure maybe I can get job there. I turn to Joy. “You think they might hire me?” I ask eagerly. “Really? In there?” she asks. My eyes drop the ground. “Well I dunno. I’d take any place really.” I admit. “Possibly. They seem desperate. Plus there’s no one in there.” She observes. “Let’s see if we can both get jobs there.” I suggest. “Yeah right. I’d never be seen dead in that annoying little dump. Besides, I still have my job with the little kids.” Joy reminds me. She has a job helping younger kids with gymnastics. “Guess I’ll be flying solo.” I murmur.
I stand fingering the brass handle on the glass door. Am I really ready for a job? I already have enough stress on me at the moment. But having a job looks good on your college application. I look at my reflection in the glass door. Do I look too kiddish? I hate the shirt I’m wearing. It makes me look flat-chested. I still want to go in though. And you only live once, right? I pull the door open and walk in. I look around to see bright, neon colored tables and chairs. It really is a cute place. Since it’s so close to the school, I know tons of kids from school may go and hang out. Lately, the teachers have been shooing the kids out of the school so they don’t have to stay late and supervise the kids hanging out with nowhere to go. I look around to see one person who appears to be the owner of the place. It’s the school nurse.
“Um . . . hi.” I mutter. “Hello. Can I help you?” he asks casually. I bite my lip. “Well . . . uh . . . you see . . . I noticed the help wanted sign in the window and . . . well, I was hoping I could get a job here.” I explain awkwardly. “I remember you! You’re the little girl who threw up on the teacher. The one with the flower name. What was it?” he pauses. “Sunflower? Daisy? Oh yeah, Rose!” he guesses. My face burns. I was hoping this would be a bit more professional. If I’m going to work here, he needs to treat me like an adult. Not some little girl. “Yeah.” I mutter annoyed. He studies me closely. “Of all the people . . .” he mutters to himself. “What?” I ask raising an eyebrow. “Never mind. Just follow me.” he explains. I stumble along behind him. I wish Joy was here. I feel like an idiot. He leads me to a room in the back of the restaurant with an Employees Only sign. I look around to find a place to sit only to find there are no chairs. The room looks empty accept for a big screened computer hanging on the wall. It’s like a newer better quality smart board. Maybe something that won’t damage my vision. “We’re still getting furniture shipped here.” He explains. “Okay . . .” He still hasn’t even told me his name yet.
“To start, my name is Mr. Brown but you can call me B.B.” he explains. “Now I’d like to tell you about this alleged ‘epidemic’ going around the school,” He continues. “Um . . . yeah . . . sure.” I agree wondering why he’s acting like there is no epidemic. Everyone around school has been barfing. “The truth is, there is no epidemic. There’s no virus and no sickness. The reason you and several other kids threw up was because there was something in the water from the fountain.” I wonder how he knows all this. “I was the one who infected the water. I put a substance in the water that would infuse your DNA with one of an animal’s. Only a few random kids would end up taking in the animal DNA. I estimated 5 kids would end up with animal DNA.” He takes a breath. “Wait what?” I ask shocked. He poisoned the school’s water supply with “animal DNA”? I start thinking about fighting Joe in the parking lots and my cat ears and tail. “Since you threw up, that means your body reacted with the animal DNA. Has anything strange happened to you since you threw up?”
I blink a few times taking in all this information. Should I tell a complete stranger about my turning into a cat? I sigh. “Well . . . okay . . . you see . . . I was in the school’s parking lot with this guy and we start fighting. And well, I didn’t really do anything but . . . like . . . it sounds crazy but next thing I knew I had cat ears and a tail.” I explain my face burning. There’s no casual way to say you turned into a cat. But based on his monotonous facial expression this isn’t shocking news to him. “And the boy you were fighting, what happened to him?” B.B asks. “Well, he started glowing red. And his ears looked kinda weird.” I almost giggle remembering his giant Dumbo-sized ears. “Wait! So you gave me cat DNA?” I demand. “There’s more to it though,” He explains. “What do you mean? How do I get rid of my cat DNA?” I ask irritated. “There is no ‘getting rid of it’ . . . it’s there forever.” He says casually. “What?” I squawk. How am I supposed to put this behind me if I’ll have cat DNA forever? I’ll be the laughing stock of the 10th grade! Before I can say anything else, B.B starts talking again. “That boy you were fighting you see, there are two more like him. You need to fight them.” He meets my eyes. “Can you do that?” he asks.
“No way! Joe almost killed me and I don’t want to ever see his face again. And I want to act like this never happened. There’s no way I’m going to embrace my freaky cat powers and risk my life!” I shout in his face. “Irritable much?” B.B asks. I scowl at him. He can’t just spring all this on me and ask all this of me. “You won’t be alone. There are four others like you.” He reminds me. For a moment I consider this. It would be pretty cool to be a super hero. I don’t love fighting or taking risks but I do like being unique. Maybe cat DNA could help me instead of hurt me. But I think of my life before barfing on my teacher. Good friends like Joy. Attempting to grow closer to Jake. What would he think if he found out I was part cat or whatever. “Not a chance.” I say firmly. “But Rose, you don’t get it do you? This could be a life or death situation. Joe and the other two boys have every intention of committing mass murder. As long as you’re alive and have cat DNA, you potentially stand in their way as a threat.” B.B explains. I chew my lip.
“So you’re telling me I’m gonna die either way.” I say skeptically. “No. You can embrace your cat DNA and fight with your new powers. You can save tons of innocent people and be known as a true hero. Or you can stay the little wuss who puked on her teacher and waits for Joe to kill her. It’s your choice.” Well when he puts it like that. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice then.” I mumble. “That’s the spirit.” He cheers. He pulls something out of his pocket. It’s a shiny, pink gem stone. He tosses it to me. I fumble a little but mage to catch it. “What is this?” I ask studying it. “Lift it over your head.” B.B orders. So I lift it up with one hand. I see pink glittery light surround me. When it’s gone I see my pink and green dress is back. So are my cat ears and tail. “And if you choose to fight you have to work here too.” B.B adds. “Um . . .” I hesitate. “So how about it Rose? Super confident, super strong cat girl or nerdy, weak schoolgirl?” I’m stuck and I know it. “Cat girl.”
