𝐂𝐚𝐭, 𝐌𝐲 𝓥𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓮

II

After that whole incident, I walked into Sikowitz's class with Catarina Valentine, one of my friends. Sikowitz wasn't in class yet, as usual, so Cat and I just talked while we waited. I told her about Jade, and she seemed sort of put-out about the break-up, like the bubbly energy all around her dimmed a little bit. "So, you and Jade aren't together anymore?" Cat asked. She looked very concerned and also hopeful that I would say yes, Jade and I were still together. However, I shook my head. She looked sad for a moment before pulling out a small purple box from her backpack and setting it on her lap.

I knew she wanted me to ask her what was in the box, and what was the harm in doing that? "What's in the box, Cat?"

Cat smiled brightly. "It's a musical bouncy ball box!" She dumped the box's contents onto my lap and a bunch of colorful bouncy balls fell out. The moment they hit the ground, music started playing from each one. Most of them sounded like the music that you'd learn in first grade music class, but Cat just giggled and clapped her hands. I chuckled.

"And where did you get a musical bouncy ball box?" I asked her. I knew she would want me to ask her that too.

Cat giggled again and pulled out her PearPhone. After a moment she showed me the screen. "It's an app called Fantastic Fun! There's water bottles that tell the temperature outside, and snow globes that explode if you say 'jellyfish!'" She giggled, covering her mouth to stifle it. "Jellyfish." Cat's eyes widened. "What if they make fish out of jelly? Or jelly out of fish!" She laughed, forgetting all about her musical bouncy ball box. I chuckled too; Cat was so cute sometimes.

Cat seemed to suddenly remember her musical bouncy balls and tried to pick them up off of the floor. I bent down to help and and she threw a small blue bouncy ball at my forehead, giggling when it started playing music. It didn't really hurt, so I just laughed with Cat as she put all the bouncy balls back into her box. "Thanks, Beck!"

I smiled. "Anytime, Kit-Cat."

Cat giggled. "Like the candy!"

I just smiled and nodded. "Yeah, just like that."

She nodded too. "Yay!"

I chuckled. Cat just smiled and turned her attention back to the musical bouncy ball box in her lap. In my opinion, she was one of the prettiest girls at Hollywood Arts. I had even told Jade that once and she didn't get angry. Well, I told Jade that she was the prettiest girl at Hollywood Arts, but Jade never got angry when I talked about Cat. I guess Jade just thought of Cat as a little sister or something; nothing to be jealous of.

Just then, Sikowitz walked into class, slamming the door and summoning me away from my thoughts. "Hello hello, children." We all greeted him and then he started rubbing his hands together and smiling maniacally, like he does whenever he has big news for us. "So... who wants to see the cast list for 'Downtown Lights'?" Everyone started yelling "me!" and "yes!", myself included. Sikowitz quieted everyone and pulled a folded slip of paper out form one of his many, many pockets. "Now, for those of you who don't know, 'Downtown Lights' was written by Mary Keenan, who will come to see the play on opening night. Now, to the cast list..." I could almost see the tension from all the students who wanted to be casted as one of the three leads. "Beck will be playing Noah, Cat will be playing Isabelle, Robbie will be playing Victor, and..." Sikowitz named everyone else off and then threw the cast list not he ground again. I felt a small hand grab my arm and looked over to see Cat smiling and giggling.

"Wow, I'm a lead!" She laughed. "I don't have to do special effects with Sinjin!" I chuckled. Doing special effects with Sinjin was something everyone dreaded doing.

"Yeah, you got the part you wanted! Congrats!" I smiled and Cat giggled.

"And you got the part you wanted, too! You're also one of the leads!" She giggled again. "Everyone's happy!"

I laughed too. She was adorable. "Yeah, except for whoever has to work with Sinjin."

Cat frowned at Sinjin. "Yeah, poor them." Soon enough, Robbie came over and sat down on the other side of Cat. No Rex in sight, thank goodness.

"Hey girly!" Robbie playfully poked her arm. "Congrats, you get to play Isabelle!"

Cat laughed. She looked so pretty when she laughed, which was almost all the time. Wait, why are you staring at Cat? "Beck said the same thing!" She smiled. "And you get to play the guy that my character doesn't pick in the end!" Poor Robbie.

"Yeah, you don't pick me, do you..." he got up and smiled again. "Later gator!" Then he walked away and Cat looked over at me again.

"You're the guy my character picks in the end! Because... I don't remember." Cat laughed again. "Oh, it's because you thought I was nice! No, that's wrong. It's because you like my eyes! That's why, right?" She frowned. "No, that's not it either." Actually, Cat had the most beautiful eyes. I shook my head. Why am I spending so much time thinking about this stuff?

"It's because my character is a better person than Robbie's character." I could see Robbie's angry frown from across the room, but I just looked back at Cat.

Cat smiled. "Oh yeah! Robbie's character is rich and stupid." She giggled. Her little laugh was — STOP IT BECK.

"That's right," I replied. When the bell rang, we all got out of class and I headed back home to study my lines.

After a long few weeks of rehearsals, costumes, and Sikowitz's coconuts being left on the ground, I was backstage preparing for our opening night performance. Everything was working and ready; the only things left to do were put finishing touches on costumes and let the audience into the theater.

As I finished up my costume, my eyes immediately caught on a certain redhead. I walked over to Cat and she immediately smiled.

"You look just like a poor village boy!" She laughed. Cat was right; I looked just like the poor village boy I was supposed to play.

"Well you look beautiful, Isabelle Rose," I replied and kissed her hand.

Cat giggled, her cheeks taking on a cute pink tint. "That's one of Robbie's lines! You can't do that!"

I chuckled. "Okay then." I got into character and kneeled on one knee. "I know I'm poor. I know I don't have much to offer, but I do love you, Isabelle Rose."

She giggled. "I'm not Isabelle Rose!" I smiled. Catarina Valentine really was something else.