I'm Not a Catnip Kind of Girl

Chapter 1

I walk down a busy street with my head down. I don't really want to draw too much attention to myself. I'm not really shy or anything. It's just that I've gotten a little too much attention in my rather unique life. But this is New York, so I doubt one slightly dirty looking girl will stand out. I turn the corner and walk into an alley. I don't want anyone to see what I'm about to do.

I close my eyes, and let my body relax. I feel a shiver go down my spine. When I open my eyes, I'm significantly shorter than I was before. I flick my long tail and stretch my cat limbs.

Yup, I can turn into a cat.

I turn around, fully intent on charming the guy at the nearby hotdog stand to give me one, when I see something that makes me freeze on the spot. There's a guy in a bomber jacket at the end of the alley staring at me. I try not to panic as I go through possible scenarios in my mind. It's possible that he didn't see me transform. I take a few steps toward him, and he jumps back in surprise.

He saw me alright.

"I can't believe it!" the man says getting excited. "You just turned into a cat!"

I flick my pointy cat ears.

"You can understand me can't you? Dude! This is so weird!"

I feel a strong urge to flick the cow lick that's sticking up on top of his head. It bobs slightly as he talks, and is super tempting. I resist my cat urges to pounce on his face. I'm in a serious pickle, I can't let myself get distracted.

"My name's Alfred," the guy says. "I know! I'll take you home with me. You can meet my brother, and my friend Tony. You'd like them a lot." He picks you up before you can react. "You look like you could use some food too."

I don't know how to react to this sudden turn of events. First this guy catches me transforming, and now he's taking me home. There must be something a little off with this guy. I don't have a choice except go along with whatever Alfred has planned.

The first thing he does is go to the store to buy me food. Since pets aren't allowed in the store, he puts me in his jacket and zips it up. I can only imagine the weird looks he must be getting. I go along with it, and it's actually pretty cozy in Alfred's jacket. I drift off into a warm, peaceful sleep as Alfred shops.

When I wake up, we're in an elevator going up. The elevator stops, and Alfred carries me and the groceries to a large penthouse. I jump out of his arms the moment he opens the door, and have a good look around. I'm looking for potential hiding places and escape routes. I know I shouldn't stick around too long. These things usually don't turn out well.

"Hey Tony! Come check out this girl I found!" Alfred calls into the penthouse.

I turn when I hear the sound of footsteps. What comes into the room can only be described as a gray alien. It makes some high pitched noises that sound an awful lot like profanity.

"Dude, I know she looks like a cat now, but it's really a girl." I look at Alfred in surprise. He can understand that gibberish?

The gray alien, Tony as Alfred calls it, makes some more weird sounds.

"I'm not crazy! I saw it with my own eyes!" Alfred insists.

Tony shakes his head and walks away.

"What's going on?" a quiet voice from behind me asks. I turn around quickly with my hair standing on edge. It's practically impossible to sneak behind me when I'm a cat, yet somehow the guy with wavy, sandy blonde hair has done it.

"Oh, hey Matthew! I found this girl today," Alfred says pointing to me.

"Did you tell Tony she turned into this cat?" the quiet man, Matthew, asks.