{A/N: So, I really suck at keeping promises, huh?}
Within the week, Katelyn had officially applied to a couple creative arts courses at the community college for the spring. She had to pick up a couple extra shifts at IHOP to help cover the costs, but she knew it'd be worth it in the end.
In the meantime, she was still writing her screenplay. A modern version of Romeo and Juliet. She wanted to create something that shed light on an overused high school classic and allowed the audience to sit back and laugh instead of analyzing its literary devices. Now that she was actually going to show this to the public, she became hyperaware of every sentence she wrote. Was this going to be good enough? What if people didn't like it? Was having Romeo say YOLO too cringy or hip with the kids?
Maybe she shouldn't have paid for those college classes.
At that thought, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She wouldn't get anywhere if her mind was clouded with doubt. Before she could open her eyes and continue writing the balcony scene, the doorbell rang. Katelyn didn't move; she never really opened up the door for anyone and always had Aphmau or Kawaii~Chan do it. The less human interaction for Katelyn, the better, but no one opened the door.
The doorbell rang again.
"Katelyn, can you go get the door?" Aphmau called out.
"Why me?" Katelyn called back.
"I just got out of the shower."
Katelyn groaned as she got up and walked down the stairs. By now, the person at the door had started knocking while saying "hello?" in a frail, old voice.
Great, Katelyn had to deal with an old person. This must have been her lucky day.
When she opened the door, she was not expecting to see an old woman with nine cats in sweaters. Katelyn eyed the woman up and down. Everything about this woman just screamed 'Crazy Cat Lady'.
"Hello there, Kawaii~Chan," the old woman greeted, peering at Katelyn as if she wasn't sure if she was talking to the right person or not.
"I'm not Kawaii~Chan," Katelyn replied, her tone flat.
The old lady laughed and told her that she didn't have time for jokes today. She then went on to explain to "Kawaii~Chan" that she'd be cat-sitting her nine cats while the old woman went to a vet appointment for her multiple other cats.
Each sentence that came out of that old woman's mouth was followed by a death threat from Katelyn along with the words "I'm not Kawaii~Chan!". The old lady continued to laugh her off and motioned for her cats to go inside the house before waving goodbye.
"Don't leave me here with these things!" Katelyn yelled at the crazy cat lady. "Come back here! I'll end you and your cats!" The old woman just waved back, clearly not knowing what she just said, and waddled off.
Katelyn slammed the door shut and called out for Kawaii~Chan, her eyes glued to the cats to make sure they didn't wander off. Kawaii~Chan never came down; instead, it was Aphmau.
"Where's Kawaii~Chan?" Katelyn demanded.
"She got asked to cover someone's shift today, remember?"
"Are you kidding me? Now what are we gonna do?" Katelyn asked as she dragged a cat away from the living room.
"Well, it looks like we're gonna have to cat-sit till Kawaii~Chan comes back home-" Aphmau was cut off as Katelyn frantically asked,
"Aphmau, I only see eight cats. Where's the other one?"
Aphmau froze as she looked around and counted all of the cats. Eight. Oh no.
Panic broke out among the girls. How did one get away?
"Okay. Okay. Okay. Calm down!" Katelyn told Aphmau. "First things first, we don't have a litter box. These things can let themselves go at any moment; we need to contain them."
Aphmau took a deep breath.
"Right. Where should we put them?"
"Let's put them in your room," Katelyn suggested. Aphmau quickly denied the idea since Celestia was in her room right now, yet Katelyn kept persisting.
"I don't want to put the cats in my room!" Aphmau argued.
"Why not? You love cats," Katelyn countered.
"Because I don't have a litter box either. Where are they going to pee?"
"They can pee on your Levi poster."
"Don't bring Senpai into this!"
They continued to argue until they finally agreed to put the cats in the guest bathroom. Katelyn opted to move the cats herself while Aphmau looked around for the ninth cat.
"Make sure to check every inch of this house," Katelyn advised. "Cats are like liquids; they can fill up anything they put their mind to."
With that, Aphmau searched around the house and was soon joined by Katelyn when she moved the cats to the guest bathroom.
When Aphmau was searching the basement, she heard Katelyn yell for her from upstairs. Aphmau ran back up to see Katelyn looking at the guest bathroom. The door was open, and all the cats were gone. They hadn't been gone for more than ten minutes, and somehow the cats were able to turn the doorknob and escape.
"Katelyn, what did you do?!" Aphmau yelled, immediately putting the blame on her roommate.
"What did I do? I did nothing; the door was closed!"
"Uh huh. Sure. It's not like these cats are any different from other cats."
At that moment, Aphmau's phone buzzed. She pulled it out to see that she had gotten a text from an unknown number.
"Maybe they are magic cats," they texted. "Maybe they're not magic cats. Who knows? You'd be surprised what is actually canon."
Aphmau looked around the room, confused about how some stranger knew of the conversation and why they kept talking about things being "canon". Before she was able to bring it up to Katelyn, she noticed that Katelyn was running around, searching for the cats. When Katelyn noticed her, she snapped,
"Well, don't just stand there. Those cats could be peeing on your Levi poster right now!"
At the mention of Levi, Aphmau screamed,
"My Senpai!" Dropping the phone, Aphmau ran upstairs to her room, completely forgetting the weird text.
The moment Aphmau ran into her room, she froze on the spot.
Surrounding her bed were eight of the sweater cats, and on top of her bed was Celestia, cowering. This wouldn't have been so surprising if it hadn't been for the fact that the cats were all talking.
"A dog lives here," one of them said.
"That dog smells!"
"This is a catastrophe!"
Aphmau tried to call for Katelyn, but she couldn't seem to find her voice. She had seen a lot of weird things in her life, but this was by far the weirdest. She shook her head lightly to come to her senses.
"What are you doing?" Aphmau thought to herself. "Go get Katelyn."
Determined, Aphmau turned around only to stop again when she was face-to-face with another cat in a sweater. This one had an uncharacteristically bright red nose.
"Hello, human," it greeted.
Aphmau took a small step back but stopped when she noticed that all of the cats had circled around her.
This was either a cult or some weird rendition of The Godfather.
"Do not be afraid," the red-nosed cat continued.
"I-I am very much afraid," Aphmau responded, finding her voice.
"Well, don't be." The cat looked around at the cats surrounding her before looking back up. "As you can see, we are not your ordinary cats."
Aphmau was too shocked to speak again, so she just nodded her head. She didn't know if she was going to pass out, throw up, or do both. If these cats attacked her, she'd be doomed. They could come at her with their tiny paws.
"Let us introduce ourselves." The cat proceeded to point at the other cats with their nose as they introduced their feline friends. "That's Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixin, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen."
Aphmau smiled a bit as she realized where this was going. Finally gaining her voice, she said,
"Let me guess, you're Rudolph."
"No, I'm Randy."
Well, that was not what Aphmau was suspecting. He probably did that on purpose to throw people off. Cats were mean.
"We see that you have a dog. That will not do," Randy explained.
"Repent!" the other cats chanted.
"You must learn the ways of the cat."
"Repent!"
"Once you become a cat, you will see—"
"Repent!"
"-the error of your ways."
"REPENT!"
Then, with a blinding flash of light, Aphmau transformed into a purple cat.
To answer her previous statement, this was indeed a cult.
Aphmau had never felt so awkward and out of place in her own mind and body until that very moment. Her breath turned heavy and labored. This couldn't be happening. How was this humanly possible? She had heard of magic potions turning people older or younger, but never into an entirely different species. Were these cats even from Earth?
In the midst of her panic, she heard Katelyn coming up the stairs.
"Oh, thank Irene; I'm saved!" Aphmau thought to herself.
"Aphmau, did you find the-" Katelyn froze as she looked at the circle of cats in the center of Aphmau's room. Aphmau's eyes locked on her roommate's. Katelyn's expression may have been stoic, but her eyes showed inner turmoil. It seemed like ages until she finally snapped out of her state and proceeded to slowly close the door on the cats. "Pee on the Levi poster."
With that, it was just Aphmau, nine cats with sweaters, and Celestia.
Randy ignored the interruption and turned back to Aphmau.
"How does it feel to be one with the cat?" Randy asked.
"I don't want to be like this. Please, turn me back!" Aphmau begged.
"We cannot turn you back. You must repent."
"How do I...repent?"
"Eat your dog."
"What?!"
"That was a joke. I am hilarious. Anyway, you need to make someone happy in order to break the curse.
Aphmau narrowed her eyes at Randy at the mention of the curse.
"You are one bad kitty," she scolded.
"Hey!" Dancer yelled, "Don't yell at our leader like that or you'll end up like Rudolph!"
Aphmau's eyes widened in horror.
"What did you do to Rudolph?"
"Nothing!" Randy quickly snapped, trying to evade the question. "What are you waiting for? Do you want to be a cat forever?"
Randy and his posse opened the door for Aphmau to leave. Fearing for her life, Aphmau quickly ran out of the room but stopped at the doorway. Turning around, she pleaded,
"Please, whatever you do, don't hurt Senpai."
"We wouldn't dream of hurting that hunk of a man," Comet said, looking dreamily at the two Levi posters in her room.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Aphmau left the room and went down the stairs on a hunt for Katelyn. Surely Aphmau could make Katelyn happy, right?
Wrong. Katelyn hated everyone. No exceptions.
Katelyn was sitting on the couch in the living room with her phone next to her ear.
"I'm telling you, Nicole, that Cat Lady isn't the only one who's crazy. All of the cats were sitting in a circle like some kind of cult!" Katelyn said to Nicole. Aphmau couldn't hear Nicole, but she knew that she was responding.
"No, I don't even know where Aphmau is. She probably ditched me to go and make out with Aaron."
Aphmau spoke to interject but didn't realize that all Katelyn could hear were meows. Katelyn froze and locked her eyes on Aphmau's cat form.
"Hold on, Nicole." Katelyn put the phone on speaker and set it down on the table. "One of the little cult members is here."
"What? I thought you closed the door?" Nicole questioned.
"I did."
Unbeknownst to Aphmau, her height did not allow her to see past Katelyn's chest. More specifically, the firefist she had beside her.
Katelyn kept eye contact as she slowly raised the weapon over her head, ready to strike.
Aphmau cowered in fear. She never knew that Katelyn would stoop so low to animal cruelty. How many other animals had she hurt before?
Katelyn slowly backed away to the front door and opened it.
"Go!" Katelyn demanded.
Without hesitation, Aphmau quickly skedaddled out of the house and into the cold world.
Katelyn shut the door behind her and ran upstairs. Aphmau's door was shut. She scratched her head in confusion but decided not to dwell on it anymore. She walked back downstairs and settled herself on the couch to talk with Nicole again.
"I hope Kawaii~Chan is getting paid for this because I want the money," Katelyn said.
"What if she isn't getting paid?"
"Then I'll just take however much I see fit from her."
"That sounds like stealing."
"It also sounds like you should mind your own business."
Katelyn heard Nicole sigh dejectedly from the other end before saying,
"Fine, I won't talk about it."
There was silence for a few moments before Nicole piped up,
"So, then let me talk about something that is my business. About Travis-"
Katelyn immediately cut her off with a series of "no"s and "let's talk about the cats again."
"Oh ho ho, Katelyn," Nicole laughed, "you said that the cats were none of my business, but the rules never established that your love life isn't. So, what happened between you two at Olive Garden?"
"Nothing!"
"He convinced you to sign up for college classes, and he told Dante that he finally got a hug out of you. A real hug. A hug from Katelyn Firefist herself!"
"Why were you talking to Dante, huh?"
"Don't change the subject."
"You brought it up, not me."
"Anyways! What went on between you two?"
Katelyn was silent as she thought back to the previous night. To be honest, nothing really big happened between them from an outside standpoint. To others, it was just two people having a normal conversation about interests, events, and whatnot. For Katelyn, that was everything. Throughout that entire night, she never blew up in his face, and he only made a few flirtatious comments. For once in their lives, they had a normal conversation that wasn't about relationships.
She remembered going home that day beaming with pride at how she didn't give into the urge to yell. She remembered how flustered Travis looked after she hugged him. Yes, she hugged him, not the other way around. Man, was that boy not prepared for reciprocated physical affection. Neither was Katelyn, though. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision for her.
For Katelyn, that dinner was everything.
"Nothing much; we talked and we ate," Katelyn finally responded.
"'Nothing much'? You hugged him!"
"Hug is a strong word."
It was not a strong word. Katelyn wrapped both her arms around Travis's waist and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, resting her chin on his shoulder as she breathed him in. He smelled like that cherry chapstick he always carried around with him and Olive Garden breadsticks. It was familiar and warm.
Travis didn't even have time to register what was happening and hug her back before she let go, but his face was as red as a beet afterwards.
Looking at a flustered Travis telling Katelyn how much he appreciated her coming out with him that night made Katelyn realize one thing: She really does like him.
===
"Alright, so Katelyn was not a good candidate to try to make happy," Aphmau thought to herself while standing out in the snow. She needed to find shelter quickly. Looking across the street, she realized exactly how she was going to accomplish that. If Garroth, Laurance, and Dante loved chick-flicks as much as they denied they did, then surely Aphmau could make them happy.
Without wasting a second, Aphmau waddled over to their front door and jumped up to press the doorbell. Only a few seconds passed before Garroth opened the door, looking everywhere but down at his feet.
"Hello?" Garroth asked, looking around. "Don't tell me this was some ding-dong ditch."
Aphmau quickly started rubbing herself up against Garroth's legs in an attempt to make him happy, but unfortunately, it scared Garroth more than anything. He jumped up and screamed at the sudden contact, causing Laurance and Dante to run over.
"What happened?!" Laurance yelled, placing a hand on Garroth's shoulder to see the cat at their feet. Laurance let out a sigh of relief.
"Nothing," Garroth sighed, "the cat just scared me. That's all."
"So I guess you can say..." Dante paused for dramatic effect, "...you're a scaredy cat."
Laurance, having none of it, started chasing Dante around the house for his horrible pun, leaving Garroth alone with Aphmau.
Garroth crouched down and extended his hand so Aphmau could get familiar with his scent, still not realizing that she was the cat.
"What are you doing here, little one?" Garroth cooed. He looked around for a name tag but didn't see anything other than the sweater. He did, however, notice her color pattern, which was a mix of black, white, and purple. "Huh, last I checked, purple cats aren't natural. Let's get you cleaned up. I have some pet shampoo we can use on you."
"Wait, what?" Aphmau thought to herself as Garroth picked her up. She started meowing feverishly at the thought of being given a bath, but Garroth ignored it.
"Please don't bathe me! I've done nothing wrong to you! Mercy!" Aphmau begged, but of course she was only a cat. All that came out of her mouth were meows.
"Aww, you're a talkative one, aren't you? I'm going to name you... Sprinkles," Garroth declared as he entered the bathroom.
"I guess this is it," Aphmau thought to herself. "Garroth is going to give me a bath."
===
"Kawaii~Chan feels like she had something to do today," Kawaii~Chan said aloud in the break room at IHOP.
"You mean, like, working?" Michi guessed, cocking her eyebrow up.
"No, it's not that." Kawaii~Chan thought for a moment more before giving up. "Dang it, Kawaii~Chan can't remember."
"Don't worry about it. It's probably nothing."
"Yeah, you're right."
Kawaii~Chan checked her phone for any messages before realizing that it was dead. She forgot to charge it last night. Oh well, she hoped that no one had texted her today as she stood up to start serving customers again.
===
After Aphmau had been bathed and groomed, Garroth slid the sweater back on her and placed her on the couch. He had no idea what he was going to do with her, so he called his roommates for help. They stood in a circle and tried to figure out what to do.
"Maybe we should give her to the cat lady down the street?" Dante suggested.
"No way! She has way too many cats already and doesn't care for them properly," Laurance denied.
"I was thinking it has an owner. It's a real purple cat, and it's wearing a sweater," Garroth admitted.
"In that case, we can put some flyers around, but can we even take care of the cat for the time being?" Dante asked.
"We could ask Aphmau," Laurance said.
"She already has Celesita, though, plus I think Sprinkles likes me," Garroth beamed.
Dante and Laurance went silent after Garroth spoke, staring at him.
"Garroth," Laurance said hesitantly, "what have I told you about naming animals?"
Garroth looked down at his feet in shame.
"You told me I shouldn't name them," he sighed.
"And why?" Dante deadpanned.
"Because then I'll get attached," Garroth sighed again.
"And what just happened?" Laurance asked.
"I got attached, but listen—" Garroth was cut off.
"You got attached! You did the one thing we told you not to do!" Laurance yelled.
Garroth backed away and put his hands up in defense.
"Don't shout at me! I'm sensitive!" Garroth pleaded.
Laurance backed down and put his arms out.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Would you like a hug? come here," Laurance apologized, his arms already open for the offer. Garroth sniffed as he leaned into his open arms, giving him a tight hug that ended just a bit after it was normally appropriate to end a hug, even with the theatrics.
"And I want you to cook dinner tonight," Garroth bargained as he let go of his friend.
"You motherfu--" Laurance almost whispered under his breath before making his voice clear. "Okay, yes, and I'll cook dinner tonight. Would you like anything else, your highness?"
Dante and Aphmau looked at the closeted boys, who were radiating gay energy. That would have been a straight hug if the boys didn't look like they were melting into each other.
"No wonder Katelyn secretly ships them together," Aphmau thought to herself. On top of that, Aphmau noticed that whenever Laurance looked at Garroth, he'd straighten up and bite the inside of his cheeks. It looked like he might go into a gay panic at any moment. [If you guys watch the episode FALL-ing For You | Minecraft Side Stories [Ep.3 Autumn Minecraft Roleplay], Katelyn is clearly shipping Garrance, and you can't prove me otherwise.]
"Anyways," Dante sighed, "if we're going to keep the cat for a while, I feel like Muffin is a better name for it."
Garroth turned his head to look at Dante.
"No, Sprinkles is the perfect name!" Garroth denied.
"Muffin," Dante repeated.
"Sprinkles."
"Muffin."
"Sprinkles!"
"Muffin!"
"Laurance," Garroth whined, trying to get Laurance to back him up.
"I'm not getting into this argument. Besides, I now have to cook dinner," Laurance said, patting Garroth's back before letting go of him. When Laurance went into the kitchen, Garroth and Dante continued to argue over which name they should give Aphmau.
While they were arguing, Aphmau took it as a chance to escape. They didn't even give her a chance to make them happy. They just bathed her, and next thing you know, they were going to go and get her spayed. Besides, it looked like Garroth and Laurance were making each other happier than she could ever be as a cat.
Aphmau quickly ran into Garroth's room, which was the only one with a window open. She jumped out onto the snow and started running onto the sidewalk.
Her original plan was to run back home, but Katelyn was probably going to attack her if she came back into that house. She thought about going to Brendan, but seeing how he reacted to Kawaii~Chan made her too nervous to even try to make him happy.
Before Aphmau could come up with a plan, she noticed something in the corner of her eye at her bedroom window. Looking up, she saw all nine of the cats looking at her. The curtains were completely pulled back, allowing Aphmau to see more of her room. More specifically, she saw Celesita trapped in a makeshift cage made of her clothes hanging from the ceiling. What the heck?! Her poor baby!
She started beating herself up for only having the cats promise not to hurt Levi and not her dog.
While she was panicking, she didn't realize that someone had walked up to her.
"What are you doing out here in the snow?" the person asked.
Aphmau looked up to see the devil himself: Zane Ro'Meave.
She thought about hissing at him and biting him where it would hurt, but she decided against it. He hadn't done anything to her yet...yet.
"I'd ask you the same thing, but frankly, I can't talk and I don't care," she thought to herself. "I'm never going to make him happy."
"If you want, you can come with me," Zane suggested.
Now Aphmau seemed to have two options. One, she could go and die at the hands of Katelyn. Two, she could go and be skinned alive by the hands of Zane. These were clearly very hard options.
She might be able to bypass Katelyn and get to her room, but she still needed to make someone happy, plus the cats were still in her room. Randy was probably going to have his posse suspend her from the ceiling too. Then they would take Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan next.
Someone should probably do something about those cats.
All out of options, Aphmau started to follow Zane; she had to run for a little bit since Zane started walking off without her. In fact, he didn't even know that she followed him until he got to his front door. Was he surprised? Yes. Was he just going to leave the kitty outside in the cold? Surprisingly, no. He actually allowed her inside and motioned for her to sit on the couch.
Zane brought her some water in a small bowl for her to drink. Aphmau had no idea how to drink water as a cat, so she just stared at the bowl.
"You know," Zane started, "I wasn't expecting you to follow me at all."
"Oh, I get it. You really are a cruel man at heart, aren't you? This cat could have had feelings, and you would have hurt them. You probably found this funny, didn't you, jerk?" she thought to herself, but said meow to avoid suspicion.
"I was never allowed to have a pet before," Zane admitted.
Aphmau felt her heart drop in her chest. Oh no. He was going to keep her. He was probably going to dress her up, get her spayed, and everything. She was going to be a cat for the rest of her life. Her friends and family were going to search for her until they would finally have to give up, but little would they know she had been a cat the whole time. Aaron would probably move on from her too and take Celestia with him. Her life was over. Goodbye, cruel world. Those magic cats were going to get away scotch-free too...
"Alright, the door is that way." Zane pointed at his front door. "If you want to leave, just walk up to it, and I'll let you out."
Well, Aphmau was definitely not expecting that. Although this may be a blessing from Irene, this was kind of sad. Zane wasn't making any attempt to keep Aphmau as his own. Was he used to people constantly leaving and disappointing him in his life? She looked up to see that Zane was now watching TV. There was no way that Aphmau was going to stay with Zane. She needed to make someone happy, and this little emo boy wasn't going to cut it, but she wanted him to know that she was thankful for what he did for her today. Her eyes locked on the little cat sweater. Welp, this was all she had.
After struggling tremendously, she managed to get the sweater off of her without Zane noticing. It really was difficult to function without thumbs. She picked the sweater up with her mouth and gently placed it on his lap. Was he ever going to have a use for this sweater? No, it might just become a rag for him to use, but it was the effort that counts.
"How did you take that off? Wait, are you giving this to me?" Zane asked, looking quite perturbed at the cat.
Aphmau meowed in response and booped her head into his arm as a confirmation.
"Huh, I've never gotten a gift that wasn't from family before," Zane said to himself. Aphmau's heart slowly began to ache for him. "You know, I always felt, after talking to Kawaii~Chan, that maybe living things weren't so bad after all... and this... this helps. Thank you; you probably don't even understand me, though."
"Wait a minute, you had a conversation with Kawaii~Chan?!" Aphmau thought to herself. When did this happen? Aphmau just let out a little meow. Not a second later, a bright flash of light engulfed her, turning her back into a human on Zane's couch.
"What the heck!?" Zane screamed, confused and horrified.
"Oh my Irene!" Aphmau screamed back.
"What are you doing?"
"What were you doing talking to Kawaii~Chan?"
"How did you transform into a cat?"
"I don't want to talk about it!"
Zane took a couple of breaths to calm down.
"Was all of this some kind of joke to you?" Zane asked, his voice notably quieter, as if he were afraid of her answer.
"N-No, I didn't mean... I have a lot of explaining to do," Aphmau stuttered. She noticed how tense Zane had gotten; before, it was almost as if he were a different person, but now he was back to... well, Zane.
"Yeah, you do," Zane snapped, the sweater now forgotten on the floor.
So Aphmau explained. She talked about the crazy cat lady, the magic cats, and even what had happened between Garroth and Laurance. Zane just stood there quietly—no questions, no comments, nothing. He just looked confused and scared. His brow furrowed, and his eyes were swimming in a pool of conflicted emotions. She knew he didn't trust her, so having her in his house must have been a huge invasion of his privacy.
"Zane, I'm so sorry, but giving you the sweater and talking to you as a cat wasn't just a means for me to become a human anymore. At that point, I had forgotten all about it and was just reacting based on what you said. I'm sorry," Aphmau apologized. Zane was silent, contemplating everything she just said, until he finally spoke.
"Get out. Please, just... get out."
Aphmau didn't hesitate to leave, not taking the sweater with her. She closed the door and left Zane alone with his thoughts, hoping her apology didn't fall on deaf ears.
Maybe Zane only acted like a jerk to everyone to avoid being let down again in his life. Where people of higher authority have always failed him, so he's constantly trying to gain power to make them feel how he once felt.
{A/N: So it appears that I have posted this chapter late once again. Nura told me I should stop making promises I can't keep, but I'm going to keep trying! With that being said, I'm going to try and post one chapter a week from now until the end of the book. Right now, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to meet that promise, but I'm sure going to try! If you liked this chapter please leave a kudos and a comment! Bye!}