Hi. This is a rewrite of my very first fanfiction story, which I deleted before it was finished. I can only hope that this one will be better!
This takes place around Cat and her family in the episode Star Spangled Tori in season 3.
~ET
Chapter One: May's Story
Cat's room was directly across the hall from May's. Sometimes when the former sleepwalked she would leave her room, keep walking straight, and slam into the other door, effectively waking her younger sister. Sometimes when the latter was scared of Kevin she would creep across to Cat's room and they would play Candy Land (Cat's favorite game) or listen to the Waggafuffles (which they both still liked even though Cat was eleven and May was almost nine). May was always thankful to have more than one sibling. That way she wasn't stuck with just Kevin.
In the morning May would wake up in Cat's room or her own, yawn, and trudge down the blue-painted hall to the bathroom. There she would brush her teeth, wash her face, clean her ears and sigh at and comb her dark brown hair. She knew she shouldn't complain: her hair was exactly the same color as Cat's before she dyed it, but after seven months of seeing her sister's velvet locks every day she wished constantly that she knew where Momma hid the different colored hair dyes. Cat knew but wouldn't tell her; red hair was something of a tradition with the Valentines. Cat said that she didn't want May to be messed up too soon.
Poppa drove both girls to school on his way to work. Cat was lucky and got to go to Hollywood Arts. She had just started there that year. May knew that she would audition and probably get in as soon as she was old enough.
Anyway, right now May was still stuck at boring old L.A. Primary.
Life was good at school (no matter how boring May found it), even without Cat and Momma and Poppa. May had her friends, the Harpers, Billy, Piper and Frankie*, who reminded her of Cat's friend Jade. They were fun, but May knew they didn't believe her when she mentioned Kevin.
Cat's friends never believed her, either. Cat said so. The only person who seemed to understand Kevin was Mr. Jeffrey, Poppa's boss. He paid Poppa more money than he paid other people so that Poppa could afford Kevin's treatment. This was Poppa's biggest secret.
When May got home she would usually go to her room to do homework. She didn't want to risk Kevin leaving his room and finding her in the lounge or kitchen or living room or TV room.
May loved their house but she hated that it had so many rooms. Momma and Poppa said they were lucky to have so much money, but May didn't see what good it did. Neither did Cat. Kevin, on the other hand, didn't seem to think about such things.
When Cat got home she would tell May stories about Mr. Sikowitz's class or Andre writing a new song and Tori singing it or Jade hurting someone with scissors or Rex the bizarre doll carried around by Cat's crush, Robbie. It seemed that so many interesting things happened in Hollywood Arts, from concerts with pop stars and music producers attending to fantastically creative schools plays written by Mr. Sikowitz to Secret Santa gift exchanges. May remembered the time when she had answered Momma's phone and learned that Cat had been accepted into the most prestigious performing school in the country. May would always remember the shock and the excitement for her sister, but also the fear that her sister would be too wrapped up in her future as a superstar to still love her.. She was joyously surprised when Cat continued to be a caring sister.
May would have done anything to see that.
May dreaded dinner because they knew they would have to spend it with Kevin. Cat was always the good girl who liked spending time with Kevin to see if she could make him like her. May tried to avoid him at all costs. She was intimidated.
It was at dinner that day when the phone rang and Momma went to answer it. They heard "Yes, this is she ... Which daughter? ... Are you sure? ... Well, I'll talk to her - to all of them about it, but I don't think ... Oh, okay. Thanks for calling."
She put the phone down, stood for a few minutes with her palm in her forehead. Then she sighed and scooted back to the table.
Poppa started asking questions, but Momma waved him off. This meant, we'll talk about it later, in Parent. Cat and May were silent, knowing that whatever was happening was not good and that it involved one of the two of them. Cat was Cat, but even she could be sharp about certain things. Kevin was silent too, but he was busied by making his pasta look like a Van Gogh painting. May doubted he had even the faintest idea of what was happening around him.
May tried too forget about the troubling phonecall. That day was a Friday, so Cat and May were able to stay up well in to the night singing along to their favorite songs which May played at full volume on her laptop. Kevin, eighteen years old but capable of sleeping through almost anything, went to bed at seven.
"Hello, is everybody watching?" sang May.
"Before we get the party started," sang Cat.
"You know you wanna be invited -"
"So step right up and get a taste of what you're bitin'" they both yelped.
Cat insisted that May was the best singer that she had ever heard and that May was almost guaranteed of getting into Hollywood Arts one day. May knew that her sister was incapable of lying and that this was big praise coming from Cat, who went to school with Jade West and Andre Harris.
May, however, thought that Cat was the best singer in the world.
They ended up falling asleep on the floor of May's room, Cat clutching her purple giraffe, and dreamed of dancing onstage with Ginger Fox.
Poppa came in and woke May up very early. It couldn't have been past six. He took her, half asleep, by the elbow, and led her into the lounge, where Momma was already waiting.
"May," she said, "I want to listen very carefully."
May waited. Poppa sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her. His form of comfort. May wondered what had happened that was so terrible.
Momma continued, "Do you remember your Uncle Jesse?"
May did not. She had, however, heard Cat talking about him. He sounded almost as weird as Kevin.
"Well, he has joined a new company in Seattle. They help people with meditation and connecting with their 'inner selves'."
"Are you going to send Kevin there?" asked May. Hopefully.
"No. We are thinking about sending you there."
"Me?"
Not her. This was a mistake. She wasn't crazy Kevin, or weird Cat. She didn't throw butter at passersby out her window or obsessively buy things online. She was the good daughter. The normal daughter.
Was Momma sure that the person on the phone had said 'Maybelle'? May asked. The answer was yes.
"Not because there's anything wrong with you, sweetheart. We know you're already a nice, calm girl. But Uncle Jesse is not nice or calm. He has to select a distant relative to stay with hi and help him with duo therapy. And he chose you! You should be flattered."
Flattered.
"You would live in Seattle with Jesse and your cousins Jesse Jr. and Socco**. It's the best thing for your uncle. And," Momma took a deep breath, knowing how she could get May to go, "you could get away from Kevin.
May was silent.
"It's entirely your choice," said Poppa. "Even if you do go, you will absolutely come back to visit. Just think about it."
May did. She thought about Cat. She thought about Kevin even more. She thought about her boring school and her friends that didn't listen to her and the long sleepless nights she spent afraid of her brother. She thought about all of these things. She spent days with all these angles swirling around her head. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, she agreed. She went to Seattle to live with her uncle and her cousins.
Cat was the only one who cried when she got on the plane.
*-references to the Quads from Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn, Billy from The Thundermans, Piper from Henry Danger, and Frankie from The Haunted Hathaways.
**-yes, I do mean Socco, Spencer's friend from iCarly!
Please R&R!