Title: Curiosity Killed The Cat
Summary: Kitty Cats should stick to what they know. Especially this one. Cat centric.
Curiosity often took over for Cat, ruling over her heart and mind until she knew the answer. Perhaps getting those answers required a little heartache for other people. She knows now. Keep your mouth shut. If you must, say things that are meaningless. Never say what you mean.
One day, while they were in Jade's house, with Cat swinging her skinny legs in the air and Jade tipping her head back so she was upside down, Cat heard the familiar shouting coming from the living room, where it was unusual not to hear slaps and screams and hisses, and got curious.
"Jade?" Cat asked, looking confused. Jade sat up to face her best friend.
"Yes, Cat?" Jade answered, trying to block out the sound of her older brother shouting at her dad.
"Why do you parents fight so much?" Jade shrugs.
"Accidents happen, Cat. And some people can't learn to live with them."
"But there is no accident."
"No," Jade confirms, lying back down and biting her fingernail, "Only me."
Robbie would pick Cat up at seven fifteen, on the dot, and Cat was making finishing touches to her outfit at five to, when there was a knock on her bedroom door. "Come in!"
"Hi, Kitty," Cat's mom greeted, smoothing her skirt down and twitching at Cat's rainbow nails. "Robert will be here soon, so come down stairs."
"Call him Robbie, Mom. He doesn't like that name."
"His Christian name needs to be respected, Caterina." Her mother states. "So that is what your father and I will be calling him. Now scoot. Go downstairs and have fun." She tweaks her daughter's nose, and then kisses her forehead.
"Mom?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Um,"
"Go on," her mother encourages gently.
"Do you think I look pretty?" Cat's mother's heart breaks. She knows she's been very busy with her son, but she feels very guilty about leaving her precious Cat to fend for herself. She can't even bear to look her in the eye.
Robbie arrives right on time, with Rex in toe. Cat is angry at first, sighing at having to sit him on her lap. "Ugh, Robbie! I hate Rex! He's mean to me and he's silly! Why did you have to ruin this? Why do you bring Rex everywhere you go?"
"I..."
"Mm?" Cat demanded.
"I missed my little brother."
"What? Well, go and see him, silly."
They spent their date in a cemetery.
Listening to music made Cat happy, and so she spent many lunchtimes sitting in the blackbox and listening to people auditioning. She became a little stage hand. When she first heart Trina Vega's voice ringing out in the room, her ears hurt.
"Hey, Trina!"
"Yeah?"
"How come you got in?"
"Got in where?"
"The school," Cat says, looking perplexed. "You don't sing good."
And so Trina Vega rushed into the bathroom, and cried until her eyes were red raw.
Beck seemed so cool, so collected, when he'd invited Cat to eat lunch with him and Jade. Cat didn't notice the little prods Jade gave him when he sighed or shhed her. She was so excited. She was eating lunch with her, quote, two bestest friends. They spent a lot of time at his RV, watching TV, and Cat often fell asleep.
"Becky?"
"Mm?" Beck asked absentmindedly, doodling on the paper taking up most of his attention span.
"Why do you make Jade jealous?"
"Huh?"
"She cries sometimes."
"No, I don't," Jade says, glaring at Cat, just coming out of the bathroom. "Mind your own business." Arguments and rows followed.
When Cat visited Andre's house she was so busy staying out of Ms Harris's way that she forgot to have fun. His crazy grandmother didn't seem to like her very much, but she was used to that.
"Why does your grandma not like me?"
"She doesn't like anyone anymore."
"She likes you, doesn't she?"
"When she remembers who I am."
When Tori came along, Cat longed to ask her every question she could think of, fidgeting in her seat, biting her lip to keep the things from spilling out. "Cat, will you sit still." Jade said, and Andre agreed.
"What's up, girl?"
"Nothing." Cat says quickly, and then she jumps into a ramble of a story about her brother saying something funny.
She straightened her brown hair, and then died it a completely new color, red velvet, and she forced a cupcake down every time she was with someone she knew, secretly hating the taste of them. She isn't herself anymore, just a shell. Well, you know what they say. And this time it happened.
Curiosity killed the Cat.