I decided to rewrite this when I looked over all my old stories, and quite frankly, I was amazed to have written something like this and thought it was halfway decent. Anyway-here's the rewritten version.

Cat Jackson

I was so unbelievably tired. Somehow, even though I'd practically been asleep since I'd gotten home on Friday afternoon and it was Sunday, I wanted to curl back up and sleep for about a hundred years. Like Sleeping Beauty (riiiight). But Kim, my best friend and one of the biggest pains in my now seventeen-year-long life, wanted to meet up at a park to go shopping. I hated shopping. It was the freakin' bane of my life and not particularly the sort of thing I wanted to do on my seventeenth birthday (unless it was for books), but there you go.

"Hey, Kitty-cat!" Kim smiled at me as I walked through the gate of the park. Yeah, my name's Cat. Catherine, if you want to get technical on my ass. I raised my hand in reply and returned the hug she gave me. "So, where do you wanna go? My treat."

"I'm fine, Kim, thanks. Can we sit down for a bit? I'm exhausted." She shrugged.

"Sure."

I grinned at her and flopped down gratefully, letting out a massive sigh. "Thanks."

"How could you be so exhausted?! You weren't up all night playing Halo again, were you?"

"Well..."

"Cat! I told you to get some sleep!" See what I mean about her being a pain? She's very, very bossy.

"I had to finish Halo 2! I wanted to know what would happen to Masterchief and the Arbiter!" My voice was almost petulant now. So I stayed up until six in the morning, big deal-I had to know what happened! I'm a total Halo freak, if you hadn't noticed. My Xbox 360 and Masterchief make up about 95.3% of my entire social life. Kim and my best guy friend, Fletcher Sanders, make up the other 4.7. And Kim stays up all the time. I just happen to be a crappier sleeper than she is. "I'm awake now, aren't I?" Kim rolled her massive sky-blue eyes, outlined in soft grey pencil.

"Barely. And you have huge dark rings under your eyes. It's not a good look, Kitty, no matter how much black eyeliner you wear."

"I'm not wearing eyeliner."

"Exactly!"

"You know what? I hate you sometimes."

"Yeah, I know you do. Come on, get up." She had a playful, teasing smile on her face, one I could never resist. I hauled myself off the ground, groaning theatrically. What can I say? I attend a high school dedicated to the Arts. I'm a complete drama queen at times. My red hair (not ginger, thank you, red, and it's natural no matter what you might think. Piss off) that I'd decided earlier on to leave loose flowed around my shoulders to my chest. Now with bits and pieces of grass in it. Attractive-not.

As we were standing there, laughing about the state of my hair and thinking of picking up our bags to leave, a sudden wave of dizziness came over me. A searing white light flashed blindingly before my eyes and I blacked out before I could even mutter, "What the hell?"

TFE TFE TFE TFE TFE TFE

"Cat? Cat! For God's sake, Kitty, wake up!"

I was shocked out of the numbing darkness by a voice. An all too familiar one. "Jeez, Kimberley Andrews, haven't you heard of letting sleeping cats lie?" I yawned. She always woke me up early without fail whenever we slept at each other's houses. Damn her.

"If you don't get up, rightnow-"

"All right, all right! I'm awake."

I scrunched my eyes up against the sun. Wait a second-the sun? I felt grass underneath my skin. What was going on here?! In a sudden burst of fear, I opened my eyes and whipped my head around. That scared me even more. I could see with such clarity! It was amazing, like I'd been in a dark room for seventeen years and had only now come into the light. I gasped in wonder. "Wow..." Then something clicked. "Where are we?"

"I don't know! I have no idea!"

I definitely, definitely wasn't in Boston anymore.

A beautiful garden filled with trees and beautiful flowers I had no name for sprawled around me. The air was perfumed with the loveliest scents I could ever have imagined. I could more or less have stayed in that one spot forever. Kim snapped me out of my trance by walking in my line of vision, and my jaw hit the floor.

Instead of a tall, slim, stunning girl in a short skirt, ballet pumps and a fluffy kitten sweater, I saw a short, plump creature in an outfit way too big and yet too tight for her. Shredded pale pink leather lay in a pile not too far away, which I guessed were what used to be the ballet flats, leaving her large, woolly feet bare. Kim's face was dirty and tear-streaked, her bright blonde hair curly and tangled. This sudden transformation had barely left any part of her untouched, not even her ears, which were now much bigger and slightly pointed at the tip. But her eyes were the same blue. "Jesus Christ...what...how long...?"

"A few hours. I've been awake for a while."

"What happened to you?"

"I don't know!" She choked on a sob. "And I'm not the only one, Cat!"

"What?"

"Look at yourself!" I was very confused now. That was when I noticed just how tight my clothes were. I wondered if I had turned into whatever Kim was for a moment, but as I stretched out a leg to see, it certainly wasn't shorter. The bottom of my jeans came to just below my knees and my long sleeves to my elbows! My skin had paled from ivory cream to translucent alabaster and my hair tickled my waist instead of my shoulders-when I pulled out a lock to examine it, it was filthy, completely knotted and wavy when it had always been straight. What the hell was going on?! What was I now?! "See? I don't even think we're human anymore!" Kim screamed.

"Okay, okay, calm down. We need to think rationally here," I said, braver than I felt. She opened her mouth to yell again, but caught the idea of what I was saying and breathed out instead. "Maybe-maybe we're dreaming, and we're going to be fine in a minute. Yeah, maybe that's what-" Kim kicked me hard. "HEY! What the heck was that for?!"

"We're not dreaming," she insisted.

"How do you know?"

"I just do. Think about it, have we ever been in each other's dreams before?" She had a point. I'd never dreamed about her and vice versa to the best of my knowledge. "And I've never been this long in a nightmare, either. It's been hours since I woke up, I know it! I hate it here! I want to go home!" With that she burst noisily into tears. I immediately put my arms around her, hugging tight.

"It's going to be okay. We'll be fine. Come on, let's start walking. Maybe we can find somewhere where they can help." She didn't argue. I pulled her up. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah."

The garden got sparser as we walked. Not so completely full of trees that you could easily bang into (thankfully). Finally, a path appeared, leading from a gate, and I sighed in relief. "There! We can follow the path; I bet you anything it leads to a house or something! I told you we'd be okay," I grinned.

"Mm."

Our happiness was quickly spoiled by the sound of approaching hoof beats. Please, before you ask how exactly I knew that, I grew up in Tennessee. I was on a horse before I could walk and then some-I know what hoof beats sound like. I was about to hide and pull Kim with me but it was too late. Several (really, really beautiful, I must add) horses came through the gate, their riders dismounting fluidly and quickly like Olympic gold medallist showriders. I was so transfixed by the horses (a gorgeous palomino Arab-looking mare being the one I was drooling over most. Though there was a lovely white Thoroughbred stallion too...damn my horse-mad brain!) that I didn't notice the blonde girl walking over. At least, I thought it was a girl, as her hair was long and ramrod-straight. I promptly fell over onto my ass like a complete moron as she reached me (and I realised it was a guy. Crap, I seriously hope he didn't hear my thoughts). He looked at me in utter surprise. "Lle anta amin tú?" I started staring at him then.

"What?" He frowned.

"Heniach nin?" Great, I get a mentally retarded guy who speaks gibberish as a helper. I scrambled up hastily and went to walk up the path.

"I can't understand what you're saying."

"Can you not speak Elvish, my lady?"

"Elvish? Of course I can't!" Then I realised-Elvish? "What do you mean?" My eyes flew to his face-and my heart stopped.

He looked like a Renaissance artist's impression of the Greek sun god Apollo, with long blond hair and clear, crystal blue eyes. His pale skin was perfect, unscarred, unblemished and pale like pure white marble. 'He's probably never had a zit in his life,' I thought enviously. 'No fair.' The moment was spoiled when I noticed that his ears were all slanted and pointy. I screamed. "Sweet Baby Jesus!" I'm pretty sure that when I reflect on life that moment will be one where I face-palm and mutter, "What was I thinking?" Either way, he was the one looking confused (and slightly insulted).

"Prince Legolas? Lord Elrond is expecting us," muttered another Elf, anxious.

Aah. I knew where we were.

I hadn't seen or read The Lord of the Rings in three years but I remembered Legolas and Elrond. It was actually Frodo, I recalled, that I'd originally had a crush on. I'm big into the whole 'tortured soul, brave heart' thing. It had faded when I started crushing on Jon Snow from A Song of Ice and Fire. I have no idea why I just started rambling, please excuse me. Anyway, three things came into my head.

1. We were in Middle-earth,

2. The Council of Elrond was in the next few days, and I was so going no matter what anyone said,

3. Holy shit this is weird.

"Go on without me for a moment, Calanon. I will be but a moment," Legolas replied to the Elf who had spoken. I'd forgotten Kim, who was now being manhandled (or Elfhandled. Sorry, just had to) onto a horse. She wasn't too happy.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" I yelled at 'Calanon'. "Put her down! Comprende? Down. She's with me." Legolas held me back from jumping him and most likely maiming him.

"Calanon is merely taking your friend to the house of Lord Elrond. Do not worry."

"Kim, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'd rather be there than here, anyway. See you later." I worried my lip, but she seemed fine. Even happy, as she kept flirting with the Elves and batting her eyelashes at them. My focus turned back to Legolas, who bowed his head, and moved his hand away from his heart. If I tried to copy, I'd end up on my ass again.

"My name is Legolas Thranduilion, Prince of Mirkwood and son of the Elvenking. May I know your name?" I shrugged.

"I'm Cat Jackson-well, Catherine Jackson, but I guess you can call me Cat. My friend was Kimberley Andrews. We're...um, foreign."

"I can see that." If Kim was a Hobbit, he probably hadn't seen a Hobbit before (I was spitballing with her being a Hobbit though) but he had to have seen a human.

"What do you mean, for the second time in a day?" He laughed. For some inexplicable reason, it was a nice feeling that I could make him laugh, even though it was probably at my stupidity.

"I have seen neither a Halfling nor a crimson-haired Elf in my long years of life. A star shines on the hour of our meeting." My face went slack with shock. Me? Did he mean me? He was probably nuts. I'd always thought him reasonably level-headed, but in no way was I tall and flawless with pointy ears. I was only 5'5, zits cropped up on my face faster than I could cleanse and tone it, and half the time my hair did whatever it wanted, for God's sake!

Yet somehow I was tall enough to be looking directly into his eyes. Then again, maybe he was just shorter in person. "I-I'm not-am I? I can't be. What?" I felt sick to my stomach in that moment. My breakfast was going to make a pretty impressive encore unless I kept my mouth shut. Either way, I was probably going to have to remove myself from his presence. "Would you excuse me for just one second?" I squeaked, turning tail and sprinting up the path (a hard feat when your clothes aren't that well-fitting-especially jeans).

For some reason running felt good. My sneakers barely touched the ground as I ran to the Last Homely House, and if the Elves around me weren't staring at me, then they wouldn't have known I was there. Of course, they were staring at me, so it was a moot point. Unfortunately, I wasn't looking where I was going, and managed to crash into someone. Oops.

"Eh, excuse me, my lady, but can you please get off of me?" a muffled voice protested. I gasped and leaped up.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" I apologized, blushing. A curly haired boy was sitting up, dazed, where I had fallen. He grinned and dusted himself off.

"It's all right, my lady. I'm Peregrin Took, but everyone calls me Pippin. Nice to, er, meet you," he introduced. He had the cutest Irish accent I had ever heard, ever. I knew of Pippin, as Hobbits in my book were pretty awesome. But I just wanted to pick him up and give him a hug! He had that cheeky, mischievous glint in his eye that was absolutely adorable-even if it did mean I'd eventually end up being pranked later. Maybe my feet would be glued to the floor.

"I'm not a lady!" I smiled. "But chivalry is a lost art where I'm from, so thank you." He shrugged cheerfully.

"Sam thinks that all Elves are lords and ladies. It's rubbing off."

"I'm not an Elf, either." Great, another person looking at me as if I were clinically insane.

"What are you then?"

"A girl. Just a girl."

"But you've got pointy ears! Really pointy ones; not like mine." I reached up to touch my so-called pointy ears, but thought better of it and helped him up instead.

"Uh, yeah. It's a birth defect."

"What's that?"

"It's, um-"

"Peregrin Took! What have I told you about bothering Elrond's people?" A voice called out to us just as I was explaining. An old man in long grey robes strode towards Pippin. The young Hobbit now looked fairly uncomfortable.

"To not to?"

"Exactly. I apologize for his tomfoolery," the guy who was presumably Gandalf (after all, who else had a penchant for telling Pippin off?) told me.

"It's fine, he wasn't doing anything. I was the one who tripped over him, I wasn't looking where I was going. I hope you'll forgive me, Pippin?" The Hobbit looked relatively surprised, but beamed at me. He clearly liked to smile-a lot. It was usually irritating with most people, but with him it was just really, really puppy-dog cute. I would have to think about getting him a collar and leash.

"Of course! It's fine, anyway-I'm not hurt." Gandalf leaned on his staff. "That's Gandalf, by the way."

"I'm Cat Jackson-it's an honour." The old wizard smiled wryly.

"Indeed. Lord Elrond has been expecting you." I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Well, that's some talent. Even I didn't know I was coming here."

"He will explain soon. For now, I imagine you will wish to rest. Come with me."

It was weird, I hadn't realised just how tired I was until he said the word rest. And I really hoped I would be able to wash up, because I was probably filthier than I had ever been. That's saying something too-I once had to jump in a bog on a field trip. I followed Gandalf more than happily-after all, who wouldn't follow an old guy from a fairy tale who's promising you a bed? If I'd done that in New York, I'd probably have ended up cut into pieces in a sack thrown into a river, which would have polluted the river. Oh well.

The room I was shown to was absolutely stunning. My old love for Tolkien's beautiful architecture came flooding back as I gazed at twining branches and leaf patterns, the view of Rivendell from the window. It certainly wasn't my bedroom, which was painted deep blue with my rather shitty attempt to paint the Milky Way on the ceiling and ripped posters on the walls-and a few food items under the bed that would probably have mutated into a new species of psychotic sandwich by now. Gandalf left and I was alone to snuffle around. "Wow," I whispered to myself. I swear the bed could have held five people comfortably. Yet the most interesting thing about the room was the backpack on the bed. It was mine.

I hadn't even brought my backpack on the day out, yet here it was, in all its glory. I say glory; I mean a faded blue and green rucksack with animé characters from random Japanese shows inked in biro all over it and a sewn-up strap. I was a bit nervous about opening it-after all it could contain anything from clothes to a king cobra, but curiosity won out and I unzipped the fastenings. Inside was more or less anything I'd need, barring coffee and a hot shower. Clean clothes, another pair of shoes and some hiking boots, a hairbrush, my toothpaste and stuff, a first aid kit, a water bottle, and even as some weird kind of courtesy my iPod, wrapped neatly in its headphones. I wasn't about to complain. In fact, I whooped. "Hell yeah, baby!" I wondered if Kim's stuff had magically shown up too...I fervently hoped so.

I was also left wondering about how the heck I would clean myself up. What with? They don't have showers in Middle-earth, as I've already explained, and they don't have running water, either. How was I supposed to wash my hair? Which was absolutely, positively disgusting. There was a basin of water on a stand. I supposed I would find out. Grabbing a bottle of shampoo from my bag, I dunked the whole mess of my greasy, caked locks into the water, squeezed out a little of my precious (bad pun, sorry) shampoo and began to scrub my scalp very hard. I felt all the dirt slowly wash out of my long red hair. It was such a lovely feeling that I sighed. Returning to my backpack for my hairbrush, I tugged it all the way through (my arms were aching by the time I finished. I was wishing for a pair of scissors), and took advice from Katniss Everdeen. I braided it into a Rapunzel-length plait so I could wash my body. Thoroughly washed and clean, I almost felt human again. That is, until I caught sight of myself. Instead of an awkward, half-developed seventeen-year-old girl, in the mirror was reflected an Elleth with flaming hair and starlight-on-water eyes. My eyes were green. This could not be me. Yet somehow it was. It was me but not me, a girl familiar but a stranger to me at the same time. I tore my eyes away from her and hurriedly tugged on a pair of pants and a tunic from my bag. Not a patch on jeans and a T-shirt, but I couldn't afford to be nitpicky. My braid hung over my left shoulder.

Well, Middle-earth, here I come.