The girl with the big brown eyes. Or, as she was known now, the ditzy red-head with a childish personality.
Everyone always asked questions about her. Was she bipolar? Was she ADHD? Was she suffering from Histrionic personality disorder? Or was she just stupid on a regular basis?
The truth is, Cat Valentine did not know what she was. Was she even something? Why couldn't she just be Cat?
No matter where she went, the reputation followed. Maybe they didn't call her a freak or ugly, but they still seemed to say it with their eyes or synonyms. When she was in Elementary School, Cat learned to live in her head. To imagine things. Everything must always remain inside. To the outside world, she must not be vulnerable. However, on stage. That's where the real magic began. Whether or not there was a melody in her words, whether or not she was Cat Valentine or some other character, all feeling went straight through her acting. That's when she was the most vulnerable.
Only when she was the only one that existed, along with the other people on stage. The audience was just the background noise. A bird maybe, or voices in her head. She never did this because she wanted people to be looking at her all the time. Sometimes, it was. But not always. The stage was hers, only hers. The only place where she could be Caterina Hannah Valentine, the girl who was once locked out of the world, staring in like a lost puppy that just wanted a home. To be included. To be part of something.
Well, when she was on a play, that's what she was. Part of something. A story that was not her own, but her character's. When she sang, a story being told through little words and phrases that created beautiful sceneries in her head. Back to those days when she would hide in her room in middle school and play on Garage Band until she got exactly what she wanted.
In acting class, before Hollywood Arts, she felt like she was not being judged any longer for the worst. But for the better. She fell more and more in love with performing. She developed the ability of shifting emotions all the time, which made her always be on level ten emotionally. That's when the idea struck her.
The words, the looks, they didn't hurt as much as they usually did when they were directed towards something she was doing on purpose. To her, it would all be to the ditzy red-head and not to herself. That's who she would be.
She was so happy when she got into Hollywood Arts. The school where only the most talented kids were at. There, in her first years, she discovered herself, what she wanted to do. However, the ditzy red-head was always there as a protective shield.
The thing is, when you begin to pretend you're something, you start to become it. And Cat began to be the character she had created. She disposed of certain emotions or things that happened in her everyday life by blurting it out. Yes, she did admit she liked the attention. Yet, she could not explain why her insecurities always followed her around. Why, without thinking even, she would ask people what they meant in what they said.
Cat Valentine wasn't the dumb little girl everyone thought she was. Or maybe now she truly was. But the joke was on them.
Cat loved children. How they were able to see beauty in everything. To be curious and innocent. To see the bright side of things. Above all the whispers and screams, she could see the sun coming out on the other side. A flower growing outside. Above the noise of phone calls of her brother going to jail or getting stabbed or shot by someone or attempt to start grease fires. To forget about the fact the world was not the place she wanted it to be.
To find something as awful as being left on the side of the road as funny. Either way, when the sun began to set and the men began to convert into wolves looking at her like a piece of meat, she became afraid.
In her world, she could be a princess. She could ride unicorns and puke rainbows if that's what she wanted. Her home was Cat's Castle, the sand castle she made when she was seven. Except, then, it looked like a pile of sand, but her father and her decorated in with shells and made it beautiful. Sure, it was sort of disturbed of her to believe she could bury everything that way, but she did it and that's all that mattered.
That still didn't mean she wanted to be taller or to have longer legs. Yet, she learned to work her body eventually. She noticed boys wanted her. And not just geeks. Real boys. Handsome boys.
In elementary school, Cat had no friends. It was the truth and she knew herself she couldn't hide it. At least, she had one friend in middle school. But she traded her in for some robots that would do everything she said. Instead of letting drown in her tears of grief over her fake friend, her mother offered her the opportunity to study music. To get her those singing classes she always wanted. The piano lessons. Guitar lessons to keep her occupied. Of course, dance lessons because she had horrible coordination. She took her out of the school so she could focus on something more positive. Her mother even agreed to let her dye her hair red. Cat's argument was that everyone else in the world was brunette.
Cat began to show real interest in music and acting, and auditioned for Hollywood Arts.
At first, she thought she wasn't good enough. But then, she got in. That made her talented. Talented. Somebody wanted her to be in their school. They wanted to include her. They wanted her to be part of something.
Making friends was even easier when she realized they had something in common with her. It was like her Slap page had gotten a bunch of friend requests suddenly.
Jade West.
Beck Oliver.
Andre Harris.
Robbie Shapiro.
Rex Powers... the puppet. She learned that she must not point that out... Ever. For the sake of Robbie's mental health.
Cat always felt she had the tendency to talk too much after she took the lessons and especially after getting into Hollywood Arts. Jokingly, her father told her that maybe she should cut down a few words. This, of course, received Cat's demand of what he meant, and he simply explained that's not what he meant. Cheerfully, she told him it was okay and continued to eat her red velvet cupcake with much taste.
Everyone loved Cat. She was sweet. Tori Vega even said she was the sweetest thing in the world.
Cat realized, then, the world meant for her to do something in this life. For sure, that was music and acting. Maybe even costume designing. The world wanted her to be happy.
She didn't regret being sad before, because without it, she wouldn't be where she was today. She was happy.
So, what made her happy? Doing what she was mean to do.
Sorry if sometimes things contradict each other, I was in a zone when I wrote this. And I've wanted to write this since forever. I hope you liked it. :D
