Chapter 2

It only figured that the one night that Sam had the room to herself Cat would still manage to make a ton of noise. Through the thin walls, Cat's scampering little feet were becoming more and more like bulldozers. Sam continually flexed her muscles to try and keep herself from punching her friend through the wall, but as the moon moved higher in the sky, she was running out of reasons not to.

"CAAAAAAAT," She finally screamed.

A tiny little voice poked out. "What?"

"Go to bed!" Sam yelled.

There were a few seconds of silence, followed by her roommate's shuffling feet. She walked into the dark room and crawled into bed.
"I'm sorry Sam," she said sweetly.

Sam didn't answer.

"I'm just really excited. I haven't seen my parents for a really long time."

Sam shifted in her bed, but still kept silent. Cat didn't stop talking though.

"I've always wanted my parents to be proud of me. They're really quiet about certain things. It's hard to tell when they are happy or sad, but I like to try and make them smile. Because I love them a lot. I want everything to look perfect so they know that I'm doing good."

Sam's breathing changed and it was a little louder, so Cat made an assumption that she was asleep. She eventually followed suit.

It rolled over to the next day, which happened to be another warm Friday. Sam had learned to sleep through Cat's alarm clock when she had to get up for school, but Sam didn't know how to sleep through a vacuum. The thundering suck invaded her dreams and pushed her whole body upwards. Cat was in a pink apron with apples on it and she appeared to be laughing at the cleaning utensil as she dragged it across the floor.

"Cat!" Sam yelled with a red face.

Cat turned off the vacuum and kept her unwavering smile.

"Good morning," she sang.

That, combined with Sam's unkempt hair and steadily growing mouth turned Sam into a raging monster.

"First off, you should know not to wake me up. Second of all, you're supposed to be at school, what are you doing at home, vacuuming our bedroom?"

The girl was still way too blissful to fully understand the extent of Sam's rage. If anything, she seemed confused by her questions.

"Well, you wouldn't let me get ready last night so now I am. I don't have a test or anything today, so I decided to skip."

Sam fists clenched together and she stormed out of the room. "That's it," she cried as she entered the living room. Cat went after her.

"Why are you so mean today?" Cat asked innocently.

Honestly, Sam didn't really know why. But that didn't stop her from getting angrier.

"Because Cat, you don't just do things without talking to me. We're supposed to be roommates, you don't just do things without talking to me first."

"All of this because a vacuum cleaner?" Cat asked just as confused.

Sam tensed up her body and tried to calm herself. It barely worked.

"No Cat, it's not because of the vacuum cleaner" she mocked Cat at the words vacuum cleaner. "It's because you invited your parents to stay with us without even running it by me first."

Cat's stance changed to something more stable as soon as she figured out it was a real argument.

"You're the one who forced me to call my parents," she accused.

Sam retorted, "I told you to ask them for money, not to invite your whole bloodline over for a tea party."

"What's the big deal? I'm sorry that it was a little rude, but it's no reason to be hollering at me," Cat said still somewhat serious.

Sam came up with an argument on the spot, though she herself didn't really understand it. "We're not supposed to do things behind each other's backs."

Cat immediately started yelling and crying.

"Says you. You're the one who started all of this by buying all that chicken. And you know what? That T-shirt you got isn't even real. I found the puffy paint when I was cleaning up last night. So that's two lies. You're a double liar."

"I don't need to take this!" Sam yelled. "Don't wait up for me." She grabbed her motorcycle helmet and slammed the door.

Cat stood in the living room shaking her fists as little tears streamed down her cheeks. Now her parents wouldn't get to meet her awesome roommate. Now everything was ruined. Out of all of them, she wanted her mom and dad to meet Sam. Sam was like her sister, and her sister should know her parents. Not only that, but now her parents would also think she was fibbing. Even when the doorbell rang, Cat didn't cry out 'ding-dong' instead, she went and answered the door silently.

Her Nona stood in the doorway with a sunny expression. She was cloaked in a bright blue blouse that could rival Cat's clothes in terms of color. She had her normal sing song voice high in bloom.

"Hello-"she sang. It didn't cheer Cat up though, so she stormed towards the couch.

"Oh sweetheart, what's wrong?" asked Nona as she put her hand on her granddaughter's shoulder.

"S-Sam and I had a really big fight," Cat sobbed.

"Oh honey," said Nona. She wrapped her arms around the crying girl. "I'm sure it will be alright. You know how head strong Sam is, you two will patch it up and be right as rain."

That made Cat smile as she wiped the goo from her nose. "Okay," she crooned with a bit more cheer. However, she was suddenly curious "Nona, what are you doing here? When I called you this morning, I said be here at eight. Mom and dad are getting here at six, so I want to give them time to relax before we go eat."

Nona shifted a bit and stopped smiling. Her voice was also more synthetic.

"Well, sweetie, I needed to stop by to tell you that I can't make it tonight. I have a date."
"A date?" Cat asked.

"Yes, it's with a Mexican Luchador that I have been courting for a while. The problem is that he's going back to Mexico real soon, and this is the only night he's free."

Cat's shoulders dropped. "Oh."

Nona tried to touch her again, but Cat shrugged her off.

"But I wanted to make sure to tell you to give them my love, and that I really wanted to make it. They'll understand."

"Yeah, they'll understand," Cat mimicked lifelessly.

"Don't be so glum, chum" Nona said as she dismissed her granddaughter and kissed her head. "It will still be a ton of fun."

"Yeah," Cat answered, not convinced. Nona then left Cat sitting on the couch in a silly apron, completely alone.

Meanwhile, Sam spent her day riding around LA and wreaking havoc. The mayhem ranged from chucking the awful snow cones at people from her bike, to kicking a traveling Mounty in the shins and stealing his golden shoulder pads. Nothing was helping her though. Nothing was getting rid of Sam's scowl or making her heart beat any slower. She soon found herself at the park again on top of the slide. As soon as she set foot on the sand, kids fled in all directions. So at this rate, Sam found herself very alone. Time didn't seem to be moving very quickly, or at all. She suddenly found that it was already five o' clock and two figures, one giant and one small approached her from the distance.

"Sam!" Dice cried out as he ran towards her. She wanted to try and hide, but she was defeated by her own complacency. The big guy following Dice was much too large to get onto the equipment with her, but he was tall enough to where his face was still poking through the bars. Dice simply swung himself up to the platform.

"Sam, I've been looking for you, I need some advice."

"Shoot," Sam mumbled.

Dice then pulled two knives out of his pocket.

"It's about Cat's brother. If he snaps, which knife would be more appropriate, the green one or the blue one? Goomer can protect himself of course, but I'm still just a kid. On one hand, the green knife is a lot sharper and can do more damage, but I might want to use the blue one because I don't want to ki-"

"Cat's brother isn't coming. And it doesn't concern me anyways because neither am I," Sam growled.

Dice rolled his eyes. "Are you still mad about meeting Cat's parents?"

"No," Sam answered defensively. "Cat and I just had a really big fight this morning. And I don't want to go."

"What was the fight about?" Goomer asked in a big, dumb drawl.

"I can only guess," Dice judged.

"I'm gonna sock you, kid. It's not about me having to meet her parents," Sam defended though her uncertainty. "It was about respect. She disrespected me."

"What, by god forbid inviting her parents whom she hasn't seen in forever over?" Dice asked aggressively.

"Look, you don't get it." Not even Sam got it.

"What do I not get?" Goomer asked calmly as he tried to assess the situation.

"You don't get what it's like to live alone. When you become independent, you call your parents for money and you send them an email on their birthday. You don't have them over to hang out with your friends."

"I live on my own," Goomer said with only a little offense taken.

"You're hardly independent. Your best friend is a twelve year old," Sam mocked. Goomer still wasn't hurt and instead agreed. Dice had been awfully quiet during the exchange, but he finally popped in.

"Oh, I get it. You're jealous of Cat."

Sam didn't even dignify that with an answer.

"Your mom never writes or talks to you. You're bitter and taking it out on your friend. That's pretty low, Puckett."

Instead of hitting him, Sam stormed off. She ran towards her motorcycle and revved up the engine, all the while she furiously rubbed her face. Then, she took off into the daylight. After that she rode around for a couple of hours. While on her bike, she had time to think.

You can't leave it like this Puckett. You're better than that.

By this point, Cat had already left in a cab to go pick up her parents, or at least, that's what Sam assumed. Sam decided to stop by the grocery store and pick up some ingredients. Even though she didn't know how to make pie crust, she knew exactly how to make brownies. She had to waste quite a bit of time on her Pear Phone in order to find out what was needed to make crust from scratch. She also picked up some cheap kitchen knives, even though they didn't really need them for the recipe. They just seemed nice to have as their own had become dull. When seven thirty rolled around, Sam prayed that she wouldn't be too late. Even though she was still in her pajamas from this morning, there was no way she would have the time to go back and change. At exactly 8:01, she arrived at Bots with beads of sweat running down her face. To her relief, the Valentine's weren't there yet either. So she sat at a table and waited.

And waited. And waited. And waited. Six plates of fries and two hours later, Sam was finally kicked out by the robot wait staff. She wanted to stand out there and wait a little longer, but she finally accepted that nobody was coming. The groceries that weighed on her arms just reminded her how hurt her feelings were. Nonetheless, she couldn't afford to waste them. She put them on the back of her bike and took off. When she finally got home, her feet were aching.

Sam expected the apartment to still be dark when she walked in, so she was almost blinded by the lights. She was also taken aback by the dozens upon dozens of balloons dotted across the floor as they lazily danced in the breeze of the door. There in the middle of the couch was Cat staring down at the floor, barely even blinking.

"Hey Sam," she said in a monotone. That just annoyed Sam.

"What, did you throw a party without me?" Sam hissed.

Cat squeezed her face together. "No," she whispered. Sam wasn't done though.

"Where is everyone? Are they asleep or something?" Something then hit her like a fire ball. "Did you lend them our room?" Sam yelled.

"I… I just told everyone to go home," Cat stuttered quietly.

This piqued Sam's interest. "Go home? You told your parents… to go home?" For once, she was the one who was confused.

Cat bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes for a second. "No, I told Dice and Goomer not to come over."

That still didn't explain her parents, but Sam decided to play the game anyways.

"Why did you tell them that?"

Cat's face scrunched up and her voice started to quiver. "Because my parents aren't coming today."

Sam dropped her offense and walked over to comfort her friend even though she was still very angry with her. "Don't worry, kid. They can reschedule."

Cat shook her head and leaned it forward. "They said that it wouldn't be a worthwhile trip right now. They said they aren't coming home any time soon."

Sam just watched her friend as her frown deepened. She didn't know what to say.

"But don't worry, they are going to wire us the money, so it's all okay," Cat said with a smile that only made the whole thing sadder. Her eyes were held so tight that little crow's feet were forming in the corners. Her mouth muscles were actually starting to ache from her artificial smile. Sam just stared at her.

"So… your parents just ditched you?"

"Oh no," Cat defended. "They just don't have the time. They promised they would see me, and they won't break a promise. I just need to wait for them to have time."

Sam was hesitant to say anything because she wasn't really sure what she was feeling. But she just had to pipe up.

"Cat, they didn't even set a date or anything. Like, did they just overlook this?" Sam asked with concern.

Cat started shaking her head again. "No, no, I pushed them too hard. They said that they were going to go on vacation for a while to get away from my brother. They were going to Hawaii, but I still have school so I can't go to Hawaii," she let out a fake laugh. It's funny because I skipped school to clean the house, she thought. "So when they said that, I asked them to come out for a couple days, because they planned to be gone for two weeks and it didn't seem like that much time."

"So your parents are too busy… on their vacation?" Sam asked skeptically.

"Yes. Yes, that's right," Cat answered more to herself than Sam.

Sam's voice instantly switched from skeptical to sympathetic and tender.

"Cat… did you ever think that maybe… your parents aren't very nice?"

Cat stood up started yelling.

"No Sam, I didn't ever think that. They're parents, and I love them. They are just really busy is all."

Sam stood up and put her hands out to her friend.

"Cat, your parents promised to come see you on their vacation and then cancelled not even a day later. They didn't move it to later in their vacation or even move it forward at all." Sam tried to speak slowly.

"What are you saying?" Cat snapped.

"I'm saying," Sam paused. She wasn't even sure how to break the news to the poor little thing. "I'm saying that maybe your parents have no intention of coming back."

Cat closed her eyes tight again and yelled out, "Shut up!"

"Cat-" Sam started.

"Shut up!" Cat yelled as she clasped her ears over her ears.

Sam walked over to her and touched her hair. "Cat, I'm just telling the truth."

Cat violently shook Sam's hand off and started walking away with her ears still covered. She just kept repeating "Shut up, shut up, shut up," as she paced in a circle around the couch. Sam tried to reach out to her, but Cat was doing everything to remove herself from the world. Her whole torso went left to right as though she was dancing and she just couldn't get herself to stop yelling. Not even the noise of her screaming could stop the tears from eventually escaping from their dark prisons. As soon as the second tear ran off her chin, Cat's whole body collapsed on the couch. Her breathing was replaced with sobbing, and soon enough her chorus of "shut up" tapered off into more gasps for air.

She seemed so fragile that Sam was afraid to go near her. Cat was so much like a figurine made with nothing but sugar. Sam's very touch could either set her free from her rigidness, or could break her and never let her be put back together depending on how you looked at it. Sam eventually sat on the couch, but remained far enough from her friend's body heat. She stuck out a hand, but it was still only lukewarm.

"Hey kid, it's all fine. You don't need them. They sent us money, right? That's what counts."

Cat looked up again and gave another ghostly smile. "Yeah, that's right. I don't need them." She opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "I don't need them!" She screamed before once again falling into a pile of tears.

She was beginning to fold into her own lap, and Sam tried to pull her out. Though met with a lot of resistance, Cat was eventually pulled upright. Their faces accidentally came in very close and their eyes met. The whites of the little redhead's eyes were stained with pink and they were starting to swell at the corners. Her lips hung open a little bit but the bottom one stopped quivering for a moment just to give her some time to breathe. Sam's heart didn't beat for three whole seconds. The moment their eyes finally met, Sam understood Cat, and a whole lot of pain entered her subconscious. Some unknown force of nature pushed Sam around Cat, who she gripped like she might float away. She could actually feel Cat's muscles tense when she cried.

Cat's voice was squawking something out, but Sam couldn't understand because it was muffled from her emotions. Not only that, but she was speaking into Sam's hair, which made it even harder. Sam didn't dare to ask her to repeat herself. She just kept stroking her and assuring her that she would be okay. Finally, something audible was able to break through that tiny voice.

"How come nobody wants me?"

Sam just squeezed her tighter and just tried to brush the question aside. "Don't say that. That's not true at all."

"But it is," whimpered Cat. "You just said my parents aren't coming back for me. They are willing to go across the country for my brother, but won't even take me with them. They would rather have me be famous than with them. They didn't even send me to nice people. Heck, not even my mean aunt and uncle wanted me. When I went missing they didn't report me or anything."

"Your parents aren't everyone. You have a ton of friends," Sam tried to explain.

"No I don't! My friends at school don't even talk to me anymore. Unless it's a project, I don't even see them. They keep me around because they feel sorry for me, not because they like me."

"You don't know that," said Sam.

"Yes I do," Cat squealed. "Have you ever seen them come over? Have you heard me tell one fun story about any of them? They don't like me anymore. They got tired of me. Everyone always gets tired of me. Even Nona. Nona couldn't even live with me for a couple months."

Sam just stroked her hair. How could she respond to this? How do you show someone that you love why you love them? "I'm not tired of you," Sam croaked out. Cat pulled her in tighter.

"Sam?" She whimpered.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you like me?"

"Well you're sweet, and you can cook-"

"No Sam. Why do you really like me?" Sam had never heard Cat this serious before. It was chilling.

In a way, she still didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to just try and keep up her argument, but she knew that she couldn't live with herself if she lied to her right now, even if it was to make her feel better.

"I'm not sure how to answer-" Sam started. However, she was interrupted by Cat's crying. Sam put her finger under her chin and pushed it up.

"But I'm going to try and explain, okay?"

Cat nodded and Sam shook her head and tried to gather her thoughts.

"Cat, I love you because you're my best friend."

A couple of seconds went by.

"Is that it?" Cat asked, disappointed.

"Yeah…" Sam stuttered.

Cat hung her head in shame, and Sam once again had to force it up.

"Listen. Sometimes love doesn't really make sense, especially when I try to talk about it. All the things that matter to me, I can't put into words how or why they matter to me. I don't know how important they are to me until they are gone. And I know that I don't want to lose you. That's how I know I love you."

Cat's eyes were big and glassy. Sam couldn't get a read on them.

"And…" Sam started. "I need you. Because-" Sam stopped herself. She had never felt this vulnerable and it scared her. But she knew in her heart that she had to man up. "I don't have any parents either."

Sam started to feel herself tear up. Before she could even cry, Cat pulled her in close. At first, Sam was annoyed that she didn't instigate the hug, but it all melted away.

"So you do need me. Because we need each other. I love you, Sam," Cat whispered in a tiny melody.

Cat didn't know it at the time, but a tear really did fall from those big blue eyes. Sam stared through her friend's red hair and into the kitchen. She could see right through the counter and into the small junk drawer. Sam even saw past the junk. What she was looking at was a piece of paper frayed at its edges. No matter how beat-up the little document got, it didn't change the news printed on it. Each time Sam thought of what it said, it seemed like another second wasted in what it turns out would be her very short life.

She didn't want the hug to end, but eventually, Cat let up. She thanked Sam for cheering her up, and Sam tepidly accepted it.

"Are you coming to bed?" asked Cat.

Without looking at her, Sam answered. "No, I think I'm going to get rid of these balloons. You go on without me."

Cat responded with a dumb little smile. Right before she entered the doorframe, Sam called out to her.

"Cat. I love you too."

At the time she was too tired to comprehend it, but Cat could almost swear that Sam's voice cracked a little bit.