*I don't own the brief song 'Welcome to my Life' by Simple Plan.*

"Look, Tara, I'm sorry," a tom was saying. "But we need to break up."

"What?" Chartara asked. "Why?"

"I don't like you anymore," the tom replied.

Chartara felt her eyes fill with tears. "Fine," she crossed her eyes and turned away. "Go. I didn't like you anyways."

The tom took off, and Chartara sank to the ground and cried. Liam, the tom she was talking to, was her tomfriend for only a few days. She was right: no tom would ever love her. Maybe she'll live alone her whole life, and find a kitten to adopt, other than give birth to her own. She climbed up on a pile of junk and turned towards the moon.

"What am I going to do?" She asked the moon.

"Do you ever feel like breaking down? Do you ever feel out of place? Like somehow you just don't belong, and no one understands you?" She sang softly. "To be on the edge of breaking down, when no one's there to save you. No, you don't know what it's like. Welcome to my life…"

Tristan had no idea where he was. Maybe on the other side of town? Up ahead, he could see a junkyard. He walked towards it, hoping to find some shelter there. As he got closer, he could hear the soft sound of someone singing. Twisting his ears, he followed the sound, and found himself staring up at a queen. Her eyes were closed and she was facing the moon. Tristan could see she had been crying.

"Do you wanna be somebody else? Are you sick of feeling so left out? Are you desperate to find something more, before your life is over?" Her voice was beautiful. "No, you don't know what it's like. Welcome to my life…"

"I do know what it's like," Tristan thought. He, too, was an outcast. Most of the cats his age steered away from him because of his father. He didn't have any real friends, just the ones his father had. The queen then ended her song, sighing softly. Tristan walked out from behind his hiding place. The queen saw him and shrieked, losing her balance.

"AHH!" Tristan ran forward, ready to catch her. She fell off the pile of junk, and into Tristan's ready arms.

"Hi," Tristan said.

The queen jumped out of his hold. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Tristan," he replied. "And you?"

"Chartara, or Tara, for short." She brushed the dirt off her fur. "Were you spying on me?"

"N – No," he answered. "I was wandering around and heard singing. I came over to see what it was. That's all." Chartara narrowed her eyes at him, but decided Tristan seemed harmless.

"Are you ok?" She asked, noticing his sad eyes.

"Not really. I just learned my father had been killed."

"Oh…" Chartara faltered. "Well, why don't you come with me? My tribe might let you live with us."

"Really?" Tristan was intrigued. "You live here?"

"Mhm," Chartara nodded. "There's a lot of us. We're called the Jellicles."

"I've heard of you!" Tristan exclaimed. "My Dad always talked about you guys!"

"Really?" Chartara seemed confused. "No one really knows we live here." They shrugged and started walking to the tribe. On the way, Chartara told him about the different Jellicles there, and how Old Deuteronomy would be the one who decided if Tristan should live there or not. "Don't worry," she said. "My Grandtom is really nice." There was a bit of awkward silence between the two.

"By the way," Tristan said shyly. "You have a really pretty voice."

Chartara blushed. "Thanks. We'll, here we are!" She gestured to a big clearing. Tristan thought she was joking. It looked deserted.

"Uh…"

"They're all inside," she said like she read his mind. Just then, I poked my head out of my den when I heard her voice.

"Chartara!" I called out as I saw my daughter with a strange tom I didn't recognize. Tugger came by my side.

"Where have you been?" Tugger demanded, then eyed the tom. "Who's this?"

"To answer your first question, I was just taking a walk. I'll tell you later," she replied. "And this is Tristan."

"Tugger, go check on Orano," I interrupted. "I'll take care of this." He huffed and walked away. I turned back to the two cats. "Now, what's going on?"

"As I told Dad, I was out walking, and we sort of bumped into each other," Chartara explained.

"Where's Liam?" I asked, noticing he wasn't present.

"Can we talk about that later?" She seemed uncomfortable. "Anyways, Tristan doesn't have parents and needs a place to live…so I kind of told him Grandtom might let him live here."

"How old are you?" I asked Tristan.

"I became of age about a month ago," he answered.

"Really?" Chartara perked up. "I became of age a week ago!" They smiled at each other.

"Well," I said slowly. "Old Deuteronomy will be here tomorrow morning. You may speak with him then."

"Where'll Tristan sleep?" Chartara asked.

"I can find myself a den," Tristan spoke up. "I'm used to this sort of thing."

I nodded. "Alright. Well, we'll see you in the morning. We live in that human playhouse over there." Chartara waved goodbye to Tristan and followed me home. When we got inside, Tugger was putting Orano to sleep, so we went to her bedroom to talk. "So, what's going on?"

"Liam broke up with me," she answered.

"How come?"

"He says he didn't like me anymore." She shrugged. "Whatever. I'm better off without him."

I pulled her into a tight hug before letting her go to sleep. Tugger was still a little skeptical about our daughter being alone with a tom that neither of us knew. I had to admire my mate – he may be a gigantic flirt and full of himself, but when it came to our family, he sure knew how to be protective. I thought about that new tom. Maybe he'd be a good friend for Chartara.

Only Everlasting Cat will know…