Author's Note: Next chapter. Gave Catherine more depth than the show ever delved into. I actually don't know if they ever said anything about what Catherine was at all interested in career wise. So I took a shot in the dark. She seems like the type for the career I chose for her. Lemme know what you think of it I guess.
Chapter 3: Catherine
"Arthur's agreed to take you over there, he's getting his friend Francine to go play in the park. You can use my bicycle for now, and we'll get you one sometime soon." Jane said the next day. Abigail nodded, but was a little more concerned with Arthur.
"You said I dress weird?" She questioned. "I'm wearing a blouse and capris, how is that weird?" Abigail looked down at her outfit, reassessing it to assure herself of her opinion. Maybe he meant her choice of accessories, most of which she'd made herself.
"I couldn't think of anything to say!" Arthur protested. It was a valid argument, Abigail had been there all of two days. He just didn't know enough about her.
Abigail just rolled her eyes.
"Let's just go, shall we?" She said.
Abigail flattened her ears and put on the bike helmet. She then swung her purse behind her and put her leg over the bike.
Arthur sighed and started towards the Frensky's without a word.
"Hi Mr. Frensky." Arthur said as the door opened.
"Hi Arthur, Francine's waiting for you. I'll go get her, c'mon in." Mr. Frensky opened the door and ushered the two of them in. He went into the hallway. Abigail took this time to look aimlessly around the apartment. It was a little small, but nice.
"Hi Arthur! C'mon lets go or we're gonna be late for the race!" Francine said as she bolted into the living room, helmet in hand. She grabbed Arthur by the arm and they were out the door.
"Bye Abigail!" Arthur shouted from down the hall.
Catherine had entered the room more sedately.
"Hi, we can use my bedroom to hang out now that the little spore is gone for the day."
"Um.. kay." Abigail replied and followed Catherine back to her room.
"So, what's Ohio like?" Catherine asked.
"Boring. Everyone there was sort of depressed all the time. And the city I lived in was sort of dirty."
"Have you always lived there?"
"No. I lived in Georgia until I was 5. With my Mom and 4 older siblings. Then I went to live with my Grandmother, and she lived in Ohio. She died when I was 13 and that's when I went into state custody." Abigail answered.
"Why didn't you go back to live with your family?" Catherine asked, clearly full of questions about the subject.
"I dunno, no one could find them. I've got a few relatives scattered around but none of them wanted to take responsibility for me. An Aunt that doesn't like me and a drunkard father, that sort of thing." Abigail explained.
"Sounds terrible." Catherine moaned.
"I don't think about it much. It's just sort of the way my life went. It helps to remember that there are people that are worse off somewhere." Abigail said. "I read depressing news, it cheers me up."
"A bit morbid, but an overall nice outlook on life I guess." Catherine mused.
"So, where did you get those pants anyway?" Catherine asked. She had complimented them earlier.
"They're just regular capris that I decorated myself." Abigail replied. They were denim and had a paisley inspired pattern around the outer seams and the hem.
"With what?" Catherine asked.
"Fabric dye. You can find it at any craft store." Abigail answered, holding her leg out to examine the pattern. It was sort of faded.
"How artistic." Catherine said admiringly. "I wish I could do that sort of thing."
"It's easy. I mostly do it out of boredom though. They less you have to do the more you find to do. I used to just scribble on my jeans withe ballpoint pen. So I figured that I might as well make it look nice.
If you wanted to do something like this for your jeans craft stores also sell stencils that work well for it." Abigail encouraged.
"Could you do it for me?" Catherine pleaded.
"Sorry, no commissions." Abigail grinned. "It's more fun if you do it yourself anyway. I can help you set it up if you like."
"That'd be great." Catherine said enthusiastically.
Catherine was nice. They had a few differences, but found something to like about one another easy enough.
Catherine had gushed over Abigail's homemade accessories, especially the wristband made out of a cutoff black dress sock and a broken plastic rhinestone bracelet. She'd also admired Abigail's sketchbook even though it was new and only had a few sketches in it.
Abigail really liked how up to date Catherine was on current events and social trends. "Do you watch a lot of news?" Abigail asked.
"No. Well, yes, but that's not where I get most of my information. The news doesn't say a lot most of the time. I use the internet and social networking sites." Catherine explained.
"I don't use the computer very much. I've never had steady access to one. Except maybe at school, and they block those sorts of sites." Abigail said.
"Yeah, that seems really unfair. Some of us don't use them just to goof off. I'm trying to write an essay on how social networking sites effect the way we look at news stories. But it's hard when I can't show the teachers my references on the school computers." Catherine sighed. "It makes it seem less credible, even though all the teachers I show it too really seem to like the subject."
"What sort of classes do you take that you're writing that sort of essay?" Abigail asked incredulously.
"Oh, it's not for any class. I'm writing it as a college entrance essay for when I start filling out college applications." Catherine said.
"But you're only going into Junior year." Abigail protested halfheartedly.
"Well, it's a really interesting subject so I wanted to get started on it early." Catherine explained. "I want to be a political science major. With a minor in reporting so that I can be a TV news anchor and actually know what I'm talking about." She added.
"I haven't really thought about what I wanted to do." Abigail said. "Didn't think it was all that important I guess." She just shrugged.
"I wouldn't worry about it. Lots of the kids at the school you're gonna be going to don't have any idea either." Catherine waved it off. "Some people just know what they want to be right away. I've known what I wanted to be ever since I first started watching the news and understanding it." Catherine justified.
Abigail shrugged.
"Hey, I've got an idea, lets go to the Sugar Bowl." Catherine said, her mind changing track randomly.
"The what?" Abigail asked.
"The local ice cream shop." Catherine explained. "I'll buy you a shake." She added when it looked like Abigail might refuse.
"Yeah, I guess so." Abigail conceded. "But make it a malt." She added as they got up.
"But malts cost 30 cents extra!" Catherine complained teasingly.
Author's Note: This seems like a good place to wrap this chapter up. Next chapter will probably have Abigail meeting the entire main 8 year old cast in one sitting at the Sugar Bowl. Then I can get down to actual story stuff more or less.
