Eventually, the other cats noticed too. Caitlin's long shadow had been cast over the Junkyard, and they noticed it wasn't just a cloud. I was beginning to think how obvious it might be if she looked close enough -my fur being almost the same color as my hair, everyone's eyes looking as they did as a human; I mean, come on, Caitlin had to've noticed that 'Daisy' had yellow eyes, everyone's fur looked as their human hair did, actually. Such as Bomba's scarlet, The twins' silver, The other twins' orange.- that we were also human. I saw some with darker fur disappear into shadows and bushes, and this was the first -no, the second time, I didn't like having bright fur when we'd escaped, either- time I didn't like having bright fur. I saw Pounce snicker and send me a look that said, "You're problem." I found Cettie and Electra beside me, they must have drifted closer. "I have a plan..." I muttered, "and that plan is... RUN!" I shouted, and shot passed Caitlin, to outside the gates. I didn't stop running until I reached a grove of trees I felt safe enough to transform back into a human in. I grew, and remained crouched on the ground. My hand scrabbled around -reaching for an outfit we'd put in there, because we'd discovered that whenever we transform back into a human, you're naked as the day you were born. But whenever we changed into a cat, we had to physically take the clothes off. Where they went if we didn't, I had no clue. I don't think any of us did. Maybe it appeared back at the lab we were raised in, I snickered at the thought. I wondered how many outfits Cettie, Electra, Demeter, Jemmy and I would've sent back there alone, based off of how many times we'd snuck out of school.

Well, now I was fully clothed, and was off to search out Caitlin, and if she was still at the Junkyard, get her the hell away. I'm sure Jenny was in a panic, probably noticing I -and possibly others- had run off. And, well, I hadn't been in human form for about a week. I'd decided to do the School In a Box thing, rather than go and attend public school. The School In A Box is where the government sends you a bunch of stuff -in a box, hence the name School In a Box- that was usually easy, and you had all year to do everything. Quite simple, really. So I hadn't felt the need to be in human form much. Caitlin was probably convinced I'd dropped off the face of the earth. Well, that was fine by me. I was beyond the point of caring, but this was a bit of an urgent situation.

I felt my hair and pulled a twig out of it. It must have been stuck in my head-fur. Well, that's a bit embarrassing. But I pushed the thought away. Instead, I set off to go get Caitlin away from my.. well, one of my homes. There she was, still staring in wonder at the cats below her. From what I could tell, no one else had moved.

I came up behind her, seeing Munkustrap's eyes widen farther -probably in relief or maybe it was seeing me in human form after all this time. I jump-stopped right behind her, making my bare feet slap loudly against the pavement. She jumped and whirled around, and the cats behind her all scattered.

Then she recognized me -my fur/hair had grown a bit longer, and it was quite noticeable- and smiled. Which was odd, considering how long she hadn't seen me for. "Well, well, Katie, what brings you to civilization?"

I thought through a couple snide remarks, then decided against it. Instead I settled for a puzzled look.

She shook her head and said-or, to me, mouthed-, "Just haven't seen you for a while."

Let me explain, if you don't understand; for teenage girls, not seeing each other for a week is equivalent to like a month. Why it is, I'll never understand. Well, then again, I don't really care. It's not like I'll ever be a regular teenager. I shrugged and said, "Been working at the school stuff."

She assumably snorted and said, "As if."

I'd been steadily leading her away from the Junkyard, and all of a sudden she frowned. "You know, there's a cat in the junkyard who's fur is almost the same shade as your hair."

I fake rolled my eyes -well, she didn't know it was fake- and said, "Don't be ridiculous." This was dangerous territory. I tried to make my movements as human-like as possible, rather than more feline, as they usually were, and tried not to let my face give anything away.

She just shook her head. I didn't think she noticed how I'd changed the way I walked. Or so I hoped, at any rate. I was also carefully watching her mouth, as I freaking had to to communicate.

Then she looked up, and I saw sadness glistening in her eyes. "Katie... can you come back? Life is hell without you. It's like I'm missing half of me."

Ouch. I didn't know if I wanted to go back though. All the teachers treating me like I'm mentally disable, kids making fun of me -whether it be posting a sign on my back that says "D.E.A.F." which they meant Deadly Easy Ass-hole Freak, (they're not the brightest. And, on the bright side, 'Rose' kicked their butts for it) or just making snide remarks behind my back because I couldn't hear- and just the fact of how annoying it was to communicate at all.

"I... I don't know..." How was I supposed to respond to that? I mean, I stopped going to that school because they were all being total asses. Going back seemed like walking into the lion's den. With this, I muttered an excuse and ran off, and took a route to the Junkyard that I could walk in the back way.

I was so confused. And not being able to hear my feet on the ground -A sound I'd taken for granted- brought tears to my eyes. It was just too much.