A/N: Well I have nothing else to say except for enjoy . . . . . yeah that's pretty much it.

Strange Things That Happen

"Jani! Jani! What in the world is wrong with you!"

I was so tired I didn't even looked at my mother as she scolded me at the dinner table. The memory from last night still lingered in my mind. Oh my God that was terrible! Hiding under the tree, holding my breath as the shadow crept closer and closer, then the ice cold boney hand grabbing my shoulder . . .

I swallowed hard. Then there was that strange dream. Did I get second-hand high? Why was I dreaming about talking cats? Ugh! This whole thing is just a frickin disaster!

Mama's face came so close to mine I could smell her jasmine perfume. Her eyes so narrowed, I could see the crow's feet in the corner of her eyes.

"I won't ask again Jani," she said angrily through her teeth. "What were you doing last night?"

I sighed. Boy was she angry now. I snuck a peek at my father. He was sitting on the other side of the table, his arms crossed over his chest. The look he was giving, it was both a look of disappointment and sadness, a sadness as in, Where did I go wrong?

I swallowed down tears. Oh I hated seeing my parents this way. It left a sick feeling my stomach that made me want to shut up.

"Mama I . . ." I trailed off. What would I say? You see Mama, what had happened was, I snuck out to a party will some friends, and there were drugs there, which Rachel got high on. So we escaped before the cops could catch us but then we got in trouble for hiding behind some old dude who Rachel thought was Jesus yard, so we starting running like a bunch of crazy chickens and we hid next to an old wooden house, but it turns out it was the home to the witch that everyone talks about. Oh, but it just gets better. Tim said he saw her, so I hid behind a tree and I think the witch caught me so I ran faster than Forrest Gump home, got a little dirty on the way back, had a weird dream about cats, woke up, and you were towering over me hollering like it was the end of the world. The end.

I should be a writer one day. I would make a hell of a story teller. Wait no, maybe Hollywood! Nah, my dreamed resided in Bollywood and nothing could change that!

Mama was still waiting for me to answer the question. Papa was pretending to take the gunk out from under his nails. He looked too tired to look up.

Before I could open my mouth again, the doorbell rang. My heart stopped. The cops? Please not the cops! No way could I take this! Not now!

Mama went to the door with a curious look on her face. I flinched at she grabbed and turned the doorknob. I closed my eyes waiting to hear the voice of some old guy saying, "Excuse me miss, we would like to speak to Jani Patel."

I heard the door open.

"Hello Rachel," my mother said in a semi-surprised voice. "What are you doing here?"

My eyes were wide open as I looked at my Barbie doll looking friend as she stood outside in a strapless too-tight-for-words top. This was why my parents didn't really like her that much. To clean it down, Mama called her a "dirty girl," which isn't really true. Rachel just wore, trashy clothing, dated a lot of men, and used her feminine beauty to her advantage. Not too bad right?

"Good morning Mrs. Patel," Rachel said, folding her hands in prayer form and bowed. My mother returned with a bow too. See, Rachel wasn't that bad. She always gave my parents the traditional Indian greeting when she saw them.

Rachel leaned to the side a bit and saw me sitting in the chair. She opened her mouth to speak, but my mother was the one who spoke. "Rachel, it is good to see you, but we're a little busy now." She quickly glanced at me.

"Well Mrs. Patel, if it's about last night, that's what I want to talk to you about."

My mouth formed an O. What was she doing? Sure sometimes Rachel was light-headed, but I don't think she would be this stupid. I began to tremble again. They said it took months before weed leaves your body. How long did it take to leave you brain?

Mama put a hand on her hip and titled her head slightly. "I'm listening."

Rachel took a breath, like she was about to perform on a stage or something. "Your daughter woke up in dirty clothes this morning right?"

Mama nodded.

"Well you see Mrs. Patel; I got high at party last night. Badly high, I could barely walk. A friend from school who happens to know your daughter called her in the middle of the night so she can come to take me home. Jani was nice enough to actually come. She got dressed quickly and came to get me. But once she got there, the cops came. So she quickly rushed me out of the house, but we kind of tripped and fell into the mud. My cousin Mark came by and picked me up later and Jani was so tired, she just came up and fell asleep with her clothes on."

Mama looked Rachel for a minute, then she turned to me. "Jani," she said cocking her head towards Rachel. "Is this true?"

I quickly played along. "Yeah Mama. I didn't want to wake you or Papa, so I just quickly left. Rachel's right; I was too tired when I got him; I guess I just fell asleep on the bed. I'm sorry Mama, I was afraid to tell you, but she's my friend, I wanted to help her."

Mama narrowed her eyes at me. I played the innocent face. She turned to Papa. He just shrugged. "She wanted to help a friend," he said.

She stood there, clutching the doorknob. For a minute I thought she would slam the door on Rachel, but she didn't. Instead she just turned and thanked Rachel.

"Um, to make it all up, I would like to invite Jani to mall with me later today." Rachel gave a warm smile. "My older cousins will there and a friend of ours, Mary."

I bit my lip. Yeah Mary was my friend, a very sweet girl, but a bit . . . odd. She was a Wiccan. I had nothing against that of course, but sometimes her ways were unique. She also read. A lot. Lately she's been reading some book series about cats. It was called Warriors or something, I'm not too sure.

Mama looked at me and sighed. "Alright, what time should I drop her off?"

Rachel shook her head. "No need Mrs. Patel, We'll pick her up. Around one?-if that's okay?"

Mama nodded. Rachel bowed to my parents and waved by to me, and she was out. My parents looked at each other and sighed. Wow. Thank God for Rachel.

I guess you could say Mama was less than thrilled about me going to hang out with a girl who just got high.

"No monkey business alright?" she scolded me as I was taking out the garbage.

I looked away so I could roll my eyes. "Mama you know I would never do those things. Don't you trust me?"

Mama didn't answer. Just pursed her lips and continued to talk. "Bad girls don't get into college, don't become doctors or lawayers."

I nodded my head. "Yes Mama and I will be one of those things. Don't you believe I will?"

Again, not a single word.

As I took the garbage out, the bright sun warm up my face, which felt good after the cold night before. As I placed the garbage outside, I had the strange feeling that made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

I turned and almost jumped at the sight of a hairless cat sitting on the front steps of my house. I couldn't help but let out a squeal. It was such an ugly, yet funny looking . . .

Wait a second. Rachel last night was rambling on about a funny looking hairless cat. Was she actually telling the truth?

I slowly started walking up to the cat, holding my hand out. Just as I was about to reach it, I went crashing down. There was a stupid crack in the pavement and of course I had to go and trip on it.

As I got up, I looked to see the cat again, but it was gone. It frickin disappeared. What the? How is that possible? I mean, I know cats are suppose to be fast but, a cat disappearing like that? I didn't even hear a bush rattle or anything. Huh. Strange.

Later, Rachel came to pick me up. I kissed my parents good-bye and jumped into the car. Rachel had called shotgun, so I was in the back with Rachel's sixteen-year-old cousin and Mary. The little bookworm was so deep into her cat book, she didn't even realize I was there.

I tapped her shoulder. "Meow. Are you there Mary?"

Mary looked up, a bit startled. She smiled when she saw it was me. "Oh Jani, you gave me a heart attack. Sorry I didn't see you. Jayfeather just found out who his father is and now his siblings and him are freaking out."

"Oh . . ." I searched for words, but couldn't really find any. "That's um . . . interesting. So you're enjoying the book?"

Mary nodded her head like a ragdoll. She turned to Rachel. "Hey Rach, can we stop by the bookstore while we're there? The latest book came out yesterday and I want to get it before they sold out."

Rachel shrugged. "Sure, no problem. But Mary I highly doubt a book series about cats is going to sell out quickly."

Rachel and I laughed.

"Yeah," I commented. "Those things are like bedtime stories my mama would tell me when I was little."

Mary narrowed her amber eyes and shook her head. "For StarClan's sake-"

"That girl cracks me up!" Rachel let out another laugh. I high fived her.

Looking at Mary, I saw her pale skin was starting to turn as red as her hair. I wiped the smile off my face and petted her arm. "Sorry Mary."

Rachel reached from the front and patted her knee. "Yeah me too. I only torture the people I love the most."

Mary giggled a little, and continued back to her book, read she began reading intensely now.

Rachel and I chatted as we drove to the mall. Sometimes Mary would peep in to our conversations then go back to her reading.

Soon, yet not too soon, Mary began to argue with her cousin who was driving. I leaned my head against the car window, gazing out at the passing house that we went by. Endless rows of Tudor style houses, Spaniard style, English style, and houses that seriously needed to be flipped.

The car stopped at a red light as we were about to hit the highway. I looked around at the trees and various forms of that were all around (just sparrows really). Then, sitting calmly in the tall stalks of grass, I noticed a tiny brown figure. Leaning closer to the glass, I noticed it was . . . . what the hell? Another cat?

This one actually had fur, brown fur, like a brownie, with stripes on it, kind like the stripes of a Tiger, and it had striking amber eyes.

It was sort big for a cat; maybe it was just stronger than most strays. If it was a stray. No it had to be. It had no collar, plus there was a torn in its ear and cut on its nose. Poor thing. But what's up with me finding all these weird cats? I know they needed a home and to be loves, but come on. I didn't even like cats that much anyway.

When we finally arrived to the mall, Rachel was hungry (Rachel's always hungry). She ate like she was going to the electric chair when we brought her to the food court. I just had a small salad and a shake.

Window shopping was fun. I actually had enough money to buy a pretty purple blouse that was on sale. Ah the power of cheap store sales and saving my blood money.

We stopped by the bookstore for Mary. I went with her to the bookstore while the other kids went to the Apple store to take pictures with the webcam and post it on their Facebook wall.

Mary went directly to the back of the store where the little kitty books were all snug in the shelves. Running her fingers through the orderly book collection, she took out the last book of the series there was.

You know, for a bunch of cat books, they sure had pretty covers, very natural. Now I can tell why Mary liked them so much. This cover had a picture of gray cat with green eyes in the middle of it, and in the back was scenery that looked like a lake. The title at the top said, Omen of the Star: The Fourth Apprentice.

"What a pretty cat," I said tapping the cat on the cover.

Mary nodded, her red curls bouncing. "I think that might me Dovekit. I think she might become one of the Three in this book."

I nodded trying to look interested. As I turned to walk to the cash register, Mary let out a small gasp.

"The mangas!" she squealed as she grabbed a thin little book from next to one of the cat books.

"The mangos?" I questioned.

She giggled and shook her head. "No Jani, the mangas!" She held up the book. What a surprise they had cats on them. Hang on. The cat in the front looked a lot like the one I saw on our way here.

I grabbed the book from her hand and stared hard at it. There were about four cats, but the one in the front look like a cartoon version of the one I saw this morning.

"Mary, who's this-"

I got cut off as Mary's cell phone rang. She held up a finger as she took out her phone and talked into it.

As she talked I continued to look at it. Strange how similar the cat looked. Well, it was a bit thinner here. And the fur was lighter. And the eyes were squinted like Asian eyes.

Mary got off the phone, looking back at me. "Sorry about that. What were you saying before?"

I gave her back the manga. "Never mind," I said shaking my head.

Mary shrugged and we went off to pay.

As the employee slid the book into the paper back with the bookstore logo on it, I still couldn't help but stare into those deep, powerful amber eyes.

A/N: Hm. A bunch of strange cats stalking her? One with brown fur and one without fur. Gee, I wonder who that could be? . . .