That morning everything seemed tense. Meowlody decided to eat her breakfast early to avoid running in to Purrsephone. She feared her sister may be feeling a little jealous and it was best if she kept out of her sight.
Purrsephone on the other hand decided she was going to go for a quick jog before she had her morning bath. She didn't want to run into Meowlody in case her sister was feeling jealous or mad over what had transpired the night before.
School was no better, Purrsephone had gone to see if Draculaura had and advice in the romance department since her and Clawd's relationship seemed to be going so well. They met over lunch and Draculaura was kind and listened intently to Purrsephone's questions about love and family issues, something Draculaura knew a lot about.
Meowlody decided on a different route, going to see if she could make peace with Clawdeen, a wolf who had no shortage of sibling issues.
"Listen," Clawdeen said over lunch. "I didn't like it when Lala and my brother started dating but I got over it. That's what family does."
"But I think we like the same boy," Meowlody lamented.
"Oh that's tricky," Howleen said as she joined her sister. "I'd definitely be howling mad if Clawdeen started after the same boy I was dating."
"But neither of us is dating him," Meowlody said. "It's just a crush."
"Who do you have a crush on?" Clawd ask as he joined the group. The ever growing Wolf family was a little too much for one kitty to handle and Meowlody went to excuse herself.
"Thanks, uh, for the advice," she smiled. "I think I'm going to see if maybe another cat has some advice. Have you guys seen Toralei lately?"
The Wolf siblings eyed each other and stuttered, trying to find the correct response. "You haven't heard?" Clawdeen said finally.
"Heard what?" Meowlody asked, unsure if she wanted an answer.
"After your little stunt in the cafeteria Toralei's foster mother freaked out and pulled her out of school for the semester!" Clawdeen said. "I heard she went to Ghoul Academy Boarding School. How did you not hear that?"
Meowlody couldn't respond. The news hit her like a ton of bricks and now all she wanted was to see her twin sister. Meowlody tore out of the cafeteria to find her sister, who having just heard the same news of their best friend was now running around the school trying to find Meowlody.
"Meowlody!" Purrsephone cried when she finally found her sister.
"Purrsephone!" Meowlody cried back and hugged her twin as hard as she could. "Did you hear about Toralei too?" Purrsephone nodded and wiped away a tear. Both girls were sad to hear their best friend was gone, maybe forever, but they were even more scared of losing each other.
"Hey, hey, hey," a voice purred behind them. "What are two pretty kitties doing being so sad?" The twins turned to see Felix standing in the hall, but he looked so different from when he was wearing his work clothes. He had on dark jeans and a tight fitted tee and looked extra dreamy today. Both girls struggled to compose themselves, but Felix walked over and wiped a tear from Meowlody's cheek. "I don't like to see such nice, pretty girls so sad, okay?" They nodded again and he smiled. "Hopefully I'll see you in class," he said as the bell rang and the trio had to find their way to their separate classes. Both twins vowed to themselves not to let a silly boy break up their bond, even though he was just so cute.
"Hey Purrsephone," Meowlody said during the humiliation that was Home Ick. "Felix looked pretty cute when he was out of his work clothes, eh?"
Purrsephone nodded, "Yeah, he certainly knows how to dress, but he seemed different from how he was at the Maul."
"Yeah, better!" Meowlody said. "He seemed, I dunno, cooler."
"I guess," Purrsephone said with a sigh. Meowlody was right, he did seem different. Cooler yes, but Purrsephone liked the Felix from the Coffin Bean, sweet, confident, and down to earth. School Felix seemed almost cocky. Maybe it was the clothes, maybe it was getting to know him outside of work, but there was definitely something different about him.
That night was Meowlody and Purrsephone's last training shift at the Coffin Bean before they had a couple days off and then were fit into the regular schedule. Lagoona had informed them that the entire shift, from when they arrived until they closed up, would be a test. If they passed they got an increase in pay and a better discount on food and drinks. If they failed they had one more chance to pass and if they failed twice they would be fired.
"Morning girls," Lagoona said as the twins arrived for their shift exactly fifteen minutes early and proceeded to get changed in the back room. They were on the floor with their long hair tied back and work clothes on with ten minutes to spare and took the time to clean their work stations like Lagoona had taught them.
They had lucked out that their test shift had been on a night with no new movies opening at the Maul theatre and no big sales going on at any of the stores. The shift was steady, but not overwhelming and the twins worked together to keep each other from slipping up in any way. They refused to admit it, but they enjoyed working at the Coffin Bean, and they especially loved the extra money that was coming their way now that they were employed.
Their shift was just about over and so far the night had gone by better than the twins had expected. There was not one slip up, not one moment of confusion. Every customer had left happy and Lagoona looked quite proud.
"Hey kitties," Felix said as he approached the counter. He was back to mall Felix, loose jeans, faded t-shirt, and comfortable shoes. His smile was bright and beaming when he saw the twins, not cool and sly like at the school.
"What can we get for you today?" Purrsephone asked. She much preferred this version of Felix and looking over her shoulder she saw Lagoona giving her a thumbs up and she felt a little more relaxed and knew it was okay to talk for a moment.
"The usual please," he said and held out his change for his drink. Purrsephone called his order to Meowlody and Purrsephone took the time available to talk with her crush.
"So how was work tonight?" she asked him while she counted out his change.
"A little hectic, but it's always weird when a squid monster needs shoes for eight children, each with eight legs!" he laughed and Purrsephone joined in. "How about you?"
"Good, really good actually," she told him. "And thanks for trying to cheer my sister and I up today at school," she purred in her flirtiest tone.
"At school?" he said. "I don't think I saw you two, but I did look for you." The look on Felix's face was confused, unsure what Purrsephone was talking about.
"You don't remember?" she asked. "Right after lunch. Meowlody and I were, uh," she didn't want to admit she was crying. "We were having a bad day and you came and cheered us up."
"Wasn't me," he said. "I spent lunch in the Mad Science Lab catching up on what I missed during the first few days of classes." Meowlody looked over at her sister and although she didn't mean to eavesdrop she'd heard every word. What the heck was going on?
"Oh," Felix said, knocking himself lightly on the head. "Duh, you probably ran into my brother!"
"Brother?" the twins mewed in unison.
"Yeah, I didn't mention my brother?" Felix said. "Weird, I thought I would have by now. We're twins, just like you!"