Kitten In Converse

Cat's Don't Like To Get Wet

They didn't slow down until they had reached the porch to Tyson's house. As soon as they were safe underneath the roof, he let go of Kat's wrist and began to pant. He held his body up by putting his hands on his knees and he breathed in and out very heavily. When he looked over to see how Kat was doing, he noticed that she was barely panting. He looked over at her, but she didn't notice his gaze. She was too busy looking around at the house.

"Take your shoes off before we go in," Tyson instructed. He began to unlace his shoes and watched as Kat easily slid hers off by stepping on the heel. "You know that ruins the shoes right?" he asked. Kat looked at him and nodded her head. She knew very well that it ruined the shoes and that was the point. She hadn't had a new pair of shoes in a while and she really needed them. The only way her foster family was going to give her new ones, was if her old ones were basically useless. "That wastes money." Kat nodded her head again, but didn't say anything. Tyson found his peculiar, but didn't mention it. Instead, he picked his sneakers up and opened the door.

He let Kat scoot by him in a moment. As soon as he closed the door, he could smell the food that was being cooked from the kitchen. He immediately smiled at the smell and dropped his shoes off by the stairs. Kat did the same and followed him to the kitchen.

"Mom, I have a friend over!" Tyson called. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he hugged his mother. "Is there enough for another guest?" he wondered. He looked at the boiling pot on the stove and sniffed again. "Chicken noodle soup?"

"For T," his mother said. She moved him away from the stove and added little chops of carrots in the mix. She turned around to look at Tyson's friend, but was immediately stricken with surprise. "Oh! I thought you would've been Frankie or Fisher." She walked up to Kat and held out her hand. "I'm Mariah, Tyson's mother. Pleased to meet you."

"Kat." She shook her head and leaned awkwardly against the counter. She was surprised to see that Tyson's mother was white and hadn't expected that he would've been in the foster system too. She seemed friendly to him and Tierra, so she was happy for them. It was weird to know someone else was at once, without a family like her. Mariah continued to stare at Kat for a moment before Tyson grumbled under his breath at his mother.

"Oh, shush." She pushed him away from the stove again and began cutting up celery bits. "What happened to your eye?" she wondered.

"Mom!"

"It's not rude to ask," she said. She looked back up at Kat and waited for a response. She continued chopping though, so Kat felt like she had to answer or else she'd get her fingers chopped right off.

"My glasses broke into my eyes," Kat said. She reached inside her pockets and held onto her music player. "My glasses were really cheap." Mariah nodded her head and looked back down at the cutting board. "Thank you for letting me stay over. It's only until the rain stops that way I could go back outside."

"Oh, you like the outdoors?" Mariah asked.

"Not really." Mariah and Tyson both shot her a questioning look. Kat pretended that she didn't notice it though and remained to lean against the counter. Slowly, Mariah and Tyson just started sharing glances with each other and Kat felt incredibly uncomfortable with the situation. She was probably dripping all over her floor. "Look, Tys—"

"Can we go upstairs in my room?" Tyson asked. His mom stopped stirring the noodles and nodded her head yes.

"Leave the door open."

"I got it, mom." Tyson shook his head and looked towards Kat. "Go up the stairs and it's the first door." Kat seemed stricken for a moment but she left with ease. As soon as she was gone, Tyson and Mariah both exhaled held in sighs. "I'm sorry that I brought her here, but I didn't want her to be left in the rain."