Just Knowing You

Chapter 7: Genevieve

"I don't care Genevieve. We'll talk about this after school."

My mom is being unreasonable, which honestly isn't a surprise. I'll do all the work, it was an abandoned Kitten on the side of the road for god's sake!

"Okay, yeah," I say as I jump out of her car closing the door, sulking my way down the sidewalk towards the school doors.

Kitty has been really good for me honestly.

She's like a therapy cat.

It's fine I'll figure it out. I'll keep her. Let's just focus on now, what I need to be doing right now for school. Okay, locker first.

"What's up?" Scar sighs and leans on the locker next to mine with furrowed eyebrows. How does she know something's wrong? She's a mind reader I swear to god.

"Uhm, nothing just my mom I guess. She won't let me keep Kitty..." The girls all came over on Sunday for a couple of hours to meet Kitty and play with her, and I think they got a little too attached. Maybe even more than me.

"What?" She draws out the 'what' to make her sound like a whiny kid who wasn't allowed to buy a candy bar from the store.

"Yep," I slam my locker closed and we start walking towards the cafeteria where we know Vic will be waiting. "She doesn't think I can take care of her," I say still overcome with dread at the thought of Kitty being sent to a shelter or pet store where she won't be treated nicely.

I plop my stuff down on the table startling Victoria mid-homework that she didn't do last night. I drop my hands over my stuff with my head following, falling nose-first into my pencil case and notebook.

"What!" Vic says exasperatedly taking out the earbuds she was wearing while working.

"Kitty may be going back to wherever she came from..." S broke the news to Vic as gently as she could.

"That's blasphemy!" Vic says in outrage. "You have to convince her to let you keep Kitty! I'll make a PowerPoint for you. if a PowerPoint doesn't change her mind, nothing will."

"True, power points are very convincing. For any situation." Scarlett says agreeing with Vic before turning to me, "Try not to stress about it though, it'll work out"

Scar's advice does little to ease my mind, my mom's kind of an impenetrable force when it comes to not letting me have what I want. If it really comes down to it I know I'll try my hardest to keep Kitty though.

***

When gym starts Mr. J announces the start of the badminton unit and says we'll need a partner for doubles and my heart drops. Good god today really isn't my day.

First, my kitten might be taken from me and put into a shelter with a hundred other kittens, and now I'll have the pleasure to be forced to partner with either the gym teacher, or a random person who doesn't want to be partnered with me. I wish I could just sit out, it'd make everything easier.

"Nah I already have a partner sorry bro."

I turn my head slightly and overhear Otis reject one of his friends as a partner and I suddenly become scared, thinking I'd have to be the partner to whoever Otis rejected since we're the last two, but he partners with someone else rather quickly. Oh.

"Hey, speedy," Otis just walked up to me. Casually.

And I was gawking at him. He called me that odd nickname from math. I didn't even notice him approach me.

"Hi," I say with a smile just before he asks to be my partner.

MY partner. mine. Am I hallucinating or something? "Uhm, yeah, sure... but just a forewarning I'm not really good at badminton, or any sports really," I say laughing hoping he doesn't regret his decision, but he just laughs and flashes that dimple I love so much.