Random Acts of Kittens Page 13

  If I rolled my eyes or groaned at her, I’d only get into even more trouble, so I just said, “Yes, ma’am.”

  I knew this wasn’t going to end here. The principal would call my mom, and then I’d be paying for my actions until who knew when.

  Thinking that Mrs. Snow was done with me, I stood up, and she said, “Now, ask Mr. Francis to come in. He also played a part in the project …”

  My heart buckled. “No! Reuben had nothing to do with it.”

  “You’re going to tell me he didn’t help you plan anything? That he didn’t know you were using your fake Astro to promote the kittens?”

  Why did things sound so much worse when an adult like the principal spelled out each and every one of my mistakes?

  Trying to calm my breathing, I said, “Reuben was just being a good friend.”

  He had been the best friend, and I couldn’t drag him down with me.

  The principal nodded once, but I wasn’t sure it meant she believed me or not. “Very well,” she said. “You’re free to go back to your class. Ask Mr. Francis to step into my office so he can tell me his version of the events.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied.

  When I walked out, Reuben looked up and his eyes were full of tears. I hadn’t seen him cry since we were in first grade and he had fallen from the swings when I’d pushed him harder than he’d been expecting me to.

  “Mrs. Snow wants to talk to you,” I said. “Did you tell Meera about everything already?”

  He looked as if I’d hit him. “Why would I do that?”

  “You were spending a lot of time with her. I trusted you …”

  He shook his head and said, “And I trusted that you’d notice I wanted a kitten all along, but you never even read my application.”

  I was so confused. “What are you talking about? You never applied!”

  “Of course I did. The first day.” In a flash, I remembered that deleted application. Was it his? Why didn’t I go looking for it to check whose it was? Why had I been so thoughtless? Reuben was still speaking. “And I’ve been helping you since the first day, Natalia, but instead of noticing that I loved Johnnycakes, and that we’re a perfect match, you were considering Brigham?”

  “I never even considered Brigham for one second, Reuben. I just said that maybe loving a kitten was something his brother needed, and you took it the wrong way.”

  “The wrong way? I’ve wanted a kitten since I first saw them, and you always thought I was joking!”

  “Why didn’t you tell me clearly?” I asked, hyperaware that the principal and the office lady were witnessing our fight.

  Reuben sighed and put his hands in his pockets. “I … was scared you’d say no. That I wouldn’t be good enough for you.”

  And without another word, he turned around and walked into the principal’s office.

  By the time I’d gone back to resource, it was only a few minutes until the final bell rang, but the whole school seemed to buzz with the latest scandal, once again featuring me in the center of it all.

  “Natalia Flores is the Kitten Cupid!” Jojo said to Solange when she thought I couldn’t hear.

  Solange sent me a disappointed look. Not an hour ago I’d told her I wasn’t involved. What would she think of me now?

  Even the first graders knew the truth. The only person who seemed thrilled with the news was Bodhi, who ran up to me and said, “You had the kittens all this time? Oh, Nati! Can I come over and pet them?”

  Meera walked in my direction and took her brother’s hand. She seemed devastated, and I couldn’t even look her in the eye. In a hurt hiss, she whispered, “Why did you let him get excited about getting a kitten? I know you’ll never give him one, just because you’re so mad at me.”

  Without giving me the chance to explain, she pulled Bodhi away to put him into their mom’s SUV and stormed away to walk home herself.

  Reuben stood beside the flagpole, looking at me and Meera with such sadness, I had to turn away and walk back home. I couldn’t deal with his disappointment too.

  I seethed all the way home, keeping as much distance from Meera as I could. When she reached the corner with the dogs, she hurried as she always did, but when I crested the hill, I saw she was waiting at the top for me.

  “Was it really you?” she asked when I reached her, and her eyes were sparkling with tears. “I mean, the person I told all that personal stuff to on the application?”

  “I’m not going to lie,” I said. “Yes, it was me.” All the anger I couldn’t express for months wanted to erupt, but I didn’t want to let all these emotions out. I was afraid of what I’d find if they came up to the surface.

  Meera sighed and squared her shoulders. “I’m sorry about Slime Supreme, okay? I’m sorry I posted the secret recipe, Nati. I should’ve talked to you first. I shouldn’t have worried so much about what the other kids wanted. But why would you lie all this time about the kittens?”

  “I didn’t lie.”

  “I trusted you,” she said. “I felt like I knew the Kitten Cupid person, and it turns out I did. You must have never considered Bodhi, so why let him be so excited? I understand you’re still mad at me, but why take it out on him?”

  The high school bus stopped on the corner, and the two bulldogs started barking their heads off as the older kids got off the bus and walked home in the middle of the street. Before I could explain to Meera that I never expected things to get so complicated, she was caught up in the swarm of kids as she ran to her house. I didn’t have a chance to tell her that I was considering Bodhi.

  Mami wasn’t back from the flower shop. I needed to talk to her, but the day before Valentine’s was their busiest day of the year, besides Mother’s Day. She’d be gone until late.

  I ran the last few feet to my house, opened the door, and called for Gigi. I longed for her purring to take the stress out of my heart. For her quiet company to tell me everything would be okay. Even if sometimes she gave me a side-eye because I woke up the kittens, I knew she loved me unconditionally.

  “Gigi!” I called when she didn’t come to greet me. I stood by the door, calling her name over and over, expecting to hear her velvety feet padding in my direction, and her gentle chirping that meant, Hello, you’re finally home.

  Gigi either didn’t hear me or she too was mad at me for some reason. I dropped my backpack, with the note from the principal for my mom to sign, by the door and went straight to the laundry room. Maybe Mami or Julieta had come home for a minute and locked Gigi in with the babies to make sure the kittens didn’t destroy the house.

  But the laundry door was partially opened.

  “Gigi?” I asked, peering inside.

  Five little pairs of eyes looked up at me with fear. The kittens had been huddled in a mass of fur and love, and when they saw me, they meowed and rushed around me. Max arched her back just like Gigi did, and rubbed her head against my legs. Fifi and Harry sat quietly, just waiting for me to tell them where their mama was.

  “Where’s Gigi?” I asked softly, so they wouldn’t get scared, and Meggie trilled like a little bird before she tucked herself in a corner. Johnnycakes opened his eyes for a second, and then he went back to sleep.

  I stood frozen, not knowing what to do. If Gigi wasn’t with her babies, where was she? Frantically, I looked all over the house, but there was no trace of my cat other than fur left behind on her favorite cushion by the window.

  Gigi wasn’t in any of her spots underneath the beds, on the windowsill, or on top of the shelf where Papi’s photo looked down at me. I didn’t want to panic, but my heart started racing, and my hands prickled with sweat.

  Where could she be? She’d never leave her babies. She was still so protective of them. Maybe someone had taken her from me. Someone who was mad that I’d been behind Kitten Cupid. With these thoughts buzzing in my mind, I looked everywhere again, hoping I’d find her asleep inside a box, or even the bathtub.

  And then I saw it. The bathroom window that I�
�d left wide open in the morning. A cat could fit through that opening. Especially one as small as my Gigi.

  Knowing there was no time to waste, I made sure the kittens were safe in the laundry room, and I ran out to look for Gigi. The first place I searched was the shed.

  It seemed like a dream that I had found her here eight weeks ago, and that she’d chosen me to save her when she had no other friend. I’d helped her and fed her. I’d given her my whole heart, and now she had left me.

  I looked inside the closet and the bins, but there were no traces of her.

  I called out for her and rode my bike around the whole neighborhood time after time. My legs pumped harder and harder on the wet road, full of potholes after the winter snow. After one too many bumps, I slowed and climbed off my bike. I’d check one last time … as I walked home.

  I hoped to find my bobtailed cat waiting for me around each corner, but she wasn’t there.

  When the vet had said that maybe Gigi had been separated from her family, I had judged them. I’d boasted that I could take the best care of her, and then I’d left the bathroom window open. Now she was gone. I’d only tried to spread happiness, and instead, I’d made a mess of everything. When I rescued Gigi and her babies, I’d only wanted them to be safe and happy. I thought I knew better than anyone who would love them the most. And I hadn’t even been able to keep Gigi safe.

  In a desperate move, I closed my eyes right there in the middle of the sidewalk and sent a prayer to the universe for forgiveness, and for help.

  When I opened my eyes, my cat still wasn’t there. Instead, a familiar car drove in my direction and slowed down until it stopped next to me.

  “Nati?” Julieta asked, squinting as if she had a hard time seeing me in the semi-darkness of the street.

  Before I could even start explaining, my shoulders started shaking. I put a hand over my mouth, but instead of hiding my crying, the hand made it sound like a snort-fart combination.

  Under other circumstances, I’d have laughed, but now all I wanted was to stop the flood of emotions. My small hand couldn’t contain them, and they came out in a wail that seemed to come from the bottom of my heart.

  After my sister helped me put my bike in the trunk (the front wheel stuck out, but our house was just a block away), I sat in the passenger seat, shivering with cold and fear.

  “What’s wrong?” said Julieta softly, leaving the car parked to turn to me. She placed a hand on my shoulder tentatively. How many times had I acted like a feral cat, avoiding all kinds of love and affection so I wouldn’t hurt so much? I flinched at her touch, but my sister, my generous, kind sister, didn’t move her hand away, and I finally melted into the moment and rested my head on her shoulder.

  I let the tears flow, even when they ran off my nose in such an embarrassing way not all the sniffling in the world could contain them.

  Julieta shushed me and caressed my hair, but didn’t say anything. She only gave me the time and space I needed to cry—cry like I hadn’t since Papi had left.

  Finally, when the tears started to run out and the knot in my stomach didn’t hurt so much anymore, I looked up.

  My sister had the same look as the five kittens had the last time I saw them in the laundry room, gathered on their bed and staring at me as if asking where their mama was hiding. The sight of them had broken my heart, but now their need gave me something that had leaked out of me with the tears. A motivation.

  They still needed me to get them their perfect homes.

  I’d planned on them going to their forever homes tonight, and I didn’t want any of them to leave without saying goodbye to Gigi. But everyone would be waiting. My heart swelled with love for my fluffballs. It still hurt that Gigi was gone, but the babies needed me, and if I really loved them, I’d do what was best for them.

  And of course I did really love them—all of them equally. Like Julieta and Beli had told me, love isn’t a pie. I didn’t have to divide my love up between them—I would always have more than enough to go around.

  Finally, I took a shuddering breath and said it aloud. “Gigi’s lost.”

  The words sank in the silence that followed and made my ears ring.

  “Oh, Nati Natasha,” Juli said.

  “I left the bathroom window open, and—”

  “And she ran away,” Julieta said.

  “I only wanted to make people happy, but I made everything worse!”

  Julieta looked skeptical. “You made things worse? How?”

  “The principal deactivated my Astro access. My friends are mad at me, along with everyone else,” I said, ticking off the reasons with my fingers. “Reuben’s hurt that I never saw the application he sent because I deleted it by accident and didn’t realize until today. I never thought he was serious when he kept saying he wanted Johnny for himself.” I dried my eyes with the inside of my shirt and continued. “Meera is hurt that I never told her. And the entire school knows that I was behind the whole Kitten Cupid thing, and now no one will want one, and Mami will know I failed. I couldn’t spread happiness like I told her I would. I couldn’t change people’s minds about last year. The shelter will be full now that it’s almost kitten season. Who’ll want the kittens?”

  Julieta kept caressing my hair and said, “Hayden will be heartbroken if he can’t have Fifi, but he’ll understand if you think another home is better for her.”

  There was no better match for Fifi than Hayden. I’d always known that.

  “You still have the printed-out applications, right?” Julieta asked. “Why don’t you contact the people and see what they have to say before you jump to conclusions? If they say yes, then I’ll drive you around to deliver the bundles of joy. If not, we’ll figure something out.”

  “But Gigi won’t get to say goodbye to them,” I said.

  Julieta looked ahead at the dark road. “Let’s drive around the neighborhood one more time. I mean, what can we lose, right?”

  I hugged her tightly and said, “You’re my favorite sister.”

  “I’m your only sister!” She laughed softly and turned the engine on.

  Julieta drove in silence along the same streets I’d scoured with my bike. Every time we hit a pothole, the trunk lid bounced against the wheel. I bit my lip, straining my eyes to see in the darkened streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of white velvety paws, or the flash of blinking yellow eyes. I rolled down the window, but all I heard were the barks of the neighborhood dogs.

  Julieta sighed. I knew she didn’t want to say we wouldn’t find Gigi. For all I knew, my cat had never been so far from our house, but maybe she’d try to go to her first human’s home. Julieta turned on Reuben’s street, and she screeched to a stop.

  The sidewalks were covered in ice, but there, in the middle of the street, a person walked briskly, holding something in their arms. Julieta drove to the curb, and when I looked out the window to see better, I thought I recognized the way the person walked. His hair was sticking out in all directions, but he carried that bundle as if he had a treasure.

  “Gigi!” I called, and a tiny meow answered.

  “Are you kitten me!” Reuben’s voice exclaimed when the cat he’d been holding wiggled in his arms, wanting to get free, until she finally dropped to the ground.

  “No!” Julieta, Reuben, and I cried as Gigi looked around, disoriented, as if she didn’t know where to dart and hide.

  Without another thought, I got out of the car and called again, in the softest voice I could manage. “Gigi, girl. I’m here, sweetheart.”

  Gigi must have heard the desperation in my voice, or maybe she was just worried about how sad I sounded.

  She meowed, as if saying, There you are! and darted toward me. I knelt down to catch her in my arms, and I hugged her.

  “Oh, my queen, I missed you,” I said, tears falling freely.

  Gigi sniffed my face, and then her dainty tongue licked my tears, always a mama taking care of her loved ones. She had grown so much since I saw her the first time.
Even in the semi-darkness, her coat looked shiny and long. Her tail was still a stump, but she twitched her ears to let me know she too was happy we were together again.

  Finally, she looked at me with a question on her beautiful face.

  “They’re waiting for a last see-you-later kiss,” I said.

  Reuben stood on the sidewalk watching Gigi and me. I had so many questions, but all I could say was “Thank you.”

  He walked toward me, and even though Julieta was watching from the car, I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pressed him tight in a hug. Gigi meowed to warn me not to squish her, and we laughed.

  “She came to my house,” Reuben said, speaking fast. “When I heard the meows, I couldn’t believe it was really her. I tried to call you, but no one answered the phone, so I was bringing her home.”

  My heart thumped hard in my chest as I said, “Reuben, thanks for being such a good friend. Especially because I haven’t been such a great friend back. I never should have made you choose between me and Meera.”

  His eyes widened. “I know why you were upset last year. But I know why Meera was too. I just wish the two of you would talk to each other so I won’t have to lie to anyone.”

  “I’m sorry I asked you to do that.” I hung my head but made sure to meet his amber eyes. Under the moonlight, they looked a little like a cat’s, more specifically like Johnnycakes’s, Reuben’s perfect match. “Come to the house with us,” I offered. “Your Johnnycakes is waiting for you.”

  Reuben placed a hand over his heart as he stepped back to better look at us. “My Johnnycakes? But … the application was lost.”

  Even Julieta laughed from the car. Gigi flattened her ears at the loud sound.

  “Reuben, the only thing I need to know is that your parents are okay with it. I already know you’ll always protect Johnny.”

  “Woo-hoo!” Reuben exclaimed. “What are we waiting for, then?”

  We got back in the car, my cat nestled next to my heart, my sister humming a song, and my friend smiling in the back.