A Shadowcat's Tale, Chapter I(Revision 3)

A Shadowcat's Tale, Chapter I(Revision 3)

Hi. My name is Clarice Aryanna Harkins.(Though my parents tell me my original last name was "Dominique". But whatever.) I'm just an average girl who's being thrown into a situation which is proving quite unnerving... See, up until a few of months ago, I was just a normal Senior in Falchion High School, hanging out with my friends, and enjoying life. Now, in High School, I didn't particularly stick out. I was always keeping to myself during Lunch Break, working by myself in most of our classes... Oh, don't get me wrong. I liked hanging out with my friends. Patrisha, a somewhat popular, white-furred tigress, and Alexia, a sort of giggly, but extremely intelligent brown sea otter, were my two closest friends, in fact... Well, okay. They were my only friends. Honestly, though, the only time we spent together in school is whenever one or both would find me between periods, or during Lunch, or once a week, when we our class schedules met during Physical Education and English. But given my own choice, I chose to remain mostly to myself in High School.
I don't really know why I was such a solitary girl... I just felt more comfortable being by myself most of the time. It might be the fact that every time I tried to be social, I was picked upon for one reason or another...

It seemed that one major facet for which I was mocked was the fact that I was adopted...(I honestly don't know how that rumor spread in the first place, but unfortunately, it's quite true...) The other major facet, however, were my looks.
Honestly, I never thought myself ugly... Perhaps not as attractive as the girls on the cheer-leading squad, or even my own friends, but I certainly never thought myself ugly...
For the most part, I was a fairly average girl, standing five feet and seven inches tall. My large Burmese cat ears added about another two inches of height to my head when they were upright, but those don't count for much. Just part of my head, sticking out in front of my raven-black hair which, aside from a tuft of bangs and the length in back which stopped around my shoulders, was held back in place by slightly lighter-black hair band.
My friends tell me that my black hair accents my soft, single-color, brown-red fur as well as my soft, blue eyes, but I've never really been concerned about my looks. If I were, I'd probably do something about my tail which, while being the normal length of a Burmese cat's tail, had half the density and business of a fox's tail.(According to my parents, I'm actually half red fox, too, so that makes sense.) This, of course, always made it look kind of scruffy and unkempt.

Yes, I suppose these things combined were more than enough "ammunition" to use against me, as far as those jerks were concerned. Apparently, if they figured something was wrong with me, or if they thought some rumor about me were true, they definitely used it against me.
"Who are they?," you might ask? No one in particular, really.

Just... Bullies...

I think it was jocks and cheerleaders..."the populars", mostly. But that comes with the territory when you're labeled a "nerd" in any grade of any school.
Yes, you heard me right. I'm apparently a nerd. Am I nerd because I like books more than I like most people? Maybe it's the reading glasses...or even my choice in clothing? I dunno. For the most part, I don't even really care, either. It's was just annoying to be constantly mocked for personal tastes and the sort. But I digress. There's far more important things that should be said before I get into my present...and my future...

As I'd begun saying, up until a few months ago, I was just a normal Senior in High School with my friends. Unfortunately(or fortunately) for me, graduation creeped up on us rather quickly. The normal "formal-dress-and-speech" thing applied... We donned our robes, said our peaces, threw our caps into the air, then partied the rest of the night away. Well, "we" as in "we the students" and "partied" as in "did our own things after graduation night". For example, I know the local jocks proceeded to head to the nearest bar and get plastered, then hit on "every piece of hot meat" there. Trish, Lexi, and I had other plans, naturally. We went back to my parents' place and had our own little party. Things got a little weird when Trish had a little too much of our family's "Special Green Tea" and she started hitting on Lexi and I(The tea has a very relaxing effect due to the fact it's made with catnip and some hand-grown herbs.), but for the most part, it was a really fun night of video games, general chat, movies, and a little more of my family's tea at the end of the night.
The next morning, I was up surprisingly early and managed to get a really funny picture of the girls cuddling in slumber.(They must have had way too much of our tea the night before.) It was hilarious when they finally woke up and shrieked in surprise at one another. In fact, after the shock, we all had a good laugh about it. Those were indeed good times... Hell, we had plenty of good times from that point on. For a while, anyway...

As fate would have it, a couple of months later, a letter came in the mail for Alexia. Over the Summer, she had sent away to several colleges. Some near...some far... On the day I speak of, the letter that came to Alexia was a reply from a college somewhere several thousand miles away. Apparently, they were very impressed by Lexi's remarkable grades.(With straight A's and a near-miraculous 712:719 on her S.A.T.(Scholastic Aptitude Test), who wouldn't be?) They wanted her to come there right away to finish her education. Well, Lexi obviously wasn't going to pass this up, considering the college I speak of, Masamune Technical College, is one of the best not only in that country, but in the world.

As Lexi told us that very same day, I know somewhere in the back of her mind, she was going to miss us, but at the time, she was just so astonished and happy to be going to Masamune Tech that it wasn't showing...and we certainly weren't going to remind her. So, off she went the next day, on a plane to Masamune. That was the last we'd heard of her since, though her parents told us she'd just been really busy. Too busy to even write anything extensive home.

From that day on, Trish and I continued to do much the same as Lexi did, seeking out colleges and the sort. Then, not a month ago, fate intervened again...
It seems that Patrisha's father had managed to land a once-in-a-lifetime job somewhere North of our hometown. This meant, unfortunately, that Trish and family had to move. Up to Yasutsuna City. Which is a good 320 miles away... Again, there were no long goodbyes...but there was certainly a lesser amount of joy to be had between us than was with Alex's big move. They moved that same day...

For several weeks, I remained in my room, chatting with Trish on the Internet, not wanting to go out and do anything due to my fears of the unknown... What awaited me, however, I was soon to find out...

My parents were quietly growing concerned with the fact that I had not been out in several weeks to do anything. No job hunts... No walks in the park... No nothing. My parents, being parents, decided it was time for me to get out there and do pretty much anything besides mope. What they did, however, was both a gift and a curse all in one, I must admit...
"Clarice," my mother called from downstairs in our two-story house. "Please come down. Your father wants to have a word with you." Mom... She always hid behind Dad... But I have to admit, Dad always seemed to connect with me better than she did...ever since they adopted me so many years ago... So, I walked down.
As soon as I walked into our living room, I saw my father. He wasn't exactly a "demanding" figure... But he wasn't exactly hard to take seriously, either.
Standing at six feet even, my father was fairly tall for a gray raccoon. He was also pretty relaxed about what he wore and how he appeared. Between his black ears and down his grey head, he had scruffy-looking, but still well-managed brown-grey hair which grew down to the middle of his back(and was usually kept in a ponytail). He also had long bangs which seemed to defy gravity as they hung there, partly obscuring the right side of his black-and-white-masked face. He also had a typical, bushy raccoon tail behind him which usually swung this way and that.
More to the modifiable traits, he wore a normal, black t-shirt with a pocket over the left side and plain, blue, denim jeans. This was generally the kind of thing he wore every day, though he usually put on high-top sneakers when he wandered around town.

Anyway, I took my usual spot on our comfy couch, my father initiated the conversation.
"Honey," he started, "we've noticed that since your friends left, you've been rather down. However..." Uh-oh... They'd finally decided to have that conversation with me... "That should not debilitate you from going out and finding a job...or looking at colleges in the area. You're eighteen now," my father continued with a cool stare. "It's time you made an adult out of yourself. We won't be around to support you forever, Claire."
Ah yes, the pet name. Dad always thought it was cute to call me that. He always used that name whenever we got into a serious discussion. He did so to show that he was trying to be fair...or to tell me that I have every right to talk back to him. But in this case, I didn't rebuttal... I knew that he was right. It wasn't fair to them that I'd been sponging off of them without doing anything in return for the past...what seemed like months, but was really seven weeks. I suddenly realized just how unhinged from reality I'd become since Alex and Trish left...and my father could read that in my eyes.
"Claire," he started again, "it's alright... I know you miss your friends, sweetie, but I bet they miss you just as much as you them." He continued to speak, giving a light sigh as he did so. "They also have to 'keep on keepin' on,' as the saying goes; move ahead without spending too much time looking back...
"I'm sorry, Clarice...," he said, his speech going back to a serious tone rather than 'pushover' one he used a moment ago. "Your mother and I both love you with all our hearts, but we think it's time you finally go out there and continued your schooling."
It was at those words that I blinked. "...what?"
"Your schooling, Claire. We think you should--"
"So you're not kicking me out onto the streets?," I asked in an uplifted tone.
"Er...no? Not unless you really want to move out...," my father replied, apparently a little confused himself.
"I will, father... In due time. I really will! But I thought you were going to kick me out onto the streets with only the money I'd saved up..." I warmly smiled to him. He returned the gesture.
"No, Claire... This is your 'Base of Operations' as far as your mother and I are concerned. You can stay here as long as you like... Provided..." Wait? There was a catch? "...that you find something. A job. Schooling. Anything that will further your life. Okay?"
Whew... All and all, that's not that bad of a catch. "You've got it, Old Man!," I said with a grin.
Dad chuckled. "That's my little Shadowcat." Another nickname he used for me. I honestly don't know why, though.

My father stood up and stretched, looking down at me. "A'right. You're free to go now, hun." He then leaned over and spoke softly to me. "I hope you're feeling a little better now, sweetie... Your mother and I hate seeing you so down in the dumps. It just doesn't a suit pretty young woman like you. Ya know?"
I smiled at that and tried to hide the fact that I was blushing... "Daaaaaaad... C'mon, drop the mushy stuff already. I'm alright!," I said with assuredness.
"Alright then! Now get out there and win one for the Harkins!" 'Win one for the Harkins' indeed... Goofy dad... I wouldn't admit it, but Charles was a great father. I didn't want to admit it because, after learning I was adopted, I'd always harbored the fear of being abandoned...again... I guess that's really why it hit me so hard when the girls went their separate ways. Even if I didn't realize it until then...

Well, not even a week ago, after several failed attempts at trying to find a job, I found a nearby college that was within driving distance. I actually found it completely by accident while driving to another job I'd heard about. Considering that I was having such a rough time finding a job, I decided to stop by and check this college out.

After parking my compact car, I looked around the courtyard of the college a little. It was definitely a very pretty campus...like how one might figure a college campus should look, really.
From the center of the parking lot, there were tall sets of steps leading upward about six feet. At the end of the stairs, marble columns, separated about twelve feet apart horizontally, rose up and attached to a large roof. The "alcove" behind the columns went forward toward the entrance to the building about 100 feet or so. This gave students a nice, cool, shaded place to sit and talk, do homework, and generally muck about on their off hours.(In fact, I recall seeing a few doing all of the above when I went there for the first time.)
Looking away from the entrance a bit, grass and some small bushes surrounded the area on either side of the concrete steps. Apparently, the building was on a hill(either artifical or natural) as the grass sloped downward matching the steps' trajectory.(If you were at the top of the hill.) Some students lounged in the green grass as well.
To one direction, I could see a few more on-campus buildings. These looked more like small versions of apartment complexes, actually. I couldn't help but think to myself, Does this campus have on-campus housing? That'd be nice... To the other side, I could see a couple of smaller buildings, a fenced-in area that looked to be for sports or recreational purposes, and what looked like a place to get some food...which my stomach reminded me that I was in dire need, considering I hadn't had anything for breakfast today and it was a little past 1:31 PM.(Or if you're looking at my watch, "1:87 PM". Damned Liquid Crystal Display busted a bit from that jackass from High School, I remembered.) But business before pleasure.

Straight ahead I went, walking up the stairs, trying to ignore the fact that people were, for whatever reason, looking my way. You'd think they'd never seen a Burmese cat before... Maybe it was my scruffy tail... Or maybe I had a big sign on me that read "Attention: I Am A Nerd. Please Stare and Laugh."(Although no one was laughing. Just staring.) In any case, I was getting a lot of stares, but for the most part, they didn't last long. I guess it was just that I was new to the campus.

Pushing open the glass double-doors, I slowly walked into the building. The inside was even more amazing than the outside! With all the shiny flooring, glass doors and walls, spiraling stairs and glass-walled elevators, I suddenly wondered if this place wasn't a college after all, but an office building of some sort...
Eventually, I found my way to what appeared to be a receptionist's desk. The girl behind the desk, a corgi girl wearing a purple business dress-suit with her dark brown hair in a ponytail, gave me a friendly smile as she spoke.
"Welcome to Morning Star Community College. How may I help you?"
"Er..." Yes, I know. Brilliant introductory statement. "I was wondering if I could possibly enroll here...," I asked her.

Well, with those few words, I found myself being academically tested, re-tested, having my previous school records verified, and all that good stuff you would expect might happen once you enroll into a community college. But...to skip the boring details, they told me that I was as good as accepted into Morning Star Community College after the heavy details came back and I was able to pay tuition.

In the end, they gave me a week to think it over(while all the information I'd given them was being processed and such) and handed me the proper forms to fill out for financial help.(Because I'd asked. No two ways about it, I was going to need financial aid to get through college.) On the way out, I thanked the corgi secretary who'd initially helped me(whose name was Shoshonna), and finally, was on my way back home so I could find the proper information I needed to fill out the aforementioned financial assistance forms.

Wow, I thought as my favorite song played on my car radio. I'm this close to being a college student... And all I really had to do was find the place. All and all, I'd say that this was a pretty damned good day for me... Indeed, this was a great day to be alive for me. I recall wondering how long my luck would last, but it was only a momentary thing. I had to face facts. I was actually making progress! There was no stopping me at this point.

"See, honey?" My Dad spoke to my Mom as we ate a nice, hot dinner of shrimp-fried rice and these weird cream-filled noodle things of which I can't remember the name.(Either way, I always did like Namakurian cuisine.) "I told you she'd go out and win one for the Harkins!"
"Indeed she did, Charles." Mom was just as proud of me as Dad, but she showed it differently. It was less obvious, when she was proud... I'd learned not to take it personally by this point, however. "So, you're going to a community college, Clarice?"
"With any luck!" I couldn't help but grin. I really was looking forward to this. So much so, in fact, that I couldn't even remotely feel intimidated, or scared. I couldn't even imagine anything to be scared about. This must be what Lexi felt before she left...
"What do you know about the college?," Mom asked.
"Well... It's big, and it's really pretty..."
"What about the education system?"
"Seems pretty thorough," I said with confidence. "As I said, they put me through a couple of academical tests today, which were fairly difficult...but I'm pretty sure that that was just a taste of what to expect."
"Think you'll enjoy yourself, Claire?," my dad asked.
"All and all, I think this is going to be a blast!"

I brightly smiled to both my parents. They returned the smiles.(Though my Mom did so in a sort of unnatural way.) Hell, we were all smiles at the dinner table that night. And why not? I finally seemed to have some sort of direction to my life... My parents could stop worrying about me now that I had something constructive to do...not to mention I was no longer moping around, all depressed and whatnot... Yeah... For the first time since my friends left, I finally felt complete... Felt whole... But as I quickly found out, my mind wouldn't let these feelings stay...

That night, I made the mistake of chatting with Trish over Instant Messenger program. We got to talking about what was going on at present time.
"So, anything interesting happen in the past couple of days, Cee-Cee?," 'Crouching Tiger' typed.(That was Trish's screen name. "Crouching Tiger". It made sense, seeing as she was a tigress and into some form of Karate.)
"Well," I(using my screen name of "Shadowcat") started back. "For the most part, I've been a little down since you and Alex left, but guess what?"
"What?"
I couldn't help but grin. "I think I'm this close to being a college student! "(Yes, I type with Emotion Icons. Doesn't everybody?)
"Whoa! Really?! That's awesome, Cee-Cee! "
"Isn't it just? Heh, yeah... I'll be going to Morning Star Community College starting next week, once the paperwork gets through."
"Paperwork?"
"Yeah, they had to test me and whatnot, even though I had S.A.T. scores. They also had to run a few background checks with Falchion High and Falchion Elementary, I guess, to see if the records I gave them were accurate."
"Aww...that sucks. :("
"Well... It's a community college, sure, but even they have some standards. Ooh, that reminds me. I should probably get around to filling out these forms they gave me for financial aid."
"Heh, probably! I mean, you're just a poor college student now. I don't think your meager allowance is gonna cover tuition costs. :3"
I laughed at that. "Oh, stow it, Trish. Like you're doing much better on all matters money. X3"
"LOL(Laugh Out Loud)!! Yeah..."

Even though we were miles apart, I knew she was laughing as well. We were both really having fun tonight. It was great to be able to talk with her, even if it was just through text boxes on the Internet. At least...we were... Until...

"So, Cee-Cee?," Trish sent. Before I could reply, she continued. "Have you heard anything from Lexi-Cross since I've been gone?"

...Lexi...

Neither of us had heard anything about her since she left, despite the fact her parents seemed to believe that she was just perpetually occupied with college and work. Every time we tried to ask them for copies of the letters she sent, they refused. We both knew that Lexi's parents, in their infinite "blue-blooded" wisdom, didn't think we were worth of their daughter...but she was our friend, damn it! They'd never been able to understand why their daughter... ...our dear friend, Lexi, would want to go to a "common school" instead of being privately tutored at home. They didn't know "what she saw" in us. Stupid blue-blooded bastards...

"...Cee-Cee? Clarice?"
"Huh?," I spoke aloud, the noise from the Instant Message snapping me out of my little trance. "Sorry. I was working on those forms," I quickly replied to Trish. It was a lie, but Trish seemed to buy it.
"Oh... Okay then. Hey, I should get going myself. It's nearly midnight over here in Yasutsuna. Now don't stay up too late working on those forums, Cee-Cee. I know it's somewhere around eleven there, too. You need your beauty sleep, after all, sexy thing that you are. ;3"
Ugh... Trish always did that, even when she was here. I knew she was joking, but even at this distance, I blushed.
"Riiiiiight...," I responded. "You, too. G'night, hun. :)"
Even though I didn't feel as I wrote, with a virtual "hug," I closed out the window, then the messenger program.
Shortly after, I lifted my glasses from my face and rubbed my eyes, emitting a slight sigh. I don't have time for this, I thought to myself, quickly replacing my glasses and turning my attention, for the first time since I'd left Morning Star, to the forms they'd given me. They were pretty straight-forward, asking for all sorts of personal information and the like... But man, did they ever go on! As I shut down my computer and walked over to my regular desk, I hoped I wouldn't have to fill out anything like this for another long while...

Little to my knowledge, hours melted away as I filled page after page. When I finally looked at the clock on the wall after finishing the forms, I was astonished to find that an entire four hours had passed since I started. It was already 3:13 in the morning and there I sat, still in my oversized purple sweater, light-black casual-dress skirt, and black knee-high socks.(It was true that it was Summer time, but it had been surprisingly cool lately. Besides, it's my favorite outfit.)
I stretched a little, emitting a light grunt, then picked up my forms, going over them one last time. It took a couple of minutes, but once I was satisfied with what I had written, I put the forms back on my desk then turned off my desk lamp, plunging the room into a soft darkness. As I stood and started undressing in my dimly-illuminated room(the only light was coming from the blinded window to the side), I started thinking about my friends again...how much they meant to me... My ears folded back as I remembered all the good times we shared throughout high school... I was really going to miss all that...

Again, I emitted a sigh and lay down on my soft bed, wearing only my underclothing. I closed my eyes, letting my mind wander...which it did. From one thing to another...past events to those pending...my mind wandered all about. Was...I really ready for this? Was I ready to move on? I started to drift off, thinking about what was coming... College life. How different would it be from high school? Would I be able to make new friends? What would happen to my old friends once classes started? Answers to these questions would eventually come...

I eventually drifted off completely, letting the cool currents being blown by my ceiling fan lull me into a quiet, dreamless sleep. Come next Friday...I'd know how different things would be. Possibly...much, much different...