On the Run
#1 of Catnip!
September had always been, and still was the perfect month in his mind - right between the chill of winter and the humidity of summer. In his younger years, the kitten had always enjoyed the autumn season. His fondest memories of those lazy, fun-filled days of autumn always returned with the changing of the seasons. Growing up in a suburban surrounding had been quite the experience: joking with friends during school, harassing grown-ups with childish pranks, diving into piles of fallen leaves and disturbing the neighbors who had raked them up. Oh, how he missed those days of his youth.
Then again, he was still rather young. Seventeen years old, as a matter of fact, on the very day of which our tale begins. Mitch was an adolescent feline, a mixture of species - tabby mostly. Fur striped of gray, black and tawny shades, though a patch of pearly white fur covered from the tip of his chin, down his neck and chest, across his belly, on the insides of his thighs and the underside of his tail. Oddly, the patch would remind you of a fox's underside.
Choppy locks atop his head, painted a bright shade of pink, barely reaching the base of his shoulders and occasionally clouding his vision with troublesome streaks of hair. Eyes gleamed of a dull, golden tone. On this particular day, the boy was sporting a tight, but plain white T-shirt upon his furry chest. Above that, he wore a large hooded sweatshirt, black with bright crimson letters printed in the center of the chest which read, "Rockchester High School", the school insignia printed upon the left shoulder of the sweatshirt.
Plain, but tatty denim pants clung to his hips by a black leather belt, accenting the boy's slightly feminine grace. No walking for the kitten this morning - no leisurely stroll for Mitch this day. He was late for school! And so, our story begins - our young star racing down the sidewalk at top speed.
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"Lee," the wolf behind the desk muttered in a slight monotone as he called the role. The rest of the class was chattering as school-kids normally do, but the teacher heard no reply. "Lee? Has anybody seen Lee this morning," the wolf muttered a second time, finally looking of from the sheet of names. Some of the furres shook their heads, while others resumed their gossiping and joking. "Hmm... guess he's no-" The door emitted a loud bang that made some of the teenagers jump and fall silent. A gentle cursing behind the wooden frame could be made out, then the handle turned and in shuffled a tabby kitten. Mitch. "Well, so nice of you to join us this morning, Mr. Lee." His ears laid back to the mess of choppy hair and a rosy tint brushed across his cheeks in embarrassment.
The boy made his way over to a seat and offered a soft sigh, dropping his books onto the desk unceremoniously and slouching in his seat. The feline was still panting, and slightly flustered from his running down the hall. Embarrassed by all the eyes upon him, he stared down at the English book upon his desk that sat atop a mathematics book. Eventually, the conversations resumed and the wolf continued his calling of names.
"'Bout time you got here, slowpoke." A paw nudged him in side, causing him to eep in surprise. A glance behind him softened his features and he gave a soft sigh in relief. A familiar fox sat behind him, a childhood friend named Toby. Toby was about five months older than Mitch, and also had a good three inches more height than the kitten. Attire consisted of a deep blue T-shirt, with bubble letters spelling, "Delirium", while his dark khaki pants had rips and holes in them much like Mitch's.
"H-hey, you know I'm ticklish!" He swiped a paw and bopped the fox on the head softly. Soon, the both of them were laughing quietly to themselves. "So, why were you late," Toby asked curiously. The tabby kitten gave a gentle sigh and shook his head softly. "Power went out last night... alarm clock didn't get me up." They both had a small laugh, and then the teacher smacked a ruler upon the wooden desk in the middle of the room. "Alright now, settle down. Pass up your homework."
As most of the furres in the room gathered their homework, so did Mitch and Toby. As the fox passed his sheet of paper to the kitten in front of him, he gave a small nudge and leaned closer. "Hey, you're still coming over to spend the weekend, right? My parents said it was cool. Besides, we have to work on that new song." Mitch gave a gentle nod as he gathered his paper, along with Toby's and passed them up the row before looking back to the vulpine behind him. "Yeah, I just have to run a few errands this morning before I come by - groceries and fetching the mail, mostly. Then I'll be over."
The fox nodded and returned to shuffling through his notebook in silence. The both of them had been forming their own band for the past two years, but had yet to actually go public with their work. Toby played the guitar mostly, while Mitch did the vocals. In all honesty, the two of them had quite a bit of potential, but they were missing something very important: a third member.
For the remainder of the class, the two of them took turns nudging each other playfully, while at the same time focusing on their work. For the longest time, Toby had been secretly watching Mitch. Every chance that he got he would admire his friend in secrecy: his attire, the way he moved, the way he smelled. Everything about the kitten made the fox feel so warm and tingly inside. Unfortunately, he did not imagine that Mitch was that way, and so he dare not reveal his secret crush. He did not wish to impose upon the kitten and make him feel uncomfortable; to risk losing a childhood companion. However, lately he had been plagued with the thoughts of the kitten. He had been struggling with his urge to confess for weeks, nearly months now. If all went as planned, he would force himself to tell his friend by the end of the weekend.
The remainder of the day followed uneventfully. The two of them only shared the morning class and lunch. During lunch, they usually ate together outside in the grass while talking about their songs, the band, other friends, schoolwork, and occasionally just joking around with each other. By the end of the day, Mitch was exhausted - almost as much as he had been when he arrived at school that morning. He bid a brief farewell to his friends with a wave and a smile, then rushed off down the sidewalk towards the marketplace a few blocks away.
After he had purchased the various things on the list he was left that morning and retrieved the stack of letters from the post office, he headed on his way home. Kitten struggled with unlocking the door to his home, but finally managed as a paw sneaked one of those bags out of his hand. He nearly fell backwards in surprise, but a content and familiar voice behind him made him laugh. "Damnit, Toby! You scared me!" The fox laughed as they walked inside, the more muscular of them caring the heaviest bag with ease. "What, did you think somebody was trying to steal your gallon of milk? Heaven forbid they snatch your frozen chicken!" The two of them had a good laugh as they started to put the groceries away.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Mitch stuffed most of the items into the refrigerator and shut it gently. "Oh, I thought that I'd walk you to my house," the fox replied simply. Half of the truth he spoke - the other half being that he simply enjoyed spending as much time as he could with the kitten. "Oh, don't trust me to get there on my own?" Mitch flashed his tongue and blew a raspberry before he tossed the letters onto the kitchen table and blew a huff. "Yep, somebody just might snatch you and run off with such a cut-- uh.." He fell silent for a bit, then coughed and tried to play it off. "s-such a cool kitten.." Obviously, Mitch had not caught what the fox had said in time, but blushed all the same and passed it off with a scoff. "Come on, you silly fox. Let's get going!" Grabbing a hold of Toby's arm, he ran off with him tagging along behind. Tail swished from side to side happily as they ran out of the house. A small blush could be seen upon the fox's cheeks as they left, his tail swaying to and fro as well. This was going to be a weekend the both of them would remember for quite some time.