Sun split thru the window and I could feel its warmth on my face. My head immediatly sounded the alarm.

-Get up.-

My body say up out of bed.

-Get dressed.-

Stumbling and fumbling around, my hands managed to find the clean, folded school outfit Carrie had set on my dresser. I threw them on.

-Get cleaned up.-

My feet stumbled me into the bathroom and my hands fumbled for the faucet and squeaked it on. My hands were washed and water was splashed onto my face.

-Wake up.-

My eyes snapped open and my brain began to slip out of sleep mode. I looked around to find myself standing at the bathroom sink, wearing my school uniform and dripping wet from the water running form the faucet. I turned off the faucet and grabbed a towel, drying off my hands and face. I sighed and headed out of the bathroom to the kitchen downstairs.

Carrie wasn't up yet.

I opened up the cupboard and looked around for a breakfast-type object of edible material.

'Good morning?'

Can't talk.. require edible material. I pulled a bowl from the cupboard and a box of cereal. I opened up the box and poured out the small, O-shaped grain and rice objects into the bowl. I set the box down and stared at the bowl for cereal for a moment.

Require.. dairy-type form of liquid to drown out natural flavor of cardboard taste of this edible material used for daily consumption... I put the box of cereal back and looked around for some milk.

'Heh, another Monday morning?'

Uh. I found some milk and dumped it onto the cereal. I stared again at the bowl full of cereal and milk. My mind kept trying to work things out but it was still half asleep. After a while I reached out and poked the cereal.

Um... require... some sort of bended metal, used for holding and transporting cardboard-tasting material covered in dairy form of liquid so that one can make use of consuming edible materials.....

'Huh?'

I said I need a spoon... I put the milk back where I found it, searched for a spoon, found one, sat down and began to eat my cereal. Tellka appeared across from me at the other side of the table.

"Good morning, Sunshine." She snickered quietly and sat down.

"Uh." I continued to eat my cereal.

"Sleep well?"

"Uh."

"Is your leg okay?"

"Uh."

"Ready for practice after school today?"

"Uh."

"Did you study for your nine page report on the migratory patterns of rare specials of squirrles?"

I stopped eating and gave Tellka a wide eyed look. "What?"

She snickered. "I'm just kidding, Kate. Go back to eating."

I finished up my cereal, rinsed out the bowl and set it in the sink. With a yawn I made my way upstairs to brush my teeth. Tellka greeted my with my packed school bag as I headed back into the hall. I shouldered it and went downstairs.

"Open the door before you leave."

"Uh." I swing open the door, walked out of the house, closed the door, and headed off the school. Tellka would have walked me there but she had taken up fighting again during the hours I was at school and she wanted to get a few things done before she left. I stumbled to school and sat down on the bench by the rock.

Wake up, wake up, wake up. I smacked myself on the forehead.

It didn't help.

I pinched myself on the arm.

It didn't help.

I got up and stood under the outside bell.

It didn't help.

The bell rang.

It did help.

Infact, it took me almost a minute to get my heart rate back to normal, unpoof my tail, knock the ringing out of my ears, and convince myself to start blinking again.

Bells.. they work better then caffinne.

'Heh. Get to class.'

I made my way through the school and into my first period class. Janet wasn't in her seat yet. I sat down and waited for the bell. Janet entered a few seconds after it rang.

"Ms. Meyers, I hope you don't plaon on turning this into a habit again." Mrs. Wireman glanced up at her shaprly as she took her seat. Janet shook her head and gave a weak "no." As Mrs. Wireman stood up to get the class going, I felt Janet poke me in the back. I turned slightly to face her.

"She's such a bitch, don't you think?"

I shrugged. "Why were you late?"

Janet sighed and rested her head in her hands. "I slept in. Say, did we have any homework?"

I shook my head.

"Good."

Our assignment was simple. Read a hand-out, answer questions, turn in hand-out, sit and stare at the board until bell. I was doing the last part really well intul another poke from Janet distracted me.

"Did you hear? There's a dance coming up in a few weeks."

I turned and looked at her. "So?"

"Ms. Chan." Mrs. Wireman's voice made me almost jump out of my fur. I turned back around and sat stiffly, staring at the board. She studied me for a while and went back to correction papers.

"Are you going to go?" Janet's voice whispered in my ear.

"I dunno.."

"You should. It'd be fun. Besiends, I know who you can go with."

"Not really interested.." I sighed and propped my head up with my left hand. Maybe if Frank was here I would go.. but something told me he wouldn't be back in time.

"Are you sure?"

"Ms. Meyers, if you continue to talk like this I WILL seperate you two."

Janet cursed quietly under her breathe and stopped talking to me. I gave a small smile and continued staring at the board. Maybe it was boring, but it beat having to put up with her sometimes.

e-mail author, talonr@hotmail.com