Tabitha smiled as she sat at the table with her friend Karina. It was funny watching her lick her paws even though they were clean already. Though Tabitha had a similar habit at times just before eating their meal. Interestingly enough, they were at the same table that Joni and Karyn used to frequent. It was a small thing but it was nice to maintain a bit of 'territory' in the cafeteria, and the persistence of the scent of their two families was slightly distinct. Tabitha drank her milk in a carton, her face showing she was generally quite happy if perhaps anxious. Such were the trials that were approaching- for the both of them really, to grow up into teenagers. Both girls felt mostly ready for it- mostly- even if Tabitha wanted it to happen sooner to get it over and done with. Karina seemed a bit quiet though...
"You okay?" Tabitha suddenly asked her friend.
"Uh yeah- sorry. It's just somethin' about my sister. She acted a bit strange when she saw me." She lapped up a bit of water in a round bowl.
"Oh? How so?" Tabitha's ears tilted in quiet concern.
"It was like..." the calico cat rubbed the hair on her head. She knew her sister but what she saw when they met just now was confusion? Why would her sister be confused to see her though? "Eh, I'm probably over thinking it." She laughed nervously.
"It might just be about that um- thing they were talkin' about in class." Tabitha whispered.
"Maybe..." Karina nodded thinking that was a good explanation as any. "Can I ask, what's your big sister like when um- that happens?"
Tabitha glanced a bit uncertainly. "Um- well- Joni- she never told me I dare not ask. I don't know if she's had it or not either..." She felt a little blush brighten on her cheeks. "Does that happen to all cat girls?"
Karina shrugged. "I did check, seems like it depends. People are all really different."
Tabitha shivered slightly, her fur standing on end. That was probably the thing that Joni was trying to warn her about growing up. She half wondered if anyone her age had gone through anything like that yet. It wasn't something she could ask...
The two cat-girls quietly enjoyed their food- well- as much as one could with school cafeteria meals. Meat was not great but passable.
Tabitha's thoughts continued to drift onto her big sister the way she looked at her just seemed so strange and just a little bit unsettling. Was she in trouble? Did someone sneak cat-nip in her locker? What could be the problem?
Suddenly her ears twitched to the sound of the bell.
"Well we gotta get to class," said Tabitha finishing her tuna steak.
Karyn was looking at her phone. She had hoped to find a few messages to her new little sister but couldn't find any. This gave her a sense of hope that maybe the stone had not just made her from this situation- though her sense were telling her otherwise.
"Maybe she isn't really your sister," thought Jon. "I mean- maybe she just calls you sister? Girls do that.. right?"
Karyn shook her head. "No- I- I can sort of tell we're sisters." She gestured to her nose. "You must be able to tell Tabby is your sibling too right?"
Jon thought back over the day and.. yes.. a signature scent of sorts that she couldn't really communicate yes she did understand what Karyn meant.
"This.. this is not good!" Karyn suddenly put her hands on her lips as she tried to calm herself down. Her agitation displayed clearly by the sway of her tail.
Jon grinned a bit, finding it somehow refreshing that this time Karyn was the one in a predicament. "So you have a new sister! That's not so bad." She was almost giggling- a rather giddy giggle which she stopped quickly.
"Jon, what's going to happen to her in a year?"
"Well everything goes back to nor oh crap." Jon gasped. The enormity of what the stone could do just knocked all her senses. The stone couldn't create life, but it could create the circumstances for life to flourish.. and with a time limit, those circumstances could fade away like a dream. Karina was existing on borrowed time maybe many people in this world were. What had they done?
Karyn had sat down taking deep soft breaths. Jon felt herself blush when she observed the rise and motions of her six breasts breasts that she herself now had too which seemed to deflate the mood even more. "Karyn- I- don't think we can do anything about it now."
"What am I supposed to do pretend that she's my sister?"
"Well- she is your sister." Jon quickly pointed out. "We just have to carry on as if this is completely normal- because it is normal for everyone else. What choice do we have?"
"She won't be my sister in a year- she won't be -anything-!" Karyn suddenly felt herself tear up. She was at a mix of emotions. She didn't know the girl, though she would certainly like to know her- what would be the point though, knowing she would be gone.. would it be better to ignore her? She felt guilty that her desire for a bit of fun has gone as far as to create an actual life, that would be snuffed away worse even potentially unremembered by anyone except for Jon and herself.
"Karyn we can probably do something with the stone afterwards I don't know the limits of the stone but look what it has done so far." Jon desperately tried to give her friend a bit of hope. It seemed to work on the busty cat-girl. If the stone created Karina, then the stone could bring her back too right? Or was her existence conditional on these specific events- she had no idea. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"I wonder what else has changed," Jon thought idly.
Karina and Tabitha took their seats in class. Tabitha knew something was up she wasn't sure what, but her sensitive ears could hear a bit of sniggering from one of the boys. Two of them? She tilted her ears a little in quiet annoyance. "Wonder what they got planned."
It wasn't long before they found out. The teacher had opened her drawer on her desk. There was the sound of a scream from the middle aged teacher, Miss Sanders.. all the students turned in astonishment as... out came a mouse. It jumped onto the teacher before jumping to the corner of the classroom. Immediately all the young cat-girls got rather excited at seeing a rodent to potentially hunt.
The human half of the class gasped and a few even jumped on their tables as the rodent ran about the classroom in confusion. "Someone catch it!" Shouted a student.
Finally it was Tabitha who managed to grab the mouse with her quick lightning reflexes. "I got it miss!" The cat-girl said rather proudly and- feeling the mouse and struggling to know quite what to do with it, she ended up putting it back in the teacher's drawer! After all, that seemed to be the right place to keep the mouse?
"Tabitha- No!" the teacher put her hand on her own face.
The boys at the back of the classroom continued to snigger but held back.
"I know one of you cats-girls did this!" said the teacher. "I have told you before, you can't bring me these.. kinds of presents!" Suspicion of who had done this seemed to have fallen to Tabitha. "Now I want to know who did this..."
None of the cat-girls said anything.
"Hm, well, until I find out the whole class is in detention for an extra hour." She said matter of factly. "I need to find someone to get this mouse out of here..."
