As I ran down the stairs, Loki groaned out, "Alice, go slower, I'm going to die in here if you don't."
When I came to a stop, he moaned, "Oh no, I think I feel the cat food coming back up," he stuck his head out of the partially open zipper, "Blurgh."
Swinging the backpack around, I asked him, "Did you just barf? Are you okay?"
He glanced up at me, half hanging out of my backpack he sighed, "You try riding in here while some rowdy human runs at full speed down a flight of stairs. There are books, pencils, binders, and notebooks in here, and they are bumping into me with every step you take."
I sighed, "Then what do we do? It's not like you can just roam around freely at school. I would get in trouble."
"Hmm," he rubbed his chin with his paw, "Your hood? Or maybe you can get a slightly puffy jacket and put me in there."
"But I have PE first period, what do I do with you if I need to change in front of everyone? They'll see you."
"How about I stay in your backpack for that and the rest of the day I go in your hoodie."
"Are you sure? You might get crushed in there."
"I'm a magic cat, I'll be fine."
"If you say so. Now stick your head back in so we can go."
"Yes, ma'am," he grouched.
"Good boy, now onward!" Carefully and gently, I started marching to my PE class.
After getting to my gym locker, I took out my clothes and placed my backpack inside the locker. Unzipping the backpack, I whispered to the cat, "I'm going to leave you in here or else I'm going to get in trouble."
He peeked his head out, ears twitching, "Do you have to? It smells disgusting in here and what if you need my help while I'm stuck in here? How am I supposed to get to you?"
I patted his head, "I'll be fine, nothing bad has happened to me so far. Why would something happen to me now? I'm sure I'll be fine."
Loki raised an eyebrow, yes he can do that, and sighed, "Fine, but if you die and I don't get my food, I will raise hell."
"Yeah, yeah, now get back into the bag so I can change."
He grumbled incoherently, but tucked his head back inside, "Good boy."
Stripping off my street clothes and slipping on my PE uniform, I grabbed the lock. How do I lock this thing without actually locking it? Loki was right, what if something happens to me and he can't get out? What if someone comes and retrieves my stuff for me and finds him in here?-
I heard a sigh, "Alice, I'll be fine, worst-case scenario, I'll just pick the lock. You have some random paper clips in here."
"You know how to pick a lock?"
He stared at me, "Yes, and what of it?"
I shrugged, "Nothing. So can you teach me how?"
"No, now get to class before you're even later."
"Fineee. See you later."
Running to the gym, I walked to my spot in the line, Coach Patterson walked up to me, "Miss Morton, you know the drill."
F u k.
He pointed to the tracks, "One lap for every minute you were late," he glanced down at his watch, "5 laps."
I groaned and mumbled, "Yes, sir." Damn this sadistic old man, 5 laps was MORE than a mile. By the end of this, I will be dead, I'm just going to become a blob on the side of the tracks. A sack of human flesh and boneless.
Okay, I'm over exaggerating, I can now run 2 miles without stopping, but I hated running. Alright, enough stalling, let's get this sh*t on the road. Frick, yeah, I've got this, totally not feeling dead inside and wanting to die.
Just as I was collecting my will to live, Coach called out to me when I was halfway through my second lap, "You better finish in under 8 minutes."
Sh*t sh*t sh*t sh*t. I was going to die today and it was just first period. Fml.
Throughout the rest of the week, Loki and I got used to our schedule. We figured out that we should not let Loki out of the bag while school was in session. Because the first and only time we did this, I had to shove him back in to avoid getting spotted by a teacher. He was incoherent for fifteen minutes after getting shoved under a textbook inside my backpack and therefore getting crushed by it.
The poor cat was (unintentionally) abused by me throughout the entire week, trying to get used to our situation. Fourtionaly for him, I soon got the hang of it and less and less accidents occurred.
I carried my backpack on my front with the bag slightly unzipped so I could talk to Loki. Yes, it looked weird that I was whispering to a backpack, but whatever.
Loki whined, "Can I please go in your jacket?"
"Nope," I shook my head, "that would make it look as if I was pregnant and draw unwanted attention towards us."
His ears twitched, "Move two feet to the left."
Without questioning him, I did as he said, and not two seconds later, someone who was walking where I was, tripped over something and hit their head on the corner of an open locker. Ouch, that's gotta hurt.
"I hope they're okay. I feel kind of bad they got hurt and I didn't," I said while glancing over my shoulder.
The cat huffed out an annoyed breath, "For them, it would be a minor bump in the head. For you, it would probably give you a concussion or a coma."
He nudged my pencil bag and water bottle back in place to create a slightly bigger space for him to sit in, "For them, it would be a minor inconvenience but for you, it would result in travesty," he paused to shove the water bottle again.
Finally happy with the placement of the bottle and pencil bag, he continued, "what you see over there would have been what happened to you tenfold," licking his paw, he quirked an eyebrow at me, "be glad that wasn't you."
Slouching my shoulders, I sighed, "Alright."
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, pulling it out, it was a text from Mom.
Mom: Hey, Sweetie
Mom: I wanted to let you know that I expect you to be home this weekend
Mom: I miss my babies and want to see you
Mom: See you tomorrow, Sweetie ♥
Me: okay, miss you too
Me: see ya, mom <3
I put my phone back into my pocket and patted Loki's head, "I guess we're going home, buddy."
He groaned, "How are you going to hide me? It's going to look so suspicious."
"Well, we have one more day to figure this out. Can't be that hard."
Loki banged his furry head on my textbooks. Welp, he seems to think differently, I mean, how hard can it be?
I would soon come to regret those words.