A World Apart

Thank you for the review, Kylee. Things are really going to start moving now!!



Chapter 18



Monday morning I got up early to get dressed and ready for school. I went down the stairs and walked into the living room. There lay Rhea in only a pair of flannel pants lying face down on the couch. His head was cradled on his arm and his tail grazed the floor beneath him. I frowned and leaned against the couch.



"You know we\'re supposed to leave in five minutes, right?" I said, looking down at him.



"I\'m not going," He mumbled and turned his head towards the couch, his face out of my view.



I sighed," What\'s wrong?"



"Nuffin...I just don\'t feel good," He said and rolled over, facing me, “Is it possible for a cat to be lactose intolerant? My stomach really hurts and I drank a bunch of milk yesterday."



I raised an eyebrow and gave a short laugh. People do say dumb things sometimes.



"So, are you staying home today?" I asked.



"Yeah," He responded, pulling a soft blanket off the back of the couch and over him, “Dad said it was okay."



"Do you know if Ren and Robin are ready, then?" I asked.



"I don\'t know," He said with a sigh and buried his face in the pillow.



I walked back into the kitchen and could hear one of the twins coming down the stairs. I noticed it was Ren by the long hair and the way he was dressed. He was jumping down the steps two at a time and practically pounced on me. I moved out of the way of the stairs at the last minute and he grinned. He went over to the refrigerator and grabbed some bottled waters and put them in his bag. He then went back to the stairs and hung onto the doorframe.



"Robin!? Are you ready? Come on! Time to go!" He yelled up the stairs.



"I\'m coming!" His twin yelled from somewhere upstairs.



I rolled my eyes and glanced at my watch. If we waited any longer, we\'d be late.



Finally, after much delay, Robin finally showed him. He was wearing an ivory peasant shirt and light blue suede jeans.



"It took you an hour to get ready and you\'re only wearing that?" Ren asked, leaning his head to the side.



"Well, I had to do my hair too. You never do anything with your hair. If you\'d get it cut a little shorter and spike it up in the front it would look really cute-"



"Oh great, Robby. Then I\'d look exactly like you."



"You do anyway!" He argued.



I listened to my brothers banter as we walked out the door. I stepped down the concrete steps out front and into the hazy morning weather. The days were beginning to get a little colder as autumn approached. We were half way to school before I realized I was freezing, wearing only a thin shirt. Both my brothers had grabbed jackets on the way out the door. I folded my arms across my chest, following them a few yards behind. I could hear Robin talking about his date. He seemed so excited about it.



When we arrived at school, I realized this morning was student activity day. The people would go to certain clubs once a week and have discussions and work on projects. Once again we found ourselves in the office, trying to choose what club we wanted to participated. I had even asked if we had to join a club. The receptionist had frowned and nodded, so unfortunately, that was a yes. I sat down next to Ren, who was holding a long list of activities.



I watched Robin point to something on the sheet, “Oh! Art club. I\'m defiantly going to go to that! I bet some people from my art class will be there, too!"



Ren had wrinkled up his nose, “There\'s so many clubs, but none of them sound like anything I\'d want to be involved in."



"I second that," I muttered.



He glanced at me and rolled his eyes, “That didn\'t mean that I didn\'t want to be involved at all, it just means that there aren\'t any clubs that I want to be in right now. Anyway, we don\'t know anything about them."



"Isn\'t it amazing that last Monday we were having orientation? A lot has changed since then," Robin mentioned.



Yeah. Now I have a gay guy stalking me. Great.



"Yeah, we\'ve been living here for almost three weeks. Time went by fast," Ren said and was still staring at the paper, "I think I\'m going to go to the computer game demonstration. That sounds cool."



"I\'ll just sit in here then," I said to no one in particular.



"But Rave. You have to go somewhere or you\'ll get in trouble!" Robin said.



A girl walked up a moment later and stopped in front of us, “I couldn\'t help but overhear your conversation. If you wanted to, you could attend the student activity board meeting today. We basically go over school rules and policies that we think could be improved in the school. There\'s a lot of discussion and you\'re input really helps."



"You want me to go to that?"



She nodded, running a hand through long, brown hair, “Sure. The new student\'s opinions are always what we\'re looking for. I\'m involved in it and could take you to the room where the meeting is. Are you interested?"



I shrugged and Ren shot a look at me, “Go." He said.



"Fine," I muttered and got up.



I followed the girl across the campus to a big room in the social science building. There were tons of people already there and I noticed Sadie sitting in a desk by the opposite wall. She smiled brightly and waved me over.



"Hey, what brings you here?" She asked.



"I was volunteered," I replied, “I\'m surprised you\'re here, is Beth or...anybody else-"



"Raven! Who\'s stalking who, now?" Logan said quite loudly before plopping down in the seat behind me.



I rolled my eyes and sighed. I should have known he\'d be here.



"You\'re the one who followed me in!" I said, defending my case.



"That\'s because I\'m a student ambassador. Did you forget already?" He said before jumping out of his seat and heading up towards the front of the room.



"Quiet down all you cool cats and sweet kitties. I made a list of things we\'ve got to cover today and let’s just say there\'s a lot. First thing - transportation. As you all know, there are no kinds of buses or cars allowed in Kingsdale, except for emergencies. I think we should change this. There are several cats that live out of town and have to walk miles to get to school. Does anyone besides me think this is a problem?"



I watched the crowd\'s response. Logan seemed like a natural speaker, sitting up there, perched on top of the teacher\'s desk.



Sadie raised her hand and began to speak “ I think it\'s a problem too. Winter\'s coming and it\'s going to be cold. I know this is how it\'s been done in Kingsdale for years, but I think it\'s time to change that. I also know the main reason we don\'t allow cars in Kingsdale is because of environmental pollution, but isn\'t the safety and health of students more important?"



One of the guys across the room shouted, “What about the environment?"



"Can\'t the school afford a bus that doesn\'t run on gas? There are those new cars now that run on electricity. Surely we can buy an electronic bus from our neighboring cat town, Westonville. It would be environmentally friendly and also aide to the students in our community."



Logan was patting a pencil up on down on a piece of paper, “What about cost, Sade? You know the superintendent of the schools won\'t be up for a big spend like that."



"We can make the money ourselves. Fundraisers and stuff. I\'m sure we can get some support from the school. They can\'t turn us down completely if we offer to help. It\'s not like we have anything better to do anyway," She pointed out.



I remember how Logan had mentioned that volunteering was a big thing here in Kingsdale. I guess that\'s what Sadie meant. It was kind of the same thing, only we were earning money for a cause.



"Maybe we can get into groups and try to earn money by having like - bake sales and coin drives," A girl sitting in the front row said," But you\'re right. I totally agree that we need some kind of transportation. I live out in the country myself, and it\'s no fun walking in the cold, not to mention the ice."



"I can bring the idea up to the principal. Maybe he would agree to the fundraising at least. We\'re having a school assembly on Friday. Maybe I can bring it up there as well and get some more people involved," Logan said and with a second thought added," Scratch that. I\'m going after school to ask him. I need a few people to back me up. Sadie, you\'ll come?"



Sadie nodded with a smile and then Logan looked back out into the crowd, “What about you, Rachel? Since you actually live in the country, it would probably help."



"Sure," The girl from earlier replied.



"Okay, somebody else...Raven!"



Oh no.



"Rave, you want to go with us? It won\'t take too long," Logan asked, leaning over to stare at me.



I mumbled something like, “I don\'t think so." Of course, Logan ignored it.



"Great. Then I\'ll meet you guys after school and whoever else wants to show up. Good? Good!" He said, jumping off the desk and coming back to join us.