Chapter 22

July 27, 2000

The next Saturday, Frank needed to go shopping for a new laptop: he couldn't fix the one he had and had saved up enough for a new one. Mark joined him, and they went to a shopping centre in the area where their friend Victoria lived. After making sure that she was home, they decided to stop by her place for a coffee before heading back. Frank was hoping to be able to see Coralis before they'd leave. They spoke a couple of times, but hadn't seen each other: she was either free when he was at work, or she worked when he was free.

Meanwhile, Coralis and Eva were wrapping up the case they'd been working on all week. Coralis was covered in werewolf and vampire blood. She dropped off Eva where she lived, then headed straight home.

Victoria didn't know at what time her roommate would be back, but looking at the time, she became worried that she'd get back as Cheetah while Frank and Mark were there. She didn't want to be the one to have to explain to Frank that his new girlfriend wasn't human if he happened to see Cheetah turning into Coralis. She knew that one day, Coralis would have to tell Frank about their world, but not like that, and not to his best friend Mark.

She noticed that the bowl of peanuts was empty, so she got up and told the guys that she was going to go to the convenience store down the street to pick up some snacks. She had more snacks in the pantry, but she needed an excuse to call Coralis on her hologram. She could have gone to her room, but couldn't find a believable reason to do so, unless she managed to mistakenly spill her beverage on herself. She walked out through the front door and walked to the wooded park near her apartment to find a shady corner away from praying eyes.

As Victoria approached the spot she had in mind, Coralis landed on their rooftop. Seeing that her friend wasn't in the kitchen, she scratched the window and waited.

"Did you hear that?" said Mark.

"I heard something coming from the kitchen, yeah"

Coralis was hoping that her friend would be home. She didn't want to have to walk to the wooded park just to be able to shift back and frighten the neighborhood, as she was covered in blood. Even with an invisible cloak, it was risky business: someone could run into her by accident. An invisible cloak made her invisible, but she'd still remain solid.

She scratched the window again, putting more strength in her front paws. She didn't care if she'd had to replace the window. The guys got up and went to check what was going on in the kitchen.

"Did Victoria get a cat lately?" said Mark.

"Not as far as I know. Coralis didn't say anything about that when I saw her last weekend."

Mark opened the window to let the black cat in. Coralis wasn't expecting to see Frank and Mark there, so she stayed on the ledge instead of going in, wondering what to do next.

Making sure that no one could see her, Victoria pulled her hologram out and tried to connect to Coralis'.

"Ohhh look, it's purring," said Mark.

"I had no idea Victoria had a cat, she must have gotten it this week. Coralis didn't say anything about it the last time we spoke."

Coralis didn't know what was going on and where her friend was. She knew that her hologram was trying to go off, she was glad its auto-projection was off. She was hoping that it wasn't the EBEE trying to call her, because if their call wouldn't go through, they would page her and the guys would then question why this black cat was beeping.

She was about to jump off the window's ledge, but Frank picked her up. She twisted and turned, to indicate she didn't want to be picked up, so he put her on the ground and closed the window.

"Maybe it's just a cat Vic is feeding," said Mark.

"Let's see if there's cat food somewhere then."

While Frank and Mark were searching Victoria's pantry, Coralis tried to sneak into the bathroom, thinking she could maybe try to sound-proof it and take a shower, although there was the risk that the guys would need to use it while she was locked in it. The bathroom door was closed, so she tried to think of another plan.

Victoria got back to the apartment and saw her friends searching her kitchen.

"What are you looking for?" she said, while dropping a bag full of cookie boxes and popcorn on the counter.

"Did you know that you still had peanuts and crackers? We're looking for cat food," said Mark.

"Hmm why are you looking for cat food? I didn't realize I still had snacks, Coralis must have bought more," she said.

As she said that, she understood: her friend must have arrived while she was out. She walked out of the kitchen to try to find Coralis.

"Yeah, we saw a black cat by your kitchen window, we could hear it scratching it from the living room. However, when Mark opened the window, it wouldn't come in, so I picked it up to bring it in, and it didn't seem to like it. You didn't tell us you got a cat."

"It even purred for us when I opened the window."

Victoria struggled to keep her laughter in.

"I see you met Cheetah," she said as she saw her friend on top of a tall bookshelf in the living room, in a sitting position.

She walked back to the kitchen and pretended to search the bottom shelf of the pantry.

"Seems like I'm out of cat food. I'll tell Coralis to pick some up on her way back."

"Speaking of her, do you know around what time she'll be back?" said Frank.

"No idea, but I'm sure she'll call you when she gets back. Miss her already?"

"Kinda always I'd say," said Mark, teasing his friend.

Frank shrugged.

"So you two are actually a thing now?" said Victoria. She knew her friend was there to listen.

"Possibly," he said, while looking at his watch and remembering the last time they were together. "I think we should get going. Can you please tell Coralis to give me a call when she gets home? Doesn't matter what time it is."

"Sure can do," said Victoria as she stared at her friend.

As soon as Frank and Mark were gone, Coralis jumped off the bookshelf and landed in her normal form.

"Was about time, I was actually considering asking you to let me out of the window and go wash up in some shady corner. There is no way they can see me covered in blood that isn't mine."

"I tried to call you on your hologram, but seems I walked out too late."

"Oh, it was you? I was hoping that it wasn't the EBEE. Anyway, I'll go hug the shower, then I guess I'll call Frank… and uh, think I'll glamour our elixirs to make them look like cat food."

"Yeah please do. I have to go to my parents' tonight, for my dad's birthday. I would like it if he didn't call me just to ask if you're home. You should consider getting a mobile phone. Awesome idea for the cat food, I don't want to have to explain to them why I never have cat food in stock."

While it was Victoria's turn to shower, Coralis called Frank and agreed to watch the X-Men movie with him at the movie theatre. She was conflicted about what to think of the movie, but couldn't tell him why. After the movie, they went to her apartment, and he stayed over for the night.

Victoria got back home at 1:00. Both of their bedrooms were soundproof, so she didn't know Frank was there with Coralis. In the morning, while she was making coffee, she saw Frank walking out Coralis' room, wearing only his pants.

"Oh, good morning, Frank! Didn't know you'd be here, but I guess I should start expecting you here in the morning."

"Uh sorry about that, wasn't really planned, but she's not here at the moment. She said something about having to go to an emergency meeting with Eva, and that I didn't have to leave just because she had to."

"It's fine, don't worry. Coffee?"