As luck would have it they made their way back to Gramps’ office without spotting anyone. They found Sylvie and Vivian stacking paper against the back wall helping to tidy up a bit.

“Ah welcome back, pack everything” said Gramps

“Yeah, I guess, I wanted to ask about these books and the sheets. The books can go honestly, I don’t have a use for them but if you did or just didn’t want to dispose of them. As for the sheets they aren’t really mine but I figured you’d just replace them afterwards, so I thought I’d keep them” said Kat

“Well you’re right about the sheets. They really should be replaced but I suppose you are taking care of that for me. Your pillow too, if you want to go grab that, I’ll probably have to replace that after you leave anyway so it might as well be of some use. As for the books, um how did you do at school recently” said Gramps

Kat laughed “Pretty well Gramps, pretty well”

“Pretty well, Kat your grades are nearly as good as mine and I’m near the top of most classes” said Lily

“I mean the work wasn’t that hard really and I don’t ace that much stuff” said Kat with a shrug

“Did you not listen to all the complaints for the final set of assessment or tests? I’m sure you are considered one of the best students in the school, if not for any one subject at least for consistency and PE” said Lily

“Well you heard her Gramps, want the books” said Kat

“Hmm, well, I’m a bit torn actually. I think they’d be worth having around as examples for the others but at the same time I’m not sure anyone else will ever stick around as long as you have” said Gramps looking up from his paperwork long enough to give Kat a look conveying That’s the real question.

“Huh, I didn’t really think about that” said Kat

“Well, I think I’ll just throw them in the storeroom anyway. Not much in there save for winter blankets and spares I’m sure I can fit them someone and if I need the space for something else they won’t be hard to get rid of” said Gramps

“Sure, I’ll stop around back before heading off” said Kat

“I’ll leave it to you then” said Gramps

Turning towards Vivian and Sylvie who were still stacking papers Kat asked “Is it time to head of then?”

“Yup, just let me finish this stack” said Vivian flashing Kat a smile before turning back to the half completed stack. Sylvie and Vivian quickly worked in tandem with Sylvie gathering the loose papers and passing them up to Vivian and they would be done in no time.

“Hey Lily, if you don’t mind grabbing that extra pillow from my room I’ll throw these books into storage and meet you all out the front how does that sound” said Kat

“Sure thing Kat” said Lily stepping out of the room. Kat followed behind but just before she left Gramps said “Remember, I trust Vivian to take good care of you both, but you are always welcome here whether to visit or to stay you’ll be welcomed no questions asked… Oh and thanks for the lovely rug”

“I’m just down the road Gramps, maybe I’ll show up and try and catch you cooking one morning” said Kat and she heard the faint chuckling from behind her as she made her way outside and around to the storeroom. When Kat reached the door however she remembered that it was locked. *Well great… why didn’t Gramps warn me the door was locked?*

Puzzling over this problem didn’t actually take Kat long though as when she started to flick her tail in irritation the solution hit her, well almost, her tail would never attack unprovoked.

Sitting on the ground Kat managed to slip her tail underneath the door and wriggle it up to the door to unlock the deadbolt. *Did Gramps know I’d be able to get it here? Or did he just assume that I knew what I was doing because I didn’t ask for the keys.*

Dismissing the thoughts Kat walked to the back of the room and found plenty of space for her books. Placing them down shook up a bunch of dust so Kat held her breathe and made her way back out making sure to lock the door. *Ok, next time I visit I really need to make sure that room gets cleaned. It clearly hasn’t been done since last winter… Actually did we even remember to do it last winter. Never mind it isn’t my problem anymore I suppose, though I’ll warn Gramps.*

Making her way to the front it seemed Kat’s delay with the lock had allowed the others to gather on the porch before she did.

“Ooh, figured something out did ya lass? Thought it was strange you didn’t ask me for the keys” said Gramps

“I’ve got some extra tools for lockpicking now” said Kat flexing her tail as she spoke indicating what ‘tool’ she’d used to open the door “Though the place is really dusty, needs to be cleaned asap, I’m not actually sure when we did that last”

“I’ll get on it I suppose, and by I will, I mean that I’ll send those three lazy sods to do it if they can’t manage to wake everyone up properly” said Gramps. Vivian giggled openly at that while Lily hid a snicker behind Kat’s pillow

“Well, let’s load up the car, Lily I assume you’re coming with?” said Vivian

“Yeah” said Lily as she and Kat walked to the back of the car.

“Hey Sylvie where is your stuff?” asked Kat

“Already in the car” said Sylvie

Kat just nodded at that, it seemed reasonable and she saw an extra two bags in the trunk that probably had Sylvie’s stuff. Adding her own to the pile Kat threw hers in with little grace followed by Lily who gently placed down the pillow behind Kat before shutting the door. Vivian clapped her hands together. “Everyone time to go, take your seats”

Kat was making for the car door when she realised a somewhat complicated problem. *My wings are to long. They extend past my hips if they are folded up and I need to let them sit spread out in order to sit down at all…* Sylvie noticed Kat’s hesitation and asked “What’s wrong Kat, don’t you want to leave?”

“No, I’m fine on that front, I just realised that I’m not sure I can fit into the car with my wings now, sitting down is a bit awkward unless I spread them out but I can’t really do that in a car” said Kat

“How far forward can you bring you wings?” asked Lily

“Oh, quite a ways” said Kat extending her wings out all the way and then bringing them to together in front of her.

“Hmm, you might be a little uncomfortable but if you sit forward and hold your wings in front of you they should fit in the gap between seats” said Vivian holding a hand to her face

“Well let’s try it I and see” said Kat.

Moving into the car was a little inconvenient having to open the door, extend her wing into the car and then carefully follow after it but it turned out that Vivian was right, she could sit with her wings between the seats. “Now the issue is how to fit everyone else in because I doubt you will have space for you legs with my wings out like this” said Kat

“I can just sit on your lap and Lily can go in the front” said Sylvie

“Great idea” said Vivian

“Indeed Sylvie, everyone can fit that way” said Kat

“Um, guys, is that really safe?” said Lily

“Well, maybe? I mean I’ll buckle both myself and Sylvie up and you’ll be in the front so it should be fine. Honestly I’m still at the most risk because if anything happens I’ll probably break my wings but that’s fine I can heal from that” said Kat

“How can you be so sure you can heal from that” said Lily

“Well I already broke them once and tore of most of my face and I was fine” said Kat

“Wait what!” said Lily

“Oh don’t worry it only took a moment to heal from. Painful sure but it didn’t even take ten minutes for the skin to grow back and my wings were fine after a short nap” said Kat *Though some of my muscles were still out of commission.*

“Well ok Kat, if you say so” said Lily

With that decided the rest of them bundled into the car as per Sylvie’s suggestions. Starting the engine and driving off Vivian began “So sad, I’ve adopted two cute girls but they are hiding in the back of the car”

“What don’t think Lily’s cute” said Kat

“Why she is positively adorable. I mean Sylvie has her beat hands down, but she does quite well when compared to you” said Vivian sticking her tongue out in the mirror.

“I can’t argue with that logic” said Kat and Sylvie giggled on her lap

“Kat’s really cool though, so she gets that title” said Sylvie

“Indeed Sylvie, Kat’s the coolest person in school” backed up Lily

“Oh? How do I rank on the cool factor then?” said Vivian glancing between the mirror and Lily with the corners of her eyes, careful to keep watch on the road. That seemed to actually stump the other three somewhat.

*Well, Vivian is cool, but it somewhat different from what I think Sylvie and Lily were talking about with me? Or maybe not? They aren’t speaking up but I’m not sure I’ve got enough cool people to really compare*

“Hmm, that’s a tough question Vivian” Lily finally managed

“Oh, why’s that?” said Vivian

“Well, you aren’t quite the right kind of cool? I think, it’s hard to think about but Kat gets to be cool with just her presence sort of. Like she can stand there and say nothing but still be cool. You on the other hand seem to do a lot of cool things. I think, I don’t really know you that well but from what I’ve heard you’ve designed some nice stuff” said Lily.

Vivian pouted at that but then grinned “Well, I can’t say I don’t know what you mean, especially with the wings now, Kat looks intimidating but in a good way but I’m a bit too cute for that sort of look” said Vivian. The other three found themselves agreeing with Vivian’s explanation but also felt like they’d drifted off topic a bit somehow.

It wasn’t long before they approached Lily’s and Vivian’s streets when Vivian asked

“Where do you want me to drop you off Lily”

“Um I’ll just walk from the edge of the street if you don’t mind. I kinda want to avoid my parents see you driving up just in case they ask questions” said Lily

“You shouldn’t lie either Lily” said Sylvie

“Well, it’s not really lying per say, just, when I head out it’s to visit Kat most of the time and my parents can’t go one sentence without insulting Kat so I don’t mention it and they don’t ask” said Lily as they reached the street

“Well this is my stop, thanks for the lift Vivian, I’ll try and visit tomorrow” said Lily as she hopped out.

“See you tomorrow” said Kat, Sylvie and Vivian