The Kitten Stars, page 1
The Kitten Stars
Book 2, KittyTubers
Darcy Pattison
Contents
1. Flipping the Bully
Episode 1
2. The KittyTubers
3. The Deadline
4. Flipping Out
5. Armadillo Attack
Episode 2
6. Lunch with Rudy and Jazz
7. The Doodle Studio
8. Need to Know
9. Underdog Cat vs. Coyote
Episode 3
10. Family Night
11. The Kennels’ Leaderboard
Talk It Out
12. Acrobatic Flips
13. Studio 5 - Videotaping of Angel Persian
14. Do Views Rule?
Talk It Out
15. Survivors
Talk It Out
16. What They Call Me
17. Piano Cat
Episode 4
18. The Angel Costume
19. Studio 9
DaddyAlbert’s Song
20. The Ivory Bongo Harp Band
Episode 5
21. Testing The Angel Costume
Episode 6
22. On A Roll
Episode 7
23. Double Flip
24. From Twenty-seven to Twenty
Also by Darcy Pattison
“… there was something in me at a young age
that was not worried about success but was
worried about becoming a better actor.”
Paul Dano
Flipping the Bully
Episode 1
What is a kitten to do when a bully cat steals his catnip?
No fears! No tears!
Underdog Cat will save the day.
She arches her spine and hisses. “Give it back,” she says. “Now!”
The bully cat looms over Underdog Cat. The bully cat unsheathes her claws and lashes out.
Underdog Cat dances away without a scratch. She ducks under the bully’s outstretched paw and heaves upward. The bully flips upside down.
“Ow!” the bully cries. She stares at Underdog Cat and shakes her head. She turns tail and runs.
As the kitten nibbles catnip, he looks up at Underdog Cat with adoring eyes.
Underdog Cat saves the day!
Again.
The KittyTubers
Just KITTEN Around Joke
Q: Why are kittens so good at video games?
A: Because they have nine lives.
* * *
Views. Angel Persian’s life was ruled by views. If humans ignored her videos, life was terrible. But when they watched her, liked her, and shared her, life was amazing. Glorious. Wonderful.
Angel dashed up the last few steps and crashed through the double doors into the dorm hallway. She could’ve taken the elevator up to the tenth floor, but she’d been too excited to wait for it at this time of day. Just before dinner, the elevator was crowded and slow. A clowder of kittens jammed the hallway, gossiping about the day’s filming. Angel stopped to greet this one or that one, but her tail flicked back and forth in excitement.
Rushing by, she called over her shoulder, “Yes, hello,” and “Yes, it was a good day,” and “Yes, I’ll talk to you later.”
She needed to find Jazz, her roommate, and tell her the news.
As she was trotting away from the last group, a kitten’s voice trailed after her: “Isn’t she amazing? She’s my cousin.”
Angel’s throat closed up. She should stop and chat with Hugo, should share her good news. His mother was MamaGrace’s sister, so Angel had always known Hugo. But it was so hard to talk to anyone except Jazz. Probably no one would believe that she was shy, but she was honestly scared to share with the other kittens. She never knew what to say. Or not say.
A moment later, she burst into her dorm room. “Jazz! You’ll never guess…”
Located on the west side of the building, their room had floor-to-ceiling windows, creating a light-filled space that welcomed her. Jazz, a Siamese kitten, stood on her hind legs and twirled in front of the mirror. Jazz wore a long ballerina’s tutu made of fawn-colored netting. “Look!” Jazz said. “Miss Emily outdid herself this time!”
“It’s lovely,” said a black-and-white kitten.
Angel groaned to herself. Jazz had dragged home a stray kitten again. Angel had seen him before but couldn’t quite remember his name, so she gave him a curt nod.
Tilting her head, Angel studied the new costume. As a dress-up cat, Jazz had a closet stuffed with clothing, something new almost every week. Her costumer, Miss Emily Doodle, sewed outfits that fit over Jazz’s front legs, making her look like a miniature person with a gigantic kitten head. Jazz was only filmed from the front, not the side or back.
“Perfect!” Angel said. “But guess what!”
“Miss Emily has an expert eye for color,” said the black-and-white kitten.
“Angel,” Jazz said, “you know Rudy, don’t you? We got to talking about costumes, and I wanted to show him this new one.”
Angel looked him over. Rudy. She wouldn’t forget his name again. His huge ears and black face made him look like a pixie. She remembered one of his videos now. His green eyes caught the viewer as he moved with adorable awkwardness. When he stumbled, the viewer wanted to catch and help him. His videos didn’t do very well, though, for whatever reason. Angel thought he’d make a good piano cat since he was black and white to match the piano’s keys.
“Where’ve you been, anyway?” Jazz asked. “It’s almost dinnertime.” She started pulling off the ballerina costume. “And I’m hungry.”
“I’m trying to tell you. I stopped to talk with the Director,” Angel said, her heart thumping, dancing with excitement. She glanced at Rudy and wished that he weren’t there, but she couldn’t wait another second.
Angel tapped at the computer on the desk, pulling up KittyTube. “I’ve had a lot of third-place videos,” she said.
“I think,” Rudy said, “you’ve had eight third-places.”
“Actually, nine,” Angel said. “But I’ve never had a second place or first place. Look!” She pointed to the number of views for kitten videos. Her “Flipping the Bully” video topped the list. At four months old, Angel had been working all her life to be in the top video.
Rudy’s green eyes widened. “Wow! First place! Doesn’t Jazz hold the record with five top videos?”
Angel flicked him an annoyed glance. This was her moment. Was he trying to spoil it?
But Jazz had the right reaction, saying, “Cool!” and then pouncing on Angel and roughing up her fur. They wrestled around, claws sheathed, but really putting strength into flipping each other or rolling over and over in a jubilant celebration.
Angel’s heart swelled. Jazz was the right person to share her news with because she understood the excitement. And the terror that it would never happen again. Breathless, they stopped and began to groom their coats.
Rudy watched silently from under his long eyelashes, as if afraid to interrupt the moment.
Angel turned away and licked her paw, worried that Miss Tanya, her groomer, would be mad at the tangled hair tomorrow morning.
Jazz tapped the computer screen and pointed. “The views have shot up even more. It’s doing well.”
Angel grinned at her. “Hurrah!”
“Look!” Rudy crowded between Jazz and Angel. “Lots of comments too. And shares.”
Jazz nodded. “Your reputation is growing. You’re on a roll.”
A thrill ran down Angel’s spine, and she shivered delicately. “Do you think so? I work so hard! But really, this isn’t my best video. It’s only the one that got more views.”
Jazz deliberately sat on her haunches to lick her paws.
Angel sighed. When Jazz did that, she was avoiding talking about something. “OK,” Angel said, “tell me.”
Jazz stretched like a rubber band full of energy. She looked sideways at Angel.
“Go on,” Angel said. “You won’t stop till you tell me.”
“Well, yesterday you were so worried about views that you were thinking about a new role,” Jazz said. “Maybe Underdog Cat will work out for a while longer.”
Angel leaped and batted at Jazz’s face. But she kept her claws sheathed, just playing. “Underdog Cat always saves the day! She’ll live forever!”
Jazz swatted back. “Yes. And yes, you work hard. You deserve it.” She hesitated. “But does it make you happy? You just work and come back and sleep. You don’t have enough friends.”
Angel blinked. A pure white Persian, she had odd-colored eyes, one blue and one copper. When she blinked on camera, it was to do a soul-connect with the audience. But now she blinked in surprise. “You’re my friend.” She waved a paw at Rudy. “He’s my friend. Aren’t you?”
“Um, yeah. Of course,” Rudy stammered.
Jazz’s blue eyes blazed in her dark face. “No, it’s not enough.”
Angel grimaced, her insides quivering. Jazz was right. She should’ve shared her excitement at getting a top video with the others in the hallway. But how do you say that to someone? Rudy would likely never get a top video, so why would he be excited for her? The life of every kitten in the dorm was ruled by views.
It wasn’t fair. But it was their life as KittyTubers.
Somehow, she couldn’t share about ranking number one because she knew she wasn’t better than anyone else. Only luckier. The number of views ruled their lives, but Angel wished she could just be an actress without worrying about the views. She
Besides, she was only as good as her next video. If the next one flopped, she was nothing.
A bell sounded in the hallway, the dinner bell.
Jazz hung the ballerina costume on a clothing stand. “Come on, O Famous One. I’m hungry. After dinner, the Director needs everyone to come to the Blue Room on the eighth floor. Are you ready, Rudy?”
Angel hung back while Jazz and Rudy left together, a self-assured Siamese kitten and a hopeful Devon Rex kitten. If only Angel could be more like Jazz, making friends so easily.
Reluctantly, Angel scampered after them. The corridor was empty now, the other kittens gone to the cafeteria. Angel shivered. Was her life empty too?
The Deadline
Just KITTEN Around Joke
Q: Where do kittens go on a field trip?
A: Mewseums.
* * *
“Eighth floor,” called Mr. Sean, the elevator operator. A tall man with freckled skin, he was so scrawny that when he turned sideways, he almost disappeared. But he had a booming voice that echoed through the elevator lobby. “Exercise studios and the Blue Room.”
When Majestic Kennels was built, the only elevators available had controls at a convenient height for humans. No cat could reach the control buttons. When an operator wasn’t available, a stool was dragged into the elevator and positioned before the buttons. When needed, the kittens could climb the stool and punch a button for the correct floor. But it was easier when there was a human elevator operator.
When the Director called a meeting for all twenty-seven kittens, the elevator was always crowded.
Smashed into the back of the elevator, Angel heard Jazz say, “Thank you, Mr. Sean.”
They’d eaten a fast dinner of fresh fish, interrupted by other kittens stopping by to congratulate Angel on getting the top video.
Now the press of kittens rushed forward, almost blocking the elevator doors. Angel cringed and wished she’d taken the stairs.
Finally Angel stepped off the elevator, the last kitten out. “Thank you, Mr. Sean.”
He nodded and reached to push the Close-Doors button.
Slouching in the doorway of the Blue Room, Angel studied the layout. They’d never met here before, and she wondered what the Director had planned. The ceilings were about twenty feet tall, double height. The room must go up into the ninth-floor space. Floor-to-ceiling glass ran along the wall next to the hallway, but the other three walls were bright blue. Well lit, the room was cheerful. Maybe too cheerful, Angel thought. It wasn’t a room for relaxing. No kittens were lying down; instead, they roamed, groups forming and reforming as questions ran through the crowd. Why did the floor have blue mats? What was that pile of orange squares? They looked like sleeping pads, but not comfortable ones.
What surprises did the Director have for them tonight?
Rudy chatted to another Devon Rex named Maria and a Singapura kitten named Curly. The three of them were the smallest kittens of the year, the pocket kittens.
By the opposite wall stood Quincy and PittyPat, Angel’s brother, and sister. Angel felt a well of joy at seeing them. She missed being with them daily, but she loyally watched every one of their videos. A black Persian, Quincy did well with food videos. PittyPat, a golden Persian, loved water videos. Angel didn’t understand why a kitten would want to specialize in food videos or water videos. Eating spiders? Yuck. Swimming in a bathtub? Not for her.
She joined them, putting the blue mats between her and Rudy. They greeted each other by rubbing noses. PittyPat and Quincy lived on the tenth floor, too, like the other kittens. Angel seldom saw them, though, because everyone had busy videotaping schedules. Angel’s nose wrinkled at Quincy because he smelled like canned tuna. He had probably taped a food video with tuna that morning. PittyPat smelled like soap, probably because she’d taken yet another bath on-camera. Angel needed to spend more time her brother and sister!
“Have you been up to the penthouse lately?” Quincy asked. That was where their parents lived.
“No,” Angel said. “But I met MamaGrace for catnip tea yesterday. DaddyAlbert’s film, Puss and Boots, should come out next month.”
“I’m meeting MamaGrace tomorrow at the marina,” PittyPat said. “You know that restaurant that serves fresh fish—”
Just then, the Director walked in. He was a scrawny sphynx cat, and he ruled Majestic Kennels with an iron paw. He wasted no time getting started.
“Yowza! I’m talking acrobatics,” the Director said. His voice was almost drowned out by the twenty-seven kittens. He might be small, but he spoke with a big voice.
Bellowing even louder, he said, “Listen!”
Silence.
Rudy squealed.
The Director boomed again, “Listen.”
“She pushed me!” Rudy pointed a paw at Maria, who scowled.
The Director glared at the kittens. Maria looked away, but Rudy crouched into a tiny ball, shivering. No one else moved.
With the room quiet, the Director settled back to all four feet, his hairless skin wrinkling into odd folds. “As you may know, this is an important month for KittyTube. It’s ratings month. That means every studio will be tracked for total views. Majestic Kennels has been the top studio for three years, with the highest advertising rates. We need that advertising money to survive. That’s why you’ll find new leaderboards set up outside my office tomorrow. They will update hourly. For Majestic Kennels to earn more views than other kennels, each of you must have more views.”
Angel felt like a balloon was inflating inside her, and she was about to bust. How much more can I do to get views?
“On the leaderboard, you’ll be able to see where you rank within Majestic Kennels and against other kennels. Why does this matter?”
Angel knew what was coming and shivered.
The Director narrowed his eyes and glared at each clump of kittens, stretching the moment out as he looked all around the room. “At the end of the month, we must start cutting this year’s class. We’ll go from twenty-seven kittens to only twenty.”
The kittens mewed softly, no one saying it, but their voices hopeful, although no one said, “Choose me!” out loud.
The Director continued, his voice harsh, “And at the end of the next month, we have a new deadline. By then, we must cut to just ten. The top kittens will get a year’s contract. The rest will need to find other work.”
Gloom descended on the kittens. Looking around, no one would meet Angel’s eye. They’d known about this deadline all along. They all knew that the Kennels only allowed ten kittens added to the pool of KittyTube’s actors and actresses each year. Only ten kittens would earn that right. What would the other seventeen kittens do? Four weeks before the axe fell.
Angel wanted to withdraw into herself, to curl into a ball and hide from the coming deadline. MamaGrace said that most kittens who were cut would find work within the kennels, doing things such as editing film, handling props, or marketing.
Angel unsheathed her claws, then retracted them. Her claws came out again and went back in. Claws. Pull them back. She just wanted to act. If she was cut as an actress…
The Director’s voice interrupted her thoughts: “And last, I have an announcement. Starting today, Majestic Kennels is providing you with an acrobatics class. This is an optional class, an experiment,” he said. “But we have plans for anyone brave enough to finish the class. Let me introduce your teacher, Captain Piper Crouch. She’ll challenge you to try some amazing things. She’s an ex-marine.”
