The Cat Called Strikeout

Jordan's phone buzzed. 'Baseball game today. U coming?' from Marcus, the friend Jordan had been trying to impress since moving to this school three months ago. Jordan didn't care about baseball. Jordan cared about not spending another Friday night overthinking every text message and conversation while their cat, Mochi, judged them from the windowsill.

'Yeah,' Jordan typed back. 'Why not.'

Mochi, an orange tabby with zero respect for personal boundaries, had other plans. As Jordan tried to sneak out the door, Mochi bolted through their legs and made a beeline for Marcus's car parked across the street.

'Nice cat,' Marcus called out the window, already laughing. 'That's Mochi,' Jordan groaned, chasing after their escape-artist pet. 'And they're supposed to be an indoor cat. Obviously.'

What happened next became legendary at Northwood High. Marcus, refusing to let Jordan ditch the game over a cat situation, put Mochi in his passenger seat ('It's fine, my mom's cat literally rides shotgun everywhere') and drove to the field like nothing was weird about any of this.

The game was chaos. Mochi, loose in the bleachers, became the unofficial mascot. Jordan's anxiety about fitting in, about saying the wrong thing or wearing the wrong clothes, dissolved into trying to keep their cat from charging onto the field.

'Your cat's better at baseball than I am,' someone joked when Mochi actually caught a foul ball in their mouth like a total pro. Marcus high-fived Jordan. 'See? This is the best game ever.'

Later, walking home under yellow security lights, Jordan finally said what they'd been thinking all night. 'I was gonna bail. I was gonna pretend I was sick because I don't know anything about baseball and I thought you'd think I was lame.'

Marcus looked at them like they were being ridiculous. 'Bro. I invited you because you're my friend. Not because you know things about balls.' He laughed at his own joke. 'Also, your cat's a legend now. Everyone's gonna think you're cool by association.'

Mochi, trailing behind them, stopped to chase a moth. Jordan thought about how much energy they'd wasted worrying about everything, and how sometimes the worst moments turned into the best stories.

'Next time,' Jordan said, 'we're doing something that doesn't involve animal control.'

'Maybe,' Marcus grinned. 'But no promises. The cats choose us, man. We don't choose the cats.'

Jordan smiled. For the first time in three months, they felt like they actually belonged.