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The beeping of the digital alarm clock was a cacophony in the peaceful quiet of Murphy’s bedroom. The young cat boy groaned and squirmed in his bed before he reluctantly opened his tired eyes, the rising sun illuminating his room and looked at his clock. The green numbers on the clock’s display read “6:50 AM” and Murphy sat up and got off his bed.
He rubbed his face to get the last bits of sleep out of him. “Ugh, another lousy day of school. What I wouldn’t give for it to be the weekend already.” He really ought to try and stop playing video games so late into the night.
He proceeded to go into the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead. After freshening up and getting dressed in his usual outfit, he walked into the kitchen to eat some breakfast. He saw his parents, Delia and Vincent, sitting next to each other at the dining table. They seemed to be high in spirits, holding hands and giggling as Delia rested her head against Vincent’s.
“Newsflash! This just in: You’re my perfect Valentine!” Delia said with a dreamy sigh as she ran her fingers across her husband’s chest. Vincent ran his fingers through her hair as he replied.
“The forecast calls for lots of sunshine when you’re around!” Vincent and Delia stared lovingly at each other before they leaned in and kissed. Murphy felt as though he threw up a little in his mouth watching this lovey dovey display from his parents, combined with their awful news puns.
“Bleh! Do you two really have to do that? I’m right here, you know.” Murphy put his hand up and tried to avoid looking at his parents as he reached up to the cabinet and grabbed a box of Pop-Tarts.
Vincent and Delia ended their kiss and looked over to their son, smiles on their faces. “Aw, you shouldn’t be embarrassed about your parents loving each other, sweetie. Besides, today is Valentine’s Day, you know?” Delia pointed to the calendar hung up on the kitchen wall, showing the current date of February 14th with a big red heart drawn on it.
Vincent laughed at his son’s squirmish reaction. He was simply at that age where stuff like that made him uncomfortable, but he’ll come to learn eventually. “You know son, you may not like it now, but later on, you’ll have someone that you’ll love dearly and act like this with.”
Delia nodded her head and added, “Yeah, you know, you and Mitzi seem to really be close together and she seems to fancy you a bit! I wouldn’t be surprised if you two got together within a few years!” She winked at Murphy, causing him to get flushed.
“W-What?! You must be crazy, Mitzi and I are just friends! It’d be weird if we started dating each other, it just wouldn’t work out.” Murphy suddenly felt the need to eat his Pop-Tart as quickly as he could to avoid this conversation. After scarfing down the rest of the pastry (and nearly choking on it), Murphy quickly went to the front door, picking his skateboard and backpack up. “Okay, uh, well I gotta get going now! You know, a big day of learning is ahead of me! See ya!” He yelled out to his parents as he opened the door and walked out.
“Bye sweetie! Have fun!” Delia yelled out.
Closing the door, Murphy let out a big sigh, shaking his head. He loved his parents, but he wished they wouldn’t think that he and Mitzi liked each other. Sure, they’ve known each other for almost their whole lives and did just about everything together, but that doesn’t automatically mean they were destined to be together! Just then, the door across from his apartment opened up and out stepped Mitzi, the young squirrel girl clearly looking excited for the day.
“Murphy!” She yelled and greeted him with an enthusiastic wave, as he waved back, before the two walked down the hallway and down the flight of stairs. After exiting the apartment building, Murphy got on his skateboard with Mitzi climbing onto his back and kicked off down the sidewalk towards New Lennium Middle School.
While it was still technically Winter, the snow had stopped for a while, though the temperature had still remained cool. The sun had risen up a bit, coating the sky in a pinkish orange hue, perfectly fitting for a day like Valentine’s. While riding down, Murphy thought about what his parents told him about him and Mitzi. He scoffed and shook his head. ‘Mitzi and I dating… yeah right…’
After a few minutes, the two eventually ran into their older friend, Zoe, the teen girl riding towards her school on her roller skates. She turned towards them while skating backwards, showing off her impressive skills. “Hey, squirts! How’s it going?”
“Hi, Zoe!” Mitzi yelled and waved to her, Murphy waving as well. Mitzi seemed to have remembered something and started to dig into her backpack. “Oh, hang on, Zoe. I’ve got something for you!” Zoe’s eyes widened, wondering what Mitzi could have for her. Mitzi pulled out what seemed to be a purple, paper card, cut into the shape of a dog’s head. “Here ya go!” Handing it to her, Zoe grabbed it.
“Oh, thank you.” Zoe seemed to be surprised at this as she opened up the card. On the left side was some hand writing that said, ‘To the top dog of New Lennium City!’ with a drawing of Zoe smiling underneath it. On the right was more writing that said, ‘Happy Valentine’s Day!’ with a heart shaped lollipop taped on.
Zoe seemed to be touched by this gesture, as a small smile formed on her face, her eyes noticeably brightened up. “Wow… thanks kiddo! You know, this actually means a lot to me!” Zoe reached over and patted Mitzi on the head, the young squirrel giggling as she did so.
“Of course! Anything for one of my bestest friends in the whole world!” Mitzi cheered out as Zoe chuckled at her enthusiasm. While they were usually a big handful, Zoe wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Murphy and Mitzi were practically the younger siblings she never had and while she probably wouldn’t admit it to them, they meant the world to her.
Murphy looked up towards Mitzi, a bit surprised that Mitzi had a gift ready for her. “Wow, you must really like Valentine’s Day, huh?” He asked as Mitzi smiled down at him.
“Of course! I would like any day where I can show my friends how much I love them!” Mitzi wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her cheeks against him, the affectionate action causing Murphy to blush a bit. He looked up towards Zoe, the teen girl observing the sight with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile on her face. He scowled at her, as if to silently say, ‘Don’t even say anything’, though the blush on his face made him hard to take seriously.
‘Look, she means love as in really like, alright? She doesn’t mean love romantically!’ Murphy tried reassuring himself once again that he and Mitzi were just friends and that anyone who saw things differently were crazy and delusional.
The gang eventually arrived at New Lennium High School, signaling Zoe’s departure. After saying goodbye, the cat and squirrel duo continued on their way towards their own school. A few more minutes passed by before they had finally arrived at the school, Mitzi getting off Murphy’s back before he kicked his board up, holding it under his arm.
“Whew, with just a few minutes to spare. I’ve already been late too many times, I don’t need to get in trouble again.”
“You could always say there was a massive gas explosion on your way here!” Mitzi tried helping Murphy out by coming up with excuses.
“Yeah, I don’t think they’re buying that anymore, I’ve already used that excuse three times. Besides, how often can a gas explosion occur to make that excuse believable anyways?" Mitzi shrugged her shoulders as the two climbed up the steps to enter the school.
The school bell rang out to signify the official start of the school day. Murphy, Mitzi and the other students of their class settled down into their respective seats to prepare for whatever lesson was in store for today. Their teacher, Ms. Macy DePoint, stood in front of the class, the chalkboard behind her decorated with lots of hearts drawn in pink chalk and a large ‘Happy Valentine’s Day!’ written on it. The middle-aged raccoon waved out to the students, her usual cheerful smile plastered on her face.
“Good morning class!” Her soft voice was soothing, albeit too quiet, to the point the kids at the back of the room often had trouble hearing her when she spoke. “As you may know, today is Valentine’s Day! To celebrate this joyous occasion, I’ve elected to let you kids have some fun for today! I will put a movie on and if anyone has any gifts or cards to exchange with your friends, you are more than welcome to do so!”
The class seemed to come alive at that, happy that today will be one without any school work. Ms. DePoint wheeled out a large CRT TV and put an age-appropriate kids movie on the VHS player. Murphy sighed out in relaxation, kicking back and putting his feet on his desk. He was so glad he had Ms. DePoint as his teacher, as it usually meant his tasks and assignments were very easy, especially with how tired he was in the morning. He saw many of his classmates get up from their seats, either to sit next to their friends or give them Valentine’s gifts, as Ms. DePoint brought up earlier.
Murphy put his hands behind his head as he got comfortable in his seat. “Welp, might as well try and catch up on some Zs…” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, preparing for a quick catnap. However, not even a minute later, he heard the loud, joyful voice of his best friend next to him.
“Murphy!”
He opened one eye and saw Mitzi standing in front of his desk, a bit of shy smile on her face and twisting her foot on the floor, both her hands behind her back.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Murphy asked. He noticed that while she seemed to be her usual cheerful self, something seemed a bit strange with her.
“I’ve got a special surprise for you.” Mitzi gave a cute giggle before she brought her hands towards him from behind her back. She was holding an orange card cut to resemble an acorn in the shape of a heart. On the front was some writing in black marker saying, ‘TO MURPHY. FROM MITZI.’ Murphy seemed a bit surprised and confused, seemingly not expecting something like this from her.
He returned to a normal sitting position, accepting the card from her hands. “Oh, uh, thanks Mitzi.” He awkwardly thanked her as he chuckled a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. Mitzi batted her eyelashes at him quickly and giggled with a blush on her face, before she skipped off back to her desk.
Murphy raised an eyebrow at her display before he shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to open up the card. The left side of the card had large writing that said, ‘My heart goes NUTS for you!’ and the other side was a doodle of Murphy and Mitzi, holding hands and surrounded by colorful flowers. Above them was a large bee flying overhead with a speech bubble saying, ‘BEE Mine?’
Despite the card being in Mitzi’s usual, childlike nature, something about it strangely made Murphy feel warm in his chest. He could feel just how sincere it was and the genuine heart put into it. He could feel his face heating up a bit, shocking him. He started rubbing his face with his hands. His mind started to wander, drifting off to thoughts that he had tried to bury all day today.
‘Does… does Mitzi really… like me?’
He turned to look at her, seeing her staring away, a faint blush and smile on her face.
He sighed and continued rubbing his face, hoping it would start to cool down and that he didn’t look like a complete dork.
‘Well, if she did, it would certainly explain a lot of her behavior around me, as well as why she, for some reason, doesn’t seem to mind when that bunny girl wants us to get together.’ Things were starting to get a lot more complicated for him. ‘But, does that mean… I like her?’ He thought back to some moments in the past where he went out of his way to cheer Mitzi up after she was down or upset, such as when Vivian cruelly killed her pet bee, Colin, or when their 4th of July fireworks celebration was canceled due to rain. Seeing her like that puts a strange feeling inside him, as if he has to bring her smile back. And for all her ditzy moments, Mitzi was someone he truly valued and cared about and he would be lying if he said that his days weren’t brightened whenever she was around... ‘NO! I just like her as a friend, alright! End of story!’
While all this was happening inside Murphy’s mind, he heard a soft, melodic voice near him.
“Bonjour, Murphy.”
He turned towards the source of the voice and saw another one of his friends, Marcie, The Poodle girl exchange student from France.
He perked up immediately and sat up straight, hoping he didn’t look embarrassed or stupid. “O-oh, hi Marcie! How are you doing?”
“I’m doing très bien, thank you!” She smiled as her tail wagged slightly, showing off the slight gap in her teeth. Something about her accent when she talked just made Murphy want to smile. “Today is Valentine’s Day, one of my most favorite holidays! My home of Paris is called ‘The City of Love’ so I always like to go all out with celebrations. Which is why I have a gift for you!” Marcie reached into her bag before pulling out what seemed to be a canvas wrapped in pink wrapping paper, with a red ribbon tied around it. “TA-DA!” She cheered out with a slight laugh.
Murphy’s eyes widened at the gesture, accepting the gift from her. He was surprised that Marcie would make a gift for him, considering she’s only been here in New Lennium City for a few months now. But in those few short months, Murphy has already felt as though she was one of his closest friends, so maybe the feeling was mutual with her.
“Oh wow, thank you so much! Or should I say, merci beaucoup?” Murphy made use of the limited French that he had learned from Marcie in order to make a joke, Marcie’s giggles feeling like music to his ears and lifting his spirits. Marcie always did find it funny how her name sounded so close to the common French phrase.
“Je t’en prie!” Marcie replied as she bowed forward. She went to some of her other classmates as well, Murphy assumed to hand out gifts to them as well with how much she likes Valentine’s.
Murphy was very curious and interested as to what Marcie’s gift was for him, so he took off the bow and started to tear away at the wrapping paper. After tearing it away, what Murphy saw left him stunned. It was a painting of himself, looking towards him with a smile, showing off his teeth, winking while pulling off a peace sign. He couldn’t help but to admire the meticulous detail that went into the artwork, such as his fur, facial features and chipped ear. It was a very flattering and dare he say, handsome painting of him.
He looked off to the side of the painting and noticed some clean looking handwriting. Written down, it said, ‘Murphy, tu es vraiment incroyable! Je t'embrasse fort! Bisous!’ along with a large heart drawn next to it. Murphy was still very inexperienced when it came to the French language, so he didn’t know exactly what the message meant, but he could tell that it was probably something very affectionate.
Much like Mitzi’s gift to him, Murphy could feel his chest getting warm and his heart going faster. He felt so flattered and honored that Marcie would go out of her way and make him something so incredible with lots of effort, for someone she only knew for a few months beforehand! Murphy considered himself to have fairly competent skills at art, but Marcie completely blew him out of the water in comparison. She was everything he strived to be when it came to art and drawings.
Murphy felt his intrusive thoughts return to his mind once again, this time going in a different direction. Marcie was such a unique and fascinating girl to him. He couldn’t help but to secretly find many things about her cute and adorable. Her accent, how she’ll start saying French words or phrases randomly and her habit of daydreaming especially was something he adored. Whenever she did space out, Murphy just loved to watch her, she always looked so peaceful and serene and he always wondered what was going on in her head whenever she daydreamed. Watching her be at ease oddly put him at ease as well. Not that he would ever admit that of course!
Oh.
Oh no.
He couldn't be seeing Marcie like this as well, could he? He already had enough on his plate with Mitzi, he didn't need to be potentially falling for another girl! He put his head down and groaned.
“AHEM!”
He heard a pompous voice clear their throat next to his desk and he looked up to see the absolute last thing he had wanted to see at this moment, Vivian. He had to resist the urge to hiss at her as she stared at him with what seemed to be disgust.
Murphy squinted his eyes at the young vixen. “What do you want, Vivian?” He spat her name out with a particular level of venom evident. Vivian growled silently, clearly returning the hatred back to him as well. She huffed, turning her head away as she stretched her arm out, holding something in her hand.
Murphy leaned forward to inspect what she held, seeing it was a cupcake, with pink frosting and red, heart-shaped sprinkles, along with a pink note. Now Murphy was… incredibly confused at this. He returned his gaze to her, the vixen looking away and pouting, before he got a judgemental look on his face.
“What’s going on here?” He questioned her, believing there were more malicious, ulterior motives to her offer.
“Hhmp! If you must know, I had this cupcake prepared specifically by the finest, most fanciest bakery here in New Lennium City for a dear friend of mine. But, as luck would have it, she was unable to show up today. I have already received lots of sweets and gifts from many other suitors, so I will not be needing this cupcake. I’d hate to toss it away in the trash, so I’d figure I’d give it to something that’s only just above the garbage.”
Murphy continued to inspect the cupcake, not believing a thing she was saying. “You think I was born yesterday? You tried pulling this trick on me last year and I’m not falling for it this time! What is it? The cupcake was made with spoiled ingredients to get me sick? The frosting is actually dyed shaving cream to make me look like an idiot? Or maybe you put poison in it as an attempt to get rid of me once and for all-”
“Ugh, jeez! Just take it already! I swear, it’s like you’ve never had a girl give you a Valentine’s gift before!” Vivian then got a smug look on her face as she continued, finding the perfect way to burn him. “You know, that honestly wouldn’t surprise me if you haven’t! Hahaha!”
Murphy rolled his eyes, before reaching forward. “Whatever, just give me that stupid cupcake.” He grabbed the cupcake and the note from her hand, placing it on his desk next to his other gifts. “Thanks, I guess…” He said silently and awkwardly, not really sure how to feel. Vivian humphed, before returning to her seat.
Murphy took a closer look at the cupcake, to really make sure nothing was tampered with. He took a quick sniff of it, noting it smelt fine, before he picked it up.
‘Alright, here goes.’ He really hoped that he didn’t have to write his will down for who gets his belongings after he dies so early into his life after this. He took a small bite out of the dessert and his eyes widened. Wow, this was an amazing cupcake! He let the flavor savor in his mouth, his tastebuds in utter bliss. This was one of the best desserts he had ever tried! (Though, he wouldn’t let Meryl know of this, lest she gets jealous and he incites her wrath, once again.)
He noticed the pink note and decided to take a look at it. In fancy, cursive writing it said, ‘Don’t think this means we’re cool or that I like you, idiot!’
Murphy sighed and rolled his eyes. Of course, even when Vivian was trying to be the slightest bit nice, she had to throw in some backhanded insult to him. He wondered why she even bothered to be peaceful with him today if it wasn’t going to change anything.
‘You know, for someone that claims to loathe me, she always seems to conveniently be around me even if she doesn’t care, like she’s seeking me out on purpose or something…’
…
…
No no no no…
NO NO NO!
His mind could NOT be wandering to that conclusion! There’s no way that Vivian secretly likes him, right? It would certainly explain why she always runs into him. It could also explain why she always tries to start arguments with him. Does she just want the attention from him?
‘No! There is NO way that Vivian has a crush on me! She only follows me everywhere and starts arguments to try and get one over on me! It’s as simple as that! If she does have a crush, she’s got a strange way of expressing it.’ Murphy’s explanation in his head was sound enough, but some strange doubt started to creep in. ‘Or maybe, she could be in denial of her feelings and this is her way of dealing with them, just like how I’m in denial of my feelings for Mitzi…’
…
…
‘WHERE THE HELL DID THAT THOUGHT COME FROM?!’
Murphy slammed his face onto his desk, groaning out, both from the pain of his faceplant and the embarrassment of what he just thought of in his mind. Why did feelings have to be so confusing and complicated? He wondered if this is what his parents were talking about when they warned him about puberty being a weird and strange experience to go through. He wondered if maybe he should ask Zoe for advice on all this, but even he doubted that she would be much help in this situation.
He rose and looked at his female classmates. Mitzi was watching the movie on the TV in front of the classroom, but she appeared to not really be paying attention to it, instead absentmindedly in her world.
Marcie was drawing something out in her sketchbook, her pencil gliding across the sheets with little effort. She let out a dreamy sigh, her tail wagging slightly as she continued sketching.
Vivian was minding her own business at her seat, her arms crossed, when she turned and caught Murphy staring at her. She glared at him for a second, before she turned her head high, her eyes closed. Murphy swore he could’ve seen a faint blush on her face.
He ran his hand through his hair, still feeling weird and warm in his chest. He was definitely going to have a very confusing time ahead of him, that’s for sure…