Sharing a pet?

Hayden had always wanted a cat, but his mother was not to keen on getting him one yet. It would be only him to take care of the kitten, and it wouldn't be easy for them to raise either. So, Hayden came up with a brilliant solution. He and Melanie could raise the kitten together-share it. They could trade off on weeks depending on if they were in the same house and switch off on months in the summer. He just had to get Melanie in on his plan now. "Psst...Melanie." He whispered and pulled her over to a rather adorable female Siamese cat. "We should get this cat and share her. Don't you think? It would be super easy since we're such good friends and besides like you've said in your emails your sister Cori already has a couple puppies. What difference does a cat around the house on alternating months make?"

The two eleven year olds had ventured over to the pet shop. Melanie had always wanted a pet of her own. Her little sisters had gotten puppies and while the three girls shared the responsibilities of having a pet. The dogs weren’t technically hers. She looked up at the sound of her name and was dragged over to the cats. This particular cat was absolutely adorable. “Really? We could share a cat together? That’d be so much fun.” She gushed, smiling excitedly. “It’ll be so much fun!” She chewed on her lip. “We just need to convince our mums now.”

"You thin so?" Hayden's face lit up with a bright grin. He took her hand and they quickly ran to their parents. "Mom! Mrs. Arnett! Can Melanie and I get a kitty?" He asked squeezing Melanie's hand. He really really really wanted to get one and raise it with Melanie it'd be so much fun, and they were such good friends. It would definitely work. He and Melanie would do such a good job raising the cat. It would be the happiest cat to ever live....ever. And if the Arnetts were to move to Boston he could see her and the cat everyday and that would be so awesome.

Melanie nodded excitedly and held onto his hand tightly. She let Hayden talk first then added, “We promise we’ll take good care of it!” Surely her mother would agree to it. Melanie already took good care of her sisters puppies. And this kitty would be hers and Hayden’s so they’d be sharing the responsibility. She smiled hopefully at her mother. Plus if they got the cat it would give them another excuse to see each other more often over breaks.

Mrs. Arnett blinked looking down at the two eleven year olds. “A cat to share?” Her daughter nodded, she bit her lip. “I understand how you’ll take care of it at school, but what about breaks?” She turned to Hayden’s mother to see what she had to say. Honestly, Mrs. Arnett didn’t care, she just didn’t know how they’d work out caring for the cat when breaks rolled around.

"Well...." Hayden started grinning just a bit. "We thought about that too. If we were allowed to visit each other a lot during breaks we could trade off the kitty that way. The cat is so cute and Melanie and I would do a great job taking care of her. We'll treat her like she's our baby." Hayden smiled brightly. "We're going to be so so so happy with her. Mom, please." Hayden's mother sighed softly. "Okay, okay. Fine you two can have the cat, but Mrs. Arnett has to agree to it too. I just think the responsibility would be good for you too." She honestly didn't care either and thought the kids were too adorable and happy to upset at the moment.

They were too excited about this to say no. Mrs. Arnett nodded. “Yes, you can both get the cat. Ms. Lawrence and I will work out visiting over breaks.”

Melanie’s face lit up. She and Hayden would have a cat to share! The idea of it sounded so nice. They’d decided on a name together and would care for it. Oh, goodness it would be so much fun. Melanie took Hayden’s hand and dragged him back to the cat that they had been looking at. She really was a beautiful kitten and Melanie was already attached to her already. “I’m so glad our mums are letting us get her! I know we’ll take such good care of her too.” She grinned brightly up at him.

"I know! It's so exciting that we're getting a kitty. What should e name her? It should be something good, but also something we both like, and something that's a good name for a cat nothing that sounds silly like Paul or something like that. Something that a cat might actually be named by other people besides us, but isn't so common that e're like oh there's another cat with the exact same name as our cat. It's be really really really awkward and both the cats would be confused because they'd both respond to the same name. So it had to be something borderline unique borderline something you might see in everyday life."

Melanie was a pro at naming animals. Well no… her sisters named their puppies silly things that little girls named their pets. Like Fluffy or something. Melanie agreed with everything that Hayden was saying. She nodded and chewed on her lip trying to think of the most perfect name ever for their positively adorable kitty. “Right, right.” She nodded, thinking. “Hmm… What about….Abell?” She had no idea where that name came from, it just sort of popped into her head. But she didn’t know many cats named that. She chewed on her lip. She scrunched her nose. “I don’t like that, forget I said it.” She tapped her chin still thinking.

"Hmmm...." Hayden thought over the name, more than a little iffy on it. He'd never heard that name before and he wasn't sure that he liked it as a name either. "What about something like Willow? That's a cool name that not may people think of and the name Willow comes from the Willow trees. Which are pretty cool trees so we could have a cat named after a tree. Oh! And there is a person named Willow Smith so we can have two namesakes for our cat. It will be awesome. I like the name Willow. If you don't we can obviously go with something else though." Hayden didn't want her to think he was overly pushy.

Melanie was going through different names in her head. She literally sucked at naming pets. Her fish was named after herself. In Melanie’s defense she was only three. Don’t put three year olds in charge of naming things. “Willow?” She tried the name out. It was a pretty name. She looked at the cat that their mothers were currently paying for. Melanie tilted her head and nodded listening to Hayden talk. Yeah, he was right. It was a pretty cool name and unique enough. “I like it.” She declared excitedly. “Love it actually. It’s an awesome and pretty and perfect name for our new cat.” She grinned brightly at him.

"Really?" Hayden beamed and ran out to get their parents. After being dragged in they got the kids their cat. Hayden was so happy. It was the perfect cap to a wonderful day of shopping with his best friend in the whole wide world. He didn't know what he would do without her friendship. She was so understanding and close to him and she smiled and made him feel better and it was just perfect to be friends with Melanie Arnett. More than perfect even. If there was such a thing. Which there probably was not, but for now more than perfect worked for Hayden. Just like raising a cat with Melanie worked for Hayden. Just like going to wizarding school worked for Hayden.