The drive to the mall was a bit uncomfortable for Jessica given the fact that her old clothes didn't fit right anymore. She had to keep her pants down below her hips to allow her tail to be somewhat comfortable which really bothered her. She wasn't used to having her pants that far down and she always thought that those who wore them like that were a bit crazy. She was glad that she had an excuse for wearing her pants down like that. Once they got to they got to the mall her mom steered her toward a store called Cat-Girl Paradise. "Why did we have to come all the way here?" Jessica asked. "We could have gotten some clothes in our own town."
"You need clothes designed for a cat-girl now," her mom said smiling, "and this is the closest place where we can buy them."
"Will I have to wear dresses and skirts?" Jessica asked not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"Well most of the time you don't have to if you don't want to," a cat-girl said startling Jessica and her mom. "Oh I'm sorry for scaring you," she said looking a little embarrassed.
"Oh you just startled us dear," Jessica's mom said waving it off. "We just didn't see you there. I'm Nancy Grieves and this is my new daughter Jessica."
"I'm Ariel Goldman," the cat-girl said with a smile. Looking at Jessica she said, "Welcome to being a cat-girl. It's pretty neat huh?"
"Not really," Jessica said shaking her head.
"Oh I see you haven't been a cat-girl long enough to appreciate it," Ariel said looking a bit surprised. "Well give it a chance since you won't be changing back to a boy."
"How did you know I was a boy before?" Jessica asked shocked.
Ariel jerked a thumb toward Jessica's mom and said, "Your mom introduced you as her new daughter. My mom did the same thing when I first changed a couple years ago."
"How long did it take you to adjust to being a cat-girl?" Jessica asked wanting to know but not wanting to know at the same time.
"It didn't take me long at all," Ariel said with a shrug. "I had wanted to be a girl so I was hoping that I'd catch cat scratch knowing that if I was one of the ones to change that there was a very good chance of becoming a girl. Of course you can see the results." She spread her arms to give them a good look at her body. She looked to be Jessica's age and was a silver and black tabby wearing a pink tee and denim skirt. There must have been a hole in the skirt since the waist band was above her tail. "You don't look very comfortable in those clothes," she said looking Jessica up and down. "Let's go get you some clothes."
"Are you new here?" Jessica's mom asked as Ariel almost dragged Jessica to the clothes section.
"We moved to a town a short way away just last week," Ariel said with a frown. "We didn't want to move but our old city was a little hostile toward me. Many mornings we would wake up to find a decapitated cat on our front porch and a note saying that it would be me one day."
"Oh you poor thing," Jessica's mom said putting a hand on Ariel's shoulder. "You shouldn't have any problems here. I see that you're going to the same school as Jessica."
Ariel looked a little surprised and said, "I didn't know." She looked at Jessica and said, "You'll have to wear a skirt as part of the school uniform."
Jessica groaned and said, "I forgot about that. I don't want to wear skirts though."
"You'll have to for school but I won't make you wear skirts or dresses outside of school except if we go someplace nice or for pictures," Jessica's mom said.
Jessica sighed and hung her head. She knew she would have to wear skirts and dresses at times but that didn't mean she had to like it.