Josh.mp4 - 2. Filming a cat

Chapter 1. Filming a cat.

I walk down Cypress Avenue since it's the quickest way to the cliffs. It's a Saturday, so there are lots of people walking about, talking and just enjoying the day. I feel separated from them, though, like they’re all in color and I’m in greyscale. For the first time since I came to this town I feel like a complete outsider again. As if I didn’t belong here, not really, even though all my friends are here, and my girlfriend, and I’ve even begun to call this town home. I belong but I don’t. It’s not a good feeling.

The road is wide, flanked by neatly-trimmed palm trees on either side. It’s a nice street to walk down through. The days are hot now that it’s summer, and almost everyone is wearing shorts and T-shirts or tank tops, and of course douchebag shades. A couple of girls pass me by on the sidewalk, rollerblading. Off to the right I see a single Jeep take a sharp turn, tires squealing, two surfboards strapped onto its top. I don't know the guys driving it so I assume they are from out of town. It's funny, but even after less than a year I've come to know maybe half the people who live here, even if it's only by sight. The only places where you regularly see strangers are the hospital and the bus station three blocks away. I can see it from here: the station is just down the road. The squat little building is as ugly as ever, and a single bus is standing idly as some passengers get off. Any one of those guys could have been me last August, when I first arrived. The same day I met Nathan.

#

It was late in the day, I remember that. I had just spent six hours on the bus, all by myself since my parents had taken the car and stuffed it full of the things that they had wanted to transport to the new house personally. I couldn't fit in a backseat full of birdcages with hysterical canaries in them, and so I had come on my own with a mostly-empty backpack and a single book for the trip. It had actually been more comfortable than traveling in the car, but after six hours I was bored and stiff. I was glad to finally arrive.

I got down from the bus and the first thing I noticed was how hot it was outside. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but that's when it hit me that California was going to be a big change from Washington in a lot of ways. I remember walking away from the bus station slowly, looking all around. I looked up directions on how to get to my new house on my phone, and saw that I could walk there although it would take me about thirty minutes. That was fine by me. I wanted to explore this town.

I cut through a side street and then across a mostly-empty parking lot, already wondering how long it would take me to learn how to surf and if it was too late in the year to get a tan. I wasn't all that thrilled about the prospect of school, since having to change for my senior year of high school sucked, but I had already decided to make the best of it and try to get into the soccer team if I could. In my experience, making it into a team was the quickest way to get new friends and then I could go from there.

I stopped halfway through the parking lot and took off my backpack and then my jacket. I was already sweating, and so I stashed my jacket in the pack and then slung it over my shoulders again. I was about to walk away when I saw a very large tawny cat jump on the hood of a car maybe ten feet away from where I was.

"Hey, buddy," I said, approaching slowly. I liked cats; I used to have one when I was little, and this one was really cool-looking, with markings over its head that looked like a dark hood.

The cat watched me coming closer with its big green eyes. I was surprised that it was letting me come this close without getting spooked, and I stopped right beside the cat wondering if I should try and pet it.

"Hold it," a voice said softly from behind me. "Hold it right there. Don't let get it away."

I turned around and the sudden motion scared the cat, who leaped onto the street and ran away, getting lost behind a clump of bushes.

"Son of a bitch!" Nathan said, snatching his cap off his head and throwing it to the ground in annoyance. "I told you to hold it right there!"

"What?" I asked automatically, looking at him and wondering where he had come from.

"That cat," he answered, gesturing with the smartphone he still held in one hand. "You know how long I've been following him, getting a bunch of blurry videos for my trouble? I was this close to finally getting a decent shot of him. Now he's gone! Nice going, asshole."

I narrowed my eyes. I remember thinking that I couldn't believe that a guy that was a head shorter than me and probably forty pounds lighter was giving me that attitude. He was pretty unimpressive at first glance. Baggy jeans, a faded T-shirt and a pale face with a hooked nose. When he picked up his cap from the ground and put it on backwards, still glaring at me, I thought he was trying to look as if he had just escaped from the nineties on purpose.

"Whatever," I said, and turned away. I was tired, and I had just gotten here. I wasn't looking to start a fight.

"Hey," Nathan called. "New guy."

"What?" I answered, angrily this time. I could feel myself getting angry at the insulting tone in his voice.

"Next time, watch where you're going and stop getting in my way."

That did it. I don't like to fight, but I don't like to be pushed around either. So I turned around, slowly, then growled, "Or what?"

I walked two steps closer to him, shrugging my backpack off as I did so and letting it fall to the floor. I bunched my hands into fists.

"I just got here," I said. "I don't care if you think you own this town or whatever, you better stay off my back, or we fight it out here. You got that?"

We stared at each other. Nathan held his ground at first. Then the defiant look he was giving me wavered, and suddenly he cracked a gigantic smile. "Oh my God!" he yelled, and started laughing. "You actually think I'm some kind of bully here?"

The change was so sudden that I honestly didn't know what to do. I just watched while he laughed as if I had said the funniest thing in the world. It took a while. His face went red from all the laughing, and then he actually came closer and clapped me on the back as if we were best buddies.

"Oh, man," Nathan managed to say, still chuckling with laughter. "You really—it's just so funny! And you were all ready to charge and everything!"

"What's funny?" I asked, my tone still guarded.

He shook his head slowly, wiping a tear from his cheek. "You should've seen your face, man. You got a mean frown! Oh, dammit! I didn't get it on video!"

He swiped his thumb on his phone then, clicked something and then pointed the thing at me.

"Everyone, meet this new guy," he said aloud, filming me. "He’s six feet tall and has a very short fuse! I almost got my face bashed in just now, just for talking wrong to him!"

"Stop that," I said, turning away from the phone.

"Hey, new guy, what's your name?" Nathan asked me, practically shoving the phone in my face.

"I said stop that," I repeated, and made a lunge for the stupid phone.

He snatched it away from my grip at the last second. "Whoa! See what I mean, YouTube? He's quick to anger and slow to forgive!"

Right about then I remember wondering if this guy had some kind of mental problem. I decided to ignore him, just in case, picked up my backpack and started to walk away.

"Hey!" he yelled, trying to catch up.

"Get lost," I said without turning around.

"Hey, buddy," Nathan said as he caught up to me anyway. "Stop for a second."

I sighed, stopped. "What?"

He put the phone away, held out his hand. "I'm sorry," he told me, and he sounded weirdly sincere. "Let’s start over. I'm Nathan. Sorry for being a dick, okay? I was just pissed off that you ruined my shot."

I hesitated, but what the hell. I was new here and I didn't know anyone. I shook his hand. "I'm Josh. I just moved in."

He grinned. "I can tell. I’ve lived here all my life—it's nice to meet somebody new. Hey, tell you what. Where are you going? I can show you the way, be your guide and everything to make up for the way I acted. Okay?"

"Um…"

"Oh, come on. Josh, right? Where's your house?"

"Greenside Lane," I answered.

"That's not too far away. It's pretty close to my house, actually. Come on. I'll show you."

"Are you sure you're not insane?" I asked him. "Or on drugs or something?"

He laughed. "Nah. Seriously; I got tested and everything."

I lifted an eyebrow. I couldn't decide if that was a joke or not.

"Okay," I said finally. "Let's get going."

"This way," he indicated excitedly. "It's quicker than the way you were going."

"All right," I said, hesitating only slightly.

We walked quietly for a little while. Before long, he took out the phone again.

"What's with the phone?" I asked. "Do you film everything you see?"

"Of course not. Only the interesting bits. I do have a channel on YouTube where I upload the best stuff I find."

"Which is?"

"Meh. Mostly cat videos. Those are the ones that bring the big views, anyway. That's why I was chasing that cat back there, hoping he would do something interesting."

"So you just follow cats randomly around and hope that they will do something interesting," I echoed, making it obvious that I thought it was weird.

He ignored the implication of my comment. "I also film cool people from time to time. Also nature, sunsets and stuff. Then I make short movies and post them online for the world to see."

"How many subscribers do you have?" I asked.

"Not as many as I would like," he admitted. "My most popular video has a little over one thousand views."

"Cat video?" I asked.

"Cat video."

I laughed. "You're weird, man," I told him. "Is everybody in California like this?"

"Nope. Just me."

"Glad to hear it. No offense."

"None taken," he answered. "I'm glad I’m different."

I followed Nathan through the streets as the sun went down. I had stopped looking at my phone map a while ago, and I was well and thoroughly lost. I had come only once to the new house with my parents, back when we had moved all the big stuff two weeks ago, and I knew the street the house was on but that was it.

"That's my place," Nathan said eventually, pointing to a two-story building to our left. "We're maybe a couple of minutes away from yours."

"I can probably find my way from here," I said, taking out my phone.

"No, that's okay," he told me, moving along. "I'll walk you to yours first. I'm not in a hurry to get back home."

"Your house seems nice," I said, looking at the neatly-manicured lawn.

"It's my stepdad’s. He likes everything inside to be perfectly clean and in its proper position all the time. Drives me crazy; my room is always a mess as a personal ideology statement. Personally, I think he lectures me on cleanliness on purpose just to piss me off."

"Sounds like you don't get along with him."

"Not really. But to be honest I don't get along with anyone."

I gave Nathan a sideways glance, thinking he was joking, but he seemed serious.

"So, Josh," he said, changing the subject completely. "You look like a jock. Are you a jock?"

"I don't know. What do you mean?"

"Do you play any sports?"

"Um, soccer, I guess."

"I knew it. Jock."

"How about you?" I asked.

He laughed. "The most exercise I do is when I run after cats I’m trying to film. So, no."

Just then I spotted my house. "Hey, I see my place from here."

"See? I told you I would show you the way."

"Thanks, Nathan," I said. "I can go on my own from here. It was… strange meeting you."

He grinned. "I know! See you around, Josh."

With that he simply left, walking quickly away in the direction of his house. I stood there for a little bit trying to decide if he was funny or just annoying. Then I walked home, where my parents were already waiting. I helped them unpack the last of the screeching canaries and thought about school starting the following week.