Chapter 4

Kat’s head was pounding when she woke up. She looked blearily around and saw that she was sleeping on an unfamiliar couch. Where was she? How did she get here?

She groaned and struggled to sit up on the couch. Her feet hit a body resting beside the couch. She looked and saw Sai sleeping there.

“Ugh ... Sai. Like, wake up!” Kat said a little too loudly. Her headache got worse.

Sai seemed reluctant to give up her sleep, but Kat kept shaking her, so eventually the two girls were ostensibly awake.

“What, like, happened last night?”

Sai paused trying to remember herself. “Uh ... we went to the Rhino. We did some pregaming first. Actually, we did a lot of pregraming. Then we danced for a bit, and then...”

Sai was struggling to remember, but it was starting to come back to Kat. After the Rhino it had been ... Dirk’s house party. She was pretty fuzzy on what happened there, but she knew that this wasn’t Dirk’s place she was in.

“Where, like, are we?” Kat said.

Sai gave a small smile. “That’s an easier one. This is, like, Jeremy’s apartment. I think I must have thrown up or something, because otherwise I would be in the bedroom instead of out here.”

Jeremy came out of the kitchen and said, “Oh, you girls are finally up. I made you some breakfast.”

They both stumbled into the kitchen and eagerly ate breakfast and drank coffee. Eventually, Kat was starting to feel almost normal and she realized something.

“Oh my god! I’ve been, like, talking differently.” Kat said.

Sai looked at her curiously. “I actually had, like, noticed that. The past few days you’ve been talking a lot more, like, formal. I thought it was a bit weird.”

“No that’s not what I, like-” Kat forced herself to say it properly. “That’s not what I mean. I mean that I’m, li-, I’m talking weird now.”

“Kat, you’re talking the way you usually do. Are you sure you only had alcohol last night?”

Kat slowed down to carefully pick her words. “Yes. Sorry, I’m actually trying to speak formally.” She closed her eyes for a moment trying to concentrate. “Could you please stop calling me Kat? I’d really rather go by Catherine.”

Sai was confused. “What’s gotten into you today, Ka-, Catherine? Ugh, that doesn’t feel nice to say at all. Are you sure you don’t like Kat?”

Catherine shook her head. “Please, I know it sounds weird, but please just keep calling me Catherine. It was bothering me the last two days, but I didn’t say anything because everything else has been so crazy.”

Sai shrugged. She figured “Catherine” would get over this soon enough, so she’d humor her friend’s wishes as best she could for now.

When they finished up breakfast, Catherine got a text message from Chad. ‘Hey baby, we meeting up today or what?’

Catherine was excited. After two days of waiting, she would finally get to spend real quality time with her boyfriend. Catherine thanked Jeremy for putting up with her and Sai for the night, and drove to the sorority house to get ready for her day with Chad. Soon she was knocking on the door of Chad’s apartment.

He opened the door. “Hey, Kat! You’re looking gorgeous as always.”

Kat hadn’t seen her boyfriend in two days. She threw her arms around him. “I’ve missed you, like, so much, babe!”

Catherine quickly caught herself and pushed herself off of Chad. She couldn’t let her mind go all gooey just because she was hanging out with her boyfriend. Not until she was sure her review system was keeping her old memories somewhat stable. Suddenly hanging out didn’t seem like such a great idea.

Chad smiled. “No need to be embarrassed. I’ve missed you too. What did you want to do today?”

Catherine tried to think. She had fuzzy memories of what “Kat” usually did with Chad. She was afraid of another relapse, so she picked a relatively tame option. “Why don’t we cuddle up on the couch and watch TV together? We’ve both had long weeks, I think it’d be nice to just relax.”

Chad looked disappointed for a split second, but he quickly disguised his disappointment. “Alright, if that’s all you want to do today. I’m game.”

Chad turned on the TV, and soon they were both cuddling on the couch.

Chad handed her the remote. “You can pick what we watch today.”

Catherine, fearing another reversion to Kat, decided to pick something with some substance. She switched it to PBS which was airing an educational program about the discovery of DNA.

“Wow, this is a first. You usually go for something on MTV.” Chad said in mild surprise.