The walk home felt different. My heavy shopping bag swung by my side, and for the first time in a long while, I wasn't just walking to get somewhere. I was a girl with a pair of golden-eyed cats on her feet, ready to turn every sidewalk into a velvet-lined stage.

"I’ll take them," I said, barely waiting for the sentence to finish.

"They're the last pair in your size," the shop assistant said, her voice a soft, dangerous whisper.