Calvin nodded glumly, sure that Casey was right but hating to let go of the idea anyway. Standing there, with an adorable purring kitten in his arms, he wished he could believe that things were that simple; that he could just whisk a kitten off to his bedroom and no one would notice. But no... Jac would come in to talk to him or his mom would come in to pick up the laundry and that would be the end of the secrecy and the start of the lecturing. And the Parkers were strict enough that even the most adorable kitten eyes probably wouldn't save the little kitten from being returned to the shelter.
Calvin was surprised and a little embarrassed to have the his conversational redirection turn onto him, and he shifted his weight a little, his eyes focused on the kitten the way they might've been on his shoes if his hands had been empty as he spoke. "Well..." he hesitated, then found solace in the regular. "There's school, of course. I'm an after-school teacher's assistant now. That's fun. And there's tennis, which'll start up again soon, and..." another pause. "There's this... girl..." The words tripped awkwardly from his tongue, as if they didn't want to be spoken. He would've added something, but he honestly didn't know what else to say.