It took me until dawn to walk back to the restaurant. When I got there, Linguini was asleep on the floor. I found out later he’d been up all night with Skinner. The chef had tried to find out how Linguini had become such an amazing cook.

I heard a motorcycle pull up outside. Colette! I jumped onto Linguini’s head and grabbed two fistfuls of his hair. I managed to get him up onto his feet. But he was still asleep! I steered him over to a pair of sunglasses and got him to put them on. Then I made Linguini chop vegetables.

A moment later, Colette came in. “So,” she said to Linguini. “The chef. What did he say?”

When Linguini didn’t answer, Colette got mad. “I see how it is,” she said. “You get me to teach you a few kitchen tricks to dazzle the boss, and then you blow past me?”

I jumped on Linguini’s head as hard as I could. He was still out cold.

Colette was getting more and more annoyed. “I thought you were different,” she said.

Then the worst possible thing happened: Linguini started to snore.

Colette gasped, completely insulted, and slapped Linguini across the face. He spun around twice before hitting the floor. His hat went flying with me still hidden inside.

At least now he was awake.

“I didn’t have to help you,” Colette yelled, holding back tears. “But I wanted you to succeed. I…liked you. My mistake.”

“Colette! Wait…,” Linguini called as she stormed out. Then he turned to me. “It’s over, Little Chef. I can’t do it anymore.”

Linguini put me and his hat back on his head and ran to Colette. “I have a secret,” he told her. “I have this…this tiny…a tiny chef who tells me what to do.”

“A…‘tiny chef’?” said Colette.

“Yes,” Linguini replied. He pointed to his hat. “He’s up here—”

“In your brain?” Colette said.

I couldn’t let Linguini spill the beans! If Colette found out, I’d be kicked out of the kitchen.

The rest all happened so fast. Linguini started to lift his hat. I had to do something! I yanked on Linguini’s hair. His head jerked forward and—he was kissing Colette!

It was a crazy thing to do. But I was desperate. Besides, neither of them seemed to mind.

Ah, yes. Love was in the air. They were young. They were in Paris. It was so romantic.

It was soooooo annoying.

Linguini was distracted whenever Colette was around. Sometimes he ignored me. Other times he took her advice instead of mine!

One night, Linguini took off with Colette on her motorbike and left his hat on…with me still under it!

When we took a sharp turn, Linguini dropped his arms to steady himself. The hat and I went flying!

I landed in the middle of a busy street. Cars whizzed by, just missing me.

Linguini and Colette kept going. Linguini was having so much fun, I don’t think he even noticed.

When I got to the sidewalk, a woman in an outdoor café saw me.

“Rat!” she screamed. I ducked into a storm drain. I was out of danger.

“Disgusting little creatures,” I heard someone say.

My heart sank. So that was how the world still saw me. It didn’t matter that I could out-cook most of them. What mattered to just about everybody was one thing: I was still a rat.