TEARS, TEASING, & REALIZATION Pt 2

The next day was just an average day at the junkyard. Everyone was still buzzing about what had happened at the Ball.

I was hanging out with Victoria and Mungo, when I saw Jellylorum. I stopped to say hi to her and when I turned back, my friend and brother had disappeared. I didn't know where they were, and I saw Misto flanked by Pouncival and Tumblebrutus, so I went over to them.

"Hey, have you seen Mungo or Vicky? I lost them."

Misto pointed behind me, the look on his face almost...angry. I turned around and saw my friend and my brother standing together, talking and laughing. I turned back to Misto and (as had been happening increasingly for the past couple of days) the realization hit me. I opened my mouth wide with shock and said, "Oh, you're jealous of them, aren't you!" He nodded back and I ran off to Mungo and Vicky.

"Hey, guys! I lost you!" I said.

"Hey Teazer," they said back.

"Guess what? Misto's jealous! First Plato, now you!"

Mungo and Vicky looked at each other. Mungo, being his super-trickster self, suggested, "Maybe we should pretend to go out to make him jealous!"

We all lit up at the idea of tricking Misto, and I said brightly, "I'll go tell him!"

I ran off to the junkyard. Misto, Pounce, and Tumble were still standing there. I put my hands on Misto's shoulders in a mock-comforting way, and said, "I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but Victoria's going out with Mungo now." Misto's mouth flew open and he took a step back in realization. Happily, I skipped a couple of feet away, but then Pouncival grabbed me by the shoulder and asked, "Are they really going out?"

I weighed my options here. What were the odds? Only Pounce could hear me, anyway. I decided to come clean. "No. They're not. But don't tell Misto! They're only going out to make him mad! Please don't tell him!" Tumble walked up at this point, and I turned to him. "Don't tell him!" Then I stormed off not-so-happily. To this day I don't know if Pounce told Tumble or not, or if either of them ever got the full story.

~^!^~

Later that day, at a Jellicle meeting, Mungo and Vicky were sitting next to me, curled up together. "I feel so left out," I complained. "Go cuddle with Plato," Vicky shot back.

I turned around and saw the cat in question standing behind me. I turned back to see my friend laughing hysterically. "No thank you," I said through clenched teeth, and for the rest of the meeting I had Plato on my back asking me what they had said.

I randomly turned around at one point and saw Misto and Admetus sitting behind us. Misto was sad. No, worse, he was depressed. He kept dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief from who-knows-where. Admetus said coldly to me, "See what you've done?"

I turned around, realization, again, hitting me. Our little joke had crushed Misto's magical life. What had we done?

Throughout the whole meeting, Admetus whispered insults to Victoria and me. Each one of them stung painfully because we knew that he was right. During a break in the meeting, I turned around and asked Metus why he was being so mean. "Well, Misto's just a nice guy, and he doesn't deserve this," was the reply. This made me feel even more horrible about myself.

Metus kept the insults coming, and eventually, it was too much for Victoria to bear. She ran out, dragging me along with her. Old Deuteronomy saw us, and I flinched for a moment, wondering what he would do to us for leaving the meeting. However, knowing that we were having "troubles", our wise Jellicle leader did not reprimand us, but instead averted the other cats' attentions so we could make a quick, clean getaway.

I spared one last glance at Mungo. His eyes were wide with confusion. What's wrong? he seemed to ask. But Victoria was dragging me away, and I could only look back at him with the same confusing eyes.

We made our way through the alley until we were far enough away for nobody to hear us. Then Victoria cried and cried and cried. I held her as she shook with her sobs, and when she was able to sit up, I asked "What's wrong?"

"Its - Admetus," she sobbed. "He's *sniff* making me *sniff* feel really horrible."

"I know." I replied. "Me too."

When she had wiped her tears away, we made our way back to the meeting. When we were about halfway there, we heard arguing voices and saw Admetus and Plato yelling at each other.

"What are you guys doing here?" Victoria sniffed, trying to disguise her tears.

Metus looked down. "We just...wanted to make sure you were ok."

I smiled at him. That was a nice thing for him to do. Then I looked over at Plato, who looked down and muttered, "Mungo sent me."

"Thanks guys," I said as we walked together to the meeting. Old Deuteronomy was almost done speaking, and, luckily nobody else had noticed our absence. Victoria smiled at Mungo and they curled up once more. She looked into his big, round eyes, and smiled, truly happy for the first time that night.

~^!^~