Dammit!
Diego struggled back over to the ship, hooked his claws in the side and heaved himself up. Tail tucked between his legs, he clambered onto the deck and shivered convulsively. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. Sid, having enough common since to beat it as soon as he had made his snide remark, was nowhere in sight. Teeth chattering, Diego turned to lay down by the oddly disserted fire, but his path was blocked by Shira.
His breathing deepened. His She stood, nothing more than a silhouette against the flames, her eyes taking in the waterlogged Diego in front of her. She, for once couldn't think of anything to say. She turned shaking her head. "Yeah, that's right! Walk away! See! Cause I can actually save myself if I fall into water!" he stood fur on end, legs ridged, until she was out of sight. Uh! She was such a-! he pounded the ice with his paw and sat down. Why did the one girl he had seen since, well, a really long time, have to be so awful?
His ear flicked when he heard a slight noise and he turned to see Manny lumbering over to him. "Here," Manny said moodily, reached behind his head and pulled out a horrified Sid. "He's all yours," Diego forced a smile.
"Thanks Manny. You know, Sid, the water is wonderful this time of night," he seized the sloth in his teeth and growled in a muffled voice, "why don't you go for a swim? After all, I did!" he drug a kicking shrieking Sid over to the edge of the ice.
"Let me go!" Sid lisped. Bad time to say that.
"If you insist," Diego released, and Sid splashed, screaming, into the sea. Manny held out his trunk for a high five but Diego didn't return it.
"You okay?" Manny asked, concern in his voice.
"What? Oh I'm fine. Just, uh, tired, I guess." he really didn't want to tell Manny about his embarrassing yelling match with Shira. Manny had a serious look on his face.
"You know Sid tells me everything that he witnesses between you and Shira?"
"I figured." Diego grinned.
"So… you gonna be okay after all that stuff she said?"
"Manny, I've had worse said to me. I'll live," he remarked with a flash of his old self. He lifted a paw and punched Manny's shoulder.
Diego curled by the fire. Sid sat a couple paces away, occasionally glancing at Diego with suspicion. He tried to ignore it. Then an idea struck him. Outta nowhere he got a brilliant idea. Tomorrow would be the day. He would teach Shira to swim. Hopefully she would get what he was hinting at and swim away from them.
Ohhhhh he would get her tomorrow. Revenge had never sounded so sweet. He would push her under, saying it was a "test" to see how long she could hold her breath, her would splash her in the face…. The possibilities were endless! Diego curled up. He couldn't wait.