Next chapter! Took me a while to write everything I wanted down, but it's done!!
DISCLAIMER: I still am not of the owning of the musical Cats, the property of which belongs to Mr. Lloyd Webber.
Chapter 3
The kittens, having been taught how to walk and to talk, would attend the junkyard 'school' where Jenny taught the kittens basic things a cat should ever need to do. With knitting classes on the side. The kittens arrived on the first day jumping with excitement of meeting the other junkyard kits for the first time, though at the same time they were quite nervous of meeting strangers. But it was forgotten quickly when they played in the centre of the yard, they chased each other in a game of tag, where no one really knew who was 'it'. They jumped over each other in a game of leap-cat and played a short game of hide and seek, before Jenny rang a bell signalling that they had to go inside the large den under the piles of well placed junk.
The room was quite large and in its space were six children's play-tables, each with two tiny plastic chairs. The cats chose a seat and sat down. They had decided to sit beside a sibling instead of a kit they knew nothing of. Munk sat beside Alonzo, Bomba was beside Demeter, Cori and Tanto were on a table, Leomaris and Maristela shared a desk and Nyoka and Macavity sat with each other. Tugger had sat down at the remaining table and Quaxo, not wanting to be rude, sat on the floor. Jenny came into the room with a small stack of books and a sheet of paper. She sat at the desk at the front of the den, pulled the paper closer and took out a feather from the inside of her desk.
She cleared her throat and looked at the kittens. "Hello kits. Welcome to your first lesson," she smiled warmly at them and they gave a shy smile each in return. "Now when I call your name on this paper, I want you to say 'here', okay?" the kits nodded and Jenny continued, "Alonzo?"
"Here," the kit called, in almost a whisper.
"Speak up dear, you're all going to say it, don't be shy." Jenny encouraged him. "Now, Alonzo?"
"Here," he called, clearer this time.
"Bombalurina?" she smiled at her daughter.
"Here," she said, a little louder than Alonzo.
"Coricopat?" Jenny asked.
"Here," the tom spoke in a calm voice.
"Demeter?" she again smiled at her other daughter.
"He... here," she stuttered out.
"Leomaris?" she looked over at him.
"Here!" he yelled jumping up and down in his seat. The kittens giggled at his antics.
Jenny smiled at the young tom. "Good. Macavity?"
"Here," he called out determined not to sound shy.
"Maristela?" she looked over at the pair of kittens, who were still giggling at Leo's outburst. "Maristela?" Jenny called her name louder.
"I didn't do it!" she yelled, standing up. "He did it, he made me!" she pointed at Leo, who looked up at her shocked.
"Mari, I wanted to know if you were here or not. Though you've made it quite clear that you are anyway." The kits giggled and Maristela blushed as she sank back into her seat. "Okay, Munkustrap?"
"Here," he called out.
"Nyoka?" Jenny turned to the youngest in the group.
"Yeah?" she asked, clearly not understanding.
"Are you here or not?" Jenny asked.
"Umm... I think so," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
Whether she was joking or not Jenny carried on either way. "Quaxo?"
"Here," came the slightly muffled reply. Jenny looked up and scanned the room for the little tom. She couldn't locate him.
"Quaxo?" she asked again.
"I'm here," came the reply louder this time.
"Stand up please Quaxo," she called to him, wherever he was. The little tom stood up immediately and Jenny spotted him behind Tugger. "Why are you not in a seat Quaxo?"
The tom shuffled his foot on the dirt floor, "There aren't any seats left."
"Don't be silly there's one next to Tugger," she said kindly. The latter looked behind him and smiled at the tiny tuxedo tom, this only seemed to cause him to be more uncomfortable.
"I didn't want to seem rude," the tom confessed in a small voice.
"Never mind Quaxo, go sit beside Tugger." Quaxo moved to the table and took the remaining seat beside the larger cat, who once again gave him a kind smile before Jenny continued. "Quaxo?" she asked for the final time.
"Here," the tom answered.
"Rum Tum Tugger?" she asked looking again to the back.
"Here," the maine coon smiled and waved cheerfully at the elder cat.
"And Tantomile?" the queen finished.
"Here," replied the queen, in the same calm voice as her brother used.
"Good, now we have that sorted, we can move on." Jenny said standing up and taking the books she had brought in with her. "Today, we shall begin with the basics of reading letters and words." She told them handing a book to each cat. Most of the kittens moaned wanting to do something more exciting on their first day while others, others meaning Munkustrap and Alonzo, seemed very keen on the idea of reading. One way or another Jenny was going to have them all reading and possibly writing by the end of the month.
It had been nearly two months since the kitten's first day of Jenny's schooling, and they were becoming bored with staying inside the den all day. Apart from the little while before Jenny came with her bell, their lunch break where they were allowed out for a reasonable amount of time and after lessons when they would play until the sun set over the surrounding buildings.
Jenny too was becoming exhausted with having to keep the kittens inside nearly all day, and they were still not sitting with the other kittens like she had expected of them by now. One day as the kittens sat down, waiting for class to begin, Leomaris and Maristela thought it funny to place a squirty-flower they had found on Jenny's table. The elder queen came in, saw the flower as a token and sniffed it. Then Mari squeezed the end of the pipe and water flew from the flower, straight into Jenny's face. Nyoka, Macavity, Bomba, Tugger, Maristela and Leomaris burst into fits of laughter, Quaxo, Tantomile and Coricopat looked up shocked and tried to hide small titters of laughter and Munk and Alonzo helped Jenny by handing her some clean hankies and glaring at the younger kittens.
The queen shooed them away, and turned to the young kittens. "Whose idea was this?" the kittens fell silent. Jenny scanned the room, eyes locking onto each kitten. "Well?" Jenny looked over the faces again, trying to pick out a suspect. "I'll give you to 'three' then, if the comedian doesn't own up, you will all have to stay in over lunch." Jenny told them. The kittens would have protested against this had they not been scared of her tone of voice. "One," she began, Leo and Mari shifted slightly in their seats. "Two," she continued, each kitten bit their lip should they let loose the truth. "Three!"
"It was Leo and Mari!" the yell was echoed throughout the den several times, before fading. Nyoka's paws shot up to her mouth, but it was too late, the secret was out.
"Leomaris and Maristela, you will stay in at lunch and I shall be speaking to your parents," Jenny scolded before sitting down. Nyoka could feel the burning glare of each cat in the den on her back, her lip quivered and she shrunk down in her seat, not even daring to look at her friends or her sibling to her right. "And I shall be changing seating arrangements to make sure it doesn't happen again," she informed them as she sat down; Nyoka shrank even further into her chair. "You shall now be sitting in alphabetical order, all of you up to the front and I shall point to your chair."
The kittens moved to the front, still glaring at Nyoka. Jenny moved to the front three tables and pointed to the one on the far left. "Alonzo and Bombalurina," the two left the group of kits and took their new seats. She then pointed to the middle table. "Coricopat and Demeter," the two left the queue and sat down. Jenny pointed to the table on the right, the last of the front row tables. "Leomaris and Macavity," she said. The pair grunted quietly and moved to the table, they weren't exactly the best of friends to tell the truth. Jenny moved to the back row of desks and pointed to the far left. "Maristela and Munkustrap," the pair moved grudgingly to the desk. Jenny continued not noticing and moved to the middle table. "Nyoka and Quaxo," the pair moved to the desk, all eyes once again glaring at Nyoka as she moved along the rows. Jenny motioned to Rum Tum Tugger and Tantomile to take the remaining desk, which they did so swiftly. The cats went through their lessons without a sound and when lunch came, although she was allowed, Nyoka remained in her seat and chose not to go outside and play. Maristela and Leomaris sat with their paws to their mouths looking bored, and Nyoka sat looking down at the floor.
Jenny sighed; she couldn't hold a grudge against a kitten for long, her only real weakness if she was honest. "Mari, Leo you may go outside and join the others," the kits looked up not choosing to believe what they heard at first. When Jenny nodded and motioned to the entrance of the den, the pair scampered out of the hole as quick as possible. Nyoka remained in her seat, not looking up. "Noka?" Jenny used the nickname her brothers used around her; the queen looked up at Jenny. "Why are you not going out to play?" she asked as she moved towards the kits desk. Nyoka shrugged her shoulders and didn't say a word. "I'm sure they'll forgive you."
"No they won't, they all hate me now," the queen whimpered.
"Oh, that's not true. They're your brothers and friends; they won't hate you for a little mistake." Jenny tried convincing the young queen.
"Yes they will. They'll hate me forever and ever, cause I told on Mari and Leo, instead of keeping my big mouth shut like they always tell me too." Nyoka began to cry, small tears started to fall down her face, making her fur damp.
"Come on now, if you start to cry, I might start crying too," Jenny said in a whimpering sort of voice.
"I'm not crying, crying's for babies." She said hastily drying up the tears.
"Okay, whatever you say Noka," Jenny smiled at the little queen. "How about I talk to them, I'm sure they don't hate you really. Would that be okay?" Nyoka considered this before nodding slowly. "Good, now I'll go out and bring the others in, while you take this and dry the rest of that water on your face, I think you got a little dose off that squirty-flower," Nyoka gave a watery laugh and Jenny handed her a clean tissue and left the room.
A month later and all tricks, mishaps and tattle-tailing forgiven, though the seating arrangement remained the same, Jenny would be allowing the kittens out soon to practise their hunting skills; which of course they were all too eager to try. Because of this promise of learning to hunt, the lessons became harder to teach to the hyper kits. So, Jenny came into the den one day with a lesson that would make sure they forgot momentarily about hunting and would prove to be a great performance for the 'Jellicle Winter Ball', held at an annual date each winter when the Jellicle moon shows it's only half a year more till the official 'Jellicle Ball'. Once she had settled the kittens, somewhat, she began the lesson.
"Today kits, we will be learning the story of 'The Nine Elements'," Jenny told them, sitting down in her chair to begin reading.
"What's an element?" Maristela asked, Jenny looked up and smiled.
"How about we read the story and find out?" Jenny asked. Mari frowned and agreed reluctantly. "Now the Elements came to earth a long time ago, sent by the Everlasting Cat herself, to bring peace to the Jellicle Tribe. Originally there were ten of these pure Elements, except one didn't seem to reach the new owner of this power. Each of the nine Elements were placed inside nine of ten newborn kittens, all born on the same day. The kittens and their parents remained unaware of their powers until they grew up. One night the Everlasting Cat came to them all in a dream, and told them of their powers. She told them they would have a name that no other cat would be gifted with, a fourth name."Jenny looked up to see all the kittens staring at her with undivided attention. She continued, "When the kittens awoke, they did not believe what they had heard, but in confiding with each other about the previous night's events quickly came around to wonder at what their powers might be. All would be revealed in time. One day the young kittens were playing in the tall oak trees that surrounded the whole of London..."
"The whole of London, how?" Tugger asked astounded.
"When the kittens were born, Tugger, London hadn't demolished all the trees yet and this junkyard hadn't yet been thought of." Tugger nodded understanding, Jenny carried on with the story. "The kittens were playing in the trees that surrounded the whole of London, when the clouds above them began to swirl around in large circles, loud rumbling sounds came from the midst of the clouds and flashes of light escaped and came close to the group of kittens. They jumped and most ran off, the nine who had received the dream stood looking up at the clouds in wonder. Once the other kittens were out of sight the clouds parted and down from Heaviside came the Everlasting Cat," there was a series of 'ooh's' and 'aah's' when the kits heard this, quickly followed by a round of questions. Jenny quickly silenced them and read on, "The Everlasting Cat came down in the form of their descended leader, Old Archimedes, and he smiled at them as they recognised him and went to touch their former leader. He looked at the younglings and placed them in a circle around him, from the eldest kit to the youngest.
"He stood behind the eldest and called out his element, 'Rock' then whispered his fourth name in his ear. He did the same for the second and third, whose elements he called as 'Fire' and 'Time'. For the fourth it was different as she was a queen, he stood in front of her and knelt on one knee, took her paw and told her 'Air' would be her element, he stood and kissed her cheek once he did the name came to the queen. The fifth he stood behind once again and called out 'Lightning' and told him his name, he moved forward and knelt again and called out 'Ice' and kissed the queen's cheek, and her name also came to her. The seventh he stood behind and to the eight he once again knelt and called out, 'Water' and 'Earth' and gave each their name. The ninth space remained empty but Old Archimedes stood in the space and looked at the sky, the kittens followed suit confused, but saw nothing. He came to the youngest kitten and knelt in front of her and told her 'Heart' and kissed her cheek. He walked to the centre of the circle then vanished.
"The kittens, now aware of their new powers grinned and ran off back to the others. One kitten came out of the tree he was hiding behind and glared at the retreating backs of the nine. He was brother of the youngest, jealous no of the fact he didn't receive either the dream or a power of his own. He kept what he had witnessed a secret. The kittens grew up learning further of their powers and using them to help other cats and to do jobs that would prove difficult without them. All this time the tenth kittens grew more and more angry with his former friends, this of course worried them. One day the tenth was reading a book that told him how to receive magic from another cat, this intrigued the tenth cat, and he searched through the book to know more. The nine cats, oblivious to his actions, were sometime later in the clearing of the deep oak wood, when suddenly chains flew from the trees around them. The nine were chained to the tree and struggled against their bonds. The tenth cat appeared from the midst of the trees and the youngest called for her brother's assistance. He laughed at her, then took out the book and began odd chants and spells walking slowly around the circle of nine. He stopped at the eldest and sneered in his face, then took a sharp stone from the ground and..." Jenny stopped, hesitant to continue.
"What's wrong Jenny?" Nyoka asked sweetly.
"I can't tell you what happens, you're far too young," Jenny stated clearly and with much authority. This of course was followed by much complaining and agitation from the young kits. "How about I tell you after you go out hunting with Skimble?" she said spotting the ginger tom from the entrance. The kittens groaned and followed Skimble, but quickly cheered up once they were outside learning to hunt. Jenny stood by the entrance hoping they would forget about the story and never force her to read the end, for it was not something young kittens like themselves should hear.
I'm actually proud of myself for this one. Could go into publishing... *Goes off into own little world* NO, no this product belongs to Andrew and Andrew alone!
Review and be nice or the tenth kitten will come and get you!