A/N: Chapter three, here it is! Does anyone love Havenpaw yet? Does anyone hate Lizardpaw yet? I do…yet I created their personalities…
Leopardsplash: I uploaded the wrong chapter…those kits have nothing to do with the story. XD Thanks for the OCs! I'll put them in here somewhere soon. Thanks for the suggestions! I took them and edited the allegiances. :D I didn't notice Duskfur was a she-cat. Icewing and Petalfur are mother- daughter, so I made Icewing's mate someone grey, so that they could have Petalfur. I made it Mintfur. Also switched Petalfur's mate to Mallownose.
Pokesnail: as said above, wrong chapter…heheh. Fixed it, so you can now go back and read the correct chapter…yay.
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Chapter 3:
"Let's get you back to camp before you catch a cold," Reedwhisker sighed, watching Havenpaw furiously try to dry herself.
"Okay," she mewed quietly, ducking her head. Perchpaw and Lizardpaw picked up their catches and padded back to camp, Lizardpaw snickering.
As soon as they arrived back at camp, Havenpaw scurried off to the apprentices' den. Perchpaw deposited her prey before coming to join her sister.
"What's up with you? Apart from falling in the stream, of course…you've been acting a bit strange," she asked out of pure concern for her best friend and littermate.
"Well…" Havenpaw hesitated, and then decided she could tell Perchpaw the real reason behind everything, "I have a crush on Reedwhisker. I have for some time but it's getting more serious now that we're closer to becoming warriors…I try to get him to notice me, but I come across as a stupid, dumb, clumsy apprentice! Not as Havenpaw. He basically hates me!"
"He doesn't hate you!" Perchpaw exclaimed, "He's too nice for that. No, I think he likes you…like, likes you. I've seen him staring at you."
Havenpaw shrugged, "Or he's remembering all my fail moments."
"Or he likes you."
Silence stood between the two sisters, until Perchpaw swatted it out of the way, "Try to act more casual."
"I try! But I can't," Havenpaw sighed.
"I'll help," Perchpaw insisted, "Here, tonight, we'll catch a massive fish and then you and him can share it!"
"No, that's too far…" Havenpaw held back, "It's like asking him to be my mate already! Besides, the leader, deputy, queen, kits, elders and warriors have to eat before apprentices."
"What? No!" Perchpaw shook her head rapidly, "Asking to share prey is a sign of respect…at least I think. Yeah, it is. So, it'll show that you respect him more than he knows you do! And about the little warrior code thing; Reedwhisker lets everyone eat before him, so after everyone else eats, go up to him and ask to share."
"Well," Havenpaw sighed, twitching her tail and bushing out her fur against a chilly breeze entering the den, "Fine."
"Yay!" the grey-and-black apprentice squealed excitedly, leaping to her paws, "Fantastic. Let's go catch a fish now!"
"Um, Perchpaw?" Havenpaw stopped her sister with her black-tipped tail, "No. It's not even sunhigh."
"Right, right," she meowed, "We'll wait."
Perchpaw, Lizardpaw, Mosspelt and Reedwhisker went out for battle training, but they insisted that Havenpaw stay at camp. They didn't want her to catch a cold, was the reason they stated when they left camp.
Perchpaw offered to stay but Mosspelt made her come, saying that even if Havenpaw didn't train, Perchpaw still should. Havenpaw agreed with her sister's mentor, even if inside she felt lonely when all the other cats left her in the dust.
Mallownose had gone with Duskfur out to hunt, leaving Havenpaw alone without any warrior or apprentice company.
I'll ask Rushtail to tell me a story, she decided, padding over to the elders' den. She grabbed the small trout from earlier, first, to bring to the elders.
"Hello?" she murmured, ducking into the den. Rushtail was awake, grooming his tail, while everyone else was asleep.
"Hey, Havenpaw!" the tom rumbled, "Is that for me?"
"Yeah," she meowed, dropping the trout at the elder's paws, "Can you tell me a story?"
"Sure!" the light brown tabby tom meowed, "Outside, though, so we don't wake Pouncefoot or Pebblefoot."
The two cats emerged from the den side-by-side, Rushtail clutching the trout in his jaws. They padded to a patch of sunlight and laid down, Havenpaw rolling onto her back to better soak up the warmth while Rushtail crouched down to eat the fish.
"Want some?" he asked, swallowing his mouthful.
"Just one bite," Havenpaw decided, taking a quick chunk of fish, "Thanks."
The elder finished off the aquatic animal, scratching earth over the bones, "Story time?"
"Yeah!"
Rushtail had just finished the story about when he and his patrol had fought off two fox cubs when everyone started to return to camp.
Reedwhisker padded in with Mosspelt, Lizardpaw and Perchpaw, behind him Shimmerpelt leading Heronwing and Lakeheart. Mintfur returned with Minnowtail and Grasspelt, their jaws full with prey. Duskfur and Mallownose padded back into camp as well, their mouths stuffed with freshly-caught fish.
The camp seemed to fill back up as the cats milled around and returned to just sharing tongues or basking in the sun, as it was at its peak right now, being just past sunhigh and all.
"Let's go catch that fish!" Perchpaw padded up to her sister.
"It's only sun-," Havenpaw started to protest, but was interrupted by Perchpaw.
"It'll take forever to find a respectable sized fish! Might as well go start now," her sister reasoned.
"Can't we just eat the carp that Duskfur caught?"
"No! It won't be as special!" Perchpaw insisted, "Come on, let's go before it starts to cool off and the fish go away."
The two she-cats padded out of camp together, pawsteps matching. They walked through the marsh, stopping at the bank of the fishing stream.
They sat down and let their eyes scan the bank, both keeping silent.
Havenpaw saw a large, adult carp swimming with the current. She leapt forward, hooked it with her claws, flung it out of the air and let it flop down on the bank.
Watching the flapping fish, Perchpaw meowed, "Nice catch!"
"Thanks," Havenpaw murmured, "But we've already caught the fish and it's not even sundown."
"Let's join a patrol! We'll keep the fish on the fresh-kill pile," Perchpaw ended the fish's life and picked it up by its tail, turning around and beginning to pad back to camp. Havenpaw shrugged and dashed after her sister.
The reeds swished around them as they shouldered their way through the tall steps. Perchpaw dropped the carp on the fresh-kill pile, and padded over to the Mud Pile.
"No, we don't have any patrols for you to join," Reedwhisker meowed, laughter in his voice, "You've hunted twice and battle trained once. Rest!"
"I didn't do battle training," Havenpaw squeaked.
"But you fell in a stream."
Defeated, the apprentice padded off to the apprentices' den, in hopes of sleeping. She curled up in her feather-lined nest and shut her eyes.
Drat! She thought, I've got to go to the dirtplace.
She rose to her paws and padded out of the den, and over to the dirtplace. She pushed through the reeds in time to see a grey, black-tipped tail whisk through the reeds scattered around the marsh.
Perchpaw! She thought, going after her sister. Her paws hit the ground hard.
"Wait up!"
Perchpaw was too far ahead to hear Havenpaw. The black-and-white apprentice could only see the tip of her waving tail.
Perchpaw thundered over the ShadowClan border and turned right, going opposite of the lake.
"What is she doing?" Havenpaw muttered, slowing down a bit. She watched her sister look around warily, and then break into a run. Havenpaw pelted after her.
She skidded to a stop as her sister ducked out of sight, "What is she doing?"
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