This was much shorter than the other two chapters. It'll be made up in the next :)
Demeter woke up to hear quiet shuffling. Her heart froze. She knew her parents were coming to get her; to beat her. Timidly, she cracked one eye open, and then remembered she was at Macavity's. She breathed a small sigh of relief and sat up. She heard soft humming coming from the kitchen, and she quietly got up, wondering who was making the noise. She peered around the corner to see Munk making breakfast. As he waited to the mice to be done cooking, he was leaning against the counter, eyes closed, and humming. She smiled.
"Morning," she said. He snapped his eyes open and let out a small yelp. He saw Demeter grinning at him and his heartbeat returned to normal.
"Everlasting Cat, Demeter!" Munk said. "Don't sneak up on me!"
She giggled. "Sorry." He turned his back to her to finish up breakfast and she took a seat at the dining room table. She watched him expertly flip mice and season fish. He knew she was watching, and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Nice head fur," he commented jokingly to break the silence. "Is that the new fashion?"
Demeter grimaced as her paws shot to her head. "Ugh! My head fur can never look nice in the morning." She dashed into the bathroom to fix her head fur.
"Tugger's got it worse," Munk replied when she came back. "He's got that mane."
She smirked. "Poor Tugger."
"Poor Tugger nothing!" Munk exclaimed. "He may only be a month younger than me, but you should see the jokes he plays on me. One morning I woke up to find all of my black stripes painted over with the same silver color as my fur!"
Demeter laughed, imagining Munk all silver. "Maybe we should – " Demeter started to say.
"Morning!" Came a cheery voice. Macavity rounded the corner and gave Demeter a quick kiss before joining his younger brother in the kitchen.
"What were you saying Demeter?" Munk asked as he shot an annoyed look at Macavity.
"I was just saying that maybe we should pull a joke on him," Demeter replied. Macavity looked back and forth between them.
"Are you talking about Tugger?" Macavity asked. They nodded and he rubbed his whiskers, deep in thought. "Hm…that might not be such a bad idea." Just then, Tugger and Old Deuteronomy walked into the kitchen as Munk and Macavity set the table.
"Everlasting Cat Munk!" Demeter exclaimed as she bit into her seasoned fish. "Where did you learn to cook like this? What's this seasoning you put on?"
Munk gave her a shy smile. "I like cooking, too. That seasoning is something the humans call 'cinnamon'. You might not know this, but most of the food you've eaten here and at some parties are made by me."
"Really?" Demeter was impressed. She felt a little guilty. Had she known that he was the one always cooking the food, she would have thanked him a long time ago. "It's so good!"
"Thanks," he said. When they finished, everyone cleared their plates and got ready for school. All morning, Demeter was trying to get a hold of Bomba on her cell phone. Strangely, Bomba never answered, and she usually did. Macavity drove Demeter to school since she didn't have her car. Macavity helped her look for her friend until first period. Tugger was no help, and walked off to find his own group of friends. Demeter silently seethed at his behavior.
"What's wrong?" Macavity asked.
"It's Tugger," she huffed. "Bomba is his queenfriend, and he's not even helping us find her! Some tomfriend he is…"
Macavity put an arm around her waist. "I know. He's a bit…hotheaded. We'll find her." The bell to announce first period rang, and they dashed off to class with Munk. Demeter didn't have any classes with Bomba until after lunch, and she had a hard time concentrating in class. Once or twice Macavity had to nudge her to make sure she was still ok.
"Demetah?" Mr. Ovahad was trying to get Demeter's attention. "Demetah?" Macavity finally nudged her hard enough to get her attention.
"Hm?" Demeter snapped to attention and noticed the whole class staring at her. "Oh. Yes?"
"Con yah tell moi wheah the Scaholls of Evahlasting Cat (A/N: 'Scrolls of Everlasting Cat') wheah found?"
"Oh. Um…in a cave found by a mice herder?" Demeter answered. Mr. Ovahad nodded.
Munk gave Demeter a quizzical look. Macavity made a motion to not say anything to her. Munk nodded and turned back around. Demeter glanced up at Macavity, who was giving her a sad smile. He hated seeing her this distracted and upset. It seemed like forever, but the bell ending first period ran. She bolted out of the room and into the hallway. Then came second period…with Tugger.
Demeter slammed her books down, causing Tugger to jump. "Where's Bomba?"
"How should I know?" Tugger asked. "You see her more than I do!"
"That's not true," Demeter said. "You're her tomfriend. You should be worried as to where she might be. Haven't you noticed how we haven't heard or seen from her all day?"
Tugger frowned. "I did notice. I just thought it was having a fight with someone or it was her 'time of the month', so I didn't bother trying to find her."
Demeter rolled her eyes. "You know what? Never mind Tugger. Obviously you don't care enough."
"Hey! I care about her!" Tugger retorted. Demeter scrunched her nose and tried to endure the next hour of sitting next to Tugger.
"I wonder where she is," Etcetera mumbled.
"It's not like her to not just not show up and not say anything," Tantomile said. Demeter, Etcetera, Rumpleteazer, and Cassandra nodded. There was still no sign of Bomba. They even tried calling her house, but it only went to voicemail.
"Demeter!" Demeter turned to whoever called her name. Exotica was running towards her, panting. "Bombalurina wants to talk to you."
"Where is she?" Demeter asked.
"She's in the tennis court on the bleachers."
Demeter thanked Exotica and took off. She ran past Macavity, briefly turning her head to say she found Bomba. She ran in the direction of the tennis courts and slowed down. As said, Bomba was sitting on the bleachers, her head buried in her paws. Her shoulders were bobbing up and down slightly, like she was either laughing or crying. Demeter raced over to her.
"Bomba?" Demeter said quietly. "What's wrong? I tried getting a hold of you this morning."
"I know," Bomba whispered. "I'm sorry."
A bad feeling settled in Demeter's stomach. "What's going on?"
Bomba lifted her head. Tears were falling down her face. So she had been crying. "I…I…there's something I need to tell you." She quickly dropped her head.
Demeter waited patiently until Bomba was ready to tell her. Taking a deep breath, Bomba lifted her head once more and looked directly into Demeter's eyes. What she said next, Demeter never expected.
"Demeter…I – I think I'm pregnant."