Jane carried Nixie the whole way and she felt Chris' eyes on her. She wasn't sure if he was admiring her, or the cat. But she didn't care at the moment.
The tree house stood triumphantly in front of them as they reached it. The sky was a brilliant blue and there were just a few meager clouds hanging in the air.
"Wanna scare the hell outta the guys?" Chris asked.
"How so?" Jane loved pranks or things that made her laugh.
"Open the latch and put Nixie through. Make sure the guys don't see you."
Jane obeyed and slowly opened the entry, letting the cat slip through.
She stepped back and waited.
Sure enough, a few seconds later a "What the hell?!" came booming. It was Teddy.
Jane and Chris bent over and started laughing until their stomachs ached.
After a few moments, Teddy came down the ladder and gave the two a look as if to say, "Are you insane?"
"What is that thing?" teddy asked.
"That's a cat teddy. A vampire cat," Chris raised his eyebrows when he said "vampire cat" and acted like he was serious.
"You're crazy," teddy said to the both of them.
"Oh no Chris, I think Teddy's craziness is contagious." Jane made herself sound worried.
"Hell yeah it is. I warned Chris, Gordie and Vern about it when we became friends." teddy said.
The joke was finally over so the 3 of them climbed back into the tree house.
"So what's her name?" teddy asked.
"Nixie. But I call her a vamp cat though. She has unusually sharp teeth and she hates the sun." Jane answered.
Gordie was silently sitting in the tree house. Gordie was doing the usual, writing in his journal and Vern was... Not there. Typical. As a new member to the gang, Jane had quickly learned everything about them, one being that Vern was always late.
Chris and Jane sat down beside each other. Chris got out a cigarette, lit it and pulled out a deck of cards, "I challenge you." he directed at Jane. She smiled. There was no way she was losing.
She looked up to see where Nixie was, and to her great surprise, she was on Teddy's lap and he was petting her and grinning.
"Teddy, are you okay?" Jane asked with real concern. It was not normal for him to be this gentile with something.
"Yeah, why? I think your vampire cat likes me."
He was right. Nixie seemed to be clinging to him.
Weird.
Just then, Vern came knocking.
"God Vern, learn the secret knock!" Gordie shouted.
"Sorry sorry, just please let me up!" he shouted back.
Chris took the home made table off the entry and opened the door.
"Guys you're never gonna believe what I just heard! Sincerely. This is unbelievable!" Vern said, climbing in.
The 4 of us turned to him to find it what he was so excited about.
"Just let me catch my breath." he sputtered.