At the football game, Exotica stood on the field with the rest of the cheerleaders in her black and red uniform. She looked around nervously.
"What's wrong?" Miriam asked her. "You're usually not this fidgety."
Exotica fiddled with her high black ponytail. "Sorry. I'm just, uh, looking for someone."
"And by 'someone' you mean 'Admetus', right?" Miriam said, using air quotes.
Exotica sighed. "Yeah."
Miriam put her hands on her hips. "You like him, don't you?"
Exotica sighed again. "Yeah, I really do. And I miss him, too."
"So quit ignoring him," Miriam smiled.
"He doesn't even realize that I like him," Exotica said. "To him, I guess I'm just a friend."
"You don't know that for sure, do you?" Miriam asked.
Exotica shook her head.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Miriam said. She pointed towards the bleachers. Exotica turned around and saw Admetus standing there.
She turned back to Miriam. "How long do you think I have until the game starts?"
Miriam cocked her head. "Roughly five minutes."
Exotica wasted no time. She sprinted towards the bleachers and up to where Admetus was sitting.
"Hey, there you are," Admetus said. He took a look at her. "You look great."
Exotica nodded her thanks as she tried to catch her breath. Then she tried to say, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? For what?" Admetus asked, confused.
"For ignoring you," Exotica panted. She sat down on the bleachers beside him.
"Yeah, how come you did?" Admetus asked.
"Well, I really like you, and on that day when I basically told you so, you didn't exactly say you liked me back," Exotica said.
Admetus nodded. "Well, listen Exotica. You're a really nice girl and fun to be around, but right now I'm just not ready to date yet. I don't wanna rush things between you and me right now."
"But do you like me?" Exotica asked him.
Admetus took a deep breath. Exotica's heart sank.
"Right now, I don't know," Admetus said. "There's part of me that really likes you, but there's another part of me that's holding me back. I just got over a really rough relationship with this girl over the summer, and I guess I just don't wanna risk getting hurt again."
Awwww, he's so cute when he's sensitive! Exotica thought. But then she nodded and said, "I'll try to understand." Then she sighed. "So I guess we're just friends."
Admetus kissed her cheek. "For now." He smiled as she smiled back.
/\/\
Meanwhile, Rumpleteazer was standing in the concession stand line, waiting to order her food.
"Hey Rumpleteazer, what happened to the whole skirts and flip flops?" Mungojerrie asked as he saw Rumpleteazer in some camo cargos and her favorite Pizza t-shirt and hoodie.
"It's a football game, not a fashion show," Rumpleteazer replied.
Mungojerrie chuckled. "Now that's the Teazer I know." He high-fived her.
"Yeah, I got a major reality check," Rumpleteazer said. "Besides, those flip flops were hard to walk in anyway."
"But can you tell me why you started wearing them?" Mungojerrie asked curiously.
Rumpleteazer ignored him and turned around to the concession stand to order. "Can I have some popcorn, a Coke, and a Twix bar please?"
"Was it because of a guy?" Mungojerrie asked.
Rumpleteazer rolled her eyes.
"It was," Mungojerrie said. "Who was it?"
Rumpleteazer sighed. "It was you."
Mungojerrie raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
Rumpleteazer nodded.
"Well one, I almost thought it was Tumblebrutus, and two, I have to say I am extremely flattered," Mungojerrie purred. He put his arm around Rumpleteazer. "Why don't you let me pay for that?"
Rumpleteazer giggled. "Okay, Jerrie."
As they got the food and walked back to the bleachers, Mungojerrie's arm was still around Rumpleteazer. "But can I be honest, Teazer?"
She nodded. "Sure."
"I like you a lot better when you're you and not dressed like mother of pink," Mungojerrie said. "You're hot just the way you are."
Rumpleteazer squeal-giggled.
"Wow, did you actually squeal?" Mungojerrie said. "Call Channel 2 Action News, 'cuz this has never happened before!"
Rumpleteazer giggled again. Then she gave Mungojerrie a playful punch. "You're such a Jerrie."
Mungojerrie nodded. "Yeah, and that's just the way you like me, right?"
"You know me too well," Rumpleteazer smiled.
/\/\
"Hey, you," Etcetera said, sitting next to Tumblebrutus as the game started.
"Um, hi," Tumblebrutus mumbled.
"So, I missed you all day," Etcetera cooed. She put her arm around his waist.
Mistoffelees and Mungojerrie shared a confused look. Since when did Etcetera say "I miss you" to Tumblebrutus?
Tumblebrutus didn't reply.
Etcetera sighed impatiently. "Can I talk to you in private?"
Tumblebrutus followed her out of the bleachers. "Look, I miss you too, but don't say that in front of my friends?"
"Why not? Don't you like me?" Etcetera pouted.
"Yeah, but—" Tumblebrutus lowered his voice. "I don't want anyone to know."
Etcetera crossed her arms. "Oh, so you're that ashamed of liking a sevie huh?"
"What? No, of course not," Tumblebrutus said.
"So why can't your friends know about me and you?" Etcetera asked.
Tumblebrutus was speechless.
"That what I thought. We're done." Etcetera stormed away just in time to meet up with Electra.
"Hey!" Electra cheerfully said.
"Leave me alone!" Etcetera snapped.
Electra frowned. How come she always has to take out her bad attitude on me?
"Hey, Ellie, are we too late?" she heard Pouncival ask her.
Electra sighed. "No, the game just started."
Jemima noticed her sadness. "What's wrong?"
Electra looked at the both of them. "Whenever Etcetera gets in a bad mood, which is, like, very often, she always takes it out on me, and I'm tired of it."
"Well, do you wanna sit with us to get your mind off of it?" Jemima offered.
"Ah, what the heck? Sure," Electra said, following them to where the rest of their friends were.
When they got to where everyone else was sitting, Rumpleteazer said, "Hey! There you guys are! What took you guys so long?"
"Pounce had to redo his hair," Mungojerrie joked.
Pouncival smacked him. "Well it's not my fault Jemima eats as slow as my grandma does."
Jemima scoffed. "Excuuuuse me, but you're the one that eats slow." She turned to everyone else. "We ate Chinese at my house and just got dropped off here."
"And you didn't invite me to come with you?" Rumpleteazer asked. "Come on man, Chinese is the best!"
"Yeah, egg rolls are my favorite," Electra said.
"Really? Doesn't Panda Express make good ones?" Rumpleteazer asked her.
"Mmmm the best I've ever tasted!" Electra exclaimed.
As she and Rumpleteazer discussed egg rolls, Jemima turned to Pouncival. "But I didn't mind being late, though."
Pouncival smiled. "Really?" He knew exactly what she meant.
Jemima nodded. "Spending time with you was awesome."
/\/\
"Hey Cori, there you are!" Tantomile said as she sat down next to him.
Coricopat frowned. "Where's Bailey?" he asked sarcastically.
Tantomile didn't notice the sarcasm in his voice. "He doesn't really like football games all that much."
"Oh, how disappointing," Coricopat said with fake sympathy.
Tantomile gave him a confused look. "Ummm, okay, what's with you lately?"
"What's with me is that you have a boyfriend and you spend all your friggin time with him!" Coricopat vented. "You never stop talking to him or talking about him, and you never have any time for me anymore!"
Tantomile sighed. "Look I'm sorry if you feel that I'm not spending any time with you. But you have to understand that I have a boyfriend now. Things are gonna change. But one thing that will never change is me being your sister." She paused and gave Coricopat a hug. "And I'll try and spend a little more time with you, okay? 'Cuz it's not like Bailey is my entire world, you know."
Coricopat smiled. Then his smile disappeared when Tantomile's phone rang. She looked at the caller ID.
"Um, that's Bailey, but I won't answer it," Tantomile said, dropping her phone into her purse.
Coricopat smiled again. "Cool." Then he turned to the field and said, "Hey isn't that Exotica at the top of the pyramid?"
Tantomile followed his gaze. "Hey you're right!"
Sure enough, two girls were balancing Exotica and her arms were up in the air. She smiled at Coricopat and Tantomile as they smiled back. Then they heard a voice shout, "Whooo! Go Exotica!"
Coricopat turned around to see who the voice belonged to. Tantomile didn't have to turn around to know that it was Admetus cheering her on.
/\/\
During half time, after the cheerleaders did their dance routine to "Fire" by Mdot, Demeter headed over to the concession stand to get a few snacks before having to go back out and cheer again.
"Hey Demeter," Alonzo said, coming up to her.
"Heyyyy! I saw that touchdown you got. Congratulations!" Demeter gave him a big bear hug. Then she wrinkled her nose. "Uh, maybe I'll hug you after your shower."
"Ha ha ha, I get it. You think you're too good and pretty to hug me when I'm sweaty," Alonzo jokingly said. Then he tapped her shoulder. "Hey look, there's Munkustrap."
Demeter turned around as Alonzo and Munkustrap gave each other a boy handshake.
"Hey, I gotta get back to the field, so later," Alonzo said, hustling towards the field.
"Hey, nice routine out there, Demi," Munkustrap said. "'Fire' is gonna be stuck in my head for weeks."
Demeter giggled. "Well it's already stuck in my head." Then she sang, "I keep givin' you the fire…" She and Munkustrap started singing the chorus together.
Munkustrap laughed. "Yeah I'll be humming that in about five or so minutes."
Demeter nodded. Then she changed the subject. "So how is Tugger doing?"
Munkustrap sighed. "Not good. He won't return any of Bombalurina's texts or calls."
"So he's not coming to the game?" Demeter asked.
"No, he's here, he's just not out the car yet," Munkustrap said.
Demeter nodded. "Man, poor Tugger. I understand how he feels."
"You mean with Macavity and his unfaithfulness?" Munkustrap asked.
"Yeah, but somehow a good thing came out of this," Demeter said.
Munkustrap looked confused. "I gotta hear this." His full attention turned to Demeter.
"Well I guess I realized that Macavity isn't the right guy for me," Demeter said. "And after he, you know, abused me, I turned to a different guy." She walked closer to him. "To a guy that I should've been with ever since the day he liked me. A strong, sweet, sensitive, caring, and a really good tutor."
Munkustrap was speechless. Then he found words. "I don't suppose you're talking about Alonzo, are you?"
Demeter giggled. "Alonzo an awesome guy and I love him, but more like a brother."
Munkustrap blushed. "Are you talking abooouut—"
Demeter's finger accidently brushed up against his finger. "Munkustrap?"
Munkustrap's fingers interlocked with hers. "Demeter?"
Demeter smiled. She knew exactly what was gonna happen next.
But as soon as their lips almost touched, Macavity appeared out of nowhere and shoved Munkustrap out of the way and onto the ground.