Part Twenty-One

Rumpleteazer was walking with Exotica down the mostly empty hallways. They both had a spare class and were going to spend it outside by the football field. The team would be practicing, so they'd have something to amuse themselves with.

"Yew mean to say yew've nevah 'ad any feelin's foh a tom?" Teazer's green eyes peered sideways at Exotica. The dark Burmese shrugged and smiled wistfully.

"I know it might seem a little weird, it is just that there is never anything there when I'm with a tom. No twittering feeling in my heart, no butterflies in my stomach." Rumpleteazer nodded her head and pursed her lips in thought.

"Caime to fink of it, Oi don't fink Oi've evah 'ad any feelin's fer a tom eithah. Oi guess it was just luck, yew knaiwe? Oi've seen what luv seems ta do to some people and Oi'd rathah not 'ave to deal wit dat." Exotica smiled. The pair passed the janitors closet, and suddenly Exotica stopped. Her ears swiveled back towards the closet, and then her eyes went to it.

"Do you hear that?" Rumpleteazer stopped, looking back. Her orange ears pricked up and she listened hard. Her eyes widened and Rumpleteazer walked back to stand with Exotica by the door. Grunts, pants and kisses sounded from the other side of the door when both princesses pressed their ears lightly against it.

"Who do yew s'ppose it is?" Teazer whispered in Exotica's ear. Exotica straighted and shrugged, motioning towards the door with her free paw. Rumpleteazer shook her head and closed her paw around the door. A strangled yelp escaped Exotica's lips when Teazer opened the door.

Both of the princesses stood gaping when they saw who was inside. Skimbleshanks was leaning against the wall, his eyes wide with disbelief, and Jennyanydots had her legs wrapped around Skimble's waist, her eyes mirroring the disbelief. Exotica's eyes dropped to the ground as she scrambled towards the door. Teazer, however, was stuck in place, her mouth dropped open with shock.

"Uhh... Oi... Oops!" She said, putting a paw over her mouth and running towards the door. Jenny scrambled off of Skimbleshanks and pulled her knee-length jean skirt down. Skimbleshanks tugged the wrinkles out of the front of his white dress shirt, buttoning it up from the middle where it had been. He smoothed the bottom edge of the shirt into the waist of his brown dress pants and buttoned them up as well. Jennyanydots fixed her make up, embarassement coloring her cheeks. Looking up at Skimbleshanks, Jenny started to giggle.

"I can't believe we were caught by a student." She said, reaching up to fix Skimble's orange and brown hair. His large, slender paw caught her wrist, turning it so he could kiss her paw. The orange and white queen smiled, standing up on her tip toes to kiss his lightly on the cheek.

"We'd best be careful not tae be doin' that sorta thing again, m'dear. Unless ye plan on finishing up later..." Jenny pulled herself up to meet Skimble's lips with a fiery, impatient kiss.

"I want to finish this later, love, but right now I should be getting back to the shop and you should be going and preparing a lesson. Come pick me up at around nine thirty." Skimble nodded, fixing his cuffs as he walked back towards his classroom. Jenny touched her lips gently and smiled.

"Until later, my love..." She whispered, and walked out of the school with her polka dot bag swinging.

Exotica and Rumpleteazer leant against the football goal post, panting and wheezing from running all the way from the school. Alonzo, Munkustrap and Plato were getting the equipment out and spotted the two queens. Alonzo's eyebrow went up when he saw the new queen, elbowing Plato and motioning with his head.

"Who's the newb?" He asked, putting the giant bag of footballs down. Plato shrugged, trying to get a better look at the tabby's face. Munkustrap put the shoulder pads he was carrying down and looked at her.

"One of the new transfer students; Rumpleteazer I think her name is. Her brother, Mungojerrie is in my sports performance class. He was talking about his sister. I think that's her. At any rate, let's get this equipment out before the sophmores get here and complain." The trio went back to the equipment storage to get the last of the stuff they needed.

"I cannot believe I just saw what I think I just saw!!!" Exotica said with a laugh, leaning her back against the pole and sinking to the ground. Rumpleteazer dissolved into giggles, sinking down to her knees beside Exotica.

"Oi fink moi eyes ahe bleedin'! Oi cannot believe yew fink dat was our chemistry teachah and that ice cream pahloh ownah. Oi just can't believe yew!" Looking over her shoulder, Xoti smiled.

"Believe me, Teazer, because that's exactly who that was! Oh Heavyside! I'm never going to be able to concentrate in chemistry class now!" Teazer shaded her eyes with her paw and looked over the field at the toms as they put the equipment down. Exotica's eyes followed Teazer's and she smiled.

"Aww yes! The jocks... want to go meet them? They're really very nice toms, just... slightly more muscular than most." Rumpleteazer jumped to her feet and offered Exotica her paw. Taking the help, Exotica pulled herself up off the ground and came nose to nose with Rumpleteazer. Exotica's dark brown eyes locked with Rumpleteazer's green ones and both caught their breath. Exotica's lips trembled on a breath and Teazer pulled away, blushing.

"So ahe we gonna go naiwe?" She said, grinning at Xoti. With a shaken smile, Exotica walked past Teazer towards the trio of toms.

"Hello Munkustrap, Alonzo and Plato; how are you?" Munkustrap straightened, his chest straining a little against his white tank top. He shaded his eyes and looked at Exotica with a flash of a white smile. Rumpleteazer looked over Exotica's shoulder at the three. Alonzo had neglected his t-shirt and had it stuffed into his back pocket, so his toned muscles rippled under the black and white splashes of fur on his chest. Plato was also not wearing a shirt, but his frame was slightly less wide than Alonzo's six foot frame. His muscles were toned, and his white and rusty-colored fur glistened with sweat under the high sun.

"Hey Exotica, and... Rumpleteazer, is it? I'm Munkustrap." The tiger tabby queen eased out from behind Exotica and smiled. Stepping forward, Teazer offered her paw to Munkustrap; jolting only a little when his large paw closed over hers. The smiles were friendly and Exotica let out a breath. Alonzo stepped over the equipment and to Xoti's side. Nudging the shorter princess with his elbow, Alonzo grinned. Exotica looked up at him with a friendly smile.

"Hey Xoti and Teazer. I'm Alonzo."

"And I'm Plato." The rusty and white tom stepped over the equipment, wiping his paws on a ragged towel. Rumpleteazer grinned, her freckles wrinkling a little on her cheeks. Looking up at the sky, Teazer frowned.

"Yew gois practice in this 'eat? Doesn't dat get kinda bothahsome?" She asked, not bothered by the surprised looks on the toms faces.

"Neat accent." Alonzo said, winking at Exotica. The Burmese rolled her eyes, stepping out from under the arm Alonzo had tried to snake around her shoulders. Walking over to the bench, Exotica picked up a basket full of twenty empty bottles.

"Do you want me to go fill these up?" Munkus looked over at Exotica and nodded.

"Please, and maybe take Teazer with her... the basket can get kind of heavy when all the bottles are filled." With a nod, Exotica trotted off with Teazer following not too far behind her. Plato walked over to Alonzo and draped his arm across his friend's shoulders.

"You know, her sister is more your age." Alonzo shot Plato a dirty look, shrugging him off.

"Yeah, but she has a huge crush on her."