I dropped the bomb pretty quick last time, didn't I? I guess I just felt like writing a more detailed shooting scene and picked a spot to throw it in, lol

8: Leaving the Hospital

Wavetail was still in the hospital. It had been a few days now, and she wasn't really sure if it was supposed to take that long or not.

Her parents had come to visit her plenty of times, asking frantic questions and seeming to have been driven mad by worry. Wavetail felt really bad for them; first they had lost Bluepaw and now Wavetail was in the hospital. It wasn't fair that they should be going through so much at once.

But, of course, with these thoughts came the terrible reminder that she herself was the one who caused all this trouble, even though it was an accident. She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind as she usually did, but this time she just couldn't get the traumatizing scene of Bluepaw's death off her mind. She let out a small whimper. This was all too much, even still.

"You okay?" Dawnfeather asked. The tabby she-cat was still there, as she had arrived the same day Wavetail did. They had been talking to each other a lot, getting to know each other. Wavetail thought Dawnfeather was a great friend. She was very confident, and very smart. She never forced Wavetail to do anything, and she was nice in general. Also very funny. And now, she asked Wavetail what was wrong when she was sad.

"Yeah. Just thinking about something," she replied, not sure whether to finally tell her friend about the horrible day when Bluepaw was murdered.

"Okay. By the way, we should be out of here by tomorrow. I heard the nurse say that," Dawnfeather said.

Wavetail looked up, forgetting all about what she was thinking about for this moment. She was very excited to finally be out of the hospital. "Really?"

"Yeah. Said it straight to my face. I'm so glad. My dad will be so relieved once I'm back."

"Yeah, my parents too."

"Are your parents still together?"

Wavetail was caught off guard by the question. She had never considered that. Of course! Divorce is a thing that happens, dum-dum. She suddenly felt very lucky that both her parents lived in the same house. It was probably hard, having to go back and forth between houses, only able to see one parent at a time. "Yeah. I'm so sorry yours got divorced."

"Well, I'm fine with it. My mom was not a very great cat, and I don't really go see her anymore. I think she still loved me, but... Let's just say she was kind of shady," Dawnfeather stated matter-of-factly.

Wavetail nodded. "I understand."

"Anyway," Dawnfeather changed the subject, "I recommend just sleeping the time away. It's gonna be pretty boring just sitting here and waiting."

"Good idea." Wavetail settled back down in her bed. "See you tomorrow."

"Good night- or whatever it is right now. I think it's like 4:30. But whatever, good night anyway." Dawnfeather laid down in bed.

The next day, Wavetail left the hospital with Dawnfeather. They had been able to leave at the same time, since they had gotten there the same day.

Obviously, they had gone their separate ways after saying goodbye, but Wavetail knew she would see Dawnfeather again. After all, she had gotten her phone number.

But now, Wavetail was going home, and going home meant telling her parents what this was all about. She had promised to tell them when she got home, and that was now. She almost decided to turn around and run away, to someone else's house, so she didn't have to confess to her parents. Honestly, this wouldn't relieve them at all. She was basically just giving them another reason to grieve over Bluepaw. But still, Wavetail walked all the way to her house and right inside, ready to tell the truth.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" She yelled when her parents didn't appear at the door. She closed the door behind her and walked farther into the house. But, strangely, they had not come to greet her yet. That was weird. Are they even in the house? She couldn't stop herself from thinking that worrying thought. And there was still no sign of them as she ventured upstairs, checking in their bedroom and in every other room. Then she went down to the basement. That was the only place she hadn't looked in yet, and nobody there either.

Wavetail double-checked the house, calling for her parents and checking each room, looking for some sign that they'd just gone out, like a note or a voicemail on her phone. But there was nothing. The car keys were still on the table, which meant they hadn't driven somewhere. She was very worried now. She'd also texted her mom when she left the hospital, but it had already been thirty minutes and there was no response. She tried to call her mom then, but the sound of her mom's ringtone coming from upstairs revealed that she had left her phone in the house, wherever she'd gone.

This wasn't good.

For the past few days, school hadn't felt right to Redstripe now that Icescar was gone. This whole thing had happened so fast and so unexpectedly, and now the friend he'd known since first grade had been expelled from the school. And there was a whole article about it. Of course, Redstripe was no longer allowed at Icescar's house because of what had been revealed about him, so he was going to have to find a way to reach out to his friend and find out more about this situation.

From what little information Redstripe had, he concluded that Icescar had probably talked to Owlspring before the shooting and planned for him to turn himself in with Icescar, even though Owlspring didn't actually use drugs at school. He had no idea how his friend had gotten Owlspring to agree to something like that, but the brown tabby catperson was already going to jail for killing Ms. Thriftear, so vaping was nothing compared to that.

"Icescar is such an idiot," Redstripe mumbled to himself as the bell rang for lunch and he headed out of the classroom. Obviously, he didn't really believe that, but worry and fear for his friend was overwhelming him at the moment. By now, Redstripe would have agreed to turn himself in so Icescar didn't have to, but of course, it was too late. No use wasting your time on regretting something you can't fix.

Jadeclaw appeared next to him while he was walking to lunch. He was holding a folded piece of paper. What now?

"I don't know who wrote this, but I found it on your locker. It'll be fun watching you rip it up."

Redstripe didn't know what the hell Jadeclaw was talking about, but it was probably a mean note from one of the stupid ass seniors who thought they were superior but still acted like third-grade bullies.

He took the paper from Jadeclaw, sat down in his seat at the lunch table, and unfolded it. It was lined paper, clearly ripped out of a notebook hastily by someone in a rush. But the message on the paper was the opposite of what Redstripe expected. It read:

Hi. I just wanted to tell you something that has been on my mind lately, and I think I need to tell you.

I kinda like you. And I kinda hope you like m-

Redstripe didn't even finish reading the note before ripping it to shreds and slamming it into the trash can. A girl sitting a couple tables away started crying.

Redstripe then looked at Jadeclaw and laughed.

"She thought I was single!" He boomed.

"Some people!" Jadeclaw laughed.

But this situation brought up an issue Redstripe hadn't been thinking about for a while. Wavetail still hadn't returned to school after her strange absence three days ago. Now, this had to be some sickness or something. No matter what it was, Redstripe was officially worried. He didn't let it show at school, but he was concerned for her and hoped she would come back soon or at least text him and tell him what was going on.

. . . . .

Later that day, after texting Wavetail and anxiously waiting for a response for the next thirty minutes, Redstripe realized something. The mysterious agent cat Baloneystar had mentioned that his party would take place on December 14th. That was in eight days. It was coming up sooner than he expected.

He'd been quick to trust this cat back then, but now he was having doubts. How did he know he wasn't just getting lured into a trap? After all, idiots like him gave into this crap all the time, and predators knew it. Baloneystar literally just appeared in his house and teleported out. He didn't seem like the kind of cat who'd host a high school party. Redstripe should have realized this, but the temptation of going to a party at the literal BAR was too much to resist.

And still, he just had a feeling that this was all legit and that Baloneystar wasn't lying. And plus, he was Baloneystar after all. He'd gotten a leader name, so he couldn't be a liar.

Redstripe pushed away his feelings of doubt. The party was going to be fun. Maybe he could even invite Icescar, if his friend hadn't been already.

There was no use getting stressed out about everything going on in his life. Wavetail was probably just sick, or going to visit family without telling him. He'd tell Jadeclaw and possibly Icescar about the party, and everything was going to turn out fine.