Chapter 2
Rumpleteazer was playing with her friends when they ran into another cat. It was a tom.
"Well, hello darlings. How are you this fine morning?" he asked smoothly as he tried to sidle up to a cute calico. He stopped when a white and brown tom hissed and pushed the maroon calico behind him. "All right, all right, I get the message. Who might I have the pleasure of addressing?"
Rumpleteazer looked at the black and red tom. He looked like someone she used to know. Someone from the streets. He almost looked a bit like Tugger, but he didn't have spots or quite so large a mane. "I'm Rumpleteazer. This is Jemima, Etcetera, Pouncival, and Tumblebrutus. Who are you?"
He stared at her. "Rumpleteazer? Is it you? The last time I saw you, you were in trouble with a pack of Pollicles. I'm Firewind."
Rumpleteazer smiled widely. "Yes, I remember now. Thank you again. What are you up to?"
The other four cats noticed how her face lit up. Knowing looks were exchanged among them, unnoticed by Teazer.
'Uh-oh.' Thought Tumblebrutus. 'Mungojerrie isn't gonna like this one bit.' Of all the cats there, he was the only one who knew of the crush Mungojerrie had on Rumpleteazer. "Umm, Teazer?"
"Yeah, Tumble?" she replied, eyes still on Firewind. He was quite a handsome tom. Not as good looking as Mungojerrie, but that was beside the point.
"We should get back. You know Munkustrap will be getting worried."
Her pretty face fell. She wanted to talk to Fire some more. She hadn't seen him for a year. She got an idea. "Hey Firewind, wanna come with us? Maybe you could stay for a while. We're having a Valentine Ball in a couple days. I'm sure Deuteronomy wouldn't mind."
The red tom looked at her in surprise, but nodded just the same. He knew she was a Jellicle and he wouldn't mind being one himself. He'd left his other tribe because they didn't want anything to do with him. He had bedded a queen that was already mated. The queen's mate just happened to be the leader. It wasn't his fault; he'd tried to explain. She told him that she wasn't attached. But when he faced the other leader, the queen didn't even look at him. Turned out that their mating wasn't official yet. He soon realized that the others were getting ahead of him. As he hurried to catch up, he noticed how pretty Rumpleteazer had become. When they had first met, she was nothing but skin and bones. Now, however, she was curvy in all the right places. It would be fun to go out with her. Hopefully she wasn't attached.