Ok, here's the next chapter! I won't be able to update so frequently now, because I have finals exams in 4 weeks and I need to study. But I will try to put up a chapter at least once a week! And this isn't going to turn out some 30-chapter epic (it's quite drawn-out already) so, yeah. Thanks for being patient, and thank you all for reviewing!
"TUGGER!" Bombalurina called, leaping gracefully over stacks of magazines and soggy cardboard boxes. "Where are you?" She had been searching for her mate for nearly half an hour, and her patience was worn thin. She had almost circum-navigated the entire Junkyard and the sexy lion-maned tom was nowhere to be found. Frowning in confusion, the red queen climbed up to a chair balanced on top of some junk and scanned the place with sharp eyes. Nothing. It was frustrating – Tugger was always at the Junkyard at this time, and she needed to ask him what he'd done with her comb. Of course, she could always clean herself in the conventional cat manner of licking, but using a comb was so much more glamorous! And she knew the Tugger found it easier to manage that mane of his with a comb than with his tongue, so he must have been using it again. She looked around again and spotted Alonzo and Jemima entering the Junkyard. In the hope that they would have seen the Tugger recently, she climbed down from the chair and went to greet the two.
"Alonzo, Jemima!" She called as they stepped through a hole in the fence. They both looked around, rather guiltily, and visibly relaxed when they saw it was Bombaluina. She was usually too interested in her own affairs to notice the affairs of others, unless it was hot gossip, and the Alonzo/Jemima pair had ceased to be noticed a while ago now.
"Hi 'Rina!" Jemima replied, smiling at the older queen, her sister's best friend. Alonzo nodded politely, concealing his impatience to be alone with Jemima again.
"Hi. Jem, d'you know where Tugger is? Have you seen him?" Bombalurina asked, inspecting one of her claws delicately. Jemima shrugged.
"Sorry, we haven't seen him. Why?"
"He has my comb and I need it." She replied, already distracted by Cassandra entering the Junkyard. "Hey, Cassandra?" She called, moving over. Cassandra jumped, as did Alonzo and Jemima at the sound of her name. Looking decidedly wary, Cassandra answered as Alonzo and Jemima disappeared into the shadows.
"Yes?" She said a little curtly. She had hoped not to be noticed. After their conversation had ended with the same result as the last, albeit a little less friendly, Cassandra moved away to her own den and Bombalurina, feeling she couldn't possibly have dirty fur a moment longer, sighed and sat down to lick herself clean.
Cassandra slunk to her den, a wicker laundry basket tipped on its side in a secluded corner of the Junkyard. She curled herself in the bottom of it and lay there, to all appearance asleep.
Ever since the incident with Alonzo and Jemima, Cassandra had kept to herself even more than usual. She hadn't even come out to talk with the other cats, and although some of the more considerate queens had tried to persuade her to join in, they had by now given up and turned to more interesting things. At first, Cassandra had just seethed quietly in her den. She could hold a grudge for a very long time – one of her less admirable traits – and she had a heavy one against both Alonzo and Jemima. Thoughts of her revenge chased each other around in her head, and she gloated inwardly at the images of what would happen when her plan came to work. The first stage hadn't worked properly, but she had high hopes for the second.
In the quiet, she heard raised voices. The Tugger, and Bombalurina. She smiled. She knew where that comb of Bombalurina's was, and one thing was for sure, the Tugger didn't have it.