Apprentice and Pregnant 2
Chapter 23: The Assessment, Part 1
My window's opened up
Tonight I'm crawling out
Will you be there, are you waiting
Will you be there, will you save me
"What should we practice first?" Laurelpaw asked, glaring at the other apprentices as they ignored her. "Hey! Stop talking, we need to focus."
"Chill, Laurelpaw," Ivypaw mumbled, rolling her eyes at Pinepaw. Pinepaw looked away uncomfortably, clearly confused on why Ivypaw was being snappy. Laurelpaw knew for a fact she was still annoyed about the whole Firepaw conversation earlier, but she didn't let it show. Whatever. Be a bitch if you want, I don't care.
"Maybe to get warmed up we should do some jump attacks," Silverpaw suggested after no one volunteered anything. "Stretch our muscles out a bit."
"Good idea," Laurelpaw smiled at her brother, taking note of Firepaw who was making funny faces at her. She turned quickly and stuck her tongue out at him. Ivypaw growled under her breath, but that just seemed to fuel Laurelpaws desire to piss her off.
"Let's break into pairs of two," Laurelpaw continued. "Since there's six of us, we can all match up with someone without anyone being left out."
"Who made you the leader?" Ivypaw snapped loudly, staring at Laurelpaw with a rude expression on her face. "Why are you bossing us all around, Laurelpaw? Or should we call you Laurelstar?"
"I'm just trying to get organized," Laurelpaw said simply, forcing herself to keep her voice calm. "But if you have any ideas, by all means jump right in."
Ivypaw opened her mouth and then closed it again, not prepared to be put on the spot. Laurelpaw snorted under her breath. That's what I thought.
"So let's partner up," Laurelpaw said. "Once we-"
"THERE YOU GO AGAIN!" Ivypaw cried out, sighing dramatically for no good reason. "Quit telling us all what to do!"
"Ivypaw, chill the hell out," Firepaw snorted. Laurelpaw laughed loudly, unable to help herself. Silverpaw and Cracklepaw started snickering, and Ivypaw hissed and looked down.
"Whatever," she growled.
"What's going on in here?"
Laurelpaw turned at the new voice that had entered the training hollow, Swallow Star was standing in the entrance looking both amused and confused.
"We thought we'd get warmed up before the assessment," Laurelpaw explained quickly, realizing with a jolt that they had forgotten to tell any warriors where they were going. She braced herself, expecting Swallow Star to bring it up. But to her surprise he walked in and sat down, eyes shining with anticipation.
"You do know that it's a hunting assessment, right?" he asked slowly.
"Yeah," Laurelpaw replied, feeling a bit silly. "We thought we'd just stretch our muscles a bit."
"Then by all means, don't let me bother you," Swallow Star said kindly.
"Are you gonna watch?" Pinepaw asked uncomfortably as Swallow Star made it apparent that he wasn't going to leave.
"If you don't mind," Swallow Star replied.
"Let's get started then," Cracklepaw coughed awkwardly and turned to Silverpaw. "I'll be partners with you."
Laurelpaw understood why everyone felt uncomfortable. No one had planned on the clan leader to sit in on the exercise.
"Firepaw, I'll be partners with you!" Ivypaw called out, batting her eyelashes at him from where she was sitting. Firepaw looked distressed at the thought of this, and he smiled a fake toothy smile that looked ridiculous. "Terrific."
Laurelpaw nearly burst out laughing; Firepaws reaction was funny and made her really happy at the same time. I have a feeling he might not like her as much as she thinks he does.
"That leaves you and me then," Pinepaw said a bit too loudly, shooting a glance over at Swallow Star. Swallow Star, who was busy viewing Silverpaw and Cracklepaws routine, didn't notice. Laurelpaw was confused for a moment by the exchange, but remembered quickly that Pinepaw liked Swallow Star. Wow, I totally forgot. I guess part of me just figured that that whole ordeal must have died out by now. Maybe it's not just a crush after all.
"Let's get started," Laurelpaw said, turning her focus back to Pinepaw and the exercise. "Pinepaw, do you want to jump first or should I?"
"I can," Pinepaw said, crouching down in the position to leap. "On three, okay? One… two…"
"THREE!" Firepaw shouted loudly, jumping up into the air. He crashed into Laurelpaw before Pinepaw could even move. "SURPRISE ATTACK!"
"Hey!" Laurelpaw squealed, struggling to push him off. "I wasn't ready!"
"That's the point of a surprise attack, idiot," Firepaw smiled and shoved her playfully before getting up. "You can't just go and plan one."
"Points to Firepaw for being spontaneous," Swallow Star called out, laughing. "And nice leap, by the way."
"Thanks," Firepaw said proudly, looking pleased with himself. "Alright, I think it's about time we switched things up, dontcha think? Keep things fresh?"
"What are you talking about?" Laurelpaw giggled, not understanding what he was saying. "Talk normally."
"Translation, time to switch partners," Firepaw announced.
"But we haven't even practiced yet!" Ivypaw whined, stamping a paw on the ground. "Firepaw, get over here!"
"SURPRISE ATTACK!" Firepaw screamed suddenly, turning around and bowling Laurelpaw over again. "TWO IN A ROW, HA BITCH!"
"Firepaw, watch your words," Swallow Star put in mildly from where he was sitting.
"I got you," Firepaw whispered, still on top of Laurelpaw. Laurelpaw felt as though her heart was on fire, mind spinning out of control. She forgot how to fight back, and she just laid there staring up at him, watching his green eyes soften as he looked into hers. However, the moment was over in a heartbeat. Firepaw blinked and looked away, shoving her again.
"Fight back!" he said, voice cracking slightly. "You'd be shredded into bits if I was a Shadowclan cat. Do you think one of those guys would just stand here and let you off so easy? I don't think so. No sir."
"Whatever," Laurelpaw mumbled, embarrassed as she looked up and noticed everyone was staring at them. "Get off me."
"Get off me," Firepaw repeated, obviously trying to make a joke. He thought that over for a second before adding, "Wait, that doesn't make sense. Disregard."
"You're silly," Laurelpaw shook her head. "You don't even make sense half the time."
"Firepaw," Ivypaw whined again, sounding like a two moon old kit. "You're supposed to be practicing with me!"
"Kay," Firepaw mumbled, standing up. The expression on his face was the same one would have after being informed they were on elder duty for a moon.
"Alright, now that Firepaw got that out of his system," Pinepaw started, not meeting Laurelpaws eyes. "Let's practice."
"Uh huh," Laurelpaw muttered distantly, not paying attention. She was busy looking over at Firepaw, who seemed more interested in inspecting a twig on the ground rather than doing the jumping exercise. She didn't even notice as Pinepaw counted down again, crashing into her before she could defend herself.
"Points for Pinepaw!" Swallowstar called from where he was sitting.
"What was that?" Pinepaw cried, staring at Laurelpaw incredulously. "That was the lamest thing I've ever seen. You didn't even try!"
"Sorry," Laurelpaw mumbled, embarrassed. "I wasn't ready."
"Clearly," Pinepaw snapped, backing up again into position. "Now let's try this again. One… two…"
"LAURELPAW SUCKS!" Firepaw exploded suddenly, making Laurelpaw shriek and lose her balance. Pinepaw bowled into her again, pinning her down as effortlessly as before.
"Good freaking grief," Pinepaw sighed and shook her head, looking completely fed up. "This is going nowhere."
Laurelpaw got up quickly, registering the fact that Swallow Star had just witnessed firsthand her terrible counterattacks. If you can even call it a counterattack, Laurelpaw thought to herself. It was more of a one sided battle if you ask me. I might as well have been a rock on the ground!
"Firepaw, I appreciate your enthusiasm," Swallow Star called out awkwardly. "But you're being a bit of a distraction."
"Sorry," Firepaw replied, sounding like he wasn't sorry at all. Laurelpaw struggled to hide her laughter and looked away from everyone, smiling like an idiot.
"Well, from what I can see, it looks like everyone is alert enough," Swallow Star continued. "What do you say we go out and start the assessment?"
"Good idea," Laurelpaw could hear Ivypaw mutter to Cracklepaw. "This clearly isn't going anywhere productive."
"What are the rules?" Silverpaw asked.
"I'm glad you asked that," Swallow Star replied, smiling slightly. "Because I'm changing it up a little this time."
The apprentices looked at each other excitedly, not expecting the twist. However, Laurelpaw felt slightly uneasy. The assessment is going to be stressful enough without Swallow Star throwing more objectives into the mix.
"Usually I would assess your abilities to hunt alone," Swallow Star started. "But that tends to work better when I'm assessing a group of two or three. Since there are six of you, I'm going to get you to partner up."
"Question," Firepaw interrupted at once. "Can we pick our partners?"
Swallow Star stared at him a second too long before replying. "No."
"May we give you suggestions on who we would like our partners to be?" Firepaw demanded.
"No," Swallow Star said in the same tone. "I will be choosing the partners."
"Dammit," Firepaw mumbled, kicking the dirt on the ground. Once again, Laurelpaw had to hide her smile.
"Carrying on," Swallow Star cleared his throat before continuing. "While you be split into groups of two, always remember the main rule of the partnership. There will be no talking."
A chorus of surprised meows rang out almost instantly. Laurelpaw gave a look of disbelief to her brothers, mirroring the same looks on their faces. What kind of rule is that?!
"How are we supposed to communicate?" Firepaw cried out, looking the most stricken out of everyone. "What are we supposed to do, make Morse code out of rocks?"
"No-" Swallow Star started.
"Are we supposed to create smoke signals?" Firepaw interrupted, on a roll. "Create a few forest fires while we're at it?"
"Stop interrupting," Swallow Star said loudly, clearly trying not to lose his cool.
"Sorry," Firepaw mumbled.
"You will be in groups of two," Swallow Star stated slowly, fixing each apprentice with a hard stare. "I will assign your partner and you will be given an additional few minutes to plot together how you're going to accomplish the assignment. There will be no talking. How you figure out how to hunt in silence will be up to you."