Disclaimer: Let's focus on the prefix dis now... It means that I don't own this.
Nudge smiled to herself as she walked down the sidewalk, Angel and Gazzy in tow. She grinned at a girl in a pretty purple shirt who passed by. The girl met her eyes briefly, looked confused, and smiled tentatively. Nudge liked to think that she could tell how nice a person was by smiling at them. If someone smiled back, then they were a nice, happy person. If they didn't, well, that was their problem.
A man in a brown jacket hurried towards her, looking nervous. She beamed at him. He frowned and looked down, but that didn't dampen Nudge's spirits. She was in charge, Max trusted her, and when they got to the zoo she was going to buy cotton candy. What could possibly be any better? Well, maybe if she bought cotton candy and popcorn.
Her charges were not nearly as enthusiastic. "So," said Gazzy, speeding up to walk next to her, "why are you taking us?"
Nudge rolled her eyes disdainfully. "Because," she said slowly, "Iggy's at work, and he and Max and Fang don't like zoos anyway."
Gazzy nodded, still looking skeptical.
"Especially Max," Angel added helpfully as they stopped at a crosswalk. There was a short pause, during which all three of them recalled their last visit to the zoo, which had ended memorably with Max throwing up on the informational plaque outside of the avian exhibit.
"But Max never lets us split up, not ever," Gazzy reasoned.
Angel smirked.
"You didn't," Nudge said accusingly, turning towards the younger girl, her mood falling slightly. She'd thought Angel was over that kind of persuasion.
"No, no, not like that." Angel looked insulted. "I wouldn't do that, not anymore. I know better. I'm not some stupid little girl."
"You were never a stupid little girl, Angel," said Nudge reassuringly, smiling again. She'd picked up some motherly techniques from Max. The 'walk' light turned on and they started across the street. "Just a little… freaky."
"Gee, thanks," said Angel sarcastically. She'd also picked up a few habits from their leader.
"How did you convince her? I mean, if you didn't use… you know," Gazzy asked.
"Bothered her when she was tired. She'll say yes to anything to get you to leave her alone."
Nudge mentally tucked away that piece of information for future use.
I wrung my hands nervously. What had I been thinking? The flock shouldn't split up. It was bad enough that we had to leave Iggy in the bakery for five hours every day, but letting the younger kids go off on their own? I imagined what could happen to them. They could get kidnapped and held for ransom. They could get run over by a car. They could get mugged in a dark alley. They could-
"Stop that, will you?" said Iggy, annoyed. We were sitting on a bench in the park for a little while before Iggy had to go to work, since it looked pretty wierd to the owners if we just waited outside for them to come and open, like, No, of course we didn't spend the night in your shop. What ever gave you that idea? Yes, we're very subtle.
"You can't even see me," I retorted. "How could you possibly know what I'm doing?"
"You're practically radiating nervous vibes. I'd guess that you're either wringing your hands-"
"No I'm not," I said guiltily.
"-or biting your nails."
I suddenly became very aware of the fact that I was doing just that and quickly stopped.
"So, was I right?" Iggy asked.
"Yes," said Fang, just as I opened my mouth to say no. I glared at him, which didn't seem to have an effect.
"Don't you have to work soon?" I shot at Iggy, since glaring had even less an effect on him that it did on Fang.
"Since I'm the only one of us who can hold down a job… yes."
I ground my teeth together. "That was not my fault."
Iggy grinned. He loved tormenting me. "I don't see how you could break someone's nose, give them two black eyes, and break two ribs, unintentionally."
"He deserved it."
"Yeah, sure. Well, I'll see you guys later." And he walked away before I could even come up with a retort. I turned to Fang for sympathy, but he seemed to be laughing.
"He did deserve it," I said defensively. "He called me a-"
"I've heard," he cut me off, "but I still think that the ribs was going… overboard."
"Well… that was actually a mistake."
He stared at me for a second, and then we were laughing.
Author's Note: Hm... I think I may be better at death and destruction than I am at the normal stuff. Oh well. That's coming up soon. cackles Now, on to reviews... There weren't as many this time, but thanks to Sophia and to aradiea (I hope I spelled that right. I really tried.). If more people review this chapter, I may be more ahem motivated to write the next one. Thanks :)