(A/N Alright, my apologies for the wait, I was at camp and didn't have my computer with me. With that out of the way, scroll on down and read this belated chapter.)

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, Neopets 'tis not mine.

Defenders of Neopia 2: Brotherhood chapter 12: Dance of Loneliness

The next day, Jeffory, Hunter and Jack woke up earlier than usual. It was Friday and they intended to go buy their tuxes for the dance tomorrow night. None of them were really looking forward to this, as they hated dress clothes.

"Jack?" asked Hunter as they exited the elevator on the first floor.

"Hmm?"

"Don't you think we should've asked Kendra to come with us?" he inquired. "I mean, she could help us find something decent to wear and she could get her own dress," Jeffory, who hadn't been paying attention until now, looked over at Jack and nodded his agreement; Hunter had a point.

Jack simply grumbled something under his breath, clearly in a foul mood. He had been like this the night before... and the night before... and (guess what?) the night before. He was clearly very bitter about Kendra's "relationship" with his now-nemesis, Tom.

Hunter and Jeffory shared similar looks of concern; If this kept up, they feared for Kendra and Jack's relationship, not just as possible partners, but as friends. Who knows what would happen to the team in general if Jack continued to distance himself from their Mage? "C'mon, man... You can't blame her. I mean, you haven't exactly told her you like her, or made any move to advance your relationship," Hunter said pointedly.

Jeffory nodded. "Yeah, maybe she thinks you don't like-like her anymore," he offered. To their disappointment, their usually cheerful friend stayed gloomy and quiet. It was obvious that he had thought about all of this before his friends brought it up.

They continued to the lobby in silence. On the way, they passed Jeffory's old nemesis, the receptionist. They gave each other the usual dirty look and returned to their business. Hunter and even Jack grinned at the two's... interesting relationship.

The walk to Brightvale was pretty much uneventful. The trio was attacked by several Snow Snakes, but they posed no threats to the seasoned fighters. In fact, they were basically target practice for Jack's dear friend, the pistol.

When they entered the gates of Brightvale, they took a moment to admire the holiday atmosphere. There were snowmen on every lawn, the houses were decked out with lights of many colors and the trees along the sidewalks dressed in similar colors. Snow covered the transparent walkways, giving off the illusion that they were walking on big, fluffy clouds and children scrambled to and fro, hurling snowballs at each other.

The trio slowed down along the way to dump handfuls of snow down the other's backs and toss snowballs at each other. Jeffory and Jack quite enjoyed Hunter's "There's snow down my shirt!" dance.

After awhile, they reached the tailor in the center of the city. Their previous joy wiped off of their faces as they entered the God-forsaken place to begin the arduous task of trying clothes on.

An hour and a half later, Jeffory and Jack had finally found something to their liking: Jeffory chose a simple but strapping black tux while the mycni had gotten a white dress shirt with black slacks. Sadly, Hunter could still not find one that wouldn't make the trio groan in displeasure. The problem was that all the ones that were bearable (and a few that were actually good) weren't made for the kouger's structure. Jeffory sighed. They really should have done this earlier but they were preoccupied with, you know, not dying.

Hunter exited the dressing room, wearing a dark green tux that made Jeffory shudder and Jack actually say "Gah!". The Kouger hung his head, disheartened. "Oh, c'mon! Can we just leave?!" he whined. "Just get dress clothes!" Jeffory offered, tired and irritated. "You don't need a tux," Jeffory said. "you couldn't possibly look as good as I do in one!" he joked, with a wry grin. Jack fist-bumped him, and even Hunter chuckled. "Alright, show me where you got the dress shirt and such..." Hunter muttered, following the mycni off to the back of the store.

Jeffory sighed in exasperation; He didn't even have a date! Why was he going in the first place? Maybe he hoped some girl would ask him at the last minute. Hah, good one, Jeff! He thought to himself bitterly. He absently wondered if Jack would pluck up the courage to ask Kendra to go with him. Honestly, he might already be too late. Tom had most likley asked her, and Kendra would've said "yes" in a heartbeat.

He never would've thought Kendra would be dating. It's not like she wasn't attractive or "girlfriend material", it was just that she didn't seem interested in a relationship. Well, minus her attraction to Jack. Too bad they weren't together now, even if it would be a bit weird.

But hey, weirder things had happened.

Jeffory was briefly reminded of the Moon Folk, and more importantly, Arnold P. Leslie, their old friend from the Lunar Ruins. Jeffory still had not gotten a chance to show Kendra that tape they had brought with them from the journey. Somehow, the tiny camera had survived everything they went through from that point on. Leslie went on his expedition prepared.

Mostly prepared.

Jeffory had never even heard of Kaiser island before, come to think of it.

His thoughts were interrupted as Hunter returned with Jack in tow. The kougra now had an outfit that was similar to Jack's. Jeffory grinned down at his friend and gave him a thumbs-up, silently voicing his approval. To Hunter's left, Jack placed his hands on hips, looking quite proud of himself. "Jeff, can you hold this for me while I change back?" he asked. Jeffory nodded, taking the clothes from him and slinging them over his shoulder as he stood, stretching his tired body.

Hunter came out of the dressing room a few minutes later and they went to the cash register, paid for their clothes and began the walk back to the Academy.

Just like the walk over, the walk back was uneventful as well. The trio made their way through ankle-deep snow, making idle conversation and laughing at all of Jack's stupid jokes. As much as Jeffory enjoyed the time with his friends, he couldn't help but feel as if the group didn't feel complete without Kendra.

When they entered the door of the Academy, they saw Kendra and Tom talking. Jack, being who he was, immediately started walking over, probably hoping to break them up. Jeffory and Hunter sighed, before following him, helpless.

Tom looked up, saw Jack coming (with Jeffory and Hunter at his heels) and gave his rival a smug grin. Jeffory didn't quite like that look, and feared he knew exactly what he was smiling like that for. Without a word, the shadow techo turned and left, making his way to the cafeteria.

Jack watched him leave with a dark look on his face. Hunter cleared his throat, causing Jeffory to jump. "So... What was that about?" asked Hunter, curious. "Oh, um... Nothing... important..." Kendra mumbled, refusing to make eye-contact with Jack who was staring at her, waiting for a real answer.

This didn't go as well as he would've hoped.

The group stood in an awkward silence, most of them refusing to make eye-contact with one another. After several more minutes of silence, Jack spoke up. "Ah, well, I guess it really wasn't important," the mynci shrugged. Jeffory tensed. Jack seemed to open his mouth in slow motion, and Jeffory almost wanted to clamp his hand over the Jack's mouth. "I mean, Tom said it, right?" he jostled.

Jeffory almost shuddered. He really shouldn't have said that... Kendra sent him a cold glare, which made Jack's chuckling cease immediately. "Anyway..." Jack mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I have to go," Kendra said abruptly, cutting Jack off mid-sentence. Without so much as a goodbye, she turned and floated off, heading in the direction of the elevator. Jack sighed sadly, hanging his head. "Stupid..." he muttered to himself, over and over.

Jeffory, unsure of what to say, patted his friend on the back. Jack responded to his gesture with an even more depressed sigh. Hunter sighed as well. After a moment of these two doing this, Jeffory decided to jump on the bandwagon of depression and let out a sigh.

Seeing the look on Tom's face when he left only meant one thing; and it was one thing that would destroy Jack: Tom had asked Kendra to the dance. And she accepted.

(A/N Not much to say here, other than that next chapter will be about said dance! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a review! I'll see you all next week!)

LaDude out.