Hey guys, sorry for the irregular updates. Your feedback has been great and constructive over the time. I'm going with IvyXBreeze and DoveXBumble, so sorry if you wanted to see something else. That being said, it doesn't mean I'm not going to do some one-sided things on the side... Keep reading and, uh, being cool.
XOXO, Silvershadow
Icecloud
I'm really nervous about asking Toadstep out, but I know I have to do it at some point in time. I straighten the cute garland with its little red roses. Red roses for love. I slip into the green romper I picked out yesterday. Green for a new beginning. No boy has ever paid attention to me. Toadstep actually acts as if I'm a person - another sign that he might actually like me. And then I slip on my lucky pair of royal purple sandals. I've won every archery tournament in these sandals; maybe they could help me win a boy's heart as well.
I look myself up and down in the mirror, frowning at my pale legs. I peer at the alarm clock - I still have about an hour until classes start, so I dig out a bottle of bronzing lotion and smear it over my legs. I frown again. The bronzer doesn't look natural, and I don't want Toadstep to think I'm fake. I wipe it off onto a sheet. Cinderheart's going to be mad, but whatever.
"Where are you going, all dressed up? Has somebody finally invited you somewhere?" Rosepetal asks. Rosepetal walks over to me with Blossomfall next to her. They must have picked the lock of the door that separates our two rooms. I roll my eyes inwardly, but meet their scornful glares. I can't let them get to me.
"I could ask the same for you," I retort, giving Blossomfall a quick once-over. She's wearing a shiny, navy blue skirt, a big hair bow that matches her skirt, and a white blouse. Blossomfall usually wears jeans or shorts, and never bows. I sniff the air - she's wearing perfume as well. What is she doing? My heart starts beating faster for some reason.
"She's asking my brother to go to the Halloween dance with her," Rosepetal scoffs. "I don't know what people see in him - he's just a big goofball. Bumblestripe, on the other hand," she trails off dreamily.
"Halloween dance?" I ask. My heart pounds. I can't let Blossomfall steal Toadstep. A wave of anger washes over me - is she doing this on purpose? Plenty of boys would die to go with Blossomfall to a dance, while none of them even look at me. Blossomfall knows this all too well. Ever since our friendship soured, she's been trying to sabotage me at every chance. I clench my fists and picture Toadstep to calm myself down.
"Yeah," Blossomfall smirks. "And he's definitely going with me." Can she tell that I like him?
"Well, hope you guys have fun," I say, trying to control my voice. "And if you'll excuse me, I have to go now." I stalk out of the room, leaving the smug duo behind. Don't let them have the satisfaction of upsetting you, I think, focusing on Toadstep, who is at the end of the hall.
"Excuse me, Icecloud," says Nightcloud from behind me. "I'd like to have a word with you about your essay." My heart sinks as she shuffles through a stack of papers before pulling out mine. I need to get to Toadstep, but I can't help feeling a bit curious about my grade. I peek at it nervously - a 92 percent! My brain does a little happy dance. This is the best grade I've gotten so far!
"I'm very satisfied with your work," Nightcloud continues. "Your writing has improved tenfold since your first assignment. Look out for grammar errors though." She hands the paper back to me. "Keep up the good work!" and then she walks down the hallway to her classroom.
I clutch the paper to my chest, basking in the warm glow of pride. Ferncloud, my mother, will be happy when she hears about it. But then I see Blossomfall smiling coyly at Toadstep and my heart sinks. I make my way to the water fountain and pretend to get a drink, keeping an eye on Blossomfall.
"- go to the dance with me?" asks Blossomfall, batting her eyelashes. Toadstep blinks and takes a step back.
"Well, uh, I would, Blossomfall, but I'm not going to the dance," he says, running a hand awkwardly through his hair. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad about this. On the one hand, it means that he won't be with Blossomfall. On the other hand, it means that he probably won't accept my offer either.
"Why not?" Blossomfall cajoles. "It'll be fun…" There's a hint of a whine in her voice, and I curl my lip in exasperation. If he doesn't want to go, he doesn't want to go. You don't need to push it. Toadstep just shrugs and mumbles something I can't hear.
"Well, why don't we, like, go out or something?" Blossomfall bats her eyelashes again. This time, Toadstep shakes his head decisively.
"Listen, Blossomfall, you're really nice and all - " I snort. "but Foxleap and I promised that we wouldn't date yet. Of course, he's all over Hazeltail, but I'm gonna keep my promise." Suddenly I'm glad that I didn't ask Toadstep out. People are starting to gather around them to see what the fuss is. I would be pretty embarrassed if that was me. But Blossomfall doesn't seem to care.
"But Toadstep…" says Blossomfall, tugging on his shirt. I clench my teeth as Toadstep's eyes darken ominously. Just stop! I think. "That doesn't explain why you were talking with her last night. In your dorm." Her voice rises to a shrill note as she lays those amber eyes on me.
"What?!" I ask. Then, I remember. Toadstep had needed some help with his English essay. "Come on, Blossomfall. I was just helping him with his essay," I scoff.
"Or were you helping him with something else?" Blossomfall snaps. I open my mouth to counter her insult, when Toadstep steps between us.
"Stop it!" he growls, drawing himself up to his full height. At 5 foot 8, with impressively hulking shoulders, he is quite intimidating. Blossomfall steps back, but I meet his furious gaze. "I'm not with Icecloud, Blossomfall. And I already told you, I'm not going to date yet. So please, if you will, I need to get to class." Blossomfall opens her mouth indignantly, but Rosepetal tugs on her arm to lead her away.
People snicker as Blossomfall hisses angrily, stomping down the hallway. I can't help but feel some satisfaction at seeing her finally put into place. I give silent thanks for my meeting with Nightcloud. If I'd actually asked Toadstep out, it would have been much more humiliating for me. I adjust my romper and sling my backpack over my shoulder. Just like Toadstep said, maybe it's not my time to date either.
No more chasing boys or drooling over them. Green, for a new beginning.
Foxleap
I finish writing the math problem on the board and look at Graystripe for approval. He nods at me. "Good job, Foxleap," he says. "Now choose someone to do the next problem." I look around the room. Hazeltail shakes her head at me, so I choose…
"Toadstep," I say. He scowls and walks up to the board. Toadstep isn't very good at math, I'll admit, but I think he can tackle this one. Toadstep scowls at the board for a while, then writes down an answer. My heart clenches as I realize that it's completely off.
"No, that's not right," says Graystripe. He slides past Toadstep and begins instructing him. "Remember, it's just factoring quadratic equations again. I know this equation is a quartic, but substitute y in for x^2, and it'll be much easier." Toadstep looks puzzled.
"Can somebody help him?" asks Graystripe. Icewing raises her hand, walks up to the board, and solves the equation within thirty seconds. Graystripe nods his approval. "Do you understand now?" he inquires, cocking his head to one side in concern. Toadstep nods grudgingly and slinks back to his seat. He doesn't look at me.
Gosh, why was I so dumb? I could've picked anyone else, but I had to pick my best friend and humiliate him. I shake my head and look down at the polished, wooden desk.
"The homework for tonight is to finish the even-numbered problems on the worksheet I gave you. Class dismissed, but I'd like to talk to you for a second, Toadstep," says Graystripe. My heart beats faster. I'm pretty sure Toadstep is going to think all this was my idea of a prank. It wasn't, really! Was it? I shake my head. I'm not even sure why I chose him.
I linger outside the door, barely noticing the way my belly growls. I'm not sure how Toadstep is going to respond. Finally, he steps out of the classroom.
"Let's go," he says gruffly, but he purposely takes huge steps, so I can't keep up.
"Toadstep, wait!" I cry, dashing after him. "I didn't mean to embarrass you, I really didn't."
"I know," Toadstep says, sounding strangely calm.
"What did Graystripe say?" I ask, relieved. Toadstep glares at me and I take a step back. He takes a step forward, and hisses angrily.
"He told me that I needed to come to him for extra help every Thursday! Do you know how humiliating that was for me? And when Icewing solved it in, like, two seconds, do you know how awful that felt? I'm just dumb, okay! Why did you pick me when you know I'm not good at math?" he growls. I search myself for an answer, and honestly, I don't know.
"I-I… Maybe extra help would be good for you. I could come, too…." I say lamely. Toadstep's eyes darken.
"Please!" he snaps. "I know why you did that. You wanted to make yourself look smarter for that girl, Hazeltail. I suppose that now that you've got a girlfriend, you're too busy to care about your friends' feelings. Alright, alright. I'm a freaking dumb jock. Call me all the shit you want. You happy?" I try to speak, but he cuts me off.
"Well, I'm keeping my promise. I'll never give up my friends for a girl! But I can see that you don't feel the same way." I'm frozen in shock - I can't even register his words.
"You could've just picked Icewing, or Snowbird, or… or… any of the smart people, but you chose me to make yourself look better," he keeps going. I open my mouth to protest and feel a wave of hot anger wash over me. Oh, so it's all my fault now? I wasn't even trying to hurt him - he has no proof!
"So I'm the culprit? Why didn't you study or something? Then you might know how to do the problem! You never try at anything except for sports - you don't care! So why should you care if I ask you to do the problem?" I cry, then clap a hand over my mouth. For a moment, Toadstep looks like he's been slapped in the face, but he recovers quickly.
"Because sports are my only hope!" he almost shouts. "I just can't do math, or anything else. It's too difficult for me, so I focus on sports. But at least I'm not all over a girl, especially not a girl like her!" I ball my hands into fists. Any remorse I felt about insulting him has left me.
"Don't you insult Hazeltail! That stupid deal we made in sixth grade… I never should have made it with you - you're not even worth it!" I spit back. Not waiting for his response, I go on. "At least she's a better companion than you. At least she doesn't snark about other people the way you do. At least she actually tries!"
"Listen, Foxleap," and he sounds tired. "I wanted to make this work, and I never intended to go this far with it, but you just kept going at it and going at it... I'm not going to fight anymore, but I think it's for the best if we go our separate ways." He stalks off towards the cafeteria. I take several deep breaths. Inhale. Who cares about Toadstep? Exhale. He's not even worth my time -
"Foxleap?" asks Hazeltail. I whirl around in shock. How long has she been here? Did she hear everything I said? She's holding a brown paper bag in her hands, and she tucks one strand of dark hair behind her ear. "I heard you and Toadstep talking," she continues, dropping the paper bag into my hands. I peek inside and see a BLT sandwich. I realize that we have five minutes of lunch left, and I perk up when I realize that Hazeltail has brought me lunch - and my favorite sandwich, no less.
"What did you hear?" I ask her, jolting back to reality and trying to push those gooey feelings to the back of my minds.
"Everything," she says. "Look, Foxleap, if you want to be friends with Toadstep, I just won't hang around you guys anymore. I totally get it." She takes a deep breath. "You should always put your friends first; I mean, they've known you the longest." I shake my head.
"Toadstep isn't worth my time. That deal he was talking about? We made it in sixth grade. I had no way of knowing that I would meet a girl like you," I brush her dark hair back from her face. Hazeltail smiles bashfully, but her eyes flash uncertainly. "Don't worry," I say. "You're not hurting me at all. I like being around you." She giggles playfully, but then shakes her head.
"I like you too, Foxleap," she murmurs. "It's that… I don't want to see you and Toadstep hating each other. It's not natural."
It isn't?
I'm still thinking about Hazeltail's words when I see Breezepelt walking towards me.
"Hey," he says, falling in step beside me. "I heard you and Toadstep aren't…" He trails off. I shake my head.
"I'm not… talking to him anymore," I say, ignoring the little twinge in my heart. Breezepelt nods uncertainly, and I find myself spilling out all the details of our fight. "Look, I really like Hazeltail. And I wasn't trying to insult him or show off or anything! I don't even know why I did it… I'm such an idiot," I confess.
"Well then why don't you tell him?" asks a voice from my other side. I jump and see Ivypool there. I shift uncomfortably. We haven't talked much since our breakup over the summer, when we decided things would be better if we were just friends. But now, Ivypool seems perfectly comfortable, especially when she pulls Breezepelt into an embrace, curling her thin fingers around his waist and leaning into him.
"Are you two - " then I break off, realizing the answer is pretty obvious. "Anyways," I say, switching back to the topic at hand. "I can't tell him because he won't believe me." My tone becomes hard and decisive. Ivypool and Breezepelt share a glance, and I try to ignore it.
"Well," says Ivypool tightly. "I gotta go to Math. See you," she says, and Breezepelt flicks her black-and-teal ponytail. Breezepelt looks at me, trying to search my expression, but I reveal nothing. I've got to be strong after this fight. I can live without Toadstep.