Chapter 8 : Big Bad Mango

The pets were calmly going about their business when Minka ran to the center of the room shouting. In her hand she held a big book. She was making different kinds of monkey noises and seemed frightened so all of the pets ran over to see what was wrong. The only pet not there was Mango because she had not been dropped off at the Day Camp yet.

"What's wrong Minka?" Russell asked with concern.

"What are you holding?" Zoe chimed in as she pointed at the book in the pink pet's hand.

"I was painting a picture for my splatter series when I saw this big book come out of nowhere! It had pictures in it so I stopped to take a look! Then I saw this! Eeeeek! Ooh ooh aah!" Minka screeched as she showed a page of the book.

On it there was a picture of a big, snarling, foamy mouthed beast. It was grey, walked on four legs and had huge teeth. It was shown blowing down some poor pig's houses. The pets shuddered as their eyes scanned the picture. They took in every little detail and was revolted by what they saw.

"That's a wolf. This must be the story of the Three Little Pigs." Russell commented as everyone continued to look at the picture.

Just then they heard someone come through the door. It was Mango. She grinned as she ran over to see what everyone was looking at. Once she saw the picture her ears drooped slightly. Chuckling a nervous laugh, Mango pointed at the book. "What are you all doing?" She smiled as convincingly as she could.

"Just looking at this horrid creature." Zoe said with a glare at the page.

"They're scary." Penny Ling said softly.

"I positively hate wolves. They are what make Werewolves." Sunil said while his irises got smaller. He shuddered and hugged himself as he talked.

"Yeah! If one of those big, ugly things ever stepped foot in the Pet Shop they would get what was coming to them!" Vinnie said while shaking a fist. He demonstrated what exactly a wolf would get by doing a few kicks in the air. The effect was ruined when he landed on his back instead of on his feet.

Mango began to growl.

"Ugly!" Minka screeched.

"Mean!" Penny Ling exclaimed.

Her back hair began to stand on end.

"Nasty!" Sunil said.

"Horrid!" Zoe commented.

Her irises got smaller and smaller.

"Wolves!" Pepper said with her nose wrinkled.

"Wolves!" Russell said while observing the picture.

"Wolves!" Vinnie said with a shiver.

"That's it! Would you all stop talking so horribly about wolves?" Mango roared. Her chest heaved with every breath. Her fur fluffed and her tail stood out straight. Shaking, she tried to keep the tears that threatened to leak out in her eyes.

"Uh, why do you care?" Zoe said while glaring at Mango.

"Because I'm a wolf!" Mango said as the tears slid down her face.

Soon after, Mango regretted saying what she did. Everyone was staring at her with their mouths wide open, looks of surprise frozen on their faces. The air became thick and awkward as everyone realized that life in the Day Camp was never going to be the same again. The secret was out and there was no way it was ever going back in. Mango, their friend, was a wolf. A big, bad wolf that could just as easily eat them like the one in the book had done with the poor pigs. What had just happened?

Mango wondered how could she have messed everything up so quickly. Everyone had finally accepted her for who she was, in a way. She had made seven, eight counting Blythe, new friends. Finally, pets who weren't scared of her or judged her because of what they heard. She had begun to think that no one would ever wish to be with her and then she had found this magical place. Littlest Pet Shop, where she could be what she wanted to be. But she was wrong. This wasn't a place of magic, these pets were just like all the rest. Now she knew it. The realization that she had lost all her friends there snapped something inside of her. Her eyes narrowed as she roughly wiped the tears from her face. If they wanted a Big Bad Mango, they could have one.

"Well, don't any of you have anything to say now? No insults about wolves, no comments to share?" Mango let the venom of her words sink in as she waited for their response. Her yellow eyes pierced through each of them, unblinking.

"Mango, we're sorry. We didn't know. It is just, you don't look like a wolf." Russell said softly in an attempt to ease the tension.

"I'm a Maned Wolf. We look more like foxes than wolves." Mango tried to calm down. They were trying to make it better. They wanted to be her friends. She knew it. She knew it.

"I-I-I'm sorry Mango." Penny Ling stammered.

Mango took a step toward Penny Ling, assuming that she was stammering because she was about to cry. But once she did Penny Ling took three steps back. Mango then realized that Penny Ling wasn't sad. She was scared. Scared of the big bad wolf in front of her. Scared of her. She wasn't Penny Ling's friend anymore. Mango wasn't a friend to any of them.

"Why are you all still treating me differently? You are all animals too! Why are you so scared because I'm a wolf?" Mango yelled out frantically. She could feel her chest tightening as she stared at their fearful faces.

"Well, there are a lot of stories regarding the savage nature of wolves." Russell said. "But that doesn't mean we should believe them." He added hastily as he realized that he was not helping the situation.

"Yeah, yeah stories! Lots and Lots of STORIES! Eeee!" Minka yelled out as she swung around the Pet Shop. "Eee! Eee!"

"Like the Three Little Pigs, where the wolf blows down all of the pig's homes." Zoe chimed in. When she finished speaking she looked at Mango with a savage grin.

"Little Red Riding Hood, where the wolf gobbles up the girl like a pistachio pudding pie, and that's NOT funny." Pepper said as she instinctively raised up her tail for defense.

"But in the Jungle Book the wolves raise the baby they find." Russell pointed out as he tried to show his friends that wolves were well represented in other stories.

"Yeah, was that before or after they ate? Cause maybe they just weren't HUNGRY!" Pepper yelled out as her tail exploded a cloud of green scent.

As if on cue Mango's stomach began to growl. Mango blushed and placed a paw over her stomach to stop it but it just got louder. For a moment it seemed that no one knew where the sound was coming from. They all checked their stomachs, placing paws on top of them, as they tried to find out if it was coming from inside of themselves. When they realized that none of them were the culprit, they all turned slowly towards the blushing wolf. Every face in the room turned pale, with the exception of Mango who was turning redder every second.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Minka yelled as she swung out of the way.

Every pet began to panic and run. Even Russell, who was not willing to stand next to any hungry, carnivorous, wild animal. Pepper jumped and dived into her box of props. Penny Ling hid behind the armchair in the room. Russell rolled over to the squeaky toys and blended in with the squeaky balls. Zoe sprinted over to the green box in the room and squeezed herself inside. Minka hid on the top of the big tree while Vinnie and Sunil ran to where they hid when they thought Littlest Pet Shop was filled with werewolves. It seemed appropriate.

She was so perfect. Vinnie thought sadly as he watched Mango run away.

Mango looked all around her with a strange combination of sadness and anger. Her eyes filled with moisture as she turned around quickly. Running as fast as her legs could carry her, she reached the fire hydrant slide in a matter of minutes. She jumped into the fire hydrant and lied down. Her ears collapsed onto her head like her body collapsing to the hard ground. Closing her eyes, Mango whimpered softly. All she wanted to do was sleep.