Chapter 44: Old Friends?
The next day, the kong couple headed back to their friends, this time to the specific ship construction site. Everything seemed to be going normally... until the moment they arrived, when they found something curious: their four friends were talking to about five kong children... and those hadn't been seen the day before, apparently.
"Hey, hi, friends, how's it going?!" Ricky greeted them along with the group when he saw them both arrive.
"Hi... how are you?" Diddy and Dixie replied smiling at them, but at the same time, showing curiosity about the other kong children who were with them.
"Oh, yes, we introduced you to a few more friends who arrived," Mandy said, pointing to them and answering Diddy and Dixie's doubts. "And by the way, we warn you once and for all that more of them will keep coming these days, so don't be surprised."
"You must be Diddy and Dixie, right?!" one of the new children asked them with joy.
"Hello. Yes... the same," the two replied, smiling somewhat confused.
"Are you from a distant island?" asked another of the new children.
"Yes, of course. From DK Island," Diddy replied.
"You're also from several islands, aren't you?" Dixie asked.
"Yes, you guessed it," one of the children replied with a little laughter. "I guess Ricky and company must have already told you the story."
The new kongs also began interrogating Diddy and Dixie. They were both trying to appear normal, but deep down, they were also wondering why more of those old friends of their four friends had arrived. It wasn't something that bothered them, but anyway, it was as if they weren't so prepared to hang around with more new children suddenly.
After so much introduction, the four invited them again to continue with the ship, and so it was: that day they continued with the structural base of that boat. Now all the children present there helped in the work. With the arrival of the new kongs that day, the herd looked a little bigger. In the moments of rest, Diddy and Dixie talked to the new ones: they were almost the same as those they had met the day before, and anyways, they also managed to sympathize with them.
The next few days of that week were the same: everyone was focused on building the ship and was doing very well during the process, obviously with one or another problem involved, but they always managed to solve it, and the four friends of Diddy and Dixie were there to help them. Diddy and Dixie were becoming more and more convinced that they wouldn't be so far away from being able to return to DK Island in a few weeks, but at the same time, they had to think about how they would tell Mr. Pinky without getting him being alarmed; they had managed to get along super well with him and didn't want to see him disappointed in them or betray his trust.
As their friends had previously warned, something happened every day that surprised Diddy and Dixie, and that was that every day, newer kongs arrived, who claimed to be old friends of the four. They had become about forty new children who even had to set up small temporary huts for them to stay overnight. Even so, having more helping hands meant better work and more significant advancement with the ship. Diddy and Dixie were already more comfortable to be able to meet them all and manage to sympathize with them, although at the same time... they felt that there was something strange about them, but they couldn't explain to themselves what it was.
Among other details, there was something that didn't cease to catch the attention, especially from Dixie, and... it was Jenny. As Dixie mentioned: she had been noticing certain weird behaviors from her over the past few days. Dixie didn't want to create bad thoughts in her head... but now she realized that she was right. On certain occasions, she caught Jenny staring at Diddy sideways... as if waiting for some ideal moment to try to have exclusive contact with him, and so it was. Jenny, from time to time, tried to talk "accidentally" to Diddy; sometimes she asked him for favors that didn't even have to do with the ship... and she seemed to do it on purpose to be alone with him. Even so, Diddy was also aware of her attitude and when she hinted at something, and so he began to run away from her, make an excuse or even ask Dixie to accompany them as well. Dixie was uncomfortable with that and feeling some jealousy, but she didn't want to show it... at least not if there was no considerable reason. In addition, she didn't want to have any bad circumstances with Jenny, since after all she was one of her friends, whom she considered a lot.
It had been a long and laborious week for everyone, but they managed to make a lot of progress, and the ship was working quite well. Although there was a curious detail: that ship that they said was going to be huge... it wasn't so much in the end, that is, it was spacious enough for the entire herd of kong children, but not giant as they had proposed. Even so, it was not yet complete and there was still much to do.
At the end of the day, they always took a break, in which they talked for long periods or played different group games. Diddy and Dixie also took that time to interact with the other children, and they hadn't done badly at all; they felt like they were in a classroom, one they had never had before and would have preferred to have before the lousy social environment they had at Kong Kollege.
The week was about to end, and everyone was on the construction site taking a break. While the rest of the children were in small groups talking, Diddy and Dixie were gathered with their four friends in a corner.
"The ship is going to look incredible," Melvyn said with excitement. "I want to see it ready!"
"By the way, we were thinking we could meet here tonight," Ricky suggested to the group.
"To continue with the ship?!" Diddy and Dixie asked, surprised.
"No, of course not," Ricky replied with a laugh. "I mean just hanging around together, you know: like at a party or meeting, to share everybody and so on. To relax us after so much work."
"I think it's great. Will it be with everyone else here?" Diddy asked, pointing to the other kong children.
"Absolutely," replied Mandy. "And we'll also play and eat a lot of candies."
"Come early to make the sweets, by the way," Jenny added. "What do you think, friends?"
"Sounds fun!" Dixie exclaimed with excitement. "So, we'll come tonight."
The group of six continued to chat and take their break until later. That day they hadn't worked so much, since they had decided to take it easy.
"Well, I think we should continue," Ricky said, standing up. "We just need to clean up this place a bit; there is a lot of garbage."
The rest of the group got up again, and headed towards the construction zone. As they had mentioned, there was enough waste in the place, product of the whole week of work, so they set out to collect everything to leave it clearer. Diddy and Dixie were picking up the trash on the side of the boat while thinking about the whole week they had.
"I can't believe we've come that far," Diddy said as he picked up some trash. "We're barely a week in, and the ship is already taking shape."
"I think we will have to talk to Mr. Pinky," Dixie added, before looking in one direction. "I'll pick up that debris from there."
"Okay," Diddy replied as he picked up some things and piled them into a corner.
Dixie retreated and headed towards the bow area of the ship, while Diddy continued with what he was doing in the same place. Suddenly, he felt someone call him by touching his shoulder, to which he turned to look.
"Hey, Diddy," Jenny appeared, a wooden box in her hands. "Can you come and help me with something?"
"Uhh, on what thing?" Diddy asked, looking at her with some suspicion.
"We're making some boxes with flowers, but we need to tie those same vines to them and I wanted to know if you could help get them down," she finished with a smile.
"Okay, but... can it be later? Just now I was cleaning up around here."
"It'll be quick, don't worry," she said, taking his arm and giving him a pleading look. "Please."
"Uhh, well, if you say it's fast, so..." replied Diddy with a shrug.
Diddy then agreed to accompany Jenny. Truth be told, he was hesitant to go and help her, but out of courtesy, he did it anyway, like when any of his friends asked him for help. However, he also had a suspicious look towards her, since during that week... Jenny had been behaving somewhat unusually with him, and that was seeming weird to him.
Upon arriving at the site, Diddy climbed the trees again to get those vines that his friends always required. This time, he only took a few and quickly got them down.
"Now, we just have to tie them up," Jenny said, taking the vines, before giving Diddy a touch in the face in a playful way. "You're so cute, Diddy, thank you."
Diddy just remained serious about those gestures, and then Jenny started taking a few vines and wrapping them around the wooden box; truth be told, such a thing had nothing to do with the construction of the ship, so Diddy assumed that she had only invented it as an excuse to call him. Then, at a time when she wasn't seeing him, Diddy turned around and tried to leave, but not before Jenny grabbed his arm.
"Wait, Diddy!" she said, holding him. "It still needs to adjust these vines a little more."
"Oh, but what are we going to use this on the ship for?" Diddy asked, looking at her seriously.
"They're for decoration," Jenny replied, giving him a look of pleading. "Come on, it's fast."
Diddy continued to look at her seriously, but as if for her not to keep insisting, he shrugged and agreed to give her one last help. He joined in tying knots in the box, which Jenny claimed was decorative. Suddenly, when Diddy was about to finish, he felt some arms wrap around him.
"Oh, you're so cute with me, Diddy," Jenny said as she was hugging him.
Diddy looked at her with more strangeness immediately, and then drifted away until he got away from her, only to run away afterwards.
"Hey, wait, Diddy!" Jenny said to him, going to catch up with him, while he was starting to run, until she reached to take his arm again. "There was still more to do."
"Uh, no, no, Jenny," Diddy said, getting loose and looking at her with a forced smile. "Ugh, I mean, why don't we set up that box where the boat is?"
"And for what?" Jenny said with a look of strangeness. "Just here we can finish it. Come," she added, giving him a little push and a little laugh.
"No!" Diddy exclaimed, trying to keep walking. "Let's go there... And why do you act so weird with me? What's wrong with you?"
"What? What are you talking about?" Jenny asked, looking confused, but then smiled again. "Ohh, hey, I just told you that you were very good with me, that you are a good monkey and a good friend, I didn't say anything bad. And come on; we still need to finish this."
"Hey! They're taking the box away!" Diddy exclaimed, pointing behind her.
Jenny turned to look immediately, but that box was still in the same place. Suddenly, Diddy had rushed off, leaving Jenny with no chance to catch him up this time.
Later, Diddy went back to where the construction of the ship was, somewhat tired, and then continued with the work in which he was on, picking up waste. When he was finishing, he noticed in the distance that Jenny was coming... and she was heading in his same direction as if she wanted to tell him something. Diddy didn't want to deal with that matter anymore, so he pretended he hadn't seen her, as he headed towards where Dixie was picking up debris, calling her by surprise.
"Dixie, how's it going?!" Diddy said, placing a hand on her shoulder and with a forced smile. "Have you finished yet? I do."
"Uhh, yes... Of course," Dixie replied, looking at him strangely at first, but then he beckoned to her with his eyes. "And you've finished cleaning?"
"Of course," Diddy replied, smiling and elbowing her lightly. "It's Jenny," he added, muttering and looking askance at her.
Dixie got the signals and just went with the flow. Apparently, both already knew the key move in that situation. Diddy and Dixie turned to give a sneaky and quick look at Jenny, who then seemed to pretend like she wasn't doing anything, as she just veered away and surreptitiously disappeared from view. Then, Diddy and Dixie just shrugged, while looking at each other seriously. Although later... Dixie made a small gesture of annoyance to herself at the situation; she was starting to feel some insecurity that Jenny had been behaving that way with Diddy, because it was something she never wanted to happen. However, she didn't want to overthink anything at that moment, even if her mind played tricks on her.
Suddenly, Mandy, Ricky and Melvyn appeared in front of them, who also seemed to have finished cleaning.
"How's it going, friends?" Mandy asked them. "I think we can rest well for today."
"Is there something wrong?" Ricky asked them, looking at them strangely after seeing them both somewhat tense.
"No, why?" Diddy replied, trying to hide his latest mishap with Jenny, and giving a forced smile. "It's that we just finished cleaning the area as well."
"Oh, so, you must be tired by now," Mandy replied with a slight laugh. "Well, why don't we take a break now? Or if you want, you can go home to rest so you are better."
"Yeah, remember that we'll meet and have fun later," Melvyn said with excitement.
"That's what we were thinking, actually," Dixie replied, smiling. "So, we meet again here tonight."
"Okay, don't be late, don't forget," Ricky said in the same tone.