Chapter 47: Excluded

The next day was a new start of the week and, this time, Diddy and Dixie did meet again with their friends, since they had all reconciled, or at least hoped that this reconciliation had been sincere.

Diddy and Dixie got back to where the ship was under construction. They assumed that things would continue as normal in a social environment... although it didn't seem to be so. To begin with, they were received by the looks of weirdness and others of impact by the herd of kong children: some looked at them as if they were celebrities that everyone was talking about, and also some groups could be seen that, at first glance, were seen secretly gossiping about the two of them... and yes, all because of the scandal a couple of days ago. Diddy and Dixie were feeling somewhat uncomfortable because of all the indirect attention they were receiving. Both heard certain kong children murmuring and some could even be heard laughing quietly.

Then, they met Melvyn and greeted him. He returned the greeting as soon as he noticed them.

"Hi, Melvyn!" they both said, smiling at him.

"Hi, friends," Melvyn replied. "I thought you weren't coming."

"And why not?" Diddy said with a little laugh. "Where are the others?"

"They're over there assembling the sails of the ship," Melvyn said. Then, without saying more, he left… as if nothing.

Diddy and Dixie headed to where Melvyn had indicated. Their other friends were on the deck of the ship. This one already looked well advanced; there were still many pieces left, but at first glance, it was already taking ship shape, although as already mentioned... it wasn't as huge in the end as they had planned, but still, it looked spacious enough for a herd of kong children.

But there was something that seemed a bit strange to Diddy and Dixie: and that is that their four friends, in general, used to receive the four of them together as soon as the two of them arrived, but this time... it seemed to be different. Upon going up to the deck of the ship, they met Mandy and Ricky, who were placing the sails on the ship's masts.

"Hi, friends!" Diddy and Dixie said at the same time.

"Ah, hi, how are you?" Mandy replied, barely turning to look and greet them.

"How are you?" Ricky told them in a calm tone. "We were already waiting for you; we hadn't seen you."

"We just arrived," Diddy replied, watching the whole ship around. "What did you do yesterday?"

"We didn't make much progress, but we hope we do today," Ricky replied, keeping his eyes on what he was doing.

Diddy and Dixie continued to observe in detail how the ship was going. They were inspecting any corner at random to find out the latest news. But there was something that was catching their attention that day... although it was something rather neutral: and it's that Mandy and Ricky were still working on their thing, which was obvious, but... it was in a way that began to give them the feeling that they had been greeted with a little indifference. Both didn't take it much of importance at first, so they spoke to them anyway.

"Hey, and how can we help you?" Dixie asked.

Ricky looked up at them a second time, and then stood thoughtfully as he looked around, before looking at the sails they were assembling.

"Do you want to help us with these sails?" Ricky pointed to them. "We must also tie them to these meshes."

Diddy and Dixie joined the work with Ricky and Mandy; now they had to assemble the sails and place them on the masts, in addition to weaving some meshes that would later serve to fasten them to the edges of the ship. They both took care of one of the sails in particular... but then Mandy and Ricky had left them both alone to do that work; their two friends had gone to do something else and didn't even speak to them again.

Minutes after doing the above, Diddy and Dixie saw someone else from the quartet walking that was missing that day, of course it was Jenny, who was carrying some ropes for the sails. Then, she passed near Diddy and Dixie... although she barely wanted to look at them.

"Hi, Jenny!" Dixie said, greeting her along with Diddy.

"Hi," Jenny replied with a short and forced smile, and then went on as if nothing had happened.

Diddy and Dixie looked at each other in confusion and shrugged at her notorious indifferent gesture. They continued for another few minutes doing the work, until later, they were already finishing.

Then, a few of the other kong children in the herd came up and, just like when they arrived, looked with supreme curiosity at Diddy and Dixie, and later approached to talk to them.

"Hi!" said one of them, and then they both returned the greeting normally. "Hadn't you two broken up?"

"Uh, no, why?" Diddy replied, looking at them strangely.

"It's that we really thought Diddy had dated Jenny," they replied, laughing recklessly, which wasn't funny to Diddy and Dixie at all. "By the way, I'll tell you a secret... Yesterday, Jenny said she hates you two," one of them whispered.

"Oh, really?" Diddy exclaimed in a sarcastic tone.

The group of kong children went on with what they were doing before and continued to laugh, while Diddy and Dixie just looked at them in disgust for such a remark. Things weren't the same there anymore, apparently... Even the rest of the kong in the herd were starting to give Diddy and Dixie vibes of discomfort or indifference, and they didn't quite understand why.

The following days of the week continued in the same way... Yes, in the same way as the first day of that week. Diddy and Dixie no longer felt the same in that place as the previous week: starting with their four friends, they didn't receive them anymore as before, when the four together always greeted them; now both just arrived and had to look for them to greet them rather... Not to mention, those greetings were as if they were just acquaintances. Likewise, there were no longer those long conversations, there were no more jokes while they worked, they no longer laughed much with them... They had become a bit distant, and it wasn't Diddy and Dixie who started having those attitudes, but the quartet themselves, especially Jenny; now she barely spoke to them about three or four times a day... although the reason was obvious. Still, Diddy and Dixie didn't quite understand why they acted like that; if it were for that scandal of that meeting, it was assumed that they all already had apologized for it, besides that it had been the four who started it, not the two of them. Sometimes, Diddy and Dixie even tried to make a joke to the four, but they no longer followed the flow and rather... they were treating them with indifference.

"No, no, no, it's on this side of the mast," Ricky said to a group of the other kongs as they were working.

On the deck of the ship were Diddy and Dixie's four friends along with a group of kong kids from the herd. They were making laborious adjustments to a mast, where the four gave instructions to the other children, and in turn helped them, since the work required strength. Diddy and Dixie were also in the same place, however... they were just in a corner apart, just watching the others work. Then, the two headed toward their friends to talk to them.

"Hey, can we help you with the masts?" Diddy asked the group along with Dixie.

"Uh, no, thank you," Melvyn replied, barely turning to look at them for a second and then continuing what he was doing. "We already have enough help."

"Oh, but we have done almost nothing," Dixie replied, her hands at her sides. "Isn't there anything else we can do?"

"Hey, but we're busy with this now," Ricky replied as he continued to work on the mast and barely looked at them both.

"What's wrong with you, by the way?" Dixie asked, looking at them seriously after a while. "Why have you been like this with us these days?"

"We just said we don't need you now, that's all," Mandy replied in an indifferent tone.

Diddy and Dixie were silent for a while at the way they were being treated, and only looked at them with some indignation.

"Oh, sorry if I didn't express myself well," Mandy said, giving herself a facepalm. "I meant that we'll tell you any task to do here later. Go rest for now."

"But it's what we've done most this week," replied Diddy. "Or are you upset with us?"

"What are you talking about?" Ricky said, looking at them strangely. "It's like the third time we've been told that; of course not."

As if they were just acquaintances, Diddy and Dixie were just being pushed aside among the entire herd. Their group of friends didn't even say anything to them again at that moment, and they just continued on with the work they were doing.

Diddy and Dixie felt somewhat left out by their four friends, they even saw how they gave more attention to the other kongs than to the two of them, that is... they knew they were their old friends, but until last week they all treated each other equally; now only the two of them felt that they were left over there, to the point where the four of them no longer put them to do so much work that would contribute to the construction of the ship. Diddy and Dixie at one point tried to talk about it with the four of them, but they four were only confused and denied that the situation had changed, although it was notorious that it had. And not to mention the rest of the herd of kong children there; rather they gave more attention to the two than the quartet… but it was just to ask them rather awkward questions about the scandal they had the previous weekend, so Diddy and Dixie preferred to stay away from them and not have to explain anything about the situation.