CHAPTER 4
"Oh my diamonds, Arrow! What are you doing here?" Bella gasped, completely dumbfounded. She felt like she was having a large birthday party and was opening presents and just got a million dog treats.
"Hello, Bella. Long time no see," Arrow grinned, his humorous eyes sparkling brightly. His ears twitched as he talked, and he sat down, sweeping his tail clumsily around his paws. "Looking good."
"Ivy is going to be so happy! Come on, let's go. We haven't time to waste! Onward!" Bella exclaimed. She shook her fur, trying to shake all the energy and the excitement out. Then she thought with a pang of guilt how she and Ivy had a very terrible and long argument, hurting each other's feelings very hard.
"Alright. Lead the way, I really missed Ivy," Arrow said, smiling. "I hope you guys have some prey to spare." Laughter sparkled in his eyes, and he looked down sadly at visible bony ribs.
Bella sprinted alongside Arrow. "Of course we have prey to spare. We always have prey for old friends like you. Especially if you have visible bony ribs!" She laughed, remembering the good times together, playing well as puppies and kittens. They had rolled around, joking all day long.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Arrow gushed. "I haven't eaten in days! That will be the first meal of a lifetime. I know that Ivy is the best hunter ever!" His eyes shone and he flicked his tail.
"You're welcome. Anytime!" Bella said. "But please stay, we're going to have our hearts broken again if you leave! Oh, and also, we have two new people staying with us. Angeline, the Golden Retriever dog, and Luna, the white Persian cat."
"Very nice! You must have traveled very far," Arrow responded. "I missed you a lot, so I decided to see what you were up to." They stopped at the entrance of the temporary camp. Angeline and Luna were with Ivy, who was licking her wound tenderly. When she finished licking the wound, Luna smeared some kind of mushed green juice on it and Ivy lay down again, looking bored.
"Arrow?" Her head popped up, and pure joy bubbled in her eyes. She beckoned to Arrow with her tail, squealing with glee. "Arrow! You're here! I thought I'd never see you again!"
Arrow hurried over to Ivy, worry plastered all over his face. Anger boiled in his body. "What happened, how did you get that?" He was about to lick it, but Ivy pushed his head away.
"Don't touch it, you might get poisoned!" Ivy huffed, licking his forehead stubbornly. Arrow nuzzled her and then looked up at Angeline and Luna, who were grinning stupidly.
"ROMANCE!" They sang, making cheesy faces of Arrow and Ivy. They started prancing around and making kissy faces, and Luna twined her tail with Angeline. They started singing a very creaky love song.
"Oh, no," Ivy muttered, her face flushing bright red, as well as Arrow's. They made loud groans of protest and they buried their heads in their paws, fake-sobbing in despair, ears flattening to their heads. "Ugh, please…NO!"
"Ahem," Angeline and Luna coughed, and they sang their very creaky love song, making all of the others wince, groaning and moaning. They frowned and then started singing in an awful off-key tune…
"Alas the two lovebirds meet,
Thou shall greet gracefully.
Then they will have a beautiful wedding,
and they will make us do their horrible bedding.
OHHHHHHH,
Arrow and Ivy,
sitting in a tree!
K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
First comes love,
then come marriage,
then comes the baby in the baby carriage!
That's not all, that's not all,
now the baby is drinking alcohol!
That's not all, that's not all,
now the baby is climbing a wall!
That's not all, that's not all,
now the baby is playing basketball!
That is all, that is all,
The baby is playing baseball, LOL!"
"AHHHHHHHH!" Ivy screeched in embarrassment. "Shut up, you rude people! You guys are so ruthless!" She shot Arrow a despairing look, but her mouth was twitching with laughter, and her ears were pinned.
"Um, that was sort of awkward. Did you make it up?" Arrow asked. He shuffled nervously in apprehension, and then gave them a mock look of curiosity, bunching up his cheeks and making his eyes bulge out.
"We made the first verse up, but the second we already knew, because we're hopeless romantics!" Luna and Angeline said in unison, smiling proudly, but they let out little puffs of laughter.
"Whoa," Arrow said. "Very cool song. Impressive songwriters, but horrible singers." He gave them a sheepish grin, his tail twitching in amusement. He let out an embarrassed laugh, then stopped when Luna and Angeline looked at him like he was crazy.
Luna and Angeline exchanged looks of anger, and they growled. "Oh my diamonds, Arrow. You are so rude! I thought male cats were supposed to be very thoughtful and polite to women! I don't know why you are even here, because we are a girl-only gang! So I think you should go away and never come back!"
"Stop it, guys! I knew Arrow even before you! If you're going to criticize him, then you should just leave!" Ivy fumed. "Besides, you guys all joined me on my journey, so I'm in charge!"
"Alright, fine," Angeline grumbled, shocked by Ivy's ferocity. She tried to shrink to the ground when she saw Ivy still glaring at her, fur spiked up, so she was two times her normal size, and she was pretty large, even though she was a nimble Killer. "I'm sorry. I mean, we're sorry."
"Geez," Luna muttered, ears flattened. She rolled her eyes and let out a little snort. "You don't have to yell at us, we were just pointing out some mistakes, Ivy. It was rude, after all."
"Yeah, we were doing that," Angeline chimed in, returning Ivy's glare. "Why are you even standing up for a male cat?" She and Luna turned around and walked away into a shadowy corner, hissing secrets to each other. Then they looked up at Bella, waiting for her to join them.
Bella shot them a disbelieving look and padded up to Ivy's side, silently comforting Arrow, who was looking nervous and depressed, but worst of all, left out. Arrow sighed uncomfortably, then jumped onto a tree. Soon he disappeared within the leaves.
"Oh my diamonds! Do you see what you did?" Bella yelled at Luna and Angeline, who were cowering in the corner. "You are not supposed to hate Arrow because he's a boy!"
"We're sorry," they mumbled, still growling. But as Bella took a step closer to them, unsheathing her claws, they stopped growling and leaned into each other, clearly terrified. Bella stopped abruptly, sniffing the air. "Hey, what's that smell?"
"Do you smell that?" Bella asked, frowning even though her eyes were full of curiosity. "That putrid scent of a house cat?" The others also lifted their heads to the air, sniffing curiously.
"I think it is a house cat," Arrow exclaimed, jumping out of the tree. "Wait a second, is that Fiona? Oh! I think it's Fiona! That smells so much like Fiona!" His tail waved excitedly, and he started running around in circles.
"Who's Fiona?" Ivy asked, frowning. She sat up and cocked her head, but she was still frowning. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "How do you know a house cat without hurting it?"
"Oh, Fiona is my new friend! She just moved in with us, into our den. She's our age, she's beautiful, and she's very nice!" Arrow exclaimed, not noticing Ivy's depressed anger. He was so clueless, he didn't even know she liked him! Especially even after they knew each other since they were kittens!
"Okay, so what? I don't care," Ivy snapped, trying to get Arrow's attention, but Arrow was still sighing dreamily and prancing around, in love. He tried to catch his tail! Angeline and Luna were delighted, they had found a new excuse for love. "Um…hello? Excuse me?"
A dark figure stepped out of the trees, looking around nervously. "Uh…hi, Arrow," Fiona smiled sweetly at Arrow. Ivy had to admit, she was beautiful. She was an elegant silver female cat with sleek fur, and she had the deepest turquoise eyes.
Arrow gasped, then started to lick his fur down, lapping at the tangled parts. Ivy crouched down, infuriated. Arrow blushed profusely, blinking his eyes slowly as he purred. "Oh my diamonds, Fiona, hello!" He managed to sputter out, staring shyly at Fiona.
Ivy growled. Fiona posed dramatically, luckily right under the sunlight, which made her fur shine. Fiona's eyes were closed, her tail waving, her paws neatly tucked together. Her face shone peacefully.
Arrow looked completely awestruck, but then he decided to impress Fiona. He was a golden male cat, so he fluffed out his fur, looking two times his size. Then he tilted his head up to the sun, so his blue eyes stood out.
Fiona gasped, looking like she was about to die of awe. Arrow looked ready to attack, and his muscles rippled as he posed several times. Seeing that, Bella stuck her tongue out at Ivy in disgust, and Ivy silently agreed.
"Oh my diamonds, Arrow! Come share this thrush with me!" Fiona exclaimed. She sounded like a snob, her voice so snobby that even the romantic people couldn't bear it. Angeline made a clucking noise that the others couldn't really understand, they shot each other awkward looks.
"Sure, Fiona," Arrow said, still mesmerized by Fiona. He padded over to Fiona as she snatched a thrush triumphantly from the random prey scatterings without asking for permission. She angered the rest of the animals, they were already saving the thrush for a celebration of Arrow. "Whatever you like."
"Arrow, your friends don't look very good," Fiona observed snobbily. "I want to make a few fashion statements. Luna, you are kind of too fat, other than that, you look fine. We could be good friends if you stop eating more. Angeline, your fur is all shaggy. You look like a mop. Bella, you need a haircut. Your fur is all torn and you look like a tornado. Now, Ivy, you have dirt all over your fur. Go lick it out or wash it in a river or something."
"Oh my diamonds, Fiona! You're so snobby! Have you ever considered seeking professional help? So go cry yourself to a river, build a bridge, and get over it!" Bella retorted in disgust.
"Oh, really? That's all you've got, you disgusting, mangy dog? You don't have any fashion sense! Get a life!" Fiona shot back. "Personally, I think–" She was cut off by a gruff growl from behind.