Curiosity Killed The Cat (Fake)

Chapter 2

A week has gone by and Boots has become great friends with Molly. They often meet up on a bridge to speak, but the thing that is special about today was that it was Boots' birthday. She didn't really want anyone to go through the trouble of throwing her a party and she didn't really care about her birthday, so she didn't tell anyone. Molly walked up onto the bridge that Boots was standing on like they always do. "Hey, Boots." Boots looked in Molly's direction. "Shouldn't you be training?" Boots asked confused before going back to staring at the lake, as usual. But, with her hand on the rail of the bridge, her sleeve showed something of importance to her. Molly quickly spotted it as it shined in the sunlight and grabbed her arm to see it more closely. "Ooh! That's such a pretty bracelet Boots! Where did you get it?" Boots snatched her hand out of Molly's grasp.

"A friend got it for me when I was younger. I had to leave her when I left my family. It's important to me and I don't want it to get damaged." Molly looked at Boots confusingly. It was just a bracelet. How could it mean that much to her? "Whatever. I came up here to tell you about a new ship that I came up with!" Molly always made ships of people on the island. Boots looked up at her, signaling her to go on. "You and Derek! I think you two would be perfect for each other! I know you don't get along very well, but I still ship it. Everyone on the island does!" Boots chuckled and rolled her eyes. "You, missy, are too young to be thinking about relationships." Molly laughed, "Boots, I'm thirteen. I know enough about relationships. But, I got to go. See ya later!"

Once Molly was out of sight, Boots stared at her bracelet. The bracelet was a golden chain with a small pendant of two cat heads holding a ring in their mouths as if they were playing tug of war. "So, how was your talk with Molly? She seemed happy for some reason." Boots slid her sleeve over her bracelet and faced Derek. "Yeah, it was, um...it was great, actually. Great, great talk. We just, uh, talked about...lions, and, tigers." Boots knew she sounded like she was hiding something. "You were talking about lions and tigers?" Boots nodded, "I'm guessing bears too?" Boots giggled and faced the river again. "Don't you have some sort of meeting to host, or training to do?" She asked.

"Nope. Don't you have some sort of animals to see, or speaking to do?" Boots quickly turned to Derek with wide eyes. "You know about that?" Derek chuckled. "I know about a lot of things, Boots. Like how you and Molly weren't talking about lions and tigers. Or...bears..." Boots looked down and stared at her bracelet again. "Who gave it to you? I know it was some sort of cat, given by the fact that the animal is a cat. Maybe a lion or a tiger? Do bears fit in the cat category?" Boots shook her head.

"It was a tiger named Luna. She always helped me through my troubles as a child." Boots explained. Boots has a gift. It's called zoolingualism. Hard to pronounce, I know. But, zoolingualism is the ability to communicate with animals. If you know how to speak to one animal, that animal might teach you other animals like Luna did with Boots. Once you can speak with all animals, your animal 'teacher' gives you the zoolingualism bracelet that allows you to basically never forget their languages but the pendant has the head of the animal that gave it to you.

"Anyways, put this on and walk." Derek placed a blindfold on Boots and guided her through the forest. When he took the blindfold off, everyone screamed, "Happy Birthday, Boots!"

"How did you know it was my birthday?"

"Ava always told me that your birthday was on Halloween. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I didn't want you guys to go through the trouble!"

Everyone laughed slightly and began to socialize. Once everyone talked to Boots, she sat next to a log, drinking whatever weird drink they made. Derek noticed her alone and sat next to her. "Hey, birthday girl. What's wrong? Why are you all alone?" She looked at Derek and smiled. "I don't know. I just have a feeling that lions and tigers and bears are coming." Derek chuckled at her joke. Boots stared at Derek in shock. "What?" Derek asked. "You've been laughing all day! That's not you!" Derek laughed again causing her to back away from him. "Who are you and what have you done to Derek?"