Teenage Surprise

    Among the trees, three young mothcats sat in patient silence. The smallest one, a brown feathered-winged mothcat, was jittering ever so slightly. They couldn’t seem to contain their excitement. The pink one of the three looked at them and rolled her eyes.

    “Can’t you sit still, Kellin?” she said, her voice pitched with slight annoyance. She curled her tail neatly over her paws to prevent it from getting stepped on by the bubbly mothcat. “We don’t even know if this is gonna work.”

    “Why wouldn’t it?” Kellin questioned, looking up at her with bright eyes. “You’re a sourpuss, Sakura! Lighten up.” He looked up to the other mothcat, who had been sitting quietly next to him with a steady gaze. “Do you think it’ll work, Nanyo?”

    Nanyo looked down at Kellin as they were addressed. Kellin’s hopeful look made them chuckle before looking back up. “I’m sure it will.”

    Sakura scoffed and turned away. “Stop babying him, Nanyo. Not everything goes the way he plans it to be.”

    Before the aquatic mothcat could reply, the bushes rustled, signaling the appearance of someone else. Kellin jumped up in his excitement, only to be thoroughly disappointed when it was just Sakura’s boyfriend, Brooklyn, who had come to join them.

    “What’s this about?” Brooklyn questioned calmly as he came over to sit beside Sakura. She was quick to intertwine her tail with his as Kellin sat back down in impatience.

    “We’ll explain when the others arrive!” he exclaimed, looking back at the surrounding bushes. “I hope our flyers worked…”

    “If someone passed a big flyer covering an entire rock that said, ‘Teenage Gather’ and didn’t question what trouble we were getting into, I’d be surprised,” Nanyo scoffed. Since Brooklyn’s arrival, Nanyo hasn’t seemed to take their eyes off the goggling couple.

    Kellin glanced up at Nanyo and pouted a bit, both from their joke and their averting attention. “But that means that others would see it, right?”

    “Of course, we did,” a new voice piped up, and emerging from the bushes can two sister mothcats. Kellin recognized them as Amber and Zara. Behind them, another set of mothcats followed; a young couple of mothcats known as Arum and Samphire.

    “So, what’s this about?” Arum said, repeating Brooklyn’s earlier speculations. The four newcomers had already decided to sit in a semi-circle with the others.

    “Let’s wait and see if anyone else comes, first,” Brooklyn said. By now, he’d understood that Kellin wouldn’t be able to repeat himself the same way every time for the mothcats that are showing up. “I’m sure there’ll be more coming soon.”

    Kellin looked at Brooklyn gratefully. Finally, someone thought it may work! Or, maybe he didn’t. Maybe he was just being optimistic for Kellin? Kellin wasn’t sure.

    As they all waited, the young mothcats began to talk amongst themselves. Who knows what types of conversations they were getting into, but they were all quickly cut short as the bushes moved once more. Out came a gray mothcat that many knew quite well.

    “Hello, Vivianos,” Sakura greeted the mothcat, as Brooklyn waved the tip of his tail.

    “Hello,” Vivianos replied. She glanced around the gathered mothcats. “Quite the party here.”

    “Yeah,” one of the sisters, Amber it seems, piped up, “when are we getting to the details here?”

    “Just a little longer!” Kellin begged. “Please! There has to be more!”

    The other mothcats just grumbled in reluctant acceptance before going back to chatting. Vivianos had decided to join Sakura and Brooklyn’s conversation, while Nanyo and Kellin continued to sit in patient silence.

    As per what Kellin said, more of the young mothcats did show up. Amongst them included Bluma, Yilin, and the trickster Kramer. The circle continued to grow with each new individual, to the point that it had become as large as the circle of bushes themselves. Kellin looked around at all the teenage mothcats and nodded, his excitement close to exploding.

    “Okay!” he called out, jumping up from his spot and moving to the middle of the circle. The conversations around him stopped at once and all eyes turned on him.

    “About time,” someone had grumbled among the crowd, but who Kellin could not point out.

    “As we all know,” Kellin began, “Honey’s birthday is coming up. Chive and Sunny are looking for help to make her birthday the best. So, I thought, who is better at helping than some young mothcats with nothing to do with our lives?” Kellin’s eyes looked around to the other cats; some seemed to be staring at him like he was crazy, while others seemed just as interested in the idea as he was. “We can make our own little parade for Honey! Just us young cats.”

    Silence followed his suggestion. The mothcats looked around at each other with a mixture of feelings. Kellin waited patiently for someone to say something, his paws itching with anticipation. At this point, he couldn’t tell if someone was going to agree or disagree.

    As the awkward silence continued to stretch on, the bushes rustled behind Amber and Zara. Out burst another gray mothcat, who Kellin recognized at Beatrix. She seemed to be out of breath as she stood up and looked around the circle.

    “Sorry I’m late!” she exclaimed. “I ran into some other issues that I got caught up in.” Aside from Kellin and the twins, however, it seemed no one had noticed her entrance: everyone was still invested in what they thought about Kellin’s idea. “What’s going on?”

    Kellin approached her individually to help catch her up on the topic. “A parade for Honey! Created by just the young cats of Aldora. It’ll be our own little surprise to her!”

    As he went on to explain further to Beatrix, her eyes had begun to light up. “That sounds like so much fun!” she replied, her fur fluffing up in her own excitement. “I’m in!”

    “Great!” Kellin replied before he returned to his place in the center of the circle. “What… about everyone else?”

    The others had gone silent from their chatting as they all turned their gazes to Kellin. Another long and awkward pause followed before finally someone spoke up: Kramer.

    “What’s in it for us, though?” he questioned.

    “But, that’s not the point of a party,” Vivianos, who had been sitting on the opposite side of the circle, argued. “It’s for Honey.”

    “But we’re taking time out of our days to make something that is already being made!” Kramer argued back.

    “Yes,” Arum, who had seemed to be deep in thought until now, piped up, “but the adults may not like what we want to contribute to the actual parade. Maybe this is our chance to put our own stuff into a parade for Honey?” To Samphire, her voice murmured, “I wouldn’t mind playing some of our own music rather than the adults’."

    “Yea, but…” a soft voice that hadn’t been heard yet spoke up. Kellin turned his attention towards who he recognized vaguely as Yilin. “We could always ask the adults…?”

    “Like they’re gonna listen to us,” Samphire spoke up with a bit of a huff.

    “Samphire’s right!” Kellin pointed out. “How many of you guys get brushed off by the adults because you’re young?”

    At this statement, no one spoke up. Amber and Zara had begun to look between each other, and Kramar had turned his head to the ground in silent agreement. The atmosphere had grown awkward by the arguments to where no one wanted to speak up anymore.

    “In any case,” Brooklyn broke the silence, standing up. “We can still contribute in our own way. I think Kellin has a good idea, despite the insanity behind it.” Behind him, Sakura rolled her eyes in agreement.

    “I think it’d be fun,” the blue mothcat, Bluma, pointed out. “We can all contribute something we like to do, right?” Bluma turned to Kellin for confirmation, who nodded his head vigorously. “So, then anything you want can be put in our own parade.” She nodded her head to herself before looking at Kellin and his friends with bright eyes. “I’m in.”

    Kellin’s fur fluffed up in excitement. “Great!” He turned to the others. “What… about everyone else?”

    “I think I already said I was in,” Beatrix stated, stepping up to sit near the approving group.

    Then, another moment of silence stretched on as the others lost themselves in thoughts. Kellin couldn’t decide by their faces if they were thinking yes, or whether they thought it was dumb. He turned to Nanyo and Sakura with an anxious look. Nanyo used a paw to motion Kellin towards the others; he was their current leader in all this, after all. Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to be off in another world as she looked off into the trees. Kellin’s ears pinned back in frustration: their support was the most important and they won’t stand up for him. How rude!

    “Fine,” Kramer spoke up, a small huff emitting from his chest. “This better be worth it.”

    “We’ll contribute, too!” Samphire perked up beside Arum, who looked at Kellin with a confident grin.

    By now, almost everyone had agreed. The only ones left seemed to be Amber and Zara. Kellin looked at them with hopeful eyes, his fluffy tail flicking back and forth in anticipation.

    The two still had their heads locked together, whispering to one another. From the distance he was in, Kellin couldn’t tell what they were saying. Finally, Zara lifted her head and looked at him.

    “We’ll do it,” she said. Amber looked around at the others before nodding in agreement. Kellin looked like he had grown twice the size he is as his fur spiked up, and he jumped up in glee.

    “Awesome!” he exclaimed, his excitement no longer contained. This bust of energy had thrown Sakura out of her trance as she stared at him with a bewildered gaze. “This is gonna be so much fun!” Kellin looked around at all the young mothcats.

    “So then…” Yilin piped up, looking at the others with a shy glance. “How do we do this?”

    The others all looked around at each other before to Kellin. Kellin blinked in confusion for a moment, before remembering Nanyo’s motion. Oh shoot, he thought, his body flaring up with embarrassment, what do we do?

    Noticing how he had frozen, Brooklyn stepped up beside him. “Lets first figure out what everyone wants to contribute,” he said confidently, taking over the role of leadership for Kellin.

    “I have decorations,” Sakura quickly declared before anyone could say something. Her brief glare at Kellin for making her agree to this made him laugh nervously. “I won’t have this look like it was made by a bunch of mothkittens.”

    “We aren’t mothkittens, though…” Bluma rebutted, but quietly. “But, if you don’t mind… can I help?”

    “Me, too!” Beatrix said, walking closer to Sakura. “It’ll be a lot easier with more paws.”

    Sakura looked between the two with a look of silent despair before sighing in defeat. “You’re right,” she replied. “Let’s get to it then.” Before the girls could reply, Sakura got up and began to walk off. Bluma and Beatrix looked between each other for a quick moment before racing after her. The three were soon out of sight.

    The others had watched the three’s conversation and them stalking off before turning back to each other. “Who’s next?” Kellin said, his eyes never betraying his happiness.

    “We’ll take care of the music,” Samphire spoke up, regarding herself and Arum. “We’re naturals at it.”

    “Yeah!” Arum spoke up, standing to her paws as her fur and feathers fluffed up in excitement. “You can leave it to us!”

    The two were quick to take their leave as they began scheming, and for a moment Kellin questioned how effective their tactics and music would be. He shook his head, putting his trust in them as he turned to the others.

    “I can… try to make food?” Yilin spoke up. She looked at Kellin with a bit of a nervous look. “I can’t guarantee it’ll be great, but I’d like to contribute somehow.”

    “That’s fine,” Kellin said, nodding in agreement. “Do your best, Yilin!”

    “I’d be happy to help you,” Brooklyn spoke, walking up to the brown mothcat. “I know a thing or two in cooking and baking.”

    “I’ll help, as well,” Vivianos said, stepping up. “The more food, the happier the mothcats.”
    Brooklyn nodded in agreement, and Yilin peeped a quick ‘yes’. With that, Brooklyn led the way out of the clearing, with the other two hot on his paws.

    "Good luck!” Kellin called out to them. He turned to look at the remaining cats: Nanyo, Amber, Zara, Kramer, and himself. “What about you guys? Anything you wanna do?”

    They didn’t seem to have any solid ideas for a little. They looked between each other uneasily, their paws shuffling as they tried to think.

    “What about games?” Nanyo suggested. They had been calmly keeping quiet behind Kellin, but even they knew Kellin wouldn’t be able to help with this. “It’ll be more fun with activities.”

    Kramer, who was the most uncertain about this teenage-composed parade, suddenly brightened at that idea. “I can do that!” he called. “I’m quite the trickster, so making up some fun games to keep others entertained should be a breeze!” A grin had fallen upon his face as if he was already coming up with some ludicrous ideas.

    Kellin didn’t seem to notice it and nodded in excitement. He turned to the twins, who still seemed not to know what to do. “Why don’t you guys help Kramer? He’ll have it a lot easier with more paws.”

    The twins looked between each other and back at Kramer. None of them seemed too keen to work together at first, but they only sighed.

    “Okay,” Amber said, “I guess someone needs to keep him in check.”

    “Hey!” Kramer exclaimed, his cheeks puffing out in irritation. “I’m not a mothkitten!”

    “Yes but,” Zara replied, her eyes glinting with a hint of that teenage amusement, “if you’re a trickster, you wouldn’t hesitate to make things hard.”

    Kramer’s paws itched with a comeback, but he realized they were right. He sighed in defeat, hanging his head. “Fine…” he gave in. He quickly lifted his head with a defiant glare. “But I’m in charge!”

    The twins only rolled their eyes. They were quick to get up and leave the clearing. Kramer, not expecting it, quickly got on his own paws and raced after them. “Wait up!”

    Finally, the clearing was empty minus Nanyo and Kellin. The two remained in peaceful silence, taking in what all had just happened. Kellin was full of pure excitement and pride with his idea, while Nanyo watched their friend with an amusement like none other. The wind accompanied their silence, ruffling their fur and taking the fallen leaves surrounding them with it.

    “Guess you did it,” Nanyo said, breaking the silence. “You really are one crazy featherbrain.”

    Kellin looked back at his friend and smiled, laughing nervously. “I haven’t done it until it’s finished. For all we know it could completely fall apart on us.”

    Nanyo smiled a bit. “You have a point.” They stood up, stretching out their aching muscles. “Guess we better get to work then, too.” They stepped over, touching Kellin with a fin wing before walking out of the clearing.

    Kellin watched them walk off for a moment. He took in a deep breath, realizing what he’s just done. ‘No going back now!’ he thought, closing his eyes. He could just picture their mini parade for Honey, going on beside the real thing; the decorations that Sakura, Bluma, and Beatrix created hanging off trees and houses; the music Arum and Samphire contribute sending a rhythm through everyone’s hearts; the sweets and other food that Brooklyn, Yilin, and Vivianos will create; and the games that Kramer, Amber, and Zara will entertain everyone with. His heart filled with warmth just thinking about how their young community can possibly pull it off.

    “Come on, Kellin!” Nanyo’s voice called somewhere from the trees.

    Kellin opened his eyes and huffed a determined breath. “Coming!” He quickly raced after his friend, so that they can begin their own work for the exotic teenage surprise parade.