smiling critters

chapter 40 - betting

"Hiii!" the little feline smiled as he ran up to his friends. Everyone greeted him warmly and they got to dicking around while andy crocheted on the bench with camila, who was finishing up her painting off in her head as she hummed 'what was i made for.' eventually she looked up to see neil climbing around the dome while dylan laid under it. Camila noticed neil was climbing around slower than he normally would, she brushed it off as him being tired and went back to painting before she noticed andy had stopped moving. She looked at him and saw a photo in his hand.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, pulling herself onto the bench with him.

"no, I'm just looking at dis photo ofv my wife," he smiled and showed her the photo. It was of a woman in her 30s with her hair in a white loose skirt with colorful floral pattern on it and a ring on a chain around her neck.

"Aww, that's neil's mom? She's so pretty!" camila cooed, attracting kai over.

"Who's pretty?" the hyline rooster asked as he grabbed onto the horse's shoulders and leaned down to look at the photo.

"Neil's moder," andy smiled and showed kai the photo. Camila was expecting kai to say 'would' or something weird like that, but instead he seemed to freeze, only being able to grip her shoulders, his talons digging into her skin. She looked at him and saw an expression that she's never seen on his face before. A look of fear.

"Kai, is something wrong?" she asked, which seemed to snap him out of it as he went back to his default smug smile.

"Uh huh! All good, i'm gonna go see what nini and dyl pickle are up to," he pointed at the dome where neil and dylan were still hanging out by. By this point, camila wasn't focused on her painting, she was focused on her friend; closely watching him as he waltzed up to the boys and started talking to them.

"$40?! Fuck yes!" neil suddenly shouted before climbing down the dome and going over to the tree by the playground.

"Uh oh, things usually get bad when money is involved," camila muttered to andy.

"May i ask how bad?" andy requested.

"Kai broke his leg trying to do do a backflip off that," she pointed to the highest point of the playground. "Which he failed miserably at by the way. And then hollie nearly drowned/ got carried out to sea when she tried surfing when she had never surfed in her life nor did she bother listening to kai when he tried to give her some pointers."

"Alright, how about we see what he's asking neil to do?" andy put his stuff away before offering his paw to her, which she put her sketchbook down and took it as he walked her to the tree, which neil was now climbing.

"Hey neil, maybe you should skip out! You didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night and who knows how that'll affect your climbing!" dylan shouted to the american shorthair.

"Honey pie, i have looked death in his cold hard face and survived! I've climbed plenty of trees, and i know when one is about to break, i promise i'll get down the second i reach the top, kay?" he stuck out after finishing his sentence before going back to climing the tree.

"What did you bet him to do?" camila glared at kai, who shrugged.

"Just climb to the top of the tree, nothing much."

"Snusken, you should skip out on de bet, it'sh not word it!" andy called to his son.

"I'll be fine, i promise!" neil called back, preoccupied with his climbing. After a minute or so, he ended up about to reach the top, which was really thin, maybe something that could've supported his weight before the hospital since he was all skin fur and bones during that time, but now that he gained some weight and is overall so much healthier? No chance in hell that tree is supporting him. Everyone watched as neil got good footing on the highest branch he could, everyone told him to come down, but he didn't listen. Andy sighed and marched up to the tree before starting to climb it in order to retrieve the young feline when suddenly camila, along with everyone else, heard the very last thing they wanted to hear; a branch breaking followed by a scream. Andy quickly blocked the branch from hitting his head before he grabbed neil while he was heading straight for the ground, nearly falling off the tree himself.

777 words

sorry this one is a little shorter, but the next bus is still under construction :/ anyways, mwah mwah, have a great day!