Chapter 3

Mistoffelees slowly woke up and poked his head out of the mouth of the pipe, with a tired grumpy face. He realized that it was Victoria who woke him up with her beautiful soft singing voice.

"Jellicles come to the jellicle ball".

She can sing? Maybe everyone else knew except me.

He listened as each jellicle cat came out and sang his/her line in 'The Song of the Jellicles'.

My line is coming up shortly, thought Mistoffelees as he made himself crawl out of the pipe and waited to say his line.

Once it was his turn, Mistoffelees pranced over to Victoria and stopped in front of her.

"We like to practice our airs and graces".

Then he joined in with the rest of the tribe, dancing beside Victoria. While they were doing whirly gigs around their leader Old Deuteronomy, Mistoffelees whispered into her ear.

"Do you have a partner?".

She sighed and whispered back to him.

"Unfortunately for you, I do".

"Who is it?" whispered Mistoffelees, eagerly.

"You'll see in a few moments, Quaxo".

The once flowing music died down into a quiet flute playing a solo. Since Mistoffelees didn't get a partner beforehand, he slowly sank behind the bulish spotlights and watched as Victoria waited for her partner to meet her in the center of the junkyard.

Once the tom got to her he stroked Victoria's back, before lifting her up by the waist and setting her right thigh on his shoulder. As he began to slowly turn around, Mistoffelees immediately recognized the tom's face.

How dare Plato steal Victoria from me! he thought.

He's probably trying to get revenge on me since I accidentally left him hanging in the air upside down by some fishing line for an hour.

All of the other toms and she-cats copied Plato and Victoria. Next, all the toms slowly took their partner down from their shoulders to in front of them. Then they took their partner's left leg and slowly raised it up near their head. When they did this, Mistoffelees's view of Victoria was blocked completely by another pair of cats.

There's no point of watching your crush make out with your rival.

Mistoffelees crawled up onto one of the junk piles and entered a dark tunnel. From up here, he can see the entire area of where the tribe dances.

He watched as his tribe started to curl up together, huddled right in the very center of the junkyard, on the soft dirt.

I'm not even in the mood to finish The Jellicle Ball.

Mistoffelees scooted away from the mouth of the tunnel and into the darkness behind him, so no one would spot him.

Suddenly, the group began to break up, looking up at the junk piles cautiously.

Mistoffelees took his eyes off of the scattering cats and looked across the junkyard, spotting a grey scruffy looking cat that was trying to get down from one of the piles to join the tribe.

Good thing Tantomile and Corpopat are down there to spot Grizabella, otherwise I would have to go down there and alert them.

He watched as his tribe gathered together and started to dance again.

Mistoffelees sighed in relief when he saw Plato and Victoria separate.

As The Jellicle Ball came to a closure, Mistoffelees got an idea.

Since Victoria only made out with Plato and hasn't mated with her yet, there's still a possibility that I can be with her, right?

As he climbed down from the junk pile that he was on, the more and more thoughts came to him.

Maybe Plato needed a temporary partner; Afterall, he has cheated on the other queens in the tribe.

Or maybe...

Mistoffelees stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Victoria--who was sitting alone on a massive tire—is now accompanied by Plato. They were both nuzzling each other, not noticing his presence.

I better hide before one of them catches me.

Mistoffelees slowly backed up away from the pair, trying not to make a sound, but he accidently stepped on a twig and broke it.

Crack.

Both cats turned their heads towards the direction of the sound and listened.

Luckily, Mistoffelees was right in front of the mouth of the black pipe and his fur was black enough to blend in with it so that Victoria and Plato couldn't see him.

"Where are the rest of the cats?".

"They probably just went to bed. Speaking of that, how would you like to sleep with me in my den tonight? Or would you rather sleep in that rusty old stove again?".

It was Plato who replied to Victoria.

"Would you really?".

"Of course! Any beautiful queen like you deserves to sleep somewhere better than a rusty old stove".

The pair stood up from the massive black tire and started to walk further away from where Mistoffelees was hiding.

"You're so kind. Do you know where Quaxo went? He was going to teach me some new dance moves".

Their voices slowly faded as they entered a tunnel by a pile ladder in a right junk pile.

"Quaxo? You mean that fuc-".

They were too far down the tunnel for Mistoffelees to hear the rest of their conservation.

He waited a few moments, before he began to move again.

Sometimes I hate it when I'm right; Clearly Plato hasn't forgiven me yet.

Thought Mistoffelees, as he climbed up to a tunnel.

And since Victoria doesn't know a lot about me, Plato's probably going to tell her about the incident.

He sat down in the darkness of the tunnel, with his knees tucked in front of his chest.

I don't think I'll ever be Victoria's partner.

He shed a few tears as he thought of that.

I just wish that my levitating trick worked earlier. Or maybe...

Before Mistoffelees could finish his thought, his head began to nod and he fell asleep.