Breezepelt's Burdens

This is just perfect, I thought. I grudgingly dragged myself out of my den and towards the entrance to the camp. My father was waiting there, with an annoyed expression on his face. No surprise there.

“Where have you been?” he snapped. “Do you want to go or not?”

“No, I don’t!” I snapped back. I guess I did inherit something from him. “So leave me behind while you’re at it!” He growled and turned his back to talk to the clan leader. Heatherpaw raced up to me. “Hi!” she said. “You’re leaving today! It’s so exciting!” I growled at her but didn’t say anything. It’s hard to be grumpy around Heatherpaw.

“Come on, Breezepaw!” yowled my father. “Pick up your paws!” Without waiting for me, he stalked out towards the place we were meeting the other cats.

“This is a disaster,” I grumbled. “Why did Onestar have to drag me into this?”

“Because you haven’t learned to behave yourself so no one wants you around,” Crowfeather snapped. I sighed and kicked a pebble. It flew forward and hit someone in the paw. A shadow seemed to loom over me. I gulped and looked up. The ThunderClan deputy, Brambleclaw, was standing before me. His dark tabby pelt gleamed in the sun and his massive shoulders seemed to only add to his size. I took a step back and dipped my head. His whiskers twitched. Was he amused? I couldn’t tell. I didn’t want to find out. I pretended to trudge around the clearing, dragging my paws angrily.

“Hey!” shouted a voice. “Stop throwing rocks!” it was Jaypaw, the stupid blind ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice. I tossed a rock at him for good measure and then ran off. A golden paw stepped in my way. “Don’t bully my brother,” growled Lionpaw. I hate Lionpaw. He’s always stealing Heatherpaw’s attention, and he’s always showing off his fighting skills. I can fight twice as well as he can! Maybe even three times! I don’t know why Heatherpaw likes him. He’s just a stupid ThunderClan cat! I shove him out of the way and stomp into the trees. Why are ThunderClan cats such stupid furballs?

“My paws hurt,” I complained, “and I’m hungry. Why can’t we hunt?”

“Because we just hunted!” snapped Tawnypelt. “Now shut up and keep walking.” I stomped my paw and kept trudging along. I felt like we had been walking for moons, and new were accomplishing nothing. All I saw was field after field, Twolegplace after Twolegplace. It was so boring. And tiring. And a whole bunch of other stuff. I was ready to die. When we stopped in a small forest to rest, I took the chance to play a trick on Lionpaw.

“Hey Lionpaw!” I mewoed. “Wanna help me catch a squirrel? I scented one over there.” Lionpaw gave me a suspicious look. I decided to be meaner so he would suspect anything.

“Well,” I said. “Unless you don’t think you could catch it.” He growled at me.

“Show me where you scented it,” he snapped and followed me deeper into the trees.

“It was over there,” I said, pointing my tail towards a patch of shrubs. Lionpaw stepped towards them. I got behind him and shoved him into the shrubs. Growling at me, he started to chase me around the trees. Being a WindClan cat and all, I was obviously a lot faster. I swerved and ducked and turned until I couldn’t see him anymore. Then I made my way back to the group and sat down to enjoy a rabbit the others had brought back. After a while, Brambleclaw was pacing back and forth impatiently. “Where is Lionpaw?” he meowed. “He was supposed to be back moons ago!” Squirrelflight looked at the sky.

“The sun’s going down,” she said. “We should stay here for the night.” Stormfur sighed.

“Lionpaw better have a good reason to be late,” he said. We all built nests and lay down. All of a sudden, Lionpaw burst into the clearing. He was covered in burrs and twigs, and he looked completely worn out.

“Lionpaw, where have you been?” asked Brambleclaw with an annoyed expression on his face. “I got lost!” he gasped. “Breezepaw got me lost!” He glared at me angrily.

“Breezepaw,” meowed Squirrelflight. “Is this true?” I stared at my paws.

“It was just a joke,” I muttered.

“It wasn’t very funny,” snapped Crowfeather. “Look at all the time we’ve wasted!”

“Well I was bored!” I snapped back. “And it’s not like a want to be here!”

“Well no one else wants you here either!” It was Hollypaw. “So just shut up and leave us alone!” She whirled around and went to her nest. Lionpaw and Jaypaw glared at me and joined her.

I curled up in my own nest angrily. Why does everyone pick on me? They’re not making this any easier. Miserably, I shut my eyes. It sucks to not have friends, I thought. But surely it can’t suck more than having friends, right?