In a small brick Neohome on the outskirts of Neopia,
a baby Uni by the name of Indipsi finished breakfast with her owner, Charmedhorses.
"Any tests today?" Charmed asked, taking a sip
of mocha.
"No," Indipsi replied. "No tests, but we have
a guest speaker coming to talk to us. Apparently she was one of the very first
Earth faeries. I guess that means she's pretty old, huh?"
"Indi!" Charmedhorses exclaimed. "That certainly
does not! That's no way for a Uni as pretty as yourself to talk. Faeries are
very kind beings; we shouldn't speak poorly of them."
Indipsi scrunched her lips up and rolled her
eyes at her owner. "I'm not pretty," she said defiantly.
"Of course not. You're an ugly, mutated beast,"
Charmedhorses joked. "Is that better?"
The Uni shrugged. "Maybe. Anyway, I have to get
to Neoschool." She slurped up the remaining milk in her bowl of cereal and got
up to set her dishes on the counter. "See you later, then."
"Hold on just a minute," Charmed said, getting
up to say good-bye. "You really ought to be more careful. You make those funny
faces and one of these days it just might stick." She patted Indipsi's shoulder.
"Now go have a good day at school."
"Thanks," Indipsi said. She quickly hugged her
owner, then headed out the door and toward the awaiting day of Neoschool.
"What does Charmed know about making faces,
anyway?" Indi grumbled as she went. "She never makes faces."
By the time Indipsi got to school her back pack
was full of books and weighed down on her back like a bag of bricks. Not to
mention the thin film of sweat coating her body. But while the location of their
Neohome made for an excruciating walk, she wouldn't choose to move for the world.
There was nothing like waking up to the songs of Pawkeets and the scent of apples
ripe on the tree. So what if sometimes she was a little--
Brrrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggg!
"Oh, Peadackles!" Indipsi exclaimed, sprinting
the rest of the way to her class.
When she arrived the other students were already
seated, pulling out their books for the day.
"I'm not late. Honest," Indi said persuasively
as she rushed through the door of her classroom. "What you thought was the bell
really wasn't. You must have imagined it. Brriinngg!" she mimicked, dropping
her bag and taking her seat. "Now that was the bell."
"How nice of you to join us," Indipsi's teacher,
Miss Hickle, said. "Now, Indi, you know you're one of my top scholars, but I
cannot allow this tardiness to continue. Please see me after class."
Indipsi hung her head, avoiding eye contact with
the blue Poogle.
"Now," Miss Hickle said, addressing the class.
"Take out your copy of the Neopian Encyclopedia. Today we will be studying…"
"Psst," a green Kougra beside Indipsi whispered.
"Not such a good goody now are we?"
Indi glared and stuck her tongue out at him.
The Kougra sickered.
"Ahem," Miss Hickle cleared her throat and eyed
the pair before going on. "As I was saying…"
Indipsi tossed her head and readied her pencil.
It was going to be a long day and she had to make the best of it.
**********
"Okay, back to class!" Miss Hickle hollered to her students from the classroom
door. Lunch break was over and the Neopets gradually made their way in, spirits
dampened as they quit playing and returned to class. Lunches were gulped down,
Gelerts were chased around the playground, and chatter was turned to whispers
before the pets settled back down in their seats.
Indipsi was not the first, but not to the last
to return, for although she was a hard worker she was in no great rush to get
back to class. And she had to admit that she was pretty interested in hearing
what the visiting faerie had to say.
Once the class was back together Miss Hickle
stood before them and began to introduce their guest. "I'm sure you've all been
anxious to hear from our visitor…"
The students groaned all at once.
Miss Hickle went on. "It's my pleasure to introduce
Viola the Earth Faerie."
From behind the blue Poogle a petite, winged
figure appeared. "Hello, there," Viola said softly.
The class was silent, staring at the creature.
"Let me guess, you were expecting some old,
gray-haired, broken-winged… thing, weren't you?" she said and chuckled.
"I'm not that old. Now, does anyone have a question for me?"
"Oh, me!" Indi exclaimed, her hoof shooting
to the air.
"Yes?" Viola asked in amusement, turning with
the rest of the class to see the exuberant baby Uni.
Indipsi blushed. "Well, I was just wondering…What
are your responsibilities as a faerie?"
"That's a very good question," Viola said.
"That's a very good question," Cush, the green
Kougra beside Indi, mimicked. "Teacher's Neopet."
"I am not!" Indipsi retorted loudly, interrupting
Viola who was answering the very question that Indi had just asked.
Viola looked startled and Indipsi said, "Sorry."
Although she appeared slightly taken aback, the
Earth Faerie continued her explanation and Indipsi kept her eyes looking forward,
determined not to peer back at the Kougra beside her who was surely making evil
eyes at her.
Finally she could resist no longer. One always
wants to see what they shouldn't. When Indipsi heard the Kougra whisper at her
once more her head snapped up. Ears laid back she said, "What, Cush?"
"Goody two hooves," the Kougra lured.
"Stop it!" Indipsi said, her patience cracking.
In her heated state the Uni curled her upper lip, crossed her eyes, and pinned
her ears back at the pest beside her. However, much to her surprise, her expression
would not go back to normal and try as she might, she couldn't move it. The
funny face remained.
Indipsi's eyes grew wide and she slouched in
her desk, shadowing her face with her hooves. Beside her she heard Cush snicker.
"Are you alright?" Viola asked from the front
of the classroom.
Indipsi jumped in her seat. "Yeah, yeah, I'm
fine."
"Then why are you making that face?" the faerie
asked, eying her peculiarly.
"Indi," Miss Hickle said warning. "Cut
it out."
"I can't," Indipsi muttered, her hoof muffling
her voice.
"Indipsi," Miss Hickle said strongly, "you had
better straighten up or I'm going to have to talk to you outside."
The Uni tried to adjust her frozen features but
they simply would not move.
"Fine," Miss Hickle said. "Outside."
"But," Indipsi blubbered, her lip still rolled
back and making it difficult to talk.
"Outside," Miss Hickle repeated, walking
out of the room and waiting for Indi.
The Uni hung her head and followed the teacher
outside, her tail drooped limply.
Once they were out of earshot of the classroom
Miss Hickle turned to Indipsi and asked, "Now what has gotten into you?"
"Ih wath Cuth," Indi said, her voice accented
by the irregular placement of her upper lip.
"Oh, drop it already," Miss Hickle said in annoyance.
"I can'th," the Uni said. "My fayth ith thtuck."
"Fine. You can just wait out here for Charmed
to come and get you after school," Miss Hickle instructed, unsympathetic to
Indipsi's situation.
Glumly, Indipsi lay on the grass and tried to
pass the time as she waited for her owner.
**********
"You have some explaining to do, young lady," Charmedhorses said from behind
Indipsi.
The Uni started to her hooves, awakened from
the half-asleep state she had been in.
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Oo er ight," Indipsi said.
"Huh?" Charmedhorses said, obviously surprised.
"Miss Hickle told me you were misbehaving, but what's wrong with your voice?"
"It wath all Cuth's fault," Indipsi said. "He
wath being a Thnorkle tho I made a fayth at him. Now ith's thtuck."
Charmed chuckled. "Okay, I believe you, but let's
get going. I think I have just the remedy."
**********
"I'm not eating that," Indipsi said shortly.
Charmedhorses, who held a lemon slice in her
hand for Indipsi to suck frowned. "Come on, Indi! Don't you want your face to
be back to normal?"
"Not ifth I hath to eat that."
"Arg!" Charmed said in frustration. "I know
it'll work. Believe me."
"How do you know?" Indipsi questioned.
"I had my own little incident…"Charmed trailed.
"What?" Indipsi said loudly. "Talk louder."
"My face got stuck one time, too," Charmedhorses
said.
Indipsi burst out laughing.
"Very funny," Charmed said. "Sucking a lemon
straightened my face right out, though. So will you eat it?"
"Only ith you tell me what happened," Indi bargained,
curiosity sparkling in her chocolaty eyes.
"After," Charmedhorses said. "Now here you go."
She held out the lemon slice.
Indi grumbled but took the fruit and placed it
in her mouth. As she sucked it dry her face began to pucker. She squinted and
winced until there was nothing left but the rind.
"Uggg," Indipsi said, spitting the peel out
on the kitchen counter.
Charmed beamed. "You look great."
Indi held up a hoof and felt her face, which
was relaxed and back to normal. "Yeah, thanks. Now how did your face
get stuck?" she asked.
Charmedhorses laughed. "Well, I wasn't making
faces at the cute Kougra next to me, but…" she began.
Indipsi rolled her eyes at Charmed's joke and
listened eagerly to her owner's tale. Some things just ran in the family, but
hopefully bad jokes wasn't one of them.
THE END
Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading my story! This one is especially
special in that it stars my very own Uni, Indipsi and, well, me! But, I must
say that the me portrayed in the story and the me in real life aren't exactly
the same. It's hard writing about yourself. (I do tell jokes that don't always
make sense, though. But at least I get them even if my friends don't.) Anyway,
I'd love to hear what you thought of the story! Feel free to Neomail me!
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