Harry's Debut: Part One by shidi |  |
"HARRY! YOU'RE GOING to be late for Neoschool!" Tiara called, holding out a
Sloth Lunchbox to the meandering Grarrl. Harry, the striped Grarrl in question,
was still gathering up his books and pencils, though his siblings had departed
the NeoHome ten minutes ago.
"I'm coming!" he called, and
tucked the last book into his backpack. Harry didn't particularly want to go
to school today. He had butterflies in his large stomach, and the most dreadful
twitch in his tail. Today was the day of tryouts for the school production of
that famous play, "Scorchio and JubJubette." Kaelik, Harry's good friend, had
double dared him to sign up for them, and so, he had. Kaelik was always getting
into some sort of trouble - he was the class clown, but he had a good heart.
Harry didn't mind so much for most things, but this audition would involve getting
up on stage in front of other students and the drama teacher. He was so, so
nervous! After collecting his lunchbox and giving Tiara a good-natured slurp
goodbye, he hurried down the road towards Neoschool
When he arrived at school,
Harry noticed that posters advertising the tryouts were everywhere! He gulped,
and wondered if he could fake being sick to be sent home early, as he headed
for his locker. He could barely remember the combination, and his paw was shaking.
Next to him, he noticed Scheat the faerie Blumaroo putting a new poster on the
inside of his locker door. "Good morning, Scheat," he said, trying to sound
normal and keep the squeak out of his voice.
"Ah! Harry, didn't see you
there! Like my new poster? It's Wock 'Til You Drop. Aren't they just the best?"
Scheat tapped the poster with a paw, and grinned a cheerful grin in Harry's
direction. Harry eyed the Tyrannian Wocky group with a bit of interest. He wondered
if any of them had ever been scared to perform? A few weeks ago, in the Neopian
Times, he'd read a story about the band. It didn't sound like any of them had
stage fright. Hmph.
"Hey, Scheat… are you trying
out for the school play?" Harry asked, as he finally got his locker open and
put his backpack inside.
"Agggghhhh!" Scheat cried,
covering his eyes. "Don't say that! No way, man… just… no way. Imagine all those
people just staring at you, up on stage. All those beady little eyes, waiting
for you to flub a line or make a wrong move!" Scheat's blue fur seemed to turn
a bit paler, and he shivered just a bit. "Kaelik tried to get me to try out,
but I just said no."
Harry wished he had said no!
That would have been a lot easier. But Kaelik wasn't afraid to try out, not
at all. He was never afraid of anything, not even of climbing up the rope ladder
in gym class and falling off, or of going to the Battledome and fighting after
school. He wasn't even afraid of going to the Lab Ray, and of being new and
interesting species every other week. "Um… yeah. That was smart of you, to say
no and all. I'm going to try out though…"
"Don't do it, Harry!" Scheat
said, shaking his head as he picked up books from his locker and slammed the
door. "You'll be sorry if you do! You should join the stage crew. That's what
I'm going to do. I'm going to work behind the scenes and build all the stuff
that the play needs, and paint things, and hang curtains - where no one at all
can see me on stage!"
"Still… I'm going to try out."
Harry said, getting a bit less nervous and a bit more determined. "After all,
what's the worst that could happen?"
"You could, like, totally humiliate yourself," called a snooty-sounding voice
from down the hall. "But that so would not be a change for you."
"Oh, no…" said Harry, realising
at once who that voice belonged to. Sundari_Radha was the snobbiest Cybunny
in the whole school. Her perky little nose was turned up in a sneer as she eyed
Harry.
"Uh… hi Radha…" Scheat stammered
nervously. "Bye Harry! I got to get to class!" With that, he turned tail and
fluttered as fast as his faerie wings could take him, away from the stuck-up
Cybunny and the soon to be confrontation.
"What are you doing, talking
to a Grarrl?" an equally disdainful desert Wocky said to her Cybunny friend.
"Of course not, Tigsam. I
just think it's soooo funny. Harry wants to try out for the school play!" Both
pets burst into helpless giggles. Harry was ashamed, and hung his head. "Can
you imagine? A Grarrl playing Scorchio, the most romantic figure in all of literature?
Stomp, stomp, grarrr… uh, what are my lines?"
"That is so totally lame,"
Tigsam agreed, shaking her head.
Harry's snout quivered, and
he felt tears brimming in his eyes. He didn't want to give the bullies the satisfaction
of seeing him cry, but they were being so mean with their teasing. Fortunately,
his friend Neffypoo, the desert Shoyru, came into view. Neffy elbowed his way
past Tigsam, and snorted at Radha. "Cybunny, Cybunny, two by four - can't get
out the NeoHome door," he teased right back at her.
"I am not fat! I'm festively
fluffy!" she sniffed, and turned to head for class.
"Well, you have been hitting
the chocolates lately," Tigsam said as she followed the Cybunny
"Shut up, Tigs!" Radha hissed,
and stomped away as fast as her paws could carry her.
"Thanks, Neffy," said Harry,
wiping at his eyes. "Those girls are so mean! But I guess they're right… I can't
really be in the school play. I'm big, and I'm not too good at memorising stuff,
and I really, really am scared to go out in front of all those people."
"Don't let them get to you,
Harry," said Neffy, patting his friend on the back with a paw. "You can do anything
you put your mind to. That's what my owner always says, and I believe it. You
just have to have confidence."
To be continued... |
