Invisible Paint Brushes rock Circulation: 134,586,010 Issue: 276 | 26th day of Sleeping, Y9
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Attempting a Surprise Party


by broadwaybaby986

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This story is dedicated to Kiki (slothgirl), who's also the owner of WingoSloth, the Peophin mentioned in the beginning!

It was around three PM NST- that meant I only had two hours left to set up for the party. It was my purple Xweetok AvaGirl101’s (or Ava for short) birthday and I was throwing her a surprise party. Now, anyone who’s ever thrown a surprise party knows that it certainly isn’t an easy task. I learned this the hard way.

      I had set up a playdate between Ava and her friend WingoSloth, a Halloween Peophin. Ava was to spend the afternoon at her house while my other pets and I set up for the party. So far all was going according to plan- Ava was dropped off and my pets were at home setting up for the party. My only concern was that they had destroyed my Neohome when I was away. I haven’t trusted them being home alone since my skunk Yurble SweetLittleLion, who’s more commonly called Little, got into my weapons cabinet and set off a Ghostkerbomb, so I was a bit nervous leaving them. But thankfully, nothing like that happened, although Little and Lealonde, a baby Uni, had gotten into an argument. The first thing I heard when I walked into the door was Lealonde’s shout of, “Little, Momma said not to eat the cake batter!”

      “But... I didn’t know!” Little cried in defence.

      “But Momma told us a million times!”

      “What’s going on?” I asked, walking over to the two pets.

      “Little ate all the cake batter while Jefsy was outta the kitchen!” Lealonde cried. Jefsy (whose full name was ILoveJeffAlot) was the lab rat of our family, and was currently a speckled Gelert. I rescued her from the pound when she was a baby. I put her in charge of making Ava’s cake.

      “You did WHAT?!” I asked, horrified.

      “Sorry,” said Little, smiling innocently.

      “You’re in big trouble, Little! Hey... where’s Jefsy?”

      “She went out to get more cake batter,” Little said.

      “She went out all by herself? Well... alright. I guess that’s okay. She’d better get home safe, though. Now, have you started decorating?”

      Little and Lealonde shot each other nervous glances. “Um... maybe?”

      I sighed. Things weren’t exactly going according to plan now.

    ***

     “Um, Little, would you mind very much hanging that streamer over there?” I asked, tying a balloon to the back of a chair.

      “Momma, will you move the ladder?” he asked me.

      “Get Lealonde to do it.”

      “Lealonde, will you move the ladder?”

      Lealonde looked up from what she was doing. “Okay, just get off the ladder.”

      “I don’t want to! Plus, it’ll be fun if you move it while I’m still on it.”

      “Alright!” Lealonde grinned and kicked the ladder as hard as she could. The ladder tipped over and Little went flying off. He landed on a purple balloon, which popped loudly.

      “I told you to move the ladder, not tip it over!” Little cried angrily, rubbing the back of his head.

      “That’s what I was trying to do!” protested Lealonde.

      “Oh, yeah right, I bet you wanted to make me fall!”

      “Did not!”

      “Did too!”

      “You two, stop it!” I said. “Little, Lealonde didn’t mean to make you fall off the ladder. Now, I think I hear Jefsy at the door. You two stay put.”

      I hurried to greet Jefsy, hoping she’d found a decent cake. “Hi, sweetie,” I said.

      “Hi, Momma!” cried Jefsy. She was carrying a large box, which I guess contained the cake. “So, how’s the decorating going?”

      “Not so good,” I said, glancing back at Lealonde and Little. “So, did you manage to find a cake?”

      Jefsy nodded hesitantly. “Um... yeah,” she said.

      “So, what kind of cake is it?”

      Jefsy took the lid off the box. “It’s a, um, gruel cake,” she said sheepishly.

      I stared at the cake, utterly horrified. It was a sickly greenish-brown color and looked (and smelled) just awful! “This can’t be Ava’s birthday cake!” I cried. “That thing looks horrible! Why in the world did you get that?”

      “It was the only cake the Food Shop had left when I got there!” said Jefsy.

      “Well, I know one thing,” I replied. “We are not giving this to Ava. I’m going back to the Food Shop to find another cake. Jefsy, I’m going to leave you and the others here. Would you make sure Little doesn’t blow up the house again?”

      Jefsy nodded. “It’ll be my pleasure, Mom!”

      “Alright, great. I’ll see you all in a little while! And don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone. Oh, and don’t answer the door if someone-”

      “Mom, we’re going to be okay,” Jefsy replied.

      “Well, alright.” I was about to walk out the door when Lealonde hurried up to me.

      “Momma, can I come to the Food Shop with you?” she asked.

      “Alright, honey,” I replied. “I guess you can.”

      “Oh, goodie! I’m going to the Food Shop!” she cried, beaming. “Come on, Momma!”

      “Bye, Mom!” cried Little. I waved at him and walked outside.

      “We’re going to get a cake!” sung Lealonde. She enjoyed making up songs. “Oh yeah! We’re going to get a cake! Get a cake! A nice, yummy cake! We’re going to get... a... CAAAKE! Oh yeah!”

      About fifteen songs later Lealonde and I found ourselves at the Neopian Food Shop. After a bit of browsing I found a nice chocolate chocolate cake. I hurried up to the front of the store, eager to buy it.

      “I want to buy this chocolate cake,” I said, holding it up.

      The shopkeeper, a yellow Chia wearing an apron reading “I Love Food”, inspected the cake. “I won’t take less than 300 Neopoints for it!” he declared.

      “Would you take... oh, say 200 Neopoints instead?”

      “I won’t take less than 270 Neopoints for it!” the shopkeeper replied promptly.

      “I’ll pay 170 Neopoints! Take it or leave it!”

      The shopkeeper was about to respond when a green Shoyru hurried up and said, “I’ll pay 265 Neopoints for the cake!”

      “I accept your offer of 265 Neopoints!” the shopkeeper said, handing the cake to the Shoyru.

      “Maybe you should’ve offered a decent amount of Neopoints,” said the Shoyru as he walked off. “Then maybe you would’ve gotten the cake.”

      “He’s right, you know,” Lealonde said.

      I sighed. “Okay, I’ll try that.”

      So now, armed with yet another chocolate cake, I hurried towards the front of the store to pay. “I found another cake!” I said, shoving the cake in the shopkeeper’s face.

      “I won’t take less than 300 Neopoints for it!”

      “Uh... I’ll pay 400 Neopoints!”

      The shopkeeper laughed. “I don’t think you want to pay THAT much!”

      “There’s no satisfying you, is there?” I cried. “First you think I’m not offering enough, and now I’m offering too much! What in Neopia do I have to do to please you?”

      “Please calm down, Miss,” the Chia said. “Just offer a lower amount!”

      “Alright, alright! Here’s 300 Neopoints!” I pulled the money out of my pocket and slammed it on the counter. “Now do I get the cake?”

      “Yes, you do,” replied the shopkeeper, a look of relief spreading across his face. “See, it wasn’t that hard, was it?”

      “I guess not,” I said, grabbing the cake. “Thanks a bunch!” I turned to Lealonde. “Come on, sweetie, now let’s go home.”

      “Can I get some cookies, Momma? We don’t have any more at home.”

      I sighed. “Honey, we really don’t have time! Ava’s going to be home soon!”

      “B-but... I want a cookie!” cried Lealonde, staring longingly at me with her big blue eyes. “We don’t have any more! Please, Momma, could we get one? Just one?”

      I couldn’t resist those eyes! “Oh, I guess... go pick out a cookie.”

     ***

      “I can’t believe you talked me into getting you a cookie!” I cried as I walking up to our front door.

      “I’m sorry I made us so late, Momma,” Lealonde said, lowering her head. “But I just couldn’t pick out which kind I wanted! They’re all so delicious! How could you force me into choosing just one? They’re all tasty in their own special way.”

      “I know, sweetie, but it still shouldn’t take thirty minutes to pick out a cookie,” I replied.

      Little and Jefsy greeted us as we walked into the house. “What in the world took you so long, Momma?” asked Little.

      I sighed. “Don’t ask.”

      “But... you did get the cake, right?” said Jefsy.

      “Thankfully,” I said, handing Little the cake. “Honey, would you take this into the kitchen? Oh, and did you finish the decorating?”

      “Yeah, Momma! We finished a long time ago,” Little said.

      “That’s great, ‘cause Ava should be ho- GAH!” I was in the middle of my sentence when all of the sudden the front door swung open and whacked Little right in the face. Little, utterly surprised, threw the cake up into the air and it landed with a plop right on top of Ava, who had just entered the house.

      “YAAAH!” cried Ava, wiping frosting off her face. “What in the world is going on?!”

      I smiled innocently. “Uh... surprise?”

The End

 
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