Cry of the Angel: Part One

May Crystalline the pink Uni sat at a cherry dining table in the dining room. Normally, she would be seated in one of the surrounding pretty covered tables, but there were just too many people to be seated at one table. Today was the one-month anniversary of when the Andersons first moved in with her family.

     May sported a brand new outfit: her velvet pink skirt, purple silk spaghetti strap top, and her mane had lime streaks running through it. The pink Uni waited for her meal to come as she stared into the crystal plates sitting on the white lace tablecloth.

     Angela Anderson, a yellow Xweetok, had been preparing the day's meal. She brought out a BBQ pork platter with some orange chicken mixed in and a bottle of orange juice. Cheese was sprinkled on the meat pile.

     "Angela, I'm vegan!" May retorted.

     "Yeah, I used vegan cheese." Angela poured the disgusting liquid into May's crystal fancy glass.

     "So where's my salad?" May pointed to the pile of meat.

     "May, can you ever have ANY fun?" Angela teased.

     Billy, Angela's little brother, began digging into the meat immediately. The green Lupe always had an appetite.

     "Ever since I got Bella, I promised myself that I'd never eat anything that came from a petpet ever again!" May snapped.

     "People never make anything out of Faellies," Angela explained. "Especially in Faerieland. I read in my history book last year that Fyora doesn't allow any meat to come from Faerie Petpets, plus Skarl and Hagan have agreed with Illusen that the law should go with Ye Olde Petpets as well. Even Taelia has banned any meats to come from wintery petpets."

     "Still, I'm vegan!" May yelled.

     "I'll make you a deal." Angela grinned. "If you can quit your diet for a whole month, I will go vegan for a whole month."

     "And if one of us caves?" May asked.

     "The first one to cave must wear Billy's clothes for a whole week," Angela continued.

     "Don't worry, you'll totally lose it! It's on!" May agreed.

     "Great, so here's your food." Angela scooped some meat on May's plate.

     "Or... we... could... start tomorrow." May grimaced.

     "Tomorrow works!" Angela switched plates with May and dug in.

     ***

     Angela walked down the halls with her friends Cupcake the blue Lupe, Mizzy the green Wocky, and his sister Princess the red Usul. They were all discussing the bet.

     "It would be nice to see May like that." Mizzy giggled.

     "She says I'll lose, but I think she'll cave first!" Angela laughed.

     "So where are we eating? Is Asparagus and Yoghurt pizza vegan?" Princess asked.

     "Yoghurt is milk, which comes from petpets." Angela sighed.

     "Oh." Princess frowned.

     Angela felt bad, because the red Usul loved pizza.

     "But we can get you some cookies," Cupcake suggested.

     "Nah, you guys eat where you want and I'll just get a vegetable deluxe at Grundo's Café," Angela replied.

     "That sounds great!" Mizzy the green Wocky pulled his lunch money out of his Jeran backpack.

     "See you at our table!" Angela rushed off to the place where May usually bought food.

     ***

     "OMG, a MONTH?" Jen Sanders, May's speckled Uni friend, was horror-struck.

     "I guess we're eating at Hubert's today." May sighed.

     "Couldn't you get a veggie dog and tell Angela it's a regular one?" Tess, a faerie Uni, asked.

     "She's too observant," May explained. "Not to mention, that if she finds out, I have to wear her brother's clothes."

     "YUCK!" Vanilla the white Uni gasped. "Why didn't you agree to a week?"

     "I want to see Angela lose it." May grinned.

     "What if YOU lose?" Jen asked.

     "Not gonna happen." May smiled.

     "Why?" Tess asked.

     "Have you EVER heard of soy meat?"

     May's friends spent the rest of lunch talking about how Nicole, May's owner, could secretly turn some soy cubes into a product that looked, tasted, and smelled like meat. Angela would be totally clueless.

     "Why didn't I think of that?" Tess laughed. "All these years I was afraid of eating my precious little Strawberry!"

     "By the way, did you hear about Amber?" May asked.

     "She got zapped, right?" Jen rolled her eyes.

     "Red Flotsam," May replied.

     "She's one of those anti-Unis. TOTAL don't!" Vanilla laughed.

     "Yeah, kicked her out before gym." May sighed.

     "Well, we split up here." Jen stopped at the intersection of the four classes.

     "See you after school!" the Unis called in unison and sprinted off to class.

     ***

     "What are you going to be for Halloween, Angela?" Nicole asked.

     "Mizzy's going as Lord Kass, Cupcake's going as a werelupe, and Princess is going as Hannah, so I'll be Masila," Angela explained.

     "May, what are you going to be?" Celia, Angela's owner, asked.

     May looked up from the white coffee table, carefully placing her purple hoof polish so that it wasn't to spill.

     "I think I'll go as May, the pink Uni," May sarcastically replied, then went back to her pedicure.

     "Maybe you and Angela could go as each other," Billy laughed. "May, what should I be?"

     "A – no, Angela and I are not going as each other. B – you could fit in as a wild Lupe, but I'd go with something equally as disgusting and say Meuka," May replied to her hoof polish.

     "Let's invite my friends over!" Angela exclaimed.

     "Let's invite the Unis over so that I won't be bored," May told the bag of rhinestones she was applying to her purple hoof.

     "I want to invite my friends, too!" Billy exclaimed.

     "Here's a Uni Crew roster." May handed Nicole a paper, not noticing that Amber's name was still on it. "Those are all the people we need for a smashing time!"

     "Okay, and then you can introduce them to Angela and Billy, plus whoever their friends are." Celia applauded, sipping her vanilla borovan.

     "And, we can watch the flying Snorkles afterwards," May said in the same enthusiastic tone as Celia had used.

     "Come on, May. If you just play with people of your species, you'll never get a va-ri-e-ty of friends," Nicole pleaded.

     "Three Unis is enough for me!" May leaned back on the red sofa. The Uni picked up a box of orange juice from the white side table, carrying it as if she were holding a piece of really yucky garbage.

     "It's JUST orange juice. It WON'T kill you!" Angela laughed.

     "Try the juice, May, please!" Nicole pleaded as May put her hoof on the pedal to open the garbage.

     "Look who's talking!" May pointed at the bottle of fizzy liquid in front of Angela. "That full bottle has been sitting here for three hours!"

     "Why can't you have regular Neocola?" Angela twisted the cap off of the bottle.

     "Petpet predators support Neocola," May explained.

     After tossing the juice, May returned to her seat and continued blabbing.

     "Anyway, when the Unis come over, Angela and Billy need to stay in the guesthouse until they leave," May explained.

     "Why? Don't you want all of the girls club to be there?" Nicole asked.

     "Girls club? Can I watch you guys play truth or dare?" Billy licked his green paw.

     "ANYWAYS," May ignored Billy, "if Angela is in the guesthouse, the ENTIRE CLUB will have a much better time."

     "Wouldn't you rather have the whole club?" Celia asked. "This isn't making any sense!"

     "Look, unless Angela becomes a Uni between now and Halloween, she is NOT joining the club."

     Angela thought for a moment, pausing in exact position for three seconds.

     "I'm going to go costume shopping with Cupcake and the Candiberris. We have to get our costumes before they run out!" Angela pulled a worn green coat over her outfit.

     May continued, "And as for Halloween – I'm going as May the pink Uni."

     The pink Uni walked up the marble staircase to her bedroom.

     "I'm telling you, May, you'll have a much better time with the whole club!" Nicole called.

     "AND YOU'D HAVE MORE FUN GOING AS ME FOR HALLOWEEN! I'LL GO AS YOU!" Billy hollered.

     "Billy, May is going through a phase," Celia explained. "She'll get over it. I'll tell you what – instead of staying here, Angela and May will take their friends and go trick-or-treating with you and yours."

     "AWESOME!" Billy cheered. "I'm going to go get my costume, too. Maybe I can catch up with Ang!"

     Celia sighed. "I wonder if we can actually get the girls to go trick-or-treating with him."

     "Don't worry," assured Nicole. "May is going whether she likes it or not."

     "May, I just went shopping!" Billy held a Unis Clothing bag in May's face. "I think you'll be happy wearing my clothes for a week!"

     "Billy, I have an idea." May squatted and leaned into the green Lupe's face.

     "What would that be?" Billy asked.

     "You go as Billy the green Lupe for Halloween, and act more mature by doing so." May stood back up and started up the marble staircase.

     By the time she reached the third step, Nicole interrupted, "May, don't forget that you and Billy still need costumes."

     "Uh, mom? The other Unis and I are going as ourselves, and better yet, we're staying here and doing makeovers," May replied.

     "No, no, no! You, Angela, and you guys' friends are going trick-or-treating with Billy's friends, and you're ALL going to wear costumes, and you're ALL going to need a trick-or-treat basket," Celia replied.

     "WHAT?" May was horror-struck. "If I wanted to take a kindergartner trick-or-treating with a total loser, I'd have offered last night."

     "Well, Celia promised Billy you'd go, so you're going," Nicole replied.

     "But–" May swallowed the last of her soy chicken.

     "You're going; that's final!" the two owners yelled.

     May raced up to her room, plopped down on her bed and started crying.

     "Everything has been going wrong ever since Angela came along!" the Uni sobbed.

     Bella hopped on May's pillow and purred.

     "Bella, why do you smell like Angela's pinanna perfume?" May asked.

     Bella whimpered and hid under the covers, just as Angela entered the room.

     "May, Nicole said that if you don't get a costume now, that she's going to force you into a sweaty old ugly costume," Angela replied.

     "What are you going as?" May asked. "I thought you changed your mind about Masila."

     "I did, and my costume is a surprise," Angela replied.

     "Go get me a Masila costume, and get Billy his Meuka costume," May replied.

     "May, do I look like your maid?" Angela asked.

     May held out 200,000 neopoints to Angela.

     "Okay, one Masila and one Meuka, coming right up!" Angela sprinted out of the room.

     ***

     "May, we're going grocery shopping!" Nicole called.

     May sighed. "I'll be down in a minute."

     May would have usually been excited to get out in the bazaar, but she was busy working on something. If she could turn Angela into a Uni and fix some other flaws, they'd be fine.

     But why waste money on a potion that could be spent on designer? May thought. After all, this is only until Celia gets enough money for her own home...

     May got a brilliant idea. She came downstairs with a bag of 25,000 NP.

     "Celia, I took this out of my savings so that you could get your own house," May also took out an additional 20,000, "and some nice marble rooms."

     "Oh, that's fine, dear," Celia grabbed a diet neocola off of a coaster. "The guesthouse is fine for now. We have what we need, and that's enough."

     "But... but..." May began. "Oh, forget it!"

     May grinned. It was time for plan B.

     "Can I at least stop at Kauvara's potions while we're there? I want to get a magic vial for Angela so that she'll be prepared for her official battledome match next Tuesday," May lied.

     "Sure."

     ***

     "May, where are you going?" Angela asked. "We're supposed to go to the food shop with your mom while I get some jewels for our costumes."

     "I'm getting you a magic vial, remember?" May asked.

     "Right," Angela remembered. "Just meet us outside the bank when you're finished."

     May watched Angela take off, then entered the potion brewery.

     "Excuse me, can I please have a green Uni morphing potion and a magic vial?" May asked the starry Kau.

     "Sure, miss." Kauvara took off and came back with a bag with the two bottles wrapped in tissue.

     May paid for her stuff, then went to the Unis Clothing store. It was time Angela learned how to dress.

     ***

     "Angela, could you please get some milk?" Nicole asked. "Then you can continue looking at plastic jewels."

     "Sure." Angela walked over to the dairy aisle and picked up a carton of Kau Farm milk.

     ***

     May swung her two bags of things on her way in to the beauty parlor.

     She shoved three tubes of spray-tan, two sticks of pink lipgloss, three compact mirrors, two tubs of gold and midnight eyeshadow, three pink blush compacts, two sky blue eyeshadow tubes, a two-in-one hair care bottle, a bottle of perfume, a fluffy towel, two bars of cocoa butter scented soap, a squeezy toothbrush, some cinnamon toothpaste, some blue mouthwash, some dental floss, a red mirror, a glittery pink brush, a purple comb, and three bottles of purple and red nail varnish into her basket.

     May dangled her bags all the way to the front of the bank, where Angela was holding a red bag of plastic gold beads and clear elastic string next to Nicole, who had four red bags full of groceries.

     "It's a long walk home," Nicole began. "Maybe I should carry some of your bags, May."

     "No, I’m fine," May replied. "This is only a little load."

     Angela couldn't imagine what a big load of bags was, if five bags was a little one!

     "I'm sure that Angela and I will get along just fine." May grinned.

     And from there, Angela knew there was something wrong about this.

To be continued...