Happy_Bouncey_Roo

     Then I heard the door click open. Bella came rushing in. She quickly cooked up an omelette and served me some dinner. As I was sitting down to eat, I asked, “Bella, could I talk to you before you leave?”

      “Yes, sure, honey,” she said in a breathless voice. She started dusting and sweeping at an incredibly fast pace. She seemed really stressed. She probably had a lot of homework that night.

      “Um... I was wondering, could we have another pet in the family,” I tried to say in my sweetest voice. Inside I knew that tonight was not the right night to ask for another neopet. Bella seemed incredibly stressed and not in the greatest of moods. Little did I know what Bella was going to do next.

      “StarSoaring, how many times do I have to tell you not to bug me about getting another sibling? We do not have the neopoints, and I do not have much time to spend with you as it is. Imagine having another neopet! You are always complaining to me about how I never spend time with you. If we had another neopet, that time would be cut in half! Now StarSoaring, I want you to stop bugging me. I will tell you when we may get another pet, are we clear?”

      She was furious. Her ears and the back of her neck were as red as a sunburned tomato. Her eyes were bulging out of their sockets. I was on the verge of crying.

      “Yes, Bella, I understand you. I am sorry. It will not happen again. I am sorry about complaining to you about how we never spend time together. That is not true. I am sorry about bugging you when I know I should not. Thank you for the omelette.”

      A single tear trickled down my face. I felt horrible. Now I made Bella mad and I might never get another sibling. Now I had really done it.

      Bella said, “Goodnight,” in a very dark tone. She finished the chores and stomped out of my neohome. She slammed the door without a backward glance. Oh, what had I done?

      I climbed into my bed. The sweet scent of fresh bamboo filled my nostrils. I tucked myself in without my usual goodnight hug and kiss from Bella. I got out the book I was reading. It was called Falling Leaves. It was a cheap book that Bella bought for me. She knew very well that Lennies love learning. I was no exception. I still love that book, but that particular night I just could not read. I slowly put the book away and got under my covers. I cried myself to sleep that night.

     ^^^

      The next morning I was still very depressed. I almost forgot how bored I really was. Hoo could sense that there was something wrong with me. I did not even attempt to play with her that day. I realized it was rather selfish now, but I was too sad to even get out of bed. I finally got out of my bed to check the weather outside, but first I needed to see how bad I looked. My face was streaked with tears and my eyes had huge black circles around them because of my lack of sleep the previous night. I quickly washed my face and went outside.

      The light nearly blinded me. Mystery Island was extremely crowded with a mix of owners, pets, and petpets all squished tightly together. Bella told me that I could go outside once a day for fifteen minutes to stretch my wings. She was a very apprehensive person, who was a little overprotective. She told me, “There are a lot of villains in Neopia, you know. I do not want you to get hurt, especially while I am gone.” I knew I should not break her rules, so I took a short flight over Mystery Island. I could see everything from up there, from the immense forests to the Island Training School. Ah... it was bliss. I almost forgot about how bad I felt, but that soon came to an end when fifteen minutes was up. I sulked all the way back home. It was going to be a long day.

      All of a sudden I heard the door. I was so depressed that I forgot what day it was. It was Friday! Bella wouldn’t be so stressed and would have time to spend with me. Bella entered the room. Her face looked relieved and she seemed to be in a much better mood.

      “Hello, Bella,” I said bravely. This was it. The statement wavered in the air.

      “Hello, StarSoaring. I didn’t mean to yell at you yesterday, I was stressed, and it annoys me when you continually bug me. I am sorry,” she said sincerely.

      “I am sorry too,” I said with relief. At least she forgave me. Whew...

      Bella and I went around Neopia doing our dailies, checking our shop, and chatting with others. Ah... I got to stretch my legs.

      When I was on the boat to go to Krawk Island, Bella began to talk. “I was just thinking about how you wanted another addition to the family...”

      “Yes,” I practically squealed. Oh, I was so happy. I just could not contain myself.

      “I was thinking that in a couple of weeks we could get you a new sister or brother,” she said with uncertainty.

      “Oh, thank you, Bella, thank you, thank you, thank you...” Yes, my dream come true, literally.

      “All right, calm down,” she said with a chuckle.

      When we got to Krawk Island, I went off to the Swashbuckling Academy. I could hear the doubloons jingling in Bella’s pocket. I skipped all the way to the academy. I was so happy, not even the thought of hard training could get me down. Bella dropped me off.

      “Meet me at the front when you are done, okay, sweety.”

      “Don’t embarrass me, Bella,” I said in a hoarse whisper.

      “An owner can not even say goodbye,” she said playfully.

      “Bye, Bella,” I said begrudgingly. Ugh... Bella is so annoying sometimes.

      “Bye, sweetie,” she said sweetly.

      I trained until my wings felt like they were going to fall off. Finally, school was over. Bella was waiting outside the doors.

      “Hello, StarSoaring, how did your training go?” she asked warmly.

      “It was good,” I lied. I did not want to get a talk from Bella about how ungrateful I was. Anyway, although I did not like school, I liked being strong. If Bella got mad enough at me, I might never get to come back here again.

      “That’s good. Do you want to go to bed? It’s getting rather late,” she said. What I really wanted to do was to go get another pet. I wasn’t going to bug Bella, though.

      “Okay, I am pretty tired.” That was only half a lie. I was extremely tired, but I didn’t want to go to bed quite yet. I loved the nightlife around Neopia. I would say that I am a night owl. Maybe some of my Whoot had rubbed off on me.

      We took the boat back to Mystery Island and slowly walked back home. I saw a strange shadow behind Bella, out of the corner of my eye. I turned all the way around, but whatever it was had gone.

      “What is wrong?” Bella asked with concern.

      “Nothing. I thought I saw something, but I think my eyes are playing tricks on me,” I said, my voice shaking.

      We ran the rest of the way home. I got in my bed, my chest rapidly rising and falling. I was so scared. What if there really was something out there? I hated to think about that.

      “Well, besides that scare, I had a nice night with you. I think I’m going to go back to the human world now,” Bella said, panting.

      “Be careful,” I said warningly.

      “StarSoaring, I think it was nothing. I think we overreacted a little bit. But do not worry, I will be careful. Now do not get too worried about something you might have seen,” she said reassuringly.

      “All right, it probably was nothing,” I said confidently.

      “Goodnight,” Bella said. She leaned over and gave me a kiss.

      “Goodnight,” I said back.

      Bella cleaned up a little bit, and I read a few chapters of Falling Leaves. Soon enough, Bella finished cleaning and we said our last goodbyes. Bella slowly walked out the door. She closed the door and locked it behind her. I turned off my lava lamp and quickly fell asleep.

     ^^^

      I woke up at the crack of dawn. I opened the blinds to let in the morning light. I washed my face and opened my book. I was so absorbed in my book, I hadn’t realized the door had opened. Bella came inside, looking refreshed from her good sleep. She normally doesn’t get a good sleep on school days. She normally wakes up at 6:00. That must be horrible.

      “Good morning StarSoaring, do you want an omelette for breakfast?” She started cleaning and making some breakfast for herself. I do not think I realized then how much work Bella does for me. But now I know that I am very fortunate.

      “Yes, please,” I said almost drooling with hunger. My stomach had been growling ever since I had started reading Falling Leaves. Although free omelettes aren’t exactly gourmet, they filled me up. I never have anything but free food, like fish, jelly, omelettes, that sort of thing. It is okay by me, though, because I get to have other cool things.

      I quickly ate my omelette. The next thing I knew, Bella and I were on the boat to Neopia Central. We went to the Grooming Parlor to get some items for our shop. We did our dailies and chatted at a guild. We started walking down an alley that was scarcely familiar. We walked in a door, and there was a nice looking human sitting close to the entrance.

      She said, “Would you like to create a pet?” Then it hit me. This was where Bella picked me up. Oh, I remember it like it was yesterday. Bella was so confused; I had to tell her where everything was. It was pretty funny. Now Bella knows her way around.

      “Yes, please,” Bella answered politely. “I would like a female, blue Blumaroo named Happy_Bouncy_Roo please.” Yes, oh my gosh, yes! I was getting a sibling! I bounced around in a circle.

      We went to the back of the room, where my new sibling was going to be made. Weird lights started flashing and a siren started going off. It was so loud; I had to cover my ears. The noise seemed to go on for half of forever. Then it all stopped. It was very quiet. Out of nowhere a blue Blumaroo came bouncing over to us.

      “Oh, thank you so much,” Bella said with delight. There was my new sibling. I was just stunned with shock. She smiled warmly at me. I smiled back. I couldn’t say anything. My mind was searching for words, but just could not find any.

      “You are welcome, have fun with your new pet,” the lady said. We picked up Happy_Bouncy_Roo’s gift certificate and left the building.

      I whispered to Bella, “But you said that we were getting a new pet in two weeks; why did you get one now?” It was not that I had anything against my new sibling, but Bella just surprised me.

      “I know, I just could not help myself,” she whispered back. The whole time Happy_Bouncy_Roo was still smiling.

      We went home and Bella introduced me to Happy_Bouncy_Roo.

      The blue Blumaroo said, “Oh, she looks like a nice sister.”

      Bella soon had to go. She cleaned the house and left us alone.

      I dared to start a conversation. “Well, what are your interests?” I was nervous. Would she even answer me?

      “I am a girly girl. I like the color pink, the Blue Kacheek Group, and pampering myself,” she said in a high voice. She went on and on about how girly she was. Oh my gosh, this was not what I wanted. I am a tomboy myself, but it was not the part of her being different from me I hated the most. I hated how much she talked. It seemed never-ending.

      She started doing my hair in some funny way. My plume was standing straight up. It was kind of weird. I really did not like it. I was too considerate to say anything.

      Many strange hairstyles later, I said “Do you want to go outside? Bella lets us go out once a day to stretch.” Oh no, I shouldn’t have said that. It might have made her mad.

      “Okay, I like the beach,” she replied happily. She always seemed to be joyful. How could she do it?

      We went out to the beach. It wasn’t very crowded and I was just starting to enjoy myself when I got pulled to the ground. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I could not breathe at all. Then, it all went black.

     ^^^

      I woke up. I was in a hospital bed in Neopia Central. Bella and Happy_Bouncy_Roo were in chairs beside me. Bella came over and smothered me with kisses. She was sobbing uncontrollably. I was so confused. What happened?

      Finally, Bella got a hold of herself and started to explain, “When you went on your brief outing, the Pant Devil attacked you. Happy_Bouncy_Roo saved your life. She got him off of you with her powerful tail. Then she quickly got other owners' help and brought you here. When I got to your neohome to feed you, I saw you weren’t there. I rushed here as quickly as I could, when I realized what happened. See now, there is a lot of danger in Neopia. I think you should give your thanks to Happy_Bouncy_Roo.”

      “Thanks, Happy_Bouncy_Roo,” I said weakly. Wow, maybe I should have appreciated her more. If it was not for my sister, I would not be telling this story right now.

      “You are welcome,” she said with a bright smile.

     ^^^

      I have recovered fully from the attack. To this day I do appreciate my sister. Whenever I feel like hitting her, I remember what she did for me. We are the perfect sisters these days. We never get in fights, and we are perfect angels. *cough cough*

The End