True Friendship

Kisha was so excited. Today was Saturday, the day when all of the neighborhood kids went out and played at the local park. The Aisha was looking forward to showing her friends her new plushie. It was a pretty little blue Uni plushie, and she took great joy in it. Her owner was not rich, but was very proud of her three pets, giving them little treats when she could.

      Now, the small striped Aisha was skipping down the street, clutching her plushie, which she had named Maddie, tightly. The park was close. Happily, she ran the rest of the way. Once at the park, she noticed two distinct groups. The older neopets, who sat at a picnic table, talking; and the younger neopets, who ran around the playground, playing tag.

      Kisha didn’t really fit into either group, choosing instead to play with both. She pranced over to the younger kid group first.

     “Hey, guys!” she said cheerfully. “Look at my new plushie!” The neopets simply went on racing about. Kisha frowned a bit. Couldn’t the others see that she wanted them to meet Maddie? “Sara! I want to show you something!” Kisha called to her best friend in the little kids group. The spotted Gelert ran over jubilantly.

     “What is it, Kisha?” The seven year-old panted.

     “Look!” Kisha smiled brightly. “Her name is Maddie,” the Aisha said proudly, holding up the plushie.

     “Cute! Now, do you wanna play...” Sara started, but got interrupted.

     “Tag! You’re it!” Cooper, a small skunk Xweetok shouted as he slammed his paw on Sara’s shoulder.

     “Cooper! Get back here!” Sara dashed after her little brother, joining the game once again. Kisha looked down dejectedly, Maddie hanging from her right paw.

     “It’s okay, Kisha. I think your plushie is very neat!”

     Kisha looked over.

     It was Mia, her seven year-old sister. The faerie Shoyru wore a sweet smile on her face. “Maybe all the kids can look at her after we’re done playing tag. Do you want to play?”

     Kisha thought for a moment. “Nah. I’ll just watch.”

     Mia shrugged. “Okay. If you want to play later, we’ll be over here,” Mia said sympathetically as she ran back to the group.

     Kisha sighed. Obviously, the younger neopets didn’t think much of Maddie. She walked over to the sandbox, where the toddlers played. Her youngest sister, Becky, was digging.

     “How are you doing, Becky?”

     “Oh, I’m good. Do you want to play in the sandbox? We can make a castle for Maddie,” Becky asked with her small voice.

     “No. I’ll just wander around the park.”

     “Okay. I’ll work on the sandcastle for Maddie,” the tiny plushie Wocky replied. Kisha scowled. No one wanted to see her plushie! But then, she remembered. She still hadn’t shown the older neopets! As she walked there, the older ones burst out laughing. Her mood lifted as she skipped towards the older kids group.

     “Hi, guys! Look! This is Maddie. I just got her!” Kisha held her plushie out.

     A starry Zafara looked up at a Christmas Zafara with annoyance; the latter returned her look. The rest of the group, consisting of a green Krawk, a purple Draik, a blue Cybunny, and a speckled Zafara, all burst out laughing. However, a shadow Lupe, Danielle, and twin cloud Kougras, Bailey and Haley, softly and compassionately smiled.

     “Oh, that’s so cool!” the starry Zafara mocked.

     “Awesome! It’s definitely ‘in’,” John, the Krawk, taunted. They all laughed with scorn, save the Lupe, who frowned. The Kougras, too, looked towards the Aisha with pity. Yet none of them stopped the taunting.

      Kisha struggled to hold down tears and swallow the lump in her throat. She put her head down miserably, walking away sadly. Her sensitive ears picked up one last voice; though she wished she hadn’t heard it.

      “Thank goodness she’s gone. She’s so annoying.”

     That was the last thing Kisha could take. She ran back home, tears streaming down her face. No one appreciated Maddie; but worse, no one appreciated her.

     That whole week was miserable. She didn’t bother trying to be happy. After all, how could she be happy when no one liked her? Her only friends were her sisters and Maddie.

     The next Saturday, Mia and Becky begged Kisha to come outside. Finally, she agreed, but she told her sisters that she didn’t want to have anything to do with the other neopets.

      She brought Maddie to the park with her, sitting on the swings. Sara approached her.

     “Hey, Kisha! We didn’t see you last week after you showed me your plushie. Where were you?” she asked innocently.

     “I-- I had some problems...” Kisha said warily. She didn’t want to share the story of her sorrow.

     “Oh. Well, after you left, we decided that we would all bring our plushies this week. So, do you want to play with us? Mark brought his Jeran plushie, and we’re pretending there’s a big war. We need a princess; can Maddie be it?”

     Kisha smiled a bit; that’s why her sisters wanted her to come! “Well, okay. That sounds fun. And Maddie would love to be the princess. Where’s the castle?” Kisha said, her happy disposition returning.

     “Becky is just finishing it.”

     Kisha beamed inwardly; Becky had followed through with what she had said.

     “I forgot! This is Megan.” Sara held up an island Kiko plushie. “She’s the queen.”

     Kisha and Sara ran over to the other kids, where they immediately got wrapped up in the game. After a while, though, the kids got bored, put down their plushies, and started to play tag. However, Kisha didn’t mind; the other kids had met Maddie, and she had played a great game. She walked over to the swings again, watching the other neopets race around the park.

     “Hi, Kisha.”

     Kisha looked over. It was Danielle. “Oh.” Kisha scowled. “Hi.”

     “I’m sorry about last week; that was really rude of my friends. Besides, I like your little plushie. What was her name again?”

     “Maddie,” Kisha answered flatly.

     “Okay. I just wanted to say sorry. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime?”

     “Yeah...” replied Kisha faintly.

     Danielle walked away; thinking with distressed thoughts. She had to do something about her friends! She walked towards them again with purpose.

     “Guys, I need to tell you something!” Danielle said as she approached the picnic table. The others turned their attention towards her.

     “It was wrong of us to make fun of Kisha. She was plainly excited about her plushie! She didn’t just wander over to us so she could get teased!” Danielle said ‘us’, even though she hadn’t ridiculed Kisha.

     The Christmas Zafara looked at her pointedly. “Come on, Danielle. It’s a plushie. What did she expect? Did she want us to give her a reward for it?” The others snickered at Tina’s response, while Danielle scowled.

     “Really, guys!” Haley spoke up. “Think about it...”

     The others just shook their heads.

     “Haley and Danielle are right.”

     “You too, Bailey?!” Tina asked.

     Danielle took a deep breath. “What would you expect if you got something neat, Tina?! If I were her, I certainly wouldn’t expect or want to get picked on!”

     Michelle, the starry Zafara, looked down. Haley and Bailey, nodded in agreement. John and his sister Marie, the purple Draik sighed in defeat. Susan the Cybunny sighed, while Kyle the speckled Zafara shrugged knowingly. Tina finally took a deep breath and bit her lip.

     “Well, what do you want us to do about it?” Michelle asked sincerely.

      “I think we should all apologize to her; I already did, so it’s your turns now,” Danielle answered. The group eventually agreed to what the Lupe had said. They all got up and walked over to the swing-set, where Kisha was swinging with a grin on her face. But when she noticed the group, she looked at them with confusion. Before she could say anything, however, she was interrupted by Michelle, who stood in front of the group.

     “Um, Kisha? We, as a group, wanted to say we’re sorry for making fun of you. I know if I had something really neat to show you, you certainly wouldn’t tease me.” The others nodded and mumbled ‘Sorry...’

     “We made a mistake too,” Bailey said.

     “Yeah,” Haley continued. “We, Danielle, Bailey, and I, should have stood up for you. Instead, we just sat by. We’re sorry too.”

      Kisha looked at them with admiration and thankfulness. Her eyes sparkled brightly as she said, “I forgive you, all of you. Even if you don’t think Maddie is the coolest.”

     Tina smiled a bit. Kisha looked at her curiously. What she didn’t know was that her old childhood memories of playing with plushies and such were stirred. Meanwhile, Danielle was whispering amongst the small group of older neopets. Finally, they got out of their ‘huddle’.

     “Who wants ice cream? We’ll buy!” Danielle shouted across the playground.

     “Did someone say ice cream?” Cooper said, eyes glittering like little diamonds.

     “Sure. We’ll treat everyone to ice cream. Let’s go!” Danielle said.

     The group cheered as they all walked towards the ice cream store down the block. Most of them were pondering what flavor of ice cream they should get, but Kisha was thinking about what made a good friend. And she realized right then that even though some of them hadn’t acted like it, she had always been surrounded by friends.

The End