A Speech for Pin

     My name is Jasmine and I’m a Purple Lupe. My sister is Pin, a Shadow Lupe, and she is now the meanest person I’ve ever met. It all started when she came back home from her first day of Neoschool. I had run out of our Neohome and yelled, “Pin! Pin!” and she did not respond, but instead just walked right past me.

     I had tried to ignore the snub. “Pin! How was your first day of Neoschool? I’ve been waiting all day for you to get home!” I had grinned and immediately trapped her in a big Lupe hug because unlike most sisters, we had a special bond.

     “Get off me, noob,” Pin had said, glaring.

     I’d gasped and started to tear up. Pin had never called me a noob before. Not even when I got on her last nerve! I cried and ran back to the house. Every single day I relive that moment. Pin has never been nice to me since that dreadful first day of Neoschool. Just like right now at breakfast.

     “Mom,” Pin said, dragging out her words. She sat down her copy of the Neopian Times. “Tell Jasmine to leave me alone.”

     Mommy sighed and turned around from the Ghost Pancakes she was getting down for us. “Jas, stop bothering your sister.”

     “But Mom, I’m not! I didn’t even say anything,” I complained, glaring at my older sister. She’s been starting to tell lies to get me and trouble and I was getting very annoyed. I didn’t want Mum to think that I was a bad Neopet.

     “Whatever,” Pin said, rolling her eyes. She picked up her issue of the Times again. She was reading at the table. How rude was that!

     I huffed and turned away from her, that she would leave for Neoschool again. At least while she was there she couldn’t bother me. Mom set down the Ghost Pancakes in the middle of the table. Pin immediately reached out her paw and picked them all up, leaving me only one.

     “Mom, Pin only left me one pancake!”

     “Pin, give your sister another pancake; I made two for you and two for Jas.”

     Pin looked up at Mom with a sly grin and licked all three pancakes. Just licked all of them!

     “Pin!” Mom barked angrily. “Eat your breakfast and leave!”

     I felt tears coming to my eyes as Pin took big bites of her pancakes, leaving nothing behind but crumbs. She took a big gulp of her Kau Kau Farm Milk, said a curt bye to Mother (she ignored me completely), and left.

     “Mom, why is she being so mean to me lately?” I sniffed, taking a small bite of my one pancake.

     Mom sighed and shook her head. “She’s in Neoschool now, sweetie. It’s probably new friends she’s been hanging out with.”

     “Well, you should tell her to stop hanging out with them! I miss my old sister. The one that was kind and actually talked to me.”

     Mommy shook her head again. “I’ll try to talk to her. Meanwhile, you shouldn’t let her bother you. She’ll be back to her old self soon enough.” She smiled and patted my back.

     ***

     When I came back in from my garden, before Pin arrived, I decided I would make a speech. I was going to tell Pin what I thought of her now. How she seemed like someone that was destined to be evil. I grabbed my pencil and started to write. I wrote, scribbled out, and wrote some more. Papers were thrown away and I started over and over again until it was just perfect.

     Finally, it was done. I finished it and it was perfect. No—it was better than perfect. There was no way Pin could hear this and still ignore me. We would become friends again; sisters that played tag all day and went to Neopia Central together. I smiled and ran down stairs to show Mom.

     “Mom! Look at this!”

     She turned away from the food she was preparing and smiled at me. “What is it, Jas?”

     “I wrote a speech for Pin! You know how she’s always mean to me now? Well, I wrote a speech to tell her what I think of her,” I said, feeling a bubble of happiness grow inside. I actually wrote something of my own!

     Mother smiled at me, a sad, pitying smile. I wondered why she smiled like that but she just said, “That’s nice of you, honey. Make sure you read it to her tonight after dinner.”

     I nodded and folded the note in my pocket then looked at the time. 3:45. Pin will be home soon. I ran back up stairs to put away everything before Pin would see. Smiling, I put away the pencils and scrap papers I had used. After I was done, I bounded down stairs just in time to see Pin walk through the door.

     She just walked right past me, rolling her eyes. I felt betrayed again. With my heart slightly hurting, I sat down to finish reading my copy of Mystery of the Kougra Paw as Mom continued to silently make dinner.

     I had just gotten to the part where the Kougra found out the last clue when Mom called us to come eat. My heart skipped a beat as I jumped up and bounded to the table. Just a little longer until I get to read Pin the speech, I thought to myself, wagging my tail slowly. Watching Pin come down the stairs, with her copy of the Neopian Times again, I felt a little afraid. What if she just laughed at me?

     “Sorry dinner is a little late,” Mom said, looking at me. She was probably wondering when I’d read my speech.

     Pin just grunted a response and I nodded. I didn’t mind a late dinner; I was too nervous to notice how late it was anyway.

     “What’s for dinner?” Pin grumbled.

     “Orange chicken,” Mom replied, bringing over a gigantic pan. It looked big enough to feed all of Neopia, but, then again, all her meals looked like that.

     We ate mostly in silence. I felt my stomach doing flips and I wondered if I could actually read my speech without messing up. If I messed up, Pin wouldn’t listen.

     Once everyone was done eating, Mom gave me the look. It was the look telling me to get on with my speech I planned to tell Pin. I cleared my throat, hoping Pin would hear me. She didn’t. I cleared my throat louder, and she finally looked up at me, rolling her eyes as she saw me stand.

     “Pin, put down your paper. Jas has something to tell you,” Mom said, looking at Pin disapprovingly. Mom had tried to get Pin to stop with her outrageous behavior, but failed.

     She set down the Neopian Times and looked at me fiercely. I felt my heart sink lower and lower. She wasn’t going to listen to me no matter what I did. I was going to lose my sister forever. As I took my speech out, I cleared my throat again. Pin rolled her eyes (again) and put her paws on the table, leaning back in her chair.

     I opened my jaw, paused, then read what my note said: “Pin, don’t let your new friends make you forget who you really are. Don’t forget about your family.” It was short and sweet and to the point. Cheeks burning, I put the note down. Mom looked like she was about to cry and I couldn’t read Pin’s expression.

      Pin was staring at her paws. I shuffled my paws, knowing she probably didn’t even listen.

     “Jas,” Pin said slowly, lifting her head up, and, to my surprise, looking actually sorry. “I’m sorry if I’ve been coming across as that lately. Neoschool is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Stressful, even.”

     Mom let out a low sigh of relief, obviously glad her older Neopet didn’t throw a fit when I pointed out how she’d been acting. I felt hopeful. Maybe things would go back to how they used to be. “So, are we sisters again?” I asked reluctantly.

     Pin laughed. “Of course we are! We never stopped.” She pulled me into a big Lupe hug.

     I grinned, my eyes brimming with tears of joy. Everything would finally be back to normal.

The End