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Sweet, fragrant flowers covered the earth in their vibrant
dance of springtime. Colour lilies lined the sidewalk between my NeoHome and my
Neoschool. The sunlight dappled the sidewalk through the rich green leaves on
the trees. It shone, warming the earth from above. Never had the sky seemed so
blue! Never had the birds sung so sweetly! The entire world was just filled with
the joy of being alive! And I was sharing in its joy, walking to school on that
Monday morning.
I had had an entire weekend to think about what I had
done to Eliza. Uncovering her secret of failing the math test. Getting her kicked
off of the student council. On one hoof, I had brought her down. The students
of the Golden Jubjub had impeached her because of my article. On the other hoof,
it was either my job or hers. The newspapers were practically flying off the
shelves that Friday! If this kept up, the Golden Jubjub Voice could still be
in business! I could still be a reporter!
But does that still make it right to take
away her job?
I met Indigo in front of her house. "Good job,
Ruby!" she said excitedly. "That's going to go down in Golden Jubjub history.
Now don't expect a perfect opportunity like that to show up every week. No,
this week will be tough. But we can handle it, can't we Ruby?"
"Eliza Cottontail was kicked off student council."
"Hooray for her. Now, if we can't find a big
story, we'll need to find several smaller ones. I heard that Kayla Darktail
the shadow Usul and Tammy Greenhorn the green Kau are no longer friends. Why
don't you check it out? Do a bit of nosing about, do what a detective does best."
The tone of her voice told me that she didn't care about Eliza's impeachment
at all.
But what could I do about it? "I'll see
what I can find out."
Through talking to friends of Tammy and Kayla,
I found out that Kayla had been caught slow-dancing with Tammy's crush during
the last school dance. "Juicy enough," Indigo said when she heard. "But let's
improve a few details. Make this story a bit more romantic."
"We tell the truth, Indigo," I said quietly.
"Of course we'll tell the truth. We could just
put a bit of creative writing in there."
So, I went home and wrote the article, embellishing
a few details and making the story a bit more dramatic. Indigo asked a few other
reporters to write NeoPets interest pieces. This issue of the Voice flew off
the newsstands as quickly as the last one had. Yet there was again a feeling
nagging at me. Somehow the breakup of a friendship seemed to be more private
and untouchable than something as businesslike as the student council. The student
council had a bit of a political aspect to it. This was purely personal. After
all, how would she feel if someone wrote about her whenever she made a mistake?
That Friday, I was sitting at my lunch table
with her friends Saphire_Sky_ the Faerie Uni, (Who had recently moved from a
different part of Neopia Central) DanteDevilHunter and The_Daywalker (both red
Nimmo brothers) and my siblings EmeraldFlame555 the green Scorchio, SapphireCloud777
the blue Eyrie and AmethystSkye111 the purple Peophin. Indigo was also there.
"I wish they had cut the lunch budget instead of the newspaper budget," Sky
groaned, picking at her so-called "casserole". "Then we wouldn't have to put
up with rubber food."
"It could be worse," Dante said sensibly, poking
at the casserole and watching it bounce back under his finger. "I don't know
how, but it could be worse."
Dante's brother Daywalker just shrugged. "Speaking
of newspapers, I saw Ruby's article for the Voice. Ruby, I don't know how you,
an honest reporter, could ever stoop to the level of a tabloid journalist!"
"It was news," I said dryly. Then I said, "Do
you suppose it's really rubber? I think it's some sort of synthetic meat made
of --"
"Don't change the subject," Daywalker interrupted,
eyes full of disbelief. "I can see how you'd write the first article. That was
at least entirely true. But this is full of errors. I know. I'm a friend of
both Kayla and Tammy."
"You are?" I said sceptically. "Then how do
you know what's true?"
"Do you know who Tammy's mysterious crush actually
is?"
Everyone gasped in shock. "No way…"
"Yes way, Ruby! Why can't you get your facts
right? This article is a mess!"
"I'm offended Daywalker!"
"At least you're honest about that."
I growled, baring my teeth. I was angry with
him for yelling at me, yet deep inside I knew he was right.
"Since when did you write about peoples' personal
lives anyway?" Dante asked, standing beside his brother.
"The Golden Jubjub Voice is at stake!" I yelled,
aware that half the cafeteria could hear me.
"Yes, and you're the one dragging it down!"
Indigo just hung her head for the entire conversation.
She said nothing. She didn't take the blame as editor. She didn't say that she
had ordered me to do it, to write a bunch of lies and put them into print. She
didn't tell of her desperation to save the Voice. She let me take the wrap.
Strange, how much can change when something
you love is at risk. Indigo is the best and most loyal friend a Neopet could
ask for. She normally wouldn't hesitate a moment to take blame for me, whether
she was guilty or not. But as something inside the Voice darkened, so did something
inside its editor.
You're the one dragging it down!
I felt the whirlpool rage again, engulfing me
in a storm of words. True words, false words, words neither true nor false,
but somewhere on the line. Words spoken by Dante, Daywalker and I. And that
silence, that horribly empty silence from Indigo. That change that had taken
place in a mere two weeks, from loyal friend to anxious editor.
She was sitting on a nearby rowboat, watching
me drown. She didn't scream, made no move to save me. She just stood there calmly,
watching my head bob up and down, sinking under the waters' gray surface and
rising again, kicking frantically. I was wet and cold… so cold…
That haunting song echoed in my mind like the
song of a whale, yet no whale's voice could ever be so dreadful. It screeched
and whined like an out-of-tune violin. It groaned like the snores of the Turmaculus
and roared like each wave crashing around my head. It was the ruined Voice,
in all of its power and tortured agony.
It was dragging me down, not the other way around.
To be continued...
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