| It was near the end of fall and Neocamp was starting up
again. Shawbrea the little striped Shoyru sat on her bed gazing out the window
as rain flooded the streets. She sighed. "Soon Hillary will force me to go to
Neocamp," she said to herself. "But I don't want to go, I'm perfectly happy here."
Lightning flashed outside making her jump back for a moment. "As soon as these
rains clear up the weather will be perfect for a while, and I will have to go
no matter what," she said hopping off her bed. She sadly strolled into the kitchen
where I was calling her for dinner.
Dinner was quiet as it usually was. Being an
only pet, Shawbrea didn't have much to talk about. She usually just thought.
She was more of a thinker and listener than a talker, and was pretty shy when
around pets and people other than me. Then for the first time in a while she
spoke up: "Mommy, do I have to go to Neocamp?"
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "Shawbrea,
I've told you a million times, yes you do have to go, I've saved up for months
just to send you."
Shawbrea sighed again. "But I don't want to
mommy," she said. "I don't want to leave home and camp out at some unfamiliar
place, I might miss you."
I got up from my chair and hugged her tight.
"It's only for a week and by the time it's over you won't want to leave."
"Really?" she asked. Her baby black eyes looked
up at me full of pity. "But... what if I don't know what to do or can't make
any friends?"
I sighed and sat back down. "If you have trouble
just ask the camp counsellor, and I know you'll make friends, everyone does."
I continued eating. Shawbrea was silent for the rest of dinner.
* * * * * * * *
To Shawbrea's horror when she woke up the next morning she could see that
the storm had passed and the rain had stopped. "Great," she mumbled. She slipped
back into her bed and pretended she was asleep. If I'm asleep when the camp
bus comes then I'll miss it and won't have to go, she thought.
Suddenly, the door opened. "Today's the day!"
I announced. "Shawbrea! Rise and shine! You have to go soon!" I shook her and
she had to get up.
"Mommy, I don't want to go!" she wailed. I picked
her up and brought her into the kitchen, seating her for breakfast.
"You are going," I said setting a plate down
in front of her. She crossed her arms and turned away.
"I'm not eating if you make me go!" she said
stubbornly.
"Fine," I said picking up my plate. "You're
going to be hungry then." I walked onto the porch to see if the Mystery Island
boat was here. "Not yet," I said to myself. So I walked back in. Shawbrea's
full plate was still on the kitchen table, and she was gone. I groaned and marched
into her room where she was probably hiding.
"Shawbrea, come out now!" I snapped. There was
no answer or movement. "If you stay hidden you're going to be in even more trouble!"
There was a faint squeak that came from under
her bed. I dropped to the floor and peered under. There was poor Shawbrea huddled
in a ball weeping. I sighed and pulled her out.
"Shawbrea," I said calmly. She looked up at
me, her face wet with tears. I wiped them out of her eyes and sighed. "Okay
little one, how about if you don't like camp after one week, then you can call
me and I'll take you home."
Shawbrea thought for a moment. Then with a sigh
she agreed. I smiled. "Good girl," I whispered. She gave me a hug and I carried
her outside where the boat was waiting.
"If anything goes wrong you can call me," I
said. Shawbrea nodded wiping her tears. She gave me one last hug then got in
the boat. "Bye Shawbrea!" I called waving. She waved back from inside the ship.
"I hope she'll be okay," I said to myself as the ship sailed into the distance
until it was completely out of sight.
Shawbrea sighed and looked out the ship window.
She was in the way back, which was deserted. She preferred to be alone. Up front
there were many pets chatting about camp, swimming, arts and crafts, and even
scavenger hunts. How can they even think about having fun at camp, thought Shawbrea.
This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me. She couldn't stop the tears
flowing out of her eyes.
After a while, the boat made another stop at
a pretty plain Neohome. Only one neopet was waiting here. It was a small fire
Gelert. He looked pretty eager to go to camp. "Please don't come back here!"
prayed Shawbrea. The Gelert skipped the first few seats. "Stop, sit there!"
whispered Shawbrea to herself, but the Gelert continued towards the back where
she was. Shawbrea covered her eyes and waited until she heard the Gelert sit.
She looked forward. He wasn't in the seat in front of her or across from her.
In fact, she couldn't even see him. Good, she thought. He must've moved
back to the front. She sighed and turned back towards the window.
"Hi!" came a bark that made her jump. Shawbrea
quickly turned wide eyed to the figure that was beside her in the seat. It was
the fire Gelert. "Hi," he barked again.
"Hi," Shawbrea said shyly turning away. The
Gelert barked again.
"What's your name?" he asked. Shawbrea turned
back to him, rather annoyed.
"Shawbrea," she answered. "I'm Dabumb2000, but
you can call me Dabumb. He said. Shawbrea sighed.
"Okay," she said. "Nice to meet you Dabumb."
She was beginning to get more comfortable with this stranger, so much so, she
was kind of enjoying the talk.
"Aren't you excited about camp?" Dabumb asked.
Shawbrea shook her head. Dabumb looked rather confused. "Why are you going then?"
he asked.
"My owner made me," she replied sadly, her sentence
interrupted by sniffles.
"Oh, mine did too, but I wanted to go anyway,"
said Dabumb happily. "But don't worry Shawbrea, I'll stay by your side and protect
you if you get scared." He puffed out his chest in pride. Shawbrea laughed and
wiped away her tears.
"You're funny," she said.
"You really think so?" Dabumb asked. "No one's
ever told me that before."
Shawbrea laughed again. "You know Dabumb," she
said. "With you by my side I may get along at camp just fine."
Dabumb barked and stuck out his paw, "Friends?"
he asked. Shawbrea smiled and shook his paw.
"Friends," she agreed.
"So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" Dabumb
asked Shawbrea. She shook her head. "An only pet eh?" he asked. Shawbrea nodded.
"I have three younger brothers, a Cybunny, Techo, and a Shoyru."
"Then you must know our ways," laughed Shawbrea
referring to Shoyrus. The Gelert nodded. "I'm not really a people person," said
Shawbrea sadly. "I've never been around other pets, you're the first."
"Hmmm, that's tough when you're going to camp,
you have to have good social abilities, or you're not going to do good at all."
"Yeah, I know," Shawbrea said sadly, "but I
can't help it. My owner never takes me out and I have no clue why she never
adopts some more pets."
"Well, it was a good thing for her to send you
to camp," said Dabumb. "You'll have a good opportunity to meet some other pets.
Shawbrea smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Dabumb nodded.
The two talked the whole way to camp, so much,
the three hour trip to the camp didn't seem to take long at all, and Shawbrea
didn't even notice the pets sitting in the surrounding seats. "Well, we're here,"
said Dabumb as the boat pulled into the harbour at the camp. "We might as well
get out and see the camp counsellor." Shawbrea nodded and followed Dabumb and
the other pets off the boat.
*********
"Welcome to Neocamp!" boomed the counsellor. "I am counsellor
Jannen." He was a big mutant Lupe with a gleam in his eye which made you think
if you disobeyed him you were in for a severe punishment. Most of the pets cowered
at the sight of this giant, but brave Shawbrea and Dabumb knew that there was
no reason to be afraid of a camp counsellor; they were there to help, not hurt.
"So, do we have any newcomers?" Jannen asked.
Shawbrea and Dabumb quietly raised their hand while looking around, and to their
horror, they were the only newbies. "So," said Jannen, his booming voice echoing
across the area. "We have two newbies, now all you two have to do is introduce
yourselves to the others and you're all set."
Dabumb and Shawbrea quietly stepped up to where
Jannen was standing. Dabumb spoke first: "I'm Dabumb2000, but you can call me
Dabumb, and I'm a Gelert." The other campers clapped. "You're turn Shaw," whispered
Dabumb.
"Uh, I-I-I'm," stuttered Shawbrea.
"Come on, don't be shy!" boomed Jannen.
"I-I-I'm, Shawbrea... the Shoyru," she said
quickly. She sighed in relief that she had managed to introduce herself. The
campers clapped. So did Dabumb.
"So, now that that's out of the way, why don't
we assign cabins first, then we can start the fun stuff," said Jannen. The campers
cheered and rushed off towards the cabins.
To be continued...
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