"But mum, why?!" Lexi,a split Blumaroo, cried. The rest of Clumsy's pets just
sat dumbstruck and staring up at her with eyes full of confusion.
"Guys. It's not the end of the world," Clumsy said. "I just have to go to
my sisters for a week. You'll be staying at my friend's house."
"At your friends day-care you mean," Anah, a purple Shoyru, mumbled.
"Yes," Clumsy said, "She does have a day-care, but your not
actually going to the day care. She won't make you participate in crafts or
anything unless you want to. I don't like leaving you either, but my sister
needs all the help she can get! She just got a baby Krawk, and it's very wild.
And I would have no time to watch you and the Haunted Woods is no place for
young pets to be wandering around alone," Clumsy said.
"When are you leaving?" Poppy, a striped Aisha, asked, being the oldest, most
mature, and first to accept that she could not change her owner's mind.
"Tomorrow," Clumsy said. "Sorry for the short notice. You know I hate leaving
you guys. I'll miss you so much." Clumsy looked very upset herself. She did
not like leaving her pets, she loved them very much. It was a hot summer and
she was going to take them to the beach that week. But her sister had called
in a frenzy. Clumsy had more experience in pets, so she offered to go for the
week, and teach her sister some things. 'You can play with each other, can't
you?"
"Mum, I don't play," Snu, a faerie Cybunny, said.
"Hang out, whatever it is you do," Clumsy laughed. "Well, off to bed. It's
getting late."
Clumsy woke them up early in the morning. They got dressed and packed, and
Clumsy walked them over to her friends house. She stopped in front of it, and
turned to her pets.
"Okay, her name is Tenley. You won't call her anything else unless she
asks you to. Nothing mean okay?" They all nodded. "Stay out of trouble,
don't bug Tenley while she's trying to work. Also, don't be mean to the day-care
kids, they're only little." Clumsy smiled. They walked in, and Tenley was
there to greet them at the door. Clumsy seemed sad and nervous to leave her
pets "Here's a list of things you need to know. Lexi is allergic to nuts,
so be careful with cereal and things. Snu is a vegetarian. Poppy must always
wear her glasses, only let her take them off for baths and bed and she's allergic
to dried apricots,and Anah will break out in hives if she has fish ice cream,"
Clumsy said quickly.
"I'll put it on the fridge. Don't worry, they're in good, experienced hands."
Tenley took the list, and posted it on her fridge. "Have fun, Clumsy. Come on
in girls." She ushered the pets into her house, and they all waved good-bye
to Clumsy. She stopped. "Wait, what are those?" She pointed towards the tiny
creatures they each carried in their arms.
"Our PetPets," Poppy answered. Poppy proudly petted Katri, her Anglepuss,
as Anah's Greeble ribbited loudly.
"Yeah! Watch this!" Lexi turned her tiny aquarium around, and tapped
the glass. Bellerie, her Bowla sucked in water and grew so huge she was squished
in the tank. Water sloshed out of the top. Anah laughed and Snu threw her Floud
into the air and watched it float lazily above her.
"Okay!" Tenley shouted. They all stopped, and Snu let Memori, the
Floud, float gently back into her arms. "PetPets can be... um... dangerous
with little kids so they'll stay outside."
"Outside?!" Anah exclaimed.
"Yes. They can stay in the shed."
"What could Memori do, float them to death?" Snu demanded.
"No attitude please," Tenley said sharply. "They sleep in the
shed, and that's final. Come on now, lunch is on the table."
They returned to the table after sadly putting their pets in the shed outside.
They were in low spirits at the table, and Anah spilt her drink all over the
table cloth. Poppy was positive she did it on purpose. It wasn't fair at all
the way Tenley wouldn't let them keep their PetPets with them. After lunch,
the babies went into the play room. Poppy, Snu, Anah and Lexi were going to
go visit there PetPets when Tenley came up behind them.
"Go play with the young ones please. You can see your Pet Pets later."
They reluctantly and with lots of complaining went to the playroom. One little
Wocky bit Poppy on the arm. It was madness and Tenley did nothing to stop it.
Finally, Lexi got bored, and went and got her plushies. She got her green Brain
Tree plushie out. It was the green one with a cord on the back. When you pulled
it it went "Mwa ha ha ha ha". She decided not to get the one that
when you squeeze it goo comes out because Tenley had freaked out over some water.
She didn't want to imagine how mad Tenley would get over brain tree goo. She
also got her yellow Blumaroo plushie. She sat down and began playing that she,
the Blumaroo plushie was on a quest for the Brain Tree, when Tenley came down.
She stopped near Lexi and bent down. She picked the Brain Tree plushie up right
out of Lexi's hand.
"I don't think this is appropriate in a room full of youngsters. It's very
realistic," Tenly said. Lexi stood up quickly.
"It's not scaring anyone!" Lexi protested. Tenley didn't answer. She just
walked up to Lexi's plushies and sifted through them. By now, all of Lexi's
sisters where watching. Tenley picked out every one of Lexi's Brain Tree plushies.
"Leave those alone!" Snu yelled. Tenley ignored Snu and began walking out
of the room. Lexi ran after Tenley and grabbed the dangling cord of the green
Brain Tree plushie. A loud "Mwa ha ha ha ha" rang across the room. A few of
the younger NeoPets began to scream and cry. Tenley gave Lexi a harsh look and
grabbed her hand.
"You're helping me clean up in the kitchen young lady. And you,"
She pointed to Snu. "For contradicting me, you can go and put these plushies
in the shed along with your PetPets." With that Tenley walked out of the
room, dragging Lexi behind her.
As the sky began to darken, owners came to pick their kids up. Tenley was
perfectly kind to all of the younger kids, but she acted like the evil stepmother
off "Cinderelephante" to Poppy, Snu, Anah and Lexi.
"Supper is ready on the table. Help yourselves, I have cleaning to do,"
Tenley snapped at them an hour later. They couldn't stand to think they would
be staying with Tenley for the week. They dragged their feet to the table. On
a large platter in the middle of the table were many brown muffins.
"Yum!" Snu said. "What are these?" she asked, happy something
was good, even if it was just muffins.
"Sutek Muffins," Poppy said. "They're Lost Desert food. I've read a book on
the Lost Desert," Poppy said quickly. They sat down at the table. Lexi, who
was starving quickly grabbed one of the large muffins. She took a big bite.
Her face screwed up, and she spit into her napkin.
"Yuck!" She screamed. Anah grabbed one of the muffins, and broke it in half.
She tipped one half over, and heaps of sand poured out. They all put their muffins
back on the platter. Lexi went to throw the rest of hers out.
"Maybe she didn't know that there was that much sand in them," Anah suggested,
trying to be optimistic.
"No, she knew," Lexi muttered. "Look, in big letters on the box it says 'Blueberries,
flour, water, and heaps of sand!'" They all made faces.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm sleeping in the shed tonight," Poppy
said. "I miss my Katri so much."
"I miss Memori," Snu cried.
"I miss Bellerie and all of my Brain Tree plushies..." Lexi said.
"And I miss Gribble. I think we should all sleep in the shed. That way we'll
get away from Tenley," Anah said. Just then, Tenley walked in.
"You didn't eat your muffins?" she said.
"No. They were too gritty," Lexi answered.
"Oh, okay then. Let's move on to dessert," Tenley said. They were
surprised she'd even offer them dessert. "How do you feel about... vanilla
ice cream?" They all nodded. She brought out four bowls of vanilla ice
cream. They gasped...
To be continued... | 
