GRACE WITHDREW ALL they had in the bank - 1,050 NP. 'This money isn't going
to last us all week!' she thought. Times were bad, and with four greedy Neopets
who couldn't live without the best things, 1,050 NP seemed pathetic to her.
Her Neopets were waiting at home for her to come back with heaps of Neopoints.
She felt totally desperate, and that she had let her pets down. Her mind flashed
back to that morning's events.
"Hey Mum!" Chiliner the apple Chia shouted as
he bundled down the stairs. He carried a piece of paper in his hands. "Look!"
he trusted the paper in her hands and pointed to the top.
The piece of paper had been printed out from
the online version of that day's news. Grace read the news at the top. "NEW
GAME - Yes, possibly the most exciting thing that has ever happened on Neopets
has just happened - Cheeseroller
has been released!!! It's a great action-packed game incorporating the commerce
aspect of purchasing cheese from a shop combined with the excitement of rolling
the cheese at high speeds down a hill!" she read.
Thinking that their Neopoints would never deplete,
she agreed to bring them to play the game. "Spending a little NP to make her
Neopets happy won't hurt. Besides, I sure we have enough to live a comfortable
life!" she chuckled as she told herself. Before long, her Neopets were pushing
her towards the door. "Come back with at least 10,000 NP from the bank!" Halftail
the electric Bruce shouted behind her, and she grinned.
Now, after a walk that seemed twice as long as
before, Grace reached her NeoHome. Dread filled her - dread of opening the door,
of meeting her Neopets to tell them the news and that playing Cheeseroller may
not be a good thing to do. She silently turned the key to her NeoHome, hoping
that her Neopets would not hear her coming. She wanted time to slip into the
house and think of how to tell them of their predicament.
"Mum! You're finally home!" her four Neopets
chorused at the creak of the door. Grace sighed. She wished the earth would
open up and engulf her. But of course, it didn't. She fixed a fake smile on
her face and deftly entered their home.
Her four pets greeted her at the door. At the
sight of them, she knew it was too late to tell them the truth. They were all
dressed up - Top quality make-up, best clothes, branded sport shoes. Their excitement
was obvious. She knew there was no way to escape from playing Cheeseroller.
"Mum, we've decided. Halftail would play first, followed by me, then Chiliner,
and then Zyckle will play tomorrow as we can only play three times a day." Lumando
the Starry Shoyru said. Grace was shocked. "Four times! Can we even afford ONE
play?" she thought. But she knew there was no other option. She regained herself,
then said, "Let's go!"
Throughout the way, her pets were too excited
to notice her tongue-tied silence. They were chattering excitedly about how
the game was played, dreaming of the NP they would earn and the amount of things
they could buy with it.
When they reached the cheese store, a sly-looking
blue Techo greeted them. "Which cheese would you like to purchase?" he asked.
Grace was about to ask for the cheapest one when Zyckle the Shadow Kacheek piped
up. "How bout the Mutated Cheese? My friend won with that one."
"The Mutated Cheese? Yes, we do have some of
that. They cost 1,350 NP each. Would you like one?" the Techo replied.
Grace jumped at the price. "No... no..." she
hurriedly answered. Her Neopets glared at her. "I mean, Mutated is ugly. Choose
another," she told her Neopets.
"Then I'll decide, since I'll be playing first!
Let's get the Brain Cheese!" Halftail said.
"Ah yes, we do have the Brain Cheese in stock,"
the Techo replied. "It costs 1050 NP each. Would you like one?"
"What? 1,050 NP! That's all the money we have!"
Grace thought. "Should we lose, we'll be bankrupt!" But before she could say
anything, Halftail had already replied, "Of course!" Grace had nothing more
to say when the cheese was slapped on the counter. She reluctantly exchanged
all her savings for the Brain Cheese.
Everyone hurried to the front line. It stood
in front of the slope down the hill. The grass was a nice soft green but everything
else was a contrast. The burning sun rays hit their skin like balls of fire,
and giant rocks jutted out from everywhere. The path to the ending, 120m away,
was not a smooth one. A few Neopets stood outside the boundary lines of the
rolling area, waiting for the excitement to start.
The Techo told them the rules. Grace would be
blindfolded, and every 10m that Halftail moves, Grace would have to give him
instructions on where to go. Halftail would be blindfolded too, and had to listen
to Grace's instructions, even if it meant banging into a rock. Halftail would
have to roll the cheese to the ending within a minute to win.
At the sound of the whistle, Grace began to shout
instructions at every 10m Halftail passed. Dive right! Do a somersault! Hold
the Cheese Steady! Dive Left! Push the cheese faster! It was practically hectic!
At the sides, watching Neopets were nosily cheering. The Techo tried desperately
to tell Grace that is was time to give the next instruction. Chiliner, Lumando
and Zyckle were jumping about, tugging on to Grace's shirt, begging her to give
the right instruction. Halftail was already giddy from banging into rocks, from
picking up the cheese again, from bending down to roll it, and from being blindfolded.
What was worse, the further he went, the harder it was to hear Grace's instructions
amid all the cheering! He took a dive right. He banged a rock. He took a dive
left. The cheese fell into a hole. He did a somersault The cheese melted. He
was in a mix of feelings - stress, confusion, and excitement. Still, he tried
to follow Grace's instructions to the very best he could.
"3...2...1!" the Techo shouted towards the one
minute mark. At the sound of '1', cheers erupted. The cheese came to a halt,
and Halftail tore off his blindfold. To his surprise, he was standing behind
the ending mark! He erupted in joy, and Grace, Chiliner, Lumando and Zyckle
ran down to him. They hugged the cheese and danced in a circle, their excitement
too great.
"Let's go sell the cheese first!" Grace suggested.
As Grace placed the cheese carefully in her bag, they linked arms and danced
all the way to their shop, singing:
Hurray, hurray, today's a happy day,
We're gonna have a lot of fun,
Happy Happy Day!
After the cheese sold for 99,999 NP Lumando said,
"Let's go play cheeseroller again! It's my turn now!"
After a tiring day of playing cheeseroller, the
four pets and their owner went back happily, their Neopoints multiplied. "Mum!"
Zyckle asked. "Can we play cheeseroller again tomorrow?"
"Of course!" Grace replied. "And the following
day, and the day after that, and everyday until eternity!" They chuckled as
they went to their bedrooms for a good night'' rest.
That night, Grace thought of the day's events
and sang herself to sleep.
Hurray, hurray, today's a happy day,
We're gonna have a lot of fun,
Happy Happy Day!
The End | 
