The Diary of a Pea Chia

Dear Diary, Today was the first day of Neoschool. I have a wonderful teacher named Miss Usulberry; she even had a desk made smaller just for me, a little pea Chia! I made lots of new friends today, like Suzy the pink Kiko and Maurice the Moehog. However, I also made a new enemy. His name is Brent. He is a blue Grarrl, and he told me that he would step on me and eat me for lunch! I’m very scared, but my brother Carl said that it would be okay. I sure hope he’s right! Oh, yeah! You’ll never guess what happened at recess today! 3 of the Kougras decided to hold a school wide game of tetherball, and one of them challenged me, thinking I couldn’t even reach the ball. Oh, he was the worst tetherball player I had ever seen! He couldn’t even hit the ball when it was his turn! I won the whole tournament AND one of the Kougra’s Koi cookies! It was really a pretty good day. I’ll write in you tomorrow! Bye!

Sept 7th, Month of Gathering, Y7:

Dear Diary, Today at Neoschool we learned about petpets. Miss Usulberry taught us about petpet anatomy, feeding and care of petpets, and how to talk to a petpet. She even brought in a real live noil and let us play with it! But then she assigned us a paper on the foods to give and not to give your petpet. And it’s due tomorrow! I’m not very excited about having to write it, but hopefully 100 words isn’t as massive as it sounds. Oh, yeah! After school I went to the cheerleading tryouts! Lots of little pets entered, but they can only pick 8 girls to be on the squad. I really hope I make it, but those Unis have some fancy moves! They really didn’t want me to try out; they even said “Laria, if you make the team the football players will step on you and use you as the ball!” But I’m not scared. I know that the football players would never do that, as my big brother Carl is on the team, and he would step on the Unis before he stepped on me, heh. Well, I’ve got to go write my paper, bye-bye!

Sept 8th, Month of Gathering, Y7:

Dear Diary: I turned in my paper, but half the kids used the age-old excuse, “My warf ate it.” Miss Usulberry didn’t seem too pleased, but I’m just glad Suzy, Maurice, and I got them done. No detention for us! Today Mom packed me a vegan cheese, an apple and a carton of juice. Always a health freak. But Suzy told me she loves apples, so I traded her Neodrops for my apple. Yummy! Oh, yeah, I made the team! The other members are Annie Uni, Shirley Uni (blech!), Janet Kacheek, Malinda Poogle, Zoe Jubjub, Carrie Acara, and, the most popular girl in school, Kelly the rainbow Ixi. She is the best cheerleader out of all of us, and she looks great in any color clothing. Coach Tanya told me that I could be the flyer, which is the pet that gets thrown into the air on certain stunts. I’m so happy! However, Annie told me that when I get lifted up, she would drop me. I told her that people have done that before, and that I bounce really high! Heeheehee!! Well, I’m late for cheer practice. I’ll write later!

Sept 9th, Month Of Gathering, Y7:

Dear Diary, I got an A!!!! Miss Usulberry told me that my paper was really really great! In fact, she read it to the whole class as an example of what an “Acceptable paper” should look like. Brent didn’t seem very happy with his D-, and rumor is that he is going to take it out on me! Fortunately, I was able to avoid him for the rest of the class, and when lunch came around I was psyched for the first day Mom gave me a lunch ticket to use in the cafeteria! So, I stood in line, and learned that the daily food is a bowl of mushy peas and a chocolate milk. Needless to say, I didn’t eat anything that day. Maurice offered to trade me his turkey sandwich for the peas, but as a vegetarian and being a pea myself, I refused. No wonder the lunch ladies looked so worried while they were serving me! Because of my miniscule lunch, I didn’t do so good at cheerleading practice. Malinda said I was much easier to throw today, though. After practice, Carl told me that the cheerleaders always go shopping for their uniforms together at Uni’s Clothing the day before their first game. That’s tomorrow! I’m so excited that I get to go shopping alone for the first time! Oh! That’s Mom calling me for dinner! It’s pizza night! Bye!

Sept 10th, Month of Gathering, Y7:

Dear Diary, Today is Saturday, and that means the annual Cheerleader Shopping Trip! Carl walked me to Uni’s Clothing and waited with me until the other girls got there. They seemed just as excited as I am, toting their purses full of neopoints. We walked into the shop, and I immediately saw a big uniform display. There were red ones, gold ones, blue ones, purple ones, white ones, every color you could imagine! We decided on a green and gold one, our Neoschool’s colors. The other girls each picked out a uniform in their size, while I rummaged through the display looking for an XXXXX-small one. After a long search, I had no results. I walked up to the friendly Uni shopkeeper and asked if she had any green and gold uniforms in my size. She told me they didn’t run that low, and that I would have to make one myself. I was unhappy. I couldn’t sew, and neither could Mom. Plus, where could I find the sparkly gold fabric on the uniforms’ sleeves? I walked up to the team captain, Kelly, and asked if we could choose a different uniform design, like the white and gold ones that came in my size. She, of course, said no. I was so sad that I ran out the door of the shop, where I found Carl licking an ice cream cone. “I thought this would happen,” he said. “We’ll make you one, don’t worry.” I was so happy! Carl could sew! He had taken a class to earn a Neoscout badge! He also knew of a little fabric shop that carried every kind imaginable, so we went and stocked up. I love my brother Carl; he always makes things right.

Sept 11th, Month of Gathering, Y7:

Today was the day of the game!!! Mom brought Carl and I to the school field, where we warmed up before the crowd got here. When they did, I saw lots of people! Susy and Maurice were there to cheer me on, and all the cool people were there to watch Kelly. Add them to all the proud owners and fans, and you’ve got all the bleachers filled, with some people even sitting on the grass! When the game started, it was great! Our team, the Green Beekadoodles, was winning 10 to 4! Then, at halftime, the cheerleading squad got to perform. We did the routine perfectly, and when it came to my big part, it was amazing! 4 girls threw me into the air, and I did a somersault and gracefully fell into their arms. The crowd was clapping and cheering for me, and I was so happy! I even saw Brent yelling “Go Laria!!!” I smiled. Maybe being a pea Chia can be hard sometimes, but it’s times like this that really make me happy to be this wonderful, round veggie.