Things Change

     "Here you go." A Red Wocky handed me a glass of water.

     The house smelled sweet, like freshly-baked Neowaiin bread.

     "Where am I?" I asked.

     Evidently, I was on a kitchen table. It felt like a semi-new oak wood table with no stains. Nicer than my last table-bed-after-a-blackout experience.

     "You blacked out or something," a Shadow Peophin said as he walked by.

     "Stitches carried you all the way back here," the Wocky continued.

     "You can probably stay with Hailey," the Peophin told me. "Her room's just down that hallway. If not, our couch is comfier than it looks."

     "But I need to go back to my class… we were on some reserve; I just stepped out to try to find my friend Jordan, he's… where's my stuff?"

     "Stitches still has it," the Wocky said. "He's in Hailey's room. You can go in."

     "But I need to—" I began, realising there wasn't going to be another way out of here. "Uh, I guess I'll go see Stitches."

     It took me until I got to the door to realise that I wasn't wearing my shell bracelet. I knocked on the door.

     "Come in," a sweet, girly voice called.

     A Pink Kacheek around my age sat on a pink Lenny bed. Stitches sat next to her with my bag.

     "Hi," Stitches said with a blank expression.

     There was something about hearing his voice that felt comforting—maybe because he was the only person in this house that I had met even for an instant before waking up here.

     "Ooh, she is pretty!" the Pink Kacheek said. "I'm Hailey."

     "Uh… did you wanna talk or something?" Stitches asked.

     "Kinda." I tried to sound mad, but ended up sounding nervous.

     "Let's go to my room."

     He grabbed my wrist and dragged me down the hall before I could respond.

     "First off, where on Neopia is my bracelet?" I asked once we were through the doorway.

     "Actually," he replied, "first you need to tell me some stuff."

     "We don't have time; I have to get back to my class on the reserve up there in the mountains!" I said, frustrated.

     "Sage, you can't go back yet. You're upset."

     Absolutely right, I was upset. And he wasn't helping at all.

     "Uh, yeah, I'm upset. I try to find my friend, and then you steal the bracelet he gave me," I retorted.

     "You said you gave up," Stitches replied. "And I read your notebook. The story in the front is really good, but your journal entry could use some work."

     Who did this guy think he was?

     "It's a journal entry!" I said, wanting to snatch the tattered fuzzy notebook out of his hand and hit him repeatedly with it, if only he were holding it.

     "You said you couldn't find your friend alone. I'm going to help you. First thing tomorrow morning."

     "Uh, that's nice of you, but tomorrow morning I have to be in my cabin on the reserve up in the mountains so that I don't get expelled," I replied.

     "Did you ever hear any songs off the first Twisted Roses album?" he asked me.

     "Yeah." Just for the first time two days ago. "What are you getting at?" I asked. "Just because we both like the same band doesn't mean I'm not going to get expelled."

     "No, but remember the song about doing everything you can to believe in yourself and your dreams and move forward… sound familiar?"

     The very song I unwillingly had stuck in my head when we met on the mountain.

     "Yeah," I said, trying to hide that I was a bit weirded out by this coincidence. "So?"

     "You're going to find your friend, whatever it takes," he said. "No exceptions."

     Then, he pulled the bracelet out of his sweatshirt pocket and fastened it around my wrist.

     "Thanks," I managed. "y'know, for giving me the bracelet back."

     "Sure."

     I looked up from the ground and noticed his totally black room with random bursts of colour coming from Twisted Roses posters that looked as if they were a hundred years old, and a Twisted Roses speaker.

     "You should go to sleep," he said. "Hailey usually stays up pretty late, so you can crash on the couch."

     I was certain I would not be able to fall asleep right now, not with everything I still needed to process.

     I tried to prolong our conversation. "You really like the Roses, I see?"

     He tapped the speaker. "Pick a song."

     "That one where they say, 'things change'," I said.

     Like magic, it started playing.

     "You like vintage Roses songs," he observed. "Nice."

     I shrugged. "It's all I've heard."

     "Well, you have a lot to catch up on," he said. "Your friend lives on Fruity Path, you said in your notebook?"

     I nodded and then asked, "What street are we on?"

     "Tiki Tack Lane," he said, then handed me a pillow and blanket for the couch.

     They smelled really good, like some sort of boy-ish perfume. I ended up falling asleep pretty easily, granted that I had unwillingly done so more than enough that day.

     -

     "So, what're you guys doing today?" the Peophin, who'd I'd learned was named Roscoe, and was three years older than me, said.

     Stitches brought his breakfast to the table. "I was thinking of taking Sage sightseeing around the island before we look for her friend. The Roses are playing this evening in the Island Arena."

     "She doesn't look like a Roses fan," Kallum (the Wocky, one year older) commented. "Anyway, Hailey and I are running laps around the blocks."

     "Well, she is a fan." Stitches took a bite of NeoCrunch. "Mostly vintage stuff, though."

     "Makes more sense," Hailey replied. "I'll help her pick out an outfit."

     "I brought clothes," I said.

     Hailey rolled her eyes, but it may have been playful. "I stand by what I said."

     After breakfast, she took me into her closet and told me to pick out one piece of clothing, which she would coordinate an outfit around. We were the same size, despite her being a year older than me, as I found out.

     I found a not-too-long-but-not-too-short skirt that was a sparkly ocean blue colour, and she paired it with a white tank top that had blue rhinestones along the collar. It definitely didn't scream "Twisted Roses concert", but it was pretty, and I liked it.

     I stepped back into the main room.

     "You ready?" Stitches asked.

     I nodded. "Yeah."

     He opened the door and held it for me, then followed me out. However, he was the one who knew the way, so I let him get back in the lead.

     "So, first I thought we'd visit the Tropical Foods stand," he said. "Or we could go to the Flotsam Chef's place; that's always fun."

     "Sure," I said. "Uh… I forgot to ask— what were you doing in the mountains last night?"

     "Sometimes I go for a hike if I can't sleep," he explained.

     "And… I noticed you don't have any parents. Are you and the others even related?"

     He laughed. "We all escaped from the pound together a few years ago. Found an abandoned NeoHome and made it our own."

     "You came all the way here from Neopia Central by yourself?"

     "Well, we all love a good adventure."

     "How do you make money?" I asked.

     "We make everything we have from scraps we find lying around," he explained, "and Roscoe manages a small shop where we make money for food."

     "Wow." I couldn't quite believe it. "I've lived in Neopia Central my whole life, and my parents are pretty rich."

     "So, you have everything, but you still wish you could go back in time and have things be different?" he asked. "Sounds like a cheesy Neopian Times story— 'what she really wanted, all along, was to be herself!'"

     I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help but wonder if that was what Annabel was getting at when she said I bragged too much about my book fair fame. I did have a lot going for me, and maybe it was selfish of me to wish so many things were different and not appreciate what I had. After all, I'd never been to the pound, much less in it, and couldn't imagine escaping to another land and starting a life there, living off scraps.

     We had lunch at the Tropical Foods stand. We saw Techo Mountain and looked through some stuff at the trading post, but we didn't bring anything to offer, so it was just window shopping. I had almost forgotten about Jordan when Stitches mentioned we should head to the arena for the concert.

     "What about my friend?" I asked. "Didn't you say we'd go to Fruity Path today? It's about to get dark."

     "Tomorrow, we'll go to the beach, and then we'll look for him," Stitches explained. I glared at him, starting to regret trusting someone I had only just met. He must have sensed this, because he responded, "What? You don't come to Mystery Island to stay holed up in a reserve in the mountains. Getting back another day later won't make you any less expelled."

     "But people are going to worry about me." At least, I hoped they would. And what if Catarina was actually successfully covering for me? What if one more day was what sold me out?

     "Sage, did you have fun today?" he asked.

     "Yeah." And I was definitely going to have fun at the concert.

     "Stop worrying so much about later and enjoy what's happening now."

     The very thing I'd set out to do. Well, he did read my journal… I couldn't remember what exactly I wrote in it, and he still had it, so it wasn't like I could check. He still had all of my stuff, aside from the bracelet.

     This had been an exciting day; it was the best time I'd had in forever. I contemplated it all during the concert as I listened to the music and tried to focus on just living in this moment, and I continued to think about it later that night as I washed my fur in their bathroom.

     Their rainwater shampoo didn't have anything on my superstar shampoo, that was for sure. Maybe this life wasn't for me, and I definitely belonged in my wealthy Neopia Central world, but spending one day living in the moment was nice.

     "STITCHES!" Hailey's voice broke my concentration through the door. "TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN!"

     I realised I had been hearing guitar notes the entire time I was bathing, but didn't think anything of it. When I dried off, I headed down the hall, following the music. Through his doorway, I could see Stitches sitting on his bed, strumming away at a guitar.

     Annabel and Jordan, Juliet, and Lola were my best friends. I was supposed to go back and continue life with them, where I belonged, in my big NeoHome in my familiar neighbourhood. But Stitches had shown me such kindness, and he and his friends had such an interesting story, and I didn't feel like I could just leave this plushie Shoyru I just met behind after tomorrow and never see or speak to him again.

     I was being ridiculous. There was Neomail. I could come back and visit—well, unless I did get expelled from school, in which case I would be grounded for the next ten years of my life. Was I… actually thinking I could stay here in Mystery Island, and just live day by day, in the moment, and not worry about anything but here and now?

     No. I couldn't do that. I had to drown those thoughts, pretend they were the soapy bubbles still disappearing down the drain when I passed the bathroom on the way to my couch bed: going, going, gone.

     I was going to find Jordan tomorrow. Then, I'd go back to school, get in trouble if I had to, and everything would be back to normal.

     When I set my towel down to change into pyjamas, I realised there were bright fuchsia words sewn into the bubblegum pink fabric: words like 'peace', 'happiness', 'love'…

     Love.

     I loved air faerie gum, the way it was minty but not too strong. I loved the silky textures and the sparkly bubbles. I loved Fluffy, my Faellie, and her soft white fur, the way she cuddled up next to me on rainy nights, and her little squeaky noises. I loved my parents, obviously. I loved Annabel and Jordan and Juliet and Lola, my best friends in the whole world, who had always supported me and shared laughs with me. I loved my house with its welcoming feel and pleasant smells, and its overall safety. I loved writing and how it was an escape from reality, because even though I had everything I could want, sometimes reality just didn't feel right. I could create whatever reality I wanted when I wrote.

     I loved today. I loved the concert, seeing the island, and living in the moment.

     But I had to let that go. This life was not for me, no matter how kind and interesting these four random strangers were. I had people I loved back home. I didn't love any of these people. Not even as much as flavoured chewing gum.

     So why did I feel so peaceful as I fell asleep on the couch in these strange pets' home?

To be continued…