The Ties That Bind: Part Two

     Her eyes zipped around, scanning the front yards of each of the little brick houses. She froze when she saw something very odd in one of the lawns, however. She squinted, moving closer to the front yard. What was that?

     She got close enough to make out what the object was. It was a plunger. A plunger sticking straight up out of the lawn. There were two snowmen on either side of the plunger, wearing bikinis and beach hats. She snorted, shaking her head. There was probably only one person living on this street that would do such a thing. Garret. Actually, it probably wasn't even Garret who had done it. Most likely Chad and Mikey, Garret's two goofy friends. Sam wondered if they all still hung out anymore as she walked up to the front door and knocked sturdily.

     There were a few yells from inside the house, and a few moments later a crazy-looking Blumaroo answered the door. He had a bright orange afro and was wearing glasses.

     "Y'ello?" he asked, grinning at Sam. "How bay I 'elp you?"

     Sam raised an eyebrow, looking past the stuffy-nosed Blumaroo into the hallway of the house. "Erm, is there any chance a... Garret lives here?"

     The Blumaroo chuckled, snorting as he laughed. "Why yes, but he isn't 'ere right now. He went to da Suber Habby Icy Fun Snow Shob with his friends. So... uh, come back adother time." He closed the door in Sam's face. Shocked, she turned around and started down the driveway, wondering why on earth Garret had such a rude brother... or whatever he was. Sam certainly hoped that thing wasn't Garret's brother. If it was, who knew what Garret might look like now?

     She shivered at the thought and decided it would be boring to sit there and wait for Garret to get back, so she started to fly over to the Snow Food shop, which wasn't too far away.

     -

     A green Shoyru and a red Lupe snickered as they slowly walked down an aisle of food. They were both wearing large black coats and black hats turned backwards on their heads. The green Shoyru peered behind his shoulder at a yellow Eyrie who was sulking behind them slowly.

     "Dude, c'mon, Garret," the Shoyru called. Garret sighed, picking up his pace a bit. He must have looked like a fool. There he was, wearing a lame Gnorbu scarf, compared to Mikey and Chad, who were so cool in their backwards hats and black attire.

     "Yeah, coming," Garret responded no-so-enthusiastically. He looked at all of the frozen food on the shelves and shivered a bit. He never really liked food stores. They always made him hungry, and when he was hungry, he always thought about things. Well, of course he thought about things. He just thought more deeply when he was hungry. And right now he was thinking about Mel. She had seemed really... blah when they had spoken earlier that afternoon. What was up with her lately? Was it because of Sam, who would be coming up to Terror Mountain in a few days? After all, Sam wasn't exactly at the top of Mel's favorite people list.

     "What are you doing?" Chad, the red Lupe, questioned. Garret rolled his eyes and ran to catch up with them.

     "So why did you guys want to come here, anyway?" Garret asked. Chad and Mikey were standing in front of a large tub of frozen candies. They looked around discreetly; checking to make sure nobody was around. "Uh... guys?" Garret repeated after they hadn't responded.

     "Garret, you be on the look-out. Don't do anything stupid and attract attention to us. Just... stand in front of us so people can't see us for a second," Mikey told him. Garret gave him a weird look, and then turned around like he was told.

     Meanwhile, Sam was wandering around the Icy Food Shop, wondering if Garret and company were still there. She turned a corner and made her way into the junk food section and she spotted Garret standing to the side of Mikey and Chad. The Shoyru and Lupe looked around and then grabbed a handful of candy, hastily slipping it inside of their jackets. They grinned at each other and then walked away from the candy tub, dragging Garret along with them.

     Sam's eyes widened. What in Fyora's name had she just seen?! Chad, Mikey and Garret stealing... candy?! What was wrong with the world?!

     She angrily went after them. The three boys were walking around the store like a bunch of nitwits, thinking they were cool. Sam tried to shove the disturbing images she'd just seen out of her mind as she stomped right up behind the three of them and grabbed the hood of Mikey's jacket, pulling him towards her. The green Shoyru yelled in shock, wondering who in Neopia was strangling him, and why. He, Garret and Chad all spun around and the three of them gasped in unison.

     "Sam?!"

     They just stared at her with their eyes wide and jaws dropped. Garret actually blinked his eyes and rubbed them to make sure he wasn't just seeing things.

     "Yes, it's me. Amazing, isn't it?" Sam asked, standing with her arms akimbo as she looked at the three of them disappointedly.

     "Erm, what are you doing here...?" Mikey questioned, feeling slightly embarrassed. Had she seen him and Chad take the candy? They must have looked like total losers.

     "I'm on vacation, and I came here to find Garret. The last thing I expected to find was you guys stealing... candy?!" She lowered her voice a little, punching the inside of Mikey's jacket where he had stashed the goods.

     Garret looked down at Mikey and Chad confusedly. "What? You guys stole candy...? Whaaaaat?"

     "Exactly," snapped Sam.

     "Wait," Chad said suddenly, thinking he could fool them, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

     Sam sighed, ripping open Mikey's jacket and pulling out the candy. "First of all... stealing is the last thing I'd expect from you goons, and second of all, you come to a store and you steal the candy?" She didn't know whether to laugh or be ashamed she was friends with them.

     "Hey, is there a problem here?" came a voice from behind them. Sam turned her head and saw a buff Zafara worker carrying a few cartons of eggs.

     "No, no, not at all," Chad and Mikey said together, hiding the candy behind their backs.

     The Zafara raised a brow and continued on.

     Sam sighed. "Look, just help me put this all back, okay? I can't believe you guys would even do this in the first place."

     The four of them returned the candy and then stood around very uncomfortably. Chad, Mikey and Garret hadn't seen Sam in a year. It was very awkward, especially since they weren't expecting her to just show up randomly in Terror Mountain.

     "Since you guys are having so much fun, I was wondering if I could borrow Garret for a while," said Sam, breaking the ice. Chad and Mikey nodded in unison, staring at the faerie Uni blankly.

     Sam drug Garret across the store, a grin spreading out on her face.

     "So, what is this all about?" Garret asked confusedly. "You know, I was talking to Mel earlier today, and she told me you were coming, but not this soon. I think she was expecting you in a few days..."

     Sam stopped in the middle of the aisle, putting her hooves on Garret's shoulders and staring him straight in the eye. "Look. I have a crisis here. Mel's all obsessed with her little Island Zafara friend, and I'm stuck here with NOBODY! You have to help me, Goober, please, I need help from you! Like, a lot of help." She stuck out her bottom lip and gave him the best Poogle puppy face she could manage.

     Garret rolled his eyes, adjusting the wool scarf around his neck. "What kind of help?"

     "I need you to help me make Mel jealous. Insanely jealous. So jealous that she'll be crawling back to me, begging me to be her best friend again."

     Garret thought about this for a moment. He had never been very good friends with Sam when she had lived in Terror Mountain, and now that she was just coming up to him proposing an evil plan to get back at Mel, he was even more confused than he was before. "Uhm--"

     "So. From now on. You, my big feathered friend, are now my best friend. Got it?"

     "Err--"

     "Tomorrow. You have school, right? I'll come during lunch. You will hang out with me. That is not a request. It is an order. And then Mel will see us laughing and having good times, and she will instantly become a jealous freak. Okay?" Sam flipped Garret's scarf up and then twirled around, smiling happily. She then pranced off, swishing her silvery tail around as her hooves clomped loudly on the floor of the store.

     Garret sighed, looking over at Chad and Mikey, who were once again at the tub of frozen candy, stuffing it back into their pockets like Sam had never even come and made them put it back.

     Great. What was he going to do? He didn't exactly like the idea of hanging out with Sam and making one of his best friends hate him.

     And then there were Chad and Mikey, who were all of a sudden these two jerks who thought they could do whatever they wanted.

To be continued...