A Waffle Paradise Circulation: 177,117,159 Issue: 318 | 16th day of Storing, Y9
Home | Archives Articles | Editorial | Short Stories | Comics | New Series | Continued Series
 

The Ties That Bind: Part Five


by sytra

--------

"You knocked him out?!"

     "Yeah, I guess so. But you gotta admit, it was pretty hilarious." Mikey laughed, covering his mouth as he explained to Sam what had happened to Garret.

     "Okay, let me get this straight... you threw a snowball at his head, and then he passed out. Great."

     Mikey and Chad snorted, stifling their laughs as they held their stomachs.

     "It was the funniest thing ever." Chad giggled, swishing his long Lupe tail around. "But we were watching him, just like you told us to. We were keeping an eye on him, and then we saw him talking to Mel. At first we thought he was going to ask her for an invitation to the party like you said he was. But then he started to say that you were forcing him to be your friend and all that. So we threw a snowball at his head."

     Sam rolled her eyes, hitting her head with her hoof. "What am I going to do with you...?" she trailed off, pacing back and forth around her hotel room. "Well, is he all right at least?"

     "Oh, yeah, he's all right," Mikey assured her. The green Shoyru couldn't wipe the grin off of his face.

     Sam sighed in relief. "Okay... well... I guess if Garret isn't going to get an invitation out of Mel, I'll just have to go to the party anyway."

     Mikey and Chad looked over at each other, grins spreading out from ear to ear. "You mean... crash it?" they said together, as if she had just proposed to take a vacation trip to Faerieland.

     The faerie Uni nodded slowly, rubbing her hooves together as she thought about it. "Yeah. That's the only way, isn't it? And besides, if the party is going to be half as big as it sounds like it's going to be, it will be easy to get inside.” Sam grinned smugly, looking up at Chad and Mikey.

     "Yeah, we'll crash it!" they cheered, jumping up and down and punching their fists in the air.

     "No, you cuckoo heads," Sam snapped. "Garret and I will crash the party. You two are just going to be the ones to help us get in. That is, if we're even going to need any help getting in. I reckon we'll be able to walk right in the front door. But if for some reason they're checking for invitations at the front door, you two will be there to sneak us in somehow."

     "Ohhhh. But.. I wanted to go to the party.” Mikey sniffed.

     “But... what about Garret?"

     Sam wrinkled her eyebrows as she turned around and picked her scarf off of her bed and tied it around her neck. "Well... it may still be necessary to use him later on. So for now, keep it under cover that you were the ones who threw the snowball at his head. We don't want him to act hostile towards us, do we?" The Uni slipped her arms through her large puffy jacket and walked in between Chad and Mikey to turn off a lamp. "I have to go meet my owner and sister at the skating rink, so I need to go now. Just remember... don't let Garret know that we’re... collaborating."

     "Yeah, all right."

     -

     "Dude... what's wrong?"

     Garret sighed, looking over at Chad and Mikey. The two of them were sitting on his bed, unwrapping chocolate bars and stuffing them into their mouths. He turned away again and opened his dresser drawer, then closed it again.

     He was awfully fidgety and nervous. He couldn't keep still. He paced around his room, looking out of the window at the steadily falling snow. The Eyrie rubbed his forehead as he frowned, trying not to make eye contact with Mikey and Chad.

     "Come over here and eat some candy. It'll cheer you up," Mikey said, patting a spot on the bed with his hand. "You know you wanna!"

     Garret reluctantly sat down, frowning at the large sack of candy sitting on his nightstand. Chad held out a Banana Gummy Slorg and Garret took it, looking down at the small morsel in his claws. He dropped it and it fell on the ground. Mikey gasped.

     "What's wrong with you? You just wasted a perfectly good piece of candy!"

     Chad shrugged, getting down on the floor. He stuck his paw under the bed where it had fallen and fished it out. "Still good as new," he decided as he put it into his mouth.

     "Sick," Garret spat. Folding his arms across his chest, he sneered at Chad and Mikey, who looked at each other confusedly.

     "Dude... seriously, Banana Gummies are your favorite. What's wrong with you?!" Chad demanded, unwrapping a Sour Lemon Lolly.

     "I'm not eating that. It's stolen," Garret said simply, pointing a long claw at the sack of candy.

     Mikey rolled his eyes. "So? It's still candy."

     "Yeah, but you guys stole it. Straight out of the store. I'm not eating it."

     "Fyora, man, it's not a big deal. It's not like we stole a million neopoints. It's just candy. Cool off." Chad shook his head, sucking on his lollypop.

     "Besides, people steal stuff all the time," Mikey put in. "How do you think those homeless pets survive? Yes, I hate to break it to you, Garret, but they do steal."

     The Eyrie snorted. "Well, it's not like you guys are poor. What's the point of stealing candy? It's worth like two neopoints! Do you feel good after you've done it? Is there some sort of importance you feel when you're walking out of the store, knowing you just got away with a few chocolate squares? I'm sorry, but I don't get it."

     "Well..." Chad looked up at Mikey, as if he was asking permission to go on with his sentence. "Garret, there's something we haven't quite told you yet..."

     Garret's soft brown eyes formed into hard slits as he stared at Chad. "What?"

     "Oh... just never mind. It's nothing." Chad then made a big ruckus by stuffing his paws into the candy sack and rustling them around. "Anyway. Change of subject?"

     "No," Garret said stubbornly. "I don't get why you two have to do such idiotic stuff. Explain it to me, please."

     Garret could barely even think straight, he was so angry. His two best friends were acting like complete idiots, and to make it worse Mel hated him, and Sam was using him. Plus, he still had an enormous headache and lump on his head from when he'd gotten hit with... a snowball, as Mel and Kelsie had told him. Who would throw a snowball like that at his head? It had a huge rock in it, too!

     "We don't get why we do such idiotic stuff, either." Mikey shook his head, slightly grinning as he reached into the sack. He pulled out a Cloud Usul Ice Lolly. "Hey, look at that."

     He held it out to Garret, who sighed and took it, holding it up to his face.

     Mikey smiled. "Just pretend it's Mel and bite its head off. It will feel good, trust me."

     Garret stared at the Usul lolly for a few moments but then he set it down on the bed, shaking his head. "I'd rather bite Sam's head off, thanks..."

     "Hey, that we can do!" Chad chuckled, digging around in the candy sack. He pulled out a Chocolate Uni and passed it to Garret. "There ya go, buddy. See? We aren’t the enemy. We know what's good for you."

     The green Shoyru nodded. "Now just sink your teeth into that sucker and we'll make the shrieking noises for ya."

     -

     Sam paraded down the streets of Happy Valley, squinting in the bright afternoon sun as she looked through the crows of people, trying to locate her owner and sister. She was supposed to meet them fifteen minutes ago at the skating rink, but she’d gotten sidetracked.

     The skating rink was just up ahead, and there were tons of people and pets swarming around it. Most of them were watching the skaters, and others were lacing up their own skates, preparing to go into the rink.

     Sam groaned, wishing her owner had chosen a different vacation spot. Even the Haunted Woods sounded better than this place.

     "I mean, really," Sam thought out loud as she continued to walk down the road. People stared at her as she muttered to herself. "I thought I was going to have an awesome reunion with my old best friend, but it's all turned into a nightmare! And that stupid little Zafara girl... don't even let me get started on her!"

     Sam, not paying any attention whatsoever to where she was going, suddenly bumped right into another pedestrian and fell backwards into the cold snow, right on her behind. She frowned bitterly and brought herself to her feet, not bothering to glance at whom she'd bumped into.

     "Sorry," she said hurriedly, and was about to keep walking on by when she took a double take and realized who the pet she had just rammed into was.

     A skinny red Krawk got onto her feet, brushing the snow off of herself. She looked up at Sam, and the two of them just stared at each other for a few moments in shock.

     The red Krawk's lips curled up into a devious smile. "...Sam?"

     Sam's eyes widened, her heart beginning to beat irregularly. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead, above her lips...

     "K-Krystal...?"

To be continued...

 
Search the Neopian Times




Other Episodes


» The Ties That Bind: Part One
» The Ties That Bind: Part Two
» The Ties That Bind: Part Three
» The Ties That Bind: Part Four
» The Ties That Bind: Part Six
» The Ties That Bind: Part Seven
» The Ties That Bind: Part Eight
» The Ties That Bind: Part Nine



Week 318 Related Links


Other Stories


---------

Dream Pet
"Do you know what a Christmas Bori looks like?" she asked abruptly...

by roseroar88

---------

Still Neo: More Dung
Who ever thought that dung was a good item to wear was wrong...

by digidigi41



Submit your stories, articles, and comics using the new submission form.