Usuki Singing Stars #13: A Poem Between Sisters

He's pesky and blue,

His family and I love him,

And so does his Puppyblew."

      "So, what do you think?" Patricia wondered. She, Sparkles and Scary were busy writing up poems for their English class. The assignment was to write a heartfelt poem about a close family member or relative of their choice. The faerie Shoyru was waiting anxiously for her friends to deliberate on the poem that she had read out to them. Both Sparkles and Scary were lying on their backs and were busy staring at the bedroom ceiling while they were thinking.

      "I thought it was very good," Sparkles sighed. "I never knew that you were going to say anything nice, Pat. But it's great that you didn't say anything about all of the trouble Alan gets into and everything he did to you. It was sweet."

      "It was okay," said Scary. The purple Bruce was now staring at her blank notebook while she chewed on her pencil. "And at least your subject's easy to write about. My subject is Sparkles and she's not exactly an easy subject."

      "What are you talking about?" Sparkles demanded. "I'm a perfect subject for poetry."

      "Oh yeah, then what rhymes with 'Sparkles'?" Scary replied. "At least my name actually rhymes with real words." Sparkles sighed and began to write some verses into her notebook. Curious, Patricia peered over Sparkles' shoulder, and saw that Sparkles wasn't writing anything. She was just scribbling on a piece of paper while she continued to stare at the bedroom ceiling.

      I wonder what I can say about Scary, Sparkles wondered while she stared at the ceiling fan go around and around and around in numerous circles. Scary is not the nicest Bruce in Neopia, and she's certainly not the most generous. But I'm sure I can think of something. After all, I'm sure she's going to say something great for me!

      "Why does Lola get an excuse out of this thing?" Scary blurted out. She wrinkled up a piece of paper and threw it behind her in fury. "That yellow Cybunny can get away with anything. Yet here we are suffering under the wrath of these stupid poems!!"

      Patricia gulped. "Well, I think I should leave now," she insisted. "Bye guys. And good luck with your poems." After saying goodbye to Patricia, Sparkles and Scary continued to work on their sibling poems. But after fifteen minutes of thinking, both Bruces had decided to stop for the day.

      "Patricia's lucky," Scary sighed. "It only took her five minutes to come up with her poem. So why can't I think of anything for mine?"

      "Maybe it's because Patricia wrote her poem in a hurry? It was only four verses long," Sparkles suggested. She gave Scary an assuring smile. "I'm confident that our poems will be the best! Who else are closer than you and me?"

      "Oh I can think of a few things," said Scary. But after considering Sparkles' hopeful gaze, she sighed and said, "Oh all right. I'll try to think of something nice to say."

      "Agreed!" said Sparkles. "First thing tomorrow, we can write our poems and let the other Bruce read them. Okay?" Scary nodded and headed out of the room. As soon as she left, Sparkles looked at her notebook and winced. Her page was full of random doodles and scribbles she drew while she was waiting for inspiration to strike her. She felt especially ashamed since she had nothing nice to say about her own sister! But the thought of Scary struggling as well comforted her a little bit. It also made her a bit uneasy and anxious as well.

      ***

      Scary's my sister,

      She's a purple Bruce,

      Oh, this will never work! Sparkles thought furiously. It was now noon, and she and Scary were trying hard to think up their own sibling poems for tomorrow. The pink Bruce felt like she had made no progress in her assignment, while Scary was busy checking her make up and leaving her notebook page blank.

      "Aren't you going to write something, Scary?" Sparkles wondered. "I haven't seen you write all day!"

      "Cool your Unis, Buckaroo. Something will come out sooner and later," Scary said coolly. Sparkles clenched her teeth while Scary applied her eye shadow and looked down at her blank sheet. "Hey Sparkles," said Scary, "is it too late to switch siblings? I think a poem on Sparklefrits would be easier to do right now."

      "You can't do that!" Sparkles exclaimed. "You already said that I was your partner! And besides, Cuddles already chose him first."

      "Well, then WHY do you have to be so hard to write about??" Scary demanded. "I can't even think of one little thing to say about you. The only word that came to my mind for the last seventeen hours was 'prissy'!"

      Sparkles gasped. Was this what Scary had thought about her all along? She shot back, "Well, would it hurt you just a little to write something that's nice for once? I know that I was actually trying to write something nice about you!"

      "Oh, wah," Scary snarled. "I am so much easier to write about then you are. At least my name actually rhymes with actual words!"

      "You already told me that yesterday!" Sparkles insisted. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave Scary a furious frown. "You know that I can't write just anything on a piece of paper and call it a poem! And besides, you're my sister! And I thought that you were actually going to say something nice to me for once in my life!"

      "Hey, guys," a snow Bruce said as he peeked in the room. "Dad says that lunch is ready! And if you could stop shouting-"

      "We're not shouting!" Sparkles exclaimed.

      Scary nodded. "Yeah. Now get lost Cuddles! And tell Dad that we don't want any of his lampshades for food anymore!" Feeling scared, Cuddles immediately closed the door and ran down the stairs. "The nerve of some Bruces," Scary grumbled. "Just because everybody likes him doesn't mean he could disturb our fight!"

      "We're not fight--wait, what?" said Sparkles. She lay on the bed and asked Scary, "What are you talking about? IS Cuddles really that popular?"

      "Haven't you noticed?" asked Scary. "Every time we go out or do something as a family, at least one stranger will come to us and say, 'Why, what a cute little snow Bruce you have!' The same thing goes for Sparklefrits as well." Sparkles tilted her head side by side, which meant that she agreed with what Scary was saying.

      "I'm just so sick of people treating us like outcasts!" Scary exclaimed. "And by us, I mean me! Not one stranger tells ME how fabulous I look whenever I wear something new. And if you think of it, your poem would have been finished right now if you had decided to write about Lola!"

      "Lola?" Sparkles wondered. "Why would you-" Suddenly it struck her. Sparkles looked at Scary with her sympathetic eyes and asked, "Have you always been jealous of me and Lola?"

      Scary tilted her head side to side, which was her way of saying that she was considering the idea. "I've always been a tiny bit envious whenever you and 'her' spend time together," Scary admitted. "You always have so much more fun with 'her' or Patricia. But mostly 'her'."

      "And by 'her' you mean Lola," said Sparkles. She looked down at her doodled up sheet and said, "You know Scary; just because me and Lola have so much fun together doesn't mean that Lola's my best friend. You are and you will always be."

      "Really? Or are you just being sympathetic again?" Scary wondered. Sparkles nodded and gave Scary a squeezed hug. Feeling like she had no choice, Scary hugged her back. "So now what?" Scary wondered. "I don't think we can just fail our assignment just because of a stupid fight, right?"

      Sparkles nodded. "But you know what we can do," she said eagerly. She quickly whispered the idea to Scary, who looked very pleased with what Sparkles had thought of. "It will save us allot more time for other things," Sparkles insisted. Scary nodded and ripped out a clean sheet out of her notebook. Sparkles grabbed two pens, and both Bruces began to work on their poem.

      ***

      "Now our final poem will be read aloud by Sparkles and Scary," said Mrs. Owen. The red Pteri sat down at her desk while Scary and Sparkles took a few short breaths. Sparkles smiled with glee as she watched Scary look over the sibling poem that they had written together last night.

      "Well, are you ready to start reading?" Sparkles whispered.

      Scary sighed and faced Sparkles. "Do you think we should do this?" she wondered.

      "What do you mean?" asked Sparkles. "Don't you like what we wrote?"

      "Well, yeah," Scary admitted, "but do we really need to read our poem in front of the class? Haven't we already proven to each other that we're... uhh, you know... close friends?"

      Suddenly Sparkles began to understood Scary's feelings; as much as she didn't want to admit it, Scary hadn't wanted to share their 'personal' poem to their classmates. "Okay," Sparkles whispered back. "We don't have to read it if you don't want to."

      "Thanks," Scary said with a smile. After handing their poem to Mrs. Owens, Scary followed her sister to their desks. Then they shared another secret smile between themselves.

The End