Valentine's: A Day of Companionship

      A lone Aisha sighed as she rocked herself on the swing.

      Valentine’s Day… She thought morosely.

      Valentine’s Day was a day of companionship, but she had no one to spend it with.

      She stood up and slowly trudged home. On her way home, she caught sight of the Wishing Well.

      Now, the Aisha had always believed that wishing wells didn’t work, but well…

      She stared at the 25NP coin she had, and tossed it into the well. She looked around her quickly to make sure that no one else was around, and said aloud, “I wish that I would have someone to spend Valentine’s Day with.”

      That said, the little Cloud Aisha blushed and scurried away like she was running away from embarrassment, desperately hoping that she hadn’t just made a fool of herself.

      Unknown to her, a Fire Faerie that was passing by heard her.

      The Fire Faerie’s name was Gloria, and true to her name, she was a romantic at heart.

      “No one should have to spend Valentine’s Day alone. I know! I’ll help that little Aisha!” Gloria rubbed her hands together and began planning, a wide grin on her face.

      The next day, the Aisha found a mail in her mailbox. She stared at the pink letter, with a heart-shaped sticker sealing it. She rubbed her eyes, and was sure that she had just smelt perfume. She blinked again, looking around her, as if the culprit would still be standing around. When she saw no one, the Aisha sighed and tore open the envelope. She pulled out a rose-pink letter with flowery red writing.

      “Is this a joke?” She asked aloud, and read its contents.

      “Dear Aisha,

      As per the Lonely Neopians Committee, it has come to our notice that you will be spending Valentine’s Day alone. Since that is most certainly unacceptable, you are hereby invited to a party that will be held at Neopian Square on the fourteenth of the Month of Awakening. Please bring this letter to be granted entry. We hope that you will enjoy the party.

      Love,

      The Lonely Neopians Committee”

      The Aisha blinked, and peered closer at the end of the letter. There was a smudge, and it seemed to hide the letters ‘G’ and ‘L’.

      The Aisha held out the letter at arm’s length and looked at it suspiciously.

      “This had better not be a prank.” The Aisha finally stated aloud after a moment of thoughtful silence.

      Outside, Gloria pumped her fist and cheered to herself quietly. The few passers-by that walked past shot the fire faerie strange looks. Gloria seemed to realise what she was doing and sunk down, laughing nervously. The Neopian rolled his eyes and continued walking.

      “Rude.” Gloria childishly stuck out her tongue at the Neopian’s back.

      A day before Valentine’s had the Aisha out of her house, searching for a respectable gown that would fit her.

      “Too pink.” She muttered, and walked back to the changing room to try on another outfit.

      “Valentine’s, not Halloween.” She went to change out of the lacy black dress.

      “Too small.” The Aisha sighed, and called for the storekeeper.

      “Can I get this at a bigger size?”

      After a few moments, the Aisha was completely satisfied with the blue ball-gown that she wore.

      “How much is this?”

      “Four thousand Neopoints, sweetie.” The owner told her with a dazzling smile. The Aisha looked into her purse.

      “Oh… I only have three thousand.” She sighed.

      “Sorry for the trouble, but it seems that I-” The Aisha was cut off when a bag of Neopoints dropped out of nowhere, in front of her. Both the storekeeper and her glanced at each other before peering down at the bag of Neopoints again.

      “Is this what they call a random event?” The Aisha asked aloud, opening up the bag to reveal a thousand Neopoints.

      “Why do I feel like this is too coincidental?” The Aisha asked herself, but handed the Neopoints over to the storekeeper to purchase the dress.

      Gloria sweated, pressing herself against the wall, eavesdropping on the conversation.

      Oops, maybe she had been too enthusiastic.

      The same Neopian that had passed by her days ago, stopped and stared at the Fire Faerie. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, walking off saying, “I must be seeing thing. Gotta get my eyes checked.”

      Gloria sighed in relief, just glad that the Neopian hadn’t given her away.

      The sound of bells caught her attention, and Gloria quickly separated herself from the wall, hands clasped behind her back, whistling away.

      The Aisha walked out of the clothes store, the bag in her paw containing her new ball-gown. She stared at the whistling Fire Faerie and simply walked away, careful to keep her distance.

      Gloria let out a quick breath, and flew back to Faerieland to get ready for the next part of her plan.

      The Aisha stared at Neopian Square. Somehow, it had been transformed overnight from the casual meeting place for friends and associates, to this.

      “That’s a lot of pink.” The Blue Xweetok beside her commented. The Aisha found herself nodding along.

      The entirety of Neopian Square was carpeted in a soft, baby-pink carpet. Above, hung dark pink heart-shaped balloons. The walls and boards were all covered in bubblegum-coloured streamers. All in all, it looked like a place out of an extremely girly child’s imagination.

      “Too much pink.” The Shadow Shoyru beside the two of them agreed.

      Slowly, Neopians began to filter into the Neopian Square. Some were wincing from the too-bright colours, some were amazed by the sudden change and some just didn’t care about their surroundings, too busy with mingling with others.

      The Aisha found her letter suddenly snatched away and replaced with a rosemary-pink ticket, with the numbers, ‘5104’ written on it with a salmon-pink marker. Seriously, what was with all the pink? She asked herself.

      The Aisha sighed and went to find her destined ‘partner’.

      Hidden behind some shrubs, Gloria cackled. Her plan was working! Now the Aisha would find the love of her life, and they would dance and get married, and- and- and- She would be named the Faerie God Mother!

      Gloria put a hand to her flaming cheeks, lost in her impossible fantasies.

      The Aisha blinked as she was met with a Fire Scorchio, holding another ticket with the exact same numbers.

      “So…” He started off uncertainly.

      “Call me Aisha.” The Aisha stuck out her hand.

      “Uh…” The Scorchio blinked.

      “No, really. My name’s Aisha.” Aisha informed him.

      “Huh, that’s kinda cool. My name’s Scorchio. Creative, yeah?” He shook her hand, a wide grin on his face.

      “Yeah.” Aisha smiled, glad for once that there was someone that she could finally relate to.

      The two of them began talking animatedly, even as couples danced beside them.

      Valentine’s Day was a day of companionship. There was no need for sudden romance; because on this day where no one should be alone, friendship would suffice.

      A Cloud Aisha found this out on that day, when she met a Fire Scorchio that would eventually become her best friend.

      “Thank you, whoever you are.” Aisha called out to the quickly emptying Neopian Square and left, towards where her newly found friend was standing, waiting for her.

      The End.