Reaching the Sky

     "Welcome back to school!" their homeroom teacher shouted.

     "Good morning, Mr. Mason," everyone called back.

     "It's a new school year and a new beginning. Today we'll do a little presentation and then we'll talk about what you did during vacation. How does that sound?" the Kau said as he moved the chairs into a ring.

     "Aww…" the class leader Gary the disco Bruce whined, and the majority of the class joined in.

     "Let's start with you then, Mr. Bruce," the teacher pointed at Gary.

     "I'm Gary, a Disco Bruce. I like to dance, talk and talk!" the Bruce said with a cheesy grin. Mr. Mason sighed. The students were so annoying and anxious the first day.

     "Well, time for someone else. You over there!" he pointed towards an Orange Grundo.

     "Nick. Likes to chat," the Grundo said, trying to stifle a yawn. He thought that this was incredibly boring, and he wanted to catch up on his sleep.

     "Mr. Quiggle!" the Kau said and gestured to the green Quiggle.

     "I'm Charlie and I'm the best here. My best buddies," the Quiggle pointed towards the Bruce and the Grundo.

     "Annabelle?" Mr. Mason said.

     "Annabelle the Aisha. I like to shop. On my spare-time I usually play with my friends and my owner," the Royal Aisha replied with grace.

     "Very good!" the teacher exclaimed.

     The presentation went on. Alice yawned out of boredom. This was always the same. Some would make trouble. Actually, not some… Just Gary and company. They would always interrupt with those annoying, loud voices. Neoschool wasn't as fun as it was hyped up to be, that was one thing for sure.

     "Alice?" the teacher asked.

     "Err… I'm Alice the Lenny, and I like to read," she said shyly. Mr. Mason didn't even seem to hear her, as he moved onto Linda, the Faerie Draik.

     Alice felt invisible. This wasn't the first time it had happened. There was always this invisible wall between her and the rest of the class. She remembered last year. Oh, how she had hammered and tried to make friends quietly, sit where they could notice her… But no, it never worked. The Lenny had given up. Nothing would change.

     "This year we have three options," Mr. Mason voice boomed out, snapping Alice out of her thoughts, "Dance, Book Club or Sports?"

     "DANCE!" the Disco Bruce shouted.

     "Of course not! Sports!" Nick said.

     "Book club," the Lenny said meekly. The wall was there again. It would seem that no one could hear her. She had waited for this too long to let this go. Books were her biggest passion, and this time she wouldn't give up without a fight.

     "Dance, dance, dance!" Gary waved his fin in the air.

     "Sports, more healthy!" the Quiggle said.

     "A dance. It's fair to all of us. And who would want a book club anyway?" Annabelle said with her high-pitched tone.

     The fight ended as fast as it had started. No one was paying any attention to her. Alice knew that she was a good girl, and sometimes Mr. Mason would say that. But this wasn't fair! No one could hear her!

     "Well, we'll decide at the end of this week. Now I'll hand out some paper and you'll write about what you did during the vacation. Later we will be making up personal goals for this year." Mr. Mason walked around and distributed the sheets of paper to the students.

     This was going to be a very long day.

     -

     "How was your day?" Undine asked.

     "It was okay. Good girl attitude as always," Alice told her owner.

     "Well, you're a little bit shy…" the Lenny's owner said quietly.

     "Anything wrong with that?" the Lenny wondered.

     "You know what? There was this music class. I thought you'd like to go," Undine smiled at her pet.

     "I'm sorry, but the book 'Illusen's Ixi' is so enticing. Another day?" Alice picked up her book and started to walk to her room.

     "I've already signed you up for it!" her owner called out. The Lenny froze. Oh joy. This always happened. Undine liked to sign up for things without consulting the person itself. This time, the poor person happened to be Alice.

     "What? But…"

     "No buts! Lesson starts tomorrow night at 3:30 PM and goes on for an hour. I'll call the teacher to make sure you're there," Undine said. She knew it was mean to push her pet into something, but this was necessary. A good teacher would boost Alice's confidence.

     "Anything else I should know?" Alice replied tartly. That sour aftertaste of unpleasant news spread on her mouth. Now she had to deal with music homework on top of her regular ones!

     "Singing. They'll start out solo and then move on to a choir."

     "Thanks for the info. Can I get back on my book now?" the Lenny asked with an irritated tone.

     "Of course. Don't forget to attend!" Undine said happily.

     -

     Alice swallowed nervously as she stood in front of the big, blue doors leading to the music class. The anxious butterfly feeling in her stomach didn't make it better.

     "Dare to do things! That's what the books say…" The Lenny made herself walk through the doors and received a whole lot of stares.

     This wasn't going well… What classroom was it now again? Oh yes, 29b, upper floor. Alice sauntered towards the stairs.

     "Hey, do you know where classroom 29a is? They relocated the whole thing!" a Sketch Zafara asked Alice.

     "Err… Up there?" the Lenny replied, surprised by the question. Alice thought that the invisibility would carry over here.

     "Well, you're here for the song lessons too, aren't you?" the Zafara said with a friendly tone, "I'm Desiree, but you can call me Des."

     "I'm Alice," the Lenny said, feeling that she wanted to properly introduce herself to this potential new friend. Suddenly she remembered something. "Be nice and smile a lot. Don't forget to be friendly!" was what it said in her book about making friends. "I'll try my best," the Lenny thought, realizing that this was a second chance.

     "It'll be fun! This is a new year and there are bound to be new teachers. And solo singing isn't as bad as you think it is. You're new, right? You'll get used to it." Desiree reassured the anxious Lenny.

     They both got to the rooms of 29 and Alice entered the right one, 29b.

     "Welcome! I'm Miss Chant and I suppose you're Alice?" the smiling Shadow Gelert greeted the little Lenny.

     "Yes," Alice replied quietly, waiting for the teacher to continue.

     "Err… We're going to sing," Miss Chant said after a minute of silence. More silence followed.

     Notes flooded the room. Beautiful, clear notes entered and danced around in the classroom as Alice sat in wonder. Dazed, the Lenny realized it was Desiree singing in the room beside this one.

     "That's song," the Gelert said and picked up a silver flute.

     "Can I sing like that?" Alice asked. This was real talent. She wanted to be able to sing like that… It was so beautiful, and it sounded like it came from another world. Suddenly she thought of Desiree. The little Sketch Zafara had seemed so nice. Who knew such talent resided within a little neopet like that?

     "Maybe. You'll have to work hard though. But let's first start with finding the correct notes." The air in the room vibrated as notes came out of the flute. Alice followed the lead. It was easy.

     "Louder!" Miss Chant said as Alice sang the last note.

     "Huh?"

     "You'll have to be louder if you want someone to hear," the Gelert explained kindly.

     "Well… I'm just used to being quiet…"

     "You can't be quiet here anymore! Let your voice reach the sky! That is true music!" Miss Hayden waved the flute around energetically, and started to play again. The Lenny sang. She tried her hardest to break that invisible wall that was still there.

     "Even louder!"

     As Alice sang on, she realized what it meant with true singing. Music was like writing… telling someone from the bottom of your soul. She closed her eyes and tried some variations.

     "Very good!" the Gelert said when Alice had finished.

     "But I… I did it a little bit differently," the Lenny admitted, reverting to her quiet indoor voice.

     "Noticed that. Well, you're quite a singer. Next lesson is in a week. Don't forget to practice. And use a loud voice! Reach the sky!" Miss Chant said as she waved with the silver flute.

     "Why?"

     "If you're quiet and all that, you won't be remembered. Our notes make other people remember us."

     "I see."

     "Well, see you!" Miss Chant let another student in.

     Alice walked down the stairs and home. The autumn leaves were falling. Suddenly she felt like singing, and did it. Where no one could see it, a little Lenny danced around in the autumn wind as notes rose to the sky.

     "So this is what they mean with the essence of music…" Alice said slowly to herself as she walked the rest of the way home. She could feel the change. The invisible wall was gone!

     -

     "Dance, Book Club or Sports?" Mr. Mason asked.

     "Dance!" several students shouted and jumped around in excitement.

     "Calm down," the Kau said. "Anyone else?"

     Alice thought it through. "Use a loud voice… Be heard… Be remembered…" She decided that she would do it, even at the cost of a bad reputation. Everyone was definitely not going to like her for this.

     "Book Club!" the Lenny shouted. The students all turned around and looked at Alice. So did Mr. Mason. He remembered that she was the quietest of them all. Alice the Lenny was a student with above-average grades, awards and known for never complaining. This was new.

     "Dream on!" Annabelle snorted. "Don't think you're in our league!"

     "Annabelle!" Mr. Mason said warningly. The rest of the class had been surprised by this and now thought it over. Some of them did like books better than sports or dance anyway.

     "You'll vote anonymously," the teacher said, looking for a box. "Take out a piece of paper and write down what you vote for."

     Noises of pencils scratching papers and an occasional 'oops' followed. Mr. Mason walked around and let everyone put his or her vote in the box. When he came to Alice, she tore a piece off the paper and scribbled something on it. Then the Lenny put her vote.

     "And the result is… Dance!" Mr. Mason declared. The majority of pupils jumped up and cheered.

     Alice felt a tinge of disappointment. But she had spoken up!

     "Good job. It was a nice try," Linda whispered to her. The Lenny smiled. The invisible barrier was broken.

     "Wanna be friends? You're pretty cool after all…" the Faerie Draik said as the class went out to recess.

     "Sure!"

     Autumn of year 6:

     I have reached the sky with my voice. Wishes come true - if you work hard at it.

     -Alice, Blue Lenny

 The End.

Author's Note: This story was inspired by a string of occurrences in real life. Not that the same thing happened to the author, but the events were quite similar. I hope that this isn't so clichéd. Comments and criticism will be appreciated via Neomail. Thanks for reading!