A Wilting Flower

Dear Journal,

Wow, the first time I’ve ever written in you. I suppose that I should introduce myself. My name is Mana, and I’m a green Techo. I’m my owner’s first and only pet. We live on a steep, grassy hill in Mystery Island. Our home is small, but cozy, and despite only living in it for a few days, I’ve already dug out a mini garden outside my window, but it’s lacking flowers or any vegetation at all, really.

I like it here, mostly. Well, except for Neoschool. That is a bad place that my owner makes me go to. Oh, don’t get me wrong; I get good grades. In fact, I’m at the top five in my class. It’s just that the other pets aren’t very nice to me. If you said that I had no friends, I’d tell you willingly that you are making a completely accurate assumption. I just haven’t quite found my niche yet. See, I’m really shy, and being “the new kid” doesn’t help at all. Ah well, I get by, I suppose.

Oh yes, and there’s another thing, too. I absolutely love flowers! Now, like I said, the garden outside my window is very barren, but there’s a reason for that. When it actually comes to growing flowers, I’m extremely challenged. I still love looking at them and the smell of them is so calming. But, before I forget, I do have one flower. It’s a pebeanjay, and it’s sitting on my wooden bedroom window sill. Unfortunately, it’s doing poorly at the moment, just as all other flowers I’ve ever attempted to grow have been. It has an unnaturally brown stem and really droopy leaves right now. Ma says that it isn’t dying, and it’ll have a little more kick in its step a few days from now, but I’m doubtful. The doubt is only a seed, though, and I am wading in a lot of hope right now, so I won’t give up. That flower is going to bloom if it’s the last thing I do. Heh, thinking about it, maybe that’s a bad promise to make.

Your new friend,

Mana

17th Day of Running, Year 7

Dear Journal,

Sometimes I just want to quit Neoschool! Today, I was going through the usual torturous lunch hour trying to find a table to sit at where I wouldn’t get made fun of. Well, I was standing helplessly in one spot in the cafeteria when the “popular” group in my grade called me over to sit with them. I should have known better, but I was so ecstatic at the time to actually get noticed that I ran right over. I sat in the only seat left, and was extremely surprised when I felt something mushy beneath me. Lo and behold, there were mashed potatoes from today’s lunch on my part of the bench seat! It was so embarrassing that I could feel my green cheeks grow hot on the spot. Tears were burning up in my eyes, but my pride would not allow them to fall. The worst part was that nobody even apologized! Every one of them just sat there, pointing and laughing, and were accompanied by every other pet in the lunch room. I absolutely hate them!

My flower isn’t doing very well, either. It’s still extremely wilted. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, either. It gets new water everyday and fresh soil frequently. Maybe it just needs someone to talk to it. I read about that in a botany book I borrowed from the library. I guess I could try chatting with it a little bit later. Plants need friends, too, I suppose…just like me.

Oh well, I’m going to go eat now. I’m starving; didn’t get to eat lunch today.

Regretfully,

Mana

18th Day of Running, Year 7

Dear Journal,

Guess what? There’s a new pet in school! Her name’s Jarcie and she’s a shadow Tonu. Isn’t that wonderful? Maybe I should explain my reasoning. See, if there’s a new pet, that means I’m no longer new! So now the other Neopets won’t pick on me anymore! And who knows? Maybe I’ll actually be able to make some real friends.

I suppose I feel sort of bad because the new Tonu doesn’t know what she’s going to be going through, but I’d definitely rather have it be her than me. Mostly all of the other kids just shunned her and continued to ignore me today, though. I’m sure that someone will talk to me soon. Right?

My flower is still not looking well, although it has seemed to have perked up a little bit since yesterday. I’m beginning to think that this “talking to your plant makes it grow better” advice is more than just a myth. I haven’t watered it yet, and my owner gave me some of this plant food stuff, so hopefully it’ll get better soon!

Slightly happy,

Mana

19th Day of Running, Year 7

Dear Journal,

I was very wrong yesterday. The kids at Neoschool are still picking on me. Some yellow Usul I didn’t know tripped me in the hall and a red Buzz slammed my locker shut before I was done in with it. Apparently, they didn’t hate me because I was new, the hated me because I’m me. It isn’t fair!

And Jarcie, she’s treated just as poorly as I am. I think that tomorrow I’m going to ask her if she wants to sit with me at lunch. Even if I can’t provide popularity, the least I could do is keep her from falling into the same traps that I did. Maybe I’m just saying that because I feel guilty from what happened today.

See, today those “popular” pets played the same mashed potato trick on Jarcie as they did to me a few days ago. I think that their limited brain capacity prevents them from coming up with more that one prank. Anyway, Jarcie was so upset that she ran out of the cafeteria with tears running down her face. I almost went to go comfort her, but I was really still holding out for someone to talk to me this afternoon. At the time, I thought that helping a person who was being picked on could have hurt my chances! Of course, I know that sounds awful and I deeply regret thinking that way now.

Oh yeah, my pebeanjay is looking worse today then it did yesterday. The bud still refuses to show its face and the leaves see, especially frail. Although the stem is beginning to turn a stale green color, which isn’t horrible I guess.

I suddenly don’t feel very well. I think that I need to lie down. Maybe I won’t go to Neoschool tomorrow.

Unfortunately,

Mana

20th Day of Running, Year 7

Dear Journal,

My owner made me to go Neoschool today. It wasn’t as ad as I thought it would be. See, I was standing in the usual long lunch line right in front of Jarcie, when I finally worked up enough courage to ask her to sit next to me at lunch. Jarcie hesitated, but finally said, “Okay,” in a quiet, unsure voice. I think that she was afraid that I’d tease her like the other kids.

Well, anyway, we sat at that lunch table in the farthest back corner of the cafeteria. You know, that table with the spaghetti sauce stain under it that’s been there since Year 5, and the bench seat that’s broken in half. Oh, don’t worry, we sat on the benches that were still whole. Well, she was pretty shy, but then again, so was I. Still, it was a start, and our classmates only threw a few insults our way that lunch hour, which is an improvement.

The flower is also doing better than it was yesterday. The stem is almost a natural green color, finally, and the leaves are brightening up as well as looking healthier. I think the plant food helped a lot. Maybe, just maybe, I have more of a green thumb than I.

Jarcie might become my first friend on Mystery Island that isn’t a plant.

Truly yours,

Mana

21st Day of Running, Year 7

Dear Journal,

Jarcie and I got to talking at lunch this afternoon. I learned that her family moved from Terror Mountain and she’s an only child, just like me. She’s actually really nice; the other pets don’t have a right to make fun of her. They don’t even know her. Then again, they don’t have a right to make fun of me, either. However, there is good news. Jarcie and I might go to the beach tomorrow! Maybe she really is my friend…

And, oh! You’ll never believe what happening to the pebeanjay! The leaves and the stem are both the normal green hue! Isn’t it wonderful? And I think that the bud has opened up just a little bit. But that might just wishful thinking. It’s probably not really true; my owner can’t see a difference.

I think that I actually want to go to school tomorrow for once.

Happy as a Puppyblew,

Mana

23rd Day of Running, Year 7

Dear Journal,

Sorry that I didn’t write in you yesterday! Jarcie and I got back from the beach late, and then I still had homework, so I didn’t have much free time.

We had a lot of fun at the beach! I don’t think that I’ve ever been outside for such a long period time. But being by the ocean is just indescribable. The soft sand bent and sculpted under my green Techo feet with every move that I made. And the warm sun soaked through my skin and gave me quite a sunburn! Oh well, I had too much fun to care! We walked around the beach, splashed in the water, and hit the blow-up beach ball back and forth. Other than all of that, nothing else really happened that was exciting yesterday.

But today was different, well, sort of. We, Jarcie and I were outside on the swings during recess. It was a good time because we were laughing, talking, and things like that. But then, these two mean Neopets, a starry Lupe and a green Poogle came up behind us and dumped the black rubber seats of the swing, with us in them, right over! Ugh, it was so embarrassing! And, at the time, the worst part was that under the swings was this puddle of mud. At first I felt like I was about to cry, but Jarcie and I looked at each other. She had a huge mud spot on one of her ears, two little drops on her horn, and all four of her paws were covered in the grown goop. Quite honestly, she looked hilarious! And I must have looked equally silly, because she started laughing her contagious laugh.

Before we knew it, both of us were lying in fits of giggles, kicking our feet in the air and gasping for breath. The two bullies kind of edged away slowly, giving us odd looks.

Ah yes, and the flower! It’s finally noticeably opening up! I’m so excited that my pen’s shaking as I write. All the watering, sunlight, plant food, and talking to is paying off so far! This is one of the first things that I’ve ever managed to do right in my life. Wow, that looks terribly pathetic in writing…

Excitedly,

Mana

24th Day of Running, Year 7

Dear Journal,

Today was the first day since I’ve been in Mystery Island that a pet didn’t even try to pick on me! Well, no one exactly made efforts to try and be my friend, either, but I really don’t care anymore. I don’t need them. Who cares about what those “popular” Neopets think? See, I always wanted a friend who would like me for who I am and not care about how low on the totem pole I sat. And I found that one pet; she’s a shadow Tonu and her name is Jarcie. We’re going to be friends until the end, I can tell.

The pebeanjay is in full bloom. The petals of the beautiful purple flower are showing its face and are no longer hiding its true colors from society’s eye. It’s taking matters into its own leaves, and not hanging back to see what everyone else does. I am so excited for it, and so grateful that it kept me occupied and in good company during my darker days. A companionship with a flower may sound crazy, but trust me, it comes in handy sometimes. We had a mutual relationship of sorts; with both of us depending on the other. I’m going to go plant it into our garden later, so that it can thrive in a more natural environment than my room. But each and every day I’ll be able to see it out my window.

Of course, I can’t forget about you, my journal. You listened to my confessions and thoughts when it seemed like no one else cared. Without you, I’m not sure how I would have been able to get by, and that’s the truth. Now that I have a real friend, though, I think it’s time that you were retired. At first I thought about burning you, because it would be a symbol of forgetting my past days and looking forward to the new ones. But that would be like setting an old friend on fire, and I just can’t do that. So onto my bookshelf you will go. Perhaps one day I’ll need you again, and I’ll go and write about something in my life. You were a wonderful companion, and I will miss sharing my life with you.

If you’ll excuse me, now, Jarcie just walked in our front door downstairs. We’re going to go sledding down Terror Mountain as an overnight trip, since we don’t have Neoschool tomorrow! You’re the best, journal.

Goodbye,

Mana

The End