The Case of the Missing NeoPoints

by puffkins2000

"Wow! Won't this be fun?" Cochiese, my younger Skunk Usul sister, was saying. "I've collected some food and NP already."

     We were eating lunch in the cafeteria and talking to our friends.

     "I've only collected some food for now," Blazeflyer said, eating her sandwich. Blaze was my best Uni friend. I'd known her for a long time. She was painted stone, but was painted striped recently. The look fit her well.

     "I don't know what I should give. A lot of the students will be giving food and NP, but I think some of the pets and their owners would want something else, don't you think?" I asked. I drank my milk slowly, thinking. "Maybe fuzzy bears?"

     "Good idea, BabyG!" Blaze exclaimed. "I think I'll join you. My brothers and sister can take the food and NP instead."

     I grinned. Blaze usually agreed with me in anything and I agreed with her on anything.

     I started to eat my Cheesy Neos, when a teacher came up to me.

     "The principal would like to see you," he said.

     I was a little stunned. I've never gotten called to see the principal before. I looked over at Cochiese and Blaze, who were stared, with their mouths hanging open. They couldn't believe it either.

     "Um... sure!" I stammered. I got up, carrying my lunch bag with me and headed to the principal's office. It was down the hall, so I didn't have to walk too far.

     I knocked on the door.

     "Come in," a voice said, muffled from behind the door.

     I slowly opened the creaky door and walked in.

     "Why, Miss BabyGlorie! How nice to see you!" the Blumaroo principal, Mrs. Moocho said to me. She was the very happy type -- maybe a little too happy at certain times.

     "Hello, Mrs. Moocho."

     "Please sit down," she gestured to the chair. I sat down, holding my lunch bag in my lap. "As you know, we are having a Money Tree Drive for the Money Tree. Well, I need someone to count the NP that we get each day. The teachers and I decided that you would be perfect for the job. You're trustworthy, honest, and very smart," Mrs. Moocho was saying. "So will you take the job?" Mrs. Moocho sat at her desk, tapping her fingers around her pencil.

     "Oh, sure! I'll take it," I smiled, a little too excited. "I'll try to do a good job," I said as I pushed a lock of my mane behind my ear.

     "BabyGlorie, I'll know you'll do a great job. Thank you. You may go to your current class now."

     "Thank you! Bye!" I said, standing up. I looked at my watch and hurried to my class. It was almost over, but I probably needed to get my homework.

     I walked into my class, quietly. My Kacheek teacher, Mr. Cass, held up his paw, for me just to stand there. I nodded, showing that I understood.

     Blaze turned around, almost banging the blue Lupe's, that sat behind her, pencil out of their paw. The Lupe let out a tiny growl. Her name was Cindy, and she wasn't a favorite of anyone. She was mean and didn't like anyone. Several times Blaze and I asked her to play with us.

     "Sorry!" Blaze whispered. She glanced at Mr. CASs, to see if he was looking, and then waved to me. I waved back. I knew she was curious about what happened.

     The bell rang loudly.

     "Okay, class! You can leave now," Mr. CASs said. He motioned for me to come up.

     "Yes?" I said, at his desk.

     He handed me a piece of paper. "Here's your assignments."

     "Thanks," I said, taking the paper and putting in in my backpack. Since Blaze was waiting for me, we left the class together.

     "So?" she asked me, while waiting for Cochiese.

     "Oh, right," I teased. "Was I going to tell you?"

     "BabyGlorie! Tell me!" Blaze exclaimed, using my full name.

     I made a face at my full name and began to tell her.

     "Cool! You're lucky! And perfect for it!" she said to me.

     "I need you to take Cochiese home, please, because I need to stay after school today," I told her.

     "Sure, no prob!" Blaze replied.

     "Thanks! I gotta go!" I called. "See ya later!" I went to the cafeteria and started to count the NP we made that day.

     "Three thousand, five hundred and eighty-one NP today, Mrs. Moocho," I said, handing her over the NP, in a plastic container.

     "Very well done, BabyGlorie," she replied, taking the NP. "I'll put this in the school's Safety Deposit Box."

     "Okay! Goodbye!" I yelled, leaving for home.

The next day at school, I was called again to the principal's office. I thought maybe she wanted to tell that I did a good job or something.

     "Hello!" I said, cheerfully.

     Instead of cheerful, I was greeted with "Sit down!" I quickly sat down.

     "What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

     "Oh, nothing, just that we're missing half the NP we made yesterday!" Mrs. Moocho said, angrily. I never saw her so angry before.

     My eyes went wide. "What happened to it?" I asked.

     "I don't know, you tell me!" she nearly accused me. She circled me like a Jetsam.

     "What? You're accusing me of stealing it?" I shot back. "I gave the container of NP to you and you put in the school's safety deposit box," I replied, narrowing my eyes.

     Mrs. Moocho realized that I was right. She plopped down in her chair.

     "BabyG?" a voice said from behind me. It was my owner, Puffkins2000, Puffkins for short. "What happened here?"

     My mind raced. Mrs. Moocho called my owner? Does she really think I would have actually stole the NP?

     I told her the whole story, from yesterday, until she came to the door that day.

     "I believe you BabyG," Puffkins said. To Mrs. Moocho, she said, "I think you must be mistaken. BabyG isn't like that. That's not how I raise my pets."

     Mrs. Moocho looked at the both of us. "Fine. I was going to expel her, but I decided against it. If this happens one more time, then you will be."

     Then I had an idea. "Mrs. Moocho, I think I may be able to play detective and solve what happened to the NP."

     "Fine," she said, totally ignoring me. I was wondering what was wrong with her. She used to trust me!

     Puffkins pulled me out of the office. "What's going on?" she whispered.

     "I don't know," I whispered back. "But I'm going to solve it!"

"What are you looking for BabyG?" Blaze asked me. I was looking on the ground in the cafeteria, right around the table I was counting at.

     "Searching for clues, Blaze."

     "I know you can solve it, BabyG," Puffkins said to me, sitting on the cafeteria table. "But I'm clueless on where to search for the clues,"

     "Let's see... I was here counting the NP, and then I gave it to Mrs. Moocho in her office. And when I was leaving, I saw her head towards the wall, which I will assume is the 'hidden' Safety Deposit Box." I tapped my head with my hoof. "When I left, I didn't see anyone around me."

     "Someone was watching you. And they must have been watching Mrs. Moocho, also."

     I nodded. "They saw the combination for the box and knew where it was hidden." I thought about something. "You know, I remember I saw something when I was counting, but when I looked up, it was gone. I thought maybe I was imagining things. Maybe I wasn't!"

     "Maybe you weren't!" Puffkins said at same time I did. "What did they look like?"

     I closed my eyes. "They were waiting around, almost like they missed the bus. I remember they stared at me and then I looked up and they had disappeared. I think they were wearing a red collar and a purple hairclip. That's all I can remember, because they kept moving their hairclip around and they had just added that collar to their neck."

     "Ooh, a purple hairclip. I wonder where they got that at?" Cochiese wondered out loud. She blushed when we all looked at her. "Oh, sorry!"

     "That's okay, Cochiese," I said. I pulled out a notebook from my backpack. I wrote:

     "Whoa! Check over here!" Blaze said, peering into the Food Donation box.

     "What's the matter with it?" Puffkins asked, hopping off from the chair.

     "There's not as much food in here as yesterday," I answered, peering in myself. I noticed something was weird about it. "Do you see I what I see?"

     "Now's not the time to sing BabyG," Puffkins said, crossing her arms.

     I laughed. "There aren't any musho mushy peas in here. They're all gone!"

     "Now who would want only musho mushy peas?" Blaze asked. "They're gross!"

     "I would think someone that doesn't have a lot money would want it."

     I added another clue to the list:

"I just don't understand, Blaze!" I was saying, as we walked in Neopian Central. I was allowed to count the NP again the yesterday and this morning. There were more musho mushy peas and NP gone. I had gotten in trouble again, too.

     "I don't know, BabyG. I just don't--" Blaze started to say.

     "Shh!" I silenced her. "I heard something." We dove into the bushes and peered at the NeoHome that was on the other side. We were hidden by the bushes, so no one saw us.

     The NeoHome was old, but it was also poor looking. A young baby Chia played in the front yard, which was brown and wasn't very grassy. The owner was on the porch, sipping some water from a cup, as she watched her Chia playing.

     A blue Lupe came running up. "Look what I got from the Money Tree!" they exclaimed.

     Blaze and I gasped quietly. It was Cindy, the Lupe in our class. I never knew she was poor. She never seemed like it. And she never seemed happy in class, when she very happy right now.

     "What did you get?" the owner asked, standing up from the steps.

     "Well, someone threw away a bunch of NP and musho mushy peas!" Cindy exclaimed.

     I gasped. "Cindy has been stealing the NP and the cans of peas!" I exclaimed to Blaze. I noted that she was wearing a red collar and purple hairclip. "And look, she's wearing a red collar and the hairclip!"

     But Blaze didn't say anything. I turned to looked at her.

     "I... think I need... need to... sneeze!" she tried to say.

     "Blaze!" I whispered loudly. "Don't sneeze! Don't blow our cover!" It was too late though.

     "Ah... AHH... CHOO!"

     I looked out the bushes and saw Cindy coming near us. Her family must have went inside. "Oh, no!" I moaned.

     "Blaze! BabyG! What are you two doing here?" Cindy demanded. She put her the paws on her hips, looking down at us, narrowing her eyes. "Were you spying on me?"

     I climbed out, almost hitting Blaze with part of the bush. "You're the one stealing the NP and food from the School's donation boxes, Cindy," I said. "Why?"

     Cindy started to cry, now that the truth was out.

     "Why did you do it, Cindy?" I asked, more gently this time.

     "Please, don't tell my mom! She'll never forgive me!" Cindy burst out. "We needed food and NP when mom lost her job. We used to live in Faerieland. We were rich and then, we lost it all. I was angry, so I resorted to stealing. But then I realized needed food to live, so I started stealing food and claiming I got it from the Money Tree. It wasn't easy, for I never really did get anything from there."

     "Oh, Cindy!" Blaze said, hugging her. "We could of helped you with food. All you needed to do was ask."

     "I didn't want anyone to know about this," Cindy replied, wiping her eyes with her paws.

     "Don't worry, Cindy," I said. "I'll talk to Mrs. Moocho and see if she can help you out. I'm sure she will."

     Cindy nodded. "I think I better go. Mom's making dinner. Bye!" Cindy waved and headed to the door.

     "I guess you solved the mystery, BabyG," Blaze said. "It was a sad one though."

     "Yeah," I replied. Then I grinned. "And next time, I'm leaving you home!"

     Blaze's eyes widen, grinned, and she pushed me playfully. I pushed her back and giggled. "Try and catch me!" I took off running, with Blaze trying to catch me.

At school, Mrs. Moocho apologized to me. I asked her to help Cindy and her family out.

     The teachers and her agreed to give them some NP, food and clothes to use. They also decided to redecorate her NeoHome. Cindy was forever grateful.

     The Money Tree Drive was a big hit! I gave a bunch of fuzzy bears out.

     "Aww! It's so cute!" a little Bruce said to me, hugging his fuzzy bear. I smiled, feeling happy.

     "You know, Blaze. I think I know what I want to do."

     "What?" Blaze asked me, handing out some baked beans and cheese to people.

     "I'm going to be a Uni detective!" I shouted, making everyone look at me like I was a nut.

     Yup, and that's what I became... Detective BabyG, the first female starry Uni detective.

The End

Author's note: Blaze is Maplegal's pet and Cochiese is Puffkins2000 (my owner's) pet.

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