Chia Problems

by tali_dudin

Poliz proudly displayed his stone coat. His owner, Jilla gave it to him just yesterday. He was very happy with his new look. "Wow...I wish my owner would paint me too," sighed Stor, his friend. He himself was a bright red colour. "Well, being red isn't so bad. At least you're not a Faerie or something. You would look like a girl!" Poliz consoled his friend. "That's true, being painted Faerie would be horrible," agreed Stor. The bell rang and the two Lupes headed to class. In the classroom, everyone complimented Poliz on his new look and he was looking very smug.

When he got home his owner greeted him with an unusual tinkle in her eyes. Playing along, he pretended that he didn't notice and went into the kitchen to get his after school snack. While munching on a Negg he proceeded to plant himself in front of the NeoTV. His favorite show was on. Jilla walked into the room with that twinkle in her eyes. "Poliz, can you please get me something from the guest bedroom upstairs? I'm too tired to go up and get it."

"Sure!" he answered while wondering what it could be. All part of the surprise, no doubt. He walked into the guest bedroom to find it looking entirely different. It was painted yellow, with little blue fish on the ceiling and had a crib in it. There was also other baby furniture in it. "Wow! I'm getting a baby brother, or maybe a sister," he breathed. The thought of a baby brother excited him more, but a sister would be great too. He walked up to the crib not knowing what to expect. There was a bundle in it, but he couldn't see what kind of pet it was. He picked it up gently with his mouth and carried it downstairs.

Jilla was beaming at him as he brought the bundle to her. "You open it. I can't use my paws to untie the knot and I don't want to use my teeth, in case I might hurt it," he said with excitement in his voice. Jilla opened a bit of bundle with shaking hands to reveal a little baby Chia in it. "It's a girl," she said. The bundle squirmed and said "Chia!" and laughed. Poliz gasped and stared at it with his mouth open.

"It's...It's....It's a Chia!" he whispered with disbelief.

"I haven't named her yet. Maybe you could do that for me?" asked Jilla obviously not noticing his angry expression.

"How could you do this to me?!" he yelled. "Do you want me to be the laughingstock of the whole school?!"

The Chia was startled by this loud voice and began to cry. "Shhh!" said Jilla sternly while picking up the bundle. "I'm going to put her to sleep now, wait for me here and we'll discuss this." She walked up the stairs carefully carrying the bundle. Poliz watched her sulkily.

Jilla returned and motioned him to the couch. "Now then," she began "...why aren't you happy with your sister? Is there something wrong with her."

"Yes! She's a Chia!" Poliz replied with hate in his voice. "Don't you know that Lupes hate Chias?! I can't have a sister who's a Chia!"

"That old tale that Lupes hate Chias?" Jilla asked. "But that was such a long time ago, this is modern Neopia we're living in. Surely nobody believes in that anymore."

"Yes they do!" Poliz cried passionately. "Every Lupe I know hates Chias! Including me!" with that he ran up the stairs to his room.

Jilla had enough sense not to bother him.

The next morning was a Saturday, so there was no school. Poliz descended down the stairs slowly. Just thinking about the Chia made him mad. Didn't his owner understand that Lupes and Chias don't get along?! He walked into the kitchen to find the Chia in a high chair munching on the last plain omelette. He had to be satisfied with just NeoCrunch cereal. Jilla was washing the dishes quietly. She turned around and looked at him. "Wouldn't you like to name her, Poliz? I'm sure you could find a suitable name."

"Yeah," he replied with a smirk. "How about 'Stupid'? Or maybe 'Smelly'?"

"Poliz! She's your sister for Faerie's sake! Can't you try to be civil to her? She's just a baby," Jilla replied without raising her voice. "I guess I'll have to name her and I'm horrible with names. Hmmmm....I know! Blue-Blossom! That's a wonderful name!" she exclaimed.

"I really don't care. As far as I'm concerned, you could name her 'Grakle Soup'. I'll never talk to her," Poliz growled.

*2 months later*

Blue-Blossom was already a toddler. She could talk almost like an adult NeoPet. Poliz still ignored her and never talked to her. He just pretended she wasn't really there. Jilla never forced him to talk or spend time with her, she knew that one-day he will do that on his own. Forcing will just make him hate Blue-Blossom even more. If that was possible.

"You mustn't mind him, dear," Jilla would tell Blue Blossom. "He's just going through a phase. His life was turned upside down when you came and I don't blame him for being angry. At least he's not mad at me," Blue-Blossom would nod and agree although deep inside she didn't believe that Poliz would ever consider her as a sister.

School just finished and Poliz happily walked into his house. He smiled at Jilla who was looking a bit nervous. She stepped to the side to reveal that Blue-Blossom was no longer blue. She was Faerie She was nervously fluttering in the air, her beautiful blue wings shimmering in the sunlight.

"Why does she get painted Faerie?!" he demanded. "Faerie paintbrushes are worth 100 ,000 NP! All I ever got was a Stone Paintbrush, and that one's worth only 8000 NP!"

Jilla sighed and tried to be patient. "When we went to the paintbrush pool you said that Faerie Paintbrushes are for girls! You said that stone was the one you liked best!"

"Well...well, I still like it best, but how could you afford a Faerie Paintbrush?!" he asked shrilly.

"I won it in a contest. I didn't spend any Neopoints on her, only on you. I bought you this." Jilla took out a big box from under the table and handed it to Poliz. He opened it carefully and gasped. Inside was an enormous Cirrus. The largest he has ever seen. It gracefully flew out of the box and hovered beside him.

"I remember you said you wanted to be able to fly without being a Faerie so I thought he would be perfect for you," smiled Jilla. "He's big enough for you to fly on and it won't hurt him. Go on! Try it!" Poliz smiled back at her and apologised. He carefully got on the Cirrus and a feeling of joy spread through him. He was flying! Well, not by himself, but it was still great.

"Thank you so much!" he smiled at Jilla and went up to his room. Jilla was overjoyed that Poliz was happy. He was angry most of the time...

One day, Jilla had to go out for some shopping but had no one to leave Blue-Blossom with. Could she ask Poliz? She called him downstairs. "Poliz! Could you come down here for a second?" she yelled. "Yes?" he answered as he descended down the stairs. "Could you....Ummmm..please watch Blue-Blossom for me while I go out?" Jilla asked nervously.

"What?! Watch her?! Do you want to embarrass me to death?" Poliz yelled.

"Please! You know I can't send her to the Neolodge for just an hour, the minimum stay is at least a day! I'm not asking you to parade her around town, just to watch her!" Jilla replied with despair in her voice.

"Maybe you should send her there, that way we could get some rest around here," muttered Poliz.

"What? Oh never mind, look, I'll even pay you. 5 NP an hour," Jilla said. Poliz was low on cash, so he sulkily agreed to look after Blue-Blossom for a while. Not that he really wanted to.

As soon as Jilla left, he growled "Just stay out of my way and don't bother me!" and went up to his room. Blue-Blossom went to the backyard to play in her sandbox. Just then, the bell rang. Poliz rushed downstairs to open the door and discovered Stor and a couple of friends from school.

"Hey guys!" he greeted them. "Come in!"

"What's that smell?" asked Lupeia, a pretty blue Lupess. "I can't quite name it, but it smells familiar," she said.

"Ohhh...Hehe, that's nothing. Probably from outside," laughed Poliz nervously.

"Let's go to the living room," he offered.

"No...I think it's coming from your backyard..." continued Lupeia. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that there was a Chia there..." and she licked her lips menacingly.

"What?! You're crazy!" laughed Poliz. "Come on, let's go..." but Lupeia interrupted him. "I'm gonna go check out your back yard. I can't be wrong about Chia smells," said Lupeia and trotted to the backyard and everyone followed her.

"See?! I told you there was a Chia here!" Lupeia growled. "Ohhhh...THAT Chia. That's just my afternoon snack," lied Poliz. "Jilla brought it here today and I haven't gotten around to hunting it yet. Now let's go to..."

"Let's hunt it now!" Lupeia exclaimed. "Yea! Come on! It'll be fun!" everyone else agreed.

"No! I mean....Get your owners to buy you your own Chias! This one's mine!" yelled Poliz.

"Gee Poliz..." Stor looked hurt. "I never realised that you were so greedy! I'm think I'm gonna leave."

"No! Don't leave! Please stay!" Poliz pleaded with his friends. "Can we hunt the Chia?" Lupeia asked.

"Fine. But don't hurt it or eat it," Poliz agreed.

"Why not?" asked Lick, a white Lupe. "Are you feeling SORRY for the Chia? Are you a wussy?"

"No way! I just....I wanna do that myself. It's no fun when others do it!" Poliz yelped and jumped at Blue-Blossom.

"Play along or I'll let them hunt you!" he whispered fiercely. He pretended to bite her paw and she rolled on the ground. The other Lupes surrounded Blue-Blossom in a circle and growled. Meanwhile, Poliz jumped and bit Blue-Blossom, not for real of course. Blue-Blossom played along and pretended to be hurt. Finally, she got tired of this and flew away. The only reason Poliz didn't hurt was because he'd get in trouble with Jilla, and Slue-Blossom knew that.

"I can't believe it got away!" cried Lupeia as she tried to jump up and get Blue-Blossom.

"Me neither..." said Poliz. "Oh well! Let's go to the living room!"

When his friends left Blue-Blossom flew back to her house. She was tired and hungry after spending most of the day in the woods. Meanwhile, Poliz was watching TV without even giving a thought about his sister. Blue-Blossom quietly flew in and went up to her room.

Jilla entered the room and paced nervously. She had to talk to Poliz about something important. "Poliz?" she asked. "I need to talk to you about something important."

"What is it?" he wondered.

"Well, it's about Blue-Blossom. As you know, she's already old enough to go to school and...well...She's going to go Mystery Island Village school."

"What?! But that's the school I go to!" cried Poliz.

"Yes, I know, but I can't send her to another school. The other schools are all too far. You'll just have to live with it," replied Jilla.

"But we have the same last name! Everyone will know that we're related!" cried Poliz.

"How could you do this to me? I wish she was never born!" and he stormed outside. Neither of them noticed that Blue-Blossom was standing on the stairs listening to their conversation.

"I must do something," she thought. "How can I got to school with someone who hates me? I'll be the laughingstock of the school!"

The next afternoon Poliz returned from school in a grumpy mood. All he could think about was that Blue-Blossom was going to school next week and everyone would find out that a Chia was his sister. It would be horrible! He heard Jilla's voice in the kitchen. "Now really Blue-Blossom, you know you didn't have to do that! He would have learned on his own!" she was saying. Poliz was curious about what was going and walked in to the kitchen.

"Who's that?" he asked and pointed at a yellow Gelert who was standing beside Jilla.

"Don't you recognise your own sister?" Jilla said and laughed. "She traded in her wings for a Gelert morphing potion."

"Really? You did that so....I won't be embarrassed in school?" Poliz asked in amazement.

"Well, that and because I never felt comfortable being a Chia. I always felt that I could do so much more if I could be a strong pet. I hope you like how I look now," Blue-Blossom replied. Poliz nodded and smiled.

Since that day, Poliz and Blue-Blossom were great friends. Poliz was no longer embarrassed to have his sister go to school with him and Blue-Blossom was happy that Poliz didn't hate her. This story just shows that a little sacrifice goes a long way.

The End