Playing The Part: Part Eight

     "What do you want?" asked the rainbow Uni grumpily. "I'm busy."

     "Sitting in the dark?" said Glitter, smirking. "I don't think so. Well…Mr. Embers wants you to write a nice sign for her." She gave Alisa a piece of paper. "Umm, something about slippery floors and watching out for them."

     The Uni raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Well then, why me?"

     "'Cause our teacher thinks you have great handwriting! Now come on!"

     Not realizing what plan the Acara had, Alisa dug through her bag, looking for something to write with. Much to Glitter's surprise, she pulled out a water faerie pencil, with the initials A.D. marked on it.

     "How many of those pencils do you have, anyway?" asked Glitter nonchalantly.

     Alisa narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Don't you remember? I told you that I have four pencils exactly like these some time ago. But yesterday, I lost one." The faerie Acara continued to watch her beadily - as the rainbow Uni put the point onto the paper and slowly began to form cursive words. At last, she held up the note for Glitter. "What do you think? I bet Mr. Embers will like it."

     Glitter smiled triumphantly. "Here, I'll come with you." The two chums came out and walked up to a fire Scorchio scribbling on a clipboard.

     "Yes?"

     "Sir, I think I just caught our phantom of the play," proclaimed Glitter so loudly that all heads turned to look at her. Alisa gasped.

     The Acara took out a slightly crumpled note out of her backpack, and snatched the so-called sign from her friend. She shoved them both under the nose of their teacher, who gazed intently at both pieces of paper. "Remember when I showed THIS thing to you a few days ago?" Glitter waved the threat. "Now, I got Alisa to write something, and just look at the writing style of both!"

     Mr. Embers furrowed his brows and scrutinized them. "I must admit…Glitter, you're right. There is no doubt that Alisa has been sending you threats and has been behind all the mishaps you have encountered in the preparation of this play!"

     The rainbow Uni was struck dumb. "But sir…I wouldn't do such things! I'm her friend!"

     "Sure, but you haven't been quite a good friend to Glitter, Alisa," said Sweet, walking up to them in a Meridellian general's costume. "You let your jealousy get in the way of your relationship. You went too far and nearly hurt my sister. And NOBODY gets away with it!" He raised his wooden sword above Alisa, who was now cowering in fear and terror. Without another word, the Uni leapt up and ran for the auditorium exit.

     "STOP HER, TROOPS!" yelled the Kacheek, waving his pretend weapon. "That girl wants my little sister out of the play, and she's going to pay!"

     One speckled Acara remained as every other extra knight sprang into action. "Who, your sibling or the one torturing your sibling?"

     Sweet glared at him. "The one torturing Glitter, idiot!" He and his lingering companion dashed off to where Alisa had been cornered.

     "Is this true?" asked Miss Tails, coming to see what the commotion was about.

     The fire Scorchio nodded at his colleague. "Miss Alisa Diamond has been correctly accused of threatening, treachery and terrible light management." He pointed at the rainbow Uni struggling in the grasp of a white Zafara and a striped Kacheek. "Thanks to the detective work of the victim and her siblings, we've finally apprehended her."

     "Alisa? Why, I just can't believe it!" said the island Lupe to Mr. Embers.

     "Believe it, sir, ma'am," said Fluffy, weaving into the raucous crowd. "If you please, my siblings and I will put together the pieces of the puzzle and prove that it was Alisa once and for all."

     "Our first clue was the threats. They were scribbled in neat, cursive handwriting and with medieval terms like 'thee' or 'thou'."

     One faerie Meerca jumped into the discussion. "She's right! She's right! Glitter's friend is a sucker for anything Meridellian and always wins a penmanship award!"

     "Right, Cuddlycoon. And our second clue was the fact that both notes were written with a Water Faerie Pencil. Of course, there are a lot of students here who have such, but - "

     Sweet tapped his sword onto the floor. "Which brings us to the next bit of info. There are only a few guys on the lights committee - namely me, Alisa and Fluffy. Fluffy was gone when the backdrop incident happened, and I was too far from it. Obviously only Alisa was the one who could have pushed it down to get Glitter out of the play."

     The rainbow Uni scowled at the Kacheek. "Oh yeah? How about the props group?"

     Glitter smirked. "Sorry chum, they weren't backstage during that time. Since most of them belonged to the Art Club, they were all gone for a meeting. The rest were putting the finishing touches on other stuff."

     The white Aisha continued. "Another piece of the mystery was the painted threat at the back of the stage. It was colored turquoise - one of Alisa's favorite colors. Then Sweet found her trying to escape and keep her identity a secret, but she dropped a Water Faerie Pencil bearing the initials AD AD for Alisa Diamond."

     "She has more where that came from," said the faerie Acara. "Plus, she accidentally admitted to me that she lost one yesterday - the same day when the backdrop nearly fell on me and Sweet picked up that stray pencil."

     "So the 'sign' you secretly made Alisa write was simply a way to catch her?" asked Mr. Embers.

     The four pets nodded in unison.

     "I must say, you're excellent detectives," said Miss Tails approvingly. "And quite caring too - I could only imagine the work you went through just to save your sister from such harm and humiliation."

     "And I would've gotten away with it too," muttered Alisa. "I would've become Queen Allison, the star of the show. If it weren't for your meddling siblings, Glitter, I would have taken the part which is rightfully mine!" The rainbow Uni twitched menacingly. "I was meant to play the part!"

     The fire Scorchio sighed. "Alisa, because of such actions, I'm afraid that not even the lights committee has a place for you. We'll be putting you in detention while your friends are acting their little hearts out. We aren't taking any chances after you've caused quite a bit of chaos around here."

     "Detention? NO! I've never been to detention! My owner will get you for this!" She screamed as Mr. Embers dragged her off and out of the auditorium. "WHY? Glitter, I'll have my revenge! If you were a real friend, you would've given ME your part!"

     Glitter shook her head. "YOU weren't a real friend to me, Alisa. If you were, you would've just felt happy for me instead of plotting my downfall. It really hurt when I found out that you were the one sending me all those threats. And it was because of you that I falsely accused my brother."

     Her friend said nothing as she disappeared behind the auditorium exit with Mr. Embers, but continued glaring at the faerie Acara till she was out of sight. All was still.

     Until Sweet broke out with, "What are you all waiting for? We've got a play to get ready for!" His statement was answered by a series of whoops and cheers as the students all ran back and took their places at the stage, behind it, or beside it.

     "Wait!" Fluffy called. "What about me? Without you or Alisa, I can't work the lights myself!"

     The striped Kacheek's face fell. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I've always wanted to act. I'd love to help you out, but this is perhaps one opportunity I can never let slip." He gave his sister a hug. "But I'll try my best to ask some students if they can help you."

     Angel waved his pretend weapon. "I can help," he said. "Only when I'm not on stage, that is."

     Miss Tails and Miss Ford heard the conversation and walked over to the trio. "What's going on?" asked the strawberry Poogle.

     "Because Sweet's got a part in the play and Alisa's in detention, I have nobody else on the lights committee," replied the white Aisha.

     "Well," began the island Lupe hopefully, "maybe Miss Ford and I can be of assistance. Working alongside the Detective of the Day and her siblings would be a big honor."

     Fluffy, Sweet and Angel all cracked up. "Thanks," said Fluffy gratefully.

     "Our pleasure," replied the two teachers as they went off to supervise Glitter and the other thespians on stage.

     Meanwhile, her remaining siblings traded glances.

     "Ready for the big play?" asked Sweet.

     "Hope you memorize your lines," said Fluffy. "Good luck."

     "Thanks for the detective work, you guys," said Glitter, walking over to them in her costume. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't still be here."

     "That's what siblings are for," said Angel as he hugged his older brother and sisters. They all embraced each other until Mr. Embers called them out for the last rehearsal.

     "And no matter what happens, we'll stick together. Whether we blow it or we ace it, whether we're on the lights committee or on the stage," added the faerie Acara.

To be continued...