To Be Rich

     Flowrey, a rainbow Acara, was chatting with her best friends while stepping down the concrete steps of the school. On her right-side was her first best friend, a pink Uni named Summer, and on her left-side was her second best friend, a yellow Blumaroo named Gretchen. Summer, Gretchen, and Flowrey were all completely different from each other, but that’s what made them fit as friends so greatly. They had been friends since they met in kindergarten, and the three were now literally inseparable at school. They always stuck together, through good times and bad.

     Summer giggled in excitement. “At last! The weekend has arrived, and tortuous Neoschool has come to an end!”

     Flowrey smiled. “This is great! I can’t wait to get back home and start reading some of these awesome books that Fantasia got me yesterday!”

     “Well,” Gretchen began, “you girls will NOT believe what I’m doing after school.”

     Summer and Flowrey exchanged glances of curiosity, and then turned back their attention to Gretchen. “What is it?” they inquired in unison.

     Gretchen paused for one moment, as if to gather up the excitement. Suddenly, she exclaimed, “I’M GETTING A DOGLEFOX AND A MOOTIX TODAY!”

     Summer squealed immediately, and hugged Gretchen. “Oh my gosh, that is, like, so great!”

     Flowrey stood there, feeling enormously happy for Gretchen, yet also carrying an uncanny feeling of...jealousy. This mix of emotions felt very odd to Flowrey.

     Oh come on, what’s there to be jealous about? Flowrey thought to herself. I have a wonderful Weewoo at home. Just because she gets an uber-spiffy Doglefox and an even more uber-spiffy Mootix, doesn’t mean she’s more special then me!

     Gretchen swiveled her head to Flowrey. “What do you think, Flowrey? Isn’t this great?”

     Flowrey’s chain of thoughts were broken. “It sure is,” she muttered, nodding.

     Gretchen raised one eyebrow, but decided not to say anything. “I still haven’t decided what type of Doglefox I should get. I’m thinking about either getting a Pirate Doglefox, or a normal one. What do you girls think?”

     “Pirate, all the way!” Summer piped. The pink Uni suddenly started jumping up and down in enthusiasm. “Okay, okay, I can’t hold it in any longer! I’ve been meaning to keep this as a surprise till Monday, but it’s just too hard!”

     “What is it, what is it?” Gretchen questioned excitedly.

     Summer threw back her head over-dramatically, declaring, “Lara is taking me to the Neolodge this weekend, and she’s letting me stay at the AstroVilla!”

     “EEE, you’re so lucky!” Gretchen squealed, hugging Summer incredibly tight. “Lucky, lucky, lucky!”

     Summer beamed, and turned to Flowrey. “Aren’t you happy for me, Flowrey?” she questioned.

     Flowrey heaved a sigh, and looked down. “That’s so awesome. Your family must be really rich.”

     Summer and Gretchen exchanged glances of confusion.

     “What’s the matter, Flowrey?” asked Gretchen. “You don’t look so good.”

     Flowrey sniffed. She knew that she was going to start crying, but she certainly didn’t want Gretchen and Summer to see.

     “I have to go!” she shouted, promptly running away from her friends and heading home.

     Flowrey felt terrible for ditching her friends so suddenly, but they got so much more happiness in their lives, so it was only fair.

     “Why do their families have so many Neopoints, and my family has almost none?” Flowrey said aloud, wiping away some tears that had managed to trickle down her cheeks. “It’s so not fair!”

     The rainbow Acara continued to carry a cloud of gloom over her as she walked up her driveway. Some shouts and laughs were coming from the inside, which meant that Dane, Flowrey’s younger Christmas Lupe brother, and Luna, her older sister who was a yellow Ixi, were home.

     “I’m home!” Flowrey yelled, once stepping inside her comfy home.

     In reality, her family did have quite a bit of Neopoints. She resided in a medium-sized house, and some of the items that they owned were rather pricey. But that still didn’t compare to Summer and Gretchen, who both had huge houses and so many Battledome weapons and toys to themselves that it wasn’t even funny.

     Fantasia, Flowrey’s gorgeous thirteen-year-old owner, came out of the kitchen, smiling. “Hey Flowrey!” she greeted her pet. “Glad you’re home! Dane, Luna, and I are planning on going to the Games building to make some Neopoints for Christmas. Wanna’ come?”

     At first, Flowrey felt like saying no, since she wasn’t in a very good mood. But then, a brilliant idea sprung in her mind. An idea that would help her family win lots of Neopoints. Lots.

     However, she first needed to get some Neopoints of her own to succeed in her plan.

     So to do this, Flowrey had to tell Fantasia a big, white lie. “I’d love to come with you guys! However, I accidentally forgot some of my homework at school! Is it all right if I go back to school first and get it and then come back here?”

     Fantasia nodded. “Sure, I don’t see why not. Just make sure that you’re quick since I don’t want to go when the sun has already set.”

     Flowrey grinned, and ran back at the door. “I’ll see you soon!” she exclaimed, and then raced off to the National Neopian Bank.

     Ten minutes later, Flowrey arrived at a towering, majestic building that was located at the far edge of the Neopian Bazaar. She made her way inside, where many workers were bustling about; doing what it was that they needed to be doing. The rainbow Acara walked up to a green Skeith who was seated behind a large, marble counter.

     “Hi, I’d like to withdraw twenty-thousand Neopoints from my owner’s account,” she whispered. She was afraid that maybe Fantasia would suddenly barge in and yell ‘What are you doing here?!’

     The Skeith arched an eyebrow. “What is your owner’s name?”

     “Fantasia.”

     The Skeith nodded, and slid out of his chair. He walked to an enormous filing cabinet. Swinging it open, he flipped through some records, and then stopped.

     “Name?” he asked monotonously.

     Flowrey gulped. Anxiety was starting to get to the best of her. “F-Flowrey,” she stammered.

     The Skeith immediately slammed the filing cabinet shut. “It says that your owner here has given you and your siblings the permission to withdraw Neopoints from her account, so…” He stopped, and bent down to grab something, “here are you twenty-thousand Neopoints.”

     He dumped a big, fat bag that was filled to the rim with gold on the table. Flowrey sighed in relief, and snatched the bag from the table.

     “Thank you!” she said.

     The Rainbow Acara quickly ran out, and made her way back home.

**************

Fantasia, Dane, Luna, and Flowrey were all inside the Games building. Tons and tons of pets were around them, each one pushing their way through to get to the game that they wanted to play.

     “Do you guys want to go play Meerca Chase?” inquired Fantasia, looking around.

     Flowrey shook her head. “No thanks,” she said. “I’m going to head off to the Luck section. You three can go.”

     Fantasia was surprised. Flowrey always wanted to play Meerca Chase. But the young adolescent suddenly realized that maybe Flowrey had found another game that she really liked, so she simply nodded and the trio left off, leaving Flowrey to herself. The Acara gulped, and wiped some sweat from her brow. She sneakily slid the bag of Neopoints out of her yellow jacket that she had brought along, and began weaving through the immense crowd to get the Neopian Lottery booth.

     Upon arriving at the large, brown booth, Flowrey was glad to see that no one was there to test their luck. A young Moehog stood behind the counter, yawning and basically doing nothing. Flowrey ran up to him, and dumped the bag of Neopoints on the table.

     “I’d like two-hundred lottery tickets,” she immediately stated.

     The Moehog suddenly stood up straight, his eyes widening. Never had someone asked for two-hundred tickets before. “Um…sure,” was all that he said.

     He went to the back of the booth where bags that held the lottery tickets were stacked on some shelves. Luckily, the bags were also numbered with how many tickets were inside, so the Moehog rapidly took the first bag that read two-hundred on it, and went back to the entrance of the booth.

     “Here ya go,” he said, dropping the sack of tickets on the table. “Good luck winning. I can see that you want to badly.”

     Flowrey bobbed her head up and down. She was just about to give her Neopoints to the Moehog when she felt something tap on her shoulder. Flowrey froze.

     Please don’t let it be Fantasia, please don’t let it be Fantasia, PLEASE! she thought frantically.

     No, it wasn’t Fantasia. It was someone much, much worse. As Flowrey turned around, she noticed blue. Lots of blue.

     “Oh no…” the Acara whispered fearfully.

     “PEEKABO!” the creature laughed.

     Suddenly, Flowrey felt the bag of Neopoints being pulled out of her hands.

     “HELP, HELP! MY NEOPOINTS ARE BEING STOLEN!” she screamed. But it was too late, her Neopoints were gone.

     Flowrey turned to the Moehog, and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, please, you saw the Pant Devil take my Neopoints! Can’t I just have the tickets?”

     The Moehog scoffed, and seized the tickets away. “Who do you take me for? A piece of toast? Heck no!”

     Flowrey moaned, and dragged her feet away from the booth. She was doomed for eternity. When Fantasia found out about this…oh, the thought of it sent shivers up Flowrey’s spine.

     “Flowrey, there you are!” a voice suddenly exclaimed cheerfully.

     Flowrey tilted her head up. Fantasia, Dane, and Luna were standing a few meters away from her, waving. Flowrey plopped to the ground, and suddenly started to cry.

     Her family all exchanged worried glances, and ran towards her. “What is it, Flowrey?” Fantasia asked in a soothing yet nervous tone.

     “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Flowrey sobbed. “I didn’t mean to! I only wanted to make you happy! To make me happy!”

     Fantasia embraced her Acara in her arms, and rocked her back and forth. “Don’t worry, everything’s all right,” she whispered.

     The adolescent was very confused at the moment, but she could tell that Flowrey needed time before telling her story. So, the four all went back home.

**************

“A-and the Pant Devil suddenly snatched the bag of Neopoints, and flew off,” said Flowrey, finishing up her tale.

     Flowrey was in Fantasia’s bedroom, sitting on her bed. Fantasia was sitting alongside of her.

     At the moment, Fantasia felt very angry over what had happened, but she knew that Flowrey was just trying to help the family.

     “What you did caused the family some great consequences,” the girl explained. “We’re going to have to work harder then ever to get some food, and you three will only have a limited amount of Christmas presents this year. I had to use one-hundred and fifty-thousand Neopoints last month to renovate the backyard, and this month, I was only left with fifty-thousand Neopoints. Do you know how much that leaves us with now?”

     Flowrey whimpered. “T-thirty thousand,” she whispered.

     Thirty-thousand Neopoints?! Flowrey thought. Oh my gosh, we’re so poor! How am I going to tell Summer and Gretchen about this?

     “But look, Flowrey, that’s not the important thing,” said Fantasia, cutting through Flowrey’s thoughts. “What matters is that we’re still a happy family. And as long as we’re together, nothing else matters.”

     Flowrey felt like Fantasia was acting like the Soup Faerie, telling her all these cliché morals. But all of a sudden, she realized that what her owner was saying was completely true.

     “Y-you’re right, Fantasia,” said Flowrey, wiping her cheeks with her balled-up hands. “It was stupid of me to get so fussy over Neopoints. I should have been happy with what I had.”

     Flowrey smiled, and hugged Flowrey tightly. “And I’m sure you will be now.” The girl stood up from her bed. “What do you say we go to the Pizzaroo for supper to get over this ordeal?”

     Flowrey grinned. “Can we stay at the Neolodge after, maybe at the AstroVilla?”

     Fantasia rolled her eyes jokingly. “Of course we can, Flowrey. And maybe I’ll get you a Royal Paint Brush, and an Asparagus Dagger after that!”

     “You will?!”

     “NO!”

The End

A/N: Hey guys! Glad to see that my short story was published in the Neopian Times. It’s been a while since that’s happened (eeevil school work). Any comments about the story are much appreciated. Thanks!