Sapphire's Stories: Ordinarily Discontent

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      “Why me?” I moaned, lying in my simple purple bed. “Why did I have to get sick?” Lemme explain; earlier in the day, I went to the Qasala Expellibox hoping to get some NP. When I got there, a guy with a couple of gloves on handed me a scarab. For some strange reason, I caught a case of Reptillioritus.

      “Can’t they put signs up or something?” I complained whilst my owner entered my room. “Something like: Poisonous Scarabs!!”

      “Sapphire, stop complaining and just stay here while I get some medicine,” Kate replied. She walked over to my sister, Star, and told her to make that sure I didn’t get out of bed.

      “The medicine costs 105,000 NP. How in Neopia do you expect to pay for it if you always gamble on turdles?” I said, scratching the rash on my arm.

      Kate looked back at me, a sad look filling her eyes as she left the room.

      “You shouldn’t treat her like that, Fire,” Star said, giving me a look. “She works really hard to keep us fed.”

      “Yeah, right! She goes off in the morning and comes back with the smell of Meridell all over her clothes along with less than a thousand neopoints on hand!” I said, extremely angry at my sister for taking Kate’s side. “It’s like she only cares for us when we’re sick.”

      “That’s not true! She cares for us more than we can imagine! And if you can’t accept that, then fine!” Star snapped, her white face filling with anger.

      The infuriated Star left the room. I had never seen Star so angry before. Why did she take my owner’s side? “Oh, well,” I said quietly to myself. “I guess this is better than being stuck in the pound or something.”

      I stared at myself on the wall mirror. Staring back at me was a regular blue Usul. “If she really did care abut me, she’d turn me into something rarer. Something like a Cybunny. I mean, look at Star. She was painted Christmas!” I said to myself, feeling very jealous about my Zafara sister.

      After an hour or so, I heard a knock on my door. Kate popped her head in and asked, “May I come in, Fire?”

      “Sure,” I said. Kate entered the room with a small box in her hand. She walked over to the bed, and placed it in my hand. I looked at it confusingly and asked, “What’s this?”

      “It’s medicine. Spread it all over the infected area and you’ll be back to normal in no time,” Kate replied with a smile. I gave her the cold shoulder, and looked away. Kate walked to the door. After she left the room, I opened the box. Inside was a small container of Cactopus Cream. “Where’d she get the money to buy this?” I wondered. Suddenly, the rash spread to the rest of my arm, which meant that my curiosity had to wait. “Might as well start putting this stuff on.”

      The rash was on my back now, so I had to go to the bathroom to make sure that I put the cream on right. A few minutes after putting the cream on, I felt really drowsy. I retreated to my bed. My room slowly started fading, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

      I woke up the next day with a splitting headache. Thankfully, though, the rash was gone. After the headache subsided, I got up and combed my fur, which was now in a complete mess. Afterwards, I put on my most prized possession, a pair of Usul Ski Ear Warmers. Next, I placed on my negg candy bracelet, gormball necklace, fiery mittens and Tacky Lighted Holiday Shoes (hey, they look pretty good on Usuls). I grabbed my pink knit purse and headed out the room.

      Kate and Star were at the dining table. Kate was reading the newest issue of the Neopian Times while Star was reading The Rock Pool and You. I glanced at my owner. She had just finished her Fluffy Faerie Pancakes, and looked like she was almost done with the short story she was reading. I went down the stairs and walked over to the table. Kate saw me and smiled. “I see you’re feeling better,” She said, putting down the NT. When no reply came, her smile subsided into a small frown. She got up, got her bag, and left the neohome saying, “Well, I’m going to the games room.”

      “You’re up late,” Star said after Kate had gone. “It’s almost 10:30 am NST.”

      “I was sick,” I said bluntly as I picked up a small bowl and added some Enchanting Strawberry Cereal and kau milk. “Besides, there’s nothing to get up for.”

      “What about seeing Kate?”

      I didn’t say anything. Star let it go and continued reading her book. I finished my cereal, and looked outside. There was a slight breeze and a few patches of sun showing through the clouds above Faerieland, or in other words, it was a beautiful day.

      “I’m going for a walk,” I told Star as I ran out the door. I stood on our little porch, enjoying the breeze. I looked around. The streets had a small flow of neopets and their owners (which was pretty normal seeing as it was a weekday).

      After walking around a bit, I caught sight of the Faerie Cloud Racers. “That looks like fun!” I thought to myself as I walked up. I decided to watch and learn before trying it out for myself. Many of the pets fumbled a bit and crashed during their first try, but after a few turns, they seemed to have gotten the hang of it.

      I finally decided to try it out for myself. I signed up and got into an earth faerie cloud racer. My first run was TERRIBLE! Although, after crashing a few times, I was finally able to win a round. I decided that that was enough, and collected my neopoints.

      “I have GOT to remember to do that again,” I said, looking at the neopoints I made.

      As I was walking away, though, I heard a familiar voice talking to the faerie at the reward booth. “Thanks, again!” the voice said. There was only one person I knew with a voice like that. Kate! I ran toward Kate’s voice. Then, I stopped. It was Kate, and she had just made around a thousand neopoints by playing. “If I follow her, then I’ll know where she gambles her neopoints, and might even get to stop her from gambling!” I thought to myself as I took a position behind a nearby tree.

      In a few moments, Kate passed by. I followed a few feet away, making sure that I wasn’t seen. Kate boarded the faerie bus heading for Neopia Central. I hopped in and took a seat three rows behind her.

      The trip lasted only a few minutes, but it felt like forever. The reason for this is that I was crouched under the bus seat with chewed bubblegum hovering above my head! I mean, who in the right mind would want to spend a bus trip under chewed bubblegum?!?! Sorry, veering off the subject.

      When we reached Neopia Central, Kate got off the bus and walked over to the games room. I watched her for hours as she played, and played, and played. I could no longer count how many neopoints she had, but I knew that she was somewhere over ten thousand. I was amazed at this. I had never seen my owner so concentrated.

      Finally, after about two hours, she left the games room, and started heading for Meridell. “So, she is betting on turdles!!!” I thought as I followed her to the ferry dock. I boarded the ferry, and made sure I had Kate in sight at all times. When we got to the dock, I followed Kate as she moved through Meridell. She walked near the turdle racing um... arena (if that’s what you call it).

      “Got you now,” I said, ready to sprint. Kate just walked past, not even glancing in its direction. This confused me. “If you’re not here for the turdles, then what are you here for?”

      I got over my confusion, and continued following her. Kate walked over to the Turmac Roll booth and played three times. “So, that’s why she smells like Meridell when she comes home,” I thought, feeling extremely guilty about how I treated her.

      Kate walked back to the dock, and boarded the next ferry to Neopia Central. I followed, as usual, and stayed out of sight. As soon as we docked, Kate walked briskly to the Neopian bank. I followed, and hid behind a small bench.

      As soon as Kate left, I walked up to the Skeith in the front desk. “Excuse me, sir,” I said in the nicest voice I could master. “I’d like to know how much my owner has in her bank account, please.”

      “Alright, please tell me your owner’s full name as well as yours so I can run some security checks. Afterwards, Ms. Thrstia will show you her/his vault,” the Skeith said, pointing to a green Shoyru.

      “Her name is Kathleen_Kate, Sir,” I answered. After a few moments, the Skeith gave Ms. Thrstia a note with a number on it. “Follow me,” she said with a smile. “So, you’re Kathleen_Kate’s Usul?”

      “Yes, I am, Ma'am,” I replied politely.

      “Please, call me, Tara,” she said in a kind tone. “Kate’s told me how sweet you were.”

      “S-she did?” I said feeling guilty.

      “Yes, she did,” Tara said, stopping in front of a HUGE vault. “Well, here we are.”

      She opened the vault door. As I looked in, my mouth almost hit the floor. Inside was a stack of neopoints all piled up in a huge heap. My eyes suddenly started feeling warm with tears. I would always complain about how Kate would ‘supposedly’ spend all our neopoints, when she would actually put all of it in the bank! “Thank you,” was all I could muster to Tara without crying.

      After saying a very brief goodbye to the Skeith banker, I quickly made my way to the Faerie bus stop. As I rode the Faerie bus back to Faerieland, it took all my willpower to stop myself from crying. “I should have trusted her,” I thought as we stopped at the station at Faerie City.

      I ran home as fast as my feet could take me. As soon as I got to our neohome, I shuffled through my purse for my key. When I had it in hand, I entered as fast as I could and slammed the door. It was then that I started to weep. I wept for all the mean things that I said to Kate, and for being such a discontented pet.

      “Fire, what’s wrong?!” Kate’s concerned voice filled my ear.

      In broken sentences, I told Kate what happened. I told her about following her and about how I was sorry for all the mean things I told her. “Please, don’t hate me,” I said, sobbing.

      “Fire, I can never hate you,” Kate said in a kind tone. “I’m sorry for not telling you about my savings. I thought that it would be best for you to learn how to be content without me having to intervene.”

      “Don’t worry. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll try not to be so discontent,” I said, wiping my tears off.

      Star, who had been listening the whole time, hugged me and said, “I’m glad you two are finally at peace.”

      “So are we,” Kate and I said together.

The End