Handed in for an English Homework: Part Four

November 20th

Nothing's happened yet. Not that I’m nervous. She wants me to be nervous. But I’m not nervous. I’m not even thinking about it.

     November 30th

     Still nothing.

     December 1st

     Still nothing, but that’s not important! After the success of the Halloween competition, a Christmas one has been set up! This time we had to design a Christmas card. And the prize? A Christmas paint brush! If we use it on ourselves, that’s pretty much a ticket out of here when the pound re-opens! But I’m not entering it. I feel like giving someone else a chance.

     “You’re a strange pet.” Fyora said when I told her. “That’s twice you refused an offer to get you out of here. Why?”

     “I’ve told you- I wanted to give someone else a chance.”

     She looked at me, examining my face.

     “That’s not the only reason, is it?”

     “No, it’s not.” I sighed. “I want to get out, but I’m so scared of getting an owner who won’t care about me, and I’ll just sit there rotting. At least in the pound there are always things to do, people to talk to.”

     “When I get out, I’ll find you a nice owner. I’ll tell all of Sophie’s friends about you, one of them will want you! Maybe you could even live with Sophie?”

     I flinched.

     “Oh, sorry!” she gasped. “I just thought, maybe you’d have gotten over it by now.”

     “She’ll never want me in a million years,” I said, mournfully. “Nobody will.”

     “You never know, Pixie,” she answered. “You never know.”

     Maybe she doesn’t know as much about the pound as I thought she did.

     December 6th

     I was alone in the dormitory today, when I heard a knocking. I walked towards the wall.

     “Who is it?” I called.

     “Fuzz!” came the reply.

     “Oh, wow! Fuzz! I’ve missed you so much! How are you?”

     “I’m good, glad to be out of the pound. Everything’s going okay, don’t worry about me.”

     “It’s good to know you’re okay. Ever since we got back...”

     “Look, I have to go.” Fuzz cut me off. “I’ll try and speak to you later, okay?”

     I’m glad she’s safe, and that she had time to talk to me. I just hope all is as well as she says.

     December 18th

     I’m currently helping arrange things for the big Christmas dance. Dr. Death was in a festive mood so he said we could have one. I’m in charge of setting up the speakers, since I’m not entering the competition. They’re not very reliable, so I hope nothing goes wrong on the day. Meanwhile, nothing has happened yet from Chris or Ayla. They’ve probably forgotten all about it.

     December 25th

     Spent all morning setting up the speakers! They had to break on Christmas day, didn’t they? Still, the place looks unusually festive, and everybody is in a good mood. I can’t wait to see who wins the competition!

     December 26th

     Chris and Ayla hadn’t forgotten. But you’d think even they wouldn’t be selfish enough to hurt the whole pound, especially not on Christmas day.

     You’d think wrong.

     All was going well, until it came to the point when the Christmas card winners were announced. A fairly new green Chia named Lily won, which I was pleased about. She was close to tears when she got the prize- getting out is what every pet dreams of.

     “Jenny!” the pink Uni called to an assistant. “Will you fetch me the Christmas paint brush? You know where it is. Then I can take Lily to the Rainbow Pool to be painted.”

     Jenny went off to get the paintbrush, while other pets went up to Lily to congratulate her. It was a long time before Jenny returned.

     “The paint brush isn’t there.”

     “What do you mean it’s not there? Of course it’s there. You probably just didn’t look hard enough.” The pink Uni sighed.

     “I looked long and hard, it’s not there!” The assistant defended herself.

     “Fine, I’ll get it myself,” replied the pink Uni, stepping off the stage.

     We waited around a bit more. Crazy Chris smirked at me from across the hall. The pink Uni got up on stage again.

     “I am very sorry and ashamed to announce that the Christmas paint brush has been stolen. All neopets must stay here while a search is carried out.”

     The hall then buzzed with the sound of talking. Who would do that? Who would be so mean? Lily began to sob. Eyes scanned the hall. Which of us would do something like that?

     About five minutes passed before the pink Uni came up on stage again.

     “The paint brush has, fortunately, been found. It was under the bed of Fyora and Pixie’s room. An investigation will therefore take place, and those responsible punished.”

     A couple of assistants came up to me and Fyora. Across the room, Chris was going mad grinning, but Ayla wore only the flicker of a smile as we passed her.

     “I warned you,” she said softly as we passed.

     The paint brush had been stolen during the morning, so I could prove it wasn’t me, as I was fixing the speakers.

     “Surely you must have been with somebody this morning that can testify for you,” I muttered to Fyora as we walked towards the question room. She shook her head.

     “I’ll tell you later,” she whispered back.

     Not much has happened so far- we’ve just told the questioner again and again it wasn’t Fyora. It makes no sense- why would Fyora, a faerie Cybunny, want a Christmas paint brush?

     “I agree it makes no sense,” said the questioner, for the millionth time. “But we have to assume it was you until you can prove it wasn’t.”

     So, later on, I asked Fyora where she was.

     “I... look, you must promise not to tell anyone, okay?”

     “Like I would.”

     “Alright...” she took a deep breath. “Well, I bribed a guard to let me out for the morning. Just so I could go into town, see Sophie again. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about family? I returned in time for the dancing, and nobody noticed I was gone. But I’ll get in so much trouble if anyone finds out, probably the same as the trouble I’m in about the paint brush. It’s just... I wanted to see her so badly. But she wasn’t even in, so I wasted my time and got me into loads of trouble for nothing!”

     She began to sniffle.

     “They say that if I can’t prove it wasn’t me, I’ll have to move dormitories and never see you again!”

     She began to cry now, little drops of sadness running down her face.

     “We’ll find a way of proving it, I promise,” I said. “If we can’t prove it wasn’t you, we’ll prove it wasn’t them. Maybe Ayla’s roommate, Hayley, heard something.”

     I tried to sound convincing, but I’m not too sure. Hayley is so quiet, if she did hear something, she probably won’t tell us.

     December 27th

     Fyora has officially been cleared from blame! Ayla and Chris have been found responsible!

     We went to find Hayley the first thing the today, and explained to her everything, including our argument with them previously.

      “Yeah, I heard something,” she said, in barely more than a whisper. “I’ll go to testify for you now.”

     So off we went, to the question room.

     “It’s not very like Hayley, agreeing to something so easily,” I said to Fyora on our way in.

     “So, Hayley, do you have something to day?” asked the questioner.

     She told him how she had heard them plotting, that they planned to steal the paint brush, and frame Fyora and me.

     “Do have any evidence?” asked the interviewer. “You could easily make all this up.”

     Hayley nodded.

     “Yes. The paint brush that was found under Fyora’s bed is a fake. When I found out their plan, I made one, so that they would never have the real thing. I have the real paint brush under my mattress.”

     As the questioner left, to retrieve the real paint brush, she turned to Fyora and me.

     “Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” she said. “Or scared. It just means I’m quiet.”

     After that we didn’t have time to talk. Chris and Ayla were questioned, Hayley gave evidence, and they were found guilty. The Christmas paint brush was given to Lily, and an extra one to Hayley, as a reward.

     December 29th

     I saw Hayley today. I said hi, and asked how she was, but she didn’t really reply. She’s not much of a chatter. She always seems to be alone, just silently thinking. I don’t think she even has a friend. She just sits there, in a world of her own. Clever, but quiet.

     Ayla and Chris have been forced to move to opposite sides of the pound, and are now supervised constantly! Hooray! It’s scary, though, to think that could have been Fyora and me.

     January 1st Year 10

     New Year. It’s not really celebrated much. What is the New Year to us but another year in the pound?

     January 16th

     Rumours are flying around that the pound will be open soon. Fyora grinned when I told her, but then her expression changed more melancholy.

     “I’ll miss you,” she said.

     “Me too.”

     “I’ll visit every day, if you want.”

     “Of course I would! If you’re not too busy having fun.”

     She smiled.

     “I’ll never be too busy to see you. I couldn’t just leave my best friend.”

     February 5th

     My birthday. I didn’t expect Fyora to know, but she did. She gave me a new pen to write with, instead of chewed, dirty biro. It’s called a faerie pen, and it’s blue with blue and pink wings. It’s beautiful, so I’ll keep it forever. I’m almost scared to write with it, it’s so perfect.

     February 25th

     It has been confirmed! Apparently, one neopet, by the name of Megan, was passing by Dr. Death’s office, when she heard him tell the pink Uni that “The big plans are coming into action on the first of March.” Fyora and I are so happy, but also sad too. Only a few more days with her.

     February 28th

     Possible last night with Fyora. I don’t know what to say. I don’t think she knows what to say either. I can’t help feeling like I’ll never see her again.

     March 1st

     Too much to write.

     March 2nd

     Yesterday certainly was exciting! In the morning, we all had to get into alphabetical order, according to our real names. Much to the assistants’ amusement, a few neopets had to ask what theirs was. Then, we were taken to a hall. But this wasn’t just any old hall, like you’d find in a neohome. This was huge! It was also crammed full of neopets, basic and badly named, just like us. The occasional painted one was among them, but they were completely outnumbered by the ones that weren’t. Then Dr. Death walked onto a stage at the front of the hall, with not one, but about fifty pink Unis!

     “Dear poundees,” Dr. Death began his speech. “I know this is quite a surprise to you, but the pound you were placed in is not the only pound out there. As, previously, we did not have room for all of you to be together, we placed you separately. However, now we have this hall, we can place you all in it together.”

     All the neopets looked around at each other. There were thousands, maybe millions, of us. Was there really no owner that would want even one of us? Then, Dr. Death resumed his speech.

     “However, there is a couple of rather, well, unfortunate, things you should know. The first is that

     I have to go. Continue tomorrow.

To be continued...