Stellania's Story

EmeraldShine22, Amiaxa and Stellania's owner, was sitting at the kitchen table holding Stellania and drinking a cup of Borovan.

      "I'll never get a baby Lupe," she said sadly to Stellania.

      "You want a baby Lupe?" asked Stellania, surprised.

      "Yes, I do," she replied. "I even got all ready for one, calculating how much it would cost to keep one and getting ready for it to share the nursery with you, when the baby Lupe I was going to adopt from an agency was adopted by somebody else. I—"

     Amiaxa suddenly rushed downstairs, all aflutter.

      "Mom!" cried Amiaxa. "Mom, my submission has been accepted! My article is going into the Neopian Times!"

     EmeraldShine leaped up now, setting her Borovan on the counter and Stellania on the ground.

      "Oh, Amiaxa, this is great!" she said as she hugged Amiaxa. "I'm so proud of you!"

     Stellania happily wagged her little Kau tail and hugged Amiaxa's legs.

      "Yay, sistew!" she yelled. "Which one got in?"

      "It's not one you helped with," said Amiaxa. "I haven't sent those in yet. It's an article."

     Stellania yawned. Articles were boring.

      "Wanna play Usuki?" she asked Amiaxa.

     But Amiaxa and her owner didn't hear. They were too busy talking nonstop about the article. So Stellania went off and played with her Usukis alone.

     ***

     "Okay, let's look at the Times!" squealed Amiaxa excitedly. "Oh my goodness, it's on the FRONT PAGE! Wow!"

     Stellania tried to peek at the page of the Neopian Times, but her owner tilted it away just then.

      "I want to see!" she said unhappily.

      "Later, sweetie," said her owner absentmindedly.

      "But I want to—" began Stellania.

     Her owner folded up the paper and put in a high cabinet.

      "Not now, but later," she promised Stellania.

     Then she and Amiaxa walked off, leaving Stellania sitting on the floor.

***

     Two days later, Stellania felt miserable. Amiaxa had been the center of attention ever since publishing that article. But it wasn't only an attention problem, Stellania was BORED. She loved playing with her sister, but Amiaxa never had time anymore. She wouldn't even read Stellania her article. Stellania wasn't even allowed to go into Amiaxa's room, where she and Amiaxa had spent lots of time together before. And her owner and Amiaxa spend tons of time up there together. Stellania was getting angry.

      "I'll show them I can be just as good as Amiaxa!" she thought. "I'll figure out a way! Wait a second..."

     She smiled widely at her idea.

***

     The next day, Stellania ran outside, telling her owner she was going out to play.

      "Okay, sweetie," said her owner. "Be back by dinnertime, okay?"

     Stellania nodded as her owner ran upstairs to Amiaxa's room. Then she ran outside and thundered down the street. She had searched through a site directory the last night, and she knew where she was going. She knocked on the doors of a big house, ignoring the fact that she was extremely nervous. A fire Poogle came to the door.

      "Are you here for the Adoption Agency?" the Poogle asked.

      "Yes," said Stellania in a scared voice.

     The Poogle led Stellania into a large dining room where a tall girl with long black hair was sitting.

      "You're here for the Adoption Agency without an owner?" she said, surprised.

      "Yes, I want to surprise her," replied Stellania in a small voice. "I—I heard that you give people their dream pets if they give you applications?"

      "Yes, sweet," said the girl.

      "And you have a baby Lupe?"

      "Yes, a male baby Lupe named Orrdo."

      "That's what I heard. My owner made an application for a different baby Lupe, but it was traded before she mailed it. I took it and changed it where it needed to be changed so I could give it to you."

     Stellania handed a paper over to the girl. The girl took it and read it over.

      "This seems good," she said. "I think I've met your owner—of course! She applied for a baby Kau once, but I couldn't give it to her because I'd already promised to give it to another. Well, looks like she finally got one! Good for her. I'll bring Orrdo right down."

     The girl left and came back with an adorable baby Lupe.

      "He's very young," she told Stellania. "Take good care of him on the walk back home."

     Stellania nodded sadly. She wanted to help her owner out by doing this, but she couldn't help being angry at her owner for leaving her out.

     During the walk, Orrdo and Stellania became very good friends. Stellania felt that having another sibling would definitely be the solution to her boredom. When they reached home, Stellania had Orrdo hide behind her so that she could block him as much as possible from her owner's sight. But her owner and Amiaxa were upstairs in Amiaxa's room.

      "Stellania, come up here!" called EmeraldsShine. "We want to talk to you."

     Stellania gulped. What if they had already gotten a baby Lupe while she was gone? She told herself that was impossible.

      "Follow me upstaiws," she whispered to Orrdo.

      "Kay," he whispered back.

     They trotted up the stairs and Stellania opened the door to her sister's bedroom. She was immediately extremely shocked. A whole party was assembled there! Amiaxa and EmeraldsShine leaped out from behind Amiaxa's bed and yelled:

      "SURPRISE!"

     Stellania suddenly felt herself swelling with love for her family. Of course! She had forgotten her own birthday! No wonder they'd been being so secretive! They hadn't been leaving her out at all! There were long tables of food in the room, a huge birthday cake with two candles in it in the center, and balloons tied everywhere. Amiaxa ran over and put a party hat on Stellania's head.

      "I thought you two wewe leaving me out!" she said.

      "Of course we weren't!" said Amiaxa, surprised. "We've been planning this for a long time!"

      "I'm so sorry you thought that!" said EmeraldsShine. "Um, who is your friend?"

     Stellania jumped. She'd almost forgotten Orrdo was there.

      "I was so upset you weren't noticing me," she said, "that I wanted to do something to make you notice me. So I decided to go get a baby Lupe. He's ours."

     EmeraldsShine gasped, then ran over and hugged Orrdo. Then she hugged Stellania.

      "You're a dear!" she said to Stellania. "You were angry at us so you decided to make us happy!"

     Stellania hadn't looked at it that way. She shrugged modestly as Orrdo ran to hug Amiaxa. Then Amiaxa and Orrdo ran over to hug Stellania too, and they were suddenly all in a big group hug. When they split apart, Orrdo leaped up in the air in his funny way and announced matter-of-factly:

      "I think I like group hugs."

     This sent everybody into peals of laughter for some reason, including Orrdo. Then they all ate a big slice of cake, and Stellania and Orrdo started to bat at the balloons.

      "I think it's about time you read my article," said Amiaxa happily. "Come here, and bring your balloons with you."

     Everybody crowded into a huge poufy chair that Amiaxa loved, and she pulled out her copy of that week's Neopian Times.

      "The title is 'How to Plan a Surprise Party'," she read.

     Stellania glanced at Amiaxa, and she began to giggle. Amiaxa suddenly started to laugh and Orrdo too, and then suddenly they all began to laugh together. And of course, all the best stories end with laughter.

The End