Usuki Singing Stars #10: The BIG Birthday Blow-up - Part Three

     "Present? I thought you and Sparkles were getting it today?" Scary admitted. "I was too busy preparing our Shenkuu landscape to go gift shopping."

     "Well, we were busy too," Sparkles insisted. "Lola and I wasted our afternoon going from store to store in an attempt to find some party décor. And did we find any? No!"

     "A-hah! So you admit that you and Lola were just wasting your free time while I was the only one who was actually working!" Scary exclaimed victoriously. "I always knew that working with Lola would end up in disaster! AND I WAS ACTUALLY RIGHT THIS TIME!!!!!!"

     "Well, your preparations aren't perfect either!" Sparkles protested hotly. "Has it ever occurred to you that these things that you ordered cost money? And judging from the 'Shenkuuan-type' things you're requesting, has it ever crossed your mind that your stuff may cost well over a hundred thousand neopoints!"

     "Oh, come on, you guys," Lola cooed in desperation. "I don't think our initial intentions were supposed to be this complicated. But I'm confident that we'll function a lot better after a good night's rest. What do you guys say?"

     "Meh," Scary replied. Sparkles sighed and nodded her head in agreement. After a tough day of running around the Neopian bazaar, Sparkles decided to hit the hay for the day and try again tomorrow. Lola agreed to meet them here again tomorrow, and Scary agreed to double think her design idea for Friday. Cuddles just ignored them and went inside.

     ***

     "They actually canceled your order this morning?" Sparkles gasped. "I can't believe it!"

     "Neither can I," Scary confessed. Now that the tensions of yesterday were gone and Neoschool had ended, Scary was just informing Sparkles on the horrible response that she got from the furniture company that had promised to deliver the Shenkuuan tables and chairs for the party. "Apparently my order of furniture was supposedly destroyed by a pack of wild Gnorbus," Scary explained. "One of the guys said that he could still process my request, but he also mentioned that it would take two to three more days. Can you believe it? And to think I was going to pay that company fifteen thousand neopoints per table!"

     "That's... horrible," said Sparkles, who was secretly relieved that the expensive order was cancelled. "Oh well. I'm sure we can just use our patio furniture instead. We have lots of tables and I'm certain that we have enough chairs for everybody. Now where can we find some Shenkuuan-themed tablecloths?"

     "No idea," said Scary. "But what I do know is that Dad traded our patio furniture for a plushie last month. Apparently, the patio stuff wasn't 'glittery' enough."

     "You're not talking about that patio set we borrowed from Uncle Lombre, are you?" Sparkles wondered.

     Scary shrugged her shoulders. "It could be that set for all I know. And what I also know is that Lola is precisely one hour late for our meeting! I always knew that girl was lazy and self-indulgent."

     "I'm sure that Lola has a perfectly good excuse, Scary," Sparkles insisted. She tried hard not to show how anxious she was for Lola's arrival, and she was already feeling that Scary had already sensed her anxiety after watching her rub her thumbs for half an hour.

     After hearing a faint "Here I am!" coming from behind her, Sparkles took a relaxing breath as an exhausted Lola opened the backyard fence and collapsed on to the grass. "Sorry I'm late," Lola huffed between breaths, "but Mr. Porkers was waiting all morning for his breakfast. So I gave him some food, and then I realized that I was going to be late for the meeting. I was just seven blocks away from you guys when I finally realized that I had forgotten my Usukiland catalogue, so I had to-"

     "Get your stupid catalogue and run back here after an hour of running around," Scary predicted. Lola nodded and handed the catalogue to Scary, who looked at it and wondered, "Why do we need this? We're not doing a Usuki themed party this year."

     "It's for Patricia's present," Lola explained. "Sparkles and I were hoping that we could get Patricia a really pretty Usuki doll for her birthday, and maybe even a Usuki set as well! But first we have to discuss our finances-you know how many neopoints we can spend on Patricia's present."

     Sparkles nodded and opened her flower purse to count how many neopoints she had. She told Lola, "I have fifteen hundred neopoints to spare. How many do you have, Lola?"

     "I counted three thousand neopoints in my Snorkle bank this morning," Lola said proudly. "What about you, Scary?"

     Scary reluctantly looked into her red satin purse and quickly counted up how many she had. After a few minutes of counting, Scary said, "I only have fifteen neopoints to spare. How about we go ask Uncle Bear for some Neocash instead? I'm sure he won't mind."

     "We'll set that idea aside in case we don't have enough for an Usuki doll," said Sparkles.

     Scary nodded and quickly flipped through the Usukiland catalogue that Lola gave her. Upon reaching an ad for the Neopian Birthday Bash, Scary suddenly gasped and exclaimed, "That's it! Our problems are solved!"

     Sparkles scratched her head and grabbed the ad from Scary's tight grip. "Come celebrate the biggest birthday of the year at Neopia's Birthday Bash," Sparkles read aloud. "Everybody will be there: King Hagan, Fyora, and even Dr. Sloth would pay a visit! This year's entertainment will include the Blue Kacheek Group, Jazzmosis, and Yes Boy Ice Cream. The Usuki Singing Stars are unfortunately very busy with their Terror Mountain tour for the rest of the month, but they hope that Neopia will have its best birthday yet. Come join us for food, freebies, and fun on the fifteenth."

     "It's a shame that the Usuki Singing Stars won't be performing at this year's Birthday Bash," Lola sighed. "But Scary, how does this ad solve all of our problems? This just sounds like a really big party to me."

     "That's exactly what it is!" Scary cheered. "It's going to be big, crowded and everything our stupid party won't be. Lots of Neopians will be there to celebrate, and I'm sure that the catering would be the best in Neopia! And so concludes my argument that we MUST hijack this party and make it the biggest party in Neopian history!"

     "You want to what?!?!?" Sparkles exclaimed with confusion. "Scary, how in the world are we going to 'hijack' the Neopian Birthday Bash? And for that matter, what does 'hijack the party' even mean??"

     "Relax, Sparkles, I have everything under control," Scary insisted coolly. "All we need to do is have those party officials squeeze in Patricia's name and Snaw's name in the party. Then they'll think that the big Birthday Bash is for them as well. Imagine the look on Patricia's face when she sees that everybody would be celebrating her birthday with Neopia's!"

     "But Scary," Lola hesitated, "how can we pull off something that big? And how can we get everybody to recognize Patricia's birthday? In order to pull off something this big, we'd need a really elaborate plan and lots of preparation."

     "I already know how we can pull it off," Scary insisted. "The only thing you two will have to do is to meet me at the Money Tree after Neoschool tomorrow. And then I'll tell you guys my ingenious idea."

     "But tomorrow's the fifteenth," Sparkles protested, "And we promised Patricia that we'd accompany her to our house for tea and cupcakes. It's tradition."

     "Oh, wah," said Scary. "We can do that any other time we want. Just tell Patricia that you have to do some last minute gift shopping before her party."

     "The gift!" Lola gasped. "We were so preoccupied over this 'Birthday Bash hijack' idea that we had completely forgotten to plan Patricia's gift! Now what will we do?"

     "How about we just get her a free goodie bag from the NC Mall?" Scary suggested. "There, problem solved. Any other stupid questions?"

     "What will we do if your seemingly impossible idea doesn't work?" Sparkles wondered. "Should we even mention this radical idea to Mrs. Winston? She is still waiting to hear our party ideas, you know."

     "We can tell her our plan when it actually works," said Scary. "I'm sure after she tries the free catering, takes a few freebies and parties a little, that she will be very grateful and-"

     "How about we just meet you at the Money Tree, Scary?" Lola suggested. "I just remembered that I promised Ms. Butterworth that I would do a few errands for her while I was out. See you guys tomorrow!"

     "Bye, Lola," said Sparkles. After Lola left, Sparkles asked Scary, "Can I at least get Patricia a birthday card for tomorrow?"

     "You can if you want," said Scary. "But my present will be much bigger!"

To be continued...