Playing The Part: Part Four

     The striped Kacheek glowered as Glitter smiled snugly, and he moved the huge light. Technically, it was simply a pole with a tiny room-like box where a volunteering light faerie would shine down on the participant in the play. As the simple device was moved, the little sprite inside would quickly illuminate the pet being pointed at, which in this case, was a faerie Acara in a royal costume.

     "Oh, fair consorts, why must I let you suffer?" proclaimed Sweet's sibling as she made a slightly silly gesture at the extra knights at the right, including her jelly Poogle sibling. He couldn't help grinning as she pointed at them.

     The strawberry Poogle teacher stood up. "Angel, you're not supposed to be smiling! Stay serious, please," she called out. He gritted his teeth and put on a formal expression on his face.

     Meanwhile, back at the lights committee, Alisa was busy scribbling on a copy of the script. "Sweet, we have to light up the area of the knights when Glitter says the word," she ordered. "Tell that to the light faeries operating above the stage."

     While the striped Kacheek endured the work backstage, Fluffy was among the few students who didn't have much to do in the presentation. She sat in the audience, separated a bit from her other classmates, reading a thick book and barely commenting or cheering during the rehearsal. The white Aisha's mind registered once more the thought of acting in front of a huge audience, and it gave her another queasy feeling in her stomach.

     "Hey, lights, dorks! Point those dazzling things towards ME, or suffer the wrath of my sword!" Fluffy perked up at the sound of the snooty voice and shook her head.

     Alvin the Jetsam had appeared beside Glitter, and they were engaged in a conversation. Unfortunately, Sweet hadn't adjusted the lights, and this caused the other participants to jeer and joke at the fact that Alvin's rival had been put on the lights committee.

     "You! I'm talking to you, loser!" he crowed in the Kacheek's direction. Alisa gently put her paw on Sweet's shoulder as her way of saying "Let's not cause trouble, or else you won't get to play a part in the play at all."

     Sweet shot Alvin a horrible scowl while Miss Ford was helping Glitter fix her costume, and jerked one of the lights so hard that the faerie residing in it was almost knocked out of her domain. She frowned at the Kacheek as he stomped off to sit beside the props storage room.

     Meanwhile, Alisa the Uni hung around beside the curtain and watched Glitter strut her stuff as Queen Alison.

     ***

     Instead of usually sitting with her siblings at their respective table, Glitter turned right and headed for her friend Alisa's table. The rainbow Uni instinctively moved aside to make room for the faerie Acara.

     "Rude much?" said Sweet loudly. "Breaking tradition?"

     Fluffy shot her brother a glance. "No more," she whispered. "Let her go. She just needs time to herself."

     The striped Kacheek crushed a crisp in his tray. "I think she needs a good licking to knock some sense into that peanut-sized brain of hers."

     "Sweet, please," moaned Angel. "I don't like it when my siblings fight."

     "Well, at least you're not the one being teased or taunted just because someone else got the part you wanted," said Angel's brother grumpily. "Look, can we just drop the subject so I can get through the day with minimal humiliation - "

     A white Jetsam suddenly appeared out of nowhere and shoved Sweet's head right into his food tray. The Kacheek stood up, shaking lemon jelly, deviled neggs and more out of his fur and faced Alvin, still sporting a messy face.

     "See? You're a shoo-in as the Meridell Rubbish Dump in the play!" crowed Alvin, slapping his sides and laughing along with his friends. Much to Sweet's annoyance, even Glitter, who was four tables away from him, was giggling with her group. Thankfully only a few pets, Fluffy and Angel weren't chuckling a bit.

     "Lay off him, Alvin," said the white Aisha coolly. "Or you'll regret it."

     The Jetsam shot one glance at Fluffy and rolled his eyes. "Like you can actually take me on, little lassie," he scoffed. "Please, your brother is already enough of an amusement." He and his troupe walked off, not noticing Sweet sticking out his tongue at them.

     "My social life is officially over," he groaned, burying his head in his paws. "WHY??"

     Glitter passed by with Alisa, holding their empty trays and chatting away. Angel and Fluffy distinctly heard the faerie Acara respond, "You ACTUALLY had a social life, Sweet? Wow, you learn new things everyday."

     ***

     As the dismissal bell rang, Angel, Fluffy and Sweet ran out of their classrooms and met up at the lockers.

     "I can't wait to go home," said the striped Kacheek sadly. "I just want to fling myself on my bed and pound pillows…"

     While the jelly Poogle and the Aisha patted their brother's back consolingly, they heard loud flapping of wings and the impact of an Acara crashing into Fluffy. "What's going on?" she asked as she helped Glitter get up.

     "Someone's out to get me," breathed Fluffy's sister, on the verge of panicking and squeezing a piece of paper in her left paw. "I saw this in my locker when I went to pick up my algebra book!"

     Angel and the white Aisha took the note from Glitter and read it aloud, so even Sweet would hear.

     "Bequeath the throne, O Queen Alison, for dangers await thee that thou might not desire. Abdicate it before abhor itself pries thy crown from thy paws. Thou are not destined to rule the land of Meridell. Step down, or be shoved off thy throne."

     Glitter's face contorted into an even more anxious expression. "They don't want me to become the star of the show!" she whispered nervously. Suddenly her eyes grew wide, and the faerie Acara snapped her fingers. "Of course! SWEET wants me out of the play because he's not in it himself!"

     The striped Kacheek who had been quiet for a while stared at his sister in outrage. "What? You expect me to sink that low just because of some play?"

     "Only if it's a play you broke your back over just to enter," Glitter shot back. "You were all sad and stuff when you didn't get in and that jerk Alvin did. Admit it - you want me to get out because you're out!"

     Sweet crossed his arms across his chest. "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard! I wouldn't do a thing like that, you know me by now!"

     The faerie Acara put her paws on her hips and faced her brother. "Who knows? Maybe this is a side you only show when you're jealous! Jealousy can do things to you, Sweet."

     "Can't you just get over that note and go on with your life? And stop sticking your nose into my depressed, unimportant one?" retorted the Kacheek. "Don't make me get my Lost Desert Dagger, Glitter."

     "I can bop you over the head with my new wooden scepter, knave!" said Glitter irritably.

     "Can you both just shut up, and forget about the whole thing just for two seconds!" cried Fluffy, raising both her paws at her siblings. Sure enough, Sweet and Glitter did as the Aisha told them.

     But after a couple of moments of silence among the four of them, the feuding duo began once more. "You won't get away with this, Sweet! I'm telling on you!"

     "You aren't even sure that I did it!"

     "Yes, I am!"

     "What? NOW you're the loser!"

     "Wait till Miss Ford sees this! She'll really wig out!"

     "Don't go tattletale on me, Glitter! Can't you just accept the fact that I didn't do it?"

     "CAN WE GO HOME NOW?" shouted Angel so loudly that some remaining students turned to stare at the jelly Poogle. Scratching his head sheepishly, the little brother of the group marched off towards the exit, followed closely by Fluffy, who tried her best to keep Sweet and Glitter away from each other.

     The quad walked back to their domain, quiet as Miamice. The faerie Acara would shoot a glare at the striped Kacheek, who'd return the frown quickly. It continued all the way till they reached the front door of their Neohome.

     "I've never been so glad to finally reach home," sighed Fluffy, leaning against the wall and knocking on the door. A girl with black hair pulled back into a ponytail answered it. "Hey there! How are my favorite pets? Did you have a good rehearsal? How about your classes?"

     At the mention of the word "audition", Glitter and Sweet traded another angry look, which fortunately for them, Kat didn't catch. However, their siblings did, and were now wearing pained expressions on their faces as they all walked into the Neohome with their owner.

     "How in the name of Fyora are we going to survive this play now?" asked Angel to Fluffy. "This is getting even worse by the second…"

     This time, the white Aisha didn't answer the Poogle's question, as yet another argument flared up between a certain pair of siblings over a certain play.

     "Here we go again," moaned Angel.

To be continued...