The Foster Pet

      “Hon, I thought you would be excited!” her mom said, disappointed.

      “WHY would I be excited about some weird Neopet staying in our home?” Twyla cried.

      “I’ve heard good things about fostering poor helpless Neopets. It will be fun, and you’ll make a new friend. Either way, I don’t care if you don’t like it. I’m going to the pound to pick up a pet,” her mom said firmly.

      “This is SO not fair. I am going to go to Teagan’s house now,” Twyla said.

      “No you’re not! You are going to stay here so you can meet the new guest,” her mom said.

      “WHAT?!” Twyla stomped to her room. “This is the worst day of my life!”

      “Twyla...” her mom tried to call, but Twyla had slammed the door to her room, waking up her cute Feepit, Muffy.

      “Oh, hi, Muffy,” Twyla said glumly.

      The Feepit burrowed into Twyla’s arms.

      “Mom is making my life miserable!” Twyla said unhappily. “It all started when she was talking with her friends and found out about fostering Neopets and how gratifying it was, and all that blah-blah-blah. Now she’s got it into her head that she needs to do that for some other pet.”

      Muffy looked at her as if to ask why that was a problem.

      “If she gets another pet, she’ll concentrate on making it big and healthy and she’ll forget about me,” Twyla sighed. “If she forgets about me, then I’ll starve or something. The worst part is, I won’t get to be painted island. I’ve been looking forward to being painted since I was a young Kougra. Life’s not fair.”

      Twyla ranted like this for about half an hour. Just then, she saw her mom coming up the walk with a pet. Twyla didn’t look long enough to see what breed it was.

      “Muffy, hide! I don’t want that weird pet to see you!” Twyla hissed, then opened the door to her mom.

      “Hi, Twyla!” she said happily. “This is Twyla,” she told the other pet. “Twyla, this is Periwinkle.”

      “Hi, Dwyla.” Periwinkle the red Wocky smiled, then began to sneeze.

      “What’s wrong with you?” Twyla asked icily.

      “Deezles,” Periwinkle sniffed.

      “Here, Periwinkle, let me give you a magic cookie and then you can see Twyla’s room and meet her friends,” Twyla’s mom said, staring at Twyla. Twyla’s mouth was wide open. This Plain-Derriwinkle was going to steal her friends, too?

      “Danks!” Periwinkle grinned.

      So Twyla’s mom gave Periwinkle a magic cookie and some custard, and made Twyla take her to meet all her friends in Neopia Central. Twyla glared, but did.

      “How old are you?” Periwinkle asked.

      “Do you really think I want to answer that?” Twyla snapped.

      “Dorry.” Periwinkle gave up trying to talk to Twyla.

      After a minute-long walk, the duo came to Hubert’s Hot Dogs, where Teagan the red Xweetok, Vivica the yellow Bruce, and Kori the green Blumaroo were waiting.

      “What took you so long?” Vivica asked angrily. “And who’s this?”

      “Let’s chat,” Twyla said. “ALONE!” she yelled to Periwinkle. Periwinkle slunk away.

      Twyla explained her predicament to her friends. They were very sympathetic.

      “That’s awful!” Kori said. “What are we going to do?”

      “What are we going to do? Here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re going to make her life SO miserable that it would be better for her to be in the pound!” Twyla grinned nastily. Her friends smiled too, and they went to order hot dogs.

      “Hi, Periwinkle!” Teagan smiled. “How are you?”

      “I’b just fine,” Periwinkle said.

      “Oh, you must speak Tyrannian. I don’t know what ‘I’b’ means,” Teagan said.

      Twyla almost burst laughing. When they ordered hot dogs, Twyla ordered a hot worm hot dog for Periwinkle. When they sat down to eat, Vivica knocked over her Neocola. Kori tied her tail to the bench. They made supper torture for Periwinkle, so when it was time to leave Periwinkle was ready to go.

      “Aren’t my friends nice?” Twyla asked.

      “Uh, yeah, dey are dice. Really dice,” Periwinkle said listlessly.

      When they got home, it was about 7:00 p.m. Twyla’s mom had them go to bed early so they could get to know each other.

      “Wow, dat’s a dice room,” Periwinkle said, awestruck by the funky furniture.

      “If you touch anything, you’re going to be a pulp in the morning,” Twyla said angrily.

      “Dorry,” Periwinkle said.

      Two weeks later, nothing was better. Twyla’s mom tried everything to get Twyla and Periwinkle together. She had Twyla take Periwinkle everywhere. Twyla tried to stay with her friends as much as possible so she wouldn’t be tortured with Plain-Derriwinkle’s clinginess. Then it all blew up.

      Twyla woke up at 7 a.m. that day because of a noise. She got up and turned on the light.

      What did she see?

      Periwinkle was playing with Muffy!

      “HEY!” Twyla grabbed Muffy. “She’s mine! Not yours!”

      “I’m really sorry,” Periwinkle said (her Sneezles had been cured). “But your Feepit is so cute; I love her so much!”

      “Muffy is mine!” Twyla repeated. “Can’t you keep your filthy paws away from my stuff? How about out of my life completely?”

      “I don’t see why you hate me so much!” Periwinkle shouted, tears in her eyes. “What did I ever do to you?”

      “How about ruin my life? How about sticking your Sneezles-covered nose in all of my business? How about invading my friendships, and my room, and my Neopoints? Mom’s spent all my paintbrush savings on you!” Twyla screamed.

      “So a paintbrush is more important to you than me?” Periwinkle was sobbing. “My whole life I have never been loved! All my owner wanted to do was earn lots of Neopoints and boast about it. Every day I was starving, until I got Sneezles and was put in the pound. I was so happy when your mom adopted me. But now I’d rather be back in the pound!”

      “You act like that bothers me, Deriwinkle,” Twyla said.

      “Good-BYE!” Periwinkle ran out of Twyla’s room, slamming the door on her way out.

      “Thank goodness she’s gone, eh, Muffy?” Twyla said to her Feepit.

      Muffy looked at her as if to say “How could you?”

      “Go to sleep.” Twyla turned the light back off.

      Breakfast wasn’t the cheery thing it usually was. Periwinkle and Twyla were silent, giving each other dirty looks across the table.

      “Twyla, Periwinkle’s only going to be staying for another two weeks,” Twyla’s mom said.

      “Thank goodness,” Twyla mumbled.

      Periwinkle dumped her milk all over Twyla’s fur. Twyla responded by throwing a hot cake at Periwinkle’s face. Needless to say, soon there was a small brawl on the kitchen floor.

      “HEY!” Twyla’s mom pulled them apart. “Will you two stop it and pull yourself together? Periwinkle’s only going to be here another two weeks! Can’t you at least PRETEND you like her?”

      “No!” Twyla shouted. “I can’t wait for her to go to someone else!”

      “I can’t wait either!” Periwinkle cried.

      Twyla’s mom decided to try one more thing before giving up and sending Periwinkle away early. She took them to a Chomby and the Fungus Balls concert in Tyrannia.

      “All right! I used to love Chomby and the Fungus Balls!” Periwinkle said happily.

      “No way,” Twyla said. “I do too!”

      “Well, I’m their biggest fan!” Periwinkle said.

      “No, that’s me,” Twyla said.

      “Wanna bet on it?” Periwinkle asked.

      “Sure,” Twyla said, challenge in her eyes.

      Twyla’s mom bought tickets, and they went inside the concert hall. Twyla and Periwinkle screamed when they saw the band appear. They each sang along perfectly to the songs, and after the concert was over, Twyla bought a CD of their hits and Periwinkle bought a T-shirt. On the way home, Twyla’s mom bought them both an ice cream, and the pets sang Chomby and the Fungus Balls songs all the way home.

      The pets didn’t know how it happened, but they were suddenly good friends, all because of Chomby and the Fungus Balls. Twyla’s mom was very happy.

      The next couple of weeks were filled with exploring, fun, and small adventures. Then, one day, the pets received horrible news.

      “I found an owner for Periwinkle,” Twyla’s mom said.

      “WHAT?!” Twyla dropped her blue fuzzle in surprise.

      “WHAT?!” Periwinkle dropped her omelette.

      “Don’t look at me like that!” Twyla’s mom said. “You knew it was going to happen. Why, just two weeks ago, Twyla, you wanted Periwinkle to leave!”

      “That was before! It turns out she’s not the jerk I thought she was!” Twyla cried.

      “And Twyla’s not the selfish idiot I thought she was!” Periwinkle hugged Twyla, and Twyla hugged her.

      “No protests,” Twyla’s mom said. “Periwinkle will be leaving tomorrow.”

      The rest of the day was filled with sadness. Even Muffy was unhappy. And the next day, Twyla helped Periwinkle pack up a suitcase.

      “I’ll always miss you,” Periwinkle said.

      “Me too,” Twyla whispered.

      Soon, the new owner came. Twyla, Periwinkle, Twyla’s mom, and even Muffy came out to exchange good-byes. Twyla and Periwinkle made a vow to always Neomail each other. Muffy gave Periwinkle a last snuggle. Twyla’s mom told Periwinkle how good it was to have her. Then Periwinkle walked slowly up to her new mother, and they walked down the road, looking back one last time.

      Twyla’s eyes were teary. “Mom?” she asked.

      “What?”

      “Can we get a Grundo next?”

The End