The Foster: Part Three

      "Thankyouthankouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" she cried, hugging him tightly. Finally, after almost a week, she would be herself again!

      "Ugh, get off'a me!" he grumbled, shoving her off. "Crazy young Neopets these days..." Sam nodded, a little annoyed at being called crazy, but then flung herself at Savannah. She hadn't decided to care for her foster family, but she couldn't help it! This was a happy moment!

      "You're a girl! Let's go home and tell the others!" the girl squealed, clapping her hands together. Seeing the foster happy meant a lot to Savannah, as she was beginning to grow a special liking to the quiet and sometimes angry pet. Her heart hurt whenever Sam cried, which was often, so it was nice to see a change in moods for once.

      As they left, the Kacheek glanced up at Savannah. She smiled. Sure, the girl was too talkative, hyper, a blonde, and, at times, a bit of a klutz, but she was sweet, and Sam could tell that she genuinely cared for each and every one of her pets. Sam frowned. It would be hard leaving her when she was zapped a rare color...

     ******

      "Are you sure, Savannah?" Emily asked worriedly when their owner announced that she was going to cook dinner. Dove (or was it Wren? Sam always got the two twins confused) looked up from concentrating on her history assignment (Homework? Definitely Dove).

      "Uh, Savvy? Don't you remember the last time you tried to cook? Zana's birthday cake?" she asked, sapphire eyes wide.

      Both of the Xweetoks shuddered, but Savannah placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "Ah, come on! It was just an itty-bitty kitchen fire!"

      Sam raised her eyebrows in alarm and watched as Emily crossed her arms. "Itty-bitty? We had to get three fire Grarrls, four Defenders, and we spent a week in the Neolodge while they rebuilt our kitchen!"

      The brown-haired girl pouted, and then put on the most adorably annoying Puppyblew face that the Kacheek had ever seen. "B-but, I just wanted to make Sam a dinner of mac and cheese to celebrate her being a girl again!"

      Emily groaned a lung-ripping groan. "Ugh! Fine, just turn those horrible things off!" she cried. "But I'm going to send Kisa down here to make sure that you don't burn down the house."

      Dove piped up. "And I'm taking Snickers out of here, just in case!"

      Instantly, Sam's foster owner's eyes returned to normal, and she nodded, pulling a sleeping snow Kookith out of the freezer. "Deal."

      "Sam, you might want to get out of the kitchen." the shadow Xweetok called over her shoulder as she and Dove hurried out of the room. Sam gave a small nod and hurriedly followed, frowning over her shoulder as she saw Savannah pull a pack of frozen Woowoo grubs from the freezer, and nod approvingly.

     ******

      "Hey, Sam," the green Kacheek glanced up from Keeping Peophin, a book that Savannah had given her, to see Zana, a tall and insane striped Xweetok, standing next to the sofa that Sam sat on. Zana was a busy girl. She was constantly cliff-diving, and getting sweaty, though she didn't mind a bit. A pair of wings made of clouds jutted from her back.

      "Yes?"

      "I noticed all of your 2 Gallon Hatz stuff, and the Neopian Times says that they're playing tonight, so I was wondering if you would like to go to the concert with me tonight. I've got tickets!" She smiled, and produced a pair of light brown tickets covered in writing from behind her back.

      Sam put down her book and peered at them for a moment, and then gasped. "Front row seats?! And... oh my gosh! Back stage passes? No way! Where did you get these? They must have cost a fortune!"

      "Nah, I have my sources." The striped Xweetok winked a periwinkle eye. "So, do you want to go?"

      "Yes! Yes, thank you!" the Kacheek cheered, and reached out to grasp the tickets.

      "Alright! We'll leave after dinner. Wear something warm - I hear that it's going to be chilly tonight." And then Zana walked away, leaving the Kacheek with the tickets. With a small squeal, clutching the tickets to her chest, Sam leaned back on the meeting room sofa and smiled.

     ******

      Madalleena sat lopsided on her bed, her head hanging off of one side, her wings and legs splayed out across the center. Watching the open door across the room, she saw Zana walk by, smiling gleefully.

      "What are you so happy about?" the Kougra asked, grinning and adjusting herself so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

      The Xweetok paused, not sure whether or not she should tell her older sister, as everyone could tell that she had a strong dislike when it came to the current foster pet. Finally, she slowly spilled out what had happened. "I invited Sam to the 2 Gallon Hatz concert with me tonight."

      Maddie froze a little, and then nodded. When her sister had hurried away, the female pet propped her chin in her paws thoughtfully. "That Kacheek is always so gloomy... I wonder why she was abandoned?" she wondered.

      The Kougra herself had never been in the Pound. She was one of the few pets that Savannah had created herself, instead of adopting. But Madalleena still liked hearing about other pets' pasts, and even helped out at the Neopian Pound sometimes.

      With a curious look still in her eyes, Madalleena reached over to her night stand, grabbed her notebook and a pen, and began to write.

     ******

      Sam closed her book with a SNAP! and watched as the crinkled pages and worn cover quickly poofed and turned into a cloud of orange smoke. She waved the smoke away from her face, giving a small cough, and then rolled over on the couch to look around the meeting room.

      The meeting room was basically an upstairs living room, except that there was no Neovision set, and it was made for only the elder pets. Currently, only she, Emily, and the twins were up there. Wren was reading over a script for her Neoschool's newest play, and Dove was making suggestions while gesturing with her paws.

      Sam frowned, wondering if Savannah would send her to Neoschool while she was being zapped. Then again, if she did, that would basically mean that her temporary life there would be turning into a permanent one, which would result in her having to care for her foster family and schoolmates. And she couldn't care for her foster family... The Kacheek massaged the sides of her head in attempt to rid her mind of that problem.

      Looking around, she watched Emily glance wearily around, before quietly reaching a shadow colored paw under the couch and pulling out a bag of sour cream and onion chips. Sam remembered Savannah telling her that she was trying to limit the Xweetok's snack intake, as she got too hyper sometimes.

      Suddenly, all of Savannah's nine pets heard a loud, screaming voice come from the kitchen.

      "No, Savannah! If you put that in the cheese sauce, it will-!"

      Then there was a loud explosion.

      Sam glanced at the other pets, who had dropped what they were doing and were now galloping towards the kitchen as fast as they could.

      When everyone had arrived at the place where the explosion had come from, they found a starry Cybunny and a wide-eyed brunette girl, both covered in cheese sauce, as well as the rest of the kitchen. The pot that had been cooking with was on its side, dripping the remainders of the gooey cheese onto the floor.

      The Kacheek felt a giggle rising in her chest. She tried desperately to keep it down, but she couldn't. A loud hoot escaped her lips, and soon Sam was holding her sides and laughing so hard that it hurt. It was just too funny seeing Kisa and Sam like that!

      The Cybunny looked injured at first, not liking being laughed at, but then she began to giggle. Before Sam knew it, everyone else was laughing the kind of laugh that makes you double over with tears flowing down your cheeks, and leaves you giggling for weeks. Sam hadn't laughed like that in years!

      They laughed for maybe ten minutes, and every time the humor started to fade, they simply had to glance at the cheese-covered Cybunny and human, and they'd crack up again.

      Sam felt herself smile. It wasn't so bad living here.

      Finally, Savannah wiped some cheese off of her face and smiled. The girl was delighted to finally see her sullen foster pet laugh. Savannah had grown attached to Sam.

      "So..." The human girl surveyed the messy kitchen. "Who wants Pizzaroo for dinner?"

To be continued...