|
Series One Episode Fifty-Six "Kint! You need to talk to them, they're your friends!" She had shouted. Her voice was upset and she was holding back tears. "This isn't about them! It's about you and Nick!" Kint had screamed at her, furiously knocking over a stack of papers. "Nick and me?! I've told you already! He's just a nice guy," Sandy pleaded, tears going down her cheeks. "Don't give me that. I saw you two together with my own two eyes," Kint had whispered, but loud enough for her to hear. "Don't believe me then," Sandy said angrily, tears streaming down the side of her face, and with one breath in a faint whisper, she told him without hesitating, "I loved you. It's over." With that, she ran out of the room, slamming the door tightly. He could hear her running to the front door and leaving. Kint didn't even try to stop her. He let her go. As soon as she was gone, he overturned a chair and knocked over several more heaps of paper. Well, today he would try to forget that. Sandy was just like his friends all along, and he had been so blind as to overlook it. She had been with better and he didn't see it. Better . . . little did he know that better was a word he'd never forget. It would hurt him so many times before he fell, knowing there was . . . better. He looked at the clock. "Just in time," he said to himself calmly. Kint always went to school early. As he went down the wide hallway of his neohome, he tapped on a large glass fish tank that was part of the wall. In it was a blue flotsam named Flothaura. She was Kintewah's only pet. He sat down at the kitchen and ate some omelette he had picked up yesterday in Tyrannia. It was still good, and had sausage on it. He yawned between bites; when he had eaten a third of it, he was full. He picked up his half full backpack and slung it over his shoulder. After leaving his slightly-larger-than-average neohome, he walked to school lonely. He had to walk through the bad part of Neopia Central to get to school. While sneaking through an alley, a random event popped up that read, "Congratulations! You bend over to pick up a green mask!" He just shrugged and slipped it into his backpack. It looked like a ribbon, just with two holes in it, not much like a mask. Upon arriving at school, several people had commented him on his eyes. It was only natural; his eyes were two different colors. At least he wasn't getting comments on his ruff-curly-denim-colored hair. He opened his locker and jumped back, struck by fear and shock both at once. All the contents of his locker spilled onto the floor. He sighed, noticing that he would have to clean this all up by himself. He bent over and began picking up his art portfolio, which had spilled all over, when he looked up to see a girl bending down to help him. For a second he expected to see Sandy, but no, it wasn't the red/gold haired girl with stunning amber eyes. She had gorgeous pink and blue hair -- and her eyes. Those eyes were amazing. One eye pink, the other one blue. "Thanks," he managed to say after she had helped him pick up at least fifty items that had fallen from his locker. "No problem," she said, shrugging and smiling. He would remember that smile forever. "I'm Kintewah," he replied, blinking and remembering that he had to introduce himself. "Oh, I'm Tori," she said, still smiling. "Cool eyes, Kint." So she had noticed the colors too. "Your eyes are nice too," Kint said, feeling himself blush. "Well, I better go to my first class, see you around, Tori." He quickly took the books he needed and sprinted to math class. He'd spent a good quarter of an hour putting his locker back together. He landed in a seat near the back after taking only three big steps. As soon as he sat down, he let out a long yawn. The teacher looked almost as tired as the students. The bell rang, and exact to the millisecond, a girl ran in exactly afterwards. She had silky blonde hair and was carrying a large stack of books, and looked completely out of breath. She ran to the desk in front of him and sat down her books. The teacher, Mr. Knobuerk, looked at her as if to say, "Again?" When the second bell rang, Mr. Knobuerk said a brief hello to the students and began writing on the newly installed dry-erase board with a blue marker. Obediently, all the students opened up their red notebooks and began taking notes. The girl in front of Kint grabbed her red folder from the bottom of her stack. Kint dived to the floor as her materials fell and scattered in a million different directions. Several students turned and looked at the mess, giggling silently at the effort Kint was making to grab a pink and purple faerie pen that was hovering above his head, and then they went back to scribbling down notes. Mr. Knobuerk, slow at catching on to things, turned from the board and down to Kint and the girl collecting all of her materials. "What are you doing down there, Venus?" Mr. Knobuerk asked her in that deep voice that he had. She turned immediately and looked up at him. "Umm . . . nothing, Mr. Knobjerk," she said quickly, not noticing her terrible mistake. Mr. Knobuerk grew as red as a student's notebook, or the eraser on your #2 pencil. "What-did-you-say?" he demanded, gritting his teeth and starting to look a lot like a demon. "Nothing, Mr. Knobuerk," she corrected herself, blushing. Mr. Knobuerk turned around and went back to writing, but as soon as he touched the tip of the marker to the board, it exploded. He was covered in a bright blue ink, but underneath it his face seemed more maroon. The girl, Venus, dropped to the ground to retrieve the remainder of her misplaced supplies, but they were already stacked up in neat pile with the red folder on top, and the faerie pen, which Kint had finally caught, on the very bottom, smashed between two heavy textbooks. "Thanks!" she said to Kint, sitting back in her desk. She turned to take the notes that hadn't been covered in the ink explosion, and Kint followed suit. When that class was over, Kint headed to History, Tyrannian (Foreign Language), Literature, and in his opinion, the worst subject in the school: lunch. He always sat alone. Even before last night. Sandy didn't go to school; she had dropped out a while ago. Kint sat down at an empty table. Before he could eat his slop, or whatever the school called this, Tori sat down across from him. "Hi," She said, and sat down her tray. Soon enough, a group of girls sat down next to Tori, and they all seemed to know each other. Kint didn't say anything, because all the girls were leaving him out of the discussion. They were talking about their guild or something, and even Gami came over, made a remark, probably rude, saw Kint, looked worried, asked a question, and then stormed off after getting probably what was a smart-mouthed answer from one of the girls. After lunch, he saw a few of the girls from the lunch table in his classes. They would smile and wave. Tori must've told them his name, because after classes they would say something like, "hey Kint!" or, "see ya, Kinteh!" When Gami waved him over to sit by her in Art, he didn't know what to think. She had never noticed him before. "Hey Kurt, that is your name, right? Well, those girls are so pathetic; don't let them get to you. Hang out with Bird and me instead." She said as if she had something against them. Well poor Kint was frightened. This girl was popular and tough. He obediently nodded his head to avoid trouble. "Good. Oh, and before I forget, stay away from Tori. She's dangerous," Gami stated, sounding scarier than Halloween Cybunnies, Meepits, and Halloween Lupes all rolled up into one voice in one person. Kint, or Kurt as Gami had called him, was about to ask, "Why is she so dangerous?" when the teacher turned to him, looking like an angry nun with a ruler at hand. He was extremely quiet for the remainder of the class. Gami had this smug look on her face like she had just won the lottery. After school ended, Gami met up with Kint and reminded him that he was to stay away from Tori and her friends. Then she told him that she would Neomail him later. Kint began walking the long way home, which meant going through the inner streets of Neopia Central. He was still near the fringe when he heard footsteps running after him. It was Tori. "Hey, Kint! I saw Gami talking to you . . ." Kint was about to respond when Gami's voice echoed in his mind: "Tori's dangerous." He tried to ignore it, but, after all, Gami hadn't done anything to hurt him. So to Tori he snapped, "Just leave me alone." Tori stopped in her tracks. Had Gami done this to him? He'd been so polite before, and now he was a jerk? However, Kint was stomping off gloomily, so Tori turned around and ran home. As Kintewah walked deeper into Neopia Central, he decided he needed to deposit some Neopoints at the National Neopian. Flothaura would bug him if he didn't. He walked up the steps to the huge building and opened a door. He walked through the lines and up to the first teller available. He lazily dropped his backpack and pulled out 100 NP from a pocket on his backpack. The doors swung open, both at once. All eyes darted to them, spotting the dark figures. They were both wearing all black. Everyone knew what they were immediately: Bank robbers. The Aisha spoke first. "Give us your Neopoints before something you really regret happens," her strong and feminine voice shouted. As the patrons of the bank backed up, crowding around the walls, Kint was squashed into a corner. He reached back to put the NP back in his backpack, but instead of the cloth of the fabric he felt cool metal. Surprised, he looked at the pocket; in it was a fancy cup, with a faerie-winged pen sitting in it. He waited for the Something Has Happened! note to pop up. By now the robbers were getting tired with the Skieth accountants. "No! I do not want to deposit or withdraw! I want all of your Neopoints!" the Meerca screamed, becoming very upset. Kint took the pen and tried to grab the chalice, but it vanished from under his fingers. He looked oddly at the turquoise and pine green pen. Words rushed to his mind. No, not the words that you expected, but: Grab the mask from your backpack! It almost reminded him of Gami's voice, but this one was much sweeter; for some reason he trusted it instantly. Kneeling down as best he could in the crowded position, Kint unzipped his backpack quietly, not trying to attract attention to himself. The green mask was just like he'd remembered it: small, but enough to hide his eyes. He slid it over his eyes using the one free hand, the other hand grasping the pen. And now the words you expected came to mind. He didn't know what made him shout it, but he did: "Flotsam Neo Power! MAKE-UP!" A sea of dark green washed over him, slapping wherever it touched. He felt himself wet all over, but then the waves vanished and he was all dry . . . and in the male Sailor Neopet uniform! The crowd had been pushed away by the transformation, and the robbers were staring at him. Now the Meerca spoke: "Who in Fyora's name are you?" "I am Sailor Flotsam, grabber of faerie pens, crusher of villains, and collector of hearts!" he shouted, not realizing what he had just said. It was so . . . girly. "So, Mr. Collector of hearts, whatcha gonna do? Date us to death?" the Aisha asked, laughing mockingly. On cue, the Meerca joined in. "Umm . . . No! Flotsam Flip!" he shouted and he felt himself flip forewords and kick into the Aisha's forehead. He hadn't flipped like that in years. Kint's eyes ran over to the Meerca whose eyes were huge and worried by now. "I think I'll be going now," she said, turning to the door and running out. One of the tellers must've called the chia police, because they were ready and waiting for her. Kint knew this place would be filled up with other Sailor Neopets, reporters, and teen fans in a few minutes, so he ducked into a door labeled "Employees Only" and detransformed as fast as he could. Plucking his backpack off of the ground, he dashed out of the National Neopian as fast as he could, completely forgetting his NP. As soon as he was walking down the streets to go home, he had to fight off reporters asking if he'd seen Sailor Flotsam. Of course Kint said yes and was asked about a million questions until he started walking through the alleys. The reporters slowly began walking off. No one wants to stay in an alley during the daytime. When he was alone again, a small envelope flew to him. Neomail? But from whom? Kint, Meet me before school tomorrow; we need to talk! -Gami And then another neomail, almost as short. Kintewah, I'm leaving my keys to your neohome under the door. If you ever contact me again, I'm calling the chia police. -Sandy Sandy! He had almost forgotten. He sighed and tried to forget her, feeling bad for himself for about a minute, but then he remembered Tori . . . and that smile. Maybe everything was going to be all right. |