Little Things

      Daisy hurried down the hallway on the way to her classroom and pushed the door open. She was nervously hurrying toward her desk when she tripped over something and fell onto the floor. Everyone began to laugh.

      “Ouch,” Daisy grumbled, gathering her things and getting up. A pretty Purple Zafara smirked at her and pulled her foot out of the aisle. The teacher cleared his throat, looking coldly at Daisy.

      “You’re late, Dandy,” he said. Daisy couldn’t tell if he had messed up her name on purpose. It was the first day of school, though, so Daisy assumed it had been a simple mistake.

      “Um, sir, my name is Daisy,” she began. The teacher looked as though he could care less, but Daisy continued, “I’m sorry. I just woke up late.”

      “Well, now that we’re done messing around,” the teacher began pointedly. Daisy noticed his name on the chalkboard, Mr. Frore. Wasn’t that a synonym of ‘cold’? Mr. Frore continued, “We can begin our lesson.”

      Mr. Frore was a very boring teacher, Daisy observed. He went on and on, not stopping to make sure anyone had understood what he had said. Countless times Daisy had raised her hand to ask a question, but he ignored her. Surely he couldn’t have a grudge against her on the first day of school!

      “Dandy, what are your thoughts on this topic?” Mr. Frore asked suddenly. Daisy jumped. She’d been lost in her thoughts and hadn’t heard a word Mr. Frore had said. Even through her red fur the others could see that Daisy was blushing.

      “I don’t have any thoughts,” she whispered. Mr. Frore raised his eyebrows.

      “Make sure you are listening, everyone, or it will be detention,” he said, making sure that everyone heard him.

      “So, does that mean I have detention?” Daisy asked, knowing the answer.

      “Yes, Dandy will be the first student to have detention this year,” Mr. Frore announced to the class. Daisy sighed and looked at the floor.

      “After school, Dandy, you will do your detention,” Mr. Frore said to Daisy in a normal voice. Daisy nodded resignedly.

      After more dull talk of pointless subjects, lunch came. Daisy wasn’t at all thrilled about this, since she hadn’t packed a lunch. She would have to settle for the cafeteria food. Only two other Neopets were in line to get today’s lunch, which was lasagna. Daisy took her tray over to a lonely table next to a window. So far, this was the worst first day of school Daisy had ever had.

      “You didn’t pack a lunch?” the Purple Zafara asked tauntingly. Daisy scowled and put a piece of lasagna into her mouth. She chewed slowly.

      “You’re just a plain color, too. I’ve never liked pets with no style,” the Purple Zafara taunted. This wasn’t a very good insult, since Daisy herself had never thought she had style.

      “Mr. Frore doesn’t like you, either. He agrees with me that you’re a stupid Zafara,” the Purple Zafara continued. She seemed determined to infuriate Daisy. Daisy shrugged, not caring what Mr. Frore thought. The Purple Zafara became infuriated by Daisy’s lack of reaction. She grabbed Daisy’s tail and tugged hard. Daisy fell off of her chair, her food tray landing on her head. Everyone laughed. Daisy picked up her tray and threw it aside. She pulled some lasagna from her fur and tossed it behind her.

      “How dare you get my beautiful fur dirty!” The Purple Zafara shrieked. Everyone stopped laughing to watch the Purple Zafara storming about.

      “What is going on?” Mr. Frore demanded, walking into the room. Before Daisy could speak, the Purple Zafara shrieked.

      “Dandy threw her food at me!” she shrieked.

      “I did not!” Daisy yelled, far louder than the Purple Zafara. Mr. Frore was glaring at her the same way he had in the morning. The Purple Zafara was weeping into her tail.

      “Elizabeth, go wash up in the bathroom,” Mr. Frore told her kindly. Sniffling much louder than was necessary, Elizabeth left the room. Mr. Frore turned to Daisy and said, “Daisy, that’s another detention.”

      “I didn’t throw anything at her! She pulled my tail and I fell off of the chair! I was covered in lasagna, so I flung some off of me! I hit her by accident!” Daisy roared. This was so unfair that Daisy could have thrown some lasagna at him on purpose.

      “That’s enough! One more word and I will give you two more detentions,” Mr. Frore snapped before walking out of the room. Daisy just sat there in the pile of uneaten lasagna, feeling miserable. Why had he listened to Elizabeth instead of her? It was completely unfair.

      Daisy was happy to be entering another classroom until she saw the teacher glaring at her coldly. Mr. Frore had evidently told this teacher about how ‘rude’ Daisy had been at lunch. On the chalkboard, the teacher’s name, Ms. Arbitrary, was written. Daisy was pretty sure that meant ‘unfair’, but didn’t comment. This teacher already didn’t like her.

      “Today we are going to play a little game,” Ms. Arbitrary announced to her class. Everyone looked excited, except for Daisy. Ms. Arbitrary would probably find a way to honor her name and make the game unfair for Daisy. Ms. Arbitrary explained the rules of the game and then had everyone form a circle. Elizabeth was standing right next to Daisy, which could mean anything but good.

      The game started with the Neopet across from Daisy. When it was Daisy’s turn to touch the correct land on the mat on the floor, Elizabeth sneakily pushed her. Daisy’s hand touched the wrong land.

      “You’re out,” Ms. Arbitrary said cheerfully.

      “Ma’am, Elizabeth pushed me, so I touched the wrong one,” Daisy tried to explain.

      “No excuses, Dandy. You touched the wrong piece of land. You’re out,” Ms. Arbitrary said with finality. Sighing, Daisy sat down. She was the first Neopet to be out. When the bell rang, Daisy was actually one of the only Neopets to be out.

      “Wow, you really stink at that game,” Elizabeth whispered to her evilly. Daisy gave her a furious look.

      In the next class, which was Writing, Daisy tried to find a seat as far away from Elizabeth as possible. Unfortunately, Elizabeth succeeded in sitting right behind Daisy.

      The teacher’s name, Mr. Arraign, was written on the chalkboard. Daisy was positive that this meant ‘accuse’, but once again made no comment. This teacher didn’t seem to dislike Daisy and she wanted it to stay that way.

      “Today we are going to write very short stories to see how well you are doing with your writing,” Mr. Arraign announced. Daisy smiled, feeling slightly more cheerful. She liked writing and was good at it.

      “There are some rules, though. First of all, your story must be school appropriate. Your character must be your own. You can’t talk at all, or pass notes. In fact, there will be no communicating whatsoever. If you break any of these rules, you will receive zero marks for this assignment,” Mr. Arraign said, staring at each student in turn in an accusing way, as if all of them were plotting to cheat somehow.

      Daisy pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. She began to write a very suspenseful mystery. A Royal Paint Brush had been stolen. The Pant Devil was not a suspect, since the Royal Paint Brush had been safely stored in a Safety Deposit Box. The Box had even had a PIN number that was nearly impossible to guess. The hero of the story, a detective, would have to find it using a few of the clues that he’d found. Daisy was very proud of this story. She noticed a small piece of paper and knew who it was from. She put it back onto Elizabeth’s desk, feeling irritated.

      “Dandy, give me your paper. You weren’t allowed to pass notes at this time,” Mr. Arraign said angrily, snatching Daisy’s paper. Why couldn’t anyone get her name right? “It’s a pity. This really is a good story.” He ripped it in half.

      “Sir, Elizabeth gave me the note. I was giving it back to her because I knew it was against the rules!” Daisy protested. Elizabeth looked offended.

      “This is the third time you’ve blamed your mistakes on me, Daisy!” she said. Mr. Arraign raised his eyebrows.

      “You’re blaming it on Elizabeth? I’m astounded at you, Dandy,” he said. He even sounded astounded, rather than cold. Still, he was being just as unfair as all the other teachers. He gave her another detention. Daisy now had a grand total of three detentions. It may not sound like much, but Daisy had never gotten a detention before in all of her previous years in school.

      For her detention, Daisy had to clean the lunch room. It was amazing how messy all of the Neopets were when they ate. After the lunch room was completely spotless, Mr. Frore let her go. She put her mop away and left the school building, feeling extremely dirty after all of that scrubbing.

      When she was far away from the school building, Daisy began to cry. She tried to make as little noise as possible so that no one would hear her. Someone did hear her, though. A little Blue Kacheek skipped over to her, looking slightly sad.

      “What’s wrong?” she asked Daisy. The little Kacheek was holding onto a Strawberry Faerie Sundae. Daisy told her about her school day. The Blue Kacheek looked furious at the idea of Daisy being framed by Elizabeth.

      “I’d like to talk to you a bit more,” the Blue Kacheek said hopefully. She told Daisy her address. Daisy promised to visit her and meant it.

      “Here, would you like my sundae?” the Blue Kacheek asked. Daisy shook her head, but the Blue Kacheek made her take it. She said kindly, “I hope it helps you feel better. It always makes me feel better when I have a bad day.”

      Daisy smiled and licked the sundae. She suddenly felt warm inside, though the ice cream was cold. She asked, “What’s your name?”

      “My name’s Altruistic,” the Blue Kacheek replied cheerfully. Daisy nodded and the two walked away. If Daisy wasn’t mistaken, ‘altruistic’ was another word for ‘kind’.

The End