Bubbles

Please pick me! Please pick me! Bubbles silently begged as she tried her best to make puppy dog eyes. Well, bubble teas are already so kawaii and cute, so there's no need for me to look even more adorable, right? Especially classic milk tea bobas- “I REALLY hope I get picked,” said her best friend, Lindsey, interrupting her thoughts, “Like, I SO deserve to get picked by that person over there.” Or strawberry matcha bobas, too. Right? Bubbles nished her thought. 

Out of nowhere, Bubbles rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Lindsey?” Bubbles questioned her, sounding annoyed, “That ‘person over there’ is an employee who works at the store.” 

Lindsey laughed nervously, “Oh, yeah. I knew that. Well, whatever. I still hope I get picked by one of the customers today. Then I’ll FINALLY have a home to live in!” Bubbles laughed. Even though she sometimes wished that her best friend had a little more brain cells than just a handful, Lindsey was still her best friend no matter what. 

Lindsey gasped,”Oh my gosh!!! Look, there’s someone coming toward us, and she’s NOT an employee!” 

“Quick!” Bubbles whispered, “Look normal!” Both Bubbles and Lindsey stood as straight as uncooked spaghetti. Bubbles almost gasped as the lady opened the refrigerator door. Lindsey side eyed her, and gave her a look that meant to not gasp. Closing her eyes, Bubbles waited for the woman’s hand to wrap around her and lift her up. A long moment passed. Bubbles cautiously opened one eye, and then the other. She then spotted the woman grasping her best friend, holding her up in the air, and then carefully placing her in her shopping cart. Bubbles opened her mouth to shout stop, but then saw Lindsey quietly putting a nger to her lips, motioning for her to be quiet. For the rst time ever, Bubbles saw Lindsey’s eyes ll with tears, but they weren’t tears of sadness; they were tears of freedom and joy. All of those seconds upon minutes upon hours upon days upon weeks of being trapped in the boring, gray refrigerator were just keeping Lindsey and Bubbles from exploring the outside world. At that moment,

Bubbles nally realised that Lindsey’s longing to escape the drab refrigerator was way more powerful than hers. She snapped back to reality as Lindsey gave her a small smile and waved goodbye, and disappeared into another aisle. 

Tears began to spill out of Bubble’s eyes, making her vision blurry, but she didn’t care. This time, though, they weren’t tears of freedom and joy, they were tears of sadness. She was sorrowful that her best and only friend had left, but at the same time, she was also jealous that Lindsey was the one who had been chosen by the customer, and not her. She deserves it anyways, Bubbles thought. She didn’t even know what happened after you had been picked. She’d always watched enviously as the other drinks got taken out and placed into a shopping cart. Especially the lemonade and orange juices. They loved making smug faces at everyone else. Would Lindsey get to live in a luxurious refrigerator now, with other bubble teas, or would she be all alone and isolated from other drinks, like she was right now? Bubbles wondered. Bubbles also had many questions about the store she was in. Why did the customers push a shopping cart around? Why did they have to go to the front of the store after they’d placed everything they wanted into their shopping carts, and why couldn’t they just walk out? What was the thing that they put into the pin pad there? The only information she got was from eavesdropping with Lindsey on the watermelons’ conversations. It wasn’t much or entirely useful, but at least it explained what most of the important things in the store were. 

Bubbles closed her eyes and all of her memories with Lindsey came ooding back to her, like a huge wave washing over sand at the beach. She heard footsteps coming towards her. Bubbles opened her eyes, but she could see nobody through the refrigerator door. The footsteps got closer and closer, until they stopped. Then she heard them walk away. Bubbles let out a big sigh of relief, and she realized she’d been holding her breath. For a second, it seemed that everything was calm and peaceful until the refrigerator shelf that Bubbles was on suddenly snapped in half. The next thing she knew, she was falling down, 

down, 

down, 

down,

down… 

andthenshefeltathud.

Chapter 2 

With a sudden jerk, Bubbles woke up. Where am I? she wondered. As she looked around, she saw the familiar refrigerator ceiling light, shelves, and everything else in the refrigerator. Bubbles sat down, thinking deeply, How did I end up here again? Then, like a lightning bolt, it suddenly hit her. It was all just a dream. A ashback of the day that Lindsey had left. She’d recently been getting nightmares like these more and more often, and she just couldn’t tell if they were real or not. 

“Maybe you can,” said a voice behind her. Bubbles jumped, and a chill shivered down her spine. She almost turned around, but at the last second, she stopped. A voice inside her spoke, Don’t do it. 

“What?” Bubbles said, startled. She waited a minute to make sure that she wasn’t just hearing things. Silence. “Whatever. I must’ve just been imagining things,” she thought. Bubbles then gathered up all her courage and decided to turn around. There stood a tiny old man, approximately the size of one of Bubble’s tapioca boba pearls, with an old robe. He had a silver beard and mustache, and long, silver hair, reaching down past his slumped shoulders. His kind brown eyes were small and he had such visible forehead wrinkles. Bubbles’s jaw dropped so low that she could swear it was nearly touching the refrigerator shelf she was standing on. She just stood there, gaping, for only a second, but it was a long second. 

“Good evening,” the unusual man told her, warmly smiling. Bubbles just stood there uncomfortably, unsure of what to say. The man must’ve noticed her feeling of discomfort, because he said, very seriously, “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.” 

“I never said you do,” Bubbles blurted out. She immediately regretted saying that, and wished she could take them back. She thought the unique man was going to get mad at her, but instead, he burst out laughing. 

“Ha, ha, ha!” he chuckled.

Bubbles decided to stay on topic, so as soon as the man stopped laughing, she said, “Good evening to you, too, mister. May I help you?” 

“Oh, no. It’s not me who needs help.” 

“It’s not?” 

“It’s you, my friend, who may need some help.” 

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. What do you mean I need ‘help’?” Bubbles asked, puzzled. 

“Oh, my friend. It seems that you are upset that your friend has moved away. I think I will be able to help with that,” the strange man replied. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down a bit. First of all, how did you know that Lindsey left? And second of all, were you the one who said ‘maybe you can’ when I was thinking about failing to determine if my nightmares were real or not? Are you some kind of mind reader? Do you have psychic powers?” Bubbles curiously asked the odd man. The man chuckled, and Bubbles noticed that whenever he did, his eyes twinkled. 

“Maybe. Maybe not,” he replied mysteriously. “Alright, alright. I’m a wizard. There. I said it. Did I answer at least a few of your questions?” Bubbles nodded, although she couldn’t believe that a wizard was standing right in front of her at this very moment. Her mind just couldn’t process all of this at once. The man seemed so superior compared to her now. 

“But Mr. Wizard,” Bubbles said in a small voice, “Why are you so small, and how are you so small?” 

“Oh, my curious friend,” the wizard said, shaking his head, “How did I get so tiny? Just how did I get so tiny? Well, well, well. You’re about to nd out right now, my friend.” As fast as a blink, he pulled out a silver glass stick, and held it up in front of Bubbles’s eyes. “You see this? This is my wand. It was made by my teacher, when I was just his young apprentice. In order to create my wand, my generous teacher had to hike across the Himalayan mountain range until he got to the highest peak on one of the mountains that I forget the name of. Impressive, isn’t it?” 

“Wow. I just have one question. What exactly is the Himalayan mountain range?” Bubbles asked him.

“Oh, just a big and grand mountain range in Asia,” the wizard informed her. “It’s very chilly up there, though. I used my wand to shrink, so I could talk to you.” “How are you going to help me anyways?” Bubbles confusedly asked. “You’re in luck, because I have the perfect plan,” said the wizard. 

“I’m listening.” 

“Since you’re a little lonely now that your best friend has left, I’ve come up with a solution on how to solve that problem. All you need to do is get new friends to distract you, and then all of your pain will go away,” the wizard told her. Bubbles scratched her head, clearly confused. 

“But I’m the only bubble tea in this whole entire store!” Bubbles cried. “How will I ever nd another bubble tea like Lindsey?” 

“Relax, my friend. I’ve got this all planned out. Who says that your new friends have to be bubble teas? What I’m going to do is that I’m going to turn you into a human, so that you can have human friends. I’m a wizard, remember? Anything is possible if you’re a wizard, and lucky for you, I am one!” the wizard explained. Bubbles was speechless for a second, and then she began to speak. 

“Y… you… you’re going to turn me into a human? Has this ever happened before in the entire history of bubble teas?” stuttered Bubbles. The wizard hesitated. “No, but we can try. Even if you’re not a wizard, anything still is possible if you set your mind to it. After all, if this plan fails, then we’ve got nothing to lose. AND I’ve countless of these plans up my sleeve,” he said. Bubbles blinked. 

She said, “So… you have no tricks up your sleeve? Only plans?” Without warning, chuckles rose up from the old wizard’s throat. Bubbles felt bad about the wizard only laughing by himself, so she began laughing, too, although it felt silly. “Um…,” Bubbles said, trailing o. 

“Yes? Are there any questions, my friend?” the wizard asked her. 

“So about the plan about transforming me into a human…,” 

“Yes? Speak up, please. I’m getting old, so my hearing is getting worse.”

“Are you going to do it to me now, or are you going to wait another day to do it?” Bubbles asked him. The wizard clapped his hands together. “What kind of question is that? Of course I’m going to do it today! That’s why I asked you today!” he exclaimed. “Oh. Sorry about that,” apologized Bubbles. 

“It’s okay. I forgive you,” the wizard told Bubbles. “Now let’s do this.” With the wave of his glass wand, a tornado of silver glitter formed around it as he moved it in circles. He started saying something in a language Bubbles couldn’t understand. Suddenly, a blinding ash of light emerged from the tip of the wand, and lled the whole entire room. “It was nice meeting you, Bubbles,” Bubbles heard the wizard say from somewhere far away. The bright light made her eyes hurt, causing her head to spin. And then, Bubbles fainted.

Chapter 3 

When Bubbles nally gained consciousness, the mysterious light had cleared, Bubbles sat up and looked around. She was now in an unfamiliar bedroom. The walls had posters of cute, adorable pigs tacked up against the baby pink colored wall. There was a giant at screen TV on the wall, and LED lights lined the room, making the room blue. A white desk was lined up against one of the walls, with papers and stationary scattered across it. The white swivel chair with silver wheels facing it looked brand new, like it was just bought. It probably was, Bubbles thought. A king sized bed was in the top left corner of the room, and Bubbles estimated that about 20 pale pink pillows were lined up against the headboard. There were octopuses, pigs, owers, circles, stars, clouds, hearts, and many more. Everything in this room was either pink or white. Well, everything except for me, Bubbles corrected herself. But then again, she wasn’t a thing now, was she? No, she was a human now. She’d been so tired that she forgot that she was now a human, thanks to the kind wizard. 

She spotted a cheval mirror in the corner of the bedroom, and attempted to walk over to it. As soon as she took one step, Bubbles lost her balance, and fell to the oor. Ouch! Bubbles thought. She then decided to just scoot over to the mirror instead. When Bubbles saw her face, she almost gasped. She now had a nose, ears, and bones. She was warm beige, and her shiny stick-straight hair was obsidian black, with natural brown highlights. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts, an oversized red t-shirt, and a gold necklace that had the name Chelsea written on it. 

Suddenly, Bubbles heard someone calling, “Chelsea! Chelsea! It’s time to eat!” Bubbles froze. Somebody had been calling the name that was on her necklace. Could that be her new human name? The wizard had never said anything about her changing names, although the name Chelsea did suit her new personality, after all. However, there was a small chance the person was calling a dierent Chelsea, and not her. But that’s such a small possibility! Bubbles thought. Well, if her new name was actually Chelsea, then she might as well just play along with it. There was nothing wrong with having a new

name. Before Chelsea could react, the door swung open, and there stood a woman, which Chelsea guessed was probably in her forties, with a stern expression on her face. “Chelsea, I called your name ve times, and you didn’t even respond! This is so unlike you!” the woman cried. 

Without even thinking, Chelsea replied, “Yes, Mother.” The lady looked taken back. 

“Chelsea!” said her mom. 

“Yes?” 

“You never call me Mother! Are you feeling okay?” The woman looked concerned. 

“Oh, of course I’m feeling okay! Actually, I’m feeling spectacular today!” Chelsea faked a smile. 

Her mother hugged her. “Are you sure? Because you seem a little confused, not going to lie.” 

“Mom!” Chelsea whined. “I’m ne. You don’t have to be so concerned. It’s just a phase.” She smiled reassuringly for real this time, hoping it would be enough for her mom to leave. 

“Do you know the real reason why I came up to your room?” her mother asked her. 

Chelsea hesitated, “No.” 

“I came up here to tell you that dinner’s ready, and it’s time to eat,” replied her mom. “I can’t believe you didn’t hear me.” 

“Sorry,” came the reply. Chelsea quickly stood up and followed her mom out the door, but just as she tried to take a step, her left foot tripped over her right, and she came crashing down again. 

Her mom turned around, and gasped. “I have ocially decided that you are NOT alright, Chelsea,” she announced triumphantly. Chelsea looked down at the oor apologetically. “Sorry, Mom. it’s just that one of my friends just told me one of her shocking secrets, and I still can’t process it,” Chelsea quickly lied. Chelsea’s mother sighed a long heartfelt sigh.

“Oh, then was it Georgina or Georgianna?” her mother asked her. Chelsea started to say, “I don’t think it was either of them–” 

“Then it was probably Anastasia, right?” her mom interrupted Chelsea. “No, it denitely wasn’t her,” Chelsea replied. “Now can we PLEASE have dinner, Mom? I’m starving!” 

“Oh, alright then.” Chelsea’s mother began walking down the hallway from her spot at the bedroom door. To keep herself from falling down again, Chelsea held on to everything in order to keep herself upright. Well, at least I get to have dinner now, she thought.

Chapter 4 

As they walked through the hallway, Chelsea’s eyes kept wandering around. There were countless photos of her and her human family, almost every one of them containing her. Chelsea’s mother caught Chelsea staring at one of the family photographs for more than six seconds, and a suspicious look came across her face. 

“Sorry,” Chelsea said, a look of embarrassment crossing her face. They continued walking down the hallway, and reached a staircase. Uh-oh! she thought. She did NOT want to be tripping down the stairs, and then land at on her face. Frantically, Chelsea started thinking up excuses to prevent that from happening. Unfortunately, just as she was about to put that plan into action, her mother was already halfway down the stairs. Scratch that, Chelsea thought. She decided to just hold onto the railing as tightly as she could, and to hope for the best that she wouldn’t go rolling down the stairs and hit her head. She’d seen a kid walk into the store with a big purple bruise on her forehead, holding an ice pack in one hand, and her mother’s hand in the other. Rumor had it that she was named Shells. 

Miraculously, Chelsea managed to get down the stairs unharmed, although she was in disbelief. As she and her mother made their way across the modern living room, she caught sight of a golden retriever sulking in the corner. 

“Dinnertime, Tucker,” Chelsea’s mother told the dog, smiling. She poured him some dog food into a little red dog bowl labeled ‘FOOD’. 

“Good doggy,” said Chelsea as Tucker gobbled down his delicious dinner. They continued walking towards the dining room, where a gigantic golden chandelier hung over the long table. 

Her mother looked at her funny, and joked, “I thought you were going to mention something about the dining table giving medieval vibes, like you always do.”

“I was, but right now I’m WAY too hungry to speak,” Chelsea replied. She took a seat next to her mother on her left side. Across from her, an emo looking boy was staring sadly down at his empty plate. 

“Morning, Sis,” the boy miserably said. 

“Crimson, how many times do we have to go over this? You literally just turned emo, so don’t act like you don’t know what time of day it is. Now let’s start over again,” Chelsea’s mom told her brother. 

“Fine,” he said dramatically. “Good evening.” His mom raised her right eyebrow at him, and he sighed. “Chelsea.” 

“That’s better,” said his mother. Just then, a tall, burly man wearing a white chef’s hat and apron came into the dining room with a charger plate and a cloche, with something scarlett poking out underneath the cloche. 

He loudly cleared his throat and announced, “Your food is served. Lobster. It took me four hours, four minutes, four seconds, and four milliseconds to get this ready, so you better appreciate it.” The chef glared at Crimson. 

“Wow, that’s impressive, Chef Cookie. You beat your record by one hour, one minute, one second, and one millisecond,” Chelsea’s mom said, glancing at a pocketwatch she held in her hand. 

“Thought you were going to take three centuries, three months, three weeks, and three days, like you do almost every single day. It’s almost like it’s on your to-do list. You know, the one Dad got for your birthday that's currently hung up in the kitchen,” Crimson muttered to himself quiet enough so that Chef Cookie couldn’t hear. His mother shot him a quick warning glance. Chef Cookie set the plate of lobster down, and stepped back. 

Backing out of the room, he said, “Enjoy your meal. Bon appétit!” 

Chelsea and Crimson’s mother told the chef, “Thank you, Chef Cookie. Now, children, let’s eat!” She began taking parts of the lobster and putting it onto her plate. Both Chelsea and her brother followed their mother’s lead, and soon enough, the trio was gobbling down tasty, avorful, lobster.

“Hmm… tasty,” their mother stated, with a mouth full of lobster. After a while, she said, “Children, I’ve got some news.” 

Her son rolled his eyes. “Ughhhh. You say that 24/7.” 

“Don’t roll your eyes at your mother!” his mother snapped. “Now back to the most wonderful news. Your father called today, and he told me that he just won the lottery!” She began squealing like a pig, which made Crimson roll his eyes again. 

He muttered under his breath, “Your squealing is making me want to cry a whole ocean of tears, mom.” 

“Stop being so emo,” Chelsea told him. 

“Ughhhh. You wouldn’t get it, since you’re not emo. Now, I need to recover from Mom’s horrible, ear piercing, obnoxious squealing.” And with that, Crimson silently got up from the table and tip-toed up the stairs. Probably to his room, thought Chelsea. Before he disappeared into the darkness, she saw a few tears roll down his cheek. Oh, so he really is emo, she thought. 

At last, Chelsea’s mom stopped squealing with excitement. She looked around, and spotted Crimson’s empty seat. “Where’d he go?” she wondered aloud. “Went upstairs,” Chelsea responded. “To hide from your squealing.” When her mom looked oended, Chelsea said, “At least, that’s what he told me.” “I see,” said her mom. “Typical Crimson. Well, we’re about nished with the lobster, so dinners over. You may be excused.” 

“Thanks, Mom,” Chelsea thanked her, and she quickly scurried up the stairs, like a tiny mouse. Back inside her room, Chelsea was still processing what had happened at the dinner table. Whoa, she thought. At least she had some background information on who she was as a human. So far, she’d found out that her name was Chelsea, she had a brother named Crimson, she had a mother, and a father who recently won the lottery. She lived in a house, and apparently always said that the dining table gave ‘medieval vibes.’ Their chef knew French, and he knew how to make yummy lobster. She’d denitely need to collect more information soon, before her mom suspected that something was very wrong. All of a sudden, she heard some kind of hissing sound.

Chelsea almost screamed, but then she realized that it was a little black thing with eight legs. Uh oh. She got a bad feeling.

Chapter 5 

“SPIDEEEEERRRRRRRR!!!” 

Chelsea heard somebody screaming for their life. She soon gured out that it was her voice that was making such a horric racket. She immediately shut her mouth, and a moment later, Crimson came running in, his face wet from weeping. 

“Oreo? Have you seen Oreo anywhere? Where’s my Oreo?” He whimpered. His sister just gave him a confused look. “Who’s Oreo?” 

“You know, Oreo my tarantula. I heard a scream coming from your room, so I had to check if that was Oreo,” Crimson explained, making it sound like it was very obvious that Oreo was his pet spider. 

“Oh, yeah. Is that thing your beloved Oreo?” Chelsea asked him sarcastically, pointing at the spider darting about on the oor. “And, yeah, Oreo was the cause of my high-pitched shrieking. Gee, I sure hope my screeching didn’t blast your sensitive ears o,” said Chelsea. 

“Oh, no, I wasn’t checking if Oreo was the cause of the dramatic squawk. I was checking to see if he was okay, and he wasn’t smushed by your HUMONGOUS feet or had a sore throat if he’d been wailing so tragically,” retorted Crimson. 

“I was expecting a thank you from you for not smushing your poor little Arachnid, but whatever,” Chelsea said, annoyed. “Now, get out of MY room!” “Blah, blah, blah! Get out of MY room!” Crimson mimicked in a squeaky voice. A second later, back in his normal, nonchalant voice, he said, “See you tomorrow, Chels.”Then he silently closed the door. He’s so weird, Chelsea thought. “Obviously, he’s weird, but you, my friend, on the other hand, are not,” a familiar voice said, breaking the silence.

Chapter 6 

“Mr. Wizard?” Chelsea asked, turning around. 

“Yes, it is I,” the wizard said calmly. “I forgot to tell you one very important secret that I’ve been keeping for almost a century.” He was still in his small form, and he was standing on her bed. 

“Well, then, what is it?” Chelsea curiously asked. She imagined something extraordinary, or something even beyond extraordinary. 

“Well, then, my dear friend, it is this: You,” the wizard told her. Chelsea blinked. “Me?” she asked deliberately. However, the wizard wasn’t nished yet. “You are destined for great things, my friend,” the wizard wisely said. “Am I, though?” 

“Yes, you are. By the way, how’s your life as a human going so far?” the wizard asked her. 

Chelsea hesitated. “It’s decent. Not that exciting.” 

The wizard laughed, “Don’t you worry, my friend. Your new life is going to get exciting real soon. Just wait and see.” 

“Okay, if you say so,” said Chelsea, sounding unsure of herself. “Wait.” She held up her hand, with her palm facing the wizard. “You know my name, but what’s your name, or should I keep on calling you Mr. Wizard?” She pointed to herself, and then at the wizard. 

“It’s Chris P. Bacon,” the wizard grinned. 

“Are you for real right now?” asked Chelsea, raising her right eyebrow. Chris looked oended. “Of course I’m being real right now, Chelsea… Oh, great! I forgot your last name. Welp, it doesn’t matter anymore.” The wizard shrugged. “Without further ado, I’ll be on my way now, Chelsea!” 

“Bye, Chris P. Bacon!” Chelsea waved. And just like that, the wizard vanished into thin air before her eyes. She yawned. She’d almost lost track of time, even though the conversation between her and Chris was really short. Chelsea looked out the

window, where pink curtains hung from the sides, and saw that the stars were already up in the sky. She realized that night had fallen, and the air was chilly. Tomorrow morning, she’d try to collect more information on her backstory, but rst she needed to get some rest. As Chelsea closed her eyes, slowly drifting o to sleep, she could hear crickets chirping. “Chirp, chirp, chirp,” they chirped. It’s almost like a lullaby, she calmly thought. It was so soothing, so nonchalant.

Chapter 7 

Early the next morning, Chelsea found herself taking a walk in a park. When she rst got there, she’d noticed that it was so loud there. Chelsea soon realized that the noise was just people talking, but they were excited human voices. 

She overheard someone talking to someone else, “Hey Billy, did you hear about the new book Bubbles coming out today? Believe it or not, it’s written by someone named Hannah Lu.” Apparently the whole park was buzzing about a new book coming out on this day. Chelsea tried to dig up some more information about it, and she managed to succeed. She’d found out that Hannah Lu was an amazing author, and was quickly becoming famous for her debut novel, Bubbles. With some accidental eavesdropping, Chelsea had discovered that Bubbles was about a bubble tea, just like her! In the book, the bubble tea had gone on a magical adventure, and made many new friends. Chelsea soon realized that her bubble tea name, Bubbles, was the title of the book! 

She walked in the park for approximately 90 more minutes, until she stopped to take a little rest, partly because she had a cramp, and partly because it got a little boring just listening to people talk about Bubbles and how wonderful of a book it was. Chelsea found a wooden bench, and sat down. A few minutes later, a girl, who looked about the same age as her, sat down next to her. She had gray eyes and short brown hair. The girl smiled at Chelsea, making Chelsea unsure of how to react. Should she smile, wave, or look in the opposite direction? She nally settled on just smiling back to the girl. “Hi, I’m Ivy. What’s your name?” the girls asked Chelsea. 

“M…my name is Ch…Chelsea,” Chelsea stuttered. 

Ivy held out her hand for Chelsea to shake it, and said, “Nice to meet you, Chelsea.” Chelsea shook her hand. Ivy had a rm grip, which made her inch. “Are you okay?” asked Ivy. Chelsea nodded, embarrassed. They both stared at the ground for a little while. Then came the awkward silence. Even more awkward silence. “So…” Ivy

began. “I know that you probably already have a lot of friends, but do you think that there’s a possibility that we can be friends?” She asked, hopefully. 

Chelsea could hardly believe it. “Sure. I mean, why not?” She replied. Ivy laughed loudly. Suddenly, they heard a phone ringing. Ring ring. Ivy picked up her phone and saw the caller’s name. 

“Sorry. It’s my mom. Well, it was nice meeting you, Chelsea. Bye!” Ivy called, as she walked away and answered the phone. At least I’ve got a friend now, Chelsea thought positively. Wait. It was nice meeting you. Both Chelsea and Chris P. Bacon had said that when they were bidding her farewell. Hmmm, mused Chelsea. Strange. She looked up at the sky, thinking the sun was probably starting to set, but boy was she wrong. The shining, golden sphere was still high up in the sky, and Chelsea had to squint trying to 

nd it. It seemed like it was around noon, so she began to head home for lunch. She hoped that she remembered the path home, and fortunately, she did. She was walking up the front porch steps leading up to her house when she heard a voice behind her say, “Well, well, well. Look who’s here.” She immediately knew who it was. 

“Buzz o, Crimson,” she responded, clearly irritated. “Why don’t you go listen to some emotional music? And while you’re at it, why don’t you go cry a whole Pacic Ocean of tears to accompany that sad music of yours? Her brother looked hurt. 

“Fine,” he said in a serious tone. “How about you go hang out with that brunette best friend of yours?” 

A surprised look crossed Chelsea’s face. “What are you, some kind of stalker? That is so creepy. In the blink of an eye, she went from looking startled to looking disgusted. 

“Ha! Do you really think I’d be stalking you? I just happened to be taking a short walk in the park when I saw you and your brand new best friend chatting like crazy,” Crimson retorted. “Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I’d like to enter my house, thank you very much.” His sister watched as he opened the front door, and left it open as he walked upstairs to his room. I have a peculiar brother, she thought. Chelsea proceeded

into the house and unintentionally slammed the door shut. Oops! she quietly said in her head.

Chapter 8 

As Chelsea trudged up the staircase, which seemed to take forever to reach the top, her stomach grumbled loudly. Yikes, she silently exclaimed. I’m starving! She realized that she’d forgotten to eat breakfast, and now it was lunchtime. “Mom! I’m starving!” she called. 

“Don’t worry,” Chelsea’s mother replied from downstairs. “Chef Cookie says that lunch is almost ready.” A moment later she yelled, “Chelsea! We’re having pasta for lunch today, and Chef Cookie says he forgot to get parmesan cheese from the grocery store this morning. Could you please make a short trip to the store and get some? Here, I’ll give you a ten dollar bill. Just meet me at the front door.” 

Chelsea answered, “Okay, Mom.” Oh no! I literally just came back from being outside for hours, and now my mother wants me to go outside again just for cheese? Cheese of all things? She tiredly thought. 

A few minutes later, Chelsea found herself standing on the doormat, front door locked behind her. A crumpled up ten dollar bill was grasped tightly in her right hand. Chelsea stared down at the sidewalk, dumbfounded and unsure of where to go. So, my own mother decided to kick me out of her house just to get some cheese. Perfect, she sarcastically mused. As she wandered around town, with no sense of direction, Chelsea felt as lost as a penguin in the White House. 

She soon came across an old-fashioned shop with a sign that read “Cheese,” so without a doubt, she walked right up to the door and attempted to turn the doorknob. No matter how hard she tried, the door wouldn’t budge. Chelsea pulled with all her strength, but the door still wouldn't move. She sighed loudly. Then, she caught sight of another shop, almost identical to the one she was standing in front of now. However, that one was a little smaller than the original one. Apart from the size dierence, the only other dierence between each of them was that the smaller shop was in the woods behind the larger shop. Chelsea wondered, Will the door to the smaller shop open? There

was only one way to nd out, and plus, she was running out of time. Chef Cookie was probably waiting and expecting her to come back with the parmesan any second now. As soon as Chelsea took a step in the direction of the tinier shop, it became more transparent. With each step she took towards it, the cheese shop became more and more invisible, until she eventually couldn’t see it anymore. It must be an illusion, Chelsea realized. 

As the shop went away, a boy appeared in the shop’s place. He had light brown hair, and was a lot taller than her. One of his eyes was blue, and the other was green. He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, and they looked brand new. To Chelsea, he looked perfect. The boy waved, which made her freeze. Awkwardly, she waved back, and took a tiny step forward. Just as she did, she felt herself falling down, 

down, 

down, 

down, 

down… 

and then she felt a thud.

Chapter 9 

With a sudden jerk, Chelsea woke up. Where am I? she wondered. As she looked around, she saw the familiar refrigerator ceiling light, shelves, and everything else in the refrigerator. Chelsea sat down, thinking deeply, How did I end up here again? Then, like a lightning bolt, it suddenly hit her. It was all just a gigantic nightmare. She’d even woken up the same way as she did in her dream. That was the part that scared her. Wait. Chelsea quickly glanced at her arms and legs, and she regretted that decision. She was back to being Bubbles, the bubble tea. Bubbles, the one with no friends. Bubbles, always dreaming about things that could never happen to her. At that very moment, she felt like the most helpless thing to ever exist. In her world, she was Chelsea, a human with friends and a loving family. Although, in real life, she was Bubbles, a bubble tea with no friends and no loving family. She’d never met Chris P. Chicken, Chef Cookie, her mother, Crimson, Ivy, or the boy with the unique eyes. Bubbles wasn’t sure if she would ever get out of this dull refrigerator, and she probably never would. It was sad. She didn’t even feel like staring out the refrigerator door anymore. All Bubbles wanted to do was to cry herself to sleep. The only problem was that she remembered her dream all too well. She sighed. If only she hadn’t woken up. If only Lindsey hadn’t left her. If only someone would take her home with them. The tears from behind her eyes slowly began to form a puddle. The puddle of sadness. Of misery. Of hopelessness, thought Bubbles. At the end of the day, she was still Bubbles. No matter what.