The Petshop Rejects
By Wendy Olson

My name is Mina Fawkes.  I am the lead singer and lead guitarist of the band known as Petshop Rejects. If you’ve never heard of us then shame on you.  I’m willing to forgive you if you read our story.  It all started in a bar long, long ago...  Okay not that long ago, I just wanted it to sound cool.

I sat in the small bar by myself.  I was dressed in my usual outfit:  black and purple plaid very very short kilt, black and purple stripped pantyhose, boots that go to the knees and are laced all the way up the right one is purple and the left is black, gloves that go to the elbow and are fingerless the right is black and the left is purple, purple tank top with a black shadow of a fox.  I also wear small round glasses over my green eyes. My right eyebrow is pierced with a purple ring and so are my fox ears.  My ears have three purple rings each.  My hair is long and blonde with purple bangs. I also have a fox tail as I am a Red Fox-Girl.  Also my birth tattoo is on my upper left arm.

I used to go to this bar every Saturday night.  Saturday night was talent night.  As I waited my turn I slurped my chocolate cherry cola.  It was my drink of choice.  My fox ears then could hear, “Ladies, Gentleman and wild Anymals! Put you hands together for a real Foxy Lady, Mina Fawkes!” It was Lorn the Goat-Man announcer.

I put down my drink and stood up.  I then picked up the bar stool I was sitting on and carried it to the stage.  I put the stool in front of the mic and then bent down to pick up the acoustic guitar.

“Yeah, nice tail!” I heard a man in the audience yell.  Then they all started clapping and yelling.  I just ignored it.  It was the same every week.  By the time my turn came around the Anymals were drunk.

I then sat on the stool and smiled at the crowd.  “I will be singing the song I wrote called: ‘Puppy Love’.  Thank you.” *

I then sang, “ I look into your eyes and smile.
It’s been so long since we talked.
Have you even missed me?
You whimper and whine.

(Chorus)
Puppy Love
It was once the only thing I wanted
Puppy Love
Kisses and Hugs, licks and nuzzles
Puppy Love
How did it go wrong?

I watch as you walk away.
Your tail wags when you see Her.
My heart breaks as I drink my chocolate cherry cola.
When did I lose my Puppy?

(Chorus)

When did I lose my Puppy?
Oh Puppy Love, how could you desert me?
Puppy Love what I once wanted.

(Chorus)”

The crowd then clapped for me like it was the first time they had heard it.  Which was nice even if they have heard this song a million times, because I play it every week.  Then I heard something new.  It was a howl.  I scanned the crowd and I saw a Wolf-Girl.  She smiled at me.

I then bowed to the crowd and set the guitar down.  Again the men yelled because of my tail.  I shook my head and took the stool away from the stage with me.  “Mina Fawkes everyone.  Isn’t she lovely?” Lorn said as I left the stage.  The crowd clapped one more time for me.  Lorn then called another Anymal to the stage.

I put the stool back down where I was and sat on it.  I asked the bartender for another chocolate cherry cola.  I then looked down at the glass as I was doing before going on stage.

“Mina, Mina Fawkes?” a person asked me.  I looked up and saw the Wolf-Girl again.

“Do I know you?” I asked.  The girl smiled and nodded her head.

I then looked at her.  The girl had gray hair to the chin.  She had gray wolf ears with black tips.  The ears were pierced three times on one ear and two on the other. Her tail was grey.  She had one brown eye and one blue.  The girl was dressed in green camo pants, green tank top, construction boots, black fingerless gloves.  She had on a Claddagh ring on left pointer finger and dog tags around neck. Her birth tattoo was on the back of her neck.

“I’m Spooky Lobos.”  I still just starred.  The name didn’t ring a bell.  “Mindy Lobos?” Then I knew who she was.  Mindy was a girl I knew at King Leo High School.  Mindy was in the same grade as me, but we hadn’t really ever talked. She was a popular girl, while I wasn’t.

“Right, Mindy.  You go by Spooky now?” I asked and then drank my drink.

“Yeah, It’s my stage name.  I play bass guitar in a band.  Well, I did.  They fir...I quit.” Spooky informed me and then sat in the stool next to me.

I really didn’t know what to say.  I was never good with other people.  “You know if you wore a longer skirt the guys wouldn’t bark.” she said after the long silence.

“I know, I just love this skirt.”  I smiled and pushed up my glasses.

“That song was really good.  I think that if you put it with some electric guitars and sped it up it would be even better.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Sure.  Let’s go to my place and I’ll show you what I mean.”  I smiled and paid the bartender.

Once in Spooky’s apartment I saw a poster on her wall.  It was of a Horned Dorset Sheep-Girl.  The Sheep-Girl had deep brown eyes.  She had two spiral cream colored horns and thick curly white hair that fell to her shoulders. The Sheep-Girl was wearing  a lattice of pink PVC under a near see-through billowing sleeveless white dress.  She also had on a ton of silver jewelry.  At the bottom of the poster read the words, “Pan Ewehorn”.

“You love Pan too?” I asked.  Pan was my idol.  She was the best singer I had ever heard.  I became a singer because of Pan.  It was always my dream to meet her and sing with her.

“Yeah, she is really good.  Though I want to be better than her.” Spooky then evilly grinned.

I smiled and then looked around the rest of the room.  The room was a huge living room and a huge kitchen/dinning room.  The walls were mostly bare and so was the room.  I could also tell the wall, floor and ceiling were soundproofed.   

Spooky had instead of chairs and couches a stage.  There were a set of drums, two electric guitars, microphones with stands and amps on the stage.

Spooky walked over to the stage and grabbed the green bass guitar.  “Okay, here’s how the bass could sound.”  Spooky then played it for me.  It sounded very good.  It was a lot faster then the tune I had written.

Spooky stopped and smiled.  “Here grab that purple guitar and play with me.  You’ll be able to follow along with my bass.”  I walked onto the stage and put on the purple electric guitar.  

Spooky played once more and I followed.  She was right it wasn’t too hard to follow.  I then walked to the microphone and began to sing.  “Puppy Love, Puppy love.  It was once all I wanted.  Puppy Love, Puppy love.  How did it go wrong?”

I kept singing until we had done the whole song.  When I wrote it the song was a love ballad now it was a rock song.  “That’s great.” I said after we were done.

“So, do you want to start a band?  We just need a drummer and a melody guitarist.” Spooky asked as she put her guitar down.

I put down my guitar as well.  “That sounds like a great idea!”

The next week  we held auditions at Spooky’s apartment.  There was a line around the block.  I sat at a table in front of the stage as Spooky let them in one at a time.

The day had gone by and we had seen a dozen butterfinger drummers and guitarists that didn’t know a G cord from a F.  We were just about to give up when a drummer came in.  

The girl that came in was a Cat-Girl.  She had very long purple hair.  There was a pink piece of hair on the left side and a blue piece on the right.  The girl’s eyes were a stunningly gray blue.  The Cat-Girl had black cat ears that were pierced three times.  The bottom two were gold hoops and the top was a diamond stud.  Her tail was also black.  The girl was wearing a sleeveless royal blue Chinese top, blue pants, black boots that go to the knees laced all the way up, and black gloves that go to her elbow.  The thumbs, pointer fingers and middle fingers were uncovered while the other two were covered.  The girl also had a small black tattoo of a scorpion on the left side of her belly button and there was a tattoo on her upper right arm of the planet Anipluto symbol.

“What is your name, what instrument will you be auditioning for?” asked Spooky.

“My name is Maat Neko and I will be auditioning for drummer.” she said.  Maat then held up a pair of drumsticks.  One was pink the other was blue.  She winked.

“May we see your birth tattoo?” I asked.

Maat didn’t look very happy by my question.  “Why do I have to show you that?”

“To make sure you haven’t gotten it removed and are a criminal.  It’s the law.  Sorry about that.” I explained.  Only criminals get their birth tattoos removed.  The birth tattoo is recorded at birth, so it’s like a finger print.  True many Anymals have them in the same spots, but each tattoo is of the animal they are so not every animal Anymal has the tattoo in the same spot.

Maat turned around and lifted the back of her shirt.  Her tattoo was on her left shoulder blade.

“Okay, that’s good.  Thanks Maat.  Now please play this drum beat.”  Spooky said and handed Maat a sheet of music for the new “Puppy Love”.

Maat sat at Spooky’s drum set and looked over the music.  She then threw it to the floor and began to play.  Maat did it right the very first time.  She then smiled and added a few extra beats at the end.

“Thanks Maat.  You’re in!” I shouted.  Maat became very excited.  She jumped up and down and ran over to Spooky and me.  She then hugged us very tightly.

“Thank you.” she yelled.

Maat finally calmed down when Spooky said,  “We still need a melody guitar player.  I’ll go tell the drummers that are left to go home and I’ll bring in the next guitarist.”

Spooky then left the room.  “You can stay and help us pick if you want to.” I told Maat.

“Thanks.”  Maat found a chair and sat next to me.  I looked at her and there was something familiar about her.

“What’s the matter?” Maat asked me.

“Oh nothing.” I said and stopped starring.

Spooky then entered with another person.  This one was a Black Crow-Girl. She had short black hair with white tessels.  The Crow-Girl’s eyes were so blue you could get lost in them.  She had black crow wings on her back and a black crow tail. She also had pointed normal ears.  Her left ear was pierced with hoops at the top of the ear.  Her right eyebrow was also pierced.  The Crow-Girl was dressed in a black fitted tank top that is cut off below her chest and was over a long sleeve fishnet top, her pants were very very baggy black pants.  So baggy I could see her birth tattoo on the upper part of her left hip.  The Crow-Girl didn’t have any shoes on.  She was also holding a black with blue strings electric guitar.

“What is your name?  I know you are trying out for melody guitar and we can see your birth tattoo.” Spooky explained to the Crow-Girl.

“My name is Raven Midnight.”  She softly told us.

Spooky then handed her a page of music.  Raven looked it over then gave it back to Spooky.  She walked over to the stage, plugged in her guitar and started to play.  She too easily memorized her part and played it perfectly the first time.

“That was wonderful.  How about we now play it all together and see how it sounds?”  I asked.  Everyone nodded their heads.  Spooky, Maat and I got on stage and took up our instruments.

“One...two..three!” I shouted and then we played.  Spooky provided my back-up singing.

The four of us fit together wonderfully.  It was as if we were meant to be a band.  We played the new verison of “Puppy Love” all the way through.

“Raven, your in!” I said once we were done.

Raven finally smiled.  “Thanks very much.” she said.

“Okay but what is our name?” asked Maat.

The four of us looked at each other.  Spooky and I hadn’t thought about a name.  We stood there for a moment.  “I know, how about Petshop Rejects?” I finally said.

The three looked at me and then smiled.  “I like it.” Spooky said.  The other two agreed.

The next two weeks we spent at Spooky’s apartment.  I wrote songs and Spooky helped jazz them up and wrote the music.  We wrote a few more songs two being: “Petshop Rejects” and “Pet Me”.  After we wrote the songs we all practiced them into the wee hours of the night.

The Saturday after the two weeks were over we went to my bar for talent night.  We sat at the bar awaiting our turn.  I once again slurped my chocolate cherry cola.

“Excuse me?” I heard a voice ask.  I turned around to see a Fruit Bat-Boy looking down at me.  He had black bat ears, the left was pierced twice.  One was a  gold ring and other was a diamond stud.  He had black bat wings on his back.  The Bat-Boy’s hair was brown with blue stripes in it.  His eyes were bright blue.  He was dressed in a black biker jacket, blue and white baseball shirt, blue jeans and all black Converse All Star High-tops.  He also had a black headband around his forehead.

“Yes.” I answered.

“Are you the leader of Petshop Rejects?” He asked me.  He had the sweetest voice I had ever heard.  I almost melted.  I must have been blushing, because he then said, “Are you sick?”

“Umm... no I’m fine.  Yes I am.  I’m Mina Fawkes.  Who are you?” I stuttered.

“A good friend of Maat’s.  Just call me Batty.  Take good care of her will you?” he asked.  He seemed very worried about her.

“Of course.”  With that said the Bat-Boy walked into the crowed.  

That’s when Spooky, Maat and Raven ran up to me.  “Now ladies and gentleman, our resident Foxy lady has formed a band called Petshop Rejects.  Put your hands together for them!” the Goat-Man Lorn said.

Spooky and Maat grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the stage.  “Wait...Maat a guy was...”

“We’re on tell me later!” Maat cut me off.  


The next thing I knew I was on stage.  I picked up the purple guitar Spooky had given me.  I smiled at the audience and said, “We’re the Petshop Rejects and we’re going to sing a familiar song.  It’s ‘Puppy Love’ only faster!” I told them.

“Show us your tail!” barked a Hound Dog-Man.

“What did you say?” asked Raven.  The Dog-Man frowned and stopped barking.

“Okay...one two one two three four!” Yelled Maat.

We then played “Puppy Love”.  As I sang it I felt as if I was singing to Batty even though the song was a break-up song.  I think I sang it better than I had ever before.

We next sang two more songs.  Our theme: “Petshop Rejects” and “Pet Me”.  “Pet Me” was a big hit.  I figured it would be with the drunk crowd.

After we sang our songs I went back to the bar.  I hopped Batty would be there.  I sat down and the bartender gave me a chocolate cherry cola.  “It’s from the gentleman at that table.”  He pointed to Batty sitting alone at a table sipping a drink.  Batty winked at me.  My skin became hot as I blushed.  I knew I must have looked really red.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked Maat.  She then sat next to me.

“Nothing.” I whispered and then drank my drink.

“Is it a guy?” she pried.  Maat starred at me.  I didn’t answer.  “Okay fine, don’t tell me.  What did you want to say before we went on?” she asked instead.

I became flustered.  “Nothing.  It was nothing.” I told her.  I then turned around to see if Batty was still there.  The table he was at was now empty.  I could see a piece of paper sitting on the table.

“Excuse me.” I told Maat.  She smiled and asked the bartender for a drink.  It was something with alcohol in it, not sure what.

I walked over to his table and picked up the note.  It read:



Dear Mina,

I loved your songs.  They were very beautiful just like you.  Keep it up and your band will be as good or better than Pan Ewehorn.

Love,
Batty.

I smiled and kissed the note.  I then placed it in the pocket of my kilt.  “What are you doing?” asked Spooky.

“Nothing.” I blurted out.  I didn’t want anyone to know about my Batty.

“I was thinking we could go to my place and work on some more songs.”  She told me.  Maat and Raven were standing next to her.  They each nodded.

“Alright.” I agreed.

Now, I’m going to skip a bit.  I don’t think you really want to hear all the boring details of us playing in dives, getting discovered and working on our album “Can’t Cage Us”.   I’m going to start again on the biggest day of our lives.

I had been 3 years to do all of that.  We were now famous.  Our album went up the charts and “Puppy Love” was our number one single.  What of Batty, you ask.  From time to time he would show up. I would get drinks and notes from him.   Once and a while he would talk to me.  This was only if I was alone.

The biggest day of our lives, you also ask.  Well, we were booked not only to play for King Leo, Queen Cheetara, Princess Setsuna and Prince Batholomew but also we were opening for Pan Ewehorn.  

We got out of our tour buss in front of the palace.  It was beautiful.  It was blue, pink and purple.  As we walked into the courtyard I could smell the most wonderful smell.  It came from flowers that matched the palace in color.

“What a place.  Imagine living here.” Spooky said in awe.

“Yes, it must be heaven.” I agreed.

Maat pushed through Spooky and me saying, “I bet it’s not that great.”

“What’s a matter with her?” asked Raven.  We shook our heads as we watched Maat walking stiffly in front of us.

We slowly walked to the door as we took in the sights.  I had never been to the palace before.  I had only seen it on tv and in pictures.  The pictures and tv I had seen did not do it justice.  This was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Once inside we were greeted by a Bear-Man butler.  He smiled and bowed to us.  Spooky and I giggled and bowed back. Raven didn’t giggle but bowed too.  Maat just stood their upset.

“I will show you to your rooms.  I’m Grisly Giles.  If you need anything during your stay just ask.  Now follow me.”  He told us and the headed for some stairs.

“Will our rooms be near Pan’s” I asked.

Giles smiled and looked at me.  “A fan of her’s are you?  Yes, Miss Ewehorn’s room is near your’s.  Miss Ewehorn will not arrive until later this evening.”

We followed Giles until we were up the stairs and in front of a long hallway.  There were many doors and five of them had stars.  “Each room is marked with your name.  Just go inside.  I will be back up with your bags.  Remember if you need anything just ask.”

I walked down the hall until I was in front of a room with the star that said, “Mina Fawkes”.  I looked at the rest of the band and watched them enter their rooms.  I shrugged my shoulders and opened my door.

Inside I found a room that was made just for me.  The walls, carpet and everything inside were different shades of purple.  The bed was a canopy water bed.  I laid on it and smiled.  

I looked over to the dresser and saw a bouquet of purple Daffodils.  My favorite flower.  I got off the bed and walked over to them.  I pulled the card and it read:


Dear Mina,

These flowers are for you.  Have a good show.  Also the frige is stocked with your favorite drink.  Enjoy!

Love,
Batty

I set the card down and opened the fridge that was next to it.  He was right, it was stocked with chocolate cherry colas.  I chuckled to myself and grabbed one.  “Who is this guy?”  I said as I sat on the window seat.  The view from the window was the garden.  As I watched I saw Maat arguing with what looked like Batty.

“What’s going on?” I asked myself.  As if they could hear me Maat and Batty looked up at the window.  Maat shook her head and walked off.  Batty scratched his head and walked away in the opposite direction.

After a few minutes I heard a knock on the door.  “Come in.” Spooky and Raven walked in.  Both had smiles, even Raven.

“Our rooms are perfect!  It’s as if they know us!” Raven shouted.  When she was excited she would get a little loud.

“I see your room is the same.  Who are the flowers from?” asked Spooky.  I watched as Spooky smelled them and then looked for the card.

“No one.” I said and drank my cola.

Spooky shook her head.  “They can’t be from no one.  Oh well, have your secrets then!”  Spooky took out a cola and fell onto my bed.

“I swear I just saw Maat down there arguing with someone.”  I told Spooky and Raven.

“Don’t be silly Mina, Maat’s in her room.  She told me she was going to take a nap and didn’t want to be disturbed.”  Raven said and just like Spooky took out a cola and fell onto my bed.

I decided she was right.  I then began singing the lyrics to our newest song, which had been written by Raven.  It was called: “Pet Me, Squeeze Me, and Shampoo” *

“Feeling your fingers run ‘round my body
Makes me tingle with laughter
Don’t put me where I can’t see you no more
Not downstairs, upstairs, or in the rafter

(Chorus)
Pet me, squeeze me
Love me till the whole world falls apart
Just you and me
In this fantasy
Shampoo time!”

Raven smiled.  “It’s sounding good.”  I shook my head in agreement and drank my cola.  

Just as I took a sip Maat crashed into the room.  I nearly spilled it all over myself.  “She’s here!” Maat shouted.  She then bounced back out of the room.

Spooky, Raven and I put our drinks in the trash can and followed Maat.  This was it, I was meeting my idol for the first time.  I hopped she would like me.

As we went into the hallway we saw Maat smiling in front of the door marked “Pan Ewehorn”.  Maat knocked on the door.  After a few seconds the door opened.  Standing there was Pan.  She was dressed in a small white t-shirt, and high cut pink bikini briefs.  I could see there on her left hip/buttock her birth tattoo I tried not to look but couldn’t help it.  Pan smiled and then pulled on tiny pink shorts.

“Come on in.”  she said as she motioned us to come in.

“Umm...I’m...Mina....Fawkes.” I stammered.  I just couldn’t believe I was talking to Pan Ewehorn.

“Yes, I know who you are.  You’re the Petshop Rejects.” She smiled and sat on her bed, which had white silk sheets on it.

“You’re my favorite singer.  I love your songs.” I said in awe.

“Thanks.  I’d say the same to you, only I don’ t really like your music.”  As Pan spoke I could hear my heart breaking.

“What did you say?” asked Raven.

Pan just starred.  The Sheep-Girl then said, “Your songs are fluff pop.  Only Teenie Boppers listen to it.  You need to put more heart into the music and lyrics.”  Then I could feel my chest hurt and my breath became slow and hot.  I could feel stinging tears forming in my eyes.  I couldn’t hold it any longer and bolted out the door.

I ran down the hallway.  I couldn’t see where I was going.  My tears had stained my glasses.  Then out of no where I ran into something.  I could tell it was a person.  “I’m sorry.” I managed to say through sobs.

“It’s okay.”  A familiar voice said.  I looked up and saw Batty starring down at me.  He wrapped his arms and wings around me in a warm embrace.  I could smell him.  He smelled just the flowers outside the palace.  “What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Pan, she hates my music.  I worked hard on my music.  I put some of my soul and heart into it.  And she’s my idol, I was hopping she of all Anymals would like it.” I cried onto his chest.

“What does that matter?  All that really matters is how you feel about your music.”  Calmly Batty said.  

I looked up at him and smiled.  I must have looked a fright to him.  My make-up was running and my glasses were tear-stained.  Batty bent down and kissed me.  It was the first time we had ever kissed.  It was warm and passionate.  It was as good as chocolate cherry cola.

“Who are you?” I asked after we had stopped.  Batty let me go.  His face had changed to sad.

“I’m Maat’s brother.”  He stated.

I was so confused.  Maat never said she had a brother.  Then again Maat never talked about her family.  “You are?” I asked.

Batty nodded and then said, “Also...”  He removed the headband and underneath was his birth tattoo.  I just starred.  Prince Batholomew was a Fruit Bat-Boy and his birth tattoo was on his forehead.

“You’re the Prince?  That means Maat is Princess Setsuna?  I thought the Princess was in college?” I asked.

“She was until you held auditions.  Setsuna always wanted to be in a band.” the Prince explained.

“That’s right.  Now I have to figure out how to play a concert for the princess who is me.”  I turned around and saw Maat, Spooky and Raven standing there.

“The Prince?  Your secret guy is the Prince?” Spooky shouted.  Raven touched her shoulder to clam her.

Raven looked at Spooky and said, “I think it’s more: Maat is the princess?”  Spooky still in shock agreed.

Maat looked very sad.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.  I didn’t know if you would let me be in the band if you knew.”

I walked away from Batty and over to Maat.  “Of course we would have let you.  We’re friends aren’t we?” I told her.  Maat nodded.

“Well, you could have told us.”  A sweet deep voice said.  We turned around to see King Leo and Queen Cheetara standing behind Batty.  The Lion-Man and Cheetah- Woman were dressed in royal outfits.  They must have been dressed for the concert.

Maat ran over to the King and hugged him.  “I’m sorry Father.”  She then hugged the Queen.  “And you too Mother.”

The Queen stroked her daughter’s hair and softly spoke, “It’s okay Setsuna.  We just wanted to know what you were doing and that you were happy.”

Setsuna looked up at her mother.  “I am happy.”

“Well, then you four get ready.  You’re performing a concert tonight!” the King roared.

That night we performed all of our songs.  The last being “Puppy Love” As I sang I was joined on stage by Pan.  She was now dressed in a flowing white gown.  Once she was near me she whispered, “I didn’t mean what I said earlier.  I can be a bit jealous when others are a popular as me.”

I nodded and whispered back, “That’s okay.”

After we sang we went into the audience and watched Pan perform. We sat in the Royal box with the King, Queen and Prince. Pan was still the greatest singer I had ever seen.  

That was the biggest night we had ever had.  No matter how long I live and what I do I will never forget that night.  I also will never forget my friends.  They stood by me when no one else did.  So, this is for you.  I love you all.

The End