A Real Bargain

Chapter 1

"Hi , Haley..." I said hazily as I opened the door of the two-person dorm room we shared.

"Hey, Spinny, what's up?" Haley greeted, poking her nose over the top of the trashy magazine she was reading. "You sound out of it. What happened?"

"Oh, nothing..." I sighed, shutting the door and starting a slouched journey to my bed. "I just didn't get my coffee this morning and it's been a long day at the mall. Everyone wanted to go to Macy's or Delia's and both of those are way too pricey for me," Being one of the only girls with financial difficulties at my fancy-schmancy private High School, I was singled out by my lack of green paper a lot, sometimes not even by the fault of anyone.

My bag fell on the floor by my dresser and I sighed, flopping on the cot that wasn't already occupied by my friend. It had been a long day, to say the least.

"Man, that sucks," Haley said with genuine empathy. She was the only other one in my dorm who had similar restrictions as I did. Maybe that's why we were paired for the dorm, I dunno. "Any homework?" she continued perkily, with the sound of a reminder. I grunted at my friend's enthusiasm and hauled myself off the plain white sheets with a herculean effort.

"Oh yeah, homework." I growled tiredly, dragging myself across the room and opening my laptop , making a face. "Let's see... History report due next Friday... math worksheet... Gah..." I waited for the sluggish PC to start up, twiddling my thumbs and looking fondly at the Bionicle figures standing in a plethora of poses on my desk.

"I don't know what you like about those things," Haley commented from behind the pages of Gossip Weekly. "They're so gay."
I sighed, pushing my glasses farther up my nose. I had long since given up explaining my obsession to her, or chiding her for incorrect usage of the word "gay". Haley and me had many things in common, but interests were not one of them. Bionicle is one thing that Haley will never understand.

"Anyway, a package arrived for you in the mail while you were out gallivanting," my roommate continued, turning the page of her magazine. "I put it in the closet for ya.

All hints of my ephemeral mood vanished in an instant. I jumped up from the chair, knocking it over, and rushed to the closet at the speed of sound.

"Top shelf, to the right," My long-suffering friend sighed as I dug through the cluttered mess of the closet. Eventually I emerged dusty, beaming and victorious; the little brown box held above my heard like a trophy.

"YES!" I shouted triumphantly, plopping the box down on the floor and taking a knife to the tape standing between me and my precious Bionicles. "All six Hordika for five bucks!!! Just one goes for about FOUR TIMES that much nowadays!!"

"Woo hoo," Haley rolled her eyes at me as packing peanuts and wadded-up newspaper flew every which way. And then, there they were. All six original canisters of the Hordika of 2005, neatly arranged in two rows of three. I sighed nostalgically. The memories.

But they were shaking. That can't be good.

"Lemme out! Lemme outta here, you bad-nasty creep!" came a high-pitched, treespeaking voice from somewhere.

I looked up, confused. "Er, Haley, did you say anything?"

"Nope." She said without looking up, popping her lips on the P.

"This is all your fault-blame, Vakama, you cross-wired nut!" came that voice again. I pinpointed it to the green container, my head snapping downwards.

"My fault?!" A deeper voice growled; I was too focused on the green canister to bother triangulating. "How is this my fault?!"

"I don't know!" Matau cried. Yepm definitely coming from the green box. I reached down to pick it up. "It just IIIIIIISSSS?!"

His sentence was turned into a shout of surprise as I lifted his container up. It seemed like Haley could hear the ruckus now, and she had put down her trashy magazine and cautiously made her way to the end of the bed. Her freckly face, framed by short-cropped dirty blond hair, was now peeking over the edge, eyes wide.

Hands shaking and sweat running down the back of my back at the impossibility I knew was about to leap out of the plastic, I carefully unscrewed the top of the guilty canister.

Before I was finished, the top burst open on its own.

From within the gloom of the container came a miniaturized version of Matau Hordika, his visage straight from Bionicle 3, his size, same as the set.

Haley's eyes practically bugged out of their sockets.

"HOLY SHI--"