Keisha stared down at her paper. She was going to have to read it aloud tomorrow! Everyone was going to laugh at her, of course, because of course nobody else would have ever heard of Neopets, or else they'd have hated it...
"Keisha," her mom called. "Lights out! It's ten!"
"All right, Mom," Keisha called back. She put the paper into her backpack and went to bed.
The next morning, she was still nervous, and it wasn't any better when she got to class. She listened to her classmates read their papers, lists of reasons why they liked their favorite sites (although the teacher had, of course, checked all the sites ahead of time), aloud with growing anxiety. (She did write down a couple of URLs, though, as the sites they wrote about sounded interesting.)
"Who hasn't read their recommendations yet?" Mrs. Jonson asked. Keisha felt the teacher's eyes on her. "Keisha, your turn."
Keisha walked to the front of the room. She read the title of her paper. "The Top Ten Reasons My Favorite Site is Neopets.Com."
Some of her classmates looked surprised, as though they went to Neopets, too.
"Number ten: the guilds are great if you're bored."
One or two of her classmates nodded.
"Number nine: it's probably good for me, earning NP--Neopoints, the virtual money--and taking care of my pets."
One of her classmates made a face, as though he didn't want to acknowledge that Neopets could be good for him.
"Number eight: the chat boards are always full, so it's hard to be bored, unlike on other sites."
A couple of her classmates nodded.
"Number seven: the Neopian Times--the virtual newspaper for Neopia--has some really funny comics and stories, as well as some serious and well-written ones."
One of her classmates grinned. Keisha wondered if she had had something in the Times.
"Number six: there are so many people at Neopets that you can definitely make friends with someone."
One of her fellow students shook her head slightly. Maybe he hadn't been trying hard enough.
"Number five: the Battledome, a fighting arena, is neat; it doesn't need a lot of strategy, like chess does."
One of Keisha's friends shook her head, disagreeing.
"Or at least you can still win without it," Keisha amended. Her friend nodded.
"Number four: anyone who swears or posts less-than-appropriate stuff gets kicked off, so I don't have to wade through a bunch of people cussing, which gets annoying after a while."
A couple of her classmates looked doubtful. Keisha noted that those were the ones who cursed in every other sentence and were always in detention after school.
"Number three: the pets are so cute!"
About four of the people in her class nodded happily.
"Number two: the games are really fun, and they have everything from crosswords to logic problems to Minesweeper to that snake game with the tail."
Five or six of her classmates smiled.
"And the number one reason: I don't have a life, and this is the closest thing to a virtual life I can find!"
About half the class snickered. Two raised their hands. Mrs. Jonson pointed to one.
"What was the URL again?" he asked.
"N-e-o-p-e-t-s dot c-o-m," Keisha replied. Wow, she thought. My list is getting someone to go to Neopets? Neat!
"Mallory?" Mrs. Jonson asked of the other student.
"What's your username? Would you like to battle tonight?"
Keisha grinned.