Rosy

I smiled as Lucky and I started out of the den. We were just about to walk out until a stampede of Jammers, babbling about this and that, ran into the den, and up the stairs, probably to Ember's room.

Ember Spiritmeadow was part of the new arctic wolf family that came by. I wasn't sure if she had any siblings, but she'd quickly become my new enemy. It also didn't make things better that she also liked Gallant Jellyscout.

Ember stopped in the middle of the stairs and glanced down at me.

"Hey, Rosy," she called. "I'm starting a group - I mean, club. It's only for girls, it's members-only, and only my very best friends are allowed in. Come on."

Members-only. I glanced down at Lucky, who was looking down at the ground, her long ears dropped. Lucky wasn't a member.

I rolled my eyes. "Then why are you inviting me?" I said, though I wanted to say "Best friend? Pfft. You're far from any good person, Ember."

"Do you want to come or not?"

"No thanks, I'd rather play with Lucky," I responded.

Ember shrugged. "Alright," she said. "Have fun getting suspended for three days. I'll tell my mother that you scammed me and - "

I froze. "Fine," I said. "I'll come. But I can't come today, alright? I gotta get home or my dad's never gonna let me leave the den again, which would be bad news for your little club."

Ember smiled with satisfaction. "See you tomorrow after school, mkay?"

I faked a smile back. When I was sure she could no longer see me, I dragged Lucky to the back of the den.

Lucky sighed. "Why, Rosy?"

Agreeing with Ember like that was probably a bad idea.

"I'm sorry," I stammered. Why did I let Ember drag me into this? "I'll make out a plan with Ember so that you might be able to come too or maybe I won't even be in the club anymore. I'll figure something out, Lucky. I promise I will."

Lucky brightened up a little bit. Just a little.

I stepped into my den and sat down next to my sister, Prancing Cleverivy. She was reading a book titled Call of the Alphas.

Prancing must have noticed I was watching her because she turned to me.

"If you're interested in Call of the Alphas, you can read it after I'm done," she said. "It's an excellent book, after all."

Shaking my head, I sighed.

There was a pause until Prancing tucked her book away next to her and turned even further to me.

"Rosy, what's wrong?" she said. "You don't usually act like this. Something's wrong. What is it?"

Should I tell her? I thought. Maybe I should. That way, I wouldn't have to worry on my own. But if I tell her, it'll get leaked somehow to Ember, and if Ember finds out, I'll never be able to live through it.

"Nothing," I responded. "Ember just wanted me to join a club with her. And she wanted to trade her Rare Spiked Wristband for my Top Hat. I dunno if I want to take her up on that offer, though. I'm not too fond of those things." At least that wasn't completely a lie. I wasn't even sure if I still had a Top Hat.

"If I were you, I probably wouldn't," Prancing said, taking her book out again. "Ember's probably up to something again. And what about this club that you're talking about?"

I searched my mind for a reasonable answer that actually made sense. Should I say that Ember decided to be friends with me? Should I say that Ember forced me to do so? Should I just tell the -

My brother, Snickety Cleverivy, suddenly dashed through the door, followed by Mom, who looked the same as she always did - tired and irritated. A few bags were on her back. Probably went to Jam Mart.

"La la la, Snicky the foxy, Wozy the foxy, Mommy the foxy, Pwancin the foxy, Daddy the foxy, la la la!" Snickety sang, jumping around the room. Then he turned to me and Prancing and jumped right between us, his claws digging into my tail.

"Ow!" I yelped, shoving Snickety away. "Stop that!"

Snickety only giggled and jumped back onto me, though this time attacking Prancing.

"Yeow! Mom, make Snickety stop!" she cried.

Mom sighed. "Prancing, Rosy, let him do what he wants," she said. "Let him enjoy his time as a little boy while he can."

Guess I never got to enjoy when Ember hadn't come into my life.

Ember brought us to a Trading Station after school the next day.

If she wants to give us club items, I'll probably have to find a way to get one to Lucky, I thought.

Ember walked to her side of the Trading Station. "This is the thing that proves you are an actual member of the club. Trade me an item for this Necklace I have here, and you need to accept. Don't worry - I'll give it right back. When you accept, that proves you trust me, thus officially becoming a member of this club!"

I see where you're going, Ember. You probably want to scam.

"Honored, you're first."

Honored hesitated, but walked up to her end of the Trading Station and set down a New Year's Party Hat. She slowly "sent" the trade request and Ember immediately answered with "Accept", leaving them both with the final option. Ember had already answered "Accept", but Honored was clearly hesitant to do anything.

Ember tilted her head. "If you want to be in the club, you just need to prove that you can trust me," she said. "You do trust me, right?"

"Yes…" said Honored.

"Then go ahead and accept the trade - if you trust me, I'll return the item. You're my best friend, Honored. Why would you not trust me?"

A few seconds passed before the trade was completed.

"Are...you gonna give it back now?" Honored said, her voice trembling.

Ember shrugged. "Put the Necklace that I traded you there, and I'll put your Party Hat here, and we'll trade back," she said.

In a few moments, the trade was completed, and Honored had her New Year's Party Hat back.

Honored gasped and put on her Party Hat again, smiling.

Ember smiled her smug smile. "Honored Fairjoy is officially a member of this club," she said. "Who's gonna be next?"

Everyone else went, some hesitant, some eager, some showing no expression.

Then, it was my turn.

I'm not ready for this.

I shuffled over to the Trading System and pulled out of my backpack some Peacock Feathers. I dropped it onto my side of the Trading System, typed in my username, and breathed in. Did I really want to trust Ember? I knew that no matter how much I pretended or told myself I trusted her, I never really would.

My paws trembling, I "sent" the trade request, and immediately Ember answered with "Accept".

Do you want to accept this trade?

I must have stared at it for too long without doing anything, because Ember suddenly tilted her head at me, raised one eyebrow, and started talking.

"What's wrong, Rosy?" she asked. "Do you not trust me? Do you not want to be in the club, or do you - "

Before she could say anything else, I had answered with "Accept."

"E-Ember? Are you going to…" I stammered as I put her Necklace back on trade.

Before I knew it, my Peacock Feathers were back in my paws.

Ember giggled. "Rosy Cleverivy is now officially a part of the club," she said. "Now, come on, everyone, back to my den! My mother has prepared some special snacks just for us!"

Everyone filed into Ember's den again, taking about random stuff. I dragged behind, stuffing the Peacock Feathers back into my backpack. I ran to catch up, but Ember stopped me and dragged me into a secluded area, her face all snobbish again.

The tone of her voice no longer pleasant, "Rosy, I forgot to tell you, but now that you're in the club, you have to do everything I say. And when I say everything, I mean anything and everything. If you don't, you'll be kicked out and I'll tell my mother that you scammed me. I also kind of have proof this time from the trading thing. So don't try any tricks on me."

So that was what the trading part really was for.

I breathed in. "Alright," I said. "I'll...I'll do whatever you say, I guess…"

"Hey, Lucky?" I said as I ran out of Ember's den.

"Hi, Rosy!" Lucky said, bouncing closer to me.

"Hey, I'm glad I caught you. I promise I'll play with you tomorrow. Ember's getting strict about this club, but I promise I'll find some way to get you into the club as well."

Lucky sighed. "You really think so?"

I shrugged. "Well, maybe not promise. I can't promise you I can get you into the club, but I'll try my best, and I promise to play with you tomorrow, okay?"

Lucky nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Rosy!"

"Well, I got to get home now. See you tomorrow, Lucky!"

Lucky smiled and bounced off.

Ember

I stared out the window, watching everyone leave.

Then something caught my eye. Rosy. And Lucky.

I leaned closer to the window, trying to see what was going on. Though I couldn't hear anything, it seemed as if they had made an agreement about something, something that Lucky approved of because both of them smiled.

I shrugged and rolled my eyes to nobody. Whatever it was, it might be messing up my plan. And as difficult as it seemed, I was gonna do something to prevent whatever they had agreed on from happening.

Rosy

The next day at school, before the bell rang to let us in, I went up to Lucky.

"Hey Lucky, want to - "

"Rosy," Ember called. "Come over here. We're gonna play Falling Phantoms. Right now. We don't have that much time before school starts."

Ugh...I hate that game.

I spun around to see Ember and all the other girls standing next to the games. I glanced back at Lucky, who was looking at me with pleading eyes. Prancing was glaring at me, gesturing to Lucky.

"Rosy Cleverivy, come on," Ember shouted.

I sighed. I didn't want to leave out Lucky. I had promised her, but I'd also promised Ember, and…

"I'm sorry, Lucky, I have to play with Ember today," I choked out. It hurt so much to say it. Without doing anything else I dashed off to Ember, not daring to look back.

"You know you made Lucky cry today," Prancing growled.

"I did not!" I shot back, though I knew I did.

"You did too!" she snapped. "I was there! You promised you would play with her but you figured it was a good idea to simply run off with Ember instead!"

"You're just jealous cause you're not in the club!"

"I wouldn't be in that club for all the gems, diamonds, and rares in Jamaa!"

I clenched my teeth. "I just wanted to play with Ember today, alright? Is there something wrong with that? I think everyone would enjoy having a little less rivalry between us!"

"Then why didn't you include Lucky?!"

I slammed my paw onto the ground. Prancing was my sister, but she was so stubborn and so difficult to deal with! I had no answer now, but I couldn't just go off not answering. That way I'd just end up in even more trouble. No matter how I thought of it, it would all just lead to doom. What a no-win situation.

Fortunately, Dad popped his head into our room so I didn't have to say anymore.

"What's going on over here?" he asked, glaring at both of us.

"Nothing, Dad," muttered Prancing.

"Doesn't sound like 'nothing' to me. Now, come on, what's up? What in the name of Jamaa are you two suddenly arguing about?"

Before Prancing or I could say anything, Snickety suddenly peeped his head out from under our bed. I was so fed up that I hadn't even noticed he was there.

"Wozy pway with Ember and make Lucky cwy today," he said.

I jumped up, snatched my brother's foreleg with my teeth, and started dragging him out from under the bed. He started whining, which made me satisfied - unfortunately, it made Dad completely unsatisfied.

"DailyMuse," he snapped.

It never meant good when someone said your username in that tone. I scowled as Snickety bounded over to Dad and hid under his tail, sneaking a "don't you dare do that again" look at me every few seconds.

"If you do that to your brother one more time, you'll be sorry you did," Dad continued. "Back to what we were talking about. Snickety just said that you played with Ember and made Lucky cry today, Rosy?"

Before I could object, Prancing opened her mouth.

"That's true," she said. Then she added, "Snickety was right for once instead of making up some random fact that's not true but anyway he should just shut his mouth for Mira's sake and - "

"FairGoldenWeather, I think it's you who needs to be quiet," Dad just about shouted. "To both of you, I'm tired of you arguing pointlessly and being mean to your brother. Of course he'll say things that aren't true. He's barely two years old. Just go easy on him, will you?"

Prancing looked down. "Sorry, Dad."

Dad sighed. "I think it's Snickety you should be apologizing to. And Rosy? What's up with this deal with Ember and Lucky?"

I straightened up. "I...I just wanted to play with Ember today," I said.

"But you made Lucky - "

"I know, I know," I said, trying to explain. "Ember was finally starting to be nice. She wanted me to join a club but she said that I had to do everything that she wanted me to do. And today she wanted me to play with her and all the other people in the club today."

"And who else is in the club?"

I thought for a moment. "Well, there's Tranquil, Honored, Leaping, Ocean, and a few others I forgot."

Dad raised his eyebrow."And I presume Lucky is not one of the others you forgot the names of?"

"I wish she was, but Ember said it was members-only. And Lucky isn't a member."

"Why join if you know Lucky isn't allowed in?"

Prancing suddenly started talking. "Probably because Ember wants to do something again and Rosy decided to help her," she said, rolling her eyes.

I gave my sister a dirty look, but I didn't have much time to do anything else because Dad continued on.

"Did you promise Lucky you were going to play with her today?"

"Yes," I said. "And Ember made me play Falling Phantoms."

"So you promised Lucky you'd play with her, but decided to play with Ember instead, a game that you hate more than Ember herself? And don't try to trick me here - I know how much you and Ember dislike each other."

I sighed. "Yes, Dad."

"Well…" he sighed. "I want you to tell Ember that you can't be in her club unless Lucky is in it as well, okay?"

A bunch of thoughts were suddenly swarming around in my head like a huge nest of mad wasps. If I told Ember that, Ember would probably exclude me and then tell Mrs. Spiritmeadow that I scammed her, which I didn't. And if I didn't tell her, I would just be in trouble anyway. Again, what a no-win situation.

"Alright," I muttered. "I'll tell her."

I hopped over to Ember the next morning.

"Ember?" I said. "I need to talk to you about something."

Ember stopped in her tracks and spun around. "What is it?"

I breathed in. "My dad said I can't be in your club unless Lucky is in it too."

Ember paused. "Now that I think of it…" she started, "I think Lucky might just qualify. We'll meet after school. And remember, bring Lucky with you and also do exactly what I say!"

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. "You're…you're letting Lucky in?"

"Only if she trusts me, that is," Ember added. "And I'll ignore the fact that she's a non-member. That okay?"

I beamed. "Alright!"

After school, Lucky, Ember, me, and the other girls were crowded in Ember's room. Lucky was stood up, introducing herself to the rest of us, even though we all knew her. As happy as she looked to be in the club, there was the tiniest hint of her being uncomfortable from being the only non-member in the club at the moment. I hoped Ember would let other non-members join.

Once Lucky was finished, Ember dragged us all out to the Trading Station near her den.

"Alright," she said. "This is the final part of joining the club. You need to trade me something and accept the trade - if I trust you back, then I will trade it back to you."

Lucky froze. Then she shrugged slightly and pulled out a Skull Helmet. She was just about to put it on her side of the trade until Ember suddenly stopped her.

"No, no," she quickly said. "Your Fox Hat. The one on your head."

Then it hit me. Ember had always wanted a Fox Hat, but never could she get one. Lucky just so happened to have a Fox Hat, and it meant everything to her. Ember was likely going to force Lucky into trading it to her, and then she would run off with it, not allowing her into the club, and she'd dragged me into this because I was Lucky's friend, and since Ember had told me to do whatever she wanted, she wanted me to make it seem like it was okay for Lucky to trade it…

I have to stop this.

"But it's my favorite Fox Hat," Lucky squeaked.

"If you don't trade it, you can't be in the club," said Ember.

I shook my head. "Lucky, don't do it if you - "

"Rosy, you did it, and so did all the other girls, right?" Ember snapped, glaring at me. "Isn't that right, Mythical?"

Mythical nodded. "You should trust Ember, Lucky," she said. "After all, this is your only chance to be in the club."

I inhaled deeply. "Lucky, you...you don't have to be in the club, I can start my own, and...there's no trading, and - "

"Be quiet, Rosy!" Ember shouted at me. "Trade me your Fox Hat, Lucky. Now. Otherwise, you can't be in the club."

There was a flash of movement, and before I knew it, the trade had been completed.

Crap.

"Um…" Lucky stammered. "Can I have it back now?"

Ember laughed. "What makes you think you can have it back? You accepted the trade, and that's that. I don't have to trade back if I don't want to."

I jumped up just as all the other girls started laughing like crazy.

"Ember, you give that back to Lucky!" I screamed.

"Yeah, give it back!" Lucky shouted, her voice quivering.

"No way!" Ember cackled, holding the Fox Hat out of Lucky's reach, who was desperately trying to jump up and snatch it back. "It's mine now! Have fun with your necklace!"

Lucky's eyes filled with tears and she ran off to who-knows-where.

I felt rage zip through me.

"Ember!" I screamed. I turned to face everyone, who were now all quiet.

"Rosy, shut up," she growled.

I didn't listen. "Throwing this trading part into the club, forcing Lucky to trade you her Fox Hat, and then scamming it out of her? What's wrong with you? You do know that I'm right here and I saw the whole thing?"

"DailyMuse, you - "

"Saying my username isn't gonna work, FoundContentment. To the rest of you, why is it funny when someone gets scammed?! Why is it good to be in a club led by someone who only cares about getting rares?"

"DailyMuse, you take that back!" Ember screeched. Her face was red now, all twisted into a scowl.

"I don't!" I shouted as I started after Lucky. I spun around one last time to face them all again.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves," I snarled before I ran off in Lucky's direction.

"DailyMuse…" Ember said. Her voice rose in both volume and pitch as I ran off, not caring that she'd tell. "DailyMuse, you get back here now! If you don't, I'll tell my mother! DailyMuse!"

I ran and ran for what seemed like hours until I finally found a pair of lavender bunny ears next to a tree. The good part was, I'd found Lucky. The bad part was, she was clearly upset.

I sat down next to her. "Lucky, I'm sorry..." I said. "I didn't know Ember would do this to you. But I should've known better and...I should've known that she was up to something. I'm sorry."

Lucky's ears dropped even further as more tears slid down her face. "I trusted you," she choked out. "I only w-wanted to be in th-the club because y-you were in it…"

"Well, guess what?" I said. "I'm not in it anymore. I don't care what Ember's gonna do to me, but from now on, I'm no longer in that club, and I never will be again! Now come on. I'll help you earn another Fox Hat even if it's the last thing I'll ever do!"

Lucky immediately brightened up. "You really mean it?"

"Of course I do," I answered. "Even if I have to lose all my items, I'll help you get another Fox Hat. Let's go and teach Ember a lesson or two!"

Both of us jumped up and ran off, laughing.

The moment I stepped into the den all soaking wet, Mom rushed to me and started drying me off with a towel.

"Rosy, where have you been? Got caught in the rain?" she asked as Dad poked his head from around the corner and laughed.

I forced out a giggle. "I guess I did. But I have something to talk to you all about."

"What is it?"

"Um...Ember scammed today."

Mom and Dad stopped in their tracks and the entire den went silent.

"I never knew Ember would do that," I said. "I mean, I know Ember's mean, but I never thought she was that mean and insolent. She said that to be a member of the club we had to trade her an item and accept the trade, and then she'd trade it back, and Lucky traded her Fox Hat and - "

"Wait, wait, hold on," Dad interrupted. "Start from the beginning. How did all this happen?"

So I told my family the story of how Ember threatened me, made us trade, left Lucky out, forced me to do everything she said, and later scammed Lucky out of her Fox Hat. I made sure not to leave out a single detail because I wanted to make sure that everyone - even Snickety - understood.

Mom nodded. "So...that's the story…"

I sighed. "Yeah," I answered. "But I promised Lucky I'll help her get another Fox Hat. And I will!"

"Wait, so Ember scammed that Fox Hat from Lucky? And she used you to make Lucky trust her?" Dad asked.

I nodded. "Yep," I said. "I should've realized that Ember had always wanted a Fox Hat and that she was simply using me and the rest of the girls to get something out of Lucky. Everyone else in the club laughed when Ember scammed Lucky."

Prancing gasped. "Actually…since Ember scammed the Fox Hat...if we catch a moderator…"

Dad's face brightened up. "And if we can report what happened…"

"We should be able to get the Fox Hat back for Lucky!" I finished.

The next morning, Dad, Lucky, Mr. Rainymoon, and I strolled into the Spiritmeadow family's den, hoping to catch Mr. Spiritmeadow and not Mrs. Spiritmeadow. As far as everyone in Jamaa knew, Mrs. Spiritmeadow thought her children (especially Ember) were the best things in the world and would never believe a single bad thing that someone said any of them did.

On the other hand, Mr. Spiritmeadow would take the appropriate action when needed, even on his own children.

Luckily, he just so happened to pass around the hallway just as the four of us walked in.

"Oh, hello," he said. "What brings you here today? Got something to report?"

I nodded. "Yeah, actually, I do."

"Okay…" Mr. Spiritmeadow muttered as he started typing on his laptop. "Do you know the username of the offender?"

"FoundContentment."

He froze. "Ember?"

Mr. Rainymoon nodded. "That's what Lucky told me. Lucky said that Ember scammed her dark blue Fox Hat."

"Oh, dear..." Mr. Spiritmeadow sighed, shaking his head as he typed more onto his laptop. "Anyone else affiliated with it?"

I shrugged. "The other girls in the club laughed, but that was it," I said. "I mean, I was kind of 'helping' Ember, though…"

"Never mind that...tell me the story?"

The four of us explained what happened, from the start of Ember threatening me to now. It felt so great to finally tell a moderator.

"Well, I'll be," Mr. Spiritmeadow sighed again, obviously bewildered. "I'll see when I can catch Ember and take care of this. This is even worse than what Velvet did a while back..."

Ember

I walked down the stairs of my den and smiled with satisfaction over what we'd managed to get out of Lucky the other day. I just knew she would fall for -

That was when I caught sight of Rosy, Mr. Cleverivy, Lucky, and Mr. Rainymoon standing right downstairs and Dad standing smack in front of me, his red eyes glaring into mine.

I quickly tried to walk past all five of them, but before I could even step down from the stairs, Dad shoved his paw in front of me and made me stop, almost causing me to flip over.

"FoundContentment, where do you think you're going?" he snapped.

Uh-oh. Username.

I froze completely still, my backpack threatening to slip off my back from how hard I was trembling. Of course I was heading off to school. I wondered why he wasn't using common sense.

"T-to school..." I stuttered. "I'm gonna be late."

Dad scowled. "Learning today will be done right here at home," he growled. "Go to your room. Now!"

I felt my eyes go wide as I dashed back up the stairs.

Rosy

I tried to hide my laugh as Ember zipped back up the stairs.

Mr. Spiritmeadow turned to us. "And as for Rosy…" He paused.

I sheepishly glanced up.

"As for Rosy, I think you've been punished enough," he finished.

Punished enough?

"But…" I stuttered. "But I - "

"Look, Rosy," Mr. Spiritmeadow interrupted, "you may have been affiliated with my daughter's scamming. But it was her fault for forcing you to do so, and she's the one who should be punished. You never intended to hurt Lucky until Ember came in, and you would've done everything to prevent this from happening. And Lucky, I'll get that Fox Hat back. Not sure how long it'll take, but, you'll get it back."

I had never been so relieved in my life. "Thank you," I said. "Thank you so much!"

Mr. Spiritmeadow smiled and strutted up the stairs.

Dad grinned at me and gestured for us to head out of the den. "I don't want to say this, but Ember was right about something," he said. "If you two don't get to school, you'll be late!"

We all laughed as we walked out.

"And if you are late, don't blame us, blame Ember!" Mr. Rainymoon shouted after us as Lucky and I ran off to school, giggling the whole way.

As we stuffed our stuff into the lockers, Gallant walked up to us.

"Hey, Rosy, Lucky," he said, his fur gleaming. "Wanna grab some cappuccino at the coffee stand together? Also, I think I heard that Ember's suspended."

Happiness zipped through me as I felt my face blush.

Lucky gasped. "Oh, I'd love to! Will you come too, Rosy? Please?"

I breathed in. "Yes," I answered. "I will, Gallant!"

Gallant smiled. "Let's go!"

So we laughed and ran outside to the coffee stand.

Ember

I watched in horror. Gallant. He was supposed to be mine. And he was hanging out with Rosy and Lucky.

And here I was, sitting in a stupid room, suspended for seven days.

I stared out the window, about to explode with rage.

"I hate you, Rosy Cleverivy!" I screamed. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"