Alexis: Last time on New Kids: Jade and Mei Lin began the duel~! They're both playing pretty well. I wonder who will win? Aurora, watching from the balcony, ran into some familiar faces, but got scared when Jaden wanted to shake her hand! So, on the way back down to the duel- she ran into someone else familiar! Can Aurora come up with a way to explain how Jade got her deck?

"She left hers in her dorm!" Aurora screamed.

"Okay," the man said. "But you didn't have to yell it." He started down the hall, leaving a flustered Aurora to sweatdrop. 'Wait a minute,' she thought. 'We haven't been assigned our dorms yet!'

After the duel, Aurora nearly flew down to the arena. "My deck lost?"

"Yeah, Mei Lin's good! She needs to work on her English, though." Jade laughed. "Good duel." She turned to Mei and stuck out her hand.

Mei blinked.

"Er-" Jade retracted her hand and bowed instead.

Mei smiled, bowing also. "Girlfriends?"

"Ah…friends." Jade smiled too.

Alexis watched from the balcony as the three girls set off for their dorms. "She's a bad duelist, but she has a good attitude. We need more people like that. Don't you think so, Zane?"

Zane was silent. Alexis sighed. 'He'll warm up to them,' she mused.

"I guess we're roommates," Aurora said unsurely, looking at a piece of paper in her hand.

"Yeah, we are. Look at the room number."

"269."

"Uh, huh. Same as mine."

An awkward silence followed. "Well, let's go inside!"

The two girls poked around their living quarters, and discovered a lump in one of the three bunk beds.

"I guess the bottom bunk's taken," Aurora mused.

Jade unfurled the covers from the bed. "It's a deck! And a note!"

"What's the note say?" Aurora pushed Jade out of the way.

"Hello, roommates. You're lucky, because I'm about to tell you some key facts about Duel Academy that I learned the hard way. They're life lessons, so to speak. Survival tips.

1. Need new cards? Go to the card shop. Real nice people. Really nicer cards.

2. Dr. Crowler is NOT GAY. If you crack jokes or don't call him doctor, or something, then let's just say… run.

3. Colors are important! In case you haven't noticed, you have each been bestowed with a red jacket. That means you're scum on the bottom of a shoe. Blue is the highest rank, yellow is in the middle. Prepare to be picked on. Good luck. Oh, and don't try to dye your uniform a different color. They'll know.

4. Beach/port area is OFF-LIMITS after hours. Especially to meet guys.

5. I saved the two upper bunks for you. Why? Cockroaches. I haven't seen any yet, but they've been known to infest the Slifer dorm. Since I don't mind the things, I'm sleeping nearest the floor.

Hope these help! If you need me, I'm probably out somewhere hugging a tree. Oh yeah, if you need any strategies or deck-building advice, consult my book- I left it in the bedside table drawer.

Love, Tsukasa Timber"

"This is a dueling academy?!" Jade shrieked.

Aurora looked at her like an alien. "You didn't know that?"

"My parents told me this was cheerleading camp… I should have known something was off when I got here," Jade said. She looked at her shorter, bustier companion.

Aurora stared back at her blankly.

"This is going to be a long year."

That night, Jade was unpacking her things and Aurora was in the shower when Tsukasa returned.

"Hey! It's my roommate!"

Jade's head shot up. "Um… what?"

"Oh, sorry. I, er… lost my marbles a while ago. They're around here somewhere." Tsukasa twirled a loop of black hair around her finger and plopped herself down next to Jade. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Um… I'm unpacking. But, uh… who are you?" Jade questioned.

Tsukasa extended a hand. "Timber, Tsukasa. Leaver of the note and hugger of trees. Also… a pretty good duelist and a formidable opponent."

Jade laughed. "So you think you can beat me?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Of course!"

"Well, I'm always up for a challenge," Jade said brightly. "Unfortunately… I don't have a deck."

Tsukasa's eyes turned into doughnuts. "No deck? At all? Then it's off to the card shop with you!"

"Uh-" Before Jade could reply, Tsukasa had grabbed Jade's wrist and they were marching off into the sunset.

On the way back from her shower, Aurora saw the two girls. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"We're off to the card shop! The wonderful card shop of yore! Join us!" Tsukasa cried out.

Aurora had no choice but to go along with the shenanigans, though, honestly, if she'd had a choice, she still would have picked going to the card shop. This was going to be a very interesting year, and she wanted every part of it.