Curf walked into the storage room to grab the bag of balls. She did a double take and then narrowed her eyes. I don't remember having so many balls…She stalked off to find Turner again. If he had borrowed more equipment from his mother again (who also happened to be a PE teacher)… God only knew how much new equipment his mother got since the students seemed to break everything they could get their hands on.

            From the dark corners of the storage room a card giggled. It was free and it was going to have some fun. It could relax now that he knew that the teacher could not sense him unless he used his powers.

~*~

            Kim and Rossan were walking along the sidewalk on the way to school. Rossan looked thoughtful and then said, "Does something look different to you?"

Kimberly frowned and nodded. "But I can't put my finger on it."

"Oh well," said Rossan, shrugging carelessly. "It's probably not important."

But it was. Two of the trees looked exactly alike. And there was one extra tree.

            After Kimberly had put her backpack in her locker she went on her daily visit to Ms. Clemens' class. As she was about to turn in toward the doorway to the classroom something made her look down and she found herself staring into the eyes of a snake coiled on the ground. For a moment her mind blanked and she just stared.

            "Are you sure she's afraid of-," whispered Sakura to Rossan and Shani from their hiding place behind a row of lockers.

            "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                        All that was left of the snake was a scorch mark on the floor and the smell of burnt rubber.

            "-snakes," finished Sakura belatedly as the three giggled in the dead silence of the hall. Unfortunately Kim had heard them.

            She turned furiously toward the sound, but the culprits were already fleeing the scene at a dead run. "YOU GUYS ARE SO DEAD!" she yelled after them furiously. Suddenly realizing people were staring at her she turned around to see every single person within 20-yard radius was staring at her. Kim put her head in her hands and groaned as she sent the Erase card to do its work. Everyone would forget, except for Curf that is. She had no doubt that the PE teacher would tease her unmercifully. And dead people don't laugh, she thought darkly picturing Sakura, Shani, and Rossan.

            She soon got her revenge, however, by super gluing them to their seats as several bugs of various types alighted on them. None were, of course, poisonous or stingers, but they were all sufficiently creepy to do the job, which was to create chaos.

~*~

            "Hey, Sakura. Do you want to come with us? We're going to the mall," called Kimberly as the bell rang.

            "Sure," agreed Sakura.

            "So would you rather walk or take the bus?" asked Shani.

            "Bus," said Sakura.

            "Ditto," agreed Rossan.

            "Sure. Why not?" conceded Kimberly.

            "Then we'd better hurry," concluded Shani, pointing at the corner bus stop, "because the bus is right there."

            Laughing, they ran and managed to board the bus just in time.

            Sakura felt something faint tug at her senses. She looked, but she couldn't find anything. It was frustrating and akin to seeing something out of the corner of your eye and when you turn to look it isn't there.

            She was about to mention it to Kimberly, but decided against it. She seemed more relaxed than she had in ages. And it looked like she had forgotten about the prank they had pulled on her.

            That is until Rossan said, "I heard they have a great reptile house at the zoo we're going to for our field trip."

            That earned them a glare worthy of Syaoran. "Why did you do it anyway?" asked Kim, curiosity overcoming whatever other emotions she had.

            They traded looks.

            "It was her idea," said Rossan and Shani in unison, pointing at Sakura.

            "Thanks a lot. You're the one that told me she hated snakes."

            "None of this is answering my question," said Kim warningly.

            "Oh. Right. Well, we thought you'd been looking depressed lately and we thought this might cheer you up a bit," explained Shani.

            "And us," said Rossan with a wicked grin as she hefted her camera.

            Needless to say, Kim caught the meaning. "If you so much as show one second of that to anyone, I'll burn it," hissed Kimberly.

            "That's okay," said Sakura cheerfully. "Technically, everyone's already seen the action anyway."

            Kimberly moaned as the bus rolled to a stop at the mall and they stood. "I'm surrounded by traitors."

            After arriving they wandered past the food court and down toward all of the stores.

            "I'll catch up with you guys in a minute," said Kim as she spotted a bookstore. "I want to look in here first."

            They gave her strange looks, none of them liking to read, and walked into a clothing store.

            Soon, however, Kim felt a Bind card at work in the store that the other three had gone in. She raced over and was surprised to find mounds of the same clothes piled everywhere. Wading through the mess she managed to get to where the others were.

            "What the heck happened?" asked Kimberly.

            "A Bind card," replied Sakura. "All of a sudden everything began multiply and everyone's run out of the store in a panic. We should have a little time to do this if we lock the doors."

Kimberly promptly did so with the Lock card. Then she and Sakura called on Fly and they sprouted wings and looked around from the ceiling at the piles of clothes. Both were tense, ready to call upon a card.

"This reminds me of the time Eriol trapped me in a pit full of stuffed sheep," murmured Sakura to herself. Then her eyes brightened with an idea.

"Erase! Erase all of the copies! Release and dispel!"

            She wasn't sure if Erase could actually tell copies from the real thing, and was soon delighted to learn that he could.

            When all of the copies were gone a black cat appeared.

"Watery! Release and dispel!"

            Sakura remembered that cats didn't like water and this card wasn't much different.

            "Copy cat," murmured Kimberly, figuring out the pun. "Figures. But what's its real name?"

            Sakura hit herself on the forehead with the heel of her palm. "Duh. Eriol told me this one. It was the only one he could remember. Clone."

            "How could you forget?" demanded Kim.

            "Never mind that. Let's capture it before it gets the best of Watery," said Sakura hastily.

"Clone! Return to your power confine!"

            The new Bind card hovered in front Sakura and she took it with a smile.

            Shani and Rossan were avidly taping every single moment.

            "Maybe we should get out of here," murmured Kimberly and took out the Teleport.

            The group glanced out the window at the crowd of people watching the security guards try to break down the door.

            "Um. Yeah," said Sakura.

            They vanished taking the Lock with them.