Beauty and the Xweetoks: Part One

Tess Towers the faerie Uni entered the halls of Faerie Sky Neoschool with her air faerie backpack on one shoulder and three textbooks hugged against her front. She wore a spotty purple Uni skirt, purple Uni leg warmers, a basic white shirt, Uni sun glasses, a purple Uni headband, school girl shoes, valentine's earrings, and a silver dubloon necklace. She liked to show off her family's wealth by dressing as extravagantly as possible.

     A group of Xweetoks – one pink, one green, one yellow, and one white – walked by, snubbing her. Tess knew these Xweetoks as her ex-friends May (pink), Jen (green), Angela (yellow), and Vanilla (white). Ever since the BFF-breakup last week, Tess had referred to them as losers, wannabes, and Xweetoks – which, given their history, was an insult.

     It all started when May and Angela became roommates. Everyone but Angela (a Xweetok) was a Uni. Angela, through a complicated plan, had been morphed into a Uni, but seeing as she didn't cope well, May took it upon herself to morph everyone into Xweetoks. But Tess had refused, leaving her on her own – and let's face it, everyone looks stupid giving insults to the popular girls alone. May and the girls used to only hang out with Unis.

     "Excuse me?" someone asked.

     Tess whipped around to find a brown Uni in her presence.

     "And you are?" she replied.

     "I'm Tammie Sanders," the brown Uni replied, "I'm looking for my cousin Jen. She's a speckled Uni? You may know her, because I hear she only hangs out with Unis."

     Tess contemplated Tammie's appearance for a minute. This Uni was wearing a figure skating dress and sparkling crimson slippers with a Mipsy backpack. The outfit proved Tammie's wealth, and her relation to Jen proved that she was cool. The fact that she was chewing air faerie gum in the school hallways proved that she was a rule breaker – making her even cooler. Her intricate set of ponytails in her mane and tail proved that she was a style whiz – making her worthy of the Uni Crew. That is, before it became the Xweetok Crew.

     "She's a spotted Xweetok now," Tess replied, "she only hangs with Xweetoks."

     "Ugh! Like, totally annoying." Tammie rolled her eyes, which were covered in gold shadow – like Tess's.

     "Tell me about it." Tess rolled her eyes. "I mean, she just left me out here because I wouldn't morph with her and the crew."

     "You know," Tammie replied, "we could be their rival crew. All we need is two more Unis."

     Tess instantly hated herself for not thinking of that first.

     "That's a great idea – but where will we find two more Unis?" she asked.

     "How about her?" Tammie pointed to a royal girl Uni pounding her hoof against her pink locker.

     "Tori Trotter?" Tess asked.

     Tori was a C-and-D student in every subject. She dressed nice, was wealthy, and besides her air-headedness, cool.

     She would have to do.

     "Excuse me?" Tammie asked once they reached Tori's locker.

     "Do you know my combination?" Tori asked, "I swear, I keep blanking out on it. I need to get my black cherry lip balm before gym class, because those Xweetoks keep telling me my lips are too dry."

     "Do you want to hang out with us?" Tess asked, "You can be part of our new Uni Crew. Our mission is to knock those Xweetoks out of their spot on the popularity chart and take their place."

     "Won't we get in trouble for knocking them over?" Tori asked.

     Tess had a feeling she'd regret this desperate decision.

     ~*~*~*~

     "Okay, that Neopian History test – brutal!" May Crystalline the pink Xweetok shuddered.

     "I know!" Vanilla Nicolby the white Xweetok replied, "How are we supposed to know who trapped Jhuidah? We weren't even created then."

     "Um, it's called read the history textbook," Angela Anderson the island Xweetok explained.

     "Yeah, it says right here: Jhuidah was trapped in Y – " Jen Sanders the spotted Xweetok began.

     "Jen, we have bigger problems," May replied. "Look."

     Three Unis were sitting at their lunch table by the Grundo's Café kiosk. One faerie, one royal, and one brown.

     "Is that..." Angela began.

     "...Tess?" Vanilla replied.

     "I think it is!" Jen observed, "She appears to be sitting with my cousin Tammie. I think the royal Uni is Tori from gym – y'know, Tori Chap-er?"

     "Oh, yeah," May said, "but what are they doing at OUR table?"

     As they got closer, they noticed their 'XWEETOK CREW ONLY' placard sitting on the ground with several footprints on it and unidentifiable food stains.

     "Move, this is our table," May said casually, pushing the three lunch trays aside.

     "Excuse me, but we were here first," Tess said.

     "But that placard that you seem to have thrown on the ground – it says 'XWEETOK CREW ONLY', and you do NOT look like Xweetoks," Jen explained.

     "Faerie Sky Neoschool Manual page 27 section 3 subsection A – reserving tables in the cafeteria is not allowed. All placards have the right to be ignored," Tammie quoted.

     "Oh, right." Jen covered her face with her paw.

     "Well, in case you didn't hear me the first time, MOVE!" May gave the lunch trays a final shove, knocking them to the floor.

     The Unis stared as cheese manicotti, vegetable deluxe, beef rouladen, and churro smoothies spilled all over the pink tile floor beside their table.

     May knew there was no way the girls could react to this (or not react to it) without looking like losers. It was a classic trick.

     "May Crystalline?" someone called.

     Oh, no – it was the lunchroom monitor. The blue Yurble was getting closer.

     "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" May groaned.

     "You have cleanup duty for two weeks," the Yurble announced.

     "What'd I dooooo?" the Xweetok groaned.

     "You pushed those lunch trays over," the Yurble said as if May had just asked what colour the sky was.

     "Loser," Tess coughed.

     "You – wasn't there a placard on this table?" the Yurble asked.

     "The manual says – " Tammie began.

     "Let me see that," the Yurble grabbed it, "...aha. Here's your problem. This is the Y4 Edition Manual. Reserved tables were allowed since Y7."

     "Loser," May coughed.

     ~

     "All right, girls, we're on a Uni scout," Tess called to the two Unis on red Ruki scooters behind her.

     They were dropping Tammie off at her home in Altador.

     "I say we should have one more Uni than they have Xweetoks," Tammie suggested, "so that way we can outnumber them."

     "I'm not good with numbers," Tori said.

     Tess held back her urge to push Tori off her scooter. How could Tammie have convinced her to settle for someone so dumb? She'd probably need three more Unis to make up for this. Plus the fact that she'd be cleaning up the lunchroom for two weeks. With May. And the other Xweetoks. And –

     "Tess, watch out!" Tammie shouted.

     Tess looked up, saw two pets on orange Chomby scooters, quickly steered onto the lawn of someone with a big Neohome, and fell off her scooter.

     "Sorry!" one of the pets called.

     When Tess stood up, she saw that the two pets were Unis – one striped and one starry.

     "I'm good." She brushed her outfit off.

     "I'm Starr," the starry Uni said.

     "I'm Stripe," the striped Uni replied.

     "We're twins," they said in unison.

     "Are you rich?" Tammie asked.

     "That's our house next to the one whose lawn you just tore up," Starr pointed to a mansion, then to a pile of mud and lawn.

     "Ugh! My scooter!" Tess looked at the muddy wheels. "How did my outfit manage to stay so clean?"

     "I don't know." Stripe shrugged.

     "Who lives here?" Tori asked.

     "Oh, it's a very nice family," Starr explained, "they have a couple of Xweetoks – "

     "Xweetoks?" Tori asked.

     "Xweetoks are the ENEMY!" Tammie shook the starry Uni.

     "Okay, okay," she said, pushing the brown Uni away. "What's so bad about Xweetoks?"

     "Did you NOT just hear me? They're the ENEMY!" Tammie shouted.

     A snow Xweetok walked out of the house.

     "There's one now – DUCK!" Tammie pulled the five Unis behind a hedge.

     "Who did this to our lawn?" she asked.

     "We did!" Tori shouted, "Because you're the enemy... and we're gonna... push you over? Right, Tammie?"

     "Get down, you moron!" the brown Uni instructed.

     "What?" the Xweetok asked, "What'd I ever do to you? I don't even know you! Wait... do you go to Faerie Sky Neoschool?"

     "Yeah," Tori shouted, "my friends do, too. Right, girls? Tess, Tammie, Starr, Stripe? Are you with me here?"

     Tess fought the urge to rip the royal Uni's fur out and scream, "YOU ARE SO STUPID!!!"

     Instead, she stood up and said, "We are the Uni Crew. Our mission is to knock the Xweetok Crew – my ex friends – out of their spot on the popularity chart."

     "You mean that group of Xweetoks that always walk around insulting people?" the Xweetok asked, "Are they looking for new friends? I'm Arabella-Sara, by the way. You can call me Arabella or Sara for short."

     "I don't know if they're looking for new friends," Tori said, "but I'd strongly recommend not joining them if you don't want to risk... facing... whatever it is we have planned to destroy them."

     "You can join us if you morph into a Uni," Tammie suggested, "that's probably a safer bet."

     "Um... I'm good," Arabella-Sara said. "Morphing potions are silly."

     "Tell that to the Xweetoks – you think they were that way naturally?" Tess rolled her eyes.

     "We are proudly unconverted," Stripe tried standing up for her group.

     Arabella-Sara shrugged and went back inside.

To be continued...