“Today is Pet Day,” Mrs. Meyer announced pleasantly to her Kindergarteners a week later. “I see that Dorothy has brought her cat to share and that Heero brought his parakeet.”

Dorothy raised her hand.

"Yes, Dorothy?"

"It's not a cat. It's a cabbit," Dorothy said.

"What's a 'cabbit'?" Duo blurted out.

"Please raise your hand for permission to speak, Duo," Mrs. Meyer corrected him.

"But I already speaked," Duo replied and then turned to Dorothy. "So, what's a cabbit?"

"It's a cross between a rabbit and a cat," Dorothy explained.

"What's a 'crossbitween'?" Duo asked.

"It means one parent was a cat an' the other parent was a rabbit," Dorothy proudly enlightened him, squeezing the cuddly, soft animal until it gave her an evil look, which she didn't notice.

"There's no such thing!" Duo declared disbelievingly.

"Is too! MY DADDY bought him from our k'rate 'structor, Sam. He raises 'em!,” she bragged, which reminded Heero, Duo, Wufei, Hilde and Relena about the unfortunate addition of Dorothy to their karate class. "See--it looks like a cat in the front an' like a rabbit in the back." She held the perturbed pet up by the scruff of its neck and turned it slightly from side to side so everybody could get a good look; her intention was to make sure everyone would just about die of envy. ”They’re VERY RARE," she said smugly. "An' they're real 'telligent too." She flipped her long platinum blonde hair back over her shoulder and sat down when the cabbit growled at her. If an animal can show embarrassment then this animal looked mortified. And was not at all happy either. She stuffed him back into his carrier, which didn't improve his mood one bit but it gave him some time to plot his revenge for having to endure such humiliation.

"Just sounds like a freak of nature to me," Wufei said quietly from his desk behind the girl with the weird eyebrows so that only she could hear him.

Dorothy turned and glared at him. Raising her hand she said, "Mrs. Meyer! Wufei said--"

The teacher wasn't listening to Dorothy because she noticed an empty seat. “Where is Quatre?” she asked.

“Oh, he’s comin’,” Duo answered. “The Mog-a-nocks is bringin’ him t’day.”

Mrs. Meyer had noticed that very few of “those cut-throats”, as she called them, that followed Quatre around were on the school grounds when she had entered the building that morning. “So every one of them will be here today after all!” the disappointed teacher thought in dismay; she had hoped for a reprieve from their intimidating presence. At least less of them would have been better than having to endure all of them! She wondered why the Principal didn’t put his foot down and tell them to stay away from the school!

Abdul joined the three Maguanacs who were stationed at the classroom window and he tapped on the glass to get the unanimously-loathed teacher’s attention.

Duo got out of his seat without permission, walked to the back of the room and cracked open the window.

“Mrs. Meyer, please bring the class outside. We have something to show you.”

Much as she didn’t want to have anything to do with those “dangerous men,” she decided that she’d better do as requested because she didn’t want to get on the Maguanacs “bad side”, not realizing that her effort was useless because she already was. They had been giving her looks of disapproval and reproach for the past week for some reason that she couldn’t quite put her finger on so she thought it best to be agreeable.

The students lined up at the door. It was Relena’s turn to be first in line and she was very happy about that because in her opinion it was her rightful place. She was deeply disappointed that she had never been able to convince her teacher that she was of royal birth and, therefore, was treated the same way as all of the 'commoners'. "If only Melody woulda let me wear my tiara to school today!" the thwarted princess lamented.

Dorothy stood behind Heero who was standing behind Relena at Her Highnesses’ insistence. Actually, she had taken him by the arm and dragged him up to the front of the room as the line was beginning to form. He decided not to protest but to tell her later that she “imbarassed’” him when she did things like that. Not that it would make any difference for him to say so but it would make him feel better.

Heero turned and addressed Dorothy in a low voice, "I don’t care if that pet of yours is only half a cat. You better keep it 'way from my ‘keet or Omae—"

Relena elbowed Heero in the ribs with enough of a punch that he would have a bruise to remember it by. "Heero!" she whispered harshly. "You’re not s’posed to say that, ‘member?"

Heero didn’t acknowledge Relena’s admonition but she knew he had heard her when he told Dorothy, “Or, or ELSE!”

At the teacher's command the students started to walk down the hall in an orderly fashion but the closer they got to the school's front door the faster they went.

“Walk! Walk!” the teacher ordered but she was ignored. Pretty soon the whole class was running and out the front door in no time. The irritated teacher hurried after them, calling to them but not being obeyed by any of the excited children. It was a great treat for them to go outside right after school started for the day.

The students disappeared around the corner so the teacher followed. She was not used to so much exertion and was panting and slightly light-headed by the time she rounded the building.

And there was Quatre dressed in Arabian clothing and perched on Queenie, who was decked out in her red and gold circus finery for the event; the Maguanac Corps were standing on either side of them and just about bursting with pride.

“Mrs. Meyer!” Quatre called out happily. “Here’s my baby circus effelent!" He adjusted his turban, which was slipping down onto his forehead. "I brought her for Pet Day but she hadta walk here 'cause she’s so big that she wouldn't fit into the Mog-a-nocks's bus an' ev'ryone hadta come outside 'cause she's too big so we couldn’t get her in the school! Her name is Queen of the Desert but we just call her Queenie!”

Just as Quatre finished speaking Mrs. Meyer fainted dead away. The chibis’ class was sent home early because there wasn’t a teacher available to take over for her and the Principal adamantly refused to monitor those “little troublemakers” himself nor would he allow the Maguanacs to take charge of the class in the overwhelmed teacher's stead. And, for some puzzling reason the Kindergarteners couldn’t quite understand, they had a string of substitute teachers over the next two weeks.