Two of these Neopets were Lerlifia the Chocolate Draik and Sellescha the Pastel Kacheek. While Sellescha knew she'd play fairly, she wasn't so sure about her sister Lerlifia. "Come on!" the Draik snapped at Gilbert, the Gelert farmer who was standing nearby. "Cut the ribbon so we can start looking already!"

"The contest starts in five minutes," he reassured her.

"I'm tired of waiting!" Without warning, she grabbed Gilbert's farming rake and used it to slash the ribbon blocking off the entrance. Dropping the rake back on the ground, she and all the other Neopets rushed into the farming grounds and started searching.

Sellescha grimaced at her sister's rudeness. Nevertheless, she had a clover to look for. After about five minutes of checking bushes, she noticed a bright green leaf sticking out from inside a bush of Loveberries. To her delight, she had found the clover! She picked it up and held it in her hands with a look of wonder and amazement on her face.

However, her awe didn't last long. Lerli, who had been standing over her shoulder, grabbed the clover out of her hands. "I FOUND IT!!!" she yelled, holding it up high. All the other contestants turned around and groaned because they didn't win. Then they forced smiles and started to congratulate her. "Yup, I was the one that found it!" insisted Lerli with a grin. "It was in this bush of Loveberries right here."

As a Neopian Times reporter ran up to Lerli, Sellescha gritted her teeth with anger. She wanted to call out her rude sister for lying SO BADLY, but at the same time, she didn't want to embarrass her family. A Neopian Times headline of "Lerlifia the Chocolate Draik Finds Lucky 12-Leaf Clover" would be way better than "Two Sisters Have Ugly Argument Over Which One of Them Found Lucky 12-Leaf Clover." Conflicted, she tried to decide if she would say anything...

At this point, Sellescha was used to her sister's ways. This was not the first time Lerlifia had stolen the spotlight from Sellescha. Lerlifia had always been a spoiled brat like that. Always looking for a way to be the center of attention. Sellescha almost expected it from her at this point. It was always unpleasant to deal with.

Sellescha walked away from the crowd forming around her sister. She walked further into the field, looking at the berries, taking in the sights and smells. Inspecting the ground for any dung, she sat down and played with a few leaves from the bush in between her fingers.

"I see you decided to get away from the crowd as well."

Sellescha looked up to see a brown Gelert looking down at her. She thought he was the farmer of Meri Acres, but quickly remembered he was one of the other Neopets taking place in the contest. He looked down at her with friendly eyes and a half smile.

"Let's just say I don't want to be near Lerli right now," Sellescha grumbled.

"Lerli... I take it you know her?"

"She's my sister."

"Ah." The Gelert paused and looked around the area for a minute to see nobody was nearby. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead."

The Gelert sat down next to Sellescha. Sellescha continued to look down at her fingers, weaving the leaves around each other. The two remained quiet for a few minutes, either waiting for the other to speak or not knowing what to say.

"My name is Gabriel," the Gelert said.

"Sellescha."

"Sellescha. That's pretty." Gabriel hummed slightly before continuing, "So Lerli is your sister. Why aren't you with her? She found the clover."

The Kacheek's gaze grew cold. "No, she didn't. I found the clover." Sellescha crushed the leaves in between her fingers. "She just stole it from me and took all the credit."

Gabriel smiled. "I have siblings as well, I know how it feels to become engaged and enraged in the spirit of competition--"

"This doesn't even have anything to do with competitiveness! She downright stole what I earned!" Sellescha crossed her arms and flicked her tail wildly. "Lerli does things like these all the time. It's like she doesn't even realize that she hurts people." Sellescha was on the brink of tears. "It's not fair."

"You're right, it's not fair." Gabriel, still smiling, looked up in the sky. "But rather than get worked up about it... My siblings and I, we have our competitive spells, and sometimes we even make each other upset, but we always manage to work things out in the end." He paused and looked into her eyes. "You know, I think I can help you teach her a lesson in how to be kinder..."

"Well, April Fools' Day is just around the corner and, if I know anything about siblings, I know that an annual day full of pranks is practically a holiday tailor-made for them." Gabriel chuckled, looking back into the fluffy cumulus clouds slowly rolling overhead.

Sellescha laughed with her newfound acquaintance. "You're not wrong," she said.

"Do you partake in the antics of April Fools'?" The Gelert asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know, not usually. Every couple of years, our Dad plays a prank on us, but we never get into a competition of foolery." The Kacheek said, reminiscing on the time her father gave out a tray of chocolate cookies with toothpaste filling.

"Well, well, well. That makes it an even better opportunity to create a competition to beat your snooty sister in," Gabriel smirked.

"I like the way you think," Sellescha said with a devious twinkle in her eye.

At that moment, the two plotting teenagers were interrupted by...

"Let's go, Sellescha!" the Draik announced, not acknowledging Gabriel's presence at all. "I can't wait to tell our family and friends about how I won this year's Pick Your Own contest!"

Sellescha frowned. It was just like Lerli to show up at the worst possible time, wanting to leave, just as the Kacheek and her new friend were about to come up with a prank competition that would be the perfect comeuppance. She had to find a way to either move away with Gabriel to plan something, or wave Lerli away, even for just a few moments.

But before she could say anything, Gabriel beat her to it.

"Going so soon?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know, twelve-leaf clovers are very rare, but it's been years since anyone ever saw a twenty-four-leaf clover."

Lerlifia narrowed her eyes at him, noticing him at last. "A what?"

Even Sellescha glanced at Gabriel in askance, but he merely winked at her furtively.

"A twenty-four-leaf clover," he said as though this were common knowledge. "The last time anyone has seen one was...before the Meridell wars, actually."

Though he made it sound convincing, Lerli was not quite convinced.

"Oh, really?"

"I graduated from Brightvale University with a double major in Meridellian history and botany," said Gabriel without missing a beat. Sellescha wondered if that was true, or if he was simply that good at tricking others.

"Really?" asked Lerli, her scepticism gradually melting away.

"Really," answered the Gelert, nodding solemnly. "In fact, I know the place where the last twenty-four-leaf clover was spotted. Well, you and your sister can go home, as you said, but I'm going to find a twenty-four-leaf clover. No doubt that'd get on the front pages of the Neopian Times, easy."

With a nonchalant shrug, Gabriel turned and started walking away, farther and farther from the farm. Lerlifia stared after him before stamping her foot and running after him.

"Hey! Bet I can find a twenty-four-leaf clover faster than you! Whoever you are!"

At first, Sellescha watched them go, wondering what Gabriel had up his sleeve. Then she gasped when she saw that they were headed toward the...

The Kacheek's nose twitched, as the putrid smell of the large pile of trash reached her nostrils. She glanced over at Gabriel, seeing that he was having a hard time enduring the smell as well. Lerlifia, meanwhile, just seemed to be able to ignore it.

"Okay, here we are," Gabriel said. "The clover is somewhere in this dump. Time for us..."

Without another word, the Draik put the 12-Leaf Clover aside on a nearby table and dived into the pile and started searching, not noticing that the Gelert didn't follow her in. Sellescha stepped up beside Gabriel, as the two of them watched the Draik swim through the pile in her futile search.

"This is so mean. Thank you," Sellescha told Gabriel with a smile, as she tried not to laugh.

Gabriel just smiled back, as Lerli kept up the search. As she did, Sellescha glanced towards the table, where the 12-Leaf Clover was left, and gasped when she saw...

"No, no. This can't be!" Sellescha moaned. She desperately began rooting around the mud with her hands. "It was right here!"

"Are you all right?"

Sellescha turned around to see Gabriel looking down at her, wide-eyed.

"The clover, it's gone!" Sellescha whispered. "I only looked away for a minute. It has to be around here, where could it have gone?" Sellescha cried, resuming her search. Just then, there was a loud rattle that caused the two teens to look up.

"Ow ow ow!!" It was Lerli. A wave of guilt washed over Sellescha. In the chaos, she had forgotten that they'd sent Lerli looking for a nonexistent treasure in the dump. Now she was hurt AND Sellescha had lost the clover!

"Lerli, are you ok? What happened?" Sellescha shouted, hoping Lerli wouldn't catch the panic in her voice.

"Oh nothing, I thought I saw the 24-leaf-clover under some rubble and tried to move it out of the way. Some trash from the top fell down on me but it's nothing a trip to the pharmacy won't fix." Lerli reassured her but Sellescha wasn't convinced.

"If you're hurt, we--" Sellescha started but Gabriel put a finger to his lips to quiet her.

In a low voice, Gabriel asked, "Don't you want to teach her that lesson?"

Sellescha was shocked at his insensitivity. Furious, she quickly replied, "My sister is hurt! No silly lesson is more important than getting her help!"

"Listen, I know how siblings are. I bet you that if you tried to stop her now, she'd accuse you of being jealous and trying to get the 24-leaf-clover for yourself. Besides she said she's fine." Gabriel replied matter-of-factly, but Sellescha thought she detected a slight smile on his face. Sellescha was vexed, but Gabriel did have a point. Lerli was fiercely competitive and hated to lose, even over the most trivial things. She got on Sellescha's nerves more than once arguing who got the bigger ice cream cone or the better test scores. It was a 3 point difference Lerli, get over yourself! Sellescha crossed her arms puzzled about what she should do.

"If you're not sure, why don't you just ask her?" Gabriel suggested with a wink. "I think I will, " replied Sellescha. "Lerli, look let's forget this silly thing and get you home. I--," but she was cut off before she could finish her sentence.

"So you can find the 24-leaf-clover for yourself and brag about it on the front page of Neopian Times? I don't think so!" Lerli barked. Sellescha's mouth fell open. She could not believe Lerli thought so little of her. Mind made up she turned to Gabriel and nodded her head, "Let's do this."

"Thought so," replied Gabriel. "If we really want to teach her a lesson though we need to find that 12-leaf-clover, are you sure you looked everywhere?"

Sellescha rolled her eyes, "It was right here on this table, if I--" but something made Sellescha stop. She looked down and couldn't believe she missed it before. On the edge of the table, in plain sight was...

The Petpet was hanging upside-down along the underside of the table, the twelve-leaf clover clamped in its mouth. He was making slow headway though, leaving an obvious trail of goo on the table that Sellescha had missed in her initial frenzy.

“Hey, give me that!” Sellescha hissed, reaching to snatch the clover. The Slorg eyed her irritated, clamping down harder on its discovery. The Kacheek pinched it free finally, leaving the Slorg to glare at her.

“Oh no! No, no, no,” Sellescha moaned, eyeing the now weathered clover in her hands.

“What is it?” Gabriel asked.

“He ate a leaf!” Sellescha whispered, brandishing the plant in the Gelert’s face. “Look, there’s only 11 leaves now. It’s an 11-leaf-clover! No one wants an 11-leaf-clover.”

“But this is brilliant!” Gabriel replied, smiling toothily. “Now Lerli won’t get away with all the benefits that she didn’t deserve. Don’t even tell her. See how long it takes her to realize.”

Sellescha glanced to her sister who was wiping a suspicious yellow substance from her blouse before continuing to root in another pile. She couldn’t help but feel a tad guilty. She only wanted Lerli to be humiliated and smelly for stealing the clover. She hadn’t planned on the clover actually getting destroyed.

Yet, her sister was narcissistic and selfish, and hadn’t found the clover to begin with at all… the clover getting destroyed was almost poetic justice.

Just when Sellescha was deciding to side with Gabriel, Lerli’s cry pierced the air. “I found something!...”

"It's not a clover, but MUCH better." She grinned and held up a basic Red Paint Brush. "Look at this!"

Gabriel gaped. "Holy Skarl!" he said dumbfounded, pointing his paw at the elusive Rubbish Dump avatar descending upon the partially melted and otherwise grimy piece of chocolate that was Sellescha's sister. "That's way rarer than a 12-leaf clover. Even a 24-leaf clover!" He turned to Sellescha, who was equally astounded. "And no, I'm not really a double major of anything," he replied, a touch sheepishly.

"Wheee!" Lerlifia caught the avatar and spun around. "That dumb clover brought me the luck of this avatar! This is going to be WAY bigger news -- and not just in Meridell, but all throughout Neopia!" She spun around excitedly

This was all more than the Kacheek could bear -- especially to hear how her sister had, as so many times before, simply disregarded something so seemingly important and moved on to the next thing, all without fear of hurting others or other collateral damage.

Gritting her teeth, Sellescha picked up the 11-leaf clover and said...

Lerli raised one eyebrow, pretending to be surprised. "Uh, what?! I found the clover."

"No, you didn't... I found it, and you know it."

"Huh?!" Then Lerli saw the clover in Sellescha's hand. "Gimme back my clover, you thief!" Thus, Lerli again snatched the clover out of Sellescha's hand.

Noticing that one of the leaves was missing, Lerli scowled. "How did this happen?!" She pointed a finger at Sellescha accusingly. "You ruined my clover!"

"No, I didn't. A Slorg ate one of the leaves."

"Well, now it isn't nearly as special, so you can have it." Lerli tossed the clover on the ground angrily. Then she grinned. "Now, I'm going to be featured on the front page of the Neopian Times AGAIN, this time for finding the elusive Rubbish Dump avatar!"

"You had better take a bath and change your clothes before being photographed," suggested Gabriel.

Even through her frustration, Sellescha smirked, but her smile didn't last long. "Lerli," she began, "do you want to be known as Neopia's biggest braggart?! Do you want everyone to know you as the person who MUST have attention at all times? The person who was featured TWICE in one day because they just HAD to be in the spotlight?! Just admit that I found the clover."

Lerli paused and thought for a minute. "Yeah, that wouldn't be a reputation I'd want to have... I'll admit it to you, since you already know. You found the clover. However, I can't go back on it publicly because the Neopian Times would roast me and call me a liar!"

"True... There has to be a solution to this." After thinking for a moment, Sellescha came up with an idea. "You can keep saying you found the clover, but I will claim credit for the Rubbish Dump avatar. It's not the entire truth, but at least it's fair."

Lerli sighed. "Okay. What will we do with this Red Paint Brush?"

Sellescha grinned in relief. "I guess I can let you sell it for Neopoints after I'm done posing for a Neopian Times picture with it. You were the one that found it."

"Alright, sounds fair."

Gabriel smiled. "I'm glad that you were finally able to talk some sense into her!"

The End.