Westbay College and Riverside University were barely two miles apart, so naturally were rivals in virtually every way. Such rivalry led to traditions, like frequent pranks carried out on the other campus.  Stealing mascots, graffiti tagging, itching powder, tyre deflations, and so on.

A pair of Westbay students, however, had a plan to get an edge on an upcoming bout of tradition. They followed Naomi Baker, a ringleader of the Riverside prank committee, as she walked through the mall.

"Good, she's got earbuds in, all we need to do is keep our little brainwasher in range..." Kylie Donaldson whispered to her fellow Westbayer, Wilma Milton.

"Is this ethical? Hacking into Bluetooth headphones to hypnotise someone just to interrogate them about their prank plans?" The other student wondered.

"No, but was letting a skunk loose in the cheerleaders laundry room ethical? No!"

"You hate the cheerleaders though."

"That's besides the point, they're still Westbay! Anyway, this shouldn't take long. Subliminal noise in the background of what's playing and boom... Here she comes."

Naomi had paused in the street, looking dazed for a moment, and then turned around, heading towards the Westbay duo.

"Okay, now we just act like we're all friends, ask her about what's planned and..." Kylie frowned, as two random women approached, blank eyed and wearing earbuds.

"Uh.... I think your gizmo works too well, Kylie."

The Westbay girl groaned, as more earbud wearers began walking in her direction along with Naomi...