Just a Little Prank
The last-minute-prank plan had been plotted out, now all they needed were the supplies. The group of five kids headed toward the party being held in the school auditorium with eyes full of determination and heads full of deviousness. As it was a costume party, they were all decked out in a variety of clothing much different than they would normally wear. Francine was dressed as a fairy in oranges and reds, wire and mesh wings gracing her back. Lily was a ghost all in white and silver. Robin's werewolf-hunter outfit consisted of a long brown trench coat borrowed from her brother over black clothing with a fake dagger tucked into her belt on one side and a whiskey flask tucked in on the other which she claimed held her "silver bullet" since they were all very much under age for such a drink no one was sure if they should believe her. Nick had borrowed Lily's black skull shirt and had put on some old dark jeans, calling himself a pirate. Peter's outfit, though, was the most important. He was dressed as a construction worker, complete with tool box which he had packed with things he figured they might need for their undertaking.
As the group walked down the path, Peter poked Lily. "Hey, Lily, does your sister know about our plan?"
"No. Why are you bringing her up?"
"Oh, something
stirs me to think of her."
Lily turned to see her sister rushing toward her, completely wrapped in tinfoil with a metal salad bowl on top of her head. "Oh my God. She seriously dressed like a spoon. And a bad-looking one at that," she muttered under her breath. Calling out to her sister she said, "Mary! So Mom actually let you come after all, huh? Weren't you supposed to be grounded?"
"I was grounded for failing my cooking project. But she helped me bake and decorate cupcakes to bring to the party so Mrs. Lennox said I could pass with a "C." That's why I put together this outfit to celebrate!"
"That's, um... Great. I guess you'll actually pass Home Ec.," Lily replied, looking doubtfully at the costume. "Well, head on in. It's not like you want to hang out with me all night, right?"
Mary stuck out her tongue and sped off again.
"Sisters. Yeesh. Okay, well, Robin is going to be our watcher at the party so we know if any teachers are on to us or if anyone is wondering why we aren't there. Robin, you ready?"
"Yep."
Nick glanced at the flask. "Be careful, a lot of things in that room don't react well to bullets."
"Yeah," Francine added. "Teachers mostly. Don't get caught with that and ruin everything."
"Don't worry about it," Robin replied, taking a swig of her flask and winking before heading inside.
The rest of the group snuck around the side of the auditorium to the back entrance where the stage was. The entrance would lead directly into the prop room, but, unfortunately, it was padlocked.
"Peter, did you bring anything that can help with this?" Lily asked.
Peter handed her the toolbox. "There should be a hacksaw inside."
"What all did you pack in here?" Lily asked as she rummaged through the box, which was mostly full of Jolly Ranchers, Mike and Ikes, Fruit Roll-Ups, and picnic foods and not very full of tools. "What the-" Gingerly, Lily extracted the saw from the remains of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"I thought we might get hungry," Peter explained.
"Great idea!" enthused Nick. "Do we have anything to drink?"
"There's a huge party in there with tons of snacks and punch and stuff, don't you think you can wait? Ugh. Anyhow, I'll get started on this."
Lily began slowly hacking away at the lock. The noise of metal on metal echoed throughout the corridor.
"We're making too much noise," Francine said, sounding worried.
"Yeah, can't you go any faster?" Nick added.
"Sorry, I've got
peanut butter in my teeth," Lily replied, holding up the gummy blade.
"Wait, Lily-" Francine said, looking at the lock. Lily pulled back a moment. Francine jiggled the lock a bit and it popped open. "It wasn't closed properly."
"I see. Well, you guys get in find the circuit breaker and get the light with the red filter. I'll stand watch here for right now."
Peter, Nick, and Francine piled into the prop room.
"Uh. I can't see
anything," Nick complained. "It's like I'm blind."
"Here," Francine said. There was a click and the prop room was lit. The room was stocked with a treasure trove of theater paraphernalia - old furniture, wigs, masks, a silver disco ball, the dagger from Romeo and Juliet.
"Who the heck would wear a tutu made of feathers?" Nick asked.
"Oh, that's from Swan Lake," Francine replied.
"It's horrendous. Really. Well, I never did much care for Shakespeare."
"Swan Lake is a ballet. It isn't Shakespeare."
"It's all Shakespeare to me. Oh, hey, check out these striped pants! They suit my costume way better than the ones I've got on."
Francine did what any decent person would do. She hit him.
"What is going on in there?" Lily asked from the doorway.
"Um... She says she's happy with his pants," Peter replied.
"I see. Well did you guys find the breaker and stuff? We still have a sign to make so we can't be fooling around like this. There's not enough time!"
"Found the lights!" Francine called back.
"Not so
loud! They'll hear you in the main room!"
"No way they will. They've got the Halloween music blasting out there," said Peter.
"Fine, just get that light out here, Peter. They can cover the breaker. You guys kill the lights at 9:20 exactly, okay?"
"Got it!" Francine called out. Then Lily heard a loud "splat."
"Uh, what was that?"
"Nick accidentally burst a paint balloon."
"Oh, great. Did it go down my shirt?"
"No, but it's all over his face and hair. I'll get him cleaned up before it reaches it, you two go."
Peter came out carrying the light. He and Lily set it down near the side of the auditorium before heading over to the office. Fortunately, as Lily's mother worked in the office, for this room they had a key. Unfortunately, the art supplies Lily had thought would be there weren't. As Lily hunted around for something they could use to make a sign, Peter looked around the room.
On the counter were charts full of names and check marks. At first, Peter thought they were attendance sheets, but on closer inspection the names on the lists were all teachers. Did teachers have to take attendance for each other? If so, did they get fined for not being counted? The charts had spaces for $1-$5 to be filled in once a week. Weird.
Lily, giving up on art supplies, turned on a computer to try printing a banner instead. As she was working on that, Peter took a look at a rack he'd noticed in the office entrance.
"What's with the coat stand?" he asked. "Do people actually use this? I usually keep my coat on my chair."
"That's something Principal Stout got when he won the weekly drawing. It's silly. It holds hats too and no one in the office even wears a hat, including the principal."
"Weekly drawing?"
"Yeah, everyone in the office gives a little money each week. They pool their money, hold a drawing, and then the person whose name is drawn gets to decide what's done with the money that week. The more you donate the higher a chance you have of winning, but it has to be spent on something the whole office can use. Mom ordered pizza when she won."
"Oh! That's what those are!" Peter said.
"What?"
"Pool tables!"
"What are you on about?"
"The charts on the counter!"
"Could you please focus? Anyway, come take a look at this, I can't get it to print."
Peter went to look at the industrial-sized printer. "I see the problem."
"What?"
"The printer is out of ink." The printer was one which couldn't be opened without a key. He couldn't access the ink even if he could find replacement cartridges.
Lily looked around the room, but other than the printer there really were no writing supplies at all. There wasn't even a pen. "What is with this office?" she asked. "Does everyone just steal everything?"
"Like you're one to talk. Whose idea was it again to scare the whole school using art supplies?"
"Ugh. Just make the file blank and tell it to print, like, 100 copies or so."
"Why? That way all I have is a giant stack of papers."
"Which we can use to form letters in the windows. It should still look red with the light filter. At least they left us some tape." Lily held up a roll of clear tape.
When the papers were finished printing, Peter collected it and the tape. He and Lily were about to leave the office when they heard someone coming down the hall.
"Quick! Hide in the bathroom!" Lily urged and they crowded into the small office bathroom.
"Urgh! We're not going to make it!" Lily said. "Peter, do you think you could get out the window with the supplies?"
"Yeah," Peter replied, opening the window and squeezing through.
"Be careful as you go down. Don't forget about the huge shrub at the bottom."
"Like I could forget that thing. It's a monster."
"Yeah, well, it's just that it's dark and the thing is really hard to see at ni-" she winced as she heard the rustle of Peter flailing to extract himself from said shrub.
"Ow! This stupid thing is full of thorns!"
"Well, that's why I mentioned it."
Lily began to make her own way out the window when she heard a click-click-click sound which confused her for a split second before she realized what it was.
"Peter, Water-
duck!"
Peter bent down at her call, protecting the papers with his body as a huge spray of water rushed up from the sprinklers.
"Run back to where we left the light, I'll meet you there!"
Back in the prop room, Nick was messing with the paint in his hair. He was using little Styrofoam balls he had found to make it look like his brains were spilling out. Francine raised an eyebrow when she saw his head. "Um, Nick? Your lining is sticking out of your top."
"Great, isn't it? Zombie-pirates for the win!"
"Right. So how much time do we have left now?"
"Twenty minutes."
"Um... That was what you said last time. Do you even know when we're supposed to cut the power? Just - what time is it?"
"9:00"
"You didn't even look at your watch."
"I'm going by the clock in the closet."
"That's a
prop!" Restraining herself from hitting him, Francine grabbed Nick's wrist and looked at his watch. "It's 9:30! We have to cut the power now!"
In the auditorium, the lights went dark. Then a deep red light illuminated some papers flapping in the wind. For a brief moment, some people thought the papers spelled out the word "BLOOD," but then the wind picked up and all that was left was the word "F OOL."
Peter and Lily managed to sneak their way into the party from the front door as Francine and Nick came in through the back. As the lights came back on, they spotted Robin weaving her way unsteadily toward them until she was suddenly stopped by Principal Stout.
"Oh, yeah, it is, did you want some?" Robin offered him the flask.
Principal Stout opened it and sniffed. "Is this lemon water?"
"Yeah, I have a sore throat so I figured it would be better than drinking punch."
He gave her the flask back. "Next time use a thermos."
"Sure thing!"
"Wait...that was just water the whole time?" Nick asked, reaching her.
"Duh, alcohol is bad for your liver. I figured I could carry holy water and hunt vampires instead."
"But- You were all tipsy just now!"
"Silly boy, I don't need a hangover to act drunk."
Which is something we should all know from this story's existence.