Prank Wars (21 page)

I took a deep breath, but not too deep since we were hiding behind a dumpster and it was a little smelly. “Okay, I want Lizzie and Tory to come with me. Kali, take this.” I handed her the flashlight. “Set this up in the back of the bunkhouse…just like the guys set up their light. We want them to see that great minds think alike.” The flashlight easily fit into Kali’s small palm. She looked confused. “We’re gonna have our own little firework show from their back window,” I explained. “…only this show will be a no show, get it?”

Kali grinned, sheathing the flashlight into the kangaroo pockets of her hoody. She handed me the old lady perfume. “You might need this.” She took off with a jaunty little skip.

I took the rest of my team to the front of the apartment complex. We stood under the guy’s balcony next to the treacherous gamers’ apartment. I splashed my hair from my eyes. “Tory, you stand here with your arms up. Be ready.” Tory’s lips curled up in approval. She knew where I was going with this. I took Lizzie up the stairs with me. Our shoes scraped against the metal stairs, echoing into the cold unfeeling night. My heart raged against my chest. We had to make this matter. Make or break. I glanced over at my sweet roommate. If anyone could slip past these hordes of evildoers, it would be our stealth bomber. We reached the guys’ floor and I inched against the hard brick wall, barely able to see their shadows from the window. I’d have to trust Tory’s report that the cushions were there by the—I realized I never asked her
where
. I stayed focused. “Okay Lizzie. Go in and tell the guys there’s gonna be a show at their back window. Make sure you herd them
all
into the kitchen, alright?”

Lizzie took a steadying breath and went into the very depths of all that was unholy without even knocking. I listened to the murmur of voices at her entrance. My heart refused to beat more softly. Lizzie whispered something quietly to them. The guys jumped up from their furniture, pushing the couch hard against the wall in their attempts to get into their kitchen fast. In fact, it was faster than I had anticipated.

As soon as they left, I rushed into the living room, keeping to the shadows. I saw the twins at the kitchen window with Lizzie, their Aryan profiles facing the darkness outside. I took a careful step forward. The ground creaked beneath my feet and I lurched to a stop, my eyes on them. They craned their heads outside to see what waited for them out there. Searching the living room on my hands and knees, I found the couch cushions by the light of the flickering TV. Two fat striped cushions. Oh, how I missed them! I gathered them under my armpits, keeping my eyes trained on the twins in the kitchen. One of them leaned against the windowsill. By the looks of his dangerous dimple, I could see it was Twin A. Well, Adam. His brother, Blake was laughing about something. He asked Lizzie a question under his breath, his voice gentle. Lizzie answered softly, nervously slipping her flip flops on and off. Adam grinned and kicked one of them away. Before I could see Lizzie’s reaction, I took a deep breath and tried to slip out the door.

“Hey!”

At the shout of discovery, I ran for the door. The cushions were heavy and the twins scrambled loudly after my heels. They were faster, but I had planned for that. I threw the cushions to Tory below and she disappeared with them. The twins tried to scrape past me, but they wouldn’t take her without a fight. “Grab a twin,” I shouted to Lizzie. I wrapped my arms around Blake’s neck and dropped like deadweight. We both went down. Blake tried to push me away, but I held on tightly, knowing he was the nicer of the two and wouldn’t play dirty. Adam would’ve kicked me off by now. Speaking of…from the corner of my eye, I could see Lizzie was having less success with him. Adam easily wriggled away from her and tried to get past me and his brother. I twisted around Blake’s back and tripped Adam as he passed. He stumbled to his knees. I stole his black and white running shoe from his left foot, chucking it over the railing. It disappeared into the bushes.

“Are you joking?” Adam found his feet. “Those are Zoom Vomeros. Those are more expensive than your college education!” He went after me. I ducked behind his sweeter brother until someone tugged me from Blake so roughly that I landed hard on my feet. Rock! I had completely forgotten about him. His dark hair was tousled and there were lines on his face as if we had wrenched him from a deep sleep. He looked irritated. I steadied myself. Out of all the boys, he couldn’t handle a prank…maybe I could use it against him. “Rock,” I tried to sound fragile. “I’m so glad you’re here. The twins stole our cushions. Would you please help us get them back?”

He was momentarily confused. I felt his hands loosen over me just enough that I could wriggle away. I tripped to the ground. “Run!” I told Lizzie. “Run!” Blake got to his feet. His shoe was in perfect reach and I stole it from his foot too, chucking it as far as I could over the railing. Rock cried out in anger. I was no longer the innocent girl. They were all after me. What could they do? Catch me? Then what? As soon as I found my feet, I scurried the other direction, taking the stairs two at a time, leading my pursuers away from Tory and the cushions. I rounded the corner of the bunkhouse, hearing the twins’ strides behind me; they were uneven with just the one shoe. Kali jumped between us. It really wasn’t a sacrifice…I knew she wanted to get caught. Blake picked her up mid-stride and she kicked, her legs a blur of strawberry shortcake pajamas. There was no way Blake could keep up with me with her in his arms. She had ingested about a half a dozen chocolate bars today alone. I applauded her strategy.

Rock had disappeared, too lazy to join the chase. But where was Lord Byron? On a date? Or ransacking our apartment? I sucked in more air, taking quick, shallow breaths. Adam was still behind me. He wouldn’t quit. His track pants swished in the darkness. Even with one shoe, it wouldn’t be long before he caught up. The point was to distract him from Tory, but I still didn’t relish the thought of getting caught, possibly tortured. I wondered how to stop him? A girl? A party? I knew just the place.

I sprinted across the street into Liberty Square’s underground parking lot. It was the resident party complex for sophomores and jammed with parked cars. It was Friday night. I wove through the cars and landed on my stomach hard next to a Volkswagen bug. My breathing was too loud. If I wasn’t careful, it would give me away.

“Mad!” I could hear Adam’s uneven gait on the other side of the Volkswagen, and I held my breath. He was closer than I wanted. “You know we’ll just get your cushions back again, don’t you?” I squeezed my eyes tight, willing myself not to retort. I breathed out slowly. “You should’ve just made us some cinnamon rolls then none of this would’ve happened.” I hoped I wouldn’t bite my tongue off to keep myself from blowing a fuse at that one. My hand brushed against the old lady perfume. I clutched it. Adam wouldn’t take me without a fight.

“Maybe I’ll just go after Lizzie. Byron says she cooks better than you anyway.”

I threw my hands over my mouth, listening to Adam’s voice fade. It meant he was going the wrong direction or he was altering his voice to make it appear that way. The click clack of heels sounded over the pavement and I spotted two high maintenance girls—so high maintenance they could be from King Henry. They headed for their car.

“Hey.” Adam said with a cool nod. The girls giggled in response. He had no choice but to pretend that he was going somewhere important.

I peered around the tire, watching him leave the parking lot with only one shoe on. I hoped it wasn’t to find Tory…or Lizzie…or whoever really. I took a quick inventory of my wounds. It didn’t look good; I had stubbed my toe and my jeans were covered in mud. At least Sandra was watching the home front. She was always so dedicated with her staying-out-of-our-lives capabilities. I caught my breath at a sudden thought. Wait…unless…could Byron get past her defenses? I couldn’t believe I had been such an idiot. Of course he could. He was her ex. He was there now. I had unwittingly brought them together. How could I not see that? I picked up my cell phone and dialed, waiting impatiently as it rang. “Tory,” I whispered as soon as she picked up. “What’s your position?”

“
What’s your position?”

My voice caught in my throat. It was Lord Byron. Tory’s cell phone had fallen into enemy hands. He had employed the first tactic of war—wiping out lines of communication. It meant only one thing: Tory was POW, possibly being tortured with their most flirtatious methods. “No matter what you do, Tory won’t talk.”

“
Kali talked.”

I leaned my head back against the tire. Of course. Kali was our mole. She had infiltrated our ranks with one thought in mind, a date. Byron was smooth, fast talking, eloquent—like the very devil.
“It appears there is only one on your team left unaccounted for,”
he waited for my response, but I didn’t reply.
“You.”

“I’ll never join you.” It came out more dramatically than I intended it, and I found myself staring up at the two high maintenance girls.

“Excuse me,” one of them pointed behind me with manicured nails. “That’s my car.” And I was leaning against it. I scrambled to my feet, realizing I looked like a homeless woman in my mud spattered clothes. I pulled away from them, tugging down my black shirt where it belonged.

“
Do you really want war, Mad?”
Byron asked on the other line.

Was that a trick question? I ignored the giggling girls behind me, trying to keep focused. Did the guys recover the cushions? I’d force a confession out of Byron. “You’ll never get the cushions,” I told him.

“
That’s alright. I want something else.”

My heart soared at the victory. At least our mission to recover the cushions had been successful. I made my way to my apartment, the phone still to my ear. I just couldn’t imagine what he had done to Tory to get her phone. She wouldn’t have gone down easily. Loud classic country music blared in the distance. Inane and twangy. Even if some people liked that stuff, it didn’t mean the world shared their same bad taste. Byron was going off on vague threats on the other line, but I couldn’t pay attention. The closer I got to my apartment, the louder the music got, and it was giving me a headache.

I froze, unable to keep the horror from my face. I couldn’t believe it. My roommates were the ones with the bad taste. The country music was coming from our apartment. Loud and clear.

Day 109

2235 hours

“
The problem with an archenemy is that he knows everything about me. He knows how to make me scream. He knows how to make me smile. And he’ll use them both against me—at the same time.”

—Madeleine’s War Journal Entry (Friday, June 1st).

I broke into a run and ran up the three flights of stairs, desperate to turn off the noise. The music fairly rocked my apartment. Our neighbors would kill me if I didn’t do something soon. I reached the door and turned the knob. It stuck. I took out my keys and wrestled them into the lock. As soon as the knob loosened, I shoved the door open. It stopped short with a sickening clang. The chain was on. No! They didn’t. How? I tried the windows, but our place was locked airtight. “Byron!” I shouted into the phone.

“
You know what?”
he said.
“The cool thing about modern technology is that you don’t have to shout into it for people to hear you.”

“Listen to me. Uh...are any of my roommates with you? I need one of them right now!”

“
What’s going on?”
He knew very well. He was behind it.

“I just need a little something from them.” Like maybe an emergency ladder or a top secret gadget to rip open a window.

“
I think I have what you’re looking for,”
he said in a much too calm voice.
“If you’d like to turn off that wretched noise, that is.”
He clicked off Tory’s phone, ending our communication. I screamed out in frustration, hitting the door. How did they do this? Where was Tory anyway? Where were the cushions? No one was doing what they were supposed to be doing.

“Hey! Turn off your music!”

I groaned. The complaints were beginning. No one would call the cops on us though…unless they
weren’t
a student. My eyes widened with horror when I saw the light turn on at the house next door. A family lived there. There was no telling what they would do. Fumbling with my cell phone, I started to speed dial all of my roommates for an idea on how to get our place open or at least to stop this noise, but no one picked up: Lizzie, Kali, Sandra. Where were they, especially Sandra? Did she go on a date at the last second? I felt my nose wrinkle at the direction of my thoughts. Was she with Byron?

I kicked the door. Well, I didn’t care! There had to be a way to break in. I thought of our landlord. Besides the danger of getting caught by a long lecture, I just didn’t have him on speed dial. A neighbor might have his number though. I rushed next door to Thanh’s. Her door was already open. She didn’t have to know I was the one who shouted up at her from the parking lot earlier. I knocked on the door and it swung open. I gasped and stepped back. The place was a mess. Everything in Thanh’s carefully organized cupboards had been pulled out. The stuffing was ripped from the cushions in her couch. Paper and garbage covered the ugly green carpet. This had to be the aftermath of the crashing I had heard, but if Thanh lived in our world, I’d say someone else had ransacked her place.