MIAX

The Prank

The next day came, a new day, the weather was okay, sunny in some places and clouds that promised that they won't rain. Kids were present in the park, swinging on swings and sliding on slides, squealing as they were chased by their friends. It was a cheerful noise, a cheerful day.

Mandy waved her mum goodbye and joined Twinkle, who was waiting patiently for her on the footpath. They both had backpacks on with stuff that they needed to carry out the plan. They walked in like they normally would, smiled at Mark as he rose his eyebrows at their bags and hurried towards the janitors closet.

Ashton was already there, sitting on his upside down bucket, muttering to himself. He gestured them to sit down quickly and they did as they were told.

They went through their plan one last time, trying to cram it all in their minds, and stood up once they were done.

"One last thing before we go", Ashton reminded them, "we're their best friends and they aren't good friends if they keep secrets from us. Once we know the truth, we don't need to go confront them, just give them their time until they're comfortable enough to tell us"

"That makes me feel a lot better" twinkle smiled.

They hurried off, as dance practices started.

It was half past two when they all left. As planned, Ashton would spy on Mia, knowing that she showed her feelings more easily, which would be fun to watch, while Twinkle and Mandy would look out for Max. Ashton heard Max ask Mia to hang out with him after Wednesday's class near the tower bridge, so this was the perfect time to lead them to the prank.

Ashton's cousin, Thomas, was the son of the manager of a restaurant near the London bridge. He told his cousin to look out for the two, and if he sees them about near the restaurant, he immediately has to escort them there, where their 'date', was planned.

The idea was to set them up on an unplanned date. If Max finds out that they were behind this, Ashton should simply shrug and tell him, "my bro, you seemed to shy to ask her on a date, so we thought we should help, after all, you two make a perfect couple." They don't expect Max to get mad at them, seeing that that's what he wanted. "I mean, that's what friends are for, right?" Ashton would recall every few minutes.

Before going to dance practice, Ashton slipped a note into Mia's duffel bag.

Hint Hint!
The restaurant near the Hay's galleria has the best calamari one could ever have tasted. Should totally go and eat there after those chewy cheese sandwiches we had for lunch! What do you say?

Looking forward to see you,
~M x

Mandy had taken great care with writing it. Obviously they weren't lying there, because it didn't particularly say that it was from Max, but Mia would be so into what the letter says, that she would barely think of someone else who had their name starting with a 'M'.

After practices, Ashton excused himself to the men's room and tiptoed to the meeting room where everyone left their belongings before going to change. He hid behind the thick, dark curtain in the corner of the room, waiting.

After sometime, the door opened and everyone came in and grabbed their stuff, laughing at some joke. Mandy and Twinkle quickly scuttled out with their belongings, leaving Mia and Max on their own.

"You go ahead, I just need to sort out some stuff", Mia smiled apologetically, gesturing Max to the door.

He nodded and went outside.

The plan was working!

She dumped all the contents out of her duffel bag onto the table. Some of them were a packet of tissues, a mirror, a black hairbrush, makeup wipes, earphones,  a box of tic-tacs and a glittery rose gold purse.

She pulled the zip of the purse and pulled out an eyelash curler and mascara.

Oh, she needs to touch up her makeup if she's going to hang out with Max, Ashton thought as he smirked.

After applying all that stuff, she was about to put all her things back inside before she saw something left in the bag that caught her attention.

She pulled out a crumpled note, the note Ashton had left for her and read it.

She rose her eyebrows as she neared the end of it and opened her mouth when she read the last sentence.

"Max put an x at the end, Oh My Gawd!" She squealed to no one but herself, not realising there was someone else in the room with her.

With that, she stuffed everything back in her bag and put a satisfied smile on her face before leaving.

Ashton smiled to himself, nothing could be better!

Back outside, Mandy and Twinkle were hiding behind a big potted plant, (there were potted plants everywhere in the hallway) before watching Max and Mia coming into view. Mia was smiling to herself while Max tried to keep a conversation on.

They both walked the opposite direction and exited by the reception.

Ashton came running from behind and nodded to them, which meant that everything went well. They all passed the reception and went out.

The two walked down the road and out of sight. Ashton knew another shortcut which would let them reach the restaurant before the others. So they set off through the park outside, which led them to a bigger one where families were making barbecues since it was so hot.

After quiet a short time of walking, the three finally reached near the London Bridge, where they made their way to the restaurant.

'Now', Ashton panted, looking around the roomful of other diners having their lunch, 'We just need to wait for good ol' Thomas dragging the two, and wait for all their confusion to release when Mia realises th—'

'That the letter wasn't from Max', Mandy finished, 'yes we know, we've been through it a million times already, I won't be surprised if we mutter it in our sleep, Oh God, here they come, hide, quickly!'

They all scuttled off in different directions, mandy and twinkle behind the entrance door, which was made of see-through glass, and Ashton near a couple's table, who were just leaving.

A dark boy entered the door, not noticing the two behind the door, who had their faces pressed against the glass with their eyes popping out. Ashton nearly laughed at their faces until he realised what they were staring at.

Mia and Max were holding hands.

And another thing that surprised the trio was that the 'couple' were totally relaxed about it.

This was it.

The prank didn't exactly work, but they found out what they needed.

That the pair were actually a thing.

Ashton got his phone out to text twinkle.

Ashton:
Shud v just go up to them?'

Twinkle✨⭐️:
but u said that we'll wait til they're comfortable enough 2 tell us. Hav u forgotten?

Ashton:         
But wha r v supposed 2 b doing now? I dont wanna spy on their date if the pranks unsuccessful. That would b useless!

Twinkle✨⭐️:
true

Ashton:
i say, v walk in this restaurant without noticing them until they noticed us, their faces😂

Twinkle✨⭐️:
Mandy's on so ig im in too🙄

Ashton:
I'll tell a waiter 2 distract them, u guys go out and we'll walk in right in front of them.

Twinkle✨⭐️:
ok, cya outside

After that he asked a waiter to go to their friends' table, where they both were sitting together and talking with ease.

I'm sorry my friends, but I don't think that's going to last long. At least they wouldn't have to worry about telling it to us face to face, that would've been hard.