Prank Week [ON HOLD INDEFINITELY]

Chapter 17: Claire

Tuesday, September 3rd, 12:00 pm

I walked with Bri, Chloe, Emma, and Amy to the square. If the guys were going to prank us, they'll have a whole team to fight.

Bri ran to me, out of breath earlier this morning. She told me about the note from the guys. I'm starting to think that the only reason she brought me here is because I'm the 'pack leader' and can help with moral support.

I searched for the guys. No sign whatsoever. We wait, stiff as boards. I sweat, and I NEVER sweat.

"Where are they?" Amy wonders aloud.

"Yeah, they should be here by now," says Chloe, looking down at her watch.

I stare cold, my eyes narrowing. Ray spots me.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Lord Abercrombie and the Fitch crony," I say, mockingly.

"Look who's talking, Mademoiselle Money Lover," he said, taking pathetic advantage in his claim to fame, two years of French.

"You leave her alone, buddy! You wanna tussle? Let's tussle!" said Brianna, over protectively.

"Calm yourselves girls, plenty of Raymond to go around."

He obviously wasn't getting it.

"Anyways, I just wanted to say that let's keep this a friendly and clean competition," he said, his hand out, ready to shake.

"Okay, what's the catch? You got some kind of stinking joy-buzzer attached to your hand, don't you?" I said, not ready to be fooled.

"No, I swear."

Reluctantly, I shook his hand. Next thing I know, my hand is stuck to his.

"What the heck did you do?!"

"Super glue is a very powerful thing.", he said, enjoying every second.

He dragged me to the brick wall, the rest of the girls following. They kicked, and pushed and pried, trying to get me off of Ray.

There we were, perfectly single file against the wall. Ray pulled his hand off of me, peeling a thin layer of flesh from mine.

"Ow!", I screamed, cradling my hand.

"Sorry," he shrugged, and ran away.

Worry struck my face. And then I looked up. We were covered in paint, head to toe. Chris, Zach, and Jacob were on the roof, buckets in hand.

NOW I was mad. Too mad to talk. I ran. I ran and didn't stop until I reached the house. I never looked back. Tears streamed down my face, dry from the paint. I banged on the door.

"Linda! Let me in!" Auntie Linda came barreling down the steps, and opened the door. Her face dropped.

"Are you okay?"

I couldn't answer. I slammed my face into her soft shoulder, bawling my eyes out. We stood like that for about 10 minutes or so.

She led me upstairs, and made me get right in the shower. Auntie Linda always knew what to do.

The second I got out, paint still in my hair, there she was. On my bed, a cup of tea in her hands. She's just as awesome as people get.

We sat there awhile, her gently picking the lobs out of my wet dirty blonde hair. We sat, and I told her what happened.

Then she really got to me. We talked about how reputations aren't everything, and how any guy would've done that, and it shook me. She was telling me what I had done wrong. That just made me sob more.

She iced my perspiring neck, and as I slowly calmed, she gave me possibly the most embarrassing thing. My teddy bear. I brought it with me my first day, I really needed that.

She did all that without saying much more than "Just think about it, Claire. Is it REALLY anyone's fault?"

No matter how many times she brought it up, I wasn't moved. Raymond was my mortal enemy, and he always will be.

I played sick the rest of the day. There's no way I'm getting caught with green hair.