Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other

(10) Preparation

Rye had decided rotten eggs were going to be his secret weapon, not only does dried egg white not come off a person all that easily; but in his opinion, gone-off egg smell was vile. If he mixed it in with his slimy, sticky mix he would be pretty stuck with the smell for at least a week. He was also well aware the boys had recommended they use food coloring, but surely that would just wash off, no, he wanted to leave his mark. So he had gotten some ink-pad insoluble ink in a royal blue. It was going to be a royal pain in his ass to get off of him. He would be smurfified, Rye chuckled to himself slightly. He had to be quiet as his dad was sleeping downstairs, as much as he knew his father did not stand a chance against hin, he would rather avoid that situation.

So far, Rye had a black bucket; some eggs that had been out of the fridge way too long; the ink; and the ingredients for the slime stuff. He was well prepared. He had spent the weekend getting his supplies, what better way to spend his weekend. All he had to do now was mix it after school tomorrow, and then at night, he had to meet the rest of the boys in the woods. The starting line would already be marked out and their names on the little starting posts. Most of the school turned up to watch the start of the cross country. This year, that was going to be the most interesting part of it all, the buckets set up in the first row of trees. The whole audience would see them swing upwards, and it would be on video.

Ah, the demise of Andy Fowler's 'cool' ambiance was near, and Rye could. Not. Wait.

***

Monday morning, the school was growing tenser by the day as prank week was well underway. And neither of the teams had tried anything. Andy was very worried, not for his pride or reputation. But because of Beaumont's little smirk each time they had passed each other in the corridors so far today. He had never felt so stressed about anything, and since Sam and Jack were organizing their prank he had little to worry about. He just had to make sure that he had locked Rye securely into the cuff when he was showering. He inwardly cringed at what he just thought. He was not naturally cruel, and although he did need to realize that he was not better than everyone else, Andy still felt cruel as the prank was rather nasty. And could end up humiliating him if he was not careful.

Going around the school today he was a ball of nerves, completely and utterly jumpy. It had gotten to the point where Andy was checking around each corner. So he was a little extra,but cut him some slack.

Andy was a very observing person, he was able to notice something different very easily. And he had noticed, that every football player was wearing a bandana wrapped around their wrist, each of a different color. Everyone else picked up on it through the day, it was not normal, it must be part of their prank. But Andy had no idea what colored bandanas had to do with anything. All he knew was it was making him nervous. With their prank rapidly approaching, Andy just wanted to sink through the floor and disappear. He did not have training after school today, so he planned on going straight home. He knew the football players were supposed to have their training, but it was more than likely they would all just skip it. Especially as it appeared that their prank would soon be out.

All his nervousness meant he was struggling to keep up with his lies, a couple had even been caught out. This week would be his undoing. He hated it. He had almost let slip some information regarding his previous foster parents by accident. As soon as this week was over he could return to normal.

Sam and Jack bumped into him- literally- at the end of the day. They told him they had put all the handcuffs under the stands and were getting some rotting fish entrails from the butchers. All sounding disgusting, but Andy was not really paying attention, he needed to get out of there. He dismissed them with a "Great!" and almost ran to his car. He felt his breath constricting, he knew it was an asthma attack but all he could see and think about was Rye's smirk. He was getting to him. Andy couldn't function, the fear and attention were getting to him. He did not feel the strong hands grab his shoulders and push him away from the wheel. He did not hear the yelling and then he did not feel his inhaler being stuck in his mouth. When the medicine entered his body, and he raspily breathed it in. His body came out of shutting down, and he could see. He could see the small crowd around his car, and he could see the concerned face of the school's golden boy. Rye had just saved his life, well,

fuck.

There was a concern in his eyes, and his heavy hand was on Andy's shoulder while his other hand was holding his inhaler to Andy's mouth. Shit, Fuck shit. He felt humiliated, but all he could do was put his head back to lean on his headrest and take the inhaler from Rye.

"Thanks," Andy said shakily. He was appreciative of him, but how he wished it was not Rye.

"Yeah, um. Anyone would have done it, so no worries." Rye rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He was just about to mention about finding Sam or Jack to drive Andy when they burst through the crowd. Theo took that as his cue to leave, who knew mystery boy was asthmatic. He could just add that to the list of things about Andy Fowler that surprised him.

Andy was driven home by Sam and decided to just be in bed, it was, after all, cross country tomorrow and he did not want to miss it. But he still could not get Rye out of his head, but now, he had two different pictures of him; the cocky golden boy, and the concerned caring guy he saw not an hour ago. What was going on.

———-
*sweats nervously* ummm this is the last update for a few weeks. Please don't hate meeeeee
But Ily all
Bxxxxxx