Father and Son

Chapter 21: April Fool's Day

Jayden, Emily, Serena, Mike, Mia, and Kevin were sitting in Jayden's room. Today was April Fool's Day, and they were pranking their parents. They just had to have the perfect prank. It couldn't be as simple as Jayden's and Mike's first prank. It had to be big. They were throwing around ideas, but none of them were good enough until Mike said one.

Jayden finished painting all of the soap with clear nail polish. He knew that all of the current Samurai team liked to get a shower after long training sessions, and now they wouldn't be able to lather the soap onto a rag. Jayden was giggling the whole time he was doing. It took him a while, and he had to be quiet. The team wasn't up yet. Just the kids. Mentor Ji wasn't even up yet.

Emilly and Serena were mixing Skittles, M&Ms, and Reese's Pieces all into a big bowl. They then set it out on the breakfast table, so that anyone who passed by it would try and get whatever they thought it was and then they would be surprised. They giggled and chattered quietly to themselves while they were doing this. They didn't want to wake anyone up. They couldn't be caught or it would ruin everything.

Mike took the mayonnaise and the vanilla pudding out of the fridge and swapped them. It was difficult and kind of messy, but he did quickly and quietly. He was the master prankster after all, and he knew how to not get caught.

Kevin melted cheese, and he made 'orange juice' out of it. He poured it into cups and put it on the breakfast table for everyone. Except for the kids. They got actual orange juice. He was kind of excited. This was the first time he would be doing something that wasn't training or swimming or Samurai related. He played games with Jayden, but they always related to Samurai stuff.

All of the kids filled plastic cups with water, and they put them outside the doors of the team, but they made sure there were enough cups that they couldn't just be stepped over. That would defeat the purpose of the cups. They giggled silently, and they went their separate ways to their rooms. They pretended to fall asleep, but they woke up so early that they actually fell asleep.

"MIKE!" Shane shouted as he woke up and tried to leave his room. Everyone jolted awake and tried to leave their rooms to see what the fuss was, but only the kids could leave their rooms. Plastic cups filled with water prevented everyone else from leaving their rooms. Shane looked stuck between laughing and growling, and he ended up doing a mixture of both.

"It wasn't just me," Mike said.

"We can see that," Elizabeth said amused, staring at the cups by her door. The kids looked all innocently at the parents.

After all of the cups were emptied, the team and their kids sat down for breakfast. Everyone took a sip of their 'orange juice' and spit it back. It wasn't orange juice; it was cheese!

"Really? Cheese?" Joseph asked disbelievingly. The kids just smiled innocently at the adults, and they grabbed them pudding cups. Vanilla pudding cups.

"As an apology?" Jayden said, and he handed them each a pudding cup. They all took a bite and also spit it back in.

"Mayonnaise is not a good apology, especially if it's supposed to be vanilla pudding," Sarah grumbled, and the kids giggled. The adults looked at the children fondly. It was April Fool's Day after all. The worrisome part was that the kids hadn't said April Fools yet.

"Ooh, M&Ms," Shane said, and he grabbed a handful. He put all of them in his mouth at once and promptly spit them back out. "Those are not all M&Ms." The kids smiled at him, and they asked to be excused.

The team went out to train. It was hot and humid outside, and training was tough. They were excited for a cool shower and to wash up, but the soap wasn't lathering onto the rag at all. They couldn't get it to lather. They groaned, and they used shampoo instead.

"Very clever," said James, after everyone was in the living room watching TV. The kids giggled.

At lunch, they had hamburgers, and Elizabeth wanted mayonnaise on her hamburger. So she put some on it. She didn't notice it was a little bit smoother than normal mayonnaise. She took a bite, and instead of tasting mayonnaise, she tasted vanilla pudding. She groaned and threw the hamburger away. She made another one without any mayonnaise, or vanilla pudding, on it.

"April Fool's!" all of the kids said at once. The adults just chuckled at the childlike innocence the children possessed. And the kids made their day brighter just by pranking them. Even if some of them were a little mean. But they didn't care. The kids meant no harm.