Mermaid

The Prank

  "I think we should break in and fill the pool with soap", Andie Bennett commented, a devious look in her eyes. "It'll take them at least a week to clean that up." "No, we should sneak in and steal all their clothes from the locker room", Ember Salvatore suggested, giggling into the palm of her hand. Beside the pool, Josie rolled her eyes and wrung the rest of the water out of her hair. She hated this time of year- it was two weeks before Halloween, and that meant that the prank war between the Bellmont Academy and Salvatore School was well underway. While most of the Salvatore swimmers looked forward to prank day- the giving of pranks, at least- Josie dreaded it. Yes, most of their pranks were harmless. Last year they filled their team bus with glitter balloons and taped pins near the door. Josie had found it kind of funny, but she hated to think of how long it had taken to clean all of it up. However, that wasn't what Josie dreaded. No, it was the backlash they had received after. When they returned from swim practice the next day and went to shower, every swimmer came out with green hair- the Bellmont swimmers had replaced their shampoo with hair dye. Josie shuddered, thinking of the three weeks she had to walk around with hair that looked like seaweed. This year, the Salvatore girls wanted payback- they were giving it everything they had. Josie knew that no matter what they hit them with, the Bellmont team would be hit ten times harder. She was terrified of what that might mean.

  "What do you think they're planning?", Josie whispered to Lizzie, who shrugged her shoulders with disinterest. "I don't know. I haven't been paying much attention", Lizzie admitted in a low voice. "I'm going to go swim my laps. I'll talk to you later, Jo." With that, Lizzie swam away wordlessly. Josie frowned, watching her sister go. They'd made up from their fight over a week ago, but there was still tension between them. Lizzie seemed to be walking on eggshells around her, and she overall was not acting like the sister she knew and loved. She and Hope had both seen it, but they gave her time to come to them. If they confronted Lizzie, she would just shrug them off anyway. No, they had to wait for Lizzie to come to them- on her terms. Still, pranks were Lizzie's thing; She was usually the one to organize everything- the instigator. With her in such an odd mood, no one else dared to step forward in her place. As much as Josie hated pranks and the backlash that would soon follow, she knew doing no prank was just as dangerous. They would seem weak, not just to Bellmont, but the other swim teams as well. Josie sighed heavily- she knew what she had to do, as much as she despised doing so.

  She swam after her sister, gliding over to where she was sitting with Katalina and some of the other notorious pranksters on the team. Sadie perked up, the amused smile falling from her face. "Sorry, Josie! We were just about to do our laps, I swear!", she explained nervously. "That's not what I came over here for. I was coming over to ask what you guys think we should do for the prank war." The four swimmers, Lizzie included, looked at Josie in confusion and distrust. They knew it was unlikely Josie was serious, but they could not hide their curiosity. "You don't do pranks, Jos. You're, like, the anti prankster.", Ember joked, her eyebrow raised at her cousin. Josie shrugged, forcing a smile. "I might not be for pranks, but I'm all for some team bonding." She wrapped her arm around Lizzie's shoulder. "Especially when my lovely sister is involved." Lizzie rolled her eyes beside her, mimicking Josie's actions with a smile on her face. She looked over at the other girls. "Alright, ladies. What are we gonna do this time? Ember and Kat glanced at each other, then back at the twins. "Come closer. I feel like you're going to enjoy this one." Josie leaned in, listening to the conversation. And as they explained the plan more, Josie felt the faked smile on her face turn into a real one.

The plan was stupid, for sure; But, it was so stupid that it just might work.
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Josie-3:45pm- Tomorrow is prank day
Mermaid-3:47pm That's between Bellmont and Salvatore, right?
Josie-3:48pm- Yes, it is.
Mermaid- 3:49 pm- Not much of a war when they win every year ;)
Mermaid- 3:54 pm- Ouch, too soon?
Josie- 3:56pm- ...That MIGHT be true, but it won't be this year.
Josie-3:56pm have a full.proof.plan
Mermaid- foolproof, Jojo. It's foolproof.
Josie- 3:57 pm- No it's not. That's ridiculous.
Mermaid-3:59pm- Whatever you say, baby girl.
Josie- 4:00pm- Babygirl. I like that. (Message not sent)
Josie- 4:02pm- Whatever. All I know is tomorrow Bellmont isn't going to know what hit them >:)
Mermaid- 4:04 pm- Oh really? And what is this ingenious plan you have?
Josie- 4:05pm- Not telling
Mermaid- 4:06 pm- Why?! I want to know!
Josie- 4:07 pm- In case you're on the Bellmont team, silly. I'm not sabotaging my team.
Mermaid- 4:09 pm- That's unfair. and mean.
Josie- 4:11 pm- Yeah, but you love me tho
Mermaid- 4:12 pm- Yeah, I do (Message not sent)
Mermaid- 4:15 pm- Touche, miss Saltzman
Mermaid- 4:15 pm- I guess we'll see tomorrow who has the upper hand ;)
Josie- 4:17pm- Game. ON.
Josie- 4:18pm- :)
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  "This is ingenious", Sadie whispered a little too loudly. "They're never going to know what hit them." "Shut up.", Lizzie growled, placing her hand over the girl's mouth. "They'll be here any minute, and they will know something is up if they hear you running your mouth." "Where's Josie?", Cat asked in a hushed tone. "She should be back from setting up the last piece." Lizzie looked around the poolroom, spotting her sister hiding in the bleachers above it. She pointed up to where Josie was, and the other girls followed her line of sight. Lizzie ushered them up the stairs to the bleachers, crouching down to where Josie was. "Everything is in place.", she whispered, fidgeting with anxiety. "I hope this works." "Yeah, because if it doesn't we're screwed.", Andie said, biting her nail nervously. Lizzie put her finger up to her lips, shushing them. The four girls settled down on the floor behind the bleachers, peeking out as the Bellmont swimmers came in for their evening practice.

  The girls could hardly contain their nerves as they watched the Bellmont girls swim their laps. Josie was occupied watching one swimmer- Penelope. She looked totally in control, her face stern and her focus on the swimmers' form as a whole. She would watch for a while, call a swimmer over to speak with her, and then send them back. Under her control, Josie could see why the Bellmont swimmers always seemed in sync. She hated to admit it, but Penelope was a good leader- maybe even better than her. Then again, Josie had never wanted to be the captain of the swim team; It had been handed to her after the old captain graduated. For Penelope, however, she was born for it. Josie could see it from the determination in her eyes.

  Lizzie nudged Josie, pointing to the swimmers that were breaking off from the group to towel off. Josie held her breath, watching as the girls disappeared into the locker room. She waited for the chaos that would surely follow. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait for long. Only minutes later did the screaming start, followed by the sound of running feet. The six unlucky swimmers came rushing out, covered head to toe in glitter. Their screams immediately alerted the other swimmers, who snickered behind their hands when they saw the state of them. One stern look from Penelope, however, put them in line very quickly. "It was the Salvatore team!", one angry swimmer said, wiping the glitter from her eyes. "We turned on the shower and we heard a pop in the showerhead- then it was just a glitter explosion!" "It was in the lockers, too. The post-it notes on them were just a decoy!", another swimmer interjected. Penelope looked around, her eyes landing on Josie's hiding spot. Josie's eyes widened, and she pushed the other girls to escape down the back stairwell. They disappeared into Alaric's van, laughing once they were exiting the school parking lot. Josie left feeling satisfied, knowing they had the upper hand.
She did not know then how wrong she was.
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  "Did you see the look on those girls' faces?", Lizzie asked with a relaxed laugh. "They looked like disco balls!" Josie shook her head at her sister, walking through the back doors of the school and turning on the lights to the pool room. Her eyes widened at what she saw, and she didn't realize she was screaming until Andie, Kat, Sadie, and Lizzie were standing at her side, also disgusted. The place was trashed. The towel racks were tipped over, towels splayed messily across the floor. In permanent marker was scrawled on the tiled walls, covered in crude drawings of the Bellmont mascot- a tiger. And, worst of all, the pool was bright red with what Josie could only hope was kool-aid mix. "They call this a prank?", Lizzie exclaimed in anger. "This is going to take forever to clean up!" The other girls grumbled their agreement, at a loss for where to start first. Josie sighed, unlocking the closet holding the cleaning materials. "We better start before school opens tomorrow. If my dad sees this, we're all screwed." Josie opened the door, and a note fluttered down to the ground. Josie picked it up, unfolding it. As always, they were one step behind the Bellmont girls, and they knew it, too.

Good attempt, Jojo, but not good enough. I hope you don't have any plans this evening >:) - Mermaid

Josie sighed; It was going to be a long night.