One nice thing about not going to the set that next day, was that I was able to sleep in a little later and I knew it was going to be bliss. Mom had agreed that we wouldn’t head out until ten or eleven, so sleep was a viable, lovable option. That is, it would have been if the boys didn’t decide to wake me up.

“Sh, don’t wake her.”

“I’m being quiet.”

“Alright, you get her hands, I’ll get her feet.”

“Are you absolutely positive she is dressed? Because...”

“Don’t worry, I can see her t-shirt.”

“What about pants?”

“Liam, shut up. On the count of three. Alright? 1... 2... now!”

Before I had a chance to react, I was pulled from beneath the covers and felt myself being carried, James carrying me under the arms and Liam holding my legs.

“Guys! Guys, let me go! What are you doing?” I started squirming, hoping it would encourage them to put me down. The boys merely tightened their grip and laughed harder.

“You’re not getting free from us, Cammie baby.” James cackled.

“No! Let me go guys!” I realized they were carrying me towards the bathroom. “No. You are not. You will not. Guys, put me down!” I wiggled more, trying to get at least a foot free so I could kick. My hands were waving wildly, but they weren’t doing any damage. I needed to kick.

“Oi, Cam, not the face!” Liam cried when I nearly hit him with my flying foot.

“Put me down.”

“Y’know Liam. That’s a good idea. Let’s put her down.” James said, smiling evilly. I glanced where we were, the tub beside us filled with water.

“Not in there!” I yelled.

“Now?” Liam smiled wildly. James simply nodded as they both lowered me into the tub and dunked me. I felt the cold water wash over my entire body, soaking my clothes and hair immediately. Even under the water, I could hear James and Liam’s wild laughter and it only increased as I sputtered to the surface.

“You both are so dead!” I threatened.

“That’s what you said last night, but I’m still alive babe!” Liam said, throwing his hands out.

“Whoa, what?” James asked looking quickly between the two of us, his face looking slightly terrified of what might have happened last night.

“You are double dead, Liam. You will die a slow and painful death.” I said, pushing myself out of the water. Luckily I was wearing dark PJs so nothing was showing through. I was also smart to wear a sports bra to bed because there were guests in the house. Thinking ahead.

“Hold up, explain what you were doing last night together.”

“We lit candles and ate Nutella together, while we cuddled on the couch.” Liam said. James’ eyes widened in horror as I punched Liam’s arm.

“That is not what we did.” I corrected, pulling a towel of the rack and wringing my hair out.

“Then what did you do?” James pressed, sounding particularly stressed about this.

“I was getting a midnight snack, Cam had the same idea, I scared her, I went back to bed. That’s it, I promise.” Liam clarified.

“That better be it.” James said.

“What on earth possessed you to dunk me?”

“A good way to get our morning started. Plus we get to tell our hairstylists about it and our makeup artists and costume fitters and the entire cast and crew. You’ll be the main topic of the day!” James said, excitedly.

“I hate you. So much right now.” I buried my face into my hand.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll be famous!” 

“For all the wrong reasons!”

“Getting dunked it water is a pretty legit reason. Wouldn’t you say, Liam?”

“Absolutely! You’ll go on talk shows and - dang it, James, we didn’t film it!” James groaned.

“How were we supposed to? We were both carrying her, we’d need a third person.” I shrugged.

“Could have woken up Mom.” I told them. “But as for now, I’m going back to bed. What time is it? Four?” Liam glanced at his phone.

“Quarter to five.” I groaned and started stomping off to bed.

“Just remember, payback is coming.” I threatened.

“Cam, you suck at revenge and pranks.” James said.

“I’ve grown up, brother dear. I can do wicked things if I need to.”  I stomped back off to my room, water dripping behind me. With every step I heard the boys mocking my threat and laughing. Jerks.

It took me a half hour to wring out my hair decently, peel off my drenched clothing, and change into a new pair of pajamas. However, falling asleep wasn’t an option anymore. Now I had to think up the perfect prank to pull on James and Liam. They were dead men. I just didn’t know how to execute that thought. It had to be something simple and something when they weren’t expecting it. Possibly something where I would still be able to film them with one hand and prank them with the other. The plan didn’t have to be elaborate, in fact it could be quite simple as long as they knew not to mess with me anymore after it. My brain racked through every simple prank I have ever heard of, but nothing seemed good enough for them.

Eventually, my eyes started drooping shut from exhaustion. I’d only been awake for a half hour or so, but the brutal wake up and then my plotting to get them back wore me down faster than I had hoped. I thought I had just momentarily closed my eyes, but next thing I knew, Mom was shaking me awake.

“Cam sweetie, it’s time to get up. We have a meeting with a prospective tutor.” I groaned in response, pulling my blanket over my head. “Oh no you don’t, I already let you sleep in longer than I was going to.” Mom yanked the blanket from my head. “Why is your hair wet?” I groggily sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

“James and Liam dunked me in the tub before they left this morning.” Mom tried to smother her laughing, but her lips twitched upwards.

“Really?” She said, biting back laughter. “How did that go?”

“I’m going to kill them.” I responded, pulling myself out of bed.

“At least you don’t need a shower before we go!” Mom said, turning to leave the room.

“I took a shower last night anyways, mother!” I shut the door after she left and began the task of taming my oddly crinkled hair from the strange dampness and getting dressed. Do people dress nicely to meet a prospective tutor or is that the tutor’s job because they’re technically being interviewed? Sighing, I flung open my closet and rifled through my clothes until I found a floral shirt and my jeans. Once changed, I decided my hair wasn’t going to cooperate, so I simply threw it all up into a bun on my head and called it good. Everything else remained simple, not bothering with a lot of makeup or looking completely proper. I just didn’t really care. 

“Come on, Cam, we have a meeting in half an hour!” I heard Mom yell from downstairs.

“Stop jingling your keys, I’m hurrying! Can you make me some toast?”

“I’ll grab you an apple, just hurry up.” Snatching my bag from the floor, I ran down the stairs, trying to keep my balance while I pulled on my jacket. When I reached the bottom floor, Mom was waiting right by the door, sighing dramatically to attempt to make me hurry up while I pulled on my shoes.

“Any day now, sweetheart.”

“Hold your horses, I’m coming.”

“Let’s go.” She headed out the door once my shoe was on. I rolled my eyes and booked it out the door after my mom.

Then I realized.

“Mom. We don’t have a car. How are we getting there?” Mom gave me a slight unsure glance.

“I’ll, uh... call a taxi?” I shook me head in disbelief as she pulled out her phone and dialed the number for the taxi that Rick had saved in her phone. I sat on the front steps, pulling out my own phone to check my social media sites. I heard Mom say the address, hang up, and call a different number. She told the person on the other line that we would arrive a bit late and she apologized over and over, so I assumed she was talking to our prospective tutor. Scrolling through Facebook, I saw that I had messages from Becs and Riley. Clicking on the speech bubble, I hit the group message.

Becca Morgan:

I want Liam stories.

Why are there no Liam stories?

Oh my gosh, Cam, are you still alive?

Riley Thomas:

They’re too busy making out, obvs.

Becca Morgan:

I just want to smell him.

Riley Thomas:

Oh my gosh Becs, what.

I snorted at their conversation and quickly typed back a response.

Camille Everett

You guys are so WEIRD. In fact, there was no making out. Hooowwwweeevvverrr we shared a midnight snack together!

Ok, not really. I came down for a midnight snack and he was there.

He and James then threw me in the tub this morning.

You’re right, I can already feel our love blossoming.

And Becs... he smells amazing ;)

It was too early in the morning their time for either one to be awake, so I closed Facebook just in time to see the taxi pull up to the house. Mom nodded her head in the direction of the vehicle as we both slid into the back seat, Mom telling the driver the address. We whizzed through the city until we came up to a tall, white building. Mom passed the bills forward as we exited the car and headed up the steps. We walked to the front desk where a young woman sat, typing away on her computer.

“Hello, how may I help you?” She asked when we arrived at the desk.

“I have an appointment with Jane Maury? My name is Carol Everett.” The lady smiled and quickly typed into her computer. She then picked up her phone and dialed a number.

“Ms. Maury? A Carol Everett here to see you... right away ma’am.” She hung up and faced us again, “She’ll see you now. It’s just down that hallway, second door on the right.” Mom nodded and we made our way down the hallway that was full of pictures of students smiling while they filled out worksheets and posters saying, ‘Help your child retain their knowledge over the summer!’ I groaned inwardly at the lies the pictures were showing. What child smiles while they do fractions? Seriously. Fractions were terrible. Mom knocked on the door and heard a soft, “Come in” from the other side. I pushed the door open and saw the room. It was like my school’s counselor’s office, done up in bright colors with encouraging words and motivational posters. She had an entire bookcase with textbooks for every type of class and my brain started hurting from the thought of school.

“Hello, you must be Camille.” A voice returned me to reality as I turned to face the person.

She was fairly young, with raven hair done in a loose, side braid and her clothes work appropriate, but still cool. She definitely didn’t seem old enough to be a teacher, especially for a high school junior.

“Yes, I am. Ms. Maury, right?”

“Oh please, call me Jane.” She smiled. “I don’t look that old.”

“You don’t look old at all!” I said, not even thinking about it. Jane simply laughed.

“Thank you, now. Let’s discuss your education!” She clapped her hand enthusiastically, but I didn’t want to discuss school. I just wanted to talk about how cute her shoes were. She went to a small easy chair in the corner, motioning for us to sit in the other chairs situated in front of her. 

“So, Camille. You are in your junior year of high school in America, is that correct?” 

“Yup.” Mom nudged me to use more proper language. “I mean, yes. Yes, I’m in my junior year.”

“And tell me about the classes you were taking previously before you came here.” I noticed she had a journal in her hands, a pen ready to scribble down anything I said.

“Well, I was taking Advanced Placement Literature and Composition. Advanced Human Anatomy, Pre Calc, uh...” I racked my brain for all my classes. “I was taking French Three and Spanish One. Senior Art, Advanced Placement European History, and...” I could never remember my last class. It was rare that we had it, our teacher always calling in sick after we’d sit there for half the class. “Oh right, Senior Shakespeare.” While I found Shakespeare fascinating, I was mainly taking the class so I didn’t have to take English next year and instead take Art History. Jane scribbled all my classes down.

“My! It looks like you’re quite the student!” She exclaimed hearing my class choices.

“She’s going for the Honors Diploma! She’s already on the National Honor Society and everything!” Mom bragged about me and I felt my cheeks burn red. 

“Well, you’re in luck. We offer all those classes with one-on-one attention and help, providing you with a unique learning experience while pushing you to achieve things you didn’t even know you were capable of!” She rattled off her practiced speech and, while I remained slightly indifferent to her enthusiasm, Mom looked very excited.

Slowly, we dove into figuring out my schedule - one that worked with both my tutors and my mom. I inputed that I didn’t want to get up too early, but Mom ignored my pleads and set up all my Tuesday classes in the morning. Luckily, Wednesdays didn’t work for the tutors so I ended up having that day completely off. By the end of our scheduling session and figuring out payment and such, Mom finally shook hands with Jane as she said cheerfully that she would see me the next week in her office for my first lesson. I smiled and told her that I looked forward to it. And honestly, I was a bit. Perhaps not for math, because, let’s be real. Math was terrible. I didn’t want to touch it. However, Monday was my art class and I’ve missed having teachers tell me to draw something completely random and I would do something I had never done before. Lately, all my drawings or paintings have been relatively similar. And it was a sad day when I couldn’t come up with something more original.

Mom and I exited the building and waved down a taxi to return home. It was still fairly early, we found our tutor in the first go instead of meeting with a million different people.

“How does coffee in the city sound?” Mom asked, sliding into the cab.

“How does breathing sound?” I retorted. Coffee was something you didn’t have to double check with in our family. All of us loved it and practically lived off it. Mom smirked and told the taxi where to go. Ten minutes later we arrived at a bustling café in Covent Garden called Salt. As we made our way to the counter, I snuck creeper photos with my phone of everyone’s food and drinks, thinking it all looked extremely delicious. After quickly ordering our drinks and two freshly made scones, we situated ourselves in the back corner of the café where the only open seats were.

“So, are you ready to be back in class?” Mom asked, testing out how hot her drink was. I shrugged in response.

“I guess so. I really wish there was a way to avoid math.”

“You need three years. But at least next year you’ll have space for the Art History course and Photography and more fun classes.”

“I’ll still miss out on the first two months of school because we’ll be here. There might not be room!” That would be the worst thing to happen to me. Moving here was a bit bad, but already I’m starting to like it better than I thought. Moving to LA was especially difficult, leaving all my friends back in Oregon and not being able to make real friends who didn’t care that James was my brother. But even then my friends were in the same timezone and a fairly short flight away. However, no art or photography class for me to take when I returned to the States would be terrible. I don’t think I’d know what do with myself.

“But we’ll be in Italy around that time! It will be wonderful!” Mom said, seeming excited. And I didn’t blame her. She went to Italy with Dad for their honeymoon and she’s always wanted to go back. Suddenly, her phone beeped and she glanced down to the screen. “Apparently they’re going to be filming late tonight and Liam’s spending the night again.” Mom didn’t sound the least bit surprised. “Better make a bit extra for dinner. I didn’t realize how much he could eat.” James ate enough as it was, so with one other fully grown male in the house, Mom knew she probably had to double up.

“Really?” My voice sounded slightly squeaky.

“Yes...” Mom said slowly. “He’s just spending the night, Cam. All that will happen is he’ll go to sleep on James’ floor and go to work at five in the morning.” She spoke slowly as if I was an idiot and she had to make sure I understood everything.

“Yeah, I know! I know he’ll just be on James’ floor sleeping and -” My eyes widened as I remembered the priceless prank that Becca’s brother played on us at one of our sleepovers years ago. “It’s perfect.” I said quietly to myself, acting both surprised and proud that I remembered this simple prank.

“Cammie. You look a bit scary, sweetie.” Mom told me. I looked up at her, a wicked grin crossing my face. “Is everything ok? Do I need to tell James that Liam can’t stay?” She brought the phone up to tap back a response.

“No!” I spoke sharply. “No, it’s fine. Really. I’m talking about payback.” I assured her.

“Oh really?” Mom raised an eyebrow in amusement. “And what’s your evil plot?” I smirked.

“Well... remember that sleepover at the Morgan’s house a couple summers ago?”

---------------------------------------------------->

HEY GUYS!

I am so sorry I haven't updated in, like, three weeks. You see, my mom came to visit me here in Bosnia and it was the best 10 days EVER! Seriously. I love my mommy. I do not care that I'm almost in college. Moms are awesome.

So I apologize again for such a late update, but I hope you enjoyed it.

I get it, it's a bit of a filler. The beginning is interesting and the ending leads a bit into the next chapter.

WHAT DO YOU THINK CAM'S PRANK IS? I've actually pulled this prank on my own brother's. They've pulled a similar prank, but not quite.

Hee hee, I'm excited to write the next bit now.

Alright, it's definitely my bedtime! I have school in the morning and then Gov and Econ homework after. Woooo. Not.

Remember to vote/comment/fan/share and all that wonderful stuff!

Goodnight lovelies! You stay classy.

-Katie