The rest of the day passed rather slowly, unfortunately. Mom and I wandered about town, slightly disinterested in everything we found. The weather was being a little ridiculous with this sort of mist that Londoners call rain. That was not rain! Rain is fat drops of water that fall from the sky and you need an umbrella. This stuff was just floating around you just making you cold and miserable and wet. Eventually, we slid into a taxi and headed back to the house. Mom went off to her office to call Dad, while I remained in my bedroom, sketching random pictures of London’s bleak weather. I guess pencil can capture that quite nicely.

As evening inched on, I waited impatiently for the boys to arrive. They were probably still reveling in their own prank, thinking how genius it all was. Well just you wait boys, I got a plan. Mom was in on it, telling me to grab her when I started it, but I had a feeling she would be fast asleep before we got to that point. Pointless doodles were covering an entire page of my sketchbook and Mom had already made dinner, however we weren’t allowed to touch it until the boys came home. The taco materials just sat on the counter and stove, untouched, and I could feel my tummy rumbling. Where were they? I was getting anxious for them to get here and go to bed so I could put my prank in motion.

“Mom, can’t we just eat?” I whined. “The boys can eat later. Puh-leaze?” 

“Cammie, we can wait. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”

“But what if they’re not here for another hour?”

“James said they’ll be home by eight.” I looked down at my phone. Quarter to eight. 

“It’s close enough though!” I remarked. “Seriously, I doubt they will care if we eat without them.”

“No. We can wait.” I groaned and shot a quick text to James.

To: Jamesie Poo

Get your lazy butt home. I’m hungry and the tacos are getting cold.

It was a few moments later when my phone beeped with a new text.

From: Jamesie Poo

Five minutes away! Ooooh tacos!

“James says five minutes.” I groaned a little more, feeling like that was way too long.

“See? Not long at all.” Mom replied, going completely against my feelings.

“But Carol.” I whined.

“Whoa!” I grimaced, instantly knowing what was coming for me. “I am not your BFF.”

“Don’t say BFF, Mom.”

“I am your mother, and you shall address me as such.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And now you’re sassing me!”

“Sorry! I’m sorry. I just don’t see what the big deal is when I call you by your name.”

“It’s because it is the equivalent of bringing your parents down to your level, demeaning their authority and making them equal to a kid.” A sense of realization went off inside me.

“That actually makes a lot of sense.”

“I know. I don’t mind if you call me Carol in a casual sense, I don’t. But once you use it disrespectfully or with sass, it’s a no-no.”

“I thought writer’s aren’t allowed double negatives.” Mom stuck out her tongue and told me to shush, in short she knew I was right. Then I heard the door slam shut downstairs, echoes of shoes being thrown off and people running up the stairs reverberated up the stairwell. “Boys are here.” Mom said, turning the stove back on to quickly heat up the meet as I put the tortillas in the microwave for a few moments. 

“Hey Mom, hey Cam, where are the tacos?” James quickly planted a quick kiss on my Mom’s cheek and my head before searching in faux desperate need of a tortilla.

“Oh you know, just heating them up because you freakin’ took forever to get here.” I strained each word, hoping they would get the point.

“James, where’s Liam?” Mom asked, noticing there was no other boy in the area. Just then, a muffled oof was heard from the stairs.

“Liam, you coming?” James called from the kitchen, grabbing a warmed up tortilla and starting on his taco. I slapped his hand.

“You can wait until everyone is here. We had to wait. So will you.”

“But Cammie, I’m hungry.” James whined. “I worked all day long and now I need sustenance.” I rolled my eyes. “Liam!”

“I’m here, those blasted boots wouldn’t come off and I tripped coming up the stairs.” I snorted. “Shut up, it hurt!” His British accent making him sound like a little boy who had a boo-boo. 

“Well, tacos are ready. Help yourself.” Mom pointed towards the food and Liam dove right in with James, loading everything in. I always found it interesting how certain people made their tacos. Whether it was meat first, then toppings, then sauces or the other way around. It was fun to question their sanity if they did it differently than you as well. 

“So Cam, you were a popular topic today.” James mentioned as he chewed on the end of his taco.

“Oh goodness, do I even want to know?” The answer was yes, I really wanted to know what they were saying about me.

“It was mostly about your reaction when we carried you to the tub and how you almost hit me in the face.” Liam said. “And how we cuddled last night.” He winked. Mom choked on her taco.

“Excuse me, what?” 

“We never cuddled!” I could feel my face burning from the blush that was easily taking over my face.

“Keep telling yourself that babe.” Liam said while James just laughed at my reaction considering he actually knew the story.

“I’m sorry, someone mind explaining to me what happened?” Mom’s face was filled with confusion, but there was a slight glint of humor in her eyes.

“Nothing happened. He’s lying, we never cuddled.” 

“You know he likes saying this stuff to mess with you, right Cammie?” James told me.

“Just because I’m aware of that fact, doesn’t mean I can ignore what he’s saying.”

“Should I be worried right now?” Mom asked, desperate to know exactly what went on.

“Nah, Liam was having a midnight snack and Cam had the same idea. They didn’t do anything.” James clarified. 

“That better be all.” Mom muttered, biting into her taco.

“But yeah, everyone was mad at us that we didn’t record your reaction. Even our director wanted to see it and he doesn’t even know you.” James continued on with how I was the popular topic. 

“So next time you come back to set, don’t think it’s strange when people call you Tub Girl.” Liam told me.

“Tub Girl?” I asked in disbelief.

“Hey, not everyone there knows your name. But they all know Tub Girl.” 

“You guys are the worst.” I buried my head into my heads, suddenly much more excited about my prank.

“It could be worse, Cammie.” James told me.

“Oh yeah, how?”

“You could have been naked.”

“James!” My face burned as the blush rose to my cheeks again.

“What? It’s true! Think about how embarrassing that would have been.” I shook my head.

“You’re lucky I don’t sleep naked. Because if I did, and then you did that, I would have not hesitated to kill you right then and there.”

“Everyone knows you don’t have the heart to do that though.” James reached over and pinched my cheek. I swatted his hand away. “You’re too sweet!” I glared at him while he smiled innocently. Then, Liam let out a large yawn.

“I’m sorry, I’m exhausted. I’m going to take a shower and head off to bed, if that’s alright?” Liam asked, being ever so polite.

“Of course, I already made your bed.” Mom told him. I raised an eyebrow. When did she do that? Liam nodded and said his thank-you’s, heading up the stairs. I wanted to smile wickedly. One down, one more to go. But James was being stubborn, taking his precious time savoring his taco and then making another. Why couldn’t he just head up to bed? I needed to get my prank in order.

“Do you guys want coffee? I want some.” James asked, going to the kitchen for the fourth time.

“James, you need to go to bed, you have work in the morning.” Mom told him.

“You know I’ll just end up staying up for hours playing games in my room with or without coffee?” Mom shook her head.

“You need to sleep.”

“I will. When the caffeine wears out and then I’ll crash. Hey, are you guys coming tomorrow?”

“I’m not, but I think Cam was saying she wanted to.” I looked at her in confusion. When did I ever say that? But then I caught a familiar look in her eyes, telling me that payback for their prank could only build up if I went to the set tomorrow.

“Yeah, classes start Monday, may as well enjoy my time on set.”

“Alright, sounds good. So coffee?” We nodded our heads as he got out of his chair to make a pot of coffee. “Yo, Liam, do you want coffee?” James yelled. What was he doing that for? Liam was asleep, wasn’t he?

“Tea!” He yelled back down. 

“Make it yourself!” I could hear Liam coming down the stairs and then he appeared, his hair damp and messy from his shower and I was faintly aware that I was staring not so subtly.

“Cam.” Mom quietly said sharply. My mouth closed and eyes snapped to meet hers. She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Sorry.” I shrugged, pretending it was all innocent. Mom knew better. She shook her head, a familiar smirk crossing her lips. The boys joined us, James handling all our coffee, made exactly how we liked it, for that I was impressed. However, that is how we all stayed up for forever.

Night crept on, but I could hear the boys from my room playing some video game that involved a lot of shooting and explosions. They were both hyper and every now and then I would hear this ridiculous giggle when they shot each other. I pretended I was tired and ‘went to bed’, but I was just waiting for them. This prank was never going to work if they decided on an all-nighter. It was almost two in the morning! Why couldn’t they call it a night and get a few hours of sleep? My eyes were getting droopy as my caffeine levels were significantly dropping and all energy was leaving. Go to sleep, I wished. My eyes drooped again. Not me. The boys, I ordered my body, hoping it would get the message.

Then I heard the TV shut off, no noises coming from the room. My entire body jolted awake, excitement running through me as I waited to put my prank in full order. They had to be asleep. James always fell asleep almost instantly, but I didn’t know Liam’s sleeping habits. Aw, screw it. Slipping out of my room, I ran downstairs to the darkened kitchen, grabbing two shallow tupperware containers and then ran back upstairs. I stopped at James’ door to hear if I heard any voices. The lights were off and I couldn’t hear anything through the door, so I considered that good enough. Heading into the bathroom, I turned the faucet on until the water was fairly hot, not quite lukewarm, but just a little over. 

“Cam?” I jumped at the sound of my mom’s voice.

“Jeez, Mom, I’m in stealth mode right now.”

“You didn’t come get me. I’m ready to go.” Mom pulled out her phone to put in James’ room somewhere so we could catch their reactions.

“Wait, how are we going to be able to see them? Like, in the video?”

“I guess the sounds of their panic will have to do.” Mom shrugged. I shut off the tap and, being extremely careful, I made my way into the boys’ room. Mom grabbed the door and peeked in.

“They’re asleep.” She mouthed and we tiptoed our way in. I waited as Mom set up the camera on James’ dresser, barely peeking out from behind a figurine. Mom nodded as I kneeled beside Liam, his arm thankfully stretched way out by his head, which was buried in his pillow. Taking his hand carefully, I put his fingers in the water and then moved to do the same to James. Both didn’t even flinch when I moved their arms and Mom snickered as she hit play on the phone.

“And now... we wait!” I whispered excitedly into the camera before we both exited the room. 

Waiting was the worst. I had only witnessed this prank once and, unfortunately, I was the target. I wasn’t sure how long your hand had to stay in the water in order for the effect to take place. My back was pressed against the wall that shared James’ room. I’m not sure how long I sat there. A few minutes, an hour. But finally I heard shuffling and then a string of profanities all with a British accent. I bit my lip to stop from laughing and pressed my ear against the wall, but then I heard more shuffling and the bed hinges squeak and then James’ voice could be heard.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. How... what... I just...” the voice continued to trail off.

“James, James, I need new sheets.” Liam said. “And new underwear.” He muttered and I could barely hear him, but I wanted to start laughing again

“You wet yourself too?” James asked, as if he knew without question.

“I don’t understand! How did this happen?”

“The pee prank.” James said. “Cammie’s dead.”

“What? How is this Cam’s fault?”

“This.” I could imagine James pointing at the tupperware containers of water.

“Well, I’m going to go take a shower now. I haven’t wet my bed since I was eight.”

“Since you were eight?” 

“Shut up, I had a bladder problem.” I was almost crying, I was biting back my laughter so hard. Oh this was blackmail gold.

“Well Bed Wetter, go take your shower and daddy will change your sheets for you.” James said mockingly.

“Yeah, and apparently, daddy wets the bed too. Shut it, Pee Boy.” I heard both of the boys get up from their beds, James to grab the sheets and Liam to shower as I whipped out my Monster to see if I could snap a picture of their wetted pants. They were making this too easy! As the door opened and they stepped out into the darkened hallway, I flicked on the lights and snapped as many pictures as I could, while they shielded their eyes from the flashes and lights.

“Cam, you’re dead!” James yelled.

“Payback’s killer, boys!” I cackled like a mad woman, running back into my room and locking the door behind me. I looked through my pictures, stomach cramping from laughing so hard. It couldn’t even be considered laughing anymore. I sounded like someone was dying, clapping my hands like a retarded seal.

“Cam, if those photos touch the internet, I will personally skin you alive.” James said from the other side.

“Will you turn me into shoes, too?” I sang from my spot on my bed.

“Yes, I’m fairly certain you make a lovely pair. But, honest to God, Cam, I will kill you.”

“Don’t worry. All’s fair in love and war, right?” I could hear James sighing.

“Good night, Cammie. Let’s just call it even. But I swear -”

“The pictures are safe! Shut up and go to bed. See you in a couple hours.” James sighed again and I heard his feet departing. Turning everything off, I snuggled back into bed feeling extremely satisfied with my prank. Oh, how exciting it would be to tell everyone about it tomorrow.

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

Hey lovelies! So I was really excited to write this as it was... THE PRANK! What did you think about it? Evil enough for Cam? This prank is actually brutal though, it totally kills self esteem.  

I've had a busy week of doing nothing. Perks of being a Senior in high school. Whoop whoop!  

Hope you enjoyed and have a lovely weekend!   Remember to vote/comment/share and all that jazz :) 

-Katie