two seconds later, dream was there, a sly smile on his face. "i don't see a problem," he said, feigning ignorance.

"where is my door?" i asked quieter.

he took half a step back and said, "ask nick."

"NICHOLAS ARMSTRONG WHERE THE CRABCAKES DID MY DOOR GO?" i yelled down the stairs.

nick appeared at the top of the steps a second later and moved to stand beside dream. he glanced over my shoulder to where my door was no longer attached to the hinges and said, "i don't see any problem here."

"why is my door not here?" i practically spit. if this was the beginning of another prank war, they had no idea how far i would take it to make them absolutely miserable.

"if you do naughty things, you lose your door privileges," nick said, crossing his arms to try and be intimidating.

"naughty things? we were kissing, nick. i wasn't having sex with him. and even if i was, it's none of your business! you're not my parent," i told him.

from behind nick, karl ran up the stairs and stopped as he saw the three of us glaring at one another.

"woah, what's happening here?" he asked, looking wide eyed between us.

"they took my door!" i practically yelled.

"what? why?" karl asked, turning to nick and dream for an explanation.

"i walked in on thalia and julian making out on her bed, so i told dream about it and we came to the conclusion that thalia should have her door taken away so we can make sure she doesn't do something stupid in there," nick explained, keeping a straight face.

"this is ridiculous," i said.

"i agree," karl added. "you guys can't take her door away from her. that's a jerk move."

"this is why i like karl more than you guys," i told them.

"fine, you can have your door back," dream said, "if you can find it and put it back on."

"you are so going to regret messing with me," i threatened before taking off downstairs to find my door. dream was predictable and hid everything in the same place: the garage. that's the first place i went and i found it almost immediately. the idiot didn't even try to hide it.

i hauled it back upstairs by myself and grabbed my tool bag from under my desk. little did they know, i used to help my grandfather in his shop and he taught me how to build and replace doors.

i had the door back on in a few minutes and was triumphantly slamming it closed on the astonished faces of dream and nick. once i had the door locked, i fell onto my bed and called peyton.

she answered after the first ring. "hey, thalia! what's up?"

"two things. one, we're going to play paintball tomorrow night and you're coming, and two, i need your help," i said.

"with what?" she questioned.
i explained what i wanted to do and peyton said, "i'm in."

"perfect," i said with a grin. nick and
dream were about to get hit hard.

twenty minutes later, i was pulling peyton into my room via the window and hastily closing it shut behind her.

"okay, here's the plan," i whispered, "first we have to spy."

"on nick and dream?" peyton asked, whispering.

"yes. we need to gather intel. nick is in his room and dream is downstairs," i told her. "karl will be here in a minute."

"don't you think it's weird how everyone calls nick by his real name off camera but you guys still call dream by dream?" peyton mused, momentarily changing the subject.

"well i've always known nick as nick and not sapnap, but i only ever knew dream as dream. calling him clay feels weird," i explained briefly.

"oh okay. anyways, karl is helping?" she asked.

"yes. now, i know all the hiding places in the garage, so i'm going to sneak in there and spy in hopes that dream will reveal something. karl is going to talk to nick and try to get their plans out of him by pretending to be on their side. i want you listening to the conversation and relaying everything you hear that's important to me by text," i told her.

peyton nodded. "i knew it was a good thing i wore my camouflage. if only i had an army of raccoons to do my bidding," she said wistfully.

"focus," i said as i snapped my fingers in front of her face. my phone vibrated with a text from karl saying that dream was heading to get something from his room. "that's my cue. remember to be inconspicuous and don't get caught!"

i waited until i heard dream's door open then shut before i did a somersault out of my room and army crawled to the stairs. i half rolled, half scooted down the stairs, much to karl's amusement.

he was waiting at the bottoms of the stairs as a lookout, trying not to laugh as he watched me go full james bond.

"the coast is clear," he said seriously.

i nodded and ducked down low and headed to the garage door. once i was inside, i rolled under dream's car and waited for him to get back.

when he finally did come back, it was absolutely useless. all he was doing was talking to george about one of george's new videos they were planning. sighing quietly, i texted peyton.

thalia
have you heard anything??

peyton😩🍄
nothing good yet, all nick has said it that they didn't actually take your door because you and julian were kissing, it was to start another prank war

thalia
ofc it was🙄

peyton😩🍄
wait hold on, they're talking about what to do next

thalia
keep me updated

peyton😩🍄
will do boss

i put my phone back in my pocket and laid there, absolutely bored out of my mind until dream finally said something i could use.

"so what are you guys up to?" george asked.

"nothing, really. nick and i started another prank war on thalia," dream said. i instantly perked up at that and strained to hear more.

"oh really? didn't you lose last time?" george asked, knowing full well they did.

dream said, "maybe but this time it's nick, karl and i against her. plus we have something she'll never see coming."

"what's that?"

"julian is helping us spy on her," dream told him.

my eyes widened in shock and i immediately texted karl to get dream out of the garage, then to come to my room for a very important meeting.

once dream left, i rolled back out from underneath the car and ran all the way upstairs.

"you will never believe what i heard," peyton said.

"julian is helping the boys!" i bursted out. "the good news is, we can use this to our advantage."

"that's what i was gonna say! oh, they'll regret messing with us," peyton agreed, a wicked smiling playing at her lips.

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