That Boy Next Door

Chapter 3

The red mark on her arm was fading now, though she had no idea that it was there to begin with.  Her skin bristled with annoyance just looking at the welt.  It was probably caused by that water balloon from earlier.  Dannie frowned as she changed out of her wet clothes and into sweats and a t-shirt.  Those boys were not going to get the last laugh with her. 

"Quinn!" she hollered while grabbing a bottle of white vinegar.  It was just the thing she needed for an innocent prank.  

The brown haired girl appeared at the top of the steps with a straightening iron in her hands.  She quirked an eyebrow, questioning what the middle Hale was doing with empty bottles of water and a liter of white vinegar.  

"Here, help me pour the vinegar into these bottles," Dannie directed slowly tipping the bottle so that the liquid wouldn't spill.  "Now pour some water into the bottles too, so that the smell isn't so strong."

"Why are we doing this?" Quinn questioned staring at the bottle of clear liquid in her hands.  

"It's revenge for what Seth, Oliver, and Dexter did to me this morning."

"And what exactly did they do to you?"

"Nothing much, just threw some water balloons.  But I do want revenge," Dannie explained swirling the bottle around.  She was becoming more and more like Katy.  Getting revenge for something was so immature, but Dannie didn't care.  She was a child at heart.

The bottle in Dannie's hand was now emitting a foul smelling odor but that only caused her to grin in delight.  This was such an age old trick that her grandparents had used on her parents back in the day.  

"Okay and how exactly are we going to make them drink from these bottles?" Quinn asked.  Being the oldest Hale, she knew she should stop this little conspiracy but she actually wanted to get back at the rude elder Parker.  Van deserved to drink this mixture.  He was so rude and irritating, bringing his gloomy attitude with him wherever he went.

"We'll get Katy to do it," Dannie smiled mischievously before going to find the angelic looking girl.

They found Katy sitting in the living room, carelessly flipping through the TV channels.  She had a monotone expression on her face as she sipped cola out from her CamelBak.  Her finger paused as the TV screen landed on the Tennis Channel.    

"Katy, I want you to go next door and give these bottles to Dexter.  Make sure he and his brothers drink them okay?" Dannie explained, coming to sit next to the girl.  

The bored expression on Katy's face immediately morphed into one of excitement.  Her brain was whirring faster than before as she thought of the endless possibilities of pranks that she could  pull.  Katy bobbed her head up and down and made sure to give her favorite sister a devilish smile.

"Okay!" she chirped skipping happily out of the room.  Maybe if Dannie and Quinn had stayed a little longer, they would have seen the glint in little Katy's eye, but they left to go to their rooms, trusting the ten-year old girl with this prank.

Katy on the other hand quickly dumped out the contents of the four water bottles.  Her sister Dannie could be cunning but she was just too soft, sort of like Quinn.  They didn't know where the real fun was.  

Now everybody knows there are well kept secrets and not so well kept secrets.  Such as where Genghis Khan's dead body lay.  Nobody knew where it was and it had been centuries.  A not so well kept secret was where Mr. and Mrs. Hale kept their alcohol.  

Katy scrambled up onto the counter top and grabbed the alcohol from the very top cabinet which had a lock.  Rule number one: don't put a lock on the precious stuff.  It makes finding it way too easy.  She then proceeded to enter the code into it, unlocking the lock faster than that atomic bomb could destroy Hiroshima.  Rule number two: don't make the lock code '1234'.  And finally, rule number three: don't let the ten-year play with alcohol.  Three strikes and you're out!