Every Which Way

Chapter 41- Seńor Prank Day

It was like a school day, but just for seniors, no teachers, and at night.

I had texted Uncle Lio in advance to tell him about our plans, that it was all in good and innocent fun, and to give us some wiggle room about setting up.

He sent me a rolling eye emoji but nothing further, which meant we were in the clear for the night. He had my back.

Declan insisted that he needed help setting Mrs. Hymann's room, aka the teacher who despises him for no apparent reason and always singles him out. We had decided to rub every single one of her writing utensils (including pens, pencils, highlighters, and whiteboard markers) in petroleum jelly. We also put jelly on all of her desk drawer handles.

It was both innocent and absolutely evil at the same time. Declan went ecstatic over the idea. Then, others caught on to the idea and did the same with the teachers that they hated.

That was just the start of the night.

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I was helping Natalie and Lillian with a room. Lillian was being her usual annoying over-obsessed-with-Cyrus self, but in the past where Natalie had usually tuned her out, this time she was paying attention.

Her brows would furrow when Lillian talked about him. Then she saw me watching her and smiled at me, switching her expression completely and going back to her work.

I left them in the room while I went to the dumpster to get rid of some boxes we weren't using. It was out the door and past the small teacher's parking lot.

I dropped the lid back on the dumpster as I heard the door open again, someone coming out to throw away trash of their own.

"Hey Row," said Nico nervously, like he was just caught with his hand in a cookie jar.

"Hi Nico," I said back. We hadn't talked since that night.

"I uh- I really owe you an apology, don't I?"

My only response was a small smile from the side of my mouth.

"I am sorry. I was being an ass that night, I'm not usually like that. I was just drinking and pissed off about something unrelated. Then Declan was there and I didn't like he was talking to me and I handled it in a way I usually wouldn't have. Sorry," He said again.

I was quickly able to decide that if I could forgive Declan for being the ass that he was, I could forgive Nico too.

"Forgiven this time," I said to him as he smiled a little. "You owe each other an apology too."

"Yes ma'am, I'll find him right away ma'am." He saluted me and then walked to the dumpster the rest of the way. I shook my smile off before heading back into the building.

The room I was in last was actually quite a walk and required one set of stairs to get back to. I passed a few people on my way, setting up different areas and following orders.

"Hey," said a voice from behind me. I didn't really know if they were talking to me but the noise caught my attention anyway and I looked back.

Jeremey was walking right up to me.

"I want to know what you said to her," He said, wasting no time as he finally caught up to me.

"Sorry?" I asked, very confused but what the hell he meant by that.

"What did you say to Natalie?" He asked slowly this time. "We were fine before you came along and then she became friends with you and that pathetic little friend group that you made for yourself and suddenly she doesn't want to be with me anymore."