The Best Year - 36. Chapter 36

Hearing my phone chime, I groaned and curled into a ball in my bed. When it chimed again I swore and shoved a pillow over my head. Mom and Dad had just left for church, they always woke me up with their noise, but I never had a problem with falling back to sleep.

“Fuck me,” I groaned when the chiming accelerated. I knew I was added to a group chat, no one would be blowing up my phone that badly this early in the damn morning. Reaching blindly behind me, finally finding it where I left it the night before, I tucked it under the pillow with me and opened it to see a text from Connor.

I quickly typed, ‘Fuck you Connor,’ and pressed send as I blinked away the lingering sleepiness in my eyes. Luke and I had stayed up late last night and I wondered how he woke up all smiley for the churchers every Sunday morning. He hadn’t mentioned Cindy complaining about his attitude on Sundays or anything, so I just assumed his ass got up and acted normally. She would have found a way to blame me for it, if he hadn’t.

My text was followed by a lot of laughing emojis and an apology from Connor, but after scrolling up to the original message I saw that it was about the senior prank. Connor wanted us all to meet at the school around nine tonight and to bring nice clothes to change into. Not really knowing the plan I just read a few more responses, most people were confused, not being part of the planning. Some people were pissed, but I didn’t really care. Ally assured me that it was a solid prank, so I took her word for it. I also knew Olivia was involved, so I half expected to be running from blue lights in my rearview later tonight with a scared out of his ass Luke sitting shotgun beside me. The thought didn’t do anything to wake me up though, so I powered down my phone and laid it in bed beside me and grabbed a second pillow to cuddle with.

The next thing I knew though, was my covers being yanked from me. Knowing Mom and Dad were at church I yelled sitting up in the bed reaching for my nightstand lamp. Knocking it off the nightstand I blinked and saw Toby and Derek standing at the foot of my bed.

“What the fuck!” I yelled looking down at my lamp. It had landed on my covers so I laid back against my headboard reaching up to rub my eyes.

“Dude, you have morning wood,” Toby said and I jumped and yelped when he flicked the head of my dick.

“Get out,” I growled, shoving a pillow over myself, my eyes shooting open finally awake.

“Toby is finally free so we’re going to do something,” Derek said and I noticed that he was still in the clothes he wore last night. Cocking an eyebrow he smiled, shaking his head.

“We are doin’ something,'' I countered, glancing down at my phone. Their phones seemed to be just as silent as mine, not hearing their text alerts.

“Before that,” Toby said, “come on, get your ass out of bed.”

“No,” I groaned, still not brave enough to close my eyes and slink back down into the bed. “You know my ass was up late last night.”

“No later than ours,” Derek said as he sat on the edge of the bed. I could already see myself dogpiled onto and the bed breaking if I put up much more of a fight.

“What happened to you last night, anyway?” I asked and Toby turned to look at him.

“You and Church needed some alone time,” Derek answered shrugging. “Lily’s parents weren’t home so I went over to her place.”

“Damn,” Toby whispered, glancing over at me.

“It wasn’t like that, jackass,” Derek groaned, laying splayed out on my bed staring up at the ceiling. “We all know Lily isn’t like that.”

“Yeah,” Toby and I both said at the same time. Not that I tried to get into her pants when we dated. She was given a promise ring from her grandfather, who was a preacher before he died of cancer. She loved him and we were little. She wears the ring as a necklace now, but honoring him was still winning out and we all knew to respect that.

“Yeah,” Derek added, sitting up. “Now go get your ass cleaned up so we can leave.”

“You two get the fuck out so I can go back to bed,” I said as I lifted my pillow off my crotch. After Toby flicked it, it went into hiding.

“Don’t make us get rough with you, pretty boy,” Toby countered and I watched him crack his knuckles.

“What are we even gonna do?” I asked, my voice falling into a groan. I knew Toby had a good excuse for wanting to get out and do something. He had detention with Rick and Welker all week. His dad probably wasn’t happy with his ass either, especially if Cindy had called him or cornered him at church and there hadn’t been a party out anywhere this weekend to give him some relief from his week.

“No plan,” Derek answered as I slid off the bed between them.

“Make one or my ass is going back to bed,” I said as I walked through the open bedroom door and across the hall to the bathroom. I closed and locked the door behind me, just to make sure no funny business went down while I was in there. I turned on the water and stripped out of my boxer briefs and stepped inside the shower. Feeling the hot water I closed my eyes and leaned against the tile wall opposite the glass one. We hadn’t had a bro day for awhile, not since we had serious, or serious enough for us, relationships.

The shower ended up too quick for my liking. About five minutes in, Derek banged on the door and told me to stop jacking one out. So I swore and turned the water off and grabbed a towel and dried myself off a little. When I opened the door I heard someone downstairs in the living room. I quickly walked across the hall and closed and locked the door behind me. I made a quick patrol around my room just to make sure neither of them were still in here. I was half expecting one of them to jump out about the time I let my towel drop to take it from me and snap it across my ass. It was something I would have done.

Dressing in warm clothes I glanced at the garment bag that held my dress clothes. I only wore them for banquets and funerals really. I didn’t like dressing up, but it was something Connor wanted and I didn’t know how late we would be so I grabbed them and pulled the zipper open. I gave the clothes a quick sniff to make sure they didn’t smell too much like my closet. It wasn’t like I could do much about that if they had, but I laid them on my bed. The covers had been returned to my bed and my lamp put back on the nightstand while I was in the shower. Smiling, I left my room after grabbing my phone and turning it back on and bounded down the stairs.

Seeing me they both stood. They were both scrolling on their phones and when my phone started giving me all the alerts I missed, I unlocked it and put it on vibrate and slid it back into my pocket. I wasn’t expecting a text from Luke anytime soon, not until after he had dinner and was dismissed to go do whatever he wanted. On a Sunday that meant texting me while he did his homework. He was struggling slightly with French, but I hadn’t taken it, so I didn’t know how to help him. We eventually ended up jacking off together before bed last night and I hoped he was deleting the pictures and videos I sent him on the off chance Cindy discovered his phone.

“What car are we taking?” I asked, reaching for my keys.

“Mine,” Toby said as he eyeballed my garment bag. “What’s that?”

“I didn’t know if we’d be back before the prank,” I answered shrugging. “Connor told me to bring nice clothes.”

“Yeah,” Toby said, smirking. “This prank is going to be badass, we have to give Connor props.”

“He didn’t say much in the group chat,” I said as I opened the door and held it for them to walk out ahead of me.

“Yeah, didn’t want to spoil shit for you,” Derek said as I locked the door handle, not caring about the deadbolt knowing Mom and Dad would be back before long.

“Should I be worried?” I asked shifting the garment bag around in my hand as we walked across the frosty ground over to Toby’s large assed black truck. He had a lift kit put on it last year and the girls needed a boost up just to get inside the damn thing. Now it was big and loud and not exactly street legal, but no one in this shithole town cared as long as it was on the right side of the road when they met Toby.

“Honored is more like it,” Toby said, shooting a wink at Derek. “Now what the fuck are we about to wreck, my boys?”

“Not the truck, I’m too pretty to be scratched up,” I answered as I slid into the back seat of the extended cab. It wasn’t the roomiest back seat so I always ended up turned sideways in my seat when it was just the three of us.

“We picking up Church?” Toby asked, eying me through the rearview mirror.

“No,” I answered knowing how Cindy was on Sundays.

“No girls either,” Derek added, turning to glance at me. “Just us.”

“They’re going shopping today aren’t they?” I asked, smirking when they both smiled and shook their heads like this was their first option. Even though they had said as much in my bedroom, things had changed when we started dating. It was okay, better in the summer months, since we all generally ended up in a field together anyway. Now there was a distinct and ever present divide between us. It wasn’t an unwelcoming rift, just noticeable, and we all knew it was inevitable. We still had our vow to stay friends through college and the rest of our lives though. If Rick, my parents, and Troy could manage it, despite being old and boring for the most part, we could too and do it better than they did. I never saw us getting boring.

“Anyone wanting breakfast?” Derek asked as I watched houses and trees fly by outside the small tinted windows.

“Yeah,” Toby answered and I was already looking forward to the greasy bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. I hadn’t had one since starting with Tony.

When we got into town we slid right into the drive thru. Church hadn’t let out yet so we didn’t have to wait in breakfast rush, it would be around the entire restaurant. Mom and Dad always needed their coffees after church and instead of driving the shorter distance home, they always stopped in for it here. Mom wouldn’t be ordering coffee now though and I wondered how long it would take before anyone started noticing her swapping out her church dresses for a looser top and dress pants. If I knew churches, it probably wasn’t lost on them the first Sunday she decided she no longer could pull it off.

After getting our food Derek was shuffling through Toby’s playlist on his phone, hooked up to the bluetooth on his truck. Not finding a song he liked he just sighed and let one start playing longer than the few seconds it took to read the title. Toby was just cruising through town and we all sat in silence as we ate.

“You two idiots still don't have a plan, do you?” I said after I wiped my hoodie free of biscuit crumbs. The greasy breakfast didn’t disappoint and when I noticed Derek had left some hashbrown tots I reached up and snatched them before he got his second wind and started in on them again.

“What do you want to do?” Toby asked, reaching back for a tot. I moved the small paper bag away from him, but ended up reaching in and handing him one anyway.

“It’s a fucking Sunday,” I answered leaning my head back against the headrest. “Nothing worth doing is open.”

“We could get some liquor and go to the lake?” Derek suggested and I looked at the digital temperature on Toby’s truck. It still only read just above freezing, but we had done dumber shit in the past so I shrugged.

“You got your fake id?” Toby asked, glancing at Derek as he took a fourth u-turn in town to keep cruising back and forth. There wasn’t any traffic right now, no one outside of church would be awake and out of the house this early in the morning. We were the dumbasses out today.

“Always,” Derek answered and Toby took another quick and very illegal u-turn in the middle of the bypass to head back the other way, outside of our non-alcohol selling town and over to the next one that got all our money.

We drove to the usual gas station that sold to anyone, no matter who they were and we all slid out of the truck. Inside we saw a younger woman working the front of the store, she had tattoos and her lip pierced so I figured she was old enough to sell to us. It definitely wasn’t one of the owners that just smirked and let us pass with our fakes though. The beer was always in the back of the store and only one of the coolers held a few boxes on the bottom shelf to keep cold. As easy as breathing, Derek walked over and opened the door and grabbed a box with the two of us ambling along behind him. I grabbed some beef jerky and a large bag of chips and a jar of salsa on the way up to the register.

“Good morning,” Toby offered as he put a candybar that he half-ass grabbed from the front racks just beside the newspaper stand. He stepped out of the way for me to put down my stuff and then I moved aside for Derek.

“You’re joking, right?” The girl said when she looked up from her phone, sliding it into her pocket and saw the beer.

“Ma’am?” Derek said, already fumbling for his wallet.

“You might as well put that back where you got it,” she said as she smiled and chewed on her lip ring. I glanced from her to Derek as he flipped open his wallet and slid out his I.D.

“Ma’am, I’m of age,” he countered, putting the I.D on the counter and slid it across with his hand. She snatched it up and glanced at it with a smile playing on her lips.

“Dude, I got rich making these back when I was in high school,” she countered, going out of her way to slide it back across the counter just like Derek did to her. “Your friend over there has a high school hoodie on too, you’re not fooling nobody.”

“Yeah?” Derek asked, shooting me a glare. I hadn’t realized I had picked this hoodie out until then.

“And besides that, we don’t sell alcohol on Sundays,” she added laughing, but she hadn’t cut up Derek’s fake either, so she was at least a little bit cool. “I can ring up the rest of this stuff if you still want it.”

“No,” I said, only really wanting the junk food if I had the beer to wash it down with. “That’s alright.”

“I still want the Butterfinger,” Toby said as I grabbed everything back off the counter and walked around the store putting it all back.

“Just ring it up as something else, the same price,” Derek said half-heartedly, but when she cocked an eyebrow he sighed and grabbed the beer off the counter. He stomped all the way back to the back of the store and slammed the cooler shut after placing it back inside.

“You’re lucky I didn’t cut up your fake, little boy,” she said laughing as she grabbed her phone out of her pocket dismissing us after handing Toby back his change.

“See if I come back in here,” Derek growled as we walked back outside to the cold air and overcast sky.

We emptied Toby’s gas tank enough for him to have to fill it back up before we stopped cruising. The girls had started texting, being finished with their shopping. I knew when they got insistent enough, Toby would take the exit outside of town and back towards my house and when his phone rang instead of texts, he took the first exit. We had talked about football and Derek told Toby about the meet and seeing my junk wrapped up tighter than a burrito. After slapping him in the back of the head we all fell into a comfortable silence that was only ever really comfortable if it was just the three of us. Not needing to fill the space with banter and bullshit trying to one-up one another in front of the girls.

When we got back to my house I glanced at my phone and saw that we had only really managed to waste half the day. It was still hours until I would be texting Luke to see how he wanted to play sneaking out of his house. Olivia probably already told him about the prank. Luke hadn’t given out his number to anyone outside of the guys and Lily. He didn’t trust Heather who was sometimes cold to Olivia and him about being at our table or Ally enough to give them his number and I didn’t think Ally would have liked him offering her his number anyway. I doubted they would be all that close before school let out for the summer, but I hoped more time would ease them into it. I planned on keeping Ally in my life and after last night I didn’t think I could ever walk away from Luke, unless he wanted me to.

“Doing the dishes?” Mom asked as she walked up to me.

“The guys just left,” I answered shrugging as she rubbed my shoulder before opening the refrigerator door.

“Do you want some lunch?” She asked as she started scanning the food inside.

“Nah, had pizza rolls,” I answered, feeling the weight of all the off-list food I ate. I didn’t feel all that guilty about cheating on my diet today, it was fun just cruising despite the gas station setback.

“How were your swim races?” Dad asked as he came into the kitchen and tossed his empty coffee cup.

“I won every event,” I answered, trying not to laugh at him for calling them races. He was already unfolding the paper, ready to spend time with us in the kitchen since Mom was about to start cooking.

“That’s great,” Mom offered and Dad smiled as he adjusted his glasses.

“Grace, are you going to tell him?” Dad asked, glancing over at her.

“I was working up to it, Craig,” Mom answered, seeming to settle on a salad as she grabbed the lettuce out of the crisper and a bowl from the cupboards above her head.

“Everything okay?” I asked as I pulled out a chair at the table. Mom was smiling and seemed to be in a good mood, so I wasn’t expecting anything bad.

“Two heartbeats,” she answered, turning with a knife in her hand. It took me a moment to realize what she meant. I glanced over at Dad to see him pulling off his glasses ready to explain that to me if I needed it explained.

“You’re having two,” I said, letting out a breath. “Right?”

“Yes!” Mom said as she waved her hands excitedly. “And we have their pictures, do you want to see them?”

“Put the knife down first, dear,” Dad said and I watched him watching the knife still in Mom’s hand. Seeing it, she placed it on the counter then walked into the living room. When she returned she was holding out a picture for me. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but there were two little arrows pointing at what looked like two little blobs in a mass of blackness.

“Two,” I repeated, shaking my head smiling. “You’re going to be outmatched and outnumbered.”

“Probably,” Dad said, nodding his head. “They both have really healthy heartbeats and are growing nicely.”

“With two, we do have something else to discuss with you,” Mom said as the head of lettuce sat neglected on her cutting board. “We only have the one guest room and that will be okay for a nursery.

“You’ll have my room,” I countered and Mom frowned and grabbed my hand.

“No we won’t,” she argued, giving my hand a squeeze. “You might be going away for college young man, but we expect you home when you can get here.”

“And honestly, do you expect to win the lottery during college?” Dad asked, rolling his eyes. “If so send us half, but your room is your room until you get your own roof over your head.”

“Fine,” I said, not wanting to get into that discussion since my college and where I’ll be going was still up in the air. Georgia wasn’t halfway across the country like I dreamed, it wasn’t the big city lights, and shows and nightclubs either. If that’s where I ended up though, I could see myself coming home more weekends than just summer and winter breaks for a weekend or day or so. I would still have my off-season schedule to keep me busy though, they would have to understand that when it came to my offseason training.

“So we will either need to hire a contractor to put an extension on the house or find something bigger,” Dad said, breaking the small silence that fell between us.

“A new house would be easier,” Mom said and both sets of eyes fell on me.

“Why are you looking at me?” I asked, shrugging my shoulders. “I don’t really care if you sell the house.”

“Oh, good,” Mom answered, giving my hand another squeeze. Both of them relaxed and I wondered just how long they had been discussing this. It had been longer than today or this weekend. They probably started talking about moving to a bigger house since they found out the first surprise. Now there were two of them and I still hadn’t really wrapped my head around all of that.

I left them to talk about realtors and when to start looking for a new place. They still had time and in the back of my mind I wondered just how far along Mom would get before she stopped worrying about her past miscarriages. I didn’t want to talk about selling a house I grew up in, but I only had some sentimentality to overcome. I always just felt like this house was a house, the people I loved would make anything made out of brick and wood a home to me. As alien as everything else was this year, this decision of theirs was the least overwhelming.

Homework came and went too quickly and I ended up taking a longer shower since my first one was interrupted. The garment bag with my dressy clothes were still hanging on the back of the couch and I was surprised neither of them said anything about it, but I understood their minds were elsewhere and would be for a while.

So eight-forty didn’t surprise me. What did was the rocks hitting my window and rolling down into the gutter. Knowing it was Luke I bolted out of the room and down the stairs. Mom and Dad were nestled into the couch together, not really watching the movie playing on the television. Seeing me they separated ever so slightly, but I didn’t act like I noticed as I grabbed my bag.

“What are you doing with your dress clothes?” Mom asked as Dad readjusted his glasses and smoothed out his sweater vest, that’s when my face got warmer.

“I don’t really know exactly,” I answered as I opened the door. I nearly screamed when I saw Luke standing under the light of the front porch not expecting him there. He was bundled up and was also carrying a bag of clothes. His face was covered in a black ski-mask and seeing me he chewed on his bottom lip to stifle his laughter.

“Is that Luke?” Mom asked and I turned to see her wiggling up the back of the couch to try and get a better view of the outside.

“Yeah, bye,” I answered and bolted out the door before either of them could say anything.

Glancing around I didn’t see his truck parked in the drive, so I knew he snuck out of the house. I didn’t want to ask him how, since he seemed to be annoyed with those questions lately and I wanted this night to be fucking awesome.

“Here,” Luke said as he fumbled into his coat pocket. When he placed another ski mask in my hand I unfolded it.

“Why do we need these?” I asked, noticing that he also had black gloves on, but that could’ve just been to fight against the cold.

“You never know what the higher ups will do about this stuff,” Luke answered, offering me a smile. “I’m really trying not to freak out.”

“Are you worried?” I asked, after hearing Connor’s careful planning when it came to thinking about what Welker and the school board would do about school pranks. I wondered just what we were about to do to the school.

“No, just thinking what it would’ve been like reading this in the paper instead of being part of it,” he answered as I unlocked my doors to my Mustang. “If my old school didn’t close.”

“Oh,” I offered and he smiled despite his mask just before his head disappeared to climb into the passenger side. I opened the driver's side door and shoved my garment bag into the back seat before I slid into my seat. I didn’t waste time starting the car, but I sat in the driveway wanting Luke to myself for a little while as the car warmed.

“Put your mask on,” he said, nodding his head to my mask. I had it resting in my lap. I hadn’t planned on putting it on until I was parked at the school, but shrugging, I grabbed it and slid it over my head and adjusted it until I had all the holes lined up right.

“What?” I asked when we had a small staring contest, the silence getting the better of me.

“Nothing,” he answered and I smirked and backed out of the driveway and headed for the school.

“You don’t have some weird burglar fetish do you?” I asked as I offered my hand across the console between us. He quickly took it, like he was waiting for me and I smiled when I felt the excitement trembling through to his hand. He looked like a puppy that was told to sit.

“No,” he answered laughing. “I just wanted to see what you looked like.”

“Right,” I said, trying not to laugh. “Weirdo.”

“Says the guy that likes underwater blowjobs in very public pools,” he answered and I shot him a look, my face getting warm under the mask.

“I remember that you were also there,” I argued and I felt him tighten his grip on my hand.

“Yeah I was trying not to drown, I remember some butthole ripping my favorite pair of boxers,” he said and I couldn’t fight the urge not to laugh anymore. A bare assed Luke with tattered boxers, doggy paddling after I nearly drowned trying to suck his dick was finally funny. It took a couple of months to get over the shock of Tony knowing and having the pool deep cleaned, but it was a night that I wouldn’t forget.

“Do you know what the dress clothes are for though?” I asked as we got closer to town. The school, needing the space, wasn't exactly in town. It was nestled between two subdivisions, if you could call them that in our small town.

“Not really, no,” he answered as the school came into view. I already saw people scattered around in the darkness. A small group was doing something to the school welcome sign out by the flagpole. Another small group was working on something at the flagpole itself. Looking around I saw a larger group on the football field, in the distance I couldn’t tell who it was. They were well lit by the lights that were always on lighting up the field.

“Ready?” I asked when I turned to see Luke taking it all in.

“Yeah,” he said as he threw open the passenger door and got out. I had to race to catch up to him, slinging my garment bag over my shoulder as we made our way to the front door.

“You’re late, Jack,” someone said as we approached the bottom steps.

“Connor?” I asked, following Luke up the rest of the concrete steps to close the distance.

“Yeah,” he answered as he held up a clipboard. “I have you and Luke in the cafeteria for now, so go catch up to them.”

“Alright,” I said, not really liking being ordered around, but he was in charge of everything so I just walked through the front doors.

That’s when I saw that most of the lockers that students rigged to stay unlocked so they didn’t have to put in their combination every morning had been papered over. Looking closer they were made to look like lockers, but the colors were a forest green with cream colored lettering.

“JFH,” Luke said as I looked up above them and read, ‘Jackson Forest High School,’ on a large banner. It was repeated down the hallway.

“Fuck me,” I whispered as I started walking towards the cafeteria at the end of the main hall. I looked at Luke, he already knew what the plan was and when he noticed me looking at him he playfully shoved my shoulder.

“Welcome to your high school,” he said as I took in the smaller changes. The teachers that decorated their doors with the Mustang logo in blue and gold had their doors changed to what looked like a man in roman armor.

“What are we now?” I asked, pointing to the artwork.

“Trojans,” Luke answered, chewing on his lip to keep from laughing. “They were going to use the same one on the condom boxes, but they thought that was a little too far.”

“Yeah,” I said laughing as we stepped through the large double doors to the cafeteria.

Everyone stopped working until they saw it was us. It looked like they were covering all the tables with paper cutouts of the repeated, ‘JFH,’ and ‘Trojans.’ Looking over at the stacks still left to be put on I led Luke over and grabbed some double sided tape and a box of paper table coverings.

“You made it,” Lily said as she broke from her small group. I only knew it was her from her voice, but she had her ski mask cut in the back to accommodate a ponytail.

“What are we doing?” I asked as she unfolded another round table covering. I helped her center it over a table, making sure the new logo was facing the right way. Then I watched her pull out some tape. She lifted the edges and placed the tape down. Grabbing my own, Luke and I helped her until we went completely around the table.

“We’re trying to cover as many things as we can so they can’t remove it all before school starts,” Lily answered as we walked to the neighboring table. This time I grabbed one from my box and unfolded it. Then I watched as Luke and Lily went around securing it to the table top. “People were kinda pissed that we chose you as the theme though.”

“Really?” I asked, glancing around at some of the other people working here with us.

“Yeah,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “Well Connor picked you, because you’re the most decorated athlete in school history and we all know what you put Welker through.”

“What else are we doing?” Luke asked as we kept covering the round tables with their new tops. Even if the art group that Connor was part of did the work, the materials had to add up to a lot. No wonder Connor was stealing from all the other clubs to pay for all this. Knowing he was slowly paying them back with his own money bothered me though.

“Painting the end zones of the football field,” Lily explained and my eyebrows shot up when she glanced at me. “It’s going to be so fun walking the halls tomorrow.”

“Fuck yeah,” I said wanting to get out to the football field to see what it looked like.

“They’re covering the logos on the gym floor too,” she went on as we worked. Around us people were talking excitedly about what all we were doing, none of them seemed annoyed in here, so I hoped all of that was forgotten by now.

“What were they doing with the flagpole?” Luke asked as we finished a row of tables. Most of them were covered now, only the rectangle shaped tables in the front and back of the cafeteria were left.

“Replacing the school flag with a new one,” Lily answered as she rummaged through the boxes to find what we needed. It didn’t take long to finish up with everyone working together. I was hoping the night would last, but it looked like most of the senior class had come around to help. I hated the masks. Some of them also opted for black clothes and hoodies as well, but I just had on what I wore earlier. I had to admit the gold and blue lettering on my hoodie stood out like a sore thumb now that everything in here was a sea of forest green and cream.

“I get why you went with forest green,” I said laughing when it hit me. It was a play on my last name and when Luke snickered beside me I shot him a glare, not caring that he couldn’t see it.

“Looks like we’re done,” Lily said and everyone met at the entrance. We all slapped hands and bumped fists before walking back out of the double doors. Seeing us Connor poked his head in, still waving his clipboard.

“Lily, Bailey, Luke, and Jack,” he said and I saw Bailey Ashton break from a small group off to the side to come stand beside Lily. Seeing the set of his shoulders I was trying not to scowl. “You guys need to get changed into your dress clothes.”

“What for?” I asked, swearing under my breath. I had forgotten my bag in the cafeteria.

“Pictures,” he answered looking down at his clipboard. “Everyone else probably needs to go up stairs and see how they’re doing with covering the lockers.”

Connor didn’t wait around for me to ask anymore questions as he bolted back through the front entrances and down the stairs. He turned left heading towards the football field and I wanted to go see that for myself.

“We better go,” Lily whispered and I glanced down to see her grabbing up her bag. She pulled it up over her shoulder and started walking back towards the cafeteria.

Once inside I found my bag and was about to start walking back outside to find a bathroom or empty classroom to change in, but when she started taking off her hoodie, I glanced over to see Luke and Bailey Ashton staring at her. Coughing I unzipped my bag and pulled out my clothes. They were also wrapped in a thin layer of plastic and I hoped everything still fit. I had put on some muscle tone and thickened out a little bit under Tony’s diet and workout schedule.

Toeing out of my shoes I glanced over and saw that everyone was now stripping down. We also took off our masks not caring about the cameras catching my face anymore, the fresh air hitting my skin felt nice. Unlike me, Bailey pulled out a whistle, a pair of green basketball shorts, and a cream t-shirt with a green trojan on the front. I was instantly jealous and planned on offering to buy the t-shirt after this was over. Noticing me looking at him, I turned my back to him and pulled off my hoodie and t-shirt underneath. Then I grabbed my white shirt and slid it on, buttoning and feeling the tightness over my chest.

“I’m going to fucking pop a button, I know it,” I said as I left the top two buttons unbuttoned, not wanting to risk it.

“You’ve toned up, dude,” Bailey said and I turned to see him eyeballing me. My face got hot and when I looked over at Luke he was also looking at me, half-dressed.

“What the crap is this?” He asked when he pulled out what looked like a grey skirt. “I’m going to kill Olivia.”
“Oh my god,” Lily said laughing. “Olivia’s making you become a lunch lady.”

“Damn,” I said, trying not to laugh as he held up the plain grey skirt. Seeing it, Luke dumped the bag and when he pulled out a hairnet, even Bailey fucking Ashton that only had half a personality started laughing.

My pants were also tight and when I turned around I heard Lily whistle. My pants were one awkward step from busting out the ass end of things. It looked like I had stuffed two hams in my pants. I knew my body had changed, but my regular clothes had fit comfortably enough and I didn’t mind the way I toned up either.

“You look very uncomfortable,” Lily said as I tried to shoulder into my over shirt. Luke had to stop trying to figure out his apron to help me pull it on. I didn’t dare stretch or button the front of it.

“Yeah I don’t think I’ve worn these for over a year,” I said, smoothing out the soft black fabric. The inside was black silk. It was the nicest thing in my closet by far, which I had no use for. It was too dressy for church, if I ever shocked the hell out of my parents and actually went. I had a feeling Connor wanted me in dress clothes because I was the new principal of the school. Lily looked like she was dressed to be a teacher. Bailey was obviously a coach and Luke a lunch lady.

“Oh god, there’s a wig,” Luke groaned and I turned to see him pulling out what looked like a salt and pepper colored wig that was suffering from a bad perm.

“It looks like a poodle died on your head,” Bailey said after Luke pulled it on over his head. Not wanting to burn that image of Luke in my head I turned away hoping I wouldn’t laugh at his expense, but when I looked back over at him he was smiling. Despite his obvious happiness I silently promised to help him get Olivia, no matter what he thought up as a proper payback.

When we were all dressed we met Connor in the hallway. Ally was also there and my mouth fell open before I could catch myself. Her boobs were practically spilling out of the top of a tight red one-piece skirt that barely hit her thighs. Seeing me gawking she smiled and when I turned away I saw Luke looking at me. Heather was also dressed up like a teacher, much like Lily right down to the fake glasses. Toby looked like he was also a coach. When they all saw Luke they busted out laughing and Derek reached across Bailey Ashton and shoved him. He was dressed like a security guard, but his uniform didn’t fit him just right and he had his shirt tail hanging out the bottom.

Connor had dressed up like a custodian and after sending a quick text he shoved his phone into one of his pockets. I was thankful to get out of the ski masks and actually seeing everyone. Ally was applying bright red lipstick that she wouldn’t be caught dead in usually.

“Who are you supposed to be?” I asked and she smiled after rubbing her lips together to smooth them out.

“The receptionist you’re having an affair with,” she answered and I felt Luke nudge his shoulder against mine. I also felt his wig brush against the side of my face and it sent a shudder through me.

“Where’s Olivia?” Luke asked as more people dressed as teachers rounded the corner. One of Bailey’s friends was dressed up in a science lab coat. There was another lunch lady, this one actually a girl and when she noticed Luke I saw her eyes widen. Glancing out of the corner of my eye I saw him looking at her, but he still had an easy smile playing on his lips.

“She’s supposed to be unlocking all the rooms we’ll need,” Connor said as he pulled out his phone and checked it.

A few seconds later his phone dinged and he waved for us to follow him down the main hallway. When we got to the front offices Olivia was standing there with a smallish brown haired girl with glasses. She was holding a ring full of keys and when Connor closed the distance between us and her, she handed them over to him. The small girl was holding a large fancy looking camera at her side, she didn’t look like she was all that happy to be here.

“Make sure they’re all there,” Luke said, cocking an eyebrow.

“Thanks for that cousin,” Olivia said chewing on her bottom lip when she took all of him in. She was still dressed in her black clothes and had her ski mask tucked into her pants pocket.

“What are we doing really?” I asked as I reached up and tugged on my shirt collar.

“Taking yearbook pictures,” Connor answered grinning. “We’re starting with you in Welker’s office.”

“You’re not seriously going to change the yearbook are you?” Heather asked as she adjusted a pair of fake glasses over the top of her head.

“No, we’re making a second copy,” Olivia answered, turning to the small girl beside her. “This is Jenny, she’s part of the yearbook club.”

Only Lily said a quick hello as Connor opened Welker’s door. There was a box on the metal benches just outside it and when he flipped the flaps back Olivia reached inside. She pulled out a name plate that was inscribed with, ‘J. Forrest, Principal,’ and I couldn’t help smiling at the thought of Welker walking up and seeing it. I watched as she slid his name out of the slot on the door and replaced it with mine.

“Go hide this in his room somewhere,” she said as she handed it to me.

I gently shouldered past everyone and walked into his office, tucking his name behind a small bookcase that held past yearbooks. The lights were off, only the one safety light made everything fall into shadows. Flipping on the light I saw the desk that I knew all too well. His pictures of Ally and his wife were on the corner turned away from where I usually sat across from. I was about to grab one,but Olivia had followed me into the room. She snatched them up and replaced them with pictures of cats.

“Just relax in the chair and put your feet on his desk,” she said and I nodded and walked around to the other side of the desk. His chair creaked and groaned under the weight of someone sitting on it. I had almost forgotten the sound, not being in this office for awhile now. I glanced up to see Ally in the entrance and I almost hesitated, not wanting to take my disrespect for Welker too far by putting my feet up on his desk, but she only smiled as she walked into the room and sat down on the desk close to me.

“Wrap your hand around my waist,” she said and I studied her before swallowing against my sudden apprehension of having her close to me again. We hadn’t really hugged or shown affection much after we broke up and I knew somewhere outside the door, probably wanting to poke his head in, but not wanting to be in the way either, was Luke. Not wanting to waste time and Jenny awkwardly staring at us with the camera half up to her face I rolled the chair back and wrapped my arm around her waist, shoving my feet up on the desk. Ally leaned into me and I picked up an ink pen and held it between my thumb and finger smiling. Jenny took a couple of shots then Ally reached over and messed up my hair and tugged on my shirt collar, after a few more shots Jenny moved to the other side of the room for a better angle. Ally finished by kissing me on the cheek and I glanced at the door to see Luke hovering just outside the frame.

“Now some by himself,” Connor instructed and Ally slid off the desk and I let my hand fall from her waist before placing it on the table. I watched her leave then turned back to Jenny and leaned back in my chair smirking. After a tiny break I reached up and wiped Ally’s lip prints off my cheek and sat through a few more photos.

Happy with my small photo shoot we moved to a class room and Lily took her turn. She sat on the edge of her desk, she had opened up a few buttons of her blouse and chewed on a pencil with her hair up. She was going for a sexy teacher look, but being Lily she never quite pulled it off, not like Heather or Ally would have anyway. Still if she were in front of me everyday I doubted I would have been able to focus on what she was saying and when I glanced over at Derek, I knew he would’ve flunked her class.

We went two doors down and Heather took her turn. Like Ally, she had on tighter clothes that looked completely out of place with the teachers that normally walked the halls here. Especially Cindy. They had also found an old fashioned pointer and she was using it to pretend to spank herself with it as Jenny walked around and took her pictures. When she was finished Toby whispered something in her ear that made her laugh and slap him on the chest. Jenny snapped a picture during the interaction and smiled at Connor, it was the first time she had smiled all night so far.

Jenny only took two or so pictures of Connor, who took the job of custodian pretty damn seriously. Falling right into character as he pushed an empty trash can with a broom in his hand. The best he could do was frown at the camera, but he didn’t quite pull off the hateful looks the old man that cleaned the halls would shoot at us if he caught us throwing trash on the floor. I couldn’t remember his name, but he had a faded tattoo on his arm and I thought he likely had a prison record.

Next we went to the cafeteria and Connor unlocked the doors that led to the food prep station. I watched as Luke and the other girl posed over the sneeze guard that held the food in warm water baths to keep the food warm. At the end the girl surprised Luke by kissing him on the cheek and it was my turn to be annoyingly jealous, but everyone laughed especially when the wig and hair net fell over his face.

Bailey was as boring as watching paint dry as he tried to pretend to blow a whistle. The only good thing about his photo shoot was that I finally got to see the gym. The logos were covered, like Lily had explained, but the lines on the floor had also been covered up, no longer white, but green. The safety mats on the walls underneath the basketball goals had also been covered in green with a trojan design in the middle.

“How much did this cost you?” I asked after Jenny snapped her last photo and I ignored Bailey fucking Ashton wrapping Ally up and throwing her over his shoulder. I ignored her trying, but failing, to hide her panties as the short as sin skirt she picked out to wear failed her completely.

“A couple thousand,” he said as Jenny held up the camera for him to flip through the pictures to see what they looked like.

“We need to pay your ass back for all this,” I said looking around the gym.

“Don’t sweat it,” he said smiling. “Having this talked about every year as other classes try and fail to top it is enough for me.”

“No, really,” I countered, shaking my head.

“Everything seems to be done though,” he said as he glanced at his phone. “I promised the sheriff that we’d be out by midnight.”

“You have the sheriff in on this shit?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow. He only nodded and smiled as he sent another text.

“Jenny, I'll take the camera and get the memory cards over to the publishing company tomorrow, just put it in a safe place,” he said as he handed the camera back to her. “Carly is still here to take you home, right?”

“Yeah,” she answered and I watched as she didn’t waste any time taking the camera and rushing out of the gym.

“I’m going to go make a quick run around the school to make sure people are leaving,” he said and I nodded as he left me to go tell Olivia. She gave him a quick wave and I walked over to where everyone else was standing.

“Ready?” I asked as I walked up to Luke. We were cutting it close with the midnight deadline to be out of the school.

“Yes,” he answered, still holding the wig and hair net in his hands.

“Are you guys coming over after we leave here?” Lily asked, noticing that we were about to break from the group.

“No?” I asked as everyone fell silent.

“We were planning a slumber party,” Heather said, her heels clicking against the hardwood when she shifted her weight, “and your ass better be there.”

“I didn’t bring any clothes,” I argued, glancing over at Luke.

“Am I invited?” Bailey asked, leaning closer to Ally.

“No,” Heather answered, rolling her eyes. “Close friends only.”

“What do you think?” I asked, turning to Luke hoping that Ally was enough of a distraction for Bailey Ashton to not pay us any attention.

“I’ll be in a lot of trouble if I’m not home in the morning,” he answered, offering me a small smile.

“Alright,” I said, ready to just tell everyone that we were leaving. That I would probably be a little late coming over.

“But what the hell, right?” He added and I stopped mid-turn to look at him.

“Are you sure?” I asked, already envisioning Cindzilla’s second invasion.

“Yeah, I don’t want to go home,” he answered shrugging. “I want to arrive at the same time and see all this with you guys, not at seven when no one else is here.”

“Okay,” I said smiling. I still wanted to steal some time with Luke without people around though so I turned back to guys. “We’ll be a little late.”

“My house,” Lily answered as she leaned against Derek. She had pulled her heels off and was standing barefoot on the gym floor.

“Okay,” I offered and not wanting to be interrupted or ambushed by anyone else, I took off towards the gym exit. We walked in silence down the main hallway. Connor had turned off the main lights now and the only thing left on were the safety lights. We neglected our ski masks completely, I didn’t really care if Welker got pissed. Part of me wanted him to know that I was a big part of tonight, even if Connor did most of the work.

We decided to change back into our clothes, Luke didn’t want to show up in a lunch lady uniform and I was surprised I hadn’t busted out of any of mine. Being alone with him here made him undressing feel completely different than it did before. I also knew there were cameras in here, so I didn’t dare do anything. I learned my lesson. Watching him though as I undressed and slid everything back onto the hangers, he was still smiling and seeing him I couldn’t help smiling too.

When we were fully clothed we walked out of the cafeteria just as everyone else was coming down the hallway. Unlike us they were talking loudly and we gave them a small wave as we went out the entrance and walked down the stairs, back down the sidewalk and up the small hill to the front parking lot. From here we got a good look at the place and I saw the painted football field. One end zone had Trojans spelled out across it and the other had the three letters. Both in forest green to stand out against the dead grass.

“This all looks fucking great,” I said turning to Luke still not risking a kiss or holding hands. There were still more cars than ours parked here and I wondered if Connor would ever round everyone up and get them all out of here before midnight.

“How does it feel, being at the center of it all?” He asked as we started walking towards my car.

“I don’t really know,” I answered shrugging as I held my garment bag by the hanger behind my shoulder. “I’ll probably feel it better tomorrow when I’m sitting in Welker’s office.”

“Yeah, I’m worried he might blame you for most of it,” he answered and I saw him take one last look at the football field.

“Well he knows I’m also pretty damn lazy, so,” I countered as I pressed the unlock button on my keychain.

“I don’t know how you do it, not caring,” he said as he opened his door. I watched him slide into the passenger seat before I opened my door and slid inside, shoving the bulky bag of clothes behind me before buckling my seatbelt.

“You better get used to it,” I said smiling at him as I started the car and didn’t waste any time pulling out of the parking spot. I eased down the main road leading into the school to look at the sign, it had just been covered up like everything else. The lights shining on it, brightening up for anyone passing by to see, made me smile. People leaving for work in the morning will see it well before the teachers. Mom would see it on her way to the factory and she would know what we were up to tonight. Monday couldn’t come soon enough.