By Lisa Papademetriou
Here's one activity I'll have to leave off my college applications, Lexi thought as she shifted in her seat. The unofficial Prank Committee was meeting. Every year, tradition calls for a few seniors at Stanforth Academy to pull a practical joke on the school. It isn't exactly a school-sanctioned activity, but it isn't forbidden either. Which is why Lexi was now sitting at the Big Blend, sipping a smoothie and listening to the others discuss prank options. "No way can we loosen the bolts on every single school desk in one night," Carl was saying. He was the smartest guy in the class. If there were an election, he'd be voted Most Unlikely to Get Busted, which is why he was perfect for the prank.
"I like Tate's idea," Suzan chirped. She had red streaks in her hair today, to match her red-and-black paisley tights. Suzan was borderline goth, but — oddly enough — she had tons of school spirit. She was Lexi's best friend and the reason Lexi had agreed to help with the prank. "Let's go with that," Suzan said with a nod, "and soap flakes in the pool."
"Soap flakes are environmentally unfriendly," said a girl named Cat. "And I'm not sure it's ethical to bring a goat into the school." Lexi shot Suzan a sideways look. In her batik tie-dyed shirt and ripped jeans, Cat looked like a poster child for Earth First. She was president of the school's animal-rights group, and Lexi wasn't exactly sure how she ended up on the Prank Committee. "Why don't we just do what they did last year?" Cat suggested.
"Oh, please," Tate said, waving his hand dismissively. "That was so lame."
Even though she agreed, Lexi gritted her teeth. Tate could be amazingly annoying. OK, truth: She and Tate had a history. He'd placed a rubber snake in her lunch bag in third grade, and Lexi retaliated by smearing peanut butter in his gym shoes. They had never really gotten along since then, which was why Lexi was tempted to argue with him now. She resisted the urge.
"I agree," Suzan put in. "So the lunch tables were out in the quad — big deal."
"And the year before that, the prank didn't even make sense," Lexi added. The seniors stole the cafeteria's silverware — forcing everyone to eat with their fingers. Unfortunately, they had done it on pizza day so it lacked punch. "We need to go all-out this year. Forget soap flakes — let's use dye in the pool," Lexi suggested. "Green, maybe?"
Tate gave her an approving glance. He had razor-sharp features — a nose fit to slice bread, distinctly high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. His black hair often flopped over his right eye, as it did now. "Great idea, Lexi. And the goat will be fine," he added, "He belongs to my uncle. Believe me — I'll make sure he doesn't get hurt."
Suzan looked at Cat with lifted eyebrows. "Sound OK?"
Cat shrugged. "I'll buy the dye," she offered. "I know where I can get some that's made from plant extracts."
Slurping the end of her blueberry-and-wheatgrass drink, Suzan put the cup down and grinned. "Perfect!"
"Where's Suzan?" Tate asked three days later from the top step of the side entrance, readying to start the prank.
"She'll be here," Carl assured him as he cupped his hands around his eyes and looked through the glass doors. "She'd better be. She's got the keys."
"How did she get them?" Tate asked.
Lexi shrugged. "Last Christmas, she gave the janitor a box of chocolates that her parents had bought for the teachers. They've been friends ever since."
"Man, it wasn't easy to get Henry here." Tate cast a glance at the goat, who was standing at the end of a rope. "I thought he was going to chew off half the upholstery in my brother's car." As if to prove Tate's point, the goat leaned over to nibble the cuff of his jeans.
"This dye wasn't cheap," Cat added.
Even though it was nearing the end of May, Lexi shivered inside her sweat-shirt. It was 7 o'clock, and the sun had set. Light shone dimly from street lamps at the curb's edge. The ancient oak trees at the front of the school cast nearby shadows. Stanforth Academy was an old building with a massive limestone entrance, but it didn't have much charm. Now, in the almost-dark, it seemed sinister, like a jail. "This place is giving me the creeps," Lexi said.
A single white light cut through the darkness and into the parking lot. "That's Suzan's Vespa," Lexi said.
Suzan loped across the lawn. "You got it!" she cried when she saw the goat, which made everyone else realize they had been whispering.
"Bring the keys?" Tate asked.
Suzan jingled them. "Bingo!" she said as a key slipped into the lock. She gave it a twist and shoved the door open.
Footsteps echoed against the floor as the pranksters hustled down the hall and up the stairs. "OK, Lexi and Tate, you guys know what to do," Suzan said as she unlocked Mr. Sparks' history classroom. "We're headed to the gym. Once you're done, get out as fast as you can. I'll make sure the side exit is locked up."
Lexi gave her friend a wistful wave as Suzan let the door swing closed. She wished she could head to the pool with the others instead of staying with Tate. But Carl insisted that she and Tate were the funniest in the group, so they were to write all over Mr. Sparks' whiteboards — stuff like, I learned more about history when I was back on the farm! As if the goat had written it.
"Look!" Tate said, pointing at what he'd just written: Smells better in the shed!
Lexi snorted. "Hilarious," she said.
Tate frowned. "What have you got?"
History books: taste great, less filling, she scribbled. "That's ba-aa-aa-ad," Tate bleated, goat-like. Lexi threw an eraser at him, and he ducked, laughing.
They wrote a few more, and finally Tate said, "OK, let's get out of here."
"See you later, Henry," Lexi said to the goat. She put her hand on the doorknob. It didn't move. She tried again.
"What's up?" Tate asked.
"I think it's locked." Lexi shoved her shoulder against the door. Nothing.
"Let me try."
"It's locked," Lexi repeated. "You can't do anything."
Shoving her aside, Tate grasped the handle. Then he banged on the door. "It's locked," he said.
Lexi rolled her eyes. "I just said that."
Tate spun to face her. "Why didn't you make sure it was open before Suzan took off with the keys?"
"Like this is my fault?" Lexi said. "This goat thing was your idea!"
Tate opened his mouth, and Lexi prepared herself for a cutting comment. But he took a deep breath and said, "How are we going to get out of here?"
They turned toward the windows. "It's three floors up," Lexi said.
"Maybe we could tie my jacket to your sweatshirt," he suggested. "We could jump the rest of the way."
"That's the dumbest idea ever," Lexi told him as a loud thud sounded behind them. Henry was trying to nose his way into a desk and had succeeded in shoving it against the wall. "Besides," Lexi went on, trying to ignore the goat, "the windows don't even open all the way."
"We could break one," Tate said.
"And climb through broken glass?"
"Got a better idea?"
Lexi glanced around the room. Her heart was pounding. Suddenly, her eyes lasered in on a possible solution. "Transom!" she cried, looking up at the small window over the door.
"Genius!" Tate said. "I'll give you a boost." Interlacing his fingers, he nodded for Lexi to put her foot in his hands.
She winced, but there was no other way. At least, not one she could think of. She kicked off her shoes, grimaced at the hole in the toe of her left sock, and put her right foot in his hands.
"I'll lift you on three," Tate said. "One, two, three…"
Lexi reached for the edge of the transom, wrapping her fingers around it. Tate shoved her upward while she struggled to pull herself through.
Tate grunted. "You can do it!"
Her arms shook with effort as her chin reached the ledge, then her head went through- "I can't!"
"Come on, you have to!" Tate pushed up against her legs.
She flailed like a frog and pulled harder. "I can't do it, Tate!" Lexi snapped. "Let me down!"
"No!"
"Let me down!" She kicked at him, then fell to the floor in a heap.
Henry looked up. He gave her a puzzled look, then bent back over the pencil box he had been investigating.
"What now?" Tate asked, sinking to the floor beside her.
"Maybe I could boost you" she said.
Tate gave it some thought. "I could probably pull myself through," he said. "Do you think you could lift me?"
"Clearly, I'm incredibly weak," Lexi said dryly, making Tate smile. "But maybe you could stand on a desk and pull yourself up a little. Then I'll push you the rest of the way."
So Tate pulled and Lexi pushed. He lifted himself higher, higher, then he was through. "Oh, crap!" he shouted as Lexi gave him a shove that sent him over the edge, head first. He landed with a thud.
"Are you OK?" Lexi shouted.
Tate's head popped up. He gave her a smile, and Lexi's head felt light. We're getting out of here, she thought. It worked. We're going to get…
And that's when Tate ran off.
For a few minutes, Lexi couldn't believe what had just happened. He'd ditched her! He'd just left her here to spend the night alone with a goat in a creepy classroom. Lexi felt her blood boil and a sudden urge to strangle someone. Tate was the prime target, of course, but at this point, she'd settle for Suzan — the one who had gotten her into this.
Lexi climbed on top of the desk and tried again to pull herself up again. Her arms throbbed. It was useless.
She sat on the floor while Henry munched a page from the Flannigan-Murtry Guide to American History: Teacher's Edition. She lay down in front of Mr. Sparks' desk, imagining what Tate would tell Suzan. Probably something like, "Lexi had to go home. She said to tell you she'd see you tomorrow."
Why did I ever trust him? she thought. Why? But for a moment, they had been a team. Everything else — the arguments, the rubber snake, the peanut butter, all of that — had disappeared.
Now, she was going to get blamed for the goat and probably the pool dye, too.
She looked at the clock. Ten past 9. Halt an hour had passed since Tate had left. Only 10 hours and 50 minutes until Mr. Sparks unlocks his room and discovers her…with a goat.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Lexi sat up straight as the door swung open. Tate stood there, water dripping from his face and trickling onto the beige carpet, turning it a bluish-green. Suzan was right behind him.
"Sorry!" Suzan said brightly. "There were technical difficulties at the pool."
"I thought you weren't coming!" Lexi cried as she scrambled to her feet. She glared at Tate. "Why didn't you open the door before?"
"It was locked — both sides," Tate explained. "I had to get the keys. Sorry it took so long." A drop of water dripped from the tip of his nose.
"Why are you both wet?" Lexi asked.
Suzan snorted. "Oh, that lousy dye Cat got," she said. "She poured it in, and it sank, making a solid-green splotch on the bottom of the pool. We were wondering what to do when Tate showed up. He said we should jump in and kick the water until it spread around."
"My legs are killing me," Tate complained. But he was smiling.
Suzan swiped her wet red-and-black bangs from her face. "Let's get outta here," she said with a grin.
Lexi waved to the goat. Tate flipped off the lights, and Suzan locked the door. "I can't wait for tomorrow morning," she said as they squished and squeaked down the hallway.
As they stepped outside, Lexi breathed in the cool night air. Mission accomplished, she thought. Carl and Cat had already left. "I guess that's it!" Suzan said. She gave Lexi a damp hug, then took off on her Vespa.
"Did you really think I wasn't coming back?" Tate asked Lexi.
"I didn't know," she admitted.
"I wouldn't do that to you."
It took all of Lexi's strength not to blurt, "Are you kidding me?" But she could see Tate was serious. "I'm sorry," she said at last. "I just got worried."
Tate nodded. "Come on," he said. "I'll drive you home." He unlocked the passenger door to his brother's Jetta and held it open for her.
"I can't wait for tomorrow. Everyone will be shocked! A green pool — and a goat in history class!" he said as he slid into the driver's seat.
"Yeah," Lexi responded. "You sure are full of surprises."
"We are," Tate corrected. He grinned, his teeth flashing white in the darkness. "We're a team."
He looked so happy that Lexi just couldn't help laughing. Tate Islip and Lexi Jones, a team? It was hard to believe. But he'd come through for her. When she least expected it.
"I guess we are," she said at last.
Lexi is helping to plan a surprise that will shock the school … but is the joke on her?
"We need to go all out. Forget soap — let's dye the pool," Lexi suggested. "Green, maybe?"
Lexi couldn't believe what happened. He'd left her to spend the night with a goat.
