When Preps Retaliate

Chapter One: The Prank

"Why can't everyone be the same? Why is being popular such a big deal?" Sam sighed, throwing her backpack down in the chair next to her best friend.

Andrew chuckled, looking up from the book he was reading. "Because, silly, if there weren't such things as jocks and preps, then there wouldn't be such things as nerds, and if there wasn't such things as nerds, then you wouldn't exist," he responded in a sarcastic voice.

Sam smiled. "Oh yeah," she replied in the same tone, "I forgot…" She picked up her backpack and deposited it on top of the lunch table before throwing herself down on the chair, unzipping her backpack, and bringing out a can of strawberry soda.

Andrew set down the book and looked at her. "What's the matter, anyway? I mean I know what you said is true and all, but is there something in particular that made you say it?" he asked.

Sam rolled her eyes, fidgeting with the pop-top. "Eddie and his gang. They really should get a life." She looked over at the table the jocks always sat at; over at where Eddie McIntyre and his parade of basketball-playing loonies were sitting.

"What'd they do?" Andrew asked.

"What do they always do? Routine: They stole my folder, took my script for the play, ripped it into shreds, then deposited my folder in the trash can. But don't worry. They're gonna pay." She couldn't get the pop-top to pop.

Andrew sighed. 'Here it comes,' he thought, 'When will they learn?' "And just what are you going to do to them?" he asked, dreading the answer, but knowing it would give him a laugh.

Sam thought for a moment. "I don't know yet, but don't worry, it'll be worse than what I did last time, and it'll be ready in time for Friday's game." She flashed an evil grin, shaking up the soda.

Andrew's eyes widened. "Oh God, Sammy, you're not going to do it at the game are you?"

"Of course! And don't call me Sammy!"

Andrew slumped. "But Sam, I've been working so hard lately, I really wanted to win this next game!"

"Oh," Sam stuttered, suddenly loosing her idea, and giving up her fight with the soda can, "Well, I guess…I guess I won't…wait a sec…I'll just do it after the game is over. While everyone's celebrating. This'll take a bit more time to think up, but I can do it."

Andrew suddenly smiled. "Ya know, Sam, practical joker that you are, I don't understand why you're not popular."

Sam rolled her eyes again. "Because, you idiot, we've been over this, I am not what they want me to be, I am what I want to be, and they don't think it's right to do what you want to do, so they won't ever like me," she said, regaining her vigor with the soda.

Andrew thought. "Well, I am what I want to be, and they still like me–"

"No offense, Andy, but that's because you're their star basketball player and they couldn't afford to loose you."

Andrew sighed. "I guess you're right," he said regretfully.

Sam nodded, a smile on her face. She finally succeeded in opening the can. "I love it when I'm right…" she said quickly, over the fizzing of the bubbles, and picked up her backpack and walked away, taking a drink of the soda.

Andrew shook his head, watching her walk off. 'I wonder what she's cooking up…'

Andrew Luis and Samantha McNally had been best friends since the fourth grade(when Andrew accidentally ran into her at lunch and their trays collided and…let's just say it was messy), and, five years later, Andrew still didn't know half as much about her as he wanted to. Throughout the years he had learned that although Sam was very smart, and highly talented when it came to the piano or to acting, she didn't give a flying fish about school rules, and had been in the principal's office countless times because of it. In 7th grade, Sam had gotten suspended for three days for sticking a dead rat in Eddie McIntyre's locker.

Needless to say, the relationship between Eddie and Sam had always been a bit sticky. Eddie's family had moved in next door to Sam in the fifth grade, all the way from Pittsburgh. Sam's mom and Eddie's parents got along great. But, Eddie had always been Eddie, rude and popular. When he came and their parents had tried to have them get along, Eddie had blatantly refused. This was, in part, because of the fact that Sam had had to wear glasses at the time, but also was helped by the fact that Sam had played a particular nasty joke the first day they had met. So, in short, Eddie and Sam had hated each other from the beginning.

"Maggie, I need your help."

"Uh oh," said the girl in the waitress uniform. "What is it this time?"

"I need you to help me ruin the jocks at the–"

"Samantha! How many times do you plan on doing that in a year?"

Sam looked up at her older sister, dismayed.. "But Maggie! All the other times I tried this year it didn't work! This time I want it to be something they'll never forget! Besides, I did all the other ones in private situations. This time I'm going to do it at the basketball game."

Maggie looked at her sister, a questioning and thoughtful look in her eyes. "What's in it for me?" she asked.

Sam looked excited. "I'll do all your chores this week, I'll help you with your Algebra homework, I'll even write a song for your band!"

Maggie smiled, apparently thinking she was getting the better half of it. "Deal," she said.

"Yay!" Sam jumped up from the bar and hugged her seventeen year-old sister. Maggie pushed her back down. Sam frowned. "Where's my Shirley Temple?" she asked childishly, folding her arms across her chest.

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Coming right up, dear!" she said, and walked off to the back of the restaurant.

Sam smiled evilly, taking out her notebook and opening to a checklist. She checked off number one (Enlist Maggie's Help) and looked down at the others. Just four more days until Sam got her revenge on all the jocks at Middleton High.

"Mom! I'm home!" Sam yelled, coming through the door. "Mom!" She looked around the living room, trying to find some spark of intelligent life. "Mom?"

"She's not home," said a voice on her left.

She jumped and turned to see a boy, about 5'8", with messy chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. She recognized him at once as her twenty-one year-old brother, who was supposed to be at college.

"James?" she asked curiously, "What are you doing home? I thought you were in New York."

"Well, I was," he said slowly. "But now I'm not."

Sam raised a brow. "Yeah, that much I figured, but…why?"

He took a deep breath. "I was sort of…sort of expelled…" he said slowly.

Sam gasped. "You? Expelled? But you're so smart! What did you do?"

He chuckled a bit. "I uh…I pulled a Sammy, actually."

She gave him a questioning look. "What?"

He threw up his hands. "Ok, ok, so I beat up a couple of jocks, so what? Yeah, I may have crashed into their cars a couple of times, and I nearly killed one of them, but at least I didn't set the school on fire! Only that one guy's living room." He smiled an evil smile that was somewhat familiar to Sam.

Sam looked like she was struggling between being mad at him, or proud of him. Finally she settled to be shocked.

He grinned, his dimples showing. "Maggie isn't here, is she?" he asked all of a sudden, looking around Sam and out the still open door.

Sam shook her head. "No, she's got a job at the Diner, I took the public bus home. Why?" she asked, when she saw he looked relieved.

"Well, honestly, I didn't want anyone knowing I was here. I just came by to see you. Please don't tell anyone."

Sam gaped. "Where are you staying?"

"At Mitchell's…"

"What! As in, Mitchell Luis? As in Andrew's brother?" Sam exclaimed.

James nodded. "Do you promise not to tell Mom or Maggie that I'm here?" He had a look on his face that meant clearly, "If you tell them, I'll die". And if you've ever seen someone with that look on their face, then you know that it's kind of convincing.

"I promise," she said, smiling, and running to hug her brother. "But you have to buy me ice cream."

James laughed, hugging her back. "Of course I will," he said. She noted that he had developed a bit of a New York accent, with him being there for three years and all.

She pulled back and looked up at him. "It's great to have you back."

He grinned. "It's great to be back, squirt. Now what about that ice cream, eh? Is chocolate chip cookie dough still your favorite?"

Sam giggled. "Won't it always be?" she joked.

James stopped smiling suddenly.

"What?" she asked, looking at him.

"Shh!" he whispered. "Mom's home!"

At first she didn't see why this was a problem, then remembered why. "Go out the backdoor!" she hissed, and he did exactly what he was told.

She sighed and closed the backdoor after him, dropping her backpack on the kitchen table at the same time. 'What a time for him to come,' she thought. 'Too bad I didn't ask him to help me.' She smiled one of her evil smiles as a light bulb flicked on in her head. 'I didn't ask him this time. But there will be a next time, and he'll be here to help me.

The next few days went by in a blur. James didn't show up again, and by her conversations with Andrew, she knew that Andrew had no idea that James was staying there. Everyday went by without another event like the one before. The jocks and Andrew were taking all the time they had to practice for Friday's game. They weren't there at lunch times, and thankfully the cheerleaders went to watch them practice, or else it would have been really bad for Sam without Andrew there to protect here. But Friday the gym was closed for setting the stands up, so everyone was out at lunch, which Sam was both thankful for and dreading. At least she didn't have to sit with Maggie and her boring debate club friends. But there were always the jocks.

"Sam, you still haven't told me what your plan is!" Andrew said at lunch that day.

"Oh believe me, you'll find out tonight," she said, glaring over at the jock's table. Eddie was staring at her with a look of pure disgust, which she was returning.

Andrew shook her out of the staring contest. "Sam! I need to know what to do so I don't get involved! I don't really want to be made an ass out of by my best friend, thanks!"

Sam looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Such language, Andy, I don't think I'll tell you, you can find out tonight with everyone else." As an afterthought, she added, "Just, when the announcer announces the basketball team after we win, don't run on with everyone else, OK?"

Andrew looked scared. "Sure Sam, whatever you say…" he said, a bit dazed. He was terrified at the prospect of that night, terrified of the joker that was his best friend. Whatever was coming, he hoped she didn't get in trouble for it, as he knew she would.

Sam just smiled more, though. "Don't be scared. It's not like I'm going to light their heads on fire or anything…" she said, a little smirk on her face. "Well, I'm off to the catwalk, I need to get there a little early, I have some last-minute things I need to discuss with Mr. Boyd."

She got up from the table, swung her backpack over her shoulder, and started walking in the direction of the stage. Mr. Boyd, her drama teacher, was by far her favorite teacher, and although he was much older than she was, she still considered him somewhat of a hunk.

She was nearly to the door of the stage when someone grabbed her shoulder and pulled her around. She found herself trying not to cough.

"Back off, Veronica, I'm allergic to that perfume!" she choked, then decided not to try anymore, and started coughing her lungs out in Veronica Strauss', the most popular girl in school's, captain of the cheerleading team's, face.

"Ew! Don't get your germs on me!" she shrieked, letting go and jumping back from her, alarmed.

Sam hacked a couple more times, just for the heck of it, then looked up at the girl, who was now surrounded by her posse. A classic blonde, she was five foot six and definitely the skinniest girl in the entire school. She would have been very pretty, if not for the ton of make up she had smothered all over her face.

"What do you want, Strauss?" Sam asked, looking bored.

Veronica looked like there was something foul under her nose. "God, McNally, you're such a loser. I simply wanted to know if there was any way that you could sign your picture for me? Andrew tells me you're going to be famous one day, and I wanted to get your autograph before the fame, so I can say I knew you before you were famous." She held out a picture of a sloth and a pen for me to sign.

"Woo hoo, Veronica, that was really clever…" Sam said boringly, while Veronica's friends laughed.

Veronica looked ready to kill. "You better watch your back, McNally. Things have a way of coming around."

Sam raised her brow. "Really, Veronica, and what are you going to do to me?" she asked viciously.

Veronica had a foul smile on her face. "This," she said simply, extracting something from behind her back, which one of her friends had been holding. It was a water bottle, filled with some sort of blue liquid that was definitely not water. Sam only saw it for a second before it was all over her body, drenching her from head to toe.

Veronica and her friends were laughing so hard that Sam couldn't hear anything but them, and she didn't want to risk opening her eyes and letting whatever the blue liquid was in on them, so instead she turned and ran straight through the door in front of her, right onto the stage.

As soon as she got inside, and the sounds of laughter could not be heard anymore, she stopped running and just stood there, trying not to cry. With any luck, Andrew saw the whole thing and would be running in to help her at any moment. But he didn't. After a moment longer, she raised her hand up to her eyes and wiped away the excess liquid, enabling her to open her eyes.

She looked down at the floor, where a large puddle of the blue liquid had formed, and her normally white shoes stood, totally blue. She took a deep breath, and called out, "Mr. Boyd? Could you by any chance help me?"

She waited for a moment, looking around, seeing if he was anywhere around. After a moment a voice sounded from her left and a door opened. "Samantha? What happened?" he asked, running over to her and standing in front of her.

"Let's just say I got a little too close to a cheerleader unarmed…" she said.

Mr. Boyd looked confused. "What do you mean? A cheerleader did this to you?" Then, with a knowing look, he said, "It was Veronica, wasn't it?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course it was. Who else would do this? Wait, don't answer that."

He smiled. "What can I do for you?" he asked, looking at the puddle on the floor.
She thought for a minute. "Erm, could you just give me a pass to the showers so I can wash this stuff off–"

The ringing of the bell cut her off.

"Why don't you just go now, before everyone else gets in here. Take the back door. If anyone asks, tell them to talk to me before punishing you. I'll clean up the puddle."

Sam nodded, and ran off to the showers before the stage started filling up with fourth period drama students.

"They're dead," she said furiously, throwing her still-blue backpack down on the living room couch. "All of them. They get to get in on this as well. We'll show them!"

Maggie sat quietly, watching her fourteen year-old sister talking to herself maniacally.

"They think they can just do this to me and get away with it? No sir, they'll have to suffer the wrath of Samantha McNally before the night is over! New plan! We have to leave now if we want it to work!"

Maggie groaned. "That adds another song for our band," she said, getting up and putting her shoes on.

"Done," Sam said automatically, not knowing that that song was going to get her into a whole mess of trouble.

Maggie grabbed the keys to her car and followed the still-rambling Samantha out to her car.

Sam and Maggie arrived a little early for the game, and went straight into the gym. Looking around, Sam saw that besides the teams and the coaches, they were the only two people there.

"Good luck," Sam whispered to Maggie as she walked over to Coach Larson, said something to him, and the two of them walked over to the bleachers.

Sam looked around at their basketball team, The Tigers. How original. They were all dressed in their basketball uniforms, which was an orange shirt with a growling tiger on it and 'Middleton Tigers' across the top, and black basketball shorts.

She watched Andrew talking to Jared Williams, who was a really bad player with a really good mind for making up plays. She smiled, watching him smile. 'He really is pretty cute,' she thought, a dreamy look coming over her face. 'No! No, no, no, no, and no! He's my best friend! I do not like my best friend!' She blinked her eyes furiously and looked away from Andrew, trying to forget the thought.

She looked over to the team they were challenging, the Brown Bears. Their uniforms were much cooler than theirs were. They were brown, with a huge paw on the front of the shirt and actual rips on the back, which she took to be claw marks, with 'Never Mess With a Bear' over it. The shorts were brown, as well. 'Andrew still looks better in the Tiger outfit…' she thought. 'Ack! No! Stop! Evil mind! I DO NOT LIKE Andrew!'

Maggie came back over to her, smiling. "Alright, it's all set. I'll be announcing the game," she said proudly.

Sam was still trying to clear the thought from her mind, ignoring Maggie.

"Hello, Sam! I get to announce the game! All operations go! Sam! Listen to me!" she yelled, everyone in the gym turning to listen.

"Heh," she said, a red blush creeping across her face. "Sorry, everyone, go about your business. Sorry…" she mumbled. Everyone laughed and went back to what they were doing. "Sam!" she whispered.

Sam was currently doubled up in laughter, unable to do anything but breathe, if that.

"Ugh, you're so impossible!" she sighed, dragging her over and depositing her on the front row of the bleachers, then sat down next to her.

A few minutes later, when Sam had finally stopped laughing, the cheerleaders arrived. Their uniforms were quite different from the basketball team's. Their uniforms probably shouldn't have been allowed on campus. They were comprised of an alarmingly short orange skirt with a black stripe around the bottom, and an orange halter bathing suit top with the same picture of a growling tiger on the front. Their pompoms were, of course, black and orange.

"Yech," said Maggie. "At least they'll have bathing suits on."

Sam nodded. "I can hardly wait."

After a few more minutes of waiting, the crowd started to fill in. Andrew and the team went into the boys locker room, and the Bears went into the girls locker room. Out of the gathering crowd a few people laughed at this.

"They're so immature," Maggie whispered into Sam's ear.

"I know," Sam agreed, "You'd think they were still five. Some of them still think the word 'butt' is hilarious. They need to grow up."

Maggie agreed.

It took about fifteen minutes for the bleachers to fill up and the PTA moms to start the bake sale in the corner, when finally Coach Larson came out and gave the microphone to Maggie, telling her to start announcing.

Maggie giggled, taking the microphone and thanking Coach Larson before he went back into the locker room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Americans of all ages," Maggie started into the microphone, "We are gathered here today to witness a hardcore game of basketball between two of the best schools in our county, heck, in our country. Please welcome, your Middleton Tigers!"

At this the band played the school fight song, and the Tigers ran out from the locker room. Andrew ran past them and looked, bewildered at Maggie, who was just having way too much fun announcing. Sam smiled and gave him a nod. He looked scared, which made Sam laugh.

"And, please shout out for the challenging team, the Brown Bears from John C. Brown High School!"

The team ran out from the girl's locker room to rather violent booing and yells of, "You suck!" here and there. The teams took their positions, and Andrew and a rather tall, blonde boy came forward to start off the game.

"Andrew Luis and Kenny Harris step forward to begin the game that will distinguish one of these two schools from the entire district. And Luis hits it over Harris' head, right into the waiting arms of Eddie McIntyre!"

For a while Sam zoned out, wondering about how much trouble this prank was going to get her in. It wasn't until Maggie shook her and pointed to the timer, which said 1: 34, that she finally took her leave and got up. She walked over to the boys locker room door and, while everyone wasn't looking, slipped in to hide, a remote in her hand.

A minute and a half later the bell sounded, and she could hear Maggie's voice, "And it's a Tiger win! 64 to 62! We won!"

The sounds of screaming and shouting came to her from inside of the locker she had picked to hide in. A moment later the team rushed inside the locker room, followed quickly by the cheerleaders, who saw themselves as part of the team, even though the coach had other ideas. Sam smiled. This was even more perfect than she could have imagined.

"Great game, great game everyone!" Coach Larson shouted over the celebrating. "It is with great anticipation that we await–"

"Let's give it up one more time for your school's champions, and the cheerleaders that cheered them on!" Maggie's voice screamed.

Coach Larson sighed, and motioned them all to go out. They screamed one more time and everyone but Andrew ran out quickly, hands raised in the air.

"The end," Sam whispered, and flicked the switch.

One moment she heard sounds of intense screaming and cheering, and all of a sudden there was a loud splash! This was immediately followed by hundreds of splashes, and then, complete silence. Andrew and Coach Larson ran out. After about thirty seconds, she heard it: the first laugh, which was quickly followed by another, and then another, until the whole gym was bursting with laughter. She quickly got out of the locker and ran over to the Coach's set up desk, where the microphone for the PA system was. She took a deep breath. This was it. In a second the whole school would know she was the one who had done it. She flicked the switch.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I hope you've enjoyed our show for tonight. I must say I was quite impressed with it. This goes out to Eddie McIntyre and Veronica Strauss. How do you like me now, eh?

"If you two don't want this to happen at every single game this season, then I suggest you stop what you are doing. You know who this is. Good night, ladies and gentlemen. Good night Veronica and Eddie." She said the last sentence sarcastically and flipped off the switch, running with all her might out the front door of the boys locker room, and into the school hallway.

She ran without being pursued about fifty feet, and was near the front door when someone burst from the locker room door. It was Eddie.

She stopped running and looked at him long enough to see that he was covered in blue gunk and gave him a small smile before running the five feet to the door and breaking free.

"I'm gonna get you back for this, McNally! If it's the last thing I ever do, you'll pay!"