"The Ballin' Pranksters in… A Call To Action!"

Chapter 1

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

~In the city of Eugene, Oregon, 2035…

~Six Weeks Before The Mansion Heist

Michelle Wittman… there are times where I just don't understand her.

Charlotte Withers: Most Popular Girl In School, sat in the back of her first-period class wondering what happened earlier this morning.

She was about to come out of the guidance office after a peaceful talk with her counselor, when Michelle, Vanessa, and Gregory ran down the hallway. They were escaping from Mack Mackenzie, who was mad at Michelle because she wrote nasty things about him in her private journal, which was read over the announcements by an anonymous thief.

Of course, Charlotte didn't know their situation, so she simply stared at them awkwardly.

But she recalled Michelle staring back at her and the room sign next to the door, looking at her as if she did something bad. The last thing she remembered was that her rival planning to say something, but the bulky hall monitor chased her down the hallway.

Since that moment, Charlotte hadn't seen her.

So, she simply sat in her seat wondering what happened next. She had never shown much concern for people like Michelle but seeing her running for her life got her curious. Her curiosity distracted her from taking notes regarding the class's lecture.

She spent her time back and forth at the window and her notebook. All she heard were mumbled murmurs coming from her teacher; she wasn't paying attention to a word she was saying.

One moment, she says she'll never speak to me again and the next thing I know, she's looking at me as if I got the bubonic plague. And why was she running from Mack? What, did she steal a piece of his chicken pot pie or something?

She rolled her eyes and finally returned her attention to the front of the class, where Lorna Lonnie: English Teacher, was teaching the class about an important topic.

Or at least, a topic she thought was important.

"A persuasive essay may be difficult to write for some people, but it's actually a lot simpler than you think," Lorna explained with a smile on her face, as she approached the green board that had the word Persuasive written in white chalk. "Most people think you're just convincing someone to do or buy something, but there's a lot more to it than that. You see, kids, there's-"

Suddenly, the class was interrupted when they heard a loud creek come from the door.

Charlotte, Wendy, and the rest of the class turned around and stared at the three teenagers arriving late to class.

Those students were none other than Michelle Wittman: Master Pranker, Vanessa Bowman: Junior Scientist, and Gregory Sport: A Kid Trapped in the Past.

All three of them looked at the thousands of eyes staring at them, as they stood there awkwardly. The two teenage girls tried to walk over to their seats whereas their only male friend's forehead began to sweat. He rubbed his hands together before he finally made a move.

Lorna folded her arms and shook her head. "Michelle Wittman, Vanessa Bowman, and Gregory Sport. If the three of you are going to come late to my class, could you at least do it discreetly?"

"S-sorry, Mrs. Lonnie," Gregory apologized with a nervous smile on his face.

"Would you mind explaining why you're late?" Lorna inquired.

Gregory gulped.

Michelle took a deep breath. "It's quite simple, Mrs. Lonnie. My friends and I were-"

WHAM!

Mack "Big Truck Buck" Mackenzie: Aggressive Hall Monitor kicked open the door and stared at the three escapees. His face was as red as a tomato and he was panting heavily. Pointing a large finger at them, he snarled while huffing and puffing.

"YOU! Big Truck Buck will dismantle-"

"Mack Mackenzie!" the slender teacher stopped the hall monitor's threat. "How dare you kick the door to my classroom open like that!?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Lonnie," the hall monitor placed his hands together and said both angrily and nervously. "Mean pranker girl wrote bad stuff about Big Truck Buck in her journal."

"How many times have I told you to use your normal voice?"

"What normal voice?"

Lorna sighed and gently facepalmed herself. "Can someone, in proper English, explain to me what happened?"

"Somebody," Michelle began to explain before she glared at Charlotte. "Stole my private notebook and read a page from it over the announcements. Mack got pissed and started chasing me and my friends around the school."

"Which reminds me, Hun," Jasmine Brynner: Passionate Country Singer, raised her hand and snapped at the pranker. "How could you write something so mean? Do you not realize you hurt somebody's feelings?"

"It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone," Michelle retorted, folding her arms. "I was just writing how I feel."

"And you feel that Mack's an idiot?" Jasmine raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Michelle shouted before she found herself in a tight spot. "Well, no… Look, this is nobody else's business! Somebody stole my notebook and I know exactly who that person is! They're somewhere in this room, and I won't say who it is because they know who they are!"

"Michelle, I need you to relax," Lorna said calmly.

"I'm sorry for lashing out like this, Mrs. Lonnie, but that journal means more to me than you think. That thief's got a nice set of balls if they think reading a page from that thing over the announcements is a good idea. They just wrote themselves a death sentence!"

"And I understand why you're upset," Lorna took a deep breath. "Perhaps you and I can discuss this problem after class. You can tell me who did it and we can bring them to the principal's office, where our very own principal will simply tell them to stop doing what they're doing. That outta set them straight, right?"

"What, no! Scolding them isn't going to solve the problem, Miss Lonnie. That person should be punished for invading my personal privacy!"

"Define punished, Michelle."

"I don't know, suspend them! Give them triple detention! Make them clean the gum off the bleachers with a toothbrush! Something that'll teach them a lesson!"

All Lorna could do was chuckle. "Michelle, Michelle, Michelle, you know our school's policy. Just because someone hurt your feelings doesn't mean they should be severely punished. We'll just talk to them and they'll learn their lesson, simple as that. Do I make myself clear, Michelle?"

The teenage girl was confused and angry at the same time. "But-"

"I said… do I make myself clear?" Lorna said again in a stern tone.

Michelle was about to retort once more, but once she saw the different looks she was getting from the other students, she took a deep breath and nodded. "I understand, Miss Lonnie."

"Good," Lorna smiled. "Now, let's all sit back down and resume our class."

Michelle, Gregory, Vanessa, and Mack sat in their seats.

Charlotte and Wendy exchanged a curious glance.

"As I was saying," Lorna turned her back to the class and continued her lecture. "A persuasive essay is more than just convincing someone to do something, it mainly revolves around why they should do it. Let's say your friend has…" she snapped her fingers as she tried to come up with an example. "What do you kids play with nowadays besides your phones?"

As Michelle watched her teacher get lost in her thoughts, she heard a soft grunt come from her right. At first, she thought Gregory was clearing his throat, but his voice sounded too dark. Finally, she turned her grassy green eyes to her right and saw that Mack was glaring at her, releasing grunts and growls.

He had a pencil in his hand, and he was squeezing it tight. Within a matter of seconds, the pencil was snapped in half.

Michelle flinched a little bit before she turned back to her teacher.

"Ah, that's right! Video games!" Lorna snapped her fingers. "What's that new game console everyone's been fighting for since 2020? The PS4?"

"Actually, it's the PS5," Tracy Lamarche: Future World Ruler raised her hand. "You see, the console was developed with high-quality hardware in mind, so game developers are able to-"

"Thank you, Tracy," Lorna interrupted her ramble. "I know I'm old, but I do know how the PS5 is supposed to work. Anyways, say you're friends with someone who has the previous PlayStation, and you want to persuade them to buy a new one. The most important thing you need a call to action. Now, most of you are probably wondering what that means. Businesses do this a lot as a marketing strategy."

As the slender teacher explained what a call to action was, Vanessa heard whispering come from her left. She slowly turned around and overheard a conversation between Tracy and Lacey.

"How could Michelle say those mean things about Mack?" Lacey Paulson: Upbeat Athlete whispered to her best friend. "Doesn't she care about other people's feelings?"

"It's none of our business," Tracy replied. "Besides, if she were to write horrible things about you and me, she will suffer the wrath of my genius. I will make sure these drones I'm making for my presidential campaign will… what does the saying go, knock her socks off? Which is physically impossible to do, by the way. Believe me, I tried."

Vanessa rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the class.

Gregory was the most nervous out of the three. Not only did he have the unfortunate luck of sitting behind Mack, but he also heard many whispers and sounds come from the room. Not only was Lorna lecturing, but Charlotte and Wendy were whispering to each other. He tried not to make his eavesdropping look obvious, so he accidentally knocked his pencil on the floor and leaned down to pick it up.

But as he placed his hand on the tip of the eraser, he paused to hear what the two bullies were talking about.

"You should have seen it, Charlotte, it was crazy," Wendy McFadden: Charlotte's Second In-Command, spoke softly, looking around to see if anyone was listening.

She soon locked eyes with Gregory, who quickly picked up his pencil and leaned back in his chair. He still listened to the conversation.

"I was about to go up the elevator when Mack asked me if he could use it," the Japanese girl continued.

"So, what?" Charlotte shrugged. "You were being nice and let him go up first, what's the big deal?"

"No, you don't understand. Somebody read Michelle's journal over the announcements and she read some things about Mack. Makes me wonder if she wrote nasty things about other people." She smirked and rubbed her hands together.

The dark-skinned bully raised an eyebrow, but the other one soon went up as soon as she noticed Michelle was staring at her like a hawk stalking a snake. The ponytailed girl cracked her knuckles and released a silent chuff.

Charlotte turned back to Wendy, hoping Michelle would stop her staring. "What are you getting at?"

"We should find the guy that has her journal and work alongside them. Michelle clearly humiliated you last night."

"Don't!" Charlotte snarled a little louder than she thought. She quickly covered her mouth and leaned back in her seat, hoping nobody noticed.

Thankfully, Jasmine and Walter were the only ones who noticed. They briefly looked over their shoulders before they went back to their notices.

Pressing her hand against her stomach, Charlotte took a deep breath and faced Wendy. "Sorry… I just don't want to talk about it."

"M-my bad, Charlotte," Wendy said with a frown on her face. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's okay… but what were you going to say?"

"I was going to suggest we work with whoever read Michelle's journal and convince them to help us get back at her. Maybe we can gun for Vanessa too. With those two humiliated, they'll be too scared to show their faces around the school, meaning we won't have to deal with their annoyance again. And…" she looked left and right before leaning towards her best friend. "You and Gregory could finally get together."

Charlotte's eyes lit up when she heard that, as she looked forward and watched the old-fashioned boy himself scratch the back of his head. She smiled and pressed her chin against the palm of her hands. Her eyes lit up with sparkles and her heart began to beat. She found herself lost in the moment before she realized Michelle was still glaring at her.

Feeling mad her thoughts of romance were ruined, she stuck her tongue out and made a smug smirk.

Michelle clenched her fists and mouthed these words, "You're dead! I know it was you!"

Charlotte was confused. "What?"

"I said you're dead!" Michelle mouthed her threat again. "I know you stole my journal!"

The bully scratched her chin and snapped her fingers. She made another menacing grin before she whispered. "I can't understand you; can you speak up?"

Michelle slammed her fists against the desk and stood up, pointing a finger at Charlotte. "I SAID YOU'RE DEAD!"

Everyone in the class paused, horrified by the sound of her voice.

Lorna jumped back a few feet.

Michelle puffed and slowly glanced around the room. Vanessa, Gregory, and everyone else were staring back at her. Her cheeks began to turn red and she glared back at Charlotte, who was snickering alongside Wendy. Clenching her fists, she sat back down and shook her head.

"Miss Wittman," Lorna said in a stern tone. "If you're going to threaten someone like that, at least pass a note. The last thing I need is someone shouting death threats in my classroom! Also, what did I just tell you before? Aggressiveness doesn't resolve conflict, kindness does."

This caused the class, except Gregory and Vanessa, to laugh.

Michelle folded her fingers together and listened to her teacher, who kept talking about the lesson.

Of course, Mrs. Lonnie would turn this situation into a joke. Like a lot of teachers in this school, she expects the victims and bullies to work out their own problems. I've dealt with Charlotte bullying me for years and I've never had to ask someone for help. Why? Because Charlotte didn't pose much of a threat back then. Now that she has my journal, she's able to expose me in front of the whole school.

Something HAS to be done.

Leaning to her left, Michelle tapped Vanessa on the shoulder and whispered, "Yo, at lunch… You, me, and Gregory need to talk."

Vanessa winked and gave a thumbs up.

Michelle leaned back in her seat and spoke to herself through her thoughts.

I'm just glad I have my best friends by my side. What I have planned requires their help. While they may not be as experienced in pranking as I am, well Gregory needs the most work, but I have the perfect plan that can help them become master prankers.

Watch yourself, Charlotte Withers… you just made the biggest mistake of your life.