"Holy shit." Gilbert whispered.
He didn't have the stink bomb on him, did he? He didn't remember whether Francis had handed it to either him or Antonio just now.
The principal was right in front of him, just beyond the courtyard in the hall walk on the other side, taking strides as if everything was normal.
But he knew not everything was normal.
He, Antonio and Francis had skipped fourth class for the tenth time this month and he was sure that the principal was searching for the three of them to give them a piece of mind.
It was his idea to plant a stink bomb in the school's main ventilation shaft and it was his mouth that he had run to Francis and Toni about them helping him to do it. However, when he told them to meet him at the usual spot in the south walk way; he hadn't taken careful notice that the principal would do the daily rounds around the campus.
Just. For. Them.
They were definitely getting it this time, even if the school board couldn't expel them; they were seriously going to have to lift water buckets for 24 hours or something bat shit crazy extreme like that.
Not to mention his younger bro was going to have a cow if he got caught again, this being the midterm season and he should be studying instead of goofing off to pull pranks as dumb as the one they were pulling now.
However, the idea seemed fun, and Antonio and Francis had happily agreed to it when he pitched the idea as they were in the detention hall together for the 3rd time this week.
Antonio had put the ingredients together, and Francis had volunteered some of his more, um, odorous cheeses as the main mixture. Gilbert had made the carefully knit balloon-like sphere, "borrowing" Arthur's sewing kit to stitch it together, and they had gotten so far as to meet up near the south hall walk's huge vent, but as soon as Francis uttered the words "Principale", his Spaniard and French friends had abandoned ship and hid in the bushes.
"Some friends you are,' Gilbert muttered so only they could hear.
The hall had the uncanny ability to make voices echo if you let your voice go above a loud whisper.
"Sorry, Gil,' Antonio apologized sheepishly as he tucked his head and shoulders in the bush.
"It'd be better if the principal saw just you instead of all three of us together, it'd be less suspicious." Francis justified lowly in his heavy French accent as he peeked through some branches.
"Traitors,' Gilbert insisted.
"Who got in trouble for you when you pulled that crutch in the elevator stunt?" Francis whispered tensely.
"Ja, good point."
"Exactly."
"Come, come comida~ Come, come comida!" Antonio sang softly.
"Food again, Toni?" Gilbert asked condescendingly, trying to make himself as small as possible as he pressed up against a doorway to make himself disappear from the headmaster's sight.
"What are you, the Spanish Singing Bush?! Be quiet or the principale will hear us!" Francis scolded.
"I hear someone coming!" Gilbert warned.
The echoing footsteps of a student met the footfalls of the principal as none other than Arthur stopped the headmaster to start a conversation.
"Ah, it's that British hooligan." Francis spat. "No doubt to kiss the principal's feet with his stupid accent."
"I think they're talking about you, Gil,' Antonio whispered.
"Me?" The albino asked incredulously.
"I'll get closer, okay?"
"Hold on Toni, halten sie–!"
Antonio picked up the roots of the bush with his arms and started walking in a crouched position quickly across the green lawn, looking every bit as ridiculous as in the cartoons.
"You fool, that's not going to work!" Francis whispered out uselessly.
The principal and Arthur looked at Antonio and he stopped moving midway.
Then they fell back into conversation and Antonio started moving again.
They looked at him once more and he stopped before they caught him moving again, and then they went back to talking, and the cycle began again.
No freaking waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy...! Both Gilbert and Francis thought.
Although deep inside, they had a begrudging respect for their oblivious friend that somehow got away with such a cheap trick in front of a member of the student council and the principal.
"I-I'm kinda scared of him if he can do that without anyone questioning anything,' Gilbert said warily from his spot on the doorway.
"O-oui, me too." Francis agreed, his voice matching his pale-toned friend's.
They both stared after their Spanish friend tensely, feeling that if they strayed their eyes from the scene playing out in front of them, they would get caught.
Antonio used the same stop-and-go method he used before and promptly made his way back to his friends on the other side of the lawn.
"What did you hear?"
"They said something about Ludwig looking for you." Antonio relayed as he settled back in the place his bush had originally stood.
"Anything else?" Francis questioned.
"Arthur found your perfume bottle alone on the desk when he knows you don't go anywhere without it." He continued.
"Gah! That perfume was expensive! He'd better not toss it or I'll know it was him if he doesn't turn it in to lost and found!" Francis fumed.
"Either way, they're onto us. We'd better not make any thoughtless moves until they're gone." Gilbert advised.
"Agreed, mon ami."
"Si!"
"Great, they're gone. Quick, Francis, hand me the bomb."
"Eh? I thought you had it." He said as he stepped out of the bush, being careful not to tangle his shiny blonde hair.
"No, I handed it to one of you."
They both turned to Antonio.
He looked at them blankly, then he lowered his eyes and started tapping his foot restlessly, his uniform crinkling.
"Toni? What did you do with the stink bomb?"
"I thought it would have been better if I kept it in the fridge in the teacher's lounge…so it wouldn't lose its freshness…"
"THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE?"
There came a sound of a sizeable explosion reverberating from the east hall.
"BAD COMPANYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" A female roar rang.
No doubt it was Professor Britannia.
"Merde. We're going to be cooked like geese." Francis muttered solemnly.
"TONI! Why did you put it in the teacher's fridge!" Gilbert yelled as he held his tan companion's cheeks pressed between his pale hands.
"You didn't exactly tell me where to put it when you gave it to me!"
"Never mind that, I hear Prada heels! RUN!" Francis advised as he started to sprint, his two friends following along.
"You three! The devil's triplets you are!" A Celtic-British accent thundered, echoing in a scary manner throughout the halls. "I curse all of your names!"
"Gah, I've always thought women were scary!" Antonio whimpered.
"Not just any women, mothers!" Gilbert added as they both turned a corner to try to lose the fiery-haired woman who was pursuing them like a frightening monster.
"Now I see there that black sheep gets it from!" Francis put in as they climbed upstairs and hid in one of the classrooms.
They all huddled in sitting positions underneath the window facing away from the doors.
"If we wait until she's gone, we'll be okay! They can't prove it was us who put it in the teacher's lounge! Ha ha…" Francis pointed out, trying to reassure himself more than his friends.
"Did you hear that?" Antonio asked.
"No. Hear what?"
"It sounded like laughing."
"I-it's probably your imagination, she didn't see us come in here."
The windows opened and a dark and ominous being climbed in, its spindly claws scratching paths on the wall and it's pointed feet stabbing holes in the floor, and red terrifying eyes stared into the trio's souls.
"I've got you now…" It said in a guttural voice.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The three of them chorused.
"You three have been nothing but trouble since your enrollment and quite frankly, the headmaster is at his wit's end." Professor Britannia scolded, a ruler in her hand as the three sat at the desks of the very same classroom they tried hiding away in.
Francis waved his hand flirtatiously. "Ah, but you are a kind madam, surely you understand that growing young boys need a healthy dose of–"
"Silence."
Francis looked down awkwardly, troubled that his sweet talk had failed him.
"But I will not give any of you punishments." She finalized, walking to the front desk.
They all straightened in their seats.
"Re-really?! Are you sure?" Antonio asked in disbelief, his emerald eyes shining.
"YES!" Gilbert punched both fists into the air.
"No, because it doesn't work. So I'm going to do something better and more effective." The professor offered.
"Hmm? What's that, professor?" Francis interred.
She lifted up a basket and took out a…. well, it shall be censored here.
"I'll have all of you sample my darling boy's wonderful cooking!" She happily said, a dark aura practically darkening the room.
"No! No, anything but that!"
"That's the most evil punishment in all creation!"
"I'm too awesome to diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!"