Danny Ocean's breath fogged on a window. That familiar sickening smell of brown plastic-leather-nylon bus seat filled his nostrils as he exhaled, fogging the window again. He contemplated writing something on the glass, but reminded himself he wasn't a fourth grader anymore. The simple entertainments of the past just weren't enough to quench the thirst of mischief that parched his throat. It had evolved over the years from the uncomplicated (water balloons, whoopee cushions) to the advanced ("canning" cars, bottle rockets and fireworks) to the immense (setting up a faux press conference in front of his high school for the principal to announce his "coming out of the closet"), the latter of which finally got him into the kind of trouble he'd been dreaming about. He was lucky he wasn't expelled, but his father went to school with one of the members of the school board and had his sentence reduced to a month's suspension, an equal amount of grounding from his parents and revocation of his car. Now the suspension was up, and it was back to the daily grind of homework and awkward social situations.

This reminded him, he hadn't talked to Tess or anyone else at school, since he left.

The bus came to a halt in the student unloading area behind the school. One by one, it emptied, and Danny stood face to face with Rusty Ryan, his best friend. They hadn't seen each other since the Press Conference prank, but neither of them really worried. Danny knew he'd see Rusty again and Rusty knew Danny wouldn't give him up to the school board.

"How was the vacation?" Rusty said, taking a big bite out of what looked like an English muffin breakfast sandwich.

"Like I had always imagined it," Danny said, "boring, drawn out, useless. Kind of like school,"

Rusty shook his head, "I guess it hasn't changed you at all,"

"Not in the slightest,"

They walked side by side through the student quad, working their way through groups of students before finally reaching North Hall, the whole way random students greeting them excitedly.

"Hey Danny! Good to see you back!"

"Lookin' good Rusty,"

"Danny, the man with the plan, how you been?"

"Rusty, you said you were going to call!"

Danny stopped and looked into a classroom, which happened to be Tess' homeroom.

"She changed homerooms. She changed a lot of stuff," Rusty said, over Danny's shoulder.

"Like what?"

Rusty could only smile before he continued down the hall.

--- --- ---

Tess and Danny had been dating since sophomore year. They had their fair share of ups and downs, but nothing compared to the falling out after he was caught. She was currently the leading student in the junior class, and was trying to secure an early scholarship from Princeton, and being the girlfriend of someone who tried to make the very masculine principal come out of the closet might hurt her chances of going to college. She swore she would never talk to him again.

"Which might explain why she's not here today," Rusty said as they walked into their own homeroom. It was almost empty, sans a few students and Mr. Turentine, who sat behind his desk, giving a hearty wave as they entered.

"Good morning boys! Danny, good to see you again. I trust you're completely rehabilitated?" he said with an ounce of playfulness in his voice.

"Of course, Mr. Turentine,"

"I'd expect nothing less," Mr. Turentine laughed, "What a world! Punish a student by giving them a vacation from school!" He turned his attention back to his computer. A kid Danny had never seen before caught his eye. He was sitting in the far corner, arms folded on his desk, his chin propped on his wrist.

"Who's that?" Danny asked Rusty, as they sat in their usual spots close to the door. Rusty looked over his shoulder.

"Oh, that's…I can't remember his first name. Moved from Chicago, I think. He's brand new,"

"What's his last name?"

"I don't know, Baldwin or Caldwell, I can't remember," Rusty said, more focused on opening the granola bar he had been keeping in his jacket pocket.

"What happened to the sandwich?" Danny asked.

Rusty looked up, "I finished it,"

An awkward moment passed between them. Danny glanced up at the clock. Just enough time…

"So, are you ready?" Danny asked.

"No," Rusty said, without looking up.

"Why not?"

"And I don't think you're ready either,"

"Oh come on!"

Danny's shouting caught the attention of Mr. Turentine, who gave them the "quiet down" gesture. Rusty leant low over the table.

"You just got back from a suspension, you're lucky you weren't expelled, and you've already got something up your sleeve? As your best friend, I must advise you to wise up,"

"Russ, it's not that simple,"

"Wait a while," Rusty said, Danny exhaling in frustration. "Take your time, get caught up here and then we'll start thinking about doing something else. You know I'm right, admit it,"

Danny shook his head, "This is different. This is going to be bigger than anything that's ever been done. It's going to need planning and a large crew. More than just me and you this time,"

Intriguing, Rusty thought, Okay, I'll humor you.

"Okay, I'll humor you,"

"Good," Danny pulled out a little notebook, the green cover worn down to the white in some spots, the corners of the pages torn and curled. He flipped to a page in the middle, "Okay, we've been challenged,"

A pause from Rusty, "A challenge?" He really had no idea what Danny was talking about.

"Yeah, a challenge. Who can pull off the better prank,"

Rusty was thoroughly confused now, "Between me and you?"

"No," Danny rolled his eyes, "Terry Benedict,"

"Terry Benedict challenged us? Why would he challenge us?"

"He said he thought the press conference gag wasn't very impressive, that he thought he could pull a better prank, things escalated from there and we got a challenge,"

"That doesn't sound like Terry at all. Why would the varsity quarterback challenge us to anything that doesn't involve smashing into each other on a football field?"

Danny shrugged, "All that matters now is that we've got a challenge,"

Rusty chewed his granola bar and sat up straight, "You got anything in mind?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't involve the school this time,"

"What, you want to hit another school?"

Danny shook his head and held up three fingers. Rusty did a double take before taking another bite of his granola. He chuckled in his throat, "Three schools in one night?" Rusty said, as Danny nodded. "Well, you know I can't say no to that,"

"That's what I was counting on," Danny said.

--- --- ---

Rusty sat on the bus after school, swaying back and forth as the large yellow transport traveled down the suburban streets of Northwood. He glanced briefly out the window before turning his attention back to the green notebook in his hands, turning pages after scanning Danny's three school plan.

"Mm," Rusty made unrecognizable noises as his eyes went over the notes, one thing piling on top of another, "Oo. Well, if I'm reading this right, and I'd like to think that I am, this is probably one of the most elaborate and well timed pranks in the history of high school pranks,"

"You got it. I had a lot of time on my hands recently, I figured I'd put it to good use," Danny said. He had been watching Rusty's face, as it changed from surprised to horrified to impressed and everything in between. "What do you think?"

"I think you're out of your mind and any self respecting student with even the slightest aspirations of a bright future wouldn't even think about joining you in this ludicrous venture…You're just lucky my schedule is free for the next week,"

A tiny smile cracked the corner of Danny's mouth. Not at Rusty's misleading joke, but at the excitement he failed to hide in his voice.