The bright, clear morning sunlight shone harshly upon Sabrina's face, making her squint in her sleep.
She wriggled underneath her covers, and opened her eyes, still blinking rapidly because of the brightness. For some reason, she had the undeniable feeling of anticipation. Racking her brain to try and remember what it was, Sabrina pursed her lips in thought.
It was as if a light-bulb had been switched on over Sabrina's head : She remembered.
Leaping out of bed, she pulled on a worn sweatshirt ( even though she wasn't cold her tank top came down to low for comfort ), and charged, as quietly as she could, down towards Puck's room. Last night's entire adventure came back to her so quickly and completely that she felt like a bowl of cereal being drowned in a gallon of sweet cream.
She giggled in delight as she reached Puck's door, which still bore the laughable, yet intimidating signs. She turned the door knob as quietly as she could (Déjà vu! Sabrina thought to herself in annoyance) and pushed open the door more confidently than last night – she knew it didn't squeak. Stepping once more onto the soft grass, she noticed that it was morning here too.
The sun was coming up in Puck's room, but it was an entirely different sun. It was more beautiful, thought Sabrina grouchily. Remembering her task, she looked over to the trampoline, where Puck was sleeping peacefully, still looking like Peter Pan. Or Robin Hood, observed Sabrina thoughtfully, but he would definitely see Peter first.
She decided that the best way to witness this historic prank of hers was to lie down underneath the tramp, since she would be able to see through the black surface and Puck would not think to. Making her way once more through the mangled cakes, she reached the trampoline, and slid underneath it.
The tramp was pretty high off the ground, so, once Sabrina was lying on her back underneath it, where were about 4 feet between her stomach and the underside of the surface of the trampoline. Adjusting her sweatshirt, which had been pulled up to her belly button, Sabrina looked up at the bottom of the trampoline for the first time, and gulped.
There, through the tramp, she had a perfect close-up view of Puck's face, which was pressed up gently against his forearms – he was still lying on his stomach. His hair was falling into his eyes, which gave him a more dashing look. If Sabrina had had the freedom to groan, she would have. This was supposed to show how much she hated him, not renew any sentiments she had had for him!
She tried looking away, but nothing worked. It was as though Puck's face was a magnet, and her eyes were drawn to it. Finally, she gave up, and simply looked at him. Lost in Puck's face, and not really bothering to control whatever random bits of thought that ran through her mind, she thought absently how nice it would be to kiss his beautiful pink lips again, for real. Sabrina thought she might gag. How disgusting! She hated him – right? Right?!
Yes.
No.
Yes!
NO!
An argument was raging inside Sabrina's head, but just as she thought that she had settled on no, Puck stirred. Sabrina froze, mentally and physically. She had forgotten about the prank! She didn't hate him! Then she calmed herself. Even if she didn't hate him, it would be fun to watch his reaction. This was the kind of thing Puck would do to her, She thought wickedly.
Yes, he was defiantly waking up. Yet he was still sleeping. He was talking in his sleep the big dope.
"Sarin – Sab – Sabrin – Sabrina."
Oh No.
Sabrina was blushing furiously, and was horrified and thrilled and happy and angry and hated him. And loved him. She felt as though every emotion she had ever had for Puck was about to come pouring out of her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and struggled to hold it in. Stay focused, she told herself with as much calm as she could, this is just a prank. Stay focused on the prank.
Puck opened his eyes. Sabrina heard herself take a sharp breath.
He rubbed his eyes, which were filled with sleep. He pushed himself into a pushup position, and then knelt on the tramp, making the canvas that was the black surface bend towards Sabrina. Puck scratched his head, but his hand only found the felt hat. Sabrina watched his eyes widen.
He stood slowly, and his eyes found the mirror, which had been placed in front of him. He said nothing for a minute, then took one staggering step backwards, as if he had been hit in the chest. He touched the hat again, and his right hand felt the string on the cape, which was still tied in the bow that Sabrina had knotted. She cringed at the memory. He glanced around at the posters that Sabrina had hoped he would vomit upon seeing. Sabrina saw him look down at the shoes, and she gasped audibly. She was right underneath him, right underneath his shoes. But he didn't see her. Looking slowly back up at the mirror, his eyes softened a little. Sabrina waited excitedly for a scream, all thoughts of sentiments for Puck gone, for the time being.
Puck burst out into hysterical, almost maniacal gales of laughter. Sabrina watched in alarm as he fell onto his back on the trampoline, clutching his stomach as tears of mirth rolled down his red, freckled cheeks. He managed to pull off one of the useless leather shoes, and held it up to his face, still screaming with laughter.
He hurled the shoe into the air, and it landed, several seconds later, next to him on the trampoline.
After around 3 minutes, he stopped laughing, much to Sabrina's intense relief. She had been on the verge of dashing to the phone to call 911, momentarily forgetting that all she would get was one of The Three Little Pigs.
Puck rolled onto his back, and took a deep breath, relaxing. After another minute of deep breathing, he crawled to the edge of the trampoline and slid underneath the netting. Sabrina held her breath, not wanted to call any attention to herself.
But he did not start walking. He did not move once his now bare feet touched the grass. Instead, much to Sabrina's utter horror, her crouched down next to the tramp, and looked straight at her, grinning lazily.
"Hi, Sabrina."