Over the next month or so CJ and Steven solidified their routine. Each morning they met at the bus stop where they were becoming good friends with a couple of the other passengers. Once at school they went their separate ways to morning classes and used fifth period science lab to get caught up on the gossip of the morning. In such a large school so much more happened. They ate lunch together with their bus mates and again parted ways for afternoon classes until last period where they shared English together. Mrs. Moretti did not appreciate the exchange of information in her class and so CJ and Steven caught up with events of the afternoon on the bus ride home.
They would then hang out in the DiNozzo kitchen eating snacks and doing their homework. Even though they didn't have the same teachers for subjects like geography and history they did have similar homework and projects.
Their social network grew over the first couple of months to include four guys: Owen, Drew, Atti, Avery and two girls: Ainsley and Ashley. By the time Halloween rolled around "The Gang" as Tony had taken to calling it hung out each Saturday night in the DiNozzo living room watching DVD's and playing cards.
Tony and Ziva both held their breath as Halloween Day came and went with no call from the school regarding CJ. When 16:00 rolled around and there was still no call they looked across the squad room at each other and the tension could be seen escape from their bodies.
It was late November before CJ started to think about a practical joke and really the only reason she did was she had to "fix" a bet she'd made. In science they had been studying membranes and osmosis and Mr. Van Arden had said that if you placed an egg in water it would gain weight as the water passed through the membrane and into the egg. CJ had disagreed and said that with all the minerals, floride, chlorine and such in city water that the egg would lose water therefore losing weight. Mr. Van Arden being a good sport said that they would set up the experiment and it was CJ's job to weigh the egg every few days and in a week they would see who was right. They had bet a nickel on the outcome.
The problem was when CJ got home and she and Steven researched it they found that Mr. Van Arden was right. CJ would lose the nickel bet. And then the idea occurred to her if while weighing the egg she switched for a smaller specimen then it would look as though it had lost water. Steven just shook his head as she described what she was going to do. He knew better than to try and talk her out of it. And as far as CJ pranks go it seemed very mild indeed. So that night they went through the fridge and looked for a smaller egg and so that it could not take on water she sprayed it with hair spray to clog the pores.
As if the angles of practical joking were looking out for CJ they had a supply teacher in science the next day so switching it was easy and she quickly disposed of the larger egg in the girl's bathroom garbage.
It was a full week later that Mr. Van Arden finally asked CJ to get out the egg and weigh it. With the entire class as witnesses CJ weighed the egg and of course it weighed less than at the beginning of the week. Mr. Van Arden was speechless, confused and wasn't sure how that could be possible. The whole class cheered and clapped as he handed over a nickel to CJ. CJ accepted the nickel and turning to the boisterous crowd took an over dramatic bow before returning to her seat. Steven could hardly contain himself knowing what CJ had done. As the class proceeded Mr. Van Arden tried to explain how that shouldn't have happened and tried to answer the questions of few students who like him were very confused.
CJ started to feel guilty, there were a few students in the class who were having difficulty grasping some of the concepts and this experiment not "turning out" had confused them further. The guilt niggled at her throughout the rest of the day and into the evening. Steven and Owen tried to convince that they would be fine, Mr. Van Arden was a good teacher and he would straighten them out.
Walking into science the following day CJ handed Mr. Van Arden a piece of paper and as the students entered and took their seats he unfolded the paper and started to read. He tried really hard to hide the smile and suppress the laugh but just wasn't successful. He looked at CJ and mouthed "Really?" and CJ nodded ever so slightly.
Steven watching this little interaction turned to his friend and asked "What did you do now?"
She whispered "I turned myself in" and when he shook his head in disgust she said "look I don't do guilt well". All he could do was laugh at his friend.
The class settled and waited for Mr. Van Arden to start the lesson instead he began "I would like to read you a little note CJ has left for me" and with that he read aloud the note she had written explaining how she had switched the eggs and how she had used hair spray to prevent the new egg from taking on water. She had taped both the nickel he had given her yesterday and another one as payment of the debt. Once he had finished reading he turned his attention to CJ.
"Miss DiNozzo what do you have to say for yourself?" he was trying with all his might to sound stern but it wasn't coming across that way at all.
CJ able to play into most situations stood to the side of her desk sort of at attention and through gritted teeth to try to keep from laughing out loud responded "I am very sorry sir for any confusion I may have caused."
"You are now are you?"
"Yes sir"
"Come here CJ" he said gesturing with his hand for her to join him at the front of the room as he picked up his pointer with the other.
As CJ made her way to the front of the room the entire class started "OOOOooooooooo" and some students were laughing. The air of the room was jovial as Mr. Van Arden asked CJ to hold out her hand. Because of the look in his eye and the smirk on his face CJ wasn't worried and did as she was told.
The class was still laughing as Mr. Van Arden drew back the pointer and let it fall quickly but lightly on CJ's outstretched palm. She felt it but it truly wasn't meant as a punishment. He repeated the action twice more before he was able to finally pull off a stern voice and say "CJ… do anything like that again and I won't be joking… you understand?"
Smiling her sweetest and most innocent of smiles CJ replied "Yes sir, I understand completely sir". He dismissed her with a tilt of his head and she made her way back to her desk. It took him several moments to regain control of the giggling crowd and finally began his lesson of the day.
Steven took great pleasure in recalling the story over the lunch table to 'the gang'. None of them had known CJ before this year and hadn't heard about her tendency to get herself into trouble. Drew asked how she'd come up with the idea and it was Steven who stepped in to explain about CJ's past. They laughed their way through lunch, gasping only at the lab explosion episode. It was Ainsley who asked "Why haven't you done anything until now? If that was what you did all the time why wait until November, you missed Halloween."
"I guess there were so many pranks going on in the halls around me I didn't feel the urge to do anything. The whole egg thing just "HAD" to be done… I just couldn't let it go by without doing something"
The bell rang and 'the gang' split to go to class. It wasn't until Saturday night in the DiNozzo living room that Avery made the suggestion that they 'the gang' should organize some prank before Christmas break. The idea was well accepted by all but Ashley and she was easily convinced by Steven who told her she could only resist so long so it would be easier if she just gave in now. So the evening turned into a lesson that CJ loving termed "Pranking 101" as she needed to set the rules. She made them all repeat after her "RULE #1 – never screw over your partner". She made sure each and every one of them understood what that meant and the implications. She also had Steven explain in great detail the punishments that were meted out when she had been caught in the past and that having never been caught this year she didn't know what to tell them to expect.
As they all left for home with instructions to think of a prank that they could all be part of and followed all the non destructive, non injuring rules Steven and CJ curled up together on the couch to laugh about the past and hypothesize about the future. CJ's back was against Steven's chest and her elbows were on his knees and every so often she would tip her head back to look up into his face. Over the past year he had gotten considerably taller than CJ and so this was possible. It was in one of these moments of CJ looking up into Steven's face that Tony entered the room. The sense of comfort, belonging and acceptance that these two shared was admirable and yet it terrified Tony. Steven was still a teenage boy and he felt that CJ didn't understand what was happening between them, or maybe she did and that thought scared Tony even more. What if she accepted this 'boy's' advances, what if?..."
Cleaning his throat to notify them of his arrival, Tony continued into the room and offered to walk Steven home as it was so late.
"No need Mr. DiNozzo, but thanks for the offer, that is really kind of you." Steven quickly answered, he had no interest being alone with CJ's dad, he saw how he looked at him.
Well if nothing else Tony thought he was very polite.
CJ leaned forward and the two stood slowly. "I'd best be going" Steven whispered and they bumped fists. Before he turned to leave CJ gently stroked his cheek. He almost tripped moving so quickly to get outside before anyone noticed his reaction to being touched… like that… by her.
Locking the door behind the retreating teen Tony quizzically said to his daughter "Steven's a nice kid" trying to elicit a specific response. All he got was CJ rolling her eyes before turning and heading to her room.
