"New plan, guys," Robin started to say to the gang.
They were all a little disgruntled after the big loss and not exactly looking forward to whatever idea Robin had come up with.
"Do we have to?" Allan whined.
"I haven't even told you yet!"
"Yeah, but I have a feeling it's going to be painful. And I'm not bein' funny, but I don't do pain."
"Will you hear me out at least?"
They all nodded.
"So, it's probably not a good idea to try to beat Vasey's 'Black Knights' in a physical challenge."
"Uh, yeah," Will mumbled.
"So, we're gonna take a different approach for Spring Weekend," Robin explained.
"We're going to just ignore them and have fun and not cause any trouble?" Much asked, hopefully.
Robin shook his head.
"I guarantee you that they'll all be at the water gun fight," he said.
"And I guarantee you that they'll be drunk and belligerent and dangerous," Much replied.
"That may be true, but what does that leave free and clear?"
Marian caught on.
"The house. . ." she whispered.
"Exactly!" Robin said with a clap. "Now, who knows someone with a car?"
"I do, but why?" Djaq asked.
"We need to go to Home Depot."
As they rang up all their supplies at the checkout counter, Much fretted.
"Your little schemes are getting expensive, Robin."
"Relax. Allan's footing the bill."
Much looked confused.
Allan winked.
"Cash or credit?" the woman at the counter asked.
"Credit," Allan answered, swiping a card.
The woman waited for the receipt to print.
"All right, thank you Mr. Vasey. Have a nice day."
Much's eyes widened.
When they were out of the parking lot he exploded. "You stole his credit card?!"
John clamped a heavy hand on Much's shoulder.
"Calm down," he urged. "You're drawing attention."
Djaq pulled the car around.
"You get everything?" she called out from the window.
"Yeah, let's load it up. Hurry, guys!"
The gang took one of the back paths on campus to avoid the Green, where the water gun fight was just breaking out.
Little John had two garden hoses coiled around his shoulders, Will was hefting a large container of car wash soap, while Robin was pulling a wagon with four bags of fertilizer in it.
Marian was in the lead, keeping a lookout with Djaq.
Allan and Much took up the rear.
"I can't believe you stole his credit card," Much whispered, furiously.
"Will you just cool out, man? Geez."
"Don't you have any morals? Any sense of right and wrong?"
"Yeah, what's good for me is right. Everything else is wrong," Allan shrugged.
Much glared at him.
Up at the front, Djaq asked Marian, "Do you think this idea of Robin's is kind of crossing a line?"
"I'm gonna say the line was crossed long ago," Marian sighed.
"Still, I'm a little worried. My parents will kill me if I get in trouble."
"I think Robin's prepared to take the fall for everybody."
"What do you mean?"
"They're gonna kick him out anyway," Marian answered, looking at the ground.
"Seriously?"
She nodded.
"What is he going to do?"
"Oh, I think he'll still be carrying on as usual."
"And you're okay with all this?" Djaq asked.
Marian looked back at Robin.
He grinned and blew her a kiss.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she replied.