Chapter 13: Duck Tape
A/N- Chapter 12 was plot bunny inspired, and I was on way too much caffeine when I wrote this one, so the story's kinda out of whack as far as the plot goes. It'll be getting back to the point next chapter. ^_^ Speaking of chapters, in case anyone's interested, this story's supposed to go up to 16, so this is almost done, yay. POVs switch around in this one, fun. Scooter's for now.
*****
The locker room looks like a war zone.
The Ducks are still out on the ice celebrating. When they get back in here, sparks are gonna fly. I don't think I want to be here when it happens. "We should go. Now."
Rat and Jay glance at me. "I think we should wait," the rodent points out. "Not that I think they'd really believe you were in on this, but that would clear you without a doubt. They know you wouldn't be stupid enough to hang around after sabotaging the place, even if you did do it." She's right. I suppose.
I got a little suspicious, earlier, when Riley and Cole said they couldn't make it to the game. But I chalked it up to them not wanting to see the Ducks do anything that might make them look good. When I saw them, at the end of the third period, near the entrance to the Duck locker room, I figured out pretty much what was going on. I knew better than to ask any of my teammates to come along, but I headed down to check things out. I ran into Rat on the way, she called Jay down, and here we are.
It's a mess. The guys really outdid themselves this time. There's duct tape doubled up on the locker handles, so the Ducks'll get stuck when they try to open them, and it doesn't matter anyway because the lockers are superglued shut. Everyone's clothes are in one of the showers and drenched with paint, and their shoes are hanging from the shower rod. They put duct tape in strategic points on the walls hoping for an unfortunate Duck to brush against it and get stuck. And on every wall, writing. EDEN HALL SUCKY DUCKIES!
I could go on, but I think I've said enough.
Rat immediately starts untying the first shoe's laces. "First we help clean this mess up. Then we help them get revenge."
"As long as I'm not getting revenged on."
She laughs, and I join her with the shoelaces. Jay starts pulling the duct tape off the walls. And now of all times is when the Ducks come in.
Charlie is the first to speak. "They're. Gonna. Die."
"Let us help," Rat offers, tossing the first shoe on the ground. "And don't kill Scooter."
"We know better than that," Julie assures her. But she's mad. And she's beautiful when she's angry... shut up, Scooter! You've got more important things to worry about. "So Scooter, will you help us out too?"
I exchange glances with the soccer players, then with the Ducks. "Okay, but there's not a lot I can do."
"Just tell us when your next practice is. We know you don't have any more home games," Russ instructs. Fair enough, I can do that. The rest of the Ducks start cleaning. "They like duct tape? We'll give em duct tape."
*****
Rat's POV
Varsity practices late. They're
going until 10 tonight. Good. That means we'll have plenty of time.
Jesse, Adam, Charlie, and I meet outside the rink at 9. We wait. Jay's late, and Julie and Connie are getting the duct tape. We make up the second unit. Ken and Russ, the first unit (and orchestrators of the plan) are probably already there. And already done. And wondering where the hell we are.
Dwayne is already mounted on a horse he and Charlie swiped from the Eden Hall stables earlier, before rendezvous. He's patrolling the area with a radio. Just in case anyone happens to be wandering around.
Connie runs up to us. Julie's behind her, carrying a big backpack. We don't have to ask to know that it's full of duct tape. "Twelve rolls," the Cat breathes. "Are we ready?"
"Waiting on Jay," I answer. No sooner are the words out of my mouth then my slacker of a boyfriend shows up.
"Sorry," he apologizes quickly. "Coach Anderson almost caught me and I had to take a detour." Coach Anderson is the Warrior soccer coach. And he's the last person you want to be found by. It's not that Jay would've gotten in trouble, we're not past curfew for another half hour. But Coach likes to know where his players are. At all times.
"Yo, Cowboy!" Jesse hisses into the radio. "All clear?"
"All secure from where I'm standin'. Go on in."
The locker room is quiet, but the two mastermind Ducks are there, as expected. Russ Tyler and Ken Wu. I don't know them well, but I do know that anybody who could think of a plan like this have to be either sadistic or brilliant. Freezing their clothes! Gotta love it.
"We're done," Russ announces, patting the liquid nitrogen tank they're holding. "Scooter's locker is over there. We closed it already, but just so you know." Scooter was given a North Stars baseball cap and ordered to put it in his locker, so we'd know which one not to sabotage.
"You know, we should really be taping mirrors all over," Jay observes. "Nothing could traumatize those goons like seeing their faces."
"Unless we put pictures of you on all the lockers," I crack. He slugs me. Adam laughs.
We set to work. First, we go to the each of the open lockers—with neat little piles of frozen clothes inside them—and close the doors, duct tape them shut, and double up the tape. Then we tape all their shoes to the floor. Then, we write on the walls. (With duct tape, of course.)
EVERYBODY LOVES DUCK TAPE!
Right on time, the third unit arrives. They were out getting their own supplies. They're the largest group, all the rest of the Ducks, but they have the biggest job. The different groups aren't sticking around while the next team does their work, at least if one gang gets caught we won't all get caught. Russ and Ken have already left.
The rest of the tape unit leaves, but I decide to stick around. I don't have anything else to do, and I want to know what the third part of the plan is. They never told us any details. Just that it's big.
I don't really know any of these Ducks, just the names. At least I think I know the names. There's Averman, Goldie.... Goldie? That doesn't sound quite right but oh well. And Luis... pretty sure that's right... and the Bash Brothers (somebody Portman and somebody Fulton). I already know Guy, I met him once when he showed up at Julie's dorm to get Connie.
Speak of the devil. "Hey Rat," Guy calls from where he's dumping magenta paint into somebody's shoes, "if you're going to stay here you have to help!"
Like I'm going to complain.
The paint is nice and thick and disgusting and a godawful shade of pink. What more could you ask for? We have to be careful not to get any paint on the outside on the shoes, so they won't have any warning.
After the shoes, we hit the showers. Duct tape over the shower heads, except for the last one. We just tape that one up so they can't get any hot water. Hey, if they're desperate enough, they'll use it anyway. We duct tape the shower curtains to the walls, while we're at it.
For the final touch, we took a big banner with the Duck logo and duct taped it to the wall.
9:45, 15 minutes past curfew. We should get out of here. Right around the same time we get to the door, though, Dwayne's voice comes through the radio. "The Dean's comin'! Get outta there!"
Oh, man. Busted.
*****
Scooter's POV
I would've given anything
to have a camera when we walked into the locker room.
"DUCKS!"
"Naturally," Darrow agrees. He looks highly amused, though it definitely isn't because he likes the Ducks. He's just annoyingly cheerful. Besides, somebody has to be impressed that the Ducks one-upped us. "Don't you guys know by now that if you do something they'll get us back?"
Cole scowls and slams him into a locker, where he gets stuck on the doubled-up tape.
I shake my head and go over to my locker—which is completely untouched. Just like they promised. The rest of the team files back to the showers.
Another yell. "Those damn Ducks mutilated the showers!" Riley comes tearing back into the locker room. And he catches sight of me. "Hey Scooter, why isn't your locker taped up?"
Uh oh. "I had it closed. Maybe they thought it was empty?" But I don't think he's buying it. It's only when someone yells that one of the showers is working (followed by another scream about cold water) that he leaves. I change as quickly as I can, because I know I'll be branded a traitor the second the rest of the team hears.
Was a laugh worth that?
But then I think of Julie. Yeah, it was all worth it.