Dared 2
Joe's POV
"Are you okay?" Cindy asked carefully, sitting down next to her boyfriend on her bed.
"Not for long."
"Is it the meeting tonight?"
"Yes. Dad will go ballistic when he hears about it."
"Joe." Cindy lowered her voice, all to aware of the fact that her house consisted of both brothers with big ears and police officers. "Are you involved?"
"I don't want you to have to lie to your Dad or brothers."
"I've known them for 16 years Joe, I think I can handle them by now."
"I've known Dad and Danny for that long but they seem to know instinctively when I lie."
"Mom and Dad aren't even here for the week so JJ and Nathaniel are staying with us instead and believe me I have practice with those two. JJ hasn't even heard about the meeting yet and Nathaniel is too wrapped up in his latest project to notice anything else."
"Still."
"Come on Joe, trust me."
"I do, Cindy, more than anything, but you don't want to be involved in this."
"After what he did to Tessa? You bet I want to. He hurt my best friend Joe. I'm not a typical girly girl, I can handle myself if you haven't noticed by now."
"I have." Joe snorted. "And I'm still not bringing you in on any action. Your Dad and brothers would kill me slowly if they ever found out."
"Joe, that's still my decision." Cindy argued stubbornly.
" Okay." Joe sighed in resignation. "We need to leave within the hour though."
"What are you planning?"
"I'll tell you on the way."
-Dared-
"Hi guys." Joe greeted the rest of the group that stood patiently next to their bikes, waiting. "Do you have everything we need?"
"Ski masks, spray paint, the banner, gloves, posters, markers, the strongest tape they had and everything else we may or may not need." Callum listed off. "Including cling wrap."
"Is everybody ready then?" Will asked and handed out the ski masks.
"We should probably ditch the bicycles once we get closer so that nobody recognizes them." Joe realized suddenly.
"Good idea." The six friends biked towards the school and hid the bicycles just outside of school property. With ski masks and dressed in black, they made their way to backdoor nearest the auditorium where the meeting would take place.
"Cindy, why don't you and Wyatt keep watch?" We need somebody at each door." The pair nodded and picked a door each while the rest snuck into the auditorium.
"Joe, take the left back, Will can take the front half. I'll take the right front half and Logan can take the back." Callum ordered, distributing the posters that were meant to go on the chairs.
"Shouldn't we hang the banner first?" Will wondered. It's faster to distribute the posters if we run out of time.
"Good point." Callum thought for a minute. "Joe, how comfortable are you with the thought of climbing?"
"I don't think we have much choice with Wyatt in a cast and your terrible climbing abilities." Joe pointed out but nodded his agreement none the less. The banner had been suited with ropes for this exact purpose, so Joe threaded the ring of rope over his head and arm and Logan following suit. They had scouted out the auditorium a couple of weeks ago in case Mr. Ball would go through with his threat, so they knew the Theatre club's ladder wouldn't be tall enough. All they had were the curtain ropes, but with good climbing abilities, it would be enough. Joe took a deep breath and started the climb. The big banner wasn't heavy, but it still wasn't easy to climb with it attached to him. At the top he made sure he had a good grip with his left hand before removing the rope from around him and trying to fasten the banner with his right hand. They had been smart enough to attach the tape down below, but it wasn't so easy to get it to stick to the wall and not him with only one hand. Once he had gotten the top secured, he cast a quick glance towards Logan who was struggling with the bottom part, having already secured the top. Logan was the monkey of the friend group and trained for Ninja Warrior all the time and everywhere. His teachers usually looked at him exasperated when he yet again hanged in the doorway or the curtain rods. Logans capabilities had come in handy during more than one prank and it had given them a bigger freedom in choosing the pranks.
Joe's strength on the other hand, was his police knowledge. He knew to look out for cameras and silent alarms and was usually sent in before the rest when they started to check for them before they all entered.
Joe's walkie talkie suddenly came to life and Cindy's voice came through his earpiece:
"We've got movement."
"Shit." Callum swore loud enough for them to hear. "Abort!" he shouted into the walkie talkie. Joe and Logan didn't waste any time in climbing down as fast as they could.
"I'm serious guys, it's Harris." Cindy warned them.
"Get in." Joe ordered through the walkie talkie. "Slam the door in his face if you need to, it's locked, and it will buy us a couple of seconds." Wyatt and Cindy wasted no time in doing so and joined their friends sprinting towards the backdoor exit. Less than ten feet from it, the front auditorium door unlocked, and they could hear Principal Harris call out for them:
"Stop!"
"Preferably not." Callum muttered and opened the back door with his gloved hand. Joe had taken it on himself to learn every nook and cranny of the school, so he easily led the way towards the mostly unused back entrance. Only ten feet from it, it suddenly unlocked, and the drama teacher looked at them shocked, but had awareness enough to block the exist none the less. Not wanting to hurt her, Joe turned on his heel and sprinted the other way down the corridor. By this time, the Principal had joined the chase too. Knowing their time was almost up, Joe suddenly caught sight of a classroom door left ajar. Getting an idea, he nodded his head towards it and they all ducked inside, slamming it shut behind them relieved. Joe instantly took a good hold of the door handle to keep the door from opening.
"Block the door." Joe ordered quietly, struggling to keep the doorhandle from going down, even with Callum's help. Wyatt grabbed a chair and wedged it under the door handle with a little trouble. Realizing that they couldn't get inside, principal Harris and the drama teacher started banging on the door.
"Great idea." Will whispered appreciatively. "Only one problem, what do we do now?"
"Climb out through the window." Cindy pointed towards the small window next to the teacher's desk. It was the only openable window in the room.
"I'm not sure it will open far enough for us." Will pointed out.
"We'll have to try and if nothing else break our way out of here." Wyatt shrugged, trying to sound calm, but failing miserably.
The window did indeed not open far enough for anybody but Cindy and Logan to squeeze through.
"We don't have a choice." Callum stated seriously. "As soon as Harris stops trying to get inside, he'll call the police and they will make their way through one way or another, you know that."
"Okay." Joe sighed, knowing that they indeed were out of options. The banging on the door had stopped now and that didn't bode well. "Watch out guys." He called out to Cindy and Logan. "We'll have to do it the hard way."
"Let me do it." Will requested. "The rest of you would be toast if your parents ever found out."
"Gladly."
The rest stepped out of splatter range as Will grabbed a chair and smashed the window with it. The sound echoed in the room and Joe knew there was no way Principal Harris hadn't heard them and was on his way from the outside. He quickly helped Will with the sharp edges of glass left and once the window was clear enough to climb through, he did.
A whistle from Cindy alerted them to the incoming guard just as Wyatt jumped down. They didn't waste any time and ran towards the spot where they had left their bikes. Safely out of sight they ducked into an alleyway without cameras and packed away their ski masks and hoodies.
"That was close." Callum pointed out the obvious.
"Way to close." Joe agreed.
"At least you guys got the banner hang. There is no way they are going to get that down in time." Wyatt said with a grin. "Ball is a bully, was quite genius; I must say."
"Yeah." Joe replied without enthusiasm. The friends bid goodbye after that and headed in their own directions, already dreading the night's conversation with their parents.
-Dared-
Jamie's POV
He had counted on Dad not being happy about the meeting and the blatant show of disrespect towards their teacher, but Dad being this mad about it was surprising.
"… I better not find out that any Reagan is involved, is that clear?!" He finished his lecture with.
"Yes sir." Jamie, Erin and Joe answered in chorus.
"Technically you already have one involved." Danny tried to joke, causing Jamie to groan. Way to go Danny, thanks for making Dad even madder. Danny had much to the surprise of everybody at the dinner table told them that he was helping with the investigation since it was such a small one and his CO thought the experience might be good for him.
Dad didn't answer Danny instead settled for glaring slightly at him.
"Something wrong Joe?" Mom asked all of the sudden, regarding her middle child with a concerned expression.
"No, I'm just thinking."
"About?" She insisted, keeping her calm and kind tone.
"The meeting. How the school has all the parents looking at the wrong culprit here."
"And who do you think we should be looking at Joseph?" Dad asked exasperated.
"Mr. Ball."
"Why?" His Dad asked, in a tone that demanded an explanation.
"Because I'm in one of his classes and I've seen what he has done. He bullies his students. No wonder somebody started pranking him."
"Somebody or you and your friends?"
"Somebody." Joe met Dad's eyes firmly.
"How does he bully them?" Mom asked seriously.
"He made Tessa cry the other day just because she asked to go to the bathroom. And that's just one example."
"He may just need to get comfortable in his teaching role." Their Mom tried.
"Maybe." Everyone could hear that Joe was far from convinced but didn't want to push the issue with Dad in the room.
"Either way, you leave it to the grownups. We've heard the students concern loud and clear right now. Whatever the reason they still broke a window tonight."
"What?!" Jamie asked surprised. "So far they've only done harmless pranks."
"They aren't that harmless anymore." Dad answered firmly. Joe glared at the table, but wisely kept his mouth shut.
"Oh." Jamie replied dumbly. Dad gave him and especially Joe one last look before changing the subject.
-Dared-
"He just doesn't understand." Jamie tried to explain to Joe, who as soon as dinner was over with had mumbled an excuse and sprinted up to his room.
"He takes Bully-Ball's side out of principle." Joe complained.
"I know."
"He doesn't see what Mr. Ball does to us students every day."
"No, he doesn't." Jamie agreed.
"It's like he doesn't believe us." Jamie saw Joe's mask of anger fall or a split second to show the hurt he felt by it.
"I'm sure he does."
"I'm not." Joe stated firmly. "And now that NYPD is involved there is an even lower chance of him believing us."
"What are you complaining about up here?" Danny suddenly showed up in the doorway and gave them a look that showed that he thought they were absolutely ridiculous.
"We're not complaining Danny, we are stating facts."
"Sure." Danny's grin made Jamie see red.
"Do you always have to make yourself look bigger and better?!" Jamie snarled. "Nobody asked for your opinion anyway."
"Jamie…"
"Whatever. Forget it. Think about what I said Joe." Jamie marched out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him.
"We don't slam doors in this house Jameson." His Dad's voice suddenly boomed behind him.
"Sorry sir."
"Did Danny get on your nerves again?" He asked knowingly.
"Yeah."
"You two need to remember that no matter what you are always brothers."
"I know Dad."
"Good. Have you talked to Joe?"
"Yeah, and Danny is right now. I wouldn't talk to him right now though. He's pretty upset." Jamie told him seriously, knowing Dad was the last person Joe wanted to hear from right now.
"I figured. What's your take on this Mr. Ball? You didn't say much at dinner."
"Tessa is the sweetest person I've ever met. To make her cry…and she isn't the only one. The Daredevils have a point behind the pranks."
"Either way they went about it the wrong way."
"I'm not condoning them breaking stuff, but the pranks have all been harmless up until now." Jamie tried to explain. "He really shouldn't be a teacher Dad."
"Has he done anything to you?"
"No."
"Have you seen him do something to somebody?"
"When he started, he mocked anybody who answered a question wrong, so nobody wanted to answer anymore. Mr. Ball got mad and started picking students at random, still picking on those who answered wrong. He sets us up for failure."
"Has somebody talked to principal Harris?"
"Probably, but I don't know. Mr. Ball has a way of making enemies out of those who stand up against him."
Dad nodded thoughtfully.
"The school board will look into it but try to keep out of his way. I don't want you to get caught in the crossfire."
"Yes sir."
"Good night Jamie." Dad patted his shoulder and turned to head back downstairs.
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"When you do talk to Joe, try to listen."
"He doesn't think I did." Frank realized.
"It wasn't an accusation."
"I know." He sighed. "I'll talk to your brother tomorrow, make sure he feels like I've listened."
