Science
"Gross," Sam cringed as she tossed aside a large bag of potato chips. "These chips are stale, Spencer!"
"Oh I'm sorry, is my food that I let you devour for free not meeting your standards?" Spencer asked, looking up from the sculpture of a snake wearing headphones he was working on.
"No, it's not!" Sam said, standing up from the Shay's couch. "You have any of that pie left?"
"Yeah, it's in the fridge," Spencer nodded. "But make sure you don't finish it! I went to the gym for fourteen minutes today so I'm treating myself to some once I finish this."
"Yeah, sure," Sam said dismissively as she headed straight for the fridge.
"Hey, where's Carly and Freddie?" Spencer asked. "Why didn't they come back from school with you?"
"Because Freddie had an AV meeting and Carly was talking to a teacher about some extra credit assignment," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "They don't realize that you're not supposed to want to stay longer at school once it's over."
Just then the front door opened and Carly and Freddie walked in, Carly covered from head-to-toe in flour, and Freddie with a giant, green stain on the front of his pants.
"Whoa," Spencer said as Sam burst out laughing. "What happened to you guys?"
"I'll tell you what happened!" Carly snapped angrily. "Prank Week happened, that's what!"
"Man, I cannot wait for this week to be over with," Freddie moaned. "This is the fifth prank I've had pulled on me! And it's only Wednesday!"
"Well you guys shouldn't be such easy targets," Sam said. "Hey, at least this is only your first time being pranked, Carls."
"Oh yay," Carly replied dryly. "You know this was a new shirt!"
"Hold on, what's Prank Week?" Spencer asked. "No one ever mentioned a Prank Week! Why don't you people keep me up-to-date? Prank Week sounds like something that'd be right up my ally!"
"No!" Carly said firmly. "There's a reason we've never mentioned it before now! I'm warning you now, Spencer, if you even think about somehow getting involved in this, I'll email dad and tell him that you used half of the last rent check he sent you to buy that super expensive wig!"
"That was for a dare!" Spencer exclaimed. "And relax, I'm not going to get caught up in whatever this Prank Week thing is. I just want to know what it is."
"Oh," Carly said, still giving her brother a suspicious look. "Well, see, it's this new tradition Ridgeway has had for the past few years. Towards the end of each school year, there's one week where all the seniors sort of initiate the juniors to take their place soon by having this whole prank war thing. So all the seniors do things like fill the juniors' lockers with baby oil, put chili powder in their gym shorts, throw bags of flour at them-"
"-Or assault them with paint while they're trying to buy a soda from the vending machine!" Freddie added, pointing to his pants.
"They got you good, Benson," Sam grinned. "I wish I had been there to see it."
"So you guys are going to spend the rest of the week just getting pranked?" Spencer frowned.
"Basically," Carly sighed.
"Have you gotten pranked?" Spencer asked, turning to Sam.
"Pfft," the blonde scoffed. "Those seniors all know that if they try anything on me, I'd knock them all the way back to being a freshman."
"Yeah, Sam hasn't had anything pulled on her yet," Carly nodded. "I was getting by with her protection, but I guess there's only so far that can get me."
"Well maybe that will teach you not to hang around school after the last bell," Sam smirked. "I can't protect you when I'm off the clock."
"Well what about me?" Freddie asked.
"What about you?" Sam snapped.
"Why don't the seniors leave me alone because of you like they do Carly?" Freddie asked. "Where's my protection? Those jerks have been coming after me like animals! I dated you for crying out loud, shouldn't that count for something?"
"My protection for you ended when that relationship did!" Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"So-So you guys just sit there and take these pranks?" Spencer asked as Sam returned to the kitchen to her pie.
"Well what else are we supposed to do?" Carly asked, grabbing a napkin to begin attempting to sponge some of the flour off of her shirt.
"Retaliate!" Spencer said. "Prank them back! If I was in your situation, hypothetically, I would-"
"Oh no!" Carly said quickly. "No hypotheticals for you! Because that's one small step from pranking for real again, and none of us is going to deal with that again!"
"Fine!" Spencer conceded, heading into the kitchen. "I'll just take my pie and-hey! I told you not to finish my pie!"
"I didn't," Sam said, holding up the plate to show him the small forkful of blueberry filling left.
"That's-That's no reward for someone who spent fourteen minutes on an elliptical machine!" Spencer sputtered.
"Fourteen minutes?" Carly said, raising an eyebrow.
"Alright, nine!" Spencer corrected. "Ugh! Now I have to go back down to the bakery and buy a new pie!"
"Get cherry this time!" Sam called after him as he stormed out of the apartment.
"You know," Freddie said thoughtfully as Spencer slammed the door behind him. "He does have a point. Every year the seniors prank the juniors and they just take it. What if this year us juniors, you know, got a little revenge?"
"You want to prank the seniors back?" Carly frowned. "But-But this is a tradition! Next year it will be our turn to pull the pranks. I've already started brainstorming."
"What have you come up with?" Sam asked, somewhat amused.
"Well, I was thinking we could fix the water fountain in the junior hallway to spurt out room temperature water," Carly grinned. "Or we could put the spicy mustard out instead of the regular mustard at the junior tables in the cafeteria."
"Wow," Sam said. "I have really failed you, kid."
"Well I don't think we should have to wait until next year," Freddie said firmly. "The seniors have never been this relentless in the past! They need to realize they need to take it down a few notches or there's going to be serious consequences!"
"Dude," Sam chuckled. "Enough. We all know you're just talk right now. You're going to keep taking the pranks for the rest of the week like a good little nub."
"I could prank them back!" Freddie said. "I-I'd just need to have some time to figure out how."
"Even then, you'd still chicken out," Sam said.
"I would not!" Freddie retorted.
"Okay…" Sam said. "How about we make a deal?"
"Ohhh…these deals never end well," Carly moaned.
"What kind of deal?" Freddie asked, intrigued.
"I will help you come up with a prank and figure out how to execute it," Sam said. "But you have to be the one to put it into action. If you do, I won't steal your brownie at lunch for the rest of the school year. But if you don't, all during senior year next year you have to carry all of my books and my bag to all of my classes."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Carly said. "Freddie, you can't seriously be considering this!"
"You know what?" Freddie said, ignoring Carly's comment. "You've got yourself a deal, Puckett!"
…..
"Okay," Sam said the next evening as her and Freddie sat crouched behind a bush in the school parking lot. They had spent the entire day formulating the perfect prank to get back at the seniors, and not it was time to set it up. "I think the last night janitor finally left. You ready? You have all the stuff?"
"Um, yeah," Freddie said, his voice cracking slightly.
"You chickening out?" Sam grinned.
"No!" Freddie said quickly. "I just…what if we get caught?"
"That was the point of us waiting out here for everybody to finally leave!"
"Well…what-what if somebody's still in there locking up or something?" Freddie said.
"Fine," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "We'll wait out here another ten minutes to make sure nobody else comes out, okay?"
"Okay," Freddie nodded, still looking very nervous.
Sam settled back down on the grass.
"So," she said, trying to pass the time. "What happened to you in trig today? Why'd you get called to Franklin's office?"
"Oh, um, it was nothing," Freddie said quickly.
"You were gone for the whole class," Sam said. "That's a long time to be away from your precious math for nothing."
"I just…Franklin wanted to tell me something," Freddie mumbled.
"What? That your dorkiness is starting to annoy the whole school?" Sam smirked. "I could've saved him the time and done it myself."
"No, he-he told me I was in line for some scholarship next year," Freddie shrugged.
"Scholarship?" Sam repeated. "As in a reward? With money?"
"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "It's some scholarship they give you during your senior year. It's for the student with the highest grade point average and best moral character."
"That's-that's kind of a big deal," Sam said slowly. "How come you didn't say anything?"
"What? And give you more ammunition?" Freddie chuckled. "You have enough ways to call me a nub and loser."
Sam didn't reply.
"Well…alright," Freddie said, poking his head out again. "I guess…I guess the coast really is clear."
"You're really going to do this?" Sam asked.
"Well I'm not about to lug your bag around for a year," Freddie mumbled, getting to his feet.
"I-Okay," Sam said. "You remember the plan, right? We're going to sneak into the science hallway, find the textbooks the senior class uses and fill them with my specially constructed stink sap."
"Yup," Freddie sighed. "I remember. Let's-Let's just get this over with."
The two hurried over to the school towards one of the back doors. Sam quickly picked the lock and carefully pushed the door open. The teens stepped into the dark, empty hallway.
"God…school's even weirder when there's nobody around," Sam whispered, glancing around. "Alright, just stay away from the trophy case and the administration office. That's where the security cameras that stay on overnight are."
"Got it," Freddie said, adjusting the strap on the gym bag he was carrying that contained the stink sap.
The two quickly made their way to the science hallway, and Sam once again picked the lock of one of the senior science classrooms.
"Alright, there's the textbooks over in that corner," Sam said softly, nodding over at the stack of books by the window as she closed the door behind them. "Remember…you have to be the one to do this. Last chance to back out."
Freddie took a deep breath. "Nope. I-I'm going to do this."
Sam followed him over to the books. He set the gym bag down on the counter by the books and he pulled out the large container of stunk sap. He took off the lid, revealing a thick, purple substance.
"How do you make this?" Freddie whispered, cringing as the scent hit his nostrils.
"It's a family recipe," Sam grinned. "Now hurry up!"
Freddie slowly picked up one of the textbooks and opened it up. He then poured a large amount of the sap onto the pages, closed the book and returned it to the pile.
"Hey," Freddie said, a small smile creeping onto his face. "That-That was kind of fun. I think I got a small rush there."
"First real prank will do that," Sam chuckled. "Alright, you still have thirty more to do, so get-"
Suddenly, the two heard a set of footsteps back in the hallway.
Freddie's eyes widened in panic as the steps began to draw closer. "Somebody's coming! Oh-Oh this is not good! We're gonna get caught! And-And there's nowhere to hide! Aw man, this is it! This is-"
But just as the footsteps came to a stop outside the classroom and the knob began to turn, Sam grabbed the container of stink sap from Freddie's hand, slung the gym bag over her shoulder and shoved Freddie across the room away from the textbooks.
Before Freddie could even protest, the door opened and Principal Franklin walked in, turning on the light.
"What in the-Sam? Freddie?" Franklin frowned. "What in the world are you two doing here? And what is that awful smell?"
"I-I-" Freddie stammered, looking like a deer in headlights.
"Oh nice job, Fredbag!" Sam snapped. "Look what you did! You made so much noise trying to talk me out of this that you went and got me caught!"
"I-huh?" Freddie said, confused.
"Sam?" Franklin said, stepping over to her. "What is going on here? Do you realize how serious it is to be breaking into the school at night?"
"Well I-I was just trying to prank back some of the seniors to teach them a lesson about messing with us!" Sam explained. "So I came here to smear stink sap in their textbooks."
"You mean these brand new textbooks it took me seven months to convince the school board to buy for us?" Franklin asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Er…yeah," Sam said lamely.
"Alright, Sam," Franklin said heavily. "You're in serious trouble. This is-wait. What are you doing here, Freddie?"
"I-I was-"
"The nub found out what I was doing and he followed me here to try and stop me," Sam cut him off. "He kept going on about how 'two wrongs don't make a right' and stuff."
"Really?" Franklin said, giving Freddie an impressed smile. "Well, Freddie, while I in no way condone you being here at school after hours, I must admit your intentions were certainly noble. See, this is what I was talking about during our little meeting today. You're definitely the right choice for that scholarship. However I must ask you please go home now. Sam-"
"Yeah, yeah, in your office," Sam sighed.
"But-But I-" Freddie started.
"Dude, you did enough, just leave," Sam snapped. She gave him a firm look that left no room for argument.
So not knowing what else to do, Freddie turned and headed out of the classroom, leaving Sam to face his punishment.
….
Sam left the school nearly twenty minutes later. Freddie, who was waiting for her behind the bush they had hid behind previously called out for her the second he spotted her.
"Sam!" he said anxiously as she approached. "Sam, what-what happened in there?"
"Eh, nothing much," Sam shrugged. "Franklin was in a pretty good mood. Since only one textbook was damaged he wasn't too upset. I have detention afterschool for the rest of the school year, and I'm gonna have to spend my next too lunch periods scraping that sap off of the book that did get it, but other than that, no damage."
"Sam…that-that should've been my punishment," Freddie said slowly. "I was the one who sapped the book. Why-Why'd you let Franklin think that you did it?"
"Because," Sam said simply. "You-You had more to lose. I mean…did you want to lose that fancy scholarship? Because if you had been caught messing up those books, you would've."
"But-But-"
"And I guess since you did technically pull the prank, you-you win our little bet," Sam continued. "So your brownies will be safe for the rest of the year, Benson."
"Sam, I-I don't understand," Freddie frowned.
Sam gave him a small smile. "Hey…as much as I make fun of your little 'nerd accomplishments', I-I am kind of proud of you for them. I mean that scholarship sounds sort of huge. I'd hate for you lose it because of me."
Freddie didn't reply.
"Come on," Sam said. "Let's get out of here before Franklin spots us again."
As Freddie watched her hurry off away from the school, Freddie shook his head, still in shock. Just when he thought he knew everything there was to Sam Puckett…
