Chapter Three: The Assault
Three days after Cody's visit with the gypsy
"Okay, what is it that you two want to show us?" a blindfolded Gwen laughed as she and a blindfolded Bridgette were being led by Trent and Geoff.
"If we told you two, it wouldn't be a surprise now, would it?" Geoff teased.
"At least tell us if we're close," Bridgette chuckled. "This blindfold is starting to mess up my hair."
"It'll only be a few more minutes, we promise," Trent smiled.
As promised, only a few more minutes passed before Geoff and Trent stopped the girls in their tracks. When they removed their blindfolds, a wonderful sight awaited them. They were at the top of a hill just outside of Wawanakwa and the sun was starting to set over the town, making the sky a shade of red. Near the top of the hill was a round table with a checkered tablecloth on it, lit candles, four chairs, and four placemats. Geoff and Trent's good friend, DJ, was awaiting them at the top of the hill, wearing a tuxedo and carrying some menus. He had a large smile on his face as he awaited the arrival of his guest to dinner.
"Oh Geoff," Bridgette exclaimed, throwing her arms around her boyfriend. "You're the best!"
"It's kind of corny, but sweet at the same time," Gwen chuckled as she embraced Trent in a hug of her own.
"Ladies…may we be so honored to have to join us for a romantic dinner at the most romantic place in town?" Geoff asked, bowing to Bridgette.
"I would be honored," Bridgette replied, playing along with the act.
Geoff smiled as he held out his arm to escort Bridgette to the table. Trent followed Geoff, escorting Gwen.
Geoff pulled out a chair for Bridgette and pushed it in when she sat down. Trent did the same for Gwen. Then, DJ pulled out the chairs for Geoff and Trent and pushed them in for them. DJ then passed out the menus and pulled out a school notepad.
"Welcome to Wawanakwa hill," DJ smiled. "Would you ladies and gentlemen like something to drink while you look over the menu? We have a fine selection of pop if you would be interested in sampling some before you or-dare?"
"Sure…only if you stop trying to impersonate a French waiter," Gwen giggled.
"Oh…right. Sorry," DJ sheepishly replied. "I'll, uh, just go get those sodas now." DJ scurried behind a tree to retrieve the drinks.
"You know, it's times like this I wish dad could see how sweet you really are, Geoff," Bridgette sighed as she leaned onto his shoulder.
"Well…you know," Geoff smiled. "I do what I can."
"So did you guys hear what happened to Cody the other day?" Trent said, changing the subject. "That gypsy lady went after him with a machete!"
"WHAT?" the other three exclaimed.
"Yeah. When she learned who he was, she went berserk and chased him away with a machete. He got away unscratched, but he was pretty shaken up for a couple days."
"Oh my gosh!" Gwen replied, seeming startled.
"Dude, I can't imagine anyone wanting to hurt Cody like that," Geoff added. "He's, like, the nicest guy I've ever known!"
"Is he still driving garbage truck?" Bridgette asked, seeming worried.
"Yeah," Trent answered. "Why?"
"Well…I overheard my dad threatening to fire him if he didn't get the job done the other day."
"Oh no, he's still driving the truck. When he told your dad what happened, he pardoned him…though I think Mayor Parker was upset he wasn't fired."
"That's because the Parker's are all major asses," Gwen huffed. "The only reason they're in office is because they've got money and they're not afraid to use it."
"Whoa, whoa. Ladies, we're here to have a good time," Geoff laughed. "Let's not ruin the evening talking about politics."
"Yeah, you're right," Gwen sighed. "We'll save that discussion for history tomorrow."
"No! I want to hear what you have to say now!" said a voice from the bushes.
Everyone sitting at the table turned towards the bushes. Once they fixed their sights on them, a series of tomatoes flew from them, hitting the two couples all over. When DJ rounded the corner carrying the sodas, he was pelted with the rotten vegetables as well.
"Ack! My suit!" DJ screamed.
DJ was so focused on his suit being ruined that he didn't notice a red-headed girl racing up behind him. Before he knew what happened, she snatched the sodas from his hands and ran for the four at the table. Shaking them violently, she threw them at the table. They burst on impact, soaking Geoff, Bridgette, Gwen, and Trent with the wet, sugary substance.
"Nice one Izzy!" shouted the voice again.
At that moment, three girls emerged from the bushes, holding rotten tomatoes and other spoiled vegetables.
"…Heather…" Gwen said through gritted teeth.
"Who looks like the ass now?" she laughed, throwing another tomato at Gwen.
"You guys are, like, totally in our spot!" Lindsay said as she threw a head of lettuce at Trent.
"Yeah! No one elth up here but uth!" Beth hollered, throwing some rotten eggs at the two couples.
"The last time I checked," Bridgette gritted while ducking the attacks, "this was public property. ANYONE can be up here whenever they want!"
"Oh, then by all means, stay," Heather teased. "You're a vegetarian, right? Well then, dinner's on me!" With that, she threw more rotten tomatoes directly at Bridgette.
Finally, Trent, Gwen, Bridgette, Geoff, and DJ retreated from the spot on the hill and raced as fast as they could down the hill. Heather, Izzy, Lindsay, and Beth laughed as they watched them retreat, satisfied with their work. They then called over four other boys that were lying low in the bushes.
"Sorry about the filth, babe," Heather cooed as she wrapped her arms around her date. "Oh, sorry about the rotten vegetables too."
"Those bimbos…just made a BIG mistake," Gwen hissed as she raced to catch up with her other friends.
Later that night, after they had cleaned themselves up, the five friends just gloomily walked around town. Their night had been ruined and they didn't feel like doing anything. Somehow, though, they found themselves walking around in the local park. But that was all they did: walk. They didn't talk to one another or anything. All was silent.
As they walked, they could hear someone in the park. He was laughing and sounded really happy. They could also hear the sound of a dog happily running back and forth.
"I know that goofy laughter anywhere," Gwen chuckled.
"Me too," Trent smiled. "Let's go see how Cody's doing."
They approached Cody, who was throwing a ball across the field. Thunder was happily racing after the ball, pouncing on it when he caught up to it. Once he had gathered it into his mouth, he raced back to Cody, who awaited Thunder's arrival with open arms and a big smile. Thunder pounced on Cody whenever he got to him, knocking him to his back. Thunder immediately dropped the ball and began to vigorously lick Cody's face.
"Hey, cut it out boy!" Cody laughed. "That tickles! Stop! That tickles! Okay, okay! You win! I surrender!"
But Thunder would not stop his tongue-oriented attack on Cody. He continued to happily slobber all over Cody's face. Cody just continued to laugh.
Bridgette, Geoff, Trent, Gwen, and DJ didn't say anything at first. They just watched as Cody played happily with his canine companion. Somehow, just watching Cody and Thunder playing together made all five of them feel better about what went down earlier.
"Who's a good boy?" Cody asked as he began to scratch Thunder's back. "Who's a good boy? You are, that's right! Who's my best friend in the world? YOU! That's right!"
"Jeez. Why don't you ask him to marry you?" Gwen teased.
Cody and Thunder immediately froze in place. They sheepishly glanced over to where the five other teens had been standing this whole time observing Cody and Thunder's behavior tactics.
They couldn't hold it anymore: they immediately broke out into laughter. Cody and Thunder weren't sure what to make of it, but when Cody saw Thunder panting happily, he joined in on the laughter too.
"So, what brings you out here tonight?" Bridgette asked, wiping a tear from her eye.
"It's the weekend. You know I don't work weekends. So I decided to take Thunder out for some exercise. What's your story?"
The five friends then explained everything that had occurred earlier in the evening. From the planning of the surprise picnic for Gwen and Bridgette to the assault from Heather and her posse, they explained it all.
"So they spoilt your picnic because they wanted that spot for themselves? Jeez, that's low even for Heather," Cody said.
"This sucks," Geoff suddenly burst. "I mean, the one time Bridgette and I get a night together with her parent's permission and those spoiled snots had to go and do that…I worked hard to organize that picnic too…I just…I don't know what to do…where else can we hang out together without anyone bugging us?"
Bridgette wrapped her arms around Geoff, trying to comfort her upset boyfriend.
"What you guys need," Cody began, "is a lesson from the Botswana Empire!"
"Botswana Empire?" DJ asked, seeming very confused.
"Yeah…that little nation that stood up to the seemingly unstoppable Ottoman Empire!"
"Cody, what does THAT have to do with anything?" DJ demanded.
"I'm glad you asked," Cody replied with his toothless grin. Out of nowhere, Cody grabbed a soap box, stood on it, and began to lecture to his friends.
"It was a dark, quiet night in Botswana. The sound of a fly could be heard buzzing around in the swamp. When suddenly, it came: the screeching battle cry of the Ottoman Hoard! So the Ottomans approached the Botswana Empire like 'AUGH! WE'RE THE OTTOMANS! AND YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE IN FOR A WORLD OF PAIN NOW!' Now some people were like 'Oh, right. We're afraid". Others were like 'Oh my gosh! The Ottomans! This is it for us! It's curtains!' Still, there were some people who didn't care at all. The only thing they were thinking at the time was 'This house is just screaming for drapes'."
The others chuckled at Cody's story, though they weren't sure where he was going with it.
"Anyways, there were a select group of people who were like 'Don't worry about those Ottomans! They ain't nothing but a bunch of hot air!' Others disagreed with them though. One said 'I knew an Ottoman Eagle Scout once upon a time…he got a merit badge in wholesale slaughter,'. Meanwhile, the Ottomans are still over here going 'AUGH!'
"Dude, does this story have a point?" Geoff asked, seeming very confused.
Cody didn't seem to hear him as he continued to rabble on.
"So anyways, the leader of the Botswana Empire stood up and said 'We can defeat this army! What we need, is the high ground! The high ground is the deciding factor in every single battle in history. Fellow Boatswains, lend this country your trees!' Now, I should mention that there aren't any trees in Botswana. I know that for a fact. My uncle is a lumberjack in Botswana and he's never had a job. So anyways, some people are still like 'We need dress shields,'. So anyways, the Boatswains collected a multitude of trees, planted them, and prepared their attack on the Ottomans. Now the Ottomans are like 'OH NO! THEY DISCOVERED THAT THEY NEEDED THE HIGH GROUNG TO DEFEAT US! WHY/ WELL…CAUSE…CAUSE WE'RE THE OTTOMANS! AUGH!'"
"Dudes! That's it!" Trent suddenly exclaimed. "I get it!"
"You do?" the other four asked.
"Yeah! We need the high ground. In other words, we need a…a TREE HOUSE!"
It took the others to register this for a second. When they did, though, they understood Trent completely.
"Dude! That's brilliant!" Geoff exclaimed. "In a tree house, we can see everything going on around us! When the coast is clear, we can spend time for fun! When people are coming, we can be better prepared!"
"It's perfect," Bridgette sighed. "A tree house."
"Wait…I thought we needed dress shields," Cody said, seeming confused.