The next day when Mr. Gillis wasn't in class the rumors began to fly. He'd been fired, he'd been kicked out of the school, he'd been suspended. The latter being the actual reason for his absence. CJ was flabbergasted that something had come of her complaints. It actually made her feel good; not because she got someone in trouble but because several people had listened to her and stuck up for her.
Suspension was all well and good but Mr. Gillis' comment that she was no stranger to trouble still irked her. And so on the way home Friday afternoon having spent the day with no Mr. Gillis at school, CJ broached the subject of retribution with Steven.
"So, Steven… … you want to help me teach him a lesson about trouble?"
"Oh …NO… CJ that is such a bad idea… really bad… please DON'T DO ANYTHING rash…please" Steven begged.
"Steven, Steven, Steven… I don't mean anything big…just little things … just to get him going… not huge…"
"CJ it is a BAD idea really… he got suspended because of you… what do you think he will do if he catches you pulling a prank?"
"He's not going to catch me" CJ declared.
"CJ you've always been caught, what makes you think you won't this time?"
"Well first of all it won't be BIG, and second of all I was never caught doing them, it was always Mr. Richardson who guessed it was me and because I can't lie worth crap I always admitted to it when asked."
"So Mr. Gillis won't know to ask… and … just watch and learn my friend, watch and learn."
Steven rolled his eyes and sighed, he couldn't believe she would even consider doing anything to THAT man, she still winced whenever she sat down.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
They spent the weekend together biking through the trails and finishing up a load of homework. Steven had tried on several occasions to talk CJ out of doing anything but was pretty sure he was unsuccessful at persuading her. Monday morning rolled around and they were both in the office working on the PA system. Steven had taken to assisting everyday regardless of whose turn it was because he wasn't into hanging out in the school yard alone and no one seemed to mind him in the office. The office space was a little crowded as it was really someone else's turn and Miss Parkin was also there so Steven didn't have a chance to try and dissuade CJ one last time before they went to class.
The dagger filled look that Mr. Gillis shot CJ when she entered was noticed by more than just Steven. CJ smiled sweetly and took her seat. She sat quietly and waited. Steven's attention was solely on CJ and so when Mr. Gillis called on him he was momentarily flustered. The lesson finally complete Mr. Gilis handed out the seat work and returned to his desk to assemble the following classes' projects. He grabbed for his stapler yet he was unable to lift it. He tried to pry it from its location on the desk without causing a scene. But the stapler would not budge. He took it in both hands and pulled even harder. The harder he tried the more attention he drew to himself from his class of working students. As soon as Steven saw him fighting with the inanimate object he looked to CJ, she was sitting working diligently on her paper. Steven could see the effort she was putting into not laughing or even smiling. He had to hand it to her, she had guts.
By this time the class was howling with laughter, all but CJ, who continued to work conscientiously. A fuming Mr. Gillis stood and demanded "who is the responsible party?" pointing to his super glued stapler but not actually explaining what he was referring to. The entire class shook their heads no and shrugged their shoulders. Both Steven and CJ were pretty darn sure that a large percentage of them knew who was likely to be the culprit as most of them had been around the past 2 years, but they all remained mute. CJ smiled inwardly, she had their support, which would make things easier.
On Tuesday Mr. Gillis found that all the middles of his ball point pens had been removed. On Wednesday all the desks in the class were facing the back wall when he came in. On Thursday all the chalk had been broken into the tiniest of pieces. On Friday the handle to the pencil sharpener was missing. By the end of the week he was actually looking edgy. The pranks weren't big enough to be too disruptive but they were enough that the class laughed and there was a disturbance. Mr. Gillis went to Mr. Thompson to complain that he was being harassed. Mr. Thompson wasn't very understanding and did not agree to come and talk to the class. He actually suggested that he grow a thicker skin.
Week two of October was very much the same. Each day CJ tweaked something in the classroom. Each day the class laughed and Mr. Gillis turned red. On week three CJ made sure that Mr. Gillis' keys ended up in the oddest of locations each day. She never removed them from the classroom she simply had them migrate to new places, a different drawer in the desk, the book case, the recycle bin. By the end of the third week Mr. Gillis had stopped asking who was responsible and just glared at the class as a whole.
It was Friday afternoon, CJ and Steven were on their way home when it occurred to CJ that next week would be Halloween. Oh, how she loved Halloween… a time of year you were supposed to pull pranks. CJ wanting help from Steven introduced the idea of a "larger" but not too big prank for the celebration of Halloween.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Steven answered without giving the idea any thought. He had enjoyed the little things CJ had been doing in class but felt that there was no need to go any further.
"AW com' on Steven… it'll be fun… and Mr. Gillis is such a GREAT target."
"It'll be fun until we're turned up over someone's knee… NO THANK YOU!"
"Steven you're being a party pooper, you don't have to do anything specifically, just help me plan… think of it as making sure I don't go overboard this year… I wouldn't want a repeat of last Halloween" and then shuddered at the image of the science lab that flashed before her eyes.
She could see his resolve wavering and decided to back off for a while until the idea settled in further. She had all weekend to draw him to the 'dark side' and then still have time to plan as Halloween was on Friday.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ziva and Tony had been watching their daughter over the past month. They had initially been worried that the incident with Mr. Gillis would affect their daughter negatively. But there was no outward appearance of being bothered and they were so surprised at how mature she seemed to be handling being in a class everyday with a man she despised. And as the month of October drew to a close they saw her get happier and happier. Tony was at his desk on that same Friday before Halloween explaining to his newest recruit why they had to get a lot of rest this weekend as next week was going to be busy. It always is he explained. Lots of crime and mischief because of Hallowe… he hadn't finished the word… when it occurred to him that this was his daughter's favourite time of year and not because of the candy. He visibly blanched and his recruit asked wearily "Are you alright Boss?" Recovering quickly he answered in the affirmative and made a mental note to talk to CJ before the weekend was through.
CJ made sure she saw lots of Steven and dropped hints about a plan for the week's prank schedule. Steven for his part tried to ignore the more and more obvious coaxing that was happening. But by Sunday night he'd agreed to discuss a plan and help CJ decide if it could go "wrong" and if so HOW wrong and what margin of error could they cope with.
Tony ended up working most of the weekend and so it wasn't until Monday night that he entered his daughter's room under the guise of tucking her in that he had an opportunity to talk with her.
"CJ I wanted to have a word with you before you went to sleep."
"Sure, what's up?"
"Friday is Halloween… " he began and paused as the enormous smile spread across CJ's face. "And that is what I want to talk to you about." Smile disappeared very quickly.
"I don't want you trying anything this year at school… NOTHING … got it?"
"Why would you say that Ddddaaaadddd?" CJ feigned indignation.
"Because I don't want a repeat of last year…. One exploding science lab is enough in a life time…. And CJ I mean NOTHING… not something small… not something that isn't in the science lab… I mean NOTHING"
CJ sat on her bed, brow furrowed, arms folded across her chest staring at her father trying to assess his seriousness.
"CJ do you remember the consequences of lasts years catastrophe?" he waited for an answer, he wanted to make sure she was truly listening.
"Ya, I remember" she said sarcastically "I was there for the WHOLE thing".
"I want you to remember, I want you to remember vividly, because if there is so much as the tiniest of pranks pulled at school this year and you are in ANY way involved, and that includes the planning or convincing someone else to do it, I will make sure you receive another punishment commiserate with last year's …. Is that clear?"
Tony sat assessing his daughter's reaction. She was definitely processing the information he'd just given her… too much really… if she hadn't been planning anything she would have been offended that he'd suggested she would… this was not good…
"CJ I mean it… you do NOT want to go down that road… if you want to sit between Halloween and Christmas comfortably DON'T do it…."
"O..K…I get it… I'll be in BIG trouble" she huffed over exaggerating the word big.
Tony tucked her in and left her to think about the conversation as she drifted off to sleep.