Andy

I wiped the sweat off my brow as I got home. Track practice had taken its toll on me and I really wanted a drink of water right now. What I didn't realize was that I was in for an unpleasant surprise.

"Tough day of work?" Sora asked, drinking from a water bottle. We were working on a project together, so he decided to come over to work with me on it. Sometimes I wonder why we can't just do it in his lab. He's the youngest student to ever get his own lab too. We could work all day undisturbed.

I nodded. "Coach had me run the equivalent of two marathons."

Sora winced. "That sounds… pleasant."

"Right. Is there any water left? I really need a drink."

"There should be some in the fridge still." Sora said.

There was something slightly off about Sora today. Not sure what it was though. As I opened the fridge and pulled out a water bottle, I heard Sora almost snort. Ignoring him, I popped open the bottle and raised it up to take a drink, only to find that my hand was now freezing cold from the chunk of ice I held in my hand.

Wait a second, ice?

In the background, I could hear Sora laughing his ass off. Leave it to him to figure out how to prank people in the most elaborate way possible. I shook my head and grabbed a different water bottle, only to be shocked when this one also froze in my hand.

It's a pretty neat trick that require timing to pull off. If you put a bottle of pure water in the freezer for long enough and then take it out, it'll freeze upon sudden movement. Which is exactly what happened to the water bottle in my hand.

I turned around. "Sora, are there any water bottles that you didn't set to freeze?"

Still filled with mirth, Sora thought for a moment. "Umm, I think the ones in the outside fridge are fine.

As I went out, I popped a piece of ice into my mouth to cool off. As I opened up a bottle of water and tilted it so it would pour into my mouth, Sora suddenly called out. "Wait! Don't do it! Those bottles are—"

I have to say, having water crystallize into ice in your mouth is quite the experience. Fortunately enough, I could still breathe through my nose.

Sora sighed. "Great. Now we have to wait for it to melt. Did you really have to start drinking the water when you still had an ice cube in your mouth?"

Seeing as I couldn't say anything, the only thing I could do was glare at my cousin.

Eventually, after the ice finally melted, I drilled my cousin with a very unamused stare.

"Sora, if you try that again, I will eat you."

Sora smiled. "Well, I'll be sure to avoid getting eaten by you."

"Well then, I guess we can get started on the project." I said.

"Why are all the water bottles frozen?" My mom's voice echoed from downstairs.

Sora's face was suddenly drained of all color.

I sighed. "Looks like we have some explaining to do first.

So basically this is the prank that Sora pulled on Andy (mentioned in chapter 20 of Reaching Out).

Next chapter in sidestories will be either after Reaching Out ends (timeline-wise) or during chapter 20. Depends on which I finish first. I'm actually working on 3 different chapters at the same time. Two for Sidestories and one for the main story.