"Any sign that your mom is going to renege on her promise to renege on the promise that she had made prior to the first one?"

"Huh?" Carl had so much burger patty and bun shoved in his mouth, his muffled response was pretty much incoherent. "Iidtn't ha acoo oh wa o oust aid."

Eric laughed from the bottom of his belly while placing his juice back onto the table before it spilt. "Are you the pot or am I?"

This time Carl swallowed down some of the food in his mouth before answering. "Again, I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

"The NaNOT3." Eric held his hands out, palms up, like the invisible gadget may very well be resting on them. "Just the only thing we've been talking about for the past month. You know, the thing your mom was going to buy for you before she went back on her word and said she wouldn't."

"Yes, I haven't forgotten and clearly neither has Mom because look…" he held out his own empty palms, "…no NaNOT."

"After it was already a yes."

"Well, I guess that's the price you have to pay when you want to, what did you say, 'Live today in case tomorrow your body is taken over by an invisible alien race that can't stand watching the humans any longer."

Eric smiled, that smile he got when a plan came together in his constantly modulating thought processes. He leaned forward on the table and lowered his voice to an excited whisper, "Listen mi compadre, I have a plan that gets you to live like you are one of the master alien race."

"Does this plan involve me seeing my college tuition transferring to Mom's life membership at the Carson's Spa and Relaxation Resort?"

Eric shook his head. "No. No way this can come back to bite you my friend…or me," he added after he saw the question forming on Carl's lips.

"Okay, you have me interested, E. Tell me more."

Eric took a moment to let his gaze wander around the room before he turned back to face his friend. "Tell me, what day is the cafeteria at its busiest?"

"Fridays."

"Why?

Carl took a moment to consider. Finally he shrugged, "I guess it's all most parents can do to make it through the week. They wake up Friday morning and think crap, it's still not the weekend! And the last thing they feel like doing is preparing a school lunch. If they can get out of doing even that one menial chore, it's money well spent."

"Correct, my knowledgeable young friend."

"You know I'm older than you right?"

"Mmmm," Eric ignored the statement completely. "I'm guessing there's a significant amount of bribe money happening also. You know, you've been good this week Freddie, here's ten bills to spend on an ice cream and a-"

"Milkshake?" Carl proudly lifted his malted chocolate shake. "This Freddie has not stepped out of line once this week."

Both boys chuckled and then Carl became serious once more. He asked quietly, "So what's that got to do with my NaNOT3?"

"Tomorrow, we're going to, or should I say, I'm going to borrow the money from the cash register."

"Are you going to give the money back?"

Eric shrugged, "Highly unlikely."

"Then…isn't that what the rest of us, and by us I'm including Headmaster McCuen, would call stealing?"

"Yeah, the rest of you probably would, even McCuen, but that's where you'd go wrong. If you start thinking of it as stealing, then that's when you start tripping over your moral compass and land right in the fat lap of the where the power mongers want you."

"Yeah…" Carl thought about his friend's words of wisdom before responding sarcastically, "I can see your point."

Eric pretended not to notice. "I thought you would."

"So explain to me again how this is only borrowing?"

"Your Parents and mi-" Eric cleared his throat and started again, "We have people paying for our tuition here right?"

Carl nodded.

"An exorbitant amount," Eric said mostly to himself. "But that's not what this is about. Our tuition fees get paid into the school coffers, the cafeteria money goes into the school coffers, the volunteer contributions go into the school coffers-"

"Those coffers gotta be big mothers."

"You have no idea. Anyway, if we take some money out to pay for your NaNOT3, your dad, and let's face it, when he finds out that your mom reneged on her promise he's gonna run to the nearest store-"

"Have his secretary run to the nearest store," Carl corrected.

"He's going to have his secretary run to the nearest store to buy you not one, but two of the NaNOT3 Special Edition…" Eric waited till he saw a twinkle in his friend's eye before continuing… " Which means, the next time they send the volunteer contribution envelope around, he's going to have a little bit less to put in it, than if we didn't borrow the money from the cafeteria register in the first place."

Carl's smile stretched from ear to ear, "It's a whole lot of BS but it's BS my conscious can live with. Good job, E. Good job on making stealing from the school, actually sound like we are doing them a favour in the long term."

"Glad you approve, C. Now-"

"So how do we do it?"

Eric gave an exaggerated frustrated sigh, and waited for his friend to clam up before continuing, "Now, here's the play. Tomorrow, I'm going to get in line with my lunch and make my way to the cash register. As soon as I get to the top of the line, that's when you use this," Eric retrieved a phone from his backpack. "Don't worry, it's a burner phone, they'll never be able to trace it back to you," he explained as he passed it over. "When I'm at the register, dial the cafeteria's number while at the same time, your elbow is accidently going to bump into the ketcup dispenser and soon after, three gallons of red sauce will go splashing all over the floor. The ladies serving behind the counter will race over to attend to the mess, leaving no one to take the call other than the one left standing at the cashier drawer. I only need a few seconds to open the drawer and remove the money."

"Won't the drawer be locked? She's not likely to move away, in front of a room full of kids and leave a whole drawer of cash at the hands of anyone who can press the 'change' button. I'm sure she'll take her key with her when she goes to take the call."

"Oh please," Eric mocked. "Give me some credit…it'll be real simple trust me. I have a tried and tested lock-pick set under my bed but even if I didn't, it'd be no contest. It's a single latch turn," he stated simply, like that explained everything.

"Okay, but what about the other kids waiting by the register, won't they see you unlocking the drawer and taking out the money?"

"They would," Eric grinned, "if they didn't have something else to look at."

"What will they be looking at?"

"Once you've set the ketchup free, you are going to set a grasshopper free."

Carl smiled, "Where?"

"Down the girl's blouse."

"Which girl?"

"Any girl."

"What if she likes grasshoppers?"

"Believe me," Eric shrugged happily. "Just choose anyone. You can't lose. Nothing can possibly go wrong."