Lost In Purple
Chapter 43: Prank Tech (Part 1)
Melanie's POV
"Noooooo…" Johnny groans as I try my best to shake him off of me.
I never really got to gauge how gargantuan Johnny is. He's one huge weighted beanbag that can't even be moved an inch, wrapping himself around me as if I were some sort of national treasure he miraculously found out in the wilderness. Even though this is an unfortunate circumstance, I still get the opportunity to be close with him, and enjoy running my hands through his fur. Like seriously, it's almost cathartic.
"Joooooohn," I pout, "What happened to waking up early? Are you sick again? If you aren't, I will drive my knee into your stomach!"
"NooOOOOOOO!" He growls while keeping his arms around my neck, letting me use his biceps as pillows, "It's SATURDAY!"
I stop struggling and squeeze my hands in between our bodies so I can place them on his chest. His body heat begins to make me drowsy, while also making me innately comfortable. "God you're such a baby…" I yawn.
Some lulling growls escape his maw, making my entire body vibrate along with them. "…Careful. If you keep calling me names then you might never leave this bed," Johnny mumbles.
I apply pressure onto his chest with my hands, and slowly move them upwards to the sides of his neck and then to his back as if I were massaging his thoracic vertebrae. "I don't think I would care if that happened…" I whisper.
Johnny growls again, but this time in an obviously more playful tone. "Don't threaten me…, and then beginning to yawn, "My heart won't be able to take it."
My drowsiness disappears because I start laughing meekly. He really does sound like a big ol' baby right now. He's like one of those kinds of children who cry and complain in an annoying manner whenever things don't go their way, which reminds me of all my cousins when they were babies a little too much. I start scratching the back of Johnny's head until I find that spot that causes him to squirm hilariously and curl up into me. "I know for a fact you can, don't lie to me," I reply.
"Heh, true," Johnny says.
While he keeps his head under mine, I take a look out the window to see the seraphic light that's bursting through the glass. A couple of chirping birds can be heard along with the soothing sound of a very mild breeze that whistles through the aether. I can also hear some sort of sizzle coming from downstairs, implying that Johnny's gone against his morning routine again. This sensory overload is followed by the ring of the doorbell and stomps that ripple through the household.
"Goooood, why are people at our door on a saturdaaAAAY!" Johnny growls.
"Calm down," I laugh, "I can tell Javier is taking care of it."
"He had better…Someone's getting thrown into the dirt if I have to get up," Johnny snarls.
For someone who usually gets up during the early hours of the morning, he isn't much of a morning person. I really can't gauge how much of an impact have had on his usual routine either. He blames me for indirectly causing him to sleep in, but I think he simply has a reason to stay in bed now.
"I'm not the first candidate for that right?" I ask.
His claws grasp onto my hips. "I thought I already made it clear that you're staying here! Now pleeeease, let me sleeeeeeep!" Johnny complains.
I laugh a bit more and continue scratching the back of his head as the room grows silent. Every now and then he purrs for a few seconds, content with how everything is around him. I don't blame him either. He told me last night how he tends to get overwhelmingly energetic after winning the Scare Games events, which is why he was so kinesthetic last night. Not to mention that he was also riding out his happiness from spending the whole afternoon with me. He doesn't want all of this authentic elation to fade away. So, I can't help but kiss him on his cheek which generates a large smile on his face. My eyes dilate and my heart fill with joy, so I smother him with as much love as I can give him. I've never seen him feel so relaxed before.
His relaxation turns into anxiety when there's a knock on his room's door. I feel his jaw clench and his hands nearly puncture holes into his mattress.
"Johnny?" Javier says on the other side.
"WHAT?" Johnny answers intensely after growling aggressively.
"Lo siento mi amigo, but Rosie and Carrie want to see you outside. I'm afraid it's serious," Javier explains. I can already see his nervous expression on his face.
"God damnit," Johnny whispers, "I'll be out in a minute."
He pushes himself off me, saddened by doing so, and pulling me up with him. "Who do you think I should kill?" He asks.
"You're not seriously asking me that?" I answer shocked.
He snickers. "Joking. I'm taking a shower and then I'll be back so we can continue this."
I somehow made my way downstairs, eating some of the waffles and bacon that Javier was nice enough to make for us all. Bruiser is already on his fourth serving which is making Randall curious as to how he can keep all of that down. I myself would throw up by just eating that amount of food, but to each their own. Chet and Chip are already finished and are playing some sort of card game that I don't care about, and it seems like Chet won since he cackles goofily for the whole kitchen to hear. Javier is busy trying to hurry Johnny, and then there's me who's just sitting down, scrolling through my phone and eating.
I'm able to hear a door close in the distance followed by annoyed grumbles from what sounds like Johnny. They stomp down the left upstairs hallway, going over what's happening in a calm yet frustrating manner. Moments like these only make me appreciate having extremely good hearing because now I can hear the reason as to why Javier had to interrupt our alone time.
"They were furious when I opened the door, and never explained why," Javier whispers.
"What do you mean by furious? Rosie is always angry and it's actually impossible for Carrie to be angry," Johnny inquires.
"Ok yeah, maybe furious wasn't the right word, but their arms were crossed and they looked frustrated," Javier responds.
A couple of thumps echo through the house. They're coming down the stairs in a hurry.
"This had better be something worth my time. I finally have a day where I can relax and now I have to do...whatever this is," Johnny sighs.
I hear the door open as I take another mighty bite of my food, and find out that they're out of earshot. I simply shrug and continue scrolling through my phone, going about my morning like I normally do. With every post I look at, I feel my brain slowly dissolving. All the ads completely ruin the fun and all the pictures I see from random monsters back home make me feel a little bit homesick. Even though I tend to stress out about seeing my little cousins, I kind of wish I could have spent more time with them along with my aunts and uncles. Anyways, I continue scrolling a bit more and find a very upsetting post. It's been shared by a couple of people I've followed here at MU, and it shows a couple of fat globs posing as they spray paint a red wall. I find it kind of stupid because they literally recorded themselves defacing private property, but I also find it very angering because of all the work they're going to give someone just to clean that up.
"WHO DID IT!" someone roars from the front yard.
Chet and Randall almost fall over out of pure shock. I simply drop everything, turn off my phone, and run towards the front door. When I open it, Rosie and Carrie are standing on the sidewalk towards the right, and looking at the right side of the house.
"Ok…that's why we were wanting to talk to you because, like, we wanted to know if you knew who did it. They hit every house on the cul-de-sac and we all collectively want them dead," Rosie says dully.
I jog down onto the sidewalk and run next to Javier who's standing just behind Rosie and Carrie.
"HOW DID NOBODY NOTICE ANYTHING LAST NIGHT?! HOW DID A SINGLE LIVING SOUL NOT REALIZE THAT SOMEONE WAS DOING THIS?!" Johnny roars while observing the graffiti that's been dried on the side of the wall.
"Yeah we don't know, maybe it was done just a few hours ago while everyone was sleeping. Oh and every other side of the ROR house has been graffitied as well except for the back…And Rosie, sweetheart, we're not killing anyone," Carrie grunts.
"Oh really? The last time I checked, painting cute unicorns and pastel pink butterflies on the HSS house is grounds for genocide. Quick question for you Carrie, have you seen what battery acid does to peoples faces? If not, you're going to be surprised when we splash it onto the faces of those who did this," Rosie hisses.
"WELL COUNT ME IN! MAYBE THAT WILL MAKE THEM THINK TWICE ABOUT MESSING WITH ALL OF US!" Johnny adds loudly.
I study all the 'art' pieces that line the walls. All of them consist of cartoony monsters that look like ice cream, stuffed animals, and flowers. There's also a bunch of degrading messages stating that MU is the worst college of them all and stuff like that. Some even go for the jugular and straight up say that RORs are cute. Now that I think about it, this looks similar. I pull out my phone as all the RORs gather around to see what's on their house. I was lucky to shut my phone off while I was viewing this post, so it shows up when I unlock it, giving it another glance. It's exactly the same!
"I can't believe nobody on the block has a clue about who did this either. Like how does nobody know of any kind of motive for this?" Carrie sighs with her arms crossed.
"Tell me about it...How badly did they get you plastics?" Rosie asks.
Carrie puts her hands on her hips and stomps on the ground. "Hold on there you big ol' succubus, we're not plastics, OK. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it…They painted ugly portraits of us and made us look fat as pigs."
"Oooh, they are going to paaaaaaay," Rosie growls.
I keep my phone in my hands and walk towards Johnny. "Hey John," I say grabbing his attention.
He looks at me, showing the fury within his eyes. I put my arm out and imply that I want him to look at the social media post. When he takes it and gives it a two second glance, he digs his claws into his scalp.
"IT WAS THOSE GOD DAMN FEAR TECH IDIOTS!" Johnny screams.
I can hear a couple of voices from down the street, most likely coming from the other fraternity and sorority presidents. "It was Fear Tech?!"
"Oooooh, That makes sooo much sense," Carrie exclaims.
"How many batteries do you guys have that we can borrow?" Rosie asks calmly.
Carrie punches Rosie in the arm. "Stop! We're not doing that!"
Rosie rubs her arm, but looks like she wasn't at all affected by that.
"My sisters and I have already thought about revenge anyways. Plastic wrapping cars, pouring syrup on walkways or in this case hallways, egging buildings, and TPing everything in sight. But sense this was Fear Tech, we should also get them back even harder. I suggest we tear notice boards with our claws, get some paint to make banners and hang them up to destroy the pristine look they've been able to keep, and put glitter bombs all over the place. Just wreak havoc on the campus," Carrie smiles maliciously.
"Please tell me you have the means of supply for that!" Johnny snarls, still unable to get over this.
"Yep. We can go stock up right now if you'd like," Carrie says placing her hands back on her hips.
"By all means, don't let me keep you," Johnny replies impatiently.
"Ok. Meet us at the Fear Tech Tunnels at eleven o' clock tonight. We'll be sure to bring all the other frats and sororities with us too…except the JOX. They didn't seem to get pranked," Carrie states.
With a sharp turn towards the JOX house, Johnny screams "What?! They didn't get vandalized or-or anything?!"
"Nope. If I had to guess, they probably orchestrated the whole thing. The Fear Tech frats are, like, best friends with the JOX," Rosie frowns.
Johnny hands me my phone back and grabs my hand so that I can follow him. "Boggs, Bruiser, you're painting over all of this," He instructs.
Randall bows his head, keeping his hands locked together out of nervousness. "Yes sir."
"And you're keeping a close eye on Bruiser. I swear, if I have to pay for more that just paint, there will be hell to pay," Johnny continues.
Randall nods once more and takes out his phone, probably to figure out what shade of red he needs to get. Knowing him, it will probably only take him a solid five minutes to figure it out since he's the brainiac that we all know and love. Rosie and Carrie leave so they can start spreading the word that revenge will be taking place, they even go down to Gamma Roar Roar and talk to them. That's something I wasn't expecting because they're the Scaring nerds who tend to keep to themselves, most likely immersing themselves into video games for hours on end.
Johnny takes me to talk with Javier, Chip, and Chet with a serious look on his face. "We're going to be joining them tonight. I'm getting us black clothes and gloves so we can't be identified. I know you three will be fine," Johnny points to the two seniors and one junior, "But you Melanie, treat this as your first real experience in a Scaring environment. I told you that I would be teaching you this semester, and this is the best test for you."
I wasn't expecting to feel so nervous again after last night. Not to mention that I just got over all the nervousness I had for Scaring 101. Of course, after having all those doubts about myself last night, I have to prove myself immediately after.
"You three, rest until then," Johnny instructs.
The three RORs nod and return to the house, going on with their days as if nothing has happened. Now it's just me and Johnny for the rest of the day. Normally I would be excited for something like that, but now I have to hide the fear I have for later tonight.
"Come on, let's go back to bed," Johnny groans as if he's already done with today.
The gears of time turn and turn, bringing me to the night where everything will change me either for better or for worse. Johnny will consider this school prank heist a test for me, and whether or not I'm capable in his eyes. He never actually said that but that's what it feels like since I know what it takes to be a real ROR. I'm hoping I can keep a cool demeanor and keep any doubts I have about myself as far away as possible.
Johnny and I relaxed in his room for the whole night while everyone else prepared themselves or painted the house back to its original state. Randall and Bruiser won't be joining us since they're exhausted from the amount of physical labor they had to do. I know they had to do that because they're the lowly freshman of the group, while I'm the spoiled 'princess' that occupies this tower, undeserving of such an unfortunate fate. If Johnny would have let me help, I would have.
Johnny finally decided it was time to go once the time hit ten-thirty at night. He takes out a black hoodie that was stuffed in the back of his closet, and throws on a pair of black gloves that slide on with ease before putting the hoodie on. I nervously prepared myself beforehand and grabbed a bunch of my black punky clothes so that I can have the easiest time hiding within the shadows Johnny even gives me another pair of gloves for me as well, and I slide them on too.
"I know you're scared Mel," Johnny says while putting his black hoodie over his head.
"W-what?" I ask trying to feign ignorance of how I feel.
Once his head and horns poke through the opening, he trudges over to me and lifts the hood I have over my head, letting my magenta hair run down onto my collar bones. "Your first real test is always the scariest. Mine felt the same way," He mentions.
While I appreciate him trying to soothe my doubts, I don't think he can truly compare how he felt with how I feel. He's actually scary and is actually built to be a Scarer. I'm also not the kind of person to resort to revenge after something like this. Bad people do bad things, and retribution will only cause a chain reaction of anger to occur. However, I would be betraying everyone if I decided against joining them. "I…I'll try my best…Is there something that you guys need me to do?"
"You and I will be on notice board and hallway decoration destruction, as well as glitter bomb duty for the Scaring School. We're going to make the hallways look like something straight out of an asylum," Johnny smirks.
"Oh, good. I was afraid you and I would have to scale all the buildings and put those banners up," I sigh in relief.
"Yeah no, the Omega Howl guys have got that. I wouldn't let you do something like that even if you wanted to...but we might still have to 'scale' the Scaring School ," Johnny chuckles.
I smile meekly and stand up, ready for the night to begin. Even though I'm not excited to get revenge on people, I think judgement should be exacted on those who think it's ok to vandalize our homes…Wow, I really don't know how I feel about this whole situation. "Well, as long as we won't get caught," I say.
Johnny smiles back. "One thing that differentiates us MU students from Fear Tech students, is that we here at MU know how to be sneaky. We'll be entering the buildings through second and third story windows without making a sound. Once everyone wakes up, they'll be in for quite the shock."
I give him a hug, which will most likely be the final one for the night. I hear him gasp slightly, which is followed by his soothing voice. "I'll be with you the entire time, just treat it like an actual scare and show me what you can do in a dynamic environment," Johnny adds.
"Ok," I reply.
Johnny unwraps my hands around him, and takes one of my hands, pushing his fingers in between mine while we head out of the room and towards the front door. Javier, Chip, and Chet stand tall and proud at the front door all dressed in hoodlum gear just like us, pumping themselves up.
"Oh, Mel, one more thing," Johnny whispers, "We all can't say a word to each other until we reach Fear Tech. We can't have any of the campus staff or any authority figure hear us or they'll find out what we're doing. So this will be your first test to see how silent you can be."
"Ok…Just stay close... I don't want to be left behind," I quiver.
Johnny leans over and kisses the side of my head. After that, the five of us flood out the door, revealing everyone on their front lawns preparing for war. I'll be honest, it totally looks like I've joined some sort of cult. The PNKs and HSSs looking like some overlords with their gothic black street clothes, almost like they're in some sort of emo music video where they annihilate cars or something of the sort. All I can say is, I'm not excited to commit a literal crime.