April Fools!

It was nine O'clock at night on Sunday, March 31 and I was staring, bleary-eyed, at my computer screen, studying for my Catholicism test the next day. I had set my phone aside so that it wouldn't be a distraction but the second I heard the faint buzz I launched myself across the room to see who'd texted, half expecting it to be an automated text from my Night Sky app. Instead, my screen was lit up with a text from Maggie, this one soon followed by another.

It read: "Hello. I have brought you here for a very important mission."

I rolled my eyes but tossed my computer aside all the same, the interruption more than welcome.

"I'm in," I responded quickly. "Question, what are we doing?"

"Does anyone know what tomorrow is?" Maggie asked coyly.

Suddenly it struck me what exactly she was implying. "OH NO."

"OH YES," Maggie answered.

April fools day.

"Guess who we're pranking?"

A slow smile spread over my face as I responded immediately. "John."

The next morning I walked in during third period - late because of a dentist's appointment. I slid into my seat behind Catherine and tapped her on the back, holding out a fistful of colored bandannas.

"Pick one," I whispered, and she grabbed the magenta one. We'd decided to wear matching bandannas so that we'd match.

We met up with Maggie and our friend Riley in the hallway as we all headed to logic class. As we sat down in the back of the classroom I tossed a red bandanna to Maggie and tied on my black one. By then John, who was sitting next to us, had picked up on the fact that something was going on.

"Are you all in a gang or something?" He asked.

We all looked at him, feigning innocence. "What do you mean?"

He gestured at our heads. "The bandannas? You're all wearing them."

"It's a fashion statement, John." Maggie declared, right before we all went silent as our teacher walked in the room.

John muttered under his breath, "You're definitely in a gang."

When class was finally over we ran to our lockers.

Catherine pulled out John's precious backpack decor, a stuffed unicorn by the name of Demontarius Jackson and a box of orange jello mix and headed into our history classroom. I grabbed a glass measuring cup, filled it up at the water fountain, and stuck it in the microwave.

We were going to take a page out of The Office's book and encase John's precious unicorn in orange jello.

Once the water was boiling I went to meet up with the others, careful to avoid anyone who would ask questions as to why I had a measuring cup full of boiling water. When I got there, our friend Patrick had joined the team as well and was now sporting a purple bandanna. We had decided to put Demontarius into a plastic Ziploc bag so that he wouldn't end up orange and so John couldn't sue us for property damage.

"But what if the bag leaks?" Patrick asked.

"We just have to pray it doesn't," I replied, pouring the hot water into the NC State water bottle that held the orange jello powder.

Patrick still looked skeptical, but he was completely on-board with pranking John so he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he headed over to our history teacher, with all of us (including now-liquid-jello-encased Demontarius), to ask if he would unlock the door to the kitchen for us.

Luckily, he said yes after only minor questioning, with the only requirement being that we made sure he was there to witness John's reaction. Since the end of lunch was quickly approaching, we put the water bottle in the fridge and bolted to our lockers to get our things for the next class period.

It was finally the end of the day.

We'd put a note in John's locker telling him to go to the kitchen immediately after school so it was with hopeful hearts that we opened the water bottle to discover if the supposed "speed-method" of making jello truly worked. Catherine ran her finger along the top.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, "It worked!"

We went and grabbed our teacher while Patrick went to find John.

"I'm coming. I'm coming!" John snapped as Patrick ushered him towards us. "What?"

"John, we have something for you." Maggie giggled.

"Hold out your hands," Catherine ordered. "And close your eyes."

John did as he was told and was rewarded with his prize. His unicorn encased in jello. His jaw dropped and Maggie snapped a picture.

We all bent over laughing as he shouted and ran around telling everyone about his unicorn.

Later on, John was still talking about it. Finally, he asked, "Why'd you have to use ORANGE jello? I HATE orange jello."

We all laughed. "That's why we did it."

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by Sarah Catherine