“Dude… this is it.”
I looked on in disbelief as my world crumbled before my eyes. Things had been going so well. I was probably the best known person in the school. I had enough girls after me to choke a camel, but was still dating the love of my life.
“This is not it. Just because everything went wrong at the last second does not mean it’s over Dummy,” said I.
“No, its over. You remember the plan, right?” asked my best friend, and co-conspirator Jim.
“Duh.”
“Has anything gone right?”
“Um… we just need to adjust a little…”
“A little? You’re out of your mind.”
I let the comment be. I had planned this senior prank ever since I was a freshman. I had pulled off lesser pranks, but this was to be my crowning achievement. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.
“Ok… we’re still getting caught,” remarked Jim woefully, “but we might still be able to pull this off if lady luck is on our side”
“Crap… she always screws me.”
After a quiet chuckle, Jim summed things up. “We’re dead either way, but you can go down as a failure, or as a martyr and legend.”
I evaluated my options. Become a super-senior with pride… or a college freshman best known for bailing out. I went for it.
“Ok… we have one shot at this, and we have four items to do between the two of us, and only one run to do it…” I said before trailing off into whispers, while Jim was nodding the whole time.
We set our watches and agreed to strike in exactly five minutes, giving us enough time to set up. We each had to accomplish two things, in one minute each. If at any point these failed to be executed, it was over. Five… Four… Three… Two… One. I jolted up and ran. First, I had to get the vents open from the outside, while Jim got them closed inside. Second, the water needed to start running. This was easy enough, but I stalled to give Jim as much time as possible to get his end ready. We wouldn’t want to flood the wrong vents. After thirty seconds or so, I went to start the water. I barely got it going before I found myself circled by security guards.
Later that night we were dragged to the same prom we were supposed to ruin. The vents had been stopped up… I felt horrible because Jim had done his part. And they caught me. How could this get any worse?
Life is a funny thing. Either that or something up there is having way too much fun messing with our minds. My question of how could things get worse was answered very harshly. The reason we were brought to the prom was to be “executed” in front of the crowd. The faculty thought I should be displayed and my punishment announced in front of the whole school to stop behavior like mine. I’m sure this was very logical on their side, but from mine… it was basically the end of my life.
You might not believe it, but I prayed for deliverance in some way or another. Anything to get me out of my position. It appeared that Providence was having fun watching my downfall though. Jim and I were led onto the stage by a few security guards with the principal at the head. The microphone was handed to the principal, who issued forth my sentence.
“Students of Chugiak High! I am pleased to present to you…” he paused to almost showcase us to the students with a dramatic wave of his hand, and then he shouted Jim’s name and mine as if we were up for an award. The crowd actually cheered for us, still unaware of our predicament.
The principal waited for the cheering to stop and went on, “It gives me the greatest of satisfaction to announce that these two students will be here for another year!”
The crowd started to applaud expecting something exciting, but then stopped dead in its tracks. I spotted Jessica out in front. She looked up at me in disbelief. Her normally pleasurable countenance was soured when she saw me looking at her, and she glared at me before stomping away. Crap… now my relationship was over too.
The speech to demean us went on, but I blocked it out. I came to the sad realization that there is no lowest possible point to life. I failed at the most important time of my life, I failed Jim, I failed to live up to the students, and I failed Jessica. As things were wrapping up and my failure very well known to everyone, I had but one word on my mind… fiddlesticks.