Five Times Revenge

by Lindsay Eland

CHAPTER 38

  Adam

  The next afternoon, after school, Adam sat on his bed, re-rereading the article on the prank that he’d pulled up on his computer. He should leave for Perk’s soon, right now really.

  He read it one more time, wishing the description and the diagram would change.

  Pulleys? Gutting the car? Steel rope? Three groups of five or eight people? Scaffolding?

  He sighed.

  There was no way.

  Last night at the restaurant he’d been so starry-eyed with how their prank with Hill had turned out earlier in the day, and everyone’s hidden talent, that he’d seen the picture of the car on the rooftop and knew that that was what they needed to do.

  He hadn’t even looked at the article. He’d seen the picture and diagram and that was all. It was big enough to get back at Hill and Parmar, big enough for Tommy.

  He typed into his search bar “car pranks” and hit Enter.

  Fill a car with marshmallows. Cover it with sticky notes. Park it somewhere else.

  No, no, and definitely no.

  Nothing would be good enough unless it was Parmar’s Shelby Cobra on top of the school roof.

  There was another article about a car on a roof. They’d got it up there using ramps.

  Adam leaned back and closed his laptop. He wasn’t quite sure how that would work, but still, it proved that they could do it a different way. And Ray had looked at the article last night. “We’ll figure it out.” That’s what Ray had said.

  And they had Dutch and Pearl, too.

  “Yeah, we’ll figure it out,” Adam said aloud.

  He gathered up a thick pad of paper, the calendars he’d written up for Perk to look at, and his laptop, then stuffed them into his backpack along with clean underwear for the morning. The only thing he needed now were pencils. Perk should have them, but for some reason his family seemed to have things like exotic cheese, two hot tubs, eight bedrooms, and a personalized embossing stamp for books, but they didn’t have things like pencils, Post-it notes, or milk.

  He walked into the kitchen where his mom and dad were already fixing dinner. Both of them were wearing—as they did almost every Friday night—their Mr. and Mrs. aprons they had bought each other for Christmas last year. By the smell of it, they were making something with crab.

  The perfect meal to disappear for.

  Adam hated crab.

  “You heading over to Perk’s now?” his dad asked, sprinkling salt into a pot of boiling water.

  Adam smiled and rifled through the junk drawer. “Yeah. We’re going to work on a project for school.”

  “Oh yeah,” his mom said. “Is everyone in the group going?”

  “I don’t know.” As far as he knew right now, it was just him, Perk, and Tommy.

  “Should I invite everyone over?” Perk had asked after lunch. “What do you think?”

  Adam had nodded. “Sure. We can start planning now that we know what we want to do. And Tommy would love having everyone over, I’m sure.”

  “Yeah,” Perk said, and smiled. “He would, wouldn’t he? I’ll think about it.”

  But Perk rarely did anything without overthinking it. Adam could practically picture him racking his brain over the idea right then.

  “They all seem like good kids,” Adam’s mom said. “And it sure looked like you all were having a great time the other night.”

  Adam grabbed a few pencils and stuffed them into his backpack. “Yeah, it was a lot of fun.” And it had been.

  “Are you guys getting work done, too?” Adam’s mom pulled down a plastic container and filled it with cookies.

  Adam slung the backpack over his shoulder and took the container. “A little of both.”

  CHAPTER 39

  Perk

  Perk had a lot of good ideas. Like mixing M&M’s in popcorn, or arranging his and Adam’s school schedule, or buying three of Tommy’s favorite shirts so that he could alternate them in the wash.

  But asking Ray, Pearl, and Dutch over to his house with Adam to talk about the prank—well, he wasn’t so sure.

  That’s why he hadn’t.

  Yet.

  “Your turn, Perk,” Tommy said. He handed Perk the dice and Perk rolled and moved and paid Tommy for landing on his property, though he didn’t really know how much because he wasn’t paying much attention to the game.

  On one hand, it would be nice to hang out with just Adam and Tommy and play games and goof around like they always did. Easy. Predictable. But he’d had so much fun with everyone the other night, and they were all friends now so he didn’t have to be nervous about anything, and really they needed to work on the details of the prank.

  “Your turn again, Perk.”

  Perk rolled the dice and then Tommy laughed and jumped up and danced around like he did every time Perk didn’t realize that Tommy had landed on his property. “That’s what you get for not paying attention, Perk. You always have to pay attention. Always.”

  Perk nodded and smiled. “Yeah, that was my fault.”

  He could still ask them. After all, he had all of their phone numbers and e-mails … and a whole lot of other things, too, like their schedules, grades, and extracurricular activities, but that was beside the point. He hadn’t called anyone besides Adam, his parents, Tommy’s school, and the pizza guy in … well, ever.

  “Can we have special popcorn, Perk, with M&M’s? Adam likes them, too, and Adam is coming over, and you said we could have special popcorn because I missed going to the restaurant. You promised.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Perk got up, opened a bag of popcorn, and took down the bag of candy he kept hidden behind the container of organic granola.

  He tried to picture the group standing in the foyer, looking around with that openmouthed gape that most people got when they walked inside.

  He hated that face. And actually, besides the occasional trip to somewhere exotic, or enough spending money that he could buy any candy he wanted, Perk hated being rich. He’d much rather get by all right like Adam’s parents.

  The microwave beeped and Perk pulled out the bag of popcorn and dumped it into the green popcorn bowl. His stomach rumbled and he reached into the small jar of spending money that stood beside the Shabbat candles. There was a wad of bills and a note scratched on the back of a magazine: “Get yourself and Tommy some pizza tonight. Remind Tommy to not blow out the candles; he forgets sometimes. We’ll be home late. Love you, Rachel” but the name Rachel had been scratched out and Mom was written next to it.

  She signed her name a lot so it had happened before. He didn’t mind.

  “You hungry?” Perk asked. “We could order pizza?”

  “Yes!” Tommy said, pumping his fist into the air. “I love pizza.”

  Perk dialed the number.

  “Pizza Plaza. What can I get for you?”

  Perk hesitated. Four pizzas would be enough for him and everyone else.

  He felt like he was standing on the edge of the pool deciding whether to jump in or not.

  “Hello? Anyone there?”

  “Yeah, sorry,” Perk said. “I’d like an order for delivery please.”

  “Great, what can I get you?”

  He only needed two for himself and Tommy and Adam.

  “Sir?”

  Perk shrugged and then leaped off the edge.

  “I’ll take four pizzas. Two cheese, one veggie, and one barbeque chicken.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Yep.”

  “We’ll be there in thirty minutes or less.”

  Perk hung up and took a deep breath. He grabbed a big bill from the money jar and stuffed it into his pocket.

  “Is all that pizza for us?” Tommy asked.

  Perk tossed the empty bag of popcorn into the trash and pulled out three more bags of popcorn. “Actually, we’re going to have a few more people come over.”

  He glanced around, his eyes falling on his notes about alarm systems and the blueprints of the school he had managed to get
. He’d show everyone what he had worked on so far. He grabbed the info folder he’d created.

  “Oh good. I’m going to invite everyone to my art show,” Tommy said. “Especially Pearl. Can I?”

  Perk nodded at his brother, then picked up the phone again and dialed the first number on the list.

  “Yeah, can I speak to Ray, please?”

  CHAPTER 40

  Ray

  Ray’s shoes scuffled on the sidewalk, opening up the small hole at the toe a little more.

  Fifteen minutes ago he’d put on his shoes and tugged on his sweatshirt. “I’m going to a friend’s house,” he’d called.

  Silence.

  He opened the door just wide enough to squeeze himself out, but small enough to keep the stray cat that he’d given a saucer of milk to, from slipping inside.

  “I’ll be back later on tonight,” he yelled again, this time through the screen.

  Not like they would’ve noticed or cared either way.

  His brother, dad, and pappy were already sitting down, pizza steaming in their laps, waiting for the fight to start. They had their bets on the table, and Ray was sure that a couple of guys from the shop would be coming over soon. With everyone piled around the television, there wouldn’t be much room for him anyway.

  So when Perk called, he’d said sure, memorized the directions to his house, and grabbed his unused notebook, stuffing it into his backpack.

  He still didn’t know how he was going to make Adam’s idea work. There was too much risk of the car getting dented, scratched, or worse, not to mention getting scaffolding, steel rope, and rigging an entire pulley system.

  He’d looked up other ways to get a car up on a roof at the school library earlier and saw that one group of kids had used a series of ramps to drive the car onto the roof. That would be perfect, except for the minor detail of finding ramps, getting them to the school, and then taking them away.

  The only other thing that might work were the lifts at his dad’s garage. Maybe. It depended on the width of the car and the height of the school, not to mention keeping it from his dad.

  On his way to Perk’s, the houses seemed to grow taller and wider, the lawns more well-groomed, and the gates higher. 252 Bradbury Court. It even sounded rich. Ray felt the urge to duck his head, smooth out his shirt, and make himself look smaller—less noticeable. That, however, was pretty much impossible.

  But the other night when he was sitting at Bakers’ Place with everyone, laughing, he’d felt normal, like an average kid hanging out with his friends on a Thursday night.

  Then again, he was sitting down for most of the time, so maybe that was why he felt normal. It was easier to make himself look smaller when he sat down.

  He turned down the road just as a car pulled up alongside him. Probably a cop. This had happened to him before—cops stopping him and asking him what he thought he was doing. He knew he wasn’t teddy-bear friendly looking or a big-fat-rich-kid, so he should’ve expected he’d get stopped.

  The car slowed and he picked up his pace, his breath coming faster. 252 Bradbury Court. He only had a few more houses to go, and his dad would lose it if a cop escorted him home.

  “Hey!”

  Ray sped up his walk to a slow jog.

  “Hey, Ray! It’s me. Ray?!”

  Ray turned around and saw Dutch squinting out the passenger-side window. He slowed down and stopped. “Oh hey. Sorry, I … I didn’t know who it was.”

  “Better safe than sorry.”

  That wasn’t what Ray meant, but that was okay.

  The old man in the driver’s seat leaned over and said something to him. Ray turned and continued down the sidewalk. He’d see Dutch in a minute or two.

  “Hey, Ray.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Want a ride the rest of the way? I know it’s not far, but still.”

  Ray looked down the sidewalk.

  “Come on, Ray,” the old man called out. “We don’t bite. Promise.”

  Ray let a small smile cross his lips and hopped in. “Thanks.”

  Well, he definitely didn’t feel normal or average right now, sitting in Dutch’s mini car. His head grazed the top of the old car, and his knees smashed against the worn front seat.

  “I’m Dutch’s grandpa. Dutch tells me you’re one of the brains behind the school project?” the old man said.

  Brains? Really? Ray felt his cheeks burn. “Uh … I don’t know.”

  Dutch turned around and squinted a smile. “Of course you are, Ray.”

  The car squeaked to a stop and Dutch’s grandfather looked at the number on the gate. “Who-weee. That’s a palace if I’ve ever seen one.” He knocked Dutch with his elbow.

  “Yeah.”

  Ray opened the car door and spilled out. “Thank you, sir,” he said.

  “My pleasure. I can take you home, too, if you’d like? I’m picking up Dutch around nine-thirty or so. Can’t stay up too much past my bedtime.” He smiled and winked.

  “Sure, thanks.”

  “Thanks,” Dutch said.

  When the car pulled away from the curb, Dutch and Ray started up the drive to the gate.

  “I bet you already have some ideas on how to engineer everything.”

  Ray shrugged. “Some.”

  “Are you going to show us?”

  “Sure.”

  They pressed an intercom button, and then Perk and Tommy’s face appeared on the TV monitor and the gate buzzed open.

  Dutch and Ray looked at each other.

  For the second time that day, Ray didn’t feel gigantic and he didn’t feel small.

  He felt like an average, normal kid about to hang out with his friends on a Friday night.

  He could get used to it.

  CHAPTER 41

  Pearl

  The houses blurred past as Pearl’s mom drove down the road, speaking the directions out loud every time they came to another intersection. She always did that when she drove.

  “Left on Bradbury, go about a half mile, fourth house on the right.”

  Perk’s call couldn’t’ve come at a better time.

  Her dad had just gotten home from another business trip that morning, and he’d taken her out of school for lunch. They’d gone to a little deli, and Pearl hadn’t been able to keep her excitement down when he started to talk about how much he had missed her and her mom on this trip. He had made dinner reservations for the three of them at a restaurant, but Pearl wanted them to be alone with each other.

  Out on a date.

  So when Perk called, Pearl told her mom and dad that she had to go—it was an urgent meeting for their group project. This was, of course, true, though minus the word “urgent.” But in a way, even that was true.

  It was urgent for her parents to be together.

  “What are you and Dad going to do? You know, while I’m gone?”

  Her mother leaned forward and looked at the road name. “McKenzie Lane. That should take us there.” She turned the car and they started down the street lined with huge houses. She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. Your father said that we should keep the dinner reservation, so I think we’ll do that.”

  Pearl smiled and glanced out the window. “That’ll be fun.”

  Her hopeful song, “Spiegel im Spiegel,” played through her head as the fingers on her left hand fluttered out the notes.

  “Did you end up playing for the special education class at the high school today?” her mom asked, followed by a mumbled, “Bradbury should be down here somewhere.”

  “Yeah, we went right at the end of school and played a few songs. Perk’s brother goes there, so I got to see him.”

  “Really? That’s nice. Anyone else I know that was there?”

  “Callie, Stu, Joanna, Sari, Hill, and a few others.”

  “Bradbury. Here it is.” She turned the car and leaned forward, trying to see the house numbers. “Hill. He was a nice boy, wasn’t he? I didn’t know he played an instrument.”

  Pearl cringed.
“He doesn’t. He was there to get volunteer hours and he didn’t do anything except sit back in this old recliner, order a few of the kids around, and then drink a few juice boxes that were meant for the students. So no, he’s not nice. But he’s good at fooling people.”

  “That’s unfortunate.”

  Watching Hill in Tommy’s classroom made her sick. He cringed when one of the kids tried to hold his hand and when Hill pulled his hand away, he immediately washed it in the sink. At the end, he’d pushed through the front doors and said, “Seriously, that was just gross. I’m gonna kill my dad for making me do that.”

  Pearl’s mom stopped the car and leaned over Pearl to see the number on the gate. “Two fifty-two. This is beautiful.”

  Pearl reached into the backseat for her backpack, then opened the car door.

  “So what time should I pick you up?” her mom asked.

  She stepped onto the sidewalk and pulled her backpack straps over her shoulders. “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to interrupt your and dad’s night.”

  “It’s all right. You won’t be.”

  “No really, I bet that Dutch and his grandpa could give me a ride home.”

  Her mom shrugged. “Well, call me and let me know. Either way, I want you home by nine-thirty.”

  “Okay.” She started up to the gate. “Thanks, Mom. Have fun.”

  As the car pulled away, Pearl stepped up to the intercom and pressed the button. Tommy’s face appeared on the screen. “Hello, do we know you?”

  Pearl smiled and waved into the camera. “Hi, Tommy. It’s me, Pearl.”

  “Okay.” He turned his head off to the side. “Perk, it’s the pretty girl. She’s here!” He turned back to her. “Hi, Pearl.”

  Her cheeks reddened. “Hi, Tommy.”

  “Do you remember when I told you about my art show today at school?” he asked. “Can you come? Please? Everyone is going to come. I invited Adam and Perk and Ray and Dutch and my mom and my dad and my—”

  “All right, Tommy,” Perk cut in. “Let her in and you can tell her all about it.”

  “Okay. But will you come?”

  “Of course I’ll come,” she said, and then stepped through the gate when it buzzed.