Making it Easy to be Green (Open)

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Although Harmony would never admit it, she had actually gotten this idea from an older student about a year ago. She liked to think she was original and smart enough to come up with her own ideas for pranks. So she would have come up with this idea eventually.

It was a slightly warmer day out, so most of the students had taken the opportunity to cure some of their cabin fever from the long winter by being outside. And Harmony had seen her chance.

She’d spent the morning filling several balloons with lime green paint. It’d been a little harder than she’d expected and her hands were also covered in the color. Still as she stood on the edge of the roof the dormitory, balloon in hand, she felt it would soon be worth the trouble.

She only had to wait a few moments for a student to walk underneath her. She couldn’t help but start to laugh as she let go of the balloon, sending all its paint-filled glory flying towards them.

“Got ya!” she yelled when the balloon exploded, already reaching for another balloon to send down.

[Piper Goldburg]

Piper was walking back to the dorm when she suddenly heard lots of screaming. As she got closer, she noticed the path was splattered in green paint. People stained with it were freaking out. It was hard for Piper to stifle a laugh. She hadn't seen a good prank in a while. She needed to know who was behind this.

Piper tried looking up at the roof to see who it was but she couldn't see that far. She took out her camera and pointed it at the top of the dorms. Piper used the zoom to get a better look at the little prankster. It was that girl Harmony. She never really talked to Harmony. Piper once overheard some students gossiping and one of them mentioned that Harmony was really annoying. But in her book, a prankster like this has to be pretty cool. Piper dodged all of the falling balloons and slipped into the dorm. After climbing up a couple flights of stairs, Piper reached the roof.

Piper wasn't thinking before. She couldn't initiate conversation with someone. She slammed the door to the roof really hard and prayed it would get her attention. This way, Harmony would start talking and Piper could just smile and nod.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony had already sent down about ten balloons. Although people (for example staff members) were sure to have figured out by now where the culprit was located, the idea or running or hiding hadn’t occurred to her yet.

She was cracking up as she looked out over the edge for her next target. But the sound of the door to the roof startled and she dropped the balloon too early. “Idiot!” she yelled, whipping around to see who had caused the sudden sound. “You made me miss!” A second after the words spilled out of her mouth, she wondered if it would be a teacher she was yelling at. But luckily Harmony turned to see that it was just a student. One she barely recognized but who she was pretty sure had a name starting with a P. Or maybe and S. Harmony wasn’t known for her social skills, like remembering names.

“What the heck are you doing up here anyway?” she said, giving the girl a questioning glare. “Trying to win the narc of the month award?” While she was talking, she reached behind her to grab another balloon for use if she needed a distraction for a quick get away.

[Piper Goldburg]

Harmony's reaction surprised Piper. Now she understood why some people disliked her. Piper weighed her options. She could either apologize and leave or jump at the opportunity to do one of her favorite things and potentially make a friend in the process. Piper chose the obviously better one.

"No, I just wanted to help. I love pranking people and I thought this was hilarious." Piper set herself up next to Harmony. She grabbed a paint filled balloon and hunted down a target. She decided to go for a couple that was making out on a park bench. The students' reactions cracked Piper up. But, her next victim wasn't so funny. Out of all of the people it could of hit, it hit a teacher. Piper couldn't tell who it was since they were drenched in paint. Piper tugged on Harmony's shirt and made a run for it towards the door. She was almost in her dorm but it was too late. The teacher called their names and a pit formed in Piper's stomach.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony still had a scowl on her face as she waited for the other girl to answer her. But the expression quickly faded into one of her rare smiles as the girl joined in her pranking. Finally someone at the school who wasn’t a total lame goody-two-shoes type.

“Nice shot,” she said, leaning on the edge of the roof to see where the balloon would hit. “You got a name to go with that aim?” she asked, making a face when she realized she was rhyming. Great, now she’ll think I’m the lame one. She picked up another balloon and chucked it down without really paying attention on who it landed on. She happened to hit the same teacher Piper did. Poor unlucky soul. Harmony was laughing, uncaring that they had just bombed a teacher with green paint when the other girl tugged her shirt and took off.

On second thought maybe it would be a good idea to run.

She turned when she heard her name and considered teleporting away for a moment. But the teacher had already called her name and Piper’s. So even if she got away now, it wouldn’t really fix matters.

“Hey teach,” she said, leaning up against the wall and trying to look casual. “What’s up?”

(Should we invite a teacher/staff member to join or just play this out without any specific name of one? I’m up for either idea.)

[Piper Goldburg]

Though Harmony kept a straight face, Piper was really nervous. She had never gotten in trouble before and if her parents ever found out, she was dead. Piper wouldn't call herself a goody two shoes but she definitely never got in trouble. All of her past pranks were completely harmless and never got her more than a stern look from her teacher. Piper's palms started to get sweaty and the room seemed to spin a little. She took deep breathes as she stayed completely frozen. She prayed that the teacher had some sort of sense of humor. Once Harmony started giving attitude to the authority figure, Piper became hopeless. There was no way Piper could think of a cover story. The teacher would be so pissed from Harmony that they would just instantly bust them.

"It's all a misunderstanding." Piper choked out. "You see Harmony and I were having a paint-balloon fight and I accidentally dropped one off of the roof. We definitely were not pranking people. I apologize if we were not supposed to be on the roof. I didn't know. I promise." Piper was obviously lying. She could feel how red her cheeks were and she was constantly biting her lip and rubbing the back of her neck. She gave Harmony a look that motioned her to keep talking.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony started to roll her eyes when Piper launched into a lame excuse to get out of trouble. But after getting a good look at the upset face of the teacher, she decided it might be worth it to go with the story. Couldn’t hurt, right?

“Yeah, just like she said teach,” Harmony added. “There’s no rule against throwing paint balloons the willing, right? Sorry that uh…” she paused trying to remember what the teacher had called the other girl. “Piper..yeah..sorry that Piper has such bad aim.” Sure, it was still obviously a lie. But if both the girls agreed to it, maybe the teacher would be at a loss and let them off easy. She smiled, trying to make herself look innocent, while trying not to laugh at Piper’s reddening cheeks.

“So that’s the story teach,” Harmony said. “Sorry people got stuck in the cross fire. Guess we shoulda picked a better spot. But I figured no one else would be up on the roof, right Piper?” Harmony patted the other girl on the shoulder, hoping that would get her to continued to agree with this story.