"Ewww! Look at this Chuck." I laughed. "Nasty!" I held up a clump of hair I had taken from the showers drain. My rubber gloves protecting me from the obvious griminess that comes with letting teenage boys share showers. Chuck made a face and shuddered.

"Ugh, gross." I looked at the clump in wonder. There's no way that much of a wad could be formed by just hair. Not many of the boys had long hair. That's when something dawned on me. I shrieked and threw the strands in our mess bucket. Chuck widened his eyes.

"What?! What is it?"

"Those are fucking pubes! Oh my god, oh my God, oh my God! Ugh!" I shook my hands out in disgust. "Gross! How is that many even possible?!" Chucks face was frozen in shock and then paled ghostly white.

"Those are pubes?!"

"Uh huh!" Chuck shook his face in horror.

"I've been cleaning that drain out for a whole month and it was pubes?!"

"Yup!" We both made indiscernible sounds of
revolt. Ending with some tasteful fake retching for dramatic effect. After we had gotten our disgust out in the open we sat there in a few moments of silence. I decided to break it first. "So, what are we gonna do with it?"

"Probably just throw it away. Why?"
An idea soared into my head like a rocket, blowing itself up on impact. A mischievous smile played around on my lips.

"Wanna have some fun Chuckie?" His eyes gleamed knowing exactly what I was thinking.

------------------------

Everything had worked out perfectly. Shower day was today. This was when the boys were assigned to wash. They would take turns going, eight at a time. Chuck knew exactly who frequented each stall, so he knew where to position himself.

I stood outside the showers pressing my back against the cement of the building. I sucked on a lollipop waiting for Chuck to make his move. Earlier we had wrapped the pubes in a little plastic baggie given to us by Fry. Chuck had entered the showers as he would typically. I sat there and waited, boredom creeping up on me.

"Hey." It was Gally. He slid himself against the wall by me. I looked up at him in interest.

"Hey." I replied. He looked at me in curiosity.

"What are you doing?" I responded, almost by instinct.

"Plotting world domination. How about you." Gallys eyebrows furrowed it took him a moment to process what I'd said. His face finally softened.

"Oh. I'm just- I'm not doing anything." I smirked at him.

"Productive." A memory flashed in his eyes.

"Oh, I do actually have to talk to you about something." I tilted my head. "I was just gonna let you know that you're gonna be working with the builders tomorrow."

"Oh. Okay." We were interrupted by a shriek. A horribly beautiful high pitched shriek. It was music to my ears. I beamed chuckling. "Alright Chuck!" I turned to Gally before walking away. "I think that's my cue. See ya later."

I saluted him as I sprinted towards to the entrance of the showers. A force hit my side. I had run straight into Chuck. He was breathless and had the fattest grin on his face. "Did you do it?!"

"What do you think?!" I laughed with him in glee.

"Okay okay, you know the plan. Go hide in the deadheads. I'll come get you when things have calmed down." I heard footsteps pounding themselves out of the showers. "Go go go go!"

I gave Chuck a little push and watched as he scampered to the deadheads. Victor burst out of the bathroom, shampoo still bubbling in his hair. His towel was scarcely covering his bottom half. He looked absolutely feral. Other boys followed after Victor in curiosity. It was getting difficult to see with twilight stretching itself across the sky.

"Wait, what happened Vic?!"

"Yeah what's wrong man?"

"Hey, are you good?"

He was spitting angry. His face flushed a brilliant red, almost matching his hair. He looked to no avail for Chuck. His eyes however did find me. I was sitting on a stray log, candy in my mouth and fully enjoying the show. That little twat finally got what he deserved. Victor stomped over to me.

"Where'd he go?!" He barked clutching his towel around his waist.

"Who?" I replied innocently.

"Don't play with me, I know you saw him!" I tilted my head in confusion. "Chuck!" He exclaimed.

"Oh right! He went that way." I pointed both of my fingers opposite ways.

"What?!" Victor said looking bewildered. "Just tell me where he went!"

"Who?"

"Ugh! Enough of this. I'll find him myself." He stormed off, smoke practically fuming out of his ears. The laughter I was keeping in slipped out and I doubled over laughing.

"What happened? What did you do?!" Newt was standing over me in a panic. Still chuckling I said.

"Oh my god, relax Newt. There's no need to get your panties in a twist." I snickered. He grabbed my wrist roughly and dragged me towards the homestead. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"

Newt remained silent and continued tugging me along, nearly ripping my arm out of its socket. "Ow ow ow ow! Hey I'm not trying to lose an arm here!" He loosened his grip, we had already made it to the porch at the homestead. "Jesus Christ!"

I rubbed my shoulder. "You know for a guy with a fucking limp you're pretty strong." Newt snapped the door open and pointed for me to go in.

"Go. Now." Continually rubbing my arm, sulking, I walked in. Newt slammed the door behind him.

"So are you gonna tell me what's goin' on here or are you gonna be a bloody idiot and lie about it." I was shocked from Newts temper. He was usually extremely levelheaded. His sudden aggressiveness made me unable to look him in the eyes. I mumbled.

"I was just making it even." Newt fumed.

"How could you do something so stupid. Tell me where Chuck is and exactly what he did." I sat my self on the couch, sinking into it. I sighed.

"I can't reveal his location. That's highly classified information. As for what he did, I have absolutely no idea." Newts lips tightened.

"You're lyin', and it's a bloody stupid move." I picked at my nails.

"Hey man I'm no Gemini okay, and I'm sure as hell not about to snitch." Newts frustration displayed on his face was comical. God I cannot take people seriously when they're mad and he for sure does not have a poker face.

"Don't you understand the trouble you're getting yourself into. I see it. I know that right now you're really toeing the line and-" I cut him off.

"Look Newt do you really want to know the truth. Cuz last time I checked you're second in command and there is no way you could lie to Alby straight to his face." Newt's face faltered. "I'm fine. I can take care of myself and I haven't admitted to anything so therefore I haven't done anything. If anyone wants to prove me differently I'd be glad to go to court with them." I paused. "Or whatever you call that here." Newt looked like he was deep in thought. He finally replied.

"Fine. For all we know you haven't done anything but you've got to lay low for a while. That means as impossible as it might be to do, you gotta hold your tongue for a few days. Promise me that at least." I grumbled.

"Okay fine." I was less than thrilled with the situation but I had promised, I always keep my promises.

"Alright, get outta here and go find Chuck. We can hide him in the closet with you tonight." I smiled and threw my arms around him. I murmured.

"Thanks Newt." I don't think Newt was expecting me to hug him but he just patted my back awkwardly, unsure what to do. I let go and grinned.

"See ya in a bit." I darted across the glade until I was at the edge of the deadheads. I took a deep breath, grateful for the flashlight I had brought with me. I stalked through wild bush tromping towards the corner of the glade. After scraping my knees several times from stray branches, I arrived in the corner.

"Chuck?" I whispered. "Are you here?" A huge mound of leaves stirred. A small voice replied

"Here." I grinned and rushed to the pile sweeping the leaves off of him. I uncovered Chucks beaming face. We giggled over our success until I heard the sound of twigs snapping. I turned my flashlight off and grabbed his hand. In a hushed voice I said.

"We gotta move okay. We're gonna hide you in the closet with me tonight." Even though almost all the light had faded away I could still see the uneasiness on his face.

"Okay." I pulled him to his feet and we snuck through the forest making sure to keep quiet. When we broke out of the forest I scanned the perimeter. Most everyone was still freaked out over by the showers so it was possible that we'd be able to make it. We ran across the lawn, me pushing Chuck forward.

Out of breath I whipped the door of the homestead open. Chuck stumbled in head first, right into Newt. Newt hissed.

"Took you long enough. Come on." Chuck and I were shoved into the closet. I heard the lock click behind us. Out of breath I led Chuck into the back room. Turning on the lantern I threw my sleeping bag at him.

"You can sleep in that okay." Chuck raised his brows in concern.

"Are you sure? What are you gonna sleep with?"

"Easy. I'll just use this." I grabbed the thin blanket I usually slumbered with and settled down on the bone chilling floor. Chuck looked at me with disbelief.

"You're whacked. That can't be comfortable."

"Chuck, quit nagging."

"Okay."

As we laid in the dank chamber Chuck started to recount the prank. According to him, once he'd gotten to the shower next to Victors he had taken the baggie filled with pubes and threw it over. He described how it had soared over perfectly, hitting him square in the face. He talked about how Victor screamed in disgust and how he ran out like his life depended on it. Chuck babbled on and on until his words made less and less sense.

Then there was quiet. I glanced over at Chuck to see him with his mouth open and eyes shut closed. I smiled warmly and reached over to the lantern snapping it off. I took my blanket off and laid it on top of him. Even in the dark he looked so peaceful.

I curled up on the freezing floor. I shivered but I knew that I was doing the right thing. My skin peppered itself with goose flesh, after an hour or two or three I felt myself slip away into the night.