"Magenta, wake up!"
Magenta's best friend Shelby hissed into her ear. Latching onto Magenta, Shelby shook Magenta's shoulder until she nodded, snorting softly before waking up.
Lemons, limes, lemons, limes. In her dream, Magenta counted all the citrusy fruits, in the middle of a grassy field next to the outline of somebody. She could not tell who that somebody was, but their presence made Magenta feel safe, and content. The outline was white with a tinge of another blurry color.
Magenta lifted her head from her snooze, smiling in a sleep-induced daze at her best friend.
The classroom was warm but not too warm in August. They did not have a monsoon season, but they had mosquito season. A mosquito hovered over Magenta's head and she swatted the mosquito away. The mosquito went to find another victim, settling on the back wall of the classroom.
Looking to the front, Magenta saw her French teacher standing there expectant, her eyes like two swollen frogs' chins. On the board, there was a poorly drawn picture of a jar of jam. It was probably one of the students at the front, who was smart in all subjects except art. Magenta hid her squeak of laughter by yawning, her arms stretching out to touch Shelby's head.
Shelby doodled in her notebook. She was drawing her boyfriend. She dug her foot onto Magenta's whispering, "She's asking you what word it is!"
"Magenta, quel est le mot?" Their French teacher asked.
"La confiture!" Magenta pointed.
"J'aime la confiture de citron," Magenta was one of those effortless star students, but she didn't like sitting in the front. As she inserted the extra expression, the French teacher nodded appreciably.
"Très bien! Mais ne dormez pas, s'il vous plait," Their French teacher raised an eyebrow at all the students and turned back to the board.
"Désolée," Magenta murmured, sliding her head back against the desk. If the French teacher punished the students for not sleeping, then every student would be in detention every day. She was about to go back into her citrus dreamland when someone whispered "underwear" behind her. Magenta ignored the whisper and wrinkled her nose.
Underwear? Did she wash hers in the morning? Oh yes, she did. She remembered using the lemony soap and dancing with the bubbles in the bathroom.
The sudden whispers from the back of the classroom got louder, evolving into giggles and laughter until Magenta and Shelby couldn't help but look back. They tried to see what the fuss was about.
There, outside the window hung a pair of red undies. The incriminating evidence with the letters MAGENTA DAVIES stitched over the lining made Magenta shoot up from her chair. At Oakstone Academy, the only way people knew what item of clothing belonged to them and could prove their ownership was through the stitched names. Magenta's mother spent many nights before school started to stitch her name on all items of her clothing. From socks to shirts to skirts to underwear.
The worst thing about this was the pair looked brown and soiled. Magenta knew she washed this particular scarlet pair just the day before. They were her lucky undies. Who other than the bane of her life would do this? Who other than the only person Magenta would consider equal in terms of pranking?
"Blue. Harrison!" Magenta launched at the desk behind her.
Blue Harrison bent over his desk, just about to land a spitball in Magenta's hair when she turned around. He cackled and jumped off his seat. Blue ran away as Magenta tried to grab him. Next to Blue sat his best friend Jasper who watched the scene unfolding with lines of amusement written across his face.
"People say they should have stopped pranking years ago," Shelby said, her hands forming an imaginary microphone, that she passed to Jasper.
"We say, c'est faux," Jasper said, grabbing the imaginary microphone, booming out the words like a news reporter.
Their French teacher clicked her tongue and declared detention for Magenta and Blue before the end of the class bell rang.
"I do not want this shenaniganery happening again," Those froggy green eyes tried to be intimidating, but everyone focused on the made-up word. Shenaniganery was a good word, and the students would pick the phrase into a school phrase sooner or later.
"Ugh, Blue!" Magenta raced around, trying to catch Blue during lunch time across the lawn. He ran like he was skidding across clear water while Magenta ran like an angry horse, galloping forwards.
"Ugh, Magenta!" Blue laughed and teased her with the mention of her underwear. He was much faster than her, even while laughing he didn't need to take deep breaths the way Magenta was struggling to breathe.
"Blue walks on water like Jesus," Shelby said.
"Magenta runs. No further edits." Jasper commented.
Shelby commended Jasper on his wording, and he nodded.
"Thank you, thank you," he said to an audience of zero, waving his hands around.
Shelby and Jasper started dating each other the year before in their sophomore year. They connected over commentating on their best friends' rivalry. Now it was a thing between them even in their romantic relationship. Thus they were a quartet of 'friends', in other words, Blue and Magenta barely tolerated each other while Shelby and Jasper were crazy in love.
"C'mon kids, we got a table!" Shelby pulled Magenta and Jasper pulled Blue.
"Seriously, when did you even get that? And you made us get detention…again! Do you know how many black marks I have because of you?" Magenta threw her words at Blue during lunch.
She impaled her chicken sandwich with a fork and drank her orange juice with her other hand. Blue munched on his sandwich, about to talk with his mouth full. Magenta stopped him, pressing a hand to his mouth.
"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Magenta bossed.
He choked and coughed. Shelby and Jasper laughed while Blue drank his water in big gulps, glaring at Magenta. Magenta looked to the heavens, pretending to be haughty but with a goofy smile plastered on her face.
Blue finished drinking his water and he responded, "Thanks for almost killing me. I don't know. Do we have two friends called Shelby and Jasper? They might have something to do with this prank."
Magenta gasped and flicked Shelby's wrist. Shelby tried to dodge but her head bumped Jasper's. Jasper rubbed his head and then Shelby's, making their hair stand up on edge.
"The nerve!" Magenta exclaimed.
Shelby shrugged, whistling and looking the other way for a moment. Looking back at Magenta, Shelby admitted her involvement in the fiasco, raising her hand.
"Guilty as charged," Shelby said.
"Shel! Whose side are you on?" Magenta huffed.
"Yours, of course," Shelby said.
Shelby pinched Magenta's arm, and Magenta crossed her arms, inching away from her best friend.
"And mine," Jasper wrapped his arm around Shelby's waist and she sighed lovingly, leaning into him. They shared a smooch, their lips meeting shortly and then they lengthened the kiss.
"Okay, you can stop now," Magenta said, trying to get them to break apart.
Blue and Magenta made puking noises on either side. The only thing they agreed on lately was that their best friends' PDA was gross.
"Just wait Blue. I'm gonna get you." Magenta said, impaling her roast potato too.
Blue grinned, taking his spoon and slurping his soup before he said, "I'd like to see you try."
"Bet." Magenta said.
"Yeah okay. Five hours." Blue said.
"Hah! Three!" Magenta lowered the amount.
They weren't talking about money, making Shelby roll her eyes as her lips disconnected from Jasper. Jasper smiled, watching Shelby's expressions.
Blue and Magenta were talking about how much truce time they would agree on. Ever since they were eight, they pranked but once in a while, they had to take breathers, to stop and focus on other things in life. But only once in a while. Most of their time was with each other anyways so they didn't hold back on each other.
—-
Detention was at the library, in the bubble glass rooms.
The bubble glass rooms were large spaces with whiteboards, white rugs, desks, and chairs within transparent glass panels. Each room in the library was quite solid in terms of soundproofing, but there was always that one person who would fart in the middle of detention, and that was sound was not minimized.
The bubble room that day was bubble room D, closest to the back end of the library. Oakstone Academy's library was the biggest library out of all school campuses nearby their town. Having a name like Oakstone Academy meant they had to have a pretentious amount of books in their library among other functions and facilities.
Magenta made sure to get there first. She slid the glass door open and hummed. She went to a seat near the back and palmed the Nutella squeeze packet in her pocket. After a long day, they still had an hour or so to go before the school day was over, and Magenta still felt a bit sleepy. Magenta would not be deterred by detention, and she vowed to get revenge on Blue and catch him by surprise.
Blue entered the battlefield, strolling in with his backpack hanging loosely from his shoulders. Assessing the playing field, he moved his bag so it was in the front. Grinning at Magenta, he made a beeline to sit next to her.
When he made a big point to slowly sit, waiting for Magenta's reaction, she said and did nothing. Inside, she expected this of him, and this was exactly what she waited for.
He frowned and was about to place his bottom fully on the chair when Magenta slid her hand in between his butt and the chair quickly.
A loud spurt responded through the bubble room and the brown substance oozed onto Blue's light gray trousers. Magenta expected him to groan in frustration, and she waited in delight for his reaction. She sat on her fingers, the Nutella packet falling down. Magenta reached down to pick the packet up from the ground, not wanting to dirty the white plush carpets.
Blue turned to her, taking his opportunity when he saw one. He shoved his hands in her hair, shampooing her hair with a bottle of premium sparkling white Grove shampoo.
"Free salon care!" Blue said.
"Hey! Not fair!" Magenta replied.
Magenta fought against Blue, taking revenge with the shampoo, and the more they struggled, the messier they got. The Nutella packet was forgotten as the white rug flooring was full of foam and soap, the chairs and desks pushed aside.
Outside the bubble room, the teacher in charge knocked on the glass door. It was locked from the inside, as per Blue's shenaniganery. Neither Blue nor Magenta paid any heed to the teachers and students outside. Some people were taking videos, including the kid who always farted in the bubble room. Miss Burgundy was outside too, slapping her hands against the glass.
By the time the door got unlocked, bubbles floated all around the room.
"Magenta! Blue! Stop this!" Miss Burgundy flew into the room, pulling the students apart.
"You are to sit through detention in the mess you've made, while everyone else goes to another room. Then you are to clean up this whole room. Then tonight you have kitchen duty. Washing dishes mind you, not drying them."
It was a miracle that they didn't have another clean-up or dishwashing fight. Suffice it to say, both were stewing on their next prank ideas quietly as they stood next to each other.
"Truce?" Magenta said as she passed a spoon to Blue.
"One week," Blue nodded, scrubbing the spoon.
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Good."
"Great."
Magenta and Blue were kinesthetic but not so good at expressing emotions. This often led to outbursts against each other and actions over words. But they had to learn one day or another, even if it started with a few words. That was how babies began talking. From one word to two, from two to three, and so on. Truces were rare but it was only fair. As both had a chance to prank each other. Now they would be at a stalemate until either launched a new prank.
"What happened to my underwear by the way." Magenta glared at Blue.
"Dunno. Probably in the trash, or you're wearing it." Blue said, in nonchalance.
He continued scrubbing at the dishes, inspecting them for any smudges of food or dirt. Magenta swatted Blue over the head and he dodged, some water spraying over Magenta's shirt. Magenta gasped and she paddled water to Blue's side who in turn sprayed more water at Magenta. Both smiled like two people who had found treasure.
"Blue and Magenta. Watch it. Any more fighting and you will get a more serious punishment," the supervising kitchen staff member said.
Outside the kitchen, Spider Wells, a classmate, passed by on his way to do homework. He pushed his glasses to his nose. A short brown buzz cut shaped his round Elmer Sglue face. He stopped, his gaze zooming on Magenta. A smile spread across Spider's face as he stared at Magenta. Almost as if he was drooling, Spider wiped the side of his mouth.
His hands clutched the item in his pocket and he turned away with one last look of longing at the pair in the kitchen.