🌟She's Special🌟

Not Funny

Thursday, April 1st, 2023 (5:35 AM) (Manhattan, New York) (Leia's Perspective)
"Come, we have to go quickly before they come downstairs." I held my brother's hand as we tiptoed downstairs. Noah set up a lot of the booby traps and pranks yesterday, but he saved some for us to do this morning.
"Noah, I have an idea!"
"What is it?"
"Mommy and Daddy always have coffee before work! Maybe we can put food coloring in some water and put it in the coffee maker."
"That sounds epic. Let's do it quickly." I climbed onto the counter to grab the food coloring and Noah filled the coffeemaker up with water.
"How much should I put?"
"A ton!"
"But Noah we also gotta make it bitter." We both tapped our chins. He put this weird thing in it.
"It'll taste bitter, you'll see. Okay, I have two other things planned."
"What are they?" I asked as he took me down from the counter.
"Elliot loves bringing Bella's treats to work with him. She saved me two of her double chocolate chip cookies for a cookie sandwich. What do you think we're going to fill it with instead of cream?"
"Toothpaste?"
"Close. Mayo."
"That's icky but funny!" Planning these pranks with Noah is fun.
"Grab the mayo from the fridge."
"On it captain!"
**************
The Kitchen & Dining Area (6:45 AM) (Elliot's Perspective)
I gave Leia her bowl of oatmeal and she ate it happily.
"Thank you, Dad!"
"You're welcome. Ugh, Dad is so tired."
"Why are you tired?" She asked while drinking her glass of grape juice.
"Daddy was up working all night last night."
"And having tickle fights with Mommy."
"Tickle fights?! Stop snooping."
"You're a bit loud at night! I wasn't snooping!" I walked over to the coffeemaker to make myself a cup of coffee.
"Liv already made some? Great." I reheated the coffee and poured some into my favorite mug. Noah and Bella came downstairs and got themselves a serving of oatmeal.
"Leia, I put celery, grapes, fruit punch, and leftovers in your lunch."
"Thank you, Bella." I took a sip of my coffee and spit it out instantly. The kids all snickered.
"This tastes disgusting!" The kids did this.
"April fools!" Leia said with a smile. Liv came downstairs. She had a splatter of blue paint on her shirt. Leia made fun of it, remarking its resemblance to a smashed blueberry.
"April fools!" The kids said again.
"We're going to get you back!" She declared.
"Oh, it's on!" Lucy came in and they all greeted her warmly. I felt my phone vibrate.
"I gotta go, guys! I'll see you guys later hopefully."
"Bye Daddy! Love you!" Leia gave me a kiss and the older kids hugged me. I can't believe I let a 6-year-old prank me.
"Have a great day at school. I'm leaving early so I'll be able to pick you guys up."
"Alright, bye!" I walked over to my car and started it. At least my cookie sandwich isn't tarnished.
***************
Chemistry Class (The Beacon School) (Noah's Perspective)
"Okay, so today we'll be going over moles." Chemistry class can be a bit boring, but having your friends sit next to you make things ten times better.
"When are we going to do a damn experiment?" Austin asked.
"Never," Kole replied.
"It's because his other chemistry experiment nearly blew up the school." My eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yeah, it was supposed to be hush-hush but I heard some details when I was negotiating my detention on Saturday."
"Of course you heard it that way, Ace." Austin punched him in the shoulder playfully.
"You should be thankful that I heard or you wouldn't have all of this information now." He picked up his pencil and tapped it.
"You know, when are we ever going to use this in the real world?" Bret said.
"Never. They're just trying to fill our head with mush."
"Noah, do you know the answer to question A?" I haven't been paying attention at all for the past 10 minutes.
"Umm..B?" I guessed.
"Why B?"
"I don't know. Intuition I guess."
"There's no such thing as intuition in Chemistry, Noah Porter Benson." Why did he have to say my full name? I groaned. I guess I have to pay attention now.
*******************
Walking Home (70th Street) (4:56 PM)(Bella's Perspective)
"I'm so nervous to carry out this prank now that I think about it!" I confessed to Hannah and Paisley.
"You were so excited beforehand!" Paisley pointed out. I was.
"I think she's only nervous because her Mom and El are cops, they won't take this kind of a prank lightly."
"Exactly."
"Look, you guys will laugh about this later, just do it, record it, and if they don't laugh we can do so in our group chat."
"You just want to embarrass me!" I said while playfully shoving Pais. We crossed the street to 74th street, which just so happens to be my street.
"Bye, Bella. Try not to get killed tonight."
"I'll try! Get home safe, and text me as soon as you get home." I crossed the street and entered my home via the garden floor entrance.
"You're home!" Leia gave me a big hug with Ms.Kitty in tow before running to tell Mom. My dogs gave me tons of kisses.
"I missed you guys! I'll take you on a walk tomorrow!"
"Woof!" My Mom came down from the living room and hugged me. Time to start the act, I guess.
"How were school and dance?" She asked enthusiastically.
"Nice." I grabbed my dance bag and put away my shoes.
"Nice? I usually get a more in-depth response than that."
"Sorry, I'm just really tired Mom. Please excuse me." I ran up to my bedroom and texted Evan.
Me: I got home a couple of minutes ago, are you free now?
Evan: Totally! Just tell me when to blow up your phone and I'm ready.
^^^^^^^^
(6:34 PM)
I plugged in my phone to charge in the kitchen. Elliot came home not that long ago and was talking to Mom.
"Everything's been so unpredictable, with the rise in certain acts in Brooklyn. I decided to come home while I could." He and Mom always use "code words" when talking about work at home, like we're all stupid or something. He peeled the potatoes and kissed my Mom.
"Well, I'm glad you're home. Bella, we're making a beef stew tonight, would you like to be my sous chef?"
"No thank you." I said quietly. Leia appeared "magically" and begged to help.
"Okay, that's fine. Leia, grab your apron so I could put it on."
"Yay, I'm gonna make stew!" Leia said in her baby voice.
"Leia, I know you can speak like a big girl so let's do that please." Mom said while caressing her cheek.
"I'm going to take a shower." I said before heading upstairs. The prank shall now commence!
*************
The Kitchen (505 East 74th Street) (7:01 PM) (Olivia's Perspective)
"Thanks for the stew, Mom."
"You're welcome." Sometimes we manage to have family dinners where we'll stay at the island or dining table for an hour laughing and talking about our day, and sometimes we just end up dispersing or having it casually. Tonight was a casual night. Elliot was upstairs researching a case and Leia and Noah we at the table eating while playing with their devices.
"Where's Bella? I haven't seen her come out of her room in almost an hour."
"She said she had to shower, Mommy."
"She's probably having one of her self-care nights or whatever." True.
"Fair point."
"Mom?!!" Bella yelled.
"Yes?!"
"Have you seen my colored pencils?!"
"I think you left them in the office!" Bella's phone began to ring.
"Bella, your phone is going off!"
"Who is it?!" I walked over to the counter and picked up her phone.
-3 missed calls from Babe💜-
Babe💜: I can't wait to see you again
Babe💜: I'm still thinking about our first kiss
Babe💜: Do you still have the hickey?!

What?!! Babe?! Who is this "Babe" and when did Bella have this "first kiss" that led to a hickey? I couldn't believe that Bella would hide this from me! I decided to read their previous conversation.
Bella: I'm free on Friday, I'll tell my Mom that I'm going to Hannah's and we could sneak out.
Babe💜: Cool, I'll bring my car. We could go to the movie theaters and stay up all night.
Bella: Sounds like a plan, can't wait to see you again. 🥰

I can't believe this is happening.
"Bella Danielle Margaret Benson!" Elliot came downstairs and I ushered for him to come and read the messages.
"What?! When was any of this?!"
"I don't know! This doesn't make any sense! Bella, get your butt down here right now!" She came downstairs seconds later.
"What?"
"Don't what me. Explain to me who this 'Babe' person is, and when you were planning on telling me."
"Also explain to us why he's been driving you places." Bella looked scared as she began to answer.
"What's his name?"
"His name's Dakota. He's Hannah's older brother's friend."
"When did you meet him?"
"When they had a little house party."
"Is that when you kissed him?" She played with her fingers.
"No, not exactly."
"Bella, don't play dumb right now. This is not funny young lady." Elliot said sternly.
"When did you kiss him?" She didn't answer.
"I find this all so weird because you had no problem telling me about what went on with you and Jake and yet you're hiding this from me. I didn't even know that you liked this Dakota. You're being really sneaky and this is not like you Bella. When were you planning on telling us?"
"Well I was going to tell you soon, I was just scared, I guess." She was being very fidgety.
"Leia, Noah, can you guys go downstairs please."
"Sure."
"I'm more concerned about the fact that this boy is talking about driving a car and sneaking out. So the last time you went over to Hannah's did you guys sneak out and go somewhere with him?"
"Yeah, we went to iHop because it's open 24 hours." I looked over at Elliot.
"Wait, Bella how old is Dakota?" I asked.
"Mom, I don't want to-"
"Answer me."
"He's 17." Bella said while backing away.
"Bella you need to end this right now. That is highly inappropriate and you know that. I can't believe after the conversations we had that you'd go and do this behind my back. Do you know what a 17-year-old wants with a 13-year-old? Elliot, tell her."
"Bella, you know that a 17-year-old gets with a 13-year-old for sex, we've discussed that. I've warned you about this." Elliot looks so hurt.
"Yeah, I know..." her voice started to drift.
"Bella, did he force you to do anything inappropriate?"
"No, he didn't that's gross Dad!" We continue to go through her phone.
"I'm going to find this kid and we're going to handle this right now. What's his last name?"
"I don't know."
"Bella Benson, you better cough it up right now. You're already losing your phone for a month."
"I can't- Bella you tell us everything, why didn't you tell us about him?"
"Because you'd get mad at me as always, and I was scared because I really like him." She pulled at her turtle neck and I noticed that something off.
"Bella, is there something on your neck?"
"No Mom, I'm just a bit itchy that's all!" I inched in closer to inspect it and she stepped back. I noticed a small hickey on her neck. To prevent myself from going awol and doing something crazy I said:
"Bella, go get my phone, I need to call the Jansens." She went upstairs with an attitude and Leia and Noah came up from the basement.
"I can't believe this Liv. Look at all of these text messages, this has been going on all of this time under our nose. There's probably so much more we don't know."
"Yes, that's why I'm about to call Amanda and have her go through Bella's messages." Bella came downstairs smirking.
"Nothing is funny young lady. Do you understand the gravity of the situation you're in?"
"Mom, Dad, it's a prank."
*****************
Our Dining Room (7:56 PM) (Bella's Perspective)
"What?"
"It's a prank!" Leia said while laughing.
"Look guys, this is the number." They realized that it was just Evan's number after I FaceTimed him. They lost all of the tension in the bodies and laughed.
"I knew there was no way this could be real." Mom stated.
"But you were the most emotional!"
"I wasn't certain." She hugged me.
"Thank goodness it's just a prank. Don't ever scare me like that again young lady!" I hugged Elliot too.
"I would never. 17 is way too old. And they just want one thing anyway. We talked about it in health class. I know what an unhealthy relationship looks like. Plus, if I ever had my first kiss or started talking to someone you guys would be the third ones to know."
"Third?!"
"My besties come first obviously!" This prank turned out good. I bet they were so freaked. What a great April Fools! If I could pull this off, what else could I do?..

Being able to put on an act might be really useful one day.

To be continued~