Chapter 20

David
Upon his return to campus, David found Alex on the warpath. David had gotten an inkling that something was wrong when he’d stepped off the elevator and was hit by the odor.

“What the hell is that?” David asked as he gagged from the stench.

Their room smelled like something in it had died, been left in the sun until it was bloated to the point it exploded, and then aged badly as it decomposed. He imagined it was similar to what a beached whale smelled like after about a month in the sun.

“I found a mayonnaise jar of rotted crap sitting in the middle of my gaming chair. Thank God they didn’t tip it over,” Alex shared.

David was just happy he hadn’t been the one to discover it. He had to bite his tongue to keep from pointing out that this shit wouldn’t happen if Alex would just lock the damned door. The rest of the floor couldn’t be any more thrilled with the aroma than either of them was.

“I’ll call my mom. She’s sold her share of stinky houses. I’m sure she’ll have a solution,” David offered.

“Fuck that. I called a company to come in and fix this. That stench is in everything. Wait until you get a whiff of your clothes and mattress,” Alex ranted. “We have to do something about this.”

“Did they get anyone else?” David asked, referring to the prank war that had just gotten out of hand.

“Kirk and Jamie’s rooms. That tells me it was the townies. I plan to kick their butts when I see them,” Alex promised.

“Before you do that, let me call my security and confirm it’s them. If it is, we’ll find a way to get even that doesn’t involve kicking butt,” David said.

“While you go all Gandhi, I plan on making someone bleed.”

“Or you could tell Lexi,” David offered.

“You’re a genius. Give me her number,” Alex demanded.

“Slow your roll. Let’s find out whether it was them or not before we go nuclear.”

The cleaners showed up, and David let Kirk and Jamie know. Those two hired the cleaning outfit on the spot to eliminate the odor in their rooms. Somehow, Lindsey never got hit, and she was missing in action. David knew that Veronica was her roommate but was starting to wonder.

While the cleaners did their job, David’s group went to the roof to get some fresh air.

“My roommate wants to move,” Jamie complained. “She didn’t sign up for this.”

“Mine went home for the weekend. I called him, and he’s not coming back until tomorrow because of what they did,” Kirk shared.

“My security confirmed it was Veronica and her posse. I want to follow through on that project we talked about,” David said.

“What’s that?” Alex asked.

David shared a new plan. He’d talked to Wolf and Tim, and Tim’s dad had disclosed some of his college run-ins. He’d related a legendary prank to Tim.

David’s initial plan had been to talk to his Star Academy makeup artists. They were the team responsible for his ‘tattoos’ in the films. They had concocted a cream that looked and felt similar to hand lotion. The stuff instantly darkened your skin, and if you left it on for any length of time, it turned your skin black. David proposed to get some and replace the lotion that was in the townie’s rooms.

When he’d told the group of his plan, Lindsey had initially been against it, which had aroused David’s suspicions. She’d come on board when Kirk had suggested that Christian and Peter might have an alternative use for hand lotion. Everyone had cracked up when he speculated that they would find out which hand they wanked off with and how it would turn their junk black. If a guy’s dick became black, he would be in the emergency room, at a minimum worried about what he’d caught.

Over the last week, David had thought better of the plan because he knew that it took weeks to wear off. Girls tended to slather the stuff all over their bodies. He just imagined this happening to Pam or Tracy and what they would do to him. It might be an epic prank, but it would only escalate the war.

With the revised plan, the foursome would be able to be seen in public.

“That might get us in trouble,” Alex worried.

“Beating the crap out of them could get us thrown in jail,” David shot back.

“I still like the Lexi option,” Alex said.

“Do you want to owe her a favor?” David asked.

“Who’s Lexi?” Jamie asked.

“She’s David’s PA. In high school, she was the queen of the mean girls, and she knows Veronica and her group. I’ve never been in her direct line of fire but have been splattered by her fallout. I would never want her mad at me,” Alex said to enlighten them.
“She’s changed,” David said.

Alex barked out a laugh.

“Yeah, right.”

“No, really. Lexi’s not that bad anymore,” David said.

“Dude. You’re just saying that because you get into her pants,” Alex said.

He caught David’s look.

“Sorry, man, but it’s true.”

“I want to end this, not turn it into an all-out war,” David tried.

“So far, we’ve just been taking it. I say we try David’s plan, and if it doesn’t work, we call in Lexi,” Kirk decided.

“I hate to bring this up, but where’s Lindsey, and why doesn’t her room ever get hit?” David asked to voice his concerns.

“It’s because Veronica’s her roommate, and she wouldn’t do it to herself,” Jamie said to confirm David’s initial assessment.

“They could have pulled other pranks on her,” Kirk pointed out.

“What are you saying? Do you think she’s in on it?” Jamie asked, looking put out at David and Kirk for suggesting it.

“For now, let’s not tell Lindsey about the new plan,” David suggested.

“She’ll want to know what we’re going to do. She won’t buy that we wouldn’t respond to this,” Jamie said reasonably.

“Tell her that David’s calling Lexi,” Alex suggested.

“Yeah, that would work. It would also let us know if Lindsey’s a rat,” Kirk said.

“I honestly hope not,” David said.

Jamie was still frowning.

“I’m not happy we’re not including her, but I’ll let it go for a few days. I’m with David. As much as I hate the thought, I would hate even more to think we have a mole sharing our private stuff with Veronica and her posse. What would she get out of it?” Jamie asked.