7.
One hour later, Madison and I were standing at the check-out line of Walmart, loading everything we needed onto the belt. I fidgeted anxiously as I watched the cashier, wondering if she could guess what we were up to based on our unusual purchases.

Madison noticed my anxiety, nudging my side and whispering, "Relax, Lilly. The cashier isn't going to tattle on us. Just smile and act natural."

I watched the cashier scan each item, which, to the uninitiated eye, looked like a strange array: water, bucket, honey, duct tape, kool aid, and silly string, among other things. If Madison and I could actually manage to pull this off without getting caught, it would be epic. Unfortunately, I wasn't completely convinced that wouldn't get in trouble for the prank.

The grand total of all our materials was about twenty dollars, but if it worked, Avery's reaction would be priceless.

As we drove back to campus, my nerves kicked into hyperdrive, and I felt as though I had a flock of velociraptors wreaking havoc in my stomach. Was I making the right decision, escalating the already tense situation with Avery? Sure, I didn't want her to think it was okay to push me around, but I didn't really want to get in trouble either. And as mad as I was at Dylan, I felt a little bad that he was going to be caught in the crossfires.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," I told Madison, sighing heavily.

Madison took her eyes off the road for a minute to glance at me, then shook her head in irritation. "No way. You're not weaseling out of it that easily," she said with a smirk.

"But is this really going to help?" I asked. "What if we get caught? We could be in big trouble."

Madison shrugged. "We won't get caught," she said confidently. "Trust me, it's not that big a deal. I've pulled off bigger stunts than this."

"I could try talking to the RA," I said thoughtfully. "Maybe she could mediate for Avery and me and we can get to the bottom of whatever I did to tick Avery off so badly. Or I could request a new roommate."

I could tell Madison thought I was being silly. Her lips pressed into a tight line, and I could tell she was trying not to laugh at me. Finally, she said, "With a girl like Avery, you have to play a little dirty. If you go to the RA, she'll be sweet as can be as long as there is someone in the room with you. And the second the RA leaves, she'll be ten times worse than usual."

Madison turned onto the campus and parked her car in the student parking lot. I climbed out of the passenger seat, slinging the Walmart bag over my arm and leaning against the car, stalling for time. Madison noticed, and grabbed my hand.

"Come on, don't be a chicken," she told me, dragging me across campus to my dorm building. It only took us a few minutes to rig a bucket of water over my closed dorm room door, with a string tied to the door handle so as soon as the door was opened, the contents would splash all over Dylan and Avery.

"Are you ready?" Madison asked me with a wink, and I gulped before nodding. I took my place in the common area just beyond my dorm room, hiding behind the couch and pulling the video camera up on my phone, ready to surreptitiously record the prank on my phone for future blackmail purposes.

Madison's plan depended on the two of us working together. Avery would probably assume it was me, but without proof, there would be nothing she could do about it.

Madison grinned and shot me a thumbs up before sneaking down to the first floor. Minutes later, the fire alarm blared, and students started rushing out of their rooms and out of the door. I waited a minute for Avery and Dylan to respond. When they opened the door to our dorm room, the bucket of water splashed on top of their heads, and Avery let out a blood curdling shriek. I clasped a hand over my mouth to stifle a giggle, not wanting to give myself away.

The entire plan was already working better than I'd dared to hope, as Avery was scantily dressed in a lacy bra and panties set, hurrying to tug a fuzzy bathrobe on, and Dylan was fumbling to fasten his jeans.

"I'm going to kill her!" Avery fumed, but Dylan shook his head, laughing.

"Come on, we need to evacuate the building, just in case this isn't a false alarm."

"There's no way I'm letting her get away with this!" Avery snapped. "She has no right to torment us this way."

Dylan shrugged, the corner of his mouth turning up into his trademark smirk. "Do we know the same Lilly? I can't imagine her breaking the rules like this and pulling the fire alarm. We have no proof she's done anything wrong. For all we know, someone burned popcorn in the kitchenette in the basement, and that's what triggered the alarm."

"And the bucket of water?" Avery asked, eyeing Dylan skeptically.

"Okay, that seems suspicious," he admitted. "We'll tell the RA about it after we get the all clear." He grabbed Avery's hand and dragged her downstairs, and after a few minutes, I went down the stairs on the other side of the building, making my way outside.

This was where Madison's plan was brilliant: I would 'bump into' Avery and Dylan outside the building, and claim to have been hanging out in the common area since they evicted me from my room. Avery would have no proof that I had been anywhere near the dorm room. And while I was talking to them, Madison would sneak back upstairs, remove all evidence of the bucket of water, and use the rest of our Walmart haul to annoy Avery. She'd slip honey into Avery's shampoo, spray all the clothes in her closet with silly spray, and plant a rubber snake underneath her blankets.

Was it a little petty and juvenile? Yes, yes it was. But it was also sort of funny, and I couldn't pretend to feel bad about messing with Avery. She deserved it.

Once downstairs, I slipped out the front door of the residence hall unnoticed, and quickly spotted Avery and Dylan huddled together in the parking lot in front of the building. I made my face carefully blank before approaching them.

"Umm... where you guys in the shower when the fire alarm went off?" I asked innocently, eyeing their soaked clothes and half-nudity. Grinning at Dylan, I added, "That's really inappropriate. Please, for future reference, keep that stuff limited to your apartment. I have to use those showers too, you know."

Dylan winked. "That's why you have to wear shower shoes," he deadpanned, and I groaned.

"Eww. That's disgusting. For the record, those are public bathrooms, and anyone could walk in on you...No. Just. No. I don't want to hear about your sexual exploits. Like, ever. That's an overshare." My face turned bright red at Dylan's teasing, even though I knew he hadn't been in the shower with Avery. They had been in her bed. Probably. Not that that was much better.

Avery narrowed her eyes at me. "Don't you play innocent with me," she snapped. "I know you set us up somehow, and as soon as we get the all-clear to go back in the building, I'm telling the RA. There is no way you're getting away with this."

"With what?" I asked, widening my eyes and being careful to keep the smirk off my face.

"You know what you did," she spat furiously, shooting me a glare that would probably have made me spontaneously combust if looks could actually kill.

"Actually, no, I don't," I told her with a shrug. "I have no idea what your problem with me is. You've hated me since the first time you set foot in our dorm room, and I have literally no idea why. You have issues, Avery. Serious ones. Like, maybe you should go see a psychiatrist to talk about them kind of issues."

Avery grabbed my arm, squeezing my wrist tightly, looking like she wanted to rip my hair out or something. "You don't fool me," she said. "You might act all innocent, but I know the kind of girl you truly are."

I ripped my arm out of her grasp as my phone chimed. Looking down, I saw that Madison had texted me a thumbs up, our agreed upon signal that she was all clear and had managed to sneak out of the building. We had pulled off our prank, and had somehow avoided being caught.

Before I could reply, my phone chimed again, and this time, a message from Will flashed across the screen. It read: I had fun hanging out with you tonight. We should do it again sometime. Monday night?

Smiling triumphantly, I held my phone up so that Avery could see it. "That's just my friend Will. You've met him, right? I've been with him at a frat party all night. So whatever it is you think I've done, I couldn't have. I have an alibi."

Avery's face went scarlet with rage, and she stepped towards me like she was going to slap me across the face, but Dylan grabbed her arm, tugging her away from me.

"Good for you," he told me, grinning. To Avery, he said, "Come on Aves. Looks like everyone's going back in. We can...finish what we started earlier." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and while I watched them disappear into the building together, my stomach sunk.

I might have gotten away with my stupid prank, but somehow, I still felt like the loser.

Before I had a chance to change my mind, I pulled up the video I'd recorded and sent it to Madison. I hadn't planned to let her submit it to the campus gossip rag, but since nothing else seemed to get to Avery, maybe campus-wide humiliation would. I was done being Lilly, the nice girl. It was time to put Avery in her place, once and for all.