James

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The morning after Jasper threw Buddy into the lake, I was awoken by ear-piercing screams.

My first thought was that the screams were my own. I had been having a terrible dream about what had happened the night before, but in the nightmare, I was the one Jasper threw into the lake instead of Buddy. When I shot up in my bed, I knew it only had been a nightmare.

But the yelling had definitely been real.

I turned my head to try and assess the situation, but for some reason, there was a blanket hanging from the top of Evan's bed, covering my view of the rest of the room.

I cautiously reached to peek out of it, feeling afraid of what I might see. I heard Jasper and Mike angrily shouting behind it loudly and wondered if I should just let myself remain hidden. But my curiosity outweighed my fear, so I ended up opening the makeshift curtain.

When I did, I was in for the surprise of a lifetime.

The room was in chaos.

Never, had I ever seen such disaster unfold.

Jasper and Mike's beds were soiled in food, but the mess on their beds could hardly compare to the mess covering their bodies.

Evan was groaning in the top bunk above, asking,

"What in the world is going on?"

I didn't reply; I was in too much shock at everything happening around us myself. Mike was mumbling something about "payback," and Jasper was angrily tearing himself from his bed.

But when he got up, he tripped over something that caused the mess covering him to go from bad to worse. Unbeknownst to us, there had been a string lying across the floor that someone had tied to the switch of the ceiling fan. It seemed to be set up so that when Jasper got out of bed, he would fall over it, thus activating the ceiling fan.

I wasn't sure what the fan had to do with any of this, but a couple of seconds later, I understood its purpose.

After Jasper face-planted the floor, feathers began to fly everywhere.

My mouth gaped open.

I didn't know whether to laugh, scream, or cry.

So I just continued watching Mike and Jasper stumble around helplessly.

As I gawked on, Evan started climbing down from his bed. I gasped when I saw he was soiled in food too. The amount of dessert and syrup he was covered in wasn't nearly as bad as Mike's and Jasper's, but he had definitely been targeted as well. His eyes locked on mine, and I looked away, dumbfounded.

Everyone in the cabin had been targeted, except for me.

Why was that?

Or, more importantly, who was it that had done this?

Was the person waiting to do something even more horrendous to me later?

Or had they purposely left me out for another reason?

The blanket that shielded my bed was yanked down and tossed to the floor.

Jasper, Mike, and Evan stood before me baffled.

It hit me then how suspicious I must have seemed. I was the only one nice and dry in my bed, and they were all soaking wet and sticky, not to mention the fact, they were now all covered in feathers too. The three of them started throwing accusations at me, but I couldn't find the words to deny any of them. I honestly didn't know what to do. It felt like I was living out a scene from Camp Crusaders, a film where a group of underdogs at summer camp teamed up to prank back their bullies.

Except, this wasn't a movie for me.

It was reality.

The reality where Jasper, Mike, and Evan all wanted to annihilate me.

And now instead of two against two or even two against one, it was three against one.

I was doomed.

I clutched the sides of my bed and tried to gather my thoughts.

Before I could, though, something unexpected happened.

I don't know why, but I chose that exact moment to start laughing.

It wasn't a quiet laugh either; it was loud and hysterical. I knew it was a stupid move on my part, but I couldn't help it. They all looked so funny standing there and seeing them quite literally get their just desserts brought a smile to my face.

Evan's, Jasper's, and Mike's expressions went from puzzled to furious. As I tried to compose myself, Jasper reached one of his grimy hands over and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt.

"You think this is funny, James??" he asked through his teeth.

I don't know what had come over me. But as I looked deeper into his eyes, I discovered something I never thought I'd see in them.

Defeat.

I cheered internally.

Jasper felt humiliated and vulnerable for that one second, and I decided to use it to my advantage.

"Yeah," I smirked at him. "I actually do."

Jasper's glare grew darker.

He didn't release me from the hold, and I knew he'd start throwing punches soon. But right then, I didn't care. It wouldn't be anything he hadn't done before.

Evan was now staring at me in shock and disappointment.

"Did you actually do this, James?" he asked, sounding hurt.

I looked over at him and tried not to feel too sympathetic. After all, he had betrayed me first. I knew I hadn't been responsible for any of this, but I couldn't help but wonder how Evan would react if I lied and took credit for the prank. I wondered whether or not he would think I was brave. But I knew doing so would only land me in a deeper mess than I was already in, so I finally allowed myself to deny it.

"No," I responded quietly.

Mike scoffed immediately.

Jasper released his grip on me by violently throwing me into the wall behind my bed. "Yeah, right," he growled before marching angrily toward the bathroom. Mike and Evan continued standing there, waiting for their turn to clean up. I heard the shower water turn on and let out an exhale.

Jasper was furious.

Mike was too.

And Evan was hurt.

Guilt and regret began to course through me. Although I knew none of this had been my fault, I was starting to feel bad. I wracked my brain for possible ways Jasper would probably take revenge on me but couldn't seem to think of anything. He'd already done the worst possible thing to me. I didn't know what he could come up with that could beat drowning my most prized possession. Fear rushed over me as I realized I would soon find out. I scolded myself for being so stupid and laughing right in Jasper's face. There would be consequences for doing something like that.

"AGHH!!!!" Jasper yelled from the bathroom, bringing me out of my thoughts.

Evan jumped in surprise.

A few seconds later, Jasper stormed out of the bathroom, looking even more pitiful than before. Apparently, there had been some kind of slimy substance in the shower faucet, because Jasper was now covered in a green and blue substance from head to toe.

"The shower is rigged too," he told us angrily.

All eyes locked on me.

I can see that. But don't worry that slime looks great on you, Jasper.

It really brings out your eyes, I thought to myself, wishing I dared to add more fuel to the angry fire burning in him. But I didn't say anything, of course. I just sat there, praying to somehow disappear before they could demolish me. Jasper was enraged now, and I knew any opportunity for me to be forgiven had just gone down the drain.

My fate was sealed.

This is it.

This is where I'm going to die.

At least Buddy and I will go within twenty-four hours of one another, I thought, trying to give myself some consolation.

"You're dead, James," Evan said to me bitterly.

"My thoughts exactly," Jasper agreed.

I knew I should at least try to run, but I was frozen in fear.

Jasper and Mike started marching towards me, but just as they did, our cabin door swung open.

And at the threshold stood two giggling twins and...a very smug-looking Harlee.