“Don’t worry about him,” Alex whispered. “He’s just being pissy.”
Alex helped me down the tree by telling me where to put my feet. When they finally hit the soft grass, we headed over to where the rest of the guys were standing.
“Took long enough,” Cole said when Alex finally dumped the bag of toilet paper into the back of the truck.
“Just shut up, Cole,” Alex said with a scowl.
“Can you two both chill for a minute?” Isaac said to them. “You guys can have this argument when we get back, but I’d like to get out of here without getting caught.”
Cole and Alex glared at each other, but both stayed silent.
“We need to push the truck to the road,” Danny said.
“Push it?” I asked, surprised. It was going to be so heavy.
“Yeah, Mom can hear everything,” he said. “So, if we want to get out of here, we can’t start it until it’s on the road.”
Everyone got behind Fox, the name the guys had dubbed the red truck.
“Fox?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Isaac said with a grin. “Our truck is hot, like Megan Fox.”
I rolled my eyes as most of the guys tried to hold in their laughter.
“All right, guys. One, two, three!” Cole instructed. Everyone pushed, and it only took us a few minutes to get Megan down the Walters’ long driveway.
“Whoo!” Alex shouted once the truck was on the street. “Let’s go.”
Everyone climbed in, Cole started the truck, and then we were off into the night.
***
“All right, Isaac, Danny. You take the backyard,” Cole said, throwing the black duffel bag on the ground. He quickly unzipped it and threw them both rolls of toilet paper. We were all standing outside Principal McHale’s three-story house. It was a good distance from the road, and there was lots of tree coverage, but Cole had parked the truck a block back just in case.
“It’s huge,” I whispered to Alex who was standing next to me. “There are so many trees.”
Alex nodded his head with a smile. “It’s perfect for a good TP.”
“You guys are being too loud,” Cole hissed, looking at me.
“Fine, Mr. Boss Man. Give me a job to do,” Alex said.
Cole tossed him the box of forks. “Someone has to fork the lawn,” he said.
“I’ll go too,” I said, linking arms with Alex. I didn’t want to be left alone with Cole and Lee.
“I don’t think so,” Cole said, grabbing my arm as we started to head away. “I have the perfect job for you.”
A few minutes later, I stood staring up at the back balcony.
“No way in hell am I doing that,” I said, crossing my arms. “You’re crazy.”
“We need someone light to do it,” Cole said. “Nathan normally does, but considering he’s temporarily out of service…”
“Oh fine!” I said and snatched the roll from him.
“There’s a good girl,” Cole said, pinching my cheek.
“Screw you,” I told him before spinning around and grabbing the rose trellis.
“Just be careful it doesn’t break,” Cole told me as I tested my weight on the lowest wooden beam. When I was sure it wouldn’t, I began to pull myself up. It was like climbing a ladder.
“Ouch!” I yelled as I pricked my finger on a rose thorn.
“Shut up!” Cole hissed from below. “Do you want to be caught? That’s their bedroom patio up there.”
“Yeah, I know. You already told me like fifty times,” I whispered, sucking the little drop of blood from my finger. “It would have been nice if you’d given me gloves.”
“Stop being a baby and start climbing,” he shot back at me.
I gritted my teeth and held back my response. When I finally made it to the top, I quietly hauled myself over the railing. The sliding glass door to the balcony had a curtain covering it, but my heart started to pound. I felt like everyone inside the house could see and hear me moving around, so I rapidly started to throw the white paper everywhere.
“Make sure you weave it in and out of the railing,” I heard Cole call up to me.
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered to myself. If he was going to be so demanding, he should have come up here and done it himself.
“Jackie? Did you hear me? Do the railing.”
Glancing back down, I saluted him mockingly.
After wrapping the railing, I moved back to admire my handiwork. As I did, I tripped over the extra roll of toilet paper and fell back into the balcony door. I scrambled back up to my feet as my heart leaped in my chest. I held my breath from a moment, waiting to see if anyone had heard me. Principal McHale was probably inside right now, a few feet away sleeping.
When nothing happened, I let the air hiss out of my lungs, but it was too soon. A siren filled the night air and my eyes bulged. The house had a burglar alarm. For a moment I was frozen still, until I heard yelling on the lawn.
“What the hell, Cole?” Lee shouted. “What is she doing up there?”
“Jackie! Get down!” Alex yelled over the sound of the alarm. It helped unfreeze my mind, and I quickly vaulted over the balcony railing and onto the rose trellis.