Survival Of The Fittest

Zach sat at a booth looking down at the menu. He skimmed through the items, levelling his choices. The food here cost a pretty penny, and his parents only gave him about thirty dollars to get out of the house. The waitress came over and asked for his order and drink.

"Can I get the Swiss mushroom burger and a diet Coke?"

The waitress took his order and menu, then left.

Zach had messaged a few of his friends to meet him at the restaurant to discuss his next big prank. He had just hit 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel and wanted to do something unique in celebration. Only, he didn't have many ideas for the video.

Zach took out his phone and browsed his Twitter. A few more people have liked his previous prank, but not much else in the feed. For the time being, Zach just sat and waited for his order.

((Lucas Abernathy continued from Risky Business))

Strolling into the restaurant, Lucas scanned across the room, looking at the people sitting in the booths. He had received a message not long ago to meet up here with one of his repeat clients about his latest projects. Frankly, he didn't care much for pranks but so long as he got paid for his work he didn't care what Zach used his creations for. It wasn't like he was going to pass up on earning some extra cash. Unless it was a choice between earning money or hanging out with Camille. Unless it was one of his and Camille's roleplaying days, and they were doing a particular roleplay and she was being generous with her money.

Regardless, eventually he spots Zach at a table and moved to go meet him. He quickly over to Zach's table, winking and giving a quick "How do ya do" to an attractive waitress passing by. As he approached the table he quickly searched his memory for an appropriate movie quote to start this conversation off and just as he arrived he thought of one. Coming to a stop at the table, Lucas cleared his throat to get Zach's attention from his phone and said...

"You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beck, and I will not stand for it!"

The sudden exclamation caused a few of the other restaurant patrons to give Lucas odd looks but he disregarded them as he took his seat at the table.

"So, how can I help you today, Zach?" he said in the most professional tone he can muster, holding his hands together on the table in front of him

Joey Quintero continues from Presidential Election Speeches

Joey Quintero Pregame.... er, Continued!

"If you want something done, you've got to do it yourself." While Joey disagreed with this truism almost on principle, he felt he had to admit there were situations where it applied. Such as hiding behind a newspaper in a restaurant while spying on the planning committee for a prank by one of the few people who could get under his skin.

Coincidentally, that was also what he was doing.

He had gotten a tip off from a source he trusted that Zach would be here. He had noticed that Zach's YouTube prank channel had just hit 1000 subscribers, and had asked around if anybody had heard that Zach had noticed. Apparently, he had, and being the predictably irritating flea he was he had also decided it was some important event, one worth celebrating with a little extra effort in his next prank. And since Joey knew he needed to account for the inevitable disruption, but couldn't trust anybody else to both spill the beans on what would undoubtably be a big secret and keep his own "involvement" secret, he needed to be here himself.

That was his original thought process anyway, but now, feeling a little ridiculous sitting behind his newspaper and mentally rubbing the sting of what the food and drink and newspaper was costing him, he wondered if he had thought this whole thing through.

Then Lucas Abernathy walked in and greeted Zach with what sounded a whole lot like a Bond villain quote and Joey had no choice any more. "Well then," he thought, "I'd better see this through to the end." Unless he was the target of the prank, he might have a Bond-style greeting in store as well. As long as nobody spotted him first.

The restaurant wasn't too full, fortunately, and as long as he concentrated he could hear every word from Zach's table.

Zach looked up from his phone towards the guy announcing his name like a movie villain. Lucas Abernathy was an excellent supplier of props for Zach's pranks. His services didn't come cheap, but Zach had saved up several week's worth of money in order to pay for Lucas's help. As Lucas took his seat, Zach reached his hand oout for a handshake.

"About fuckin' time you got here," Zach said as their hands shook, "Felt like I was waiting for ages."

Overdramatic, yes, but Zach wasn't the most patient of individuals. He leaned forward and whispered to Lucas.

"You heard I reached 1000 subscribers right?," Zach began, "I'm planning something big, on someone who totally deserves it. It's risky, but it'll be oh so satisfying to pull off."

To be honest, Zach was kind of blowing hot air. When he says he's planning something, it usually means he hasn't put too much thought into his idea. Hopefully this meeting will bring about some ideas he can use.

((Sean Leibowitz continued from Prowler))

Sean took his time as he made his way towards the bar and grille. Zach had sent the message a while back. Zach was a funny guy, dude had to be if he's running a prank channel after all. Sure, he could be grating at times and there was that one time prank with the darkness on him, but he got over that. Sorta.

Sean had read it over and over again as he walked on the sidewalk quietly. There was no headset or earbuds on him so no music to distract him from his thoughts and surroundings for once. Instead, he just kept with this message, simple and clear. To meet with Zach to discuss his next prank for his channel, Sean needed that right now.

They had fought again, he and his mother. She didn't appreciate what he had brought home with him from the music shop once she found out and it was back to the same. His dad sitting in his recliner and saying nothing as they argued and his brother in his room for himself. After a while one of them would storm off leaving the argument unfinished and the opposite with nothing. He kept the record on his shelf afterwards and stewed for himself.

It was all quiet in the house for the next few days. Maybe his mother was avoiding him after that? Things felt tense when she looked at him and made some small talk during dinner, but nothing else. And so it went on before that text came.

He had been quick out the door once he saw it, it was like a god send. Nary a goodbye or see you later as he closed the door, even when his mother called out for him. He hurried down the street in a huff at first before slowing down considerably about halfway when that familiar feeling came and he tried to turn on some music to make it leave. it was then he realised he'd forgotten to bring anything to listen with. He sighed as he continued walking as that feeling washed over him. It was a mixture of shame and regret. it was starting to get tiring.

On one hand they needed to talk, but on the other, every time they did it felt like nothing was being accomplished. Just the same old arguments over and over til nausea. And yet it always felt the same when he went out. Why he kept his earbuds with him usually. It drowned it out.

He shook his head and stopped by the door of the grille. He looked in as he did so. Place didn't look that packed which was nice. After a few deep breaths and forcing a smile on his face, he entered and looked around for him. Sure enough he saw him sitting at a table with Lucas Abernathy. Lucas was a good guy in Sean's mind, easy to get along with and a bit unique too. Which was always fun. Though could do less with the girl problems he got into.

He saw him whispering to Lucas about something, probably what they were going to do. He walked over to them as he spoke out. "Ey! What's up Zach?"

Lucas saw Zach reach his hand out and instinctively he reached out his to shake it, gripping his client's hand firmly.

"About fuckin' time you got here, felt like I was waiting for ages."

"Sorry," he said, pulling back his hand. "I was doing some work on my latest film project and lost track of time. You understand."

As Zach leaned in, Lucas leaned in return as Zach began to whisper to him. Zach asked if he had heard that his YouTube channel recently got 1000 subscribers, which admittedly he did not since he never really paid much attention to Zach's channel as prank videos weren't Lucas' thing but nodded his head in response anyway. Zach explained that he was planning his latest prank, apparently a big one at that.

"Okay, so let's cut to brass tax here," He said with a clear and calm tone, leaning back and straightening his posture to put on the air of professionalism. "Whoever this next target of your's is, you are going to need something special, right? Something that is a cut above the props I have supplied you in the past to commemorate the occasion, correct?"

It was a guess at the quality of item Zach would want, but one Lucas was confident in. After all, if you are going to do a big celebratory video to mark your channel getting 1000 subscribers then you don't want to half-ass it.

Lucas opened his mouth to speak again, but then Sean Leibowitz announced his presence by coming up to the table and greeted Zach. Slightly caught off-guard, Lucas looked to Zach to gauge his reaction. As far as he knew he was the only one Zach invited but he had no idea. Frankly all Lucas was here for was business and whether or not Sean was to be included in this discussion was all on Zach.

Joey was thinking that Zach had a talent for annoying him even if he didn't know he was there. Because Joey could hear him whispering, but not what he was saying. Only two words of the whispered sentence got through: "big" and "risky".

He sighed slightly. Well, at least it seemed that his information was right. "Big" and "risky" could hardly refer to anything else but a prank, unless he was talking about a bank heist or some such, and Joey didn't think Zach was the type. Yet. Nor was Lucas one to go along with it. And Lucas was going along with it. With gusto, in fact. And he was kind enough to talk at a decent volume. Joey thought he might thank him for that later.

Sidenote: Joey would not, in fact, thank him later.

Okay, so let's cut to brass tax here. Whoever this next target of your's is, you are going to need something special, right? Something that is a cut above the props I have supplied you in the past to commemorate the occasion, correct?

For a moment Joey mulled over what he had learned: The target was as of yet undecided, or unspoken. Lucas was there to provide the props, as expected, and the entire deal would be more extravagant than usual. For someone cutting to brass taxes Lucas was repeating an awful lot of what everybody already knew. But then again, he was talking to Zach...

Sean Leibowitz walked in and walked in the direction of Zach and Lucas' booth. Joey was keeping the edge of his newspaper close to the door in his field of view, so he could recognize the people who entered. Sean hadn't recognized him in turn, it seemed. That was good. Joey wondered why he had been invited, though. He remember the profile he had made for Sean:

Sean Leibowitz, age 17, metalhead, pothead, musician, artist. Social, but not very influential. Has soul (?).

"Sir," came a voice from his elbow and he jumped, whipping his head around to see a friendly but bored looking waitress standing there with his order, a grilled chicken breast with boiled potatoes. "Oh, right," he said in a hushed tone. "Just, uhh, just put it there." With the newspaper still in his hands he gestured to the place beside him. The waitress smiled and put the plate where he had gestured. "Gripping article, sir?"
"Yes, the, uh," scrambled Joey, glancing at the newspaper and pretending not to. "The monkey...". He glanced again: "...is back on its feet...". And again he glanced: "... and prepared to resume hostilities with Russia." He frowned. "Wait, no." He glanced back at the newspaper.
"Well, I hope you enjoy your meal, sir," the waitress said, choosing to ignore Joey's blunder, and went.
"Right," answered Joey, though talking mostly to himself, and looked at her go. He bit his lip in embarrassment, then fumed a bit at himself for stumbling like that. Still fuming, he turned his attention back to the meeting, not noticing that a corner of his newspaper had dipped into his gravy and was now dispensing droplets of it onto the table.

It wasn't a good day to be him.

Sean had just arrived before Zach and Lucas could begin their discussion. This was good to Zach, because there was another person he could get more ideas from.

"Oh hey, Sean!," Zach said as he raised his hand for a high five. "Glad you could make it. We were just about to start talking about what to do for my next prank."

As Sean took a seat next to Zach, he continued.

"So anyway," Zach said, "I wanted to try and prank one of the biggest assholes in school. That someone is..."

Zach paused for effect.

"...Wyatt Carter!"

Just then, the waitress came back with Zach's order. The burger came with a large stack of fries on the side. It looked pretty appetizing. She placed his order on the table and asked if Lucas and Sean were with him.

"Uh, yeah," Zach explained, "we're ordering seperately."

Zach took a fry and popped it into his mouth as he continued.

"I know we're basically playing with fire here," Zach said in between chews, "but I'm confident that if we think of a solid plan, we could get away with it."

Wyatt Carter was everything that Zach was envious about in other people. Tall, muscular, and athletic. But, he felt pranking Wyatt was justifiable due to Wyatt's reputation against less popular classmates. Zach more than likely wasn't in Wyatt's good graces and looked like an insignificant bug next to him. Which is why he sought the help of several of his closest associates.

"No problem man." He said as he returned the high five to Zach before seating himself next to him and listening to his plan. Wasn't every day you could be a part of someone's 1000 subscriber special. Was better than spending the day indoors arguing at least.

That was until he heard who they were going to prank and felt a bit of a chill up his spine.

Wyatt Carter. Sean wasn't afraid of him that was for sure, but he was a huge dude, had muscles everywhere and with a reputation for being an ass against people. Could punt Zach across the field and make the goal while lifting Lucas with one hand and probably would if they went through with this.

Yet Zach sounded confident as he talked about this, eating his food all the while. The waitress asked if he wanted something. "Uh, no thanks."

He looked up to the ceiling while leaning back in his chair. He pondered for a bit if it was worth it to get on this kind of person's bad side. So far he had avoided him and could probably skate by till he left and be for the better, but on the other hand, dude's a jackass who should be taken down a few pegs.

And if this went according to whatever plan they setup, he'd never find out who was involved. Sean hoped at least.

He looked back at Zach.

"I'm game."

Lucas listened patiently as Zach explained that his latest target was resident generic jock bully Wyatt Carter. While Lucas was never the subject of Wyatt's bullying, Lucas was familiar with quite a few of the people he did bully. Frankly he could care less about what Zach had in store for Wyatt, and if Zach wants to risk getting his ass beat that wasn't Lucas's concern either.

Lucas turned to the waitress as she asked if he wanted anything, smiling politely at her. "I'm fine. Thank you."

With that he turned his attention back to Zach, pulling out his phone and placing it on the tables surface.

"Alright, so what commission do you want to make?" He asked, going through the apps on his phone until he accessed the calculator app he had.

(Skipping with permission from Malloon)

"Well," Zach began hesitantly, "I'm thinking of something he wouldn't expect. I want to find a way to surprise him."

He took a sip of his diet cola. Zach couldn't settle for a mere jump scare. That could get him punched to the moon. He needed an idea on how to get away from Wyatt as soon as the prank was executed. Zach took a look at Sean's Iron Maiden hoodie. He then had a flash of inspiration.

"Do you have a fog machine?," asked Zach, "Like, the ones used in rock concerts?"

He took another sip.

"We could use it to blindside Carter," he continued, "as we prank him and escape."

((Matthew Hunt continued from The Books of Wonder))

After making sure that the forty dollars was still in his pocket, Matthew walked into the restaurant. His father told him to go out today and find some new food to eat. According to him, he thinks that his son was "developing a pattern" in order to keep eating things he liked. Well, that's partially true. Matthew had a small variety he would choose from at home, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't trying when he went out. Regardless, he had to make a choice. After considering it for a bit, he decided to go to the bar and grille. While it was a bit on the pricey side, that must mean that the food tasted better, right?

Just as he was about to ask the waitress for a seat, he spotted some familiar faces. Lucas seemed to be talking to...

Ugh, really? Zach's here too?

Matthew was subjected to his pranks a few times, and needless to say, it wasn't pleasant. It's all meant to get a good reaction out of him, to be able to put him in one of his videos. He was used to it by now, so he made sure to react as little as possible whenever Zach pranks him. At the very least, he could be considered one of the weaker parts of the pranks. The one good thing about his videos, though, was that they were never faked.

Letting out a silent sigh and putting on a smile, Matthew walked over to the booth where Lucas and Zach were talking. When he got closer, he saw that Sean was sitting next to Zach.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

So Lucas was in and the startup for the plan was in motion. Zach wanted to use a fog machine as a cover just like they did in concerts. Which could work for them if they were smart about how they did it.

Sean felt a pang of excitement over it. They were really going to prank this douche and get away with it.

He then felt momentary panic when someone walked up to them. For a second he'd thought Wyatt Carter had manifested behind Zach ready to pummel them before it turned out to be Mattew Hunt. He breathed out and gave him him a friendly wave as he asked them what they were doing.

"Nothing much! Just helping Zach with 'something'." He held up his hands and gestured with his fingers when he mentioned that something before adding. "Anyway, have a seat dude?" He gave him a sly smile as he gestured to one of the chairs.

There was mixed stuff about Matt around school, but Sean found him a friendly enough dude to talk to and hang out with, just don't piss him off and you don't get an angry fat guy breaking your nose. Quite simple really.

Lucas looked at Zack curiously, eyebrow cocked up. What kind of question was that? Of course he has a fog machine! Sometimes he needed fog for a shot and trying to rely on the weather to hep him was a fool's errand. What he was more curious about was that he wanted to use it. No one has ever asked to use the devices he used for his projects. He wasn't exactly sure how to handle this sort of request since it has never happened before.

"I mean, if you want to rent my fog machine then sure..." He said, as he quietly crunched the numbers in his head about how to best charge him for the use of his fog machine. "I guess ten bucks a day you can use it. For seventeen dollars I can throw in additional fog fluid, and if you act now, twenty more dollars a day and I'll thrown in a generator for rent as well."

Having gone into full salesman mode, Lucas straightened his posture as he spoke in a clear and composed manner. "That being said, I would like to remind you that as these items are my property. If they are damaged or confiscated, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to deny you my services in the future unless you repay me in full to replace my damaged or missing equipment."

With that said, he turned his attention to the newly arrived Matthew Hunt! Lucas smiled excitedly at him since he had auditioned to play the demon in his latest film project! Which reminded him that he still needed to get with a few other people about their roles in his production. He still needed to see if Ivy can be his production manager, last he check she seemed willing but he wasn't 100% sure at the moment.

"Hey ya, Matt!"

If Joey had had a hand free, he'd have tapped a finger against his chin. As it was, all he could do was look thoughtfully. He'd practiced overexsaggerating his gestures and expressions so much that it was almost second nature to him now, and he hoped that the smiling face of Dolly Parton - who was his only audience - appreciated his dedication.

His snooping was paying off, it seemed. He knew the target, one who thoroughly deserved whatever asinine prank Zach could come up with. He knew most of the coconspiritors, though the arrival of Mathew Hunt was a surprise.

Mathew Hunt, age 17, unremarkable, video games, acting, has a temper. Could stand to lose some weight.

But then again, such an action attracted all manner of thieves and rogues. There were plenty of people who wouldn't mind Wyatt being taken down a peg, or having one inserted in him. What Matt had to add other than moral support, however...?

Well, he'd see. In the meantime... a fog machine, really? Well, there would be some spectacle in seeing it being punted the length of a corridor, but did Zach really think he'd be able to hide behind a literal smoke screen? Unless it made Wyatt run face-first into a wall and knock him out for the rest of the school year, a bunch of fog would only heighten Wyatt's unfortunate resemblance to Bigfoot, with all the horror-movie implications that that had. Lucas could shoot and edit it, he supposed. That might make him happy, at least.

And besides, even Wyatt was smart enough to know that where there was smoke, there was fire (metaphorically, of course), and that a prank would probably be the work of George Hunter High's most notorious prankster (this year). And he'd gladly repay every ounce of pain and humiliation.

Yes, Joey was pretty sure that, unless Lucas got in danger of sorts, he'd let the prank procede completely unhindered. He might even bring popcorn on the big day.