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Cricket stood underneath the bathroom doorway, drenched head to toe in ice-cold water with a bucket clattered at his feet. He’d just finished drying off from the shower!
“Really?! Tilly!”
The haunting giggles coming from the shadow upstairs echoed throughout the currently empty house. Dad had gone outside already and it was just the two of them inside for a break day. Just the two of them. Cricket glanced up at her and squinted as the temporary enemies shared a mischievous grin.
This was going to be fun.
~~~
Cricket snickered as he shook the can of shaving cream he’d stolen from his dad’s bathroom. It had taken him a good bit of pacing to figure out what catalog of pranks he’d pull, and during that time Tilly’d gotten him again by replacing his toothpaste with mayo. She was smart, but he was smarter. At least that’s what Cricket believed.
Tilly didn’t often indulge in prank wars with him, but when she did she always figured out how to double-cross him. It was almost as if she had more ideas than he did— no! That couldn’t be possible! No one can out-prank Cricket Green, right? Maybe it was the simple fact that she didn’t indulge in them often that gave her time to plot her attacks. Could she have spent those downtimes planning new ways to prank him?
Whatever, it didn’t matter, because he’d win no matter what it took! Except… now that he thought about it, he never won against Tilly. He’d won against everyone else in the past, but never her.
Huh…
Suspicious .
Cricket snuck his way into the hallway closet and sprayed the shaving cream into her green dress shoes. Trying as hard as he could he stifled his laughter and tip-toed his way out, placing them at the back door. That is until he heard creaking floorboards behind him, and he stopped dead in his tracks. ‘No!’ he thought as he gulped. Maybe if he didn’t move she wouldn’t see him.
Wait, why wasn’t she doing anything?
Cricket craned his head over his shoulder against his better judgment, bracing himself. As soon as he made eye contact with her, she smiled.
‘Oh no—‘ before he could finish his thought she shot him directly in the face with silly string.
“Wh—!? Tilly!” Cricket yelled with a growl behind his voice, wiping the string off his now-red face. Steam was practically blowing from his ears as he began chasing her up the stairs, her laughter ringing throughout the house.
Bill chuckled from his spot at the dinner table, sipping from his coffee cup.
~~~
By the time Cricket had chased her up the stairs, he’d somehow lost her. He wasn’t entirely sure how considering he was faster than her and there weren’t many places to hide in a quick enough time to avoid him. Yet, he still kept his eyes peeled as he slowly moved down the upstairs hallway. He moved similarly to a cat sneaking up on a mouse, but it was starting to seem like the roles were reversed. He began to feel more like the mouse in this situation— No! He wouldn’t accept that! He would not accept his defeat!
Cricket stopped dead in his tracts, breaking himself from his thoughts when he felt something press against his ankle. A clear string strung across the hallway. Ha! There’s no way she thought that would work, not on Cricket Green, the prank war (mostly) reigning champ!
He picked up the string, only for it to snap, and a huge plastic laundry hamper from above fell on top of him. What?! Tilly had gotten him three times in a row! There’s no way!
Cricket shoved the hamper off and heard her shuffle up behind him. Before she could take another step, he turned around on his heel and threw a water balloon he’d had hidden in his pocket at her.
“Ha! Take that!”
Tilly blinked a few times, shaking out her drenched hair like a dog before straightening herself up and staring directly at him.
Oh, this wasn’t good.
Cricket braced himself until her expression changed. From one of uncertain big sister doom to one of recollection. She paused too and glanced down at the floor.
“Not so tough now, huh?” Cricket taunted, assuming her guard had been let down. He crossed his arms and smiled to himself, “Yep! Cricket Green never loses, maybe you should back down and give yourself a break, huh?”
She walked up to him while his eyes were still closed and— wham! A pie to the face! Where’d she even get that?!
While Cricket was still dazed, Tilly ran into their shared room and hopped up on top of their dresser. She sat there waiting for him to enter the room so she could throw the remaining water balloons he mistakenly left behind the couch as him. She threw one up in her hand a few times, waiting until she glanced over at her own bed and noticed something peculiar.
Taking a glimpse into the hallway to make sure he was still distracted, she hopped onto her mattress and pulled back the covers.
He’d put gardening soil in her bed!
‘Oh, he‘s gonna pay for that’, Tilly thought calmly as she tossed the balloon in her palm and a mischievous grin painted her face. She slid under her bed as Cricket’s shadow appeared on the outside hallway wall.
“Come out and fight me!”, he yelled as he stood in their doorway, still wiping the whipped cream off his face (which didn’t taste too bad actually. Maybe she’d gotten it from Patti’s).
“Like, Til, come on! A pie to the face isn’t even original!”
‘And throwing water balloons is?’, Tilly threatened to say aloud but kept quiet to not give away her hiding spot. She had to hide her giggles as she watched his bare feet walk across the floor.
As soon as he got close, she grabbed him by his ankles and yanked him under the bed, slamming the balloon in his face as she ran out howling in laughter. She got up on her feet quickly, ready for battle as he scrambled to get out from underneath the bed.
“At least it washed your face off, yeah? I did you a favor!” Tilly sang as she backed up to the door in case she had to book it.
“Yeah? Well, you didn’t find all of the balloons, you only found a couple…”, Cricket snickered as he put his hands in his pockets.
Tilly’s face dropped immediately as the watery battle began.
~~~
“Alright, both of you, outside. I can’t have you two tracking water through the house, alright? Go play outside and dry off,” Bill ordered as he shooed his children out the back door onto the patio. ‘Now to figure out how to clean up the trail of water they left behind’, he thought as he walked back inside.
Tilly wrung out her soaked hair the best she could as Cricket shook the water off him like a puppy who’d been in the rain too long. She took a seat on the porch and her brother joined after a few seconds.
“How about we call it a truce? I know you don’t like losing or givin’ up, but we can continue it sometime later,” Tilly said with a distrustful look in her eye that Cricket hadn’t noticed until too late. She stuck out her hand towards him, “Deal?”
Cricket paused hesitantly before reaching his hand out slowly, “Dea—“
WHAM! She threw her last remaining water balloon hidden behind her back.
“TILLY!”
Off she ran, triumphantly and excitedly giggling as their chase began again.