It’s hard to find good people, you know? People who you can rely on in a time of pranking to not let the side down! At least Hugo used to be reliable, before he went and got the spots. Here I am, putting in one of the greatest pranking performances of all time and it all falls over because the romantic can’t keep it together!
Chaz may have left the school carpark reassessing his life choices, but I’ll bet he received a phone call pretty soon after from Miss Sweet explaining that I was trying to break them up in order to get the swimming carnival cancelled, and that, no, I am absolutely not her son. I am, in fact, the property of a Mr and Mrs Walburt from across town. The Chaz Show is back and now it’s streaming.
Thanks a lot, bad twin.
Anyway . . . we need to keep our eyes on the prize. The sea monster plan is back on!
Pip and I go to her house after school because she has a craft cupboard that would be better described as a craft mall. It has everything! Who knew they made glitter that was actually thousands of tiny, tiny unicorns? Well, they do!
There’s paper in every colour of the rainbow (and I reckon probably even some that aren’t in the rainbow). There are cardboard sheets and ice cream containers and toilet rolls (about a hundred of them). There are paddle pop sticks, straws and even old wire coat hangers for bending into new shapes.
She’s got a glue gun, glue sticks and pots of paint. There are crayons and scrapbooks and food colouring and tape. She has chalk and markers and pencils and a whole bag of cotton wool. There’s crepe paper in every colour, confetti and glitter . . . so much glitter. The whole thing is so intensely sparkly that it just makes me want to slam the door shut, but of course we don’t, because we have to make a sea monster.
It takes us a few hours and every now and then Tyson pops his head in, screws up his face and says something like, ‘Being the bad twin never meant I had to do craft.’ To which Pip responds with something like, ‘I’m taking bad twin to a new level, Tyson. Have you finished your homework?’ That usually gets rid of him. The last thing we need right now is good twin hanging about.
It’s dark when we sneak up outside Redhill Pool. The pool is closed. The carpark is empty. Well, not quite empty.
There’s one car. A black one without a roof.
‘Oh no,’ Pip whispers. ‘That means Chaz is here!’
‘That’s okay,’ I say. ‘We want him to be here.’
‘Why?’
‘Because that means the door is unlocked,’ I explain. Sometimes Pip says things and it makes me think she’s never built a giant sea monster and tried to sneak it into a swimming pool after hours before.
I look around behind us. I thought I heard something. But there’s nothing there.
‘How do you do this all the time, Max?’ Pip asks as we walk across the empty carpark. Her voice is a little shaky.
‘What’s there to be anxious about?’ I ask. She looks at me and her eyebrows go sky-high. I shrug. ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
‘Um . . .’ Pip doesn’t have to think for long. ‘We could get caught, in trouble, expelled, arrested, and put in a prison on an island out in the middle of the Pacific?’
There’s that sound again. ‘Did you hear something?’
‘Like what?’ Pip asks. She’s looking quite terrified at this point. I thought I heard footsteps but as I listen carefully there’s no sound.
‘Nothing,’ I say. I must have been imagining it.
We reach the double doors – me at the front of the sea monster and Pip at the back. I reach up to push the door open but it won’t budge. It is locked. I don’t want to push on them too hard, because they rattle. It would be a disaster to have put in all this work into the sea monster only to get caught by Chaz outside the swim centre!
‘There must be another way in,’ Pip whispers and nods her head towards the corner. I remember when we saw Chaz last time he walked around that corner. Maybe there’s something up there?
We tiptoe around the front of the swim centre, carrying the sea monster between us, which is holding together quite well, if I don’t mind saying so myself. We might have to think about putting our sea monster building skills to use a bit more.
Around the corner and down the side of the building we find exactly what we’re looking for: a side entrance. It’s a single door that’s been wedged open with a brick. There’s light coming from inside.
I push open the door, which is a little heavier than I expected, and start to walk through. Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried it, but it’s quite tricky to sneak through a doorway quietly while carrying a sea monster between two people. We manage it though. Inside is a short corridor with a light that’s on and, as we walk through, it opens straight up into the giant room with the pool. The room is almost in complete darkness.
Pip points up towards the Redhill Pool office. It’s at the back of the grandstand, where Chaz had been when we were here the other day. There’s a light on up there and through the office window we can see the back of Chaz’s head. He seems to be working at a computer.
Perfect. I feel better knowing where he is.
I point to the pool and nod to Pip. Time to move quickly. Let’s get the sea monster into the water and use the old phone Pip brought with her to take some quick photos. We’ll make it look as dark and scary as we can and then we’ll grab the sea monster back out and get out of here. Shouldn’t take long at all.
We tiptoe over to the water’s edge and lower the monster into the pool.
Wait. There’s that noise again. I turn and look around behind us. Nothing. Something really doesn’t feel right. I look over at Pip. She’s sweating like a sumo wrestler in a sauna. All right, let’s just get this done before it all falls apart. Literally! I look at our monster and while it is mostly floating, I can see some of the paper starting to drift off as it gets wet. Did we need to wait longer for the glue to dry?
I point to Pip’s pocket, where the phone is. She pulls it out and I grab it. Okay, time to take some quick photos. I look up at Chaz again and he’s still facing away from the window. I fumble with the camera. How do you turn this on agai–
Pip and I jump out of our skins! Both of my feet leave the ground and the phone certainly leaves my hand. I watch it as if in slow motion as it flips through the air, rises and then begins to fall . . .
Plop!
The phone sinks down to the bottom of the pool.
I whip around in horror, and behind us is Hugo!
‘Whoopsie . . .’ he whispers.
My heart still feels like it’s about to thump its way through my rib cage and out of my chest. I look over at Pip. I think she’s about to cry from the tension and the shock.
‘Hugo!’ I whisper-yell as I gasp for breath. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I thought you might need help,’ Hugo says. ‘I followed you.’
I cast a quick look up towards the office. Chaz is shifting in his chair. I turn back to the sea monster. It’s starting to sag. Pip is staring down into the water as the only means we have of taking photos sits on the bottom of the pool. If we can’t take the photos then this whole plan doesn’t work! As good as our sea monster is, no one’s going to look at it with the lights on and think it’s real! Aaarrggghhh! I’m so mad!
‘Get away from us, Hugo!’ I turn to him. ‘Why can’t you just listen to me?’
Hugo looks a little stunned.
‘Well, I don’t want to catch the plague!’ I snap back.
‘It’s not the plague!’ Hugo argues. He’s angry too now. ‘I’m allergic to the washing powder!’
‘What?’ Pip whispers.
‘Dad bought different washing powder and washed all my clothes in it,’ Hugo replies. ‘It’s given me a rash. That’s all!’
‘Well . . .’ I’m lost for words. I mean, I’m glad he doesn’t have the plague. And I’m sorry he’s feeling left out, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that he just ruined everything! ‘Why didn’t you just say that?’
‘We only just worked it out!’
‘HEY!’
That wasn’t a whisper-yell. That was the full voice of a grown man. Chaz!
‘Who’s down there?’
Oh, no! Now Chaz has heard us, the sea monster and the phone are stuck in the pool and we’re about to get caught. I’m so angry. I turn and look Hugo in the face.
Then, we run.