As the girls sat in Marcia's room, they talked about the party. Marcia asked, "I wonder what happened when the glitter bombs went off. Also how long did they wait until they discovered we left?" "I don't know, but I bet you will hear about it from Sarah. She must be humiliated by now. I hope she was in the room when the glitter fell. That will be a nice mess to clean up." Naomi said. The girls watched a movie and went to...

Marcia wanted to call Naomi after she talked to Sarah, but it was easier to talk to Rebecca and Naomi at school together. As she drifted off to sleep, her mind raced with many thoughts and questions. She knew Ralph would be around at the party. Sarah still held a grudge against Marcia. The Halloween party would certainly test the relationship between the two girls. She slept badly tossing and turning all night. When she w...

Bullyboy skipped lunch. He accomplished what he wanted. Marcia sat confused with the morning's events. She had no idea who did it. It turned out he had an unwitting accomplice who was also a suspect. He knew Rebecca was Marcia's cousin and the school darling. When Marcia arrived, all that disappeared for Rebecca. The logical person for the perpetrator of the prank was Rebecca. Marcia sat alone at lunch. Naomi was out sleu...

Marcia spent the rest of the day looking at her plight. Bullyboy knew she was there. He had not made any threats, but the gestures were bad enough. He ruined her day. School dragged on and Marcia's depression deepened. By the end of the day, she had no will to leave the classroom. Naomi dragged her to her locker and pulled her outside to walk home. "Come on Marcia. Snap out of it. You will be fine. Remember you are strong...

Summer arrived with high heat and humidity. Being near the Hudson River did not help with the humidity. To escape the heat most families had places on the Jersey shore where the family stayed all summer. Neither Marcia nor Naomi's family had a place like that. The girls endured the summer heat together. Almost daily, they went into the woods. The trees provided a canopy, which shadowed the whole area underneath. It was co...

The classes all sat waiting for the third bell, which signaled the start of the school day. The school went quiet, while it waited for the morning announcements. Before the announcements began, a loud scream echoed through the halls into every room. Soon the putrid smell of a skunk penetrated the air in every classroom. Naomi looked at Marcia and they both smiled trying to contain outright laughter. Of course, they missed...

It was Friday, the weekend before the Spring Concert. Cricket walked home with Naomi to spend the weekend at her house. Naomi planned to have a few friends over for a small party. The girls played in Naomi's room trying to keep her brother out. Her brother always wanted to be around when Marcia was there. After thirty minutes of playful fighting, her brother gave up. Shortly after the family ate dinner, two more friends a...

Marcia's mom hurried to Sarah's summerhouse and ran inside. Marcia sat on the couch with her feet up and a damp cloth on her forehead. The rest of the guests sat on the floor and watched, as Marcia moaned and held her stomach. It appeared that she took a wee bit too much ipecac and now suffered from the effects. Her mom looked at her and shook her head. "Let's get you home, young lady and into bed. Your friends can come w...

The Monday before Thanksgiving was bright and sunny. Marcia woke and thought, "Tonight is the night of the sleepover." A small feeling of dread settled in her head, when she thought about the pranks tonight. How should she act about them? Should she retaliate for them? It was a hard choice to make. She felt good that she knew about the pranks, but wondered why Sarah was so vindictive. It was good of Naomi to come forward...

The day everyone waited for finally arrived, Monday morning after Sarah's fabulous Halloween party. The school was abuzz with all the events, which made the party a huge success. Marcia, Monica and Sabrina spread the word that they crashed the party and were responsible for the panic that ensued. That knowledge made them instant heroes with the students who despised Sarah and her friends. The rest of the school spread the...

The trash incident with Sarah occurred on Thursday and the three friends endured the rest of the day in extremely dirty, smelly clothes. Sabrina and Monica were used to this type of treatment and took it in stride. Marcia's brain kept repeating the incident and found it happened completely on purpose to harass them. She thought it is now time to get even, but how? As she thought, a complete plan developed in her mind. An...

Before Cricket became Emily Truesdale, she was Marcia Shaw of Paramus, New Jersey U.S.A. She was an only child with two loving and caring parents. Her early childhood was normal with no significant differences from any other girl her own age. She was sweet, innocent and caring with a few friends and no enemies. To most people she was small, quiet and a top student. Her life changed in the third grade, when the school sing...

I would like to relate to you a little story. As some of you know, if you've read my profile, I did at one time do Civil War reenacting. Shortly after I started, I met another reenactor whose name was Neil. The irony behind this meeting was that we were nearly identical. This attribute we used to full advantage during our years of reenacting. I was a member of the unit who was part of The Iron Brigade from Indiana, while...

We all remember high school. It was filled with fond memories of friends, first loves, teachers, bullies, jocks, cheerleaders, snobs, nerds, geeks, socialites and the rest of the students. There was one group who stood out from all the rest. This group or in some rare cases an individual was the “prankster”. The prankster was the person who teased and coaxed others to be targets of some unfortunate planned incident that w...

Everybody at one time or another has pulled a prank on a friend or friends. When age 19, I was a spot on prankster. I was constantly pulling pranks not on my friends but on perfect strangers. These were classics which to this day amaze everyone who knows about them. I am going to expose three that are my favorites. Prank One I grew up in the second largest city in New England in the 1960s. This city had several monuments...