Cinder actually didn't need to do much in the way of planning. She had thoroughly underestimated the power duo that had quickly emerged in the form of Iko and Thorne. They had basically shanghaied the entire thing.

Iko, she learned, was hyper protective of Kai. Though she was Kai's younger sister—by only a year, she was sure to point out—she acted like she was the older sibling. It could have just been her personality. Iko was determined, outspoken, and full of crazy ideas. Kai laughed her off most of the time, though sometimes he tried to reign her in. Back to reality, he would say. Still, Cinder couldn't help but feel a sting of pride that Iko was so proud of Kai. Unlike the broken family she came from, Kai and Iko looked out for each other.

The real shocker was Thorne. After dealing with his antics for more than a year, she should have been more prepared for his enthusiasm. Of course, she had anticipated him wanting to participate in a late night pranking session, but not to this extent. Thorne, apparently, was raised to get a thrill from pranking.

"It's in my blood," he said, that Saturday morning when he, Iko, and Cinder gathered at Kai's to make plans. "In Italy, we love pranks. The best is when we prank newlyweds."

Even Iko had raised an eyebrow in disdain. "Newlyweds?"

"Of course," said Thorne. "It's tradition. The night that a couple gets married, we go to the place they're going to spend the night and set up traps for them everywhere."

His delighted grin made Cinder cringe. "Traps?"

"For example, we'll set up bricks in front of their door so they can't enter their house. They'll have to spend at least an hour laboriously removing them all before they can get inside. But that's only where it starts. We might hide their mattress somewhere, or replace it with a water bed that as a small hole in it."

"That sounds horrible."

"No, it's so much fun."

"I would just go to a hotel," said Kai.

"They're not safe in a hotel either," he said, his voice elevating with glee. "We just get the keys from the front desk."

Cinder scoffed. "No way. Why would a manager give you a key to someone else's room?"

"Like I said, everyone does it. It's usually expected, so the lodging establishments will play along. It's all for good fun, in the end. Of course, we can't set up bricks or blocks in a hotel room, but there are other ways to prank them. We could hide alarm clocks in dozens of different places around the room and have them go off at random intervals throughout the night."

"That's despicable," said Iko. "You should just leave them alone. They just got married!"

He laughed. "They have the rest of their lives to be married! And besides, because of this I'm full of ideas for tonight. Here's something I've done in the past that we could do. We go into their room and place little cups of water everywhere on the floor. Then Aimery has to carefully pick up all the cups of water in order to get to his bed."

"That could work," said Kai. "I like the alarm clocks too. Aimery's kept me up way too many times thinking about how he might try to take advantage of Cinder. He deserves a restless night."

Cinder squeezed his hand. Even when Aimery had been at his most charming, something about him had always felt off. She remembered Thorne practically forcing her to go on a date with him, and then the awkward conversation in the diner, even before Kai had showed up. And the way he stared, always piercing through her in an almost predatory way. She never would have let him try anything with her.

"Does Aimery like animals?" asked Iko suddenly.

Kai frowned in thought. "I'm not sure, why?"

"What if he doesn't care about his floor getting wet? Maybe he'll just stomp over the cups."

"I guess that's a risk we'll have to take."

"No," said Iko. "Let's buy some goldfish and put them in random cups."

"Iko," said Cinder gently, not sure how forceful she could be yet with Kai's sister. "I don't think that's such a great idea."

"It's a great idea!" said Thorne. "Iko's a genius." Cinder shot a pleading look at Kai, but a smile was playing on his lips already. "We should get at least twenty," he continued. "Spread them out evenly."

Iko high-fived him. "Yes! They should be twenty-five cents each. Can you get those?"

The smile diminished just slightly. "I'll buy them, but I'm not filling up hundreds of cups with water."

"There won't be hundreds. And we'll fill them up together in his house."

He nodded.

"Guys?" asked Cinder. "This is nice and all, but how are we going to get in their house?"

"Diversion," said Thorne.

"Kidnap them," said Iko.

Kai laughed and shook his head. "Calm down there, James Bond."

"Jessica Bond," Iko huffed.

He laughed again. "Whatever. It's Saturday night. Aimery's a partier. He'll be out with the rest of them."

"How many of them are there?" asked Cinder.

"Six of them."

"But it's a frat," said Iko disapprovingly.

"Not technically," said Kai. "They have the house but they don't like following rules."

"They could still be there," Cinder insisted.

"We'll just have a lookout," said Thorne.

"Fine," she said reluctantly.

Iko clapped her hands. "Yay! This is going to be amazing." She took her iPhone out of her purse and began to scroll through. "Thorne and I have been texting ideas back and forth, and I've taken the liberty of coming up with a list of supplies. We'll add goldfish and cups to the list."

She read the list aloud, and Cinder's eyebrow arched further toward her hairline with each new item. Toilet paper she had figured, because that was pretty standard, but peanut butter, saran wrap, and popcorn?

They divided the list and Cinder texted Winter and Scarlet accordingly with instructions.

"We'll meet at Kai's at 11:00 P.M. to get ready and then we'll head out around midnight," said Iko, once all preparatory tasks were divided.

Scarlet and Wolf showed up first, with the biggest jar of peanut butter Cinder had ever seen.

"Costco's," said Scarlet proudly. "And the saran wrap is in the car. We got a great deal on it."

Wolf cradled a normal-sized peanut butter jar in one arm. It was the extra crunchy kind. He also had a spoon sticking out of his front pocket.

Scarlet saw Cinder staring at the jar and smiled at her. "It's in case he gets hungry."

Cinder guffawed. "The big jar isn't enough?"

He shrugged casually, though his cheeks reddened slightly. "You never know. Maybe there won't be any leftovers."

Kai waved his arms around the kitchen. "We do have food, you know. Help yourself. There's beer in the fridge as well."

"We're okay," said Scarlet. "We ate before we came."

"Who's bringing the popcorn?" asked Iko.

"That's us as well," said Scarlet, eyes twinkling. She shot a knowing look at Wolf and his blush deepened. "That was what we ate for dinner. Someone couldn't resist."

"You had some too," he shot back.

"Is there still enough?" asked Iko.

"Yes. It's in the trunk. Bags of them."

"Perfect."

Winter showed up next, toting Jacin on one side and—to Cinder's surprise and Thorne's delight—the blonde girl that Thorne had tried to ask out in the Lunar Café on the other. For the first time that she had seen her, she was not scrolling through her cell phone.

"Cress!" said Thorne excitedly, then cleared his throat and toned down his enthusiasm. He straightened and held out his hand. "It's nice to see you again."

She glanced at Winter for a second and then took his hand. "Hi."

"Hi Cress, I'm Cinder," she said, stepping forward and shaking Cress's hand before Thorne could grip it for too long and embarrass himself. "I work at the café too."

"Oh, right," she said. "It's nice to meet you." She looked around the room at everyone and said in a small voice, "It's nice to meet everyone."

When everyone had introduced themselves, Winter stepped forward and looped her arm through Cress's. "Cress lives on my floor. She's a junior majoring in Information Technology, and she enjoys romantic movies and shopping."

"Thanks for that, uh, in-depth intro," Cress muttered, staring at her feet.

"This is her first prank adventure," said Winter. "When I found that out, I just had to invite her." Winter bounced on the balls of her feet, as if unable to contain her excitement. Her black curls bounced along with her. Jacin rolled his eyes behind her.

Thorne's eyes filled with just as much excitement as Winter, though he did not bounce. "First time pranking? Please, allow me to be your guide. I practically have a degree in pranking." With a flourished hand swept lightly against her back, he urged her away from Winter and into the kitchen with the rest of them. Then he gave his speech about pranks again, adding extra enthusiasm for the same newlywed prank examples that he'd already told Cinder, Kai, and Iko that morning.

When he had finished, he was puffed up in pride, as though he were a hero, but Cress looked horrified. "You did all that?"

"Yes."

"That's crazy."

Thorne waved his hand. "That's what everyone else said. The point is, I'm the most useful person tonight. You'll want to stick around me so you don't miss any fun. Plus, I can protect you if things get too crazy."

Cress raised her eyebrow, and Cinder and Iko shared a look due to Thorne's inability to flirt with Cress.

Thorne backpedaled. "If you want, of course. Or we could just hang out and watch the others prank everyone. We could just talk."

Iko put her hands on her hips. "I don't think so, Signore. You're part of my dream team. No backing out."

Thorne glared at Iko. Cress shook her head. "No, it's fine. I hear this sort of thing is a college ritual. I agreed to come because I wanted to be part of it and share in the experience. I suppose it could even be fun."

"Maybe you could hack into their computers," Thorne suggested. "Mess everything up."

At that, she smiled. "Unfortunately I haven't completed my concentration in hacking yet."

"Wow," he said, clearly impressed. "I didn't know that was a concentration. I guess it figures, with America putting its nose in everyone's business."

"I think she's joking, Thorne," said Kai.

"Hacking would be useful, though," added Scarlet.

"Indeed," murmured Wolf, fiddling with his peanut butter jar.

"This has been great," said Jacin, now holding Winter's hand. His expression was sour and severely contrasted his girlfriend's characteristically dream-happy state. "But can we get a move on? We're going to need to do this precisely if we don't want to get caught."

"There is always that risk, Cress," said Thorne.

"Did you bring the toilet paper?" Cinder asked Jacin and Winter, ignoring Thorne.

"Obviously. Did you bring the cups?" asked Jacin.

Kai and Cinder nodded unanimously. "All ready in Thorne's car."

"The goldfish are ready too," Thorne added.

"Then let's go," said Jacin. "We haven't got all night."

"Cress can drive in my car," said Thorne.

"She came with us," said Winter, pulling Jacin towards Cress and Thorne. "We can take her to Aimery's as well. Iko, you come too."

"We'll go with you, Thorne," said Cinder, nudging him out the door. While they were walking down the stairs, Cinder pinched his arm. "Would you stop coming on so strong? You're going to freak Cress out."

"I'm not even coming on to her!" said Thorne.

"You are," said Kai. "Relax, man. Just let it happen naturally."

"You mean, as naturally as you and Cinder?" asked Thorne, unlocking his car with a beep and sliding in. Cinder and Kai scooted into the back of his car with some difficulty, considering the live goldfish that were still floating in their bags all over the seats. After some re-arranging and several goldfish bags piled on top of them, Thorne added, "Let me remind you that the reason we're having this night out together is because neither of you were open about your feelings. At least mine are out there."

He turned around to drive the car out of Kai's driveway and smirked at the two of them over his shoulder.

Kai held up his hands, but then slammed them back down to keep the goldfish from falling out of his lap. "I see your point."

"No," said Cinder. "Both extremes are bad. We waited too long to do anything about our feelings, but you put yourself out there too quickly. And you do it with every girl."

Thorne faced forward again and Cinder saw his shoulders shrug once before he turned onto the street. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter than she was used to. "I don't flirt with every girl."

Cinder snorted.

"And if Cress went out with me I wouldn't flirt with anyone else," he added.

"Don't try so hard, then," she said. "Just be yourself." She hesitated. "Wait. Maybe be just a little less of yourself."

Kai laughed but Thorne sighed dramatically. "Questa ragazza mi ucciderà."

"That's the spirit," said Cinder, ignoring the fact that she had no clue what he'd actually said.

They all parked in different places, for the sake of being inconspicuous. Thorne parked closest to Aimery's house, due to the problem of all the goldfish they would have to carry. Cinder tried to imagine him in a pet store, buying twenty bags of goldish in exchange for twenty quarters and winking at the store owner to show him it was joke. The store owner had probably thought he was crazy, but knowing Thorne, that idea had likely delighted him more on his mission.

When they met up in front of Aimery's house, they were ecstatic to find out that Kai had been right. All the lights were off in the house. Winter was brave enough to ring the doorbell, but no answer and no noise from the house further confirmed that it was vacant.

"You're about to go down, suckers!" yelled Iko with a triumphant fist raised to the sky, before she clapped both hands over her mouth. "Oops."

"Let's go in," said Scarlet. "Every second counts."

Cress squeaked next to Winter. "Isn't that breaking and entering?"

"Not if the door is unlocked," said Thorne. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bobby pin. They all stared at him as he jingled it around in the lock. When it clicked open, he said, "seems to me the door is unlocked."

"Nice," said Wolf appreciatively. "I thought we'd have to use a window."

At that, even Thorne balked.

"Well, how did you expect to get in the house otherwise?" asked Wolf. They looked at Iko, whose expression told them very clearly that she hadn't planned for anything besides picking a lock.

"We're not going to steal anything," said Thorne, giving Cress a side-grin. "And this is Aimery Park. Douche of douches. He even fooled me."

"Definitely," said Kai. "You'd understand if you knew him."

"Or Sybil Mira, his girlfriend," added Scarlet. "Don't forget about her."

Her comment made Cress's eyes narrow. "I know Sybil Mira."

"Ooh, the plot thickens," whispered Winter.

"You better not like Sybil Mira," said Scarlet.

"Back off of her!" said Thorne before Cress could even speak. "She can like whoever she wants."

"The plot thickens even more," whispered Winter, making Cinder cover up a laugh in Kai's shoulder.

"Sorry," interjected Jacin. "She does that sometimes."

Meanwhile, Wolf had unscrewed the peanut butter jar that he was still carrying and dipped his spoon into it. His eyes were darting back and forth in amusement between his girlfriend, Thorne, and Cress as if he were watching a movie. Then he began to stuff spoonfuls of peanut butter into his mouth.

"No, I don't like her either," said Cress. "So count me in."

"Good," said Scarlet, her stern gaze lifting.

"Divide and conquer, people," said Iko. "And…someone else open the door because I don't want to be incriminated in anything."

Rolling his eyes, Thorne opened the door and beckoned for Cress. "After you, my lady." When she gave him a stern look of her own, he hastily beckoned to Iko, Cinder, and Winter. "And my other ladies, of course."

But as soon as Cress had slipped in, Thorne let the door go behind him, making it almost smack into Cinder if Kai hadn't been right next to her and blocked it. "Thanks, Thorne," she said.

Once up in the bedrooms, Kai pointed out which was Aimery's and they got to work immediately. Collectively, they covered his bed in reams upon reams of saran wrap, making sure that none of the sheets were exposed. They even went so far as to wrap up the bedposts. Wolf disappeared and returned with the gigantic barrel-like container of peanut butter.

"Spread," he said, throwing them plastic knives from his jacket pocket.

They dug in and began slathering peanut butter over the saran wrap. Soon, it became clear that the little knives were just not going to cut it. Cinder grimaced and reached her hand in, scooping out fistfuls of peanut butter and lathered it onto the saran wrap. The rest followed suit. Only Thorne and Jacin wrinkled their noses and did not partake. Within minutes, the bed was brown.

Cinder took one look at the finished product and burst out laughing. It smelled good, but it looked disgusting. When they had washed their hands thoroughly, everyone grabbed cups and ran back and forth between the bathroom to fill them up with water and line them around Aimery's bed. It was not the easiest task, and soon Cinder's back was sore from bending down and balancing the cups to keep them from spilling.

With so many people in the room, it started feeling far too crowded.

"Wolf and Scarlet and Thorne," called Iko, taking charge again. "Go get the goldfish. Jacin and Winter, go with them and get the popcorn so you guys can start setting up the popcorn booby traps. Cress, Kai, Cinder, and I will stay here and finish up this room."

When the others had left, Cinder found herself completing cups at the same pace as Cress. As they walked back and forth to the bathroom, she decided to do Thorne a favor. Even if he was a little too much at times, he had really helped her stay sane during all those hours at the Lunar Café, especially when Kai had been around to make her nervous. He deserved a little help too.

"You know," she started, turning on the faucet for Cress as she held her cups, "Thorne is a pretty good guy."

Cress put her cups under the water one at a time. "That's what Winter keeps telling me. I don't really know anything about him, though."

Cinder and Cress changed places so Cinder could fill up her own cups. "I'm sure he would probably tell you anything about him if you asked."

Cress smiled. "I'm starting to think the same thing." Then she stared at herself in the mirror. "He is pretty cute."

"Yes and he knows it."

"Summers in Venice or Rome would be pretty romantic," said Cress dreamily. She continued to gaze in the mirror, almost longingly.

"Um—sure. Maybe he'll take you there some day."

That comment seemed to bring Cress out of her daydream. "Right. Well. That's not a reason to go out with a guy. I've just always wanted to go there."

"Well, it's not the only reason to go out with a guy, but maybe it's something to consider as part of the whole package? Thorne has other good qualities."

"Hmm…"

They hurried back to the room and continued filling up their cups. They left small gaps so they could drop in the goldfish without disturbing the set-up.

Cress had a hard time parting with them, giving them each a name and telling them to be good. In the end, Thorne gave her a goldfish bag so that she would leave and they could fill in the gaps. Cress squealed happily, named it Little Cress, and Thorne seemed pleased with that development.

When they were finished, Iko snapped a picture of their masterpiece—and what a masterpiece it was. Screw you, Aimery, thought Cinder. Kai and I made it anyway. The two of them took a selfie together in front of the room, and then Kai kissed her again.

Like the first time they kissed, tingles shot down her spine and Cinder pressed her lips back into his for more. They broke apart when Iko cleared her throat behind them.

"This is adorable, but time is money."

"Right," said Kai, blushing just as much as Cinder.

They joined the others who were already with Winter and Jacin, setting up bags filled with popcorn that were ready to dump out on whoever tripped over the small strings that they had tied in front of the doors. They all stepped carefully over the strings, wanting to leave that sort of cleanup to Aimery and his buddies.

Once outside, they all ran back to Jacin and Winter's car to grab the toilet paper. And then they went at it, throwing as much as they could anywhere and everywhere.

Wolf had the best aim, and his rolls flew over the house with ease, unraveling in the air like it would in the movies. Winter and Cress were not so coordinated, but they managed to make a mess anyway, which was the point. Thorne did nothing but try to make Cress laugh by throwing his toilet paper at random. Jacin had decent aim along with Scarlet and Cinder, and Kai was somewhere between pathetic and mediocre.

When the last roll flew out of his hands, Kai yelled just as loudly as Iko. "That's for trying to ruin my life, Aimery!"

"And mine!" yelled Cinder.

"Let's get something to eat," said Wolf, when everyone was done cheering.

"You just ate," said Scarlet.

He shrugged again but then turned to Cinder. "Someone didn't bring free donuts."

"I could eat," said Thorne. "Would you, uh, want to come too, Cress?" he asked, running a hand through his hair and then stopping to hook his fingers on his belt loops instead. Cinder had never seen him look so nervous before.

"Um, sure," she said.

"Great," said Thorne, sounding relieved.

Iko, Kai, and Cinder agreed to come too, but Jacin and Winter bowed out.

"It's already 12:30 A.M.," said Jacin.

"Funny," said Cinder. "I never figured you were one to go to bed early."

"Sleep is important for the brain," said Winter. "If you're interested, I can give you my notes some day on the correlation between sleep and—"

"That's okay, Winter," said Cinder. "I'll see you on Monday at the café. Thanks for coming."

"It was great fun," she said. "Even Jacin had a good time."

Jacin harrumphed, but then he broke into a smile too as he slid an arm around Winter. "I always have fun when you're around, Trouble."

They said their goodbyes and left, leaving the rest of them to sort out rides. Before they could, however, a car pulled into the parking lot, making them all dive for cover in the neighboring yard. Crouching behind a hedge, Cinder watched as four guys got out of the car. It was too dark to tell who was who, but she really hoped that one of them was Aimery.

The swearing began immediately. They continued to let expletives fly as they surveyed the house and yard, toilet paper draped over it like a child gone wild in a wrapping paper store.

"That one's Aimery," whispered Kai, pointing. "He likes to use that word all the time."

Cinder watched the one who was supposed to be Aimery throw his hands in the air. "Let's deal with this tomorrow," he said to his friends.

"Yessss," hissed Kai. "Go inside. Go find out what's in there."

Aimery did, in fact, find out what was in there when he opened the door and popcorn rained down on top of him. Iko let out a small, almost inaudible shriek of delight.

"Nice work, Jacin and Winter," Scarlet breathed from a few feet away.

"Wait for it," said Wolf.

They waited only until they heard screams of fury from the second floor, and then they made a run for it. Wolf and Scarlet led the way with Kai and Cinder bringing up the rear. When they made it, gasping, back to Thorne's car, it was hard not to laugh. Even Cress joined in.

"Let's just go back to my place," said Kai. "We can order pizza."

"Excellent," said Wolf. He took off with Scarlet in the direction of his car, agreeing to meet them at Kai's.

"Wait for me!" called Iko. "It's going to be way too crowded if the rest of us all go in Thorne's car."

Thorne let Cress ride shotgun, and she hugged her goldfish bag like it were a prize. Cinder sat in the back again with Kai. His hand reached out behind her and grabbed hold of her waist. She snuggled her head into the crook of his neck. It was still hard to believe that for her and Kai, this would be normal from now on.

Cress began chatting with Thorne in the front, asking him about Italy and his choice to come study in the USA. He responded eagerly, taking turns asking her questions as well and shooting her appreciative glances.

"I think she's warming up to him," Kai whispered to Cinder.

"Maybe," she whispered back. "It might take a while."

"They have time."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Maybe it's not love at first sight for her, but you never know what could develop. They're kind of cute."

Kai's grip around her waist tightened. His fingers against her sweatshirt felt just right, just close enough to feel safe and wanted. "Speaking of what could develop, Cinder...I hope we make it to the moon and back."

She lifted her head up from his neck to look at him. His eyes were sincere, his smile was kind, and his face shone with hope. Remembering the first day she'd met him, she couldn't stop herself from kissing him once more.

"Me too, Kai. Me too."

~*~ The End ~*~