Marcus’s goal was to be a policeman. He was majoring in criminal justice and had a large majority of his college expenses paid by a program sponsored by the Houston police that recruited blacks and Hispanics for the department.
This decision probably came from their father’s military career. Daniel Sheen was a 25 year veteran of the Air Force. He has been a no nonsense type of father but over the last few years has mellowed out and now seemed more interested in golf, gambling and casinos. He works part time at a local golf course so he can play the course for free. Their mother, Maureen, is a secretary in an accounting office. The family seems to all have separate lives, probably the result of their 29 years together.
Marcus always seemed to be on his brother to do better. “Lamont, you have it in you,” he would often say. “You’re just lazy. You have to make your own way. Nobody’s going to give you anything.”
Lamont knew that there was much truth to Marcus’ rants. He realized that his chances of a college scholarship for his academic work were slim and none. Running fast might be his ticket, since as a freshman three years ago he placed third in the county and sixth in the state in the 200 meter run. He was a Potts favorite at that time.
However, as a sophomore, Lamont fell in with the wrong crowd, discovered drinking, drugs, chasing women, and poor attitude. He constantly was in trouble at the school and even worse got tossed from the track team when he missed three preseason workouts. That was the Potts’ rule. His grades were C’s and D’s.
“Lamont, you have a world of talent,” Potts told him at the time. “I’m afraid you’re going to be like lots of others that came through this school and waste it. You don’t have any want to. You could have been a helluva runner. You refused to do it my way. Listening to others sometimes is the key to success.”
Lamont knew Potts was right and this was his time to correct things. Besides, if he trained, he knew he could become a track star again. If he was good enough it might open doors to colleges and a future. He had no idea what he wanted to be in life, only that he wanted to follow his brother to college. The tales of partying, women and fun convinced him college was for him.
Over the summer he went to a local all comers’ track meet and stunned everyone by winning the 200 meter run in a time faster than his freshman time. He knew that if he got serious he could win, or at least place high, in the state meet.
Elvis McGraw was an enigma. Seems nobody could figure him out. His interests were wide and open. School to him was the great socialization process. He was the ultimate slacker, skating by with C’s, although his state and standardized test scores put him in the top 20 per-cent of his class.
His mother, Gladys, worshipped the boy. She was always the biggest Elvis Pressley fan ever, and there was little doubt what her son’s name would be. Her husband, Vernon McGraw, died when Elvis was eight from stomach cancer, and as a result, Gladys threw all her attention at her son. Some say she even spoiled him. She worked as a secretary at a local oldies radio station.
From a young age, her Elvis became the real Elvis. She dressed him like The King, styled his hair like the crooner, and constantly provided him with Elvis facts and figures. She took him to Graceland about every three years, and even took him to Tupelo, Mississippi, to see the real Elvis’ birthplace. It was a little one room shack, but meant so much to her. Gladys didn’t have much money but she scrimped and saved, and provided Elvis with whatever he needed.
Her Elvis had mastered the guitar and even played in a local rock band. He was popular at such appearances, much due to his resemblance to the real Elvis. However, he wasn’t interested in a serious female relationship, instead just bouncing from girl to girl. Unlike his fellow teenagers, he wasn’t much for video games or sports, instead choosing to practice his guitar and study music. Obviously, he envisioned a career in music. He avoided drugs and drinking, instead getting his kicks with practical jokes. His nickname, which only a few people called him, was Elvy.
What was amazing was that when Elvis wanted to be he could be the smartest student in the class. Sometimes, his essays were of top college level. Once he made a bet with the girl with the highest grade point average in the class that he could get a higher score on a math test. Each got 100 per-cent, ending in a tie, with the next highest grade an 88. He just didn’t see much need for most of the subjects he was taking.
Elvis was the top school prankster. In the past few years, the school had experienced many quality pranks, most thought to be the work of Elvis, but without proof The King skated by any discipline. Among the pranks he received credit for were putting deer scent spray in lockers, rolling 200 marbles down the steps during a change of classes, putting chocolate pudding in the drop slot of vending machines, delivering pizzas to classes, calling teachers during classes posing as administrators, and switching the plugs on keyboards in the computer room so that keyboards typed on the monitors of their neighbors instead of their own.
Together the trio of Jose, Lamont and Elvis were viewed by the school administration as trouble waiting to happen. If there was a prank or mischief in the school, it was thought the threesome was somehow involved. Many times they were suspected of being the culprits, but a lack of evidence kept them from blame.
In the previous school year, three incidents in particular frosted the administrators. First, someone apparently got a hold of the voting box for the Homecoming Queen and stuffed the ballot box with votes for the school’s most flamboyant gay male student. The Queen became the King.
The second incident was someone inserted glue in all the keyholes of the doors for the school classrooms. Keys wouldn’t work. The school had to change many of the locks. Detectives were called in for this act of vandalism, but nobody was found guilty of the act. Even a reward of $1,000 by the local police failed to generate a guilty party.
Third was the day that the teachers all showed up for school and found photos on their doors. It wasn’t just any photo; it was photos of well endowed naked people with the head of the particular teacher on top. Some teachers were offended; others laughed it off, but all wanted to see Elvis and his boys punished for the deed. No charges could ever be brought. The trio seemed to always create suspicious minds.
“I don’t know about college, futures, and the track team,” Elvis said, breaking the silence between the stares for some the hotter women in the school. “But I do know we got to do something for our senior prank that folks will talk about for years. Give it some thought fellows, and let’s plan something. I wanna kill it. ”
Just then the bell rang, chasing each of the trio into their first period. Usually during this period, things were quiet, primarily because each student had a boring class that usually allowed them to catch a few winks. By the end of the period students were starting to awaken and become more active. The bell signified the end of the period and time for the school announcements.
After the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence, the announcements began. There were the usual notifications of club and sport sign ups, deadlines and school procedures, then came a special announcement.
“Good morning students and faculty, this is Mr. Winston, your principal,” Winston said over the PA system. “Today I have a special announcement. Our school has been nominated for a special award for an All American School. This is an award that goes to only 20 schools in the state. Forty schools are nominated. This means that the governor and the judging panel will be visiting us in the next two months. Congratulations to all and let’s do our best to win this award.”
Earl Winston has been the principal of Thomas Jefferson for 22 years. He had worked his way up from being a math teacher. He spent 10 years as an assistant principal at two urban schools, leaving them for the less chaotic life of this suburban school.
He claimed the students kept him young.
Thomas Jefferson has an enrollment of 2600 students grades nine thru 12. Graduation rates are about 70 per-cent, most of the dropouts were the Hispanic students that ha
d trouble with the English language. Like any school, the high school has its cliques. These include jocks, brainiacs, preppies, thugs, slackers, gothics, rednecks, and mostly ordinary average kids. It contained a mixture of races and nationalities with 60 per-cent white with the rest made up of Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians. The Asians comprised only about five per-cent of the student body, but dominated the test scores and grades, and created few disciplinary problems in the school.
Winston was the eternal optimist. He constantly preached the school could be better. He pushed his faculty to keep students interested and stressed state testing.
Even though the school had more students from the lower social-economic level enrolled each year, he still maintained that the school could be a top notch school. It has been an “A” school for the past five years.
Overall, the students and faculty liked Winston. He was personable, fair, and unflappable. He seemed to never get upset with students. One year he woke up to find 25 for sale signs in his yard. His answer was, “Apparently someone wants me to sell this place.” He never has.
Shortly after the big announcement, the bell rang dismissing the students to their second period. For Jose, Lamont and Elvis, this meant chemistry class and Ms. Blossom. She was without a doubt the hottest teacher in the school. Her beauty often sent students into day dreams. Long brown hair, a colorful face and a body that should be in Playboy were features that made her a knockout.
Her legs were long and muscular and usually tanned, a result of gym visits. She was in her mid 30’s. She wore tight clothing that emphasized her breasts and slim waist.
Elvis describes her with the line from the ZZ Top song that says “She’s got legs; she knows how to use them.”
Despite her beauty she was an incredible teacher. She won teacher of the year for the district, county, and state in her 13 years of teaching. Somehow she made the subject of chemistry interesting. However, she was no nonsense in the classroom and had a low tolerance for misbehavior. She wrote referrals like crazy, called parents about misbehavior and demanded that students not test her. Most didn’t.
She was sly and knew how to work the system. Once a student threw dye into her fish tank, killing the fish. She told her cheerleaders that “whoever finds out for me who did it, I will make them cheerleading captain for the Clear Lake football game.” With this incentive, one of her cheerleaders came forth with the evidence. The student was punished and expelled from her class. She seemed to be a step ahead of the deviants.
“Good morning students,” said Ms. Blossom. “Welcome. Now you have five minutes to put the notes in your notebook. After that we are moving on. So, let’s get busy.” The students copied the terms for pH scale, acids and bases into their notebooks.
Part of the strategy she used to keep Jose, Lamont and Elvis from trouble was that she sat each in a different area of the room. Elvis sat in front of her desk, Lamont on the left, front side of the room and Jose in the right, back of the room. She also learned to limit the amount of times she turned her back so she used an overhead projector so she would always face the class.
“Class,” said Ms. Blossom, “for the next two days, we are going to do a few minor chemistry experiments. I will divide you into teams of three today and we will review the rules for these experiments. If you don’t follow the rules it will be an F with no make up. These chemicals can cause damage and even injure people. I don’t want any problems. Got that?”
Jose, Lamont and Elvis petitioned to be on the same team. “We’ll behave, Ms. Blossom,” said Jose. “We need to pass the class to graduate so we promise we’ll be straight up. We’ll keep it real.”
“OK, but the first time I correct you guys, it’s an F for all three,” said Ms. Blossom. “Do you understand?”
“Yes,” answered Elvis.
“You got it,” said Jose.
“I’m feeling ya,” said Lamont.
After breaking into teams, Ms. Blossom gave a handout explaining the procedure. The first experiment involved determining whether chemicals were acids or bases. It involved the use of red cabbage. She explained the first experiment in detail.
“When you come in tomorrow, we are going to get right to work. I need you to sit with your group,” said Ms. Blossom. “Once everyone is ready to go I will ask you to get your materials. Each group will need a leader, a recorder and materials person. The recorder will record the results for the group. The leader will make sure you are going the experiment properly. The material person will gather all materials, and clean up at the end.
“That’s it for today,” continued Ms. Blossom. Just as she finished the sentence, the bell rang, ending the class and sending the students to the next period.
Little did anyone, including Elvis, Jose and Lamont realize that these experiments were going to deliver the basis for a senior prank to remember. It all seemed so harmless at the time, just like hundreds of school chemistry experiments, but what an outrageous concoction it would produce.
Senior Prank/ Chapter Three
The bell rang and the students filed into Ms. Blossom’s chemistry class. It was all business. Ms. Blossom was wearing a lab coat and goggles. On each desk were the materials for today’s experiments.
“That lady makes me want to be a scientist,” Jose whispered to Elvis. “She certainly makes my temperature rise.”
After taking roll, Ms. Blossom instructed the students to go sit with their other two lab partners. The larger science desks allowed for two three person groups at each desk. Jose, Lamont and Elvis grabbed seats in a choice location.
“Before we start I want to review a few things,” said Ms. Blossom. “Any shenanigans and it’s an F for your group. I need each of you to wear goggles and be careful when handling the chemicals. This can be dangerous stuff.
“Today’s lesson is about acids and bases. You will learn how chemists used the pH scale to describe acids and bases. The p stands for negative logarithm and the H for hydrogen. It is a scale that runs from 0 to 14. 7 is neutral. Less than 7 is acidic and more than 7 it alkaline.”
Elvis called his group the mad scientists. They positioned themselves across from probably the smartest threesome in the class. Jose led their positioning. In all the years of school he had learned that sitting next to the smartest kids in the class in group work usually meant an easier time and better grade. He’d simply mimic their actions, copy their work, or at worst ask them what to do.
The group on the other side was led by Missy Pulston, probably the top student in the class. Missy dropped out of the Advanced Placement and Honors classes because as she said “they were too hard and too much work.” She always seem to want to take the easiest route and being the brain of the class – even in a class of average – was a boost for her ego and income.
Theory also had it that her parents rewarded her with $100 for every A. She knew that AP or honors classes were C’s with no reward. She spent her money trying to look good with the latest clothing styles, lots of make up and mostly shoes. She loved shoes. She had what seemed like a million pairs, almost a pair for each outfit. She was the ultimate preppie, and checked her phone constantly for messages. She never met a mirror she didn’t look into check herself out.
Missy was considered good looking, but because of strict helicopter parents, she didn’t date much. Boys feared her dad. Word had it that one time when her date showed up to pick her up, her father made sure the young man saw his gun collection. The father told the youngster “he ain’t afraid to use them on any young man that does my daughter wrong.”
One of her partners was Hian Nguyen, an immigrant of two years from Vietnam. He was a smart child but troubles with the English language often confounded him and became learning barriers. After two years he was still learning the language. He managed A’s but, unlike Missy, had to work for them. He was reserved, and like most Asians spoke little, and didn’t cause any trouble. Marie Adams rounded out the group.
Marie was the typical average student. She
was happy making C’s, had little regard for her future, and didn’t say much. She simply did the minimum. She didn’t fit into any of the school’s cliques. She seemed to prefer her iPod over socializing and certainly over studying. She looked forward to “getting out of this hellhole, just to get away from all the stuck up kids in the school.”
First, Ms. Blossom put some red cabbage in her blender. She added some water and ground the mixture into a red liquid. It was all shook up. She asked each group to come a get a flask full of her potion.
“Now take your bottle marked vinegar and pour a half cup into one of your clear flasks,” said Ms. Blossom, moving things at a pace that discouraged any misbehavior.
“Then add 5 milliliters of the red cabbage mixture and stir. Now note its color. Then on the answer sheet write what color is this mixture. Leave the pH answer blank. We’ll do it later.”
Next came similar instructions. Students mixed a half cup of ammonia and the red cabbage, and recorded its’ color. This was followed by a mixture of one teaspoon of baking soda, one half cup of water and a teaspoon of the red cabbage.
“This is cool stuff, “said Jose, as he wrote down the first three answers of red, green and blue. “Elvis, I’ll give you fifty bucks to drink one of…”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the loud bellowing of the school fire alarm filled the air. As was custom, the students had to vacate the building.
“Don’t touch anything,” said Ms. Blossom, “leave it all there. Now you know the procedure. Stay together as a class, go to the teacher parking lot and wait.” In her haste, she forgot to lock the room.
After 10 minutes, clearance was given and the students headed back to class. Elvis, Jose and Lamont went ahead of the class, discussing how they could mess with Missy and Hian. What better way was there get revenge on them than watching them do something wrong? They discussed tossing in some of their own liquids into one of their mixtures. Elvis had some Brut cologne, Scope mouthwash and chocolate milk in his backpack.
Senior Prank (9781620957295) Page 2