Ruz's POV
The school looked normal that morning.
I stood near the corridor railing on the second floor, crossing my arms and staring down at the field below.
Students moved around her like usual, laughing, talking, and existing peacefully. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. Everything was calm and normal. And that was the first mistake. Because nothing about Day Five was normal.
Because I had a plan.
And when I had a plan, calm did not last.
Liam appeared beside me, I turned to him, he was holding a bottle of juice like it was his emotional support object. His eyes were darting around nervously.
"Why does today feel illegal?" he asked me, taking a long sip of his juice.
I did not look at him.
"Because it is."
He froze mid sip, the bottle hovering near his mouth.
"....What….what does that mean?" he asked slowly.
Before I could answer, Josh walked in.
He was calm. Relaxed. Holding a notebook, which was already a red flag.
He stopped beside her, glanced at me once, and said,
"Ready?"
I smiled.
It was not my usual smile, a dangerous kind of smile.
"…Let us fix something," I said.
Liam slowly backed away, his juice forgotten in his hand.
"I do not like this at all," he said, pointing his index finger at me. "That smile is not a nice smile. I know that smile, that smile is a pre-war smile."
We ignore him.
Across the corridor, the Velvet Girls stood together.
Selene, Bianca, Clarisse, and Danica. Perfect posture. Perfect hair. Perfect expressions.
I looked at them. They had no idea what was coming.
And that was exactly what I wanted.
Josh flipped open his notebook.
Inside were not notes. Inside was a list. Detailed. Precise. Organized by person, by time, by location, by level of humiliation. It looked like something a military strategist would carry into battle, except instead of troop movements, it had things like "glitter bomb" and "adhesive gel" and "fake disciplinary announcement."
I leaned closer, scanning the list, assessing, approving and rejecting.
"Too simple," she muttered.
Josh nodded, completely unfazed.
"Then we escalate."
Liam looked between us in horror, his head swiveling back and forth like he was watching a tennis match between two people who had lost their minds.
"…Why are you planning like criminals?" he whispered."This is not normal friend behavior. This is villain origin story behavior."
Ruz glanced at him. "We prefer 'strategic chaos.'"
Josh added calmly, without looking up from his notebook,
"Organized destruction."
Liam whispered to himself, clutching his juice like a lifeline.
"I need new friends. I need different friends. I need friends who do not have revenge notebooks."
Our first target.
Clarisse Monteverde
In the hallway Josh and I were watching carefully and calculating the timing. A few steps away, Liam was standing guard, keeping watch.
Josh crouched down and spread the adhesive gel across the floor.
Liam suddenly came running toward us, practically hopping with panic.
"Hurry up! They're coming!" he whispered urgently.
"Liam, calm down," Josh said.
He stood up quickly.
"It's done. Come on, let's go."
The three of us immediately ran to the side of the hallway and stopped there, acting as if we had nothing to do with what was about to happen.
Bianca walked forward confidently, beside her our cute Clarisse, their heels clicking against the floor in that annoying rhythm that rich girls used to announce their presence before they even arrived.
They were talking about something unimportant, probably shopping, boys, something that did not matter, when suddenly Bianca's heel stuck.
Not by accident. Not because it was broken. But because of a perfectly timed patch of adhesive gel that had actually been placed for Clarisse.
It was invisible. safe. But highly, highly effective.
Bianca did not fall, she had too much balance for that but she stumbled badly. Her arms flailed. Her designer bag swung dangerously. Her perfectly composed expression cracked like an egg hitting the floor.
Beside me, Liam's eyes widened in horror.
"Oh, shoot," he whispered. "Wrong person."
Josh immediately looked down at his notebook.
"Minor miscalculation."
"Minor?" Liam hissed. "That wasn't the target!"
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to laugh.
"Does it really matter?" I asked.
Across the hallway, Bianca was already turning red with embarrassment.
Liam watched her flail for another second.
"...Actually, no. No, it doesn't."
"What the FUuuck?!" Bianca snapped,
her voice was sharp enough to cut glass.
"What is this shit?!"
The students nearby froze. Then a few quiet snorts of laughter broke out. Not loud. But enough. Enough for Bianca to hear. Enough for her face to turn red.
She looked down at her shoe, then at the floor, then around at the people watching.
"Is this a fucking joke?!" she demanded.
Clarisse grabbed her arm. "Bianca, calm down"
"Do not tell me to calm down!"
Bianca yanked her arm free.
"Someone put something on the floor! Someone is trying to make me fall on my ass!"
A few more laughs. Bianca's face got redder.
Josh stepped forward and calmly wrote something in his notebook.
Liam and I immediately peeked over his shoulder to see what he was writing.
"Reaction: eight out of ten," Josh noted. "Wrong target. Unexpected bonus."
I nodded in approval.
"Next," I said.
"Give me a minute," Liam said suddenly, before running off toward Clarisse while everyone was still distracted by Bianca's situation.
Josh and I stood there for a moment, both of us watching him disappear into the crowd.
"…What is he doing?" I muttered.
Josh didn't answer. He just observed quietly, like he was already calculating what would happen next.
A few minutes passed.
Then Liam came back, slightly out of breath.
In his hand, he was holding a key.
We stared at it.
"What is this?" I asked.
Liam grinned. "Our next plan."
I narrowed my eyes. "Whose key is that?"
"Clarisse's locker key."
I blinked.
"…Wow bro," Josh said slowly. "You look like you're actually enjoying this."
Liam immediately pointed at me. "Come on, I'm not a bad person."
Then Josh wrote something down.
"New variable added: Liam unpredictable enthusiasm."
Liam leaned closer. "So… are we doing anything with this or just pretending we're good people now?"
I looked at the key.
I slowly took the key from Liam's hand.
"No," I said.
A pause.
"We're not good people."
Liam visibly relaxed.
"Good," he said. "Because I was starting to worry I had character development for nothing."
After some an hour after, At the locker area, Clarisse opened her locker.
And glitter exploded everywhere.
Not a little glitter. Not a normal amount of glitter. A catastrophic amount of glitter. The kind that gets everywhere and never leaves. The kind that follows you for days, weeks, maybe even years. The kind that sticks to your clothes, your hair, your soul and refuses to go away.
It was not harmful. It was not dangerous. But it was enough to cover her hair, her uniform, her face, her eyelashes, her carefully applied lipstick, and everything within a three foot radius in bright, unavoidable, screaming pink.
Silence fell over the locker area.
For one beautiful moment, no one spoke. No one moved. Everyone just stared at Clarisse standing there, frozen, covered in glitter like a unicorn had exploded on her.
Then someone laughed.
Then someone else laughed.
Then all the students in the locker area started laughing so hard that one of them had to lean against a locker for support.
Clarisse stood completely still, her mouth open, her eyes wide, her entire body shimmering like a disco ball that had been hit by a truck.
"…Who did this?" she demanded, her voice shaking with rage.
No one answered.
"WHO THE HELL DID THIS?!" she screamed, glitter raining off her shoulders as she spun around.
Across the hallway, the three of us froze for half a second.
Liam suddenly pulled out his phone and started snapping pictures.
"Evidence," he said quickly.
Josh calmly wrote something in his notebook again and muttered,
"For documentation. Success rate confirmation."
That was it.
We turned and slipped out of there as fast as possible, cutting through the side corridor and heading straight for the rooftop.
The second the door shut behind us.
we lost it.
All three of us burst out laughing at the same time.
Not quiet laughter.
Not controlled laughter.
Liam was laughing so hard he had to lean against the wall, still holding his phone like it was something priceless.
Josh crouched down, holding his knee, laughing harder than I had ever seen him, his notebook still in his hand.
And me…
I dropped to the ground, laughing until I couldn't breathe properly.
Everything we did, everything that just happened, kept replaying in my head, and it made it worse every single time.
"We are so done," Liam gasped between laughs.
"No," Josh also gasped between laughter. "We are just getting started."
After some time, we got control of our laughter.
I lay down on the rooftop concrete,
Josh sat down beside me, cross legged, notebook still in his lap.
Liam sprawled out on my other side, his empty juice bottle resting on his chest like a fallen soldier.
I still lay there, arms behind my head, watching clouds that had no idea what had just happened beneath them.
"That was..." Liam started, then stopped. Searched for the word.
"...therapeutic?"
Josh raised an eyebrow.
"Therapeutic?"
"I don't know how else to describe watching glitter explode on someone's entire existence."
Liam paused.
"I think I understand war criminals now."
"You don't understand war criminals," Josh said flatly.
"I understand their emotions."
I laughed again, softer this time, but it was real.
I didn't let people get close to me that easily.
But with the two of them beside me, listening to Liam complain about everything and watching Josh's stupidity, it felt almost...
Safe.
The bell rang somewhere below, not the class bell, for another section's match probably. Section B v/sE.
None of us moved.
"Clarisse is probably still crying in the bathroom," Liam said thoughtfully.
"Bianca's already planning revenge," Josh added, lying down beside me.
Liam also lay down on the concrete, staring at the sky. "You know what's funny?"
"What."
"I used to think the Velvet Girls were untouchable." He laughed quietly..
"Some people just need a demonstration." I said
Josh snorted. "We're the demonstration."
We were laughing and talking, lying there like we owned the rooftop, when three heads appeared in front of our faces.
Adrian, Eren, and Mira stood over us, arms crossed, eyebrows raised like we'd just committed a felony.
"What are you doing here?" Adrian asked.
The three of us flinched so hard we nearly knocked into each other sitting up.
"You scared the life out of me!" Liam yelped, one hand over his heart.
"We've been finding you all over the school," Mira said, her tone caught somewhere between annoyed and amused.
Eren nodded. "You know what happened, right?"
We glanced at each other. Josh's face stayed neutral. Liam's eyes went wide. I kept my expression carefully blank.
"Happened?" I asked innocently. "What happened?"
Adrian stared at me for a long moment. Then he sat down on the concrete next to us. Mira and Eren followed.
Nika, Aira, and Enzo arrived next, carrying snacks and drinks. Soon after, Diego, Marco, Rifat, and Zayn joined us one by one, settling down beside us as the field slowly filled.
"Bianca nearly face planted in the main hallway," Adrian continued. "Clarisse had a glitter explosion in her locker. People are saying it's the best thing that's happened all year."
"Theories are everywhere," Mira added, pulling out her phone.
"Some people think it was a prank war. Some people think it was a failure…"
"Failure of what?" Liam interrupted.
"Confession," Eren continued next. "Someone said a secret admirer tried to put a love letter in her locker and accidentally set off a glitter bomb."
Liam's face turned purple with suppressed laughter.
"A love letter?"
"Other people think it was the basketball team getting revenge for something," Mira continued. "A few people think it was ghosts."
"Ghosts," Josh repeated flatly.
"High school is weird," Mira said, shrugging.
We glanced at each other.
All three of us burst out laughing at the exact same time.
Adrian's eyes narrowed immediately.
"What did you three do?"
"Nothing," I said between laughs.
"Absolutely nothing," Josh agreed, tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes.
"Yes, yes. Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Liam wheezed before bursting into another fit of laughter.
Adrian looked completely unconvinced.
"That's the most suspicious thing I've ever heard."
"It really is," Zayn added from beside him.
I buried my face in my arms, trying and failing to stop laughing.
The more Adrian and Zayn looked at us, the worse it got.
Finally, Adrian crossed his arms.
"What. Happened?"
The three of us immediately went silent.
A dangerous silence.
Then Liam snorted.
Josh cracked.
And I completely lost it again.
Adrian leaned forward.
"Tell me everything."
So we told them.
Everything.
The adhesive gel. The wrong target. The key Liam somehow pickpocketed. The glitter. Clarisse's frozen face with pics. Bianca's screaming. The way the entire locker area went silent before exploding into chaos.
By the time we finished, Mira was holding her stomach. Eren had his face in his hands, shoulders shaking. Adrian burst out laughing and they just stared at us like they were seeing some weird creatures for the first time.
"You three," Adrian said slowly with a controlled laugh , "are insane."
"Thank you," Josh said.
"That wasn't a compliment."
"We're choosing to take it as one."
Mira wiped her eyes. "I can't believe you did all that before noon."
"Time management," I said. "It's a skill.
We finished the snacks and sodas while talking over each other, still half laughing about everything that had already happened. The energy refused to die down. Every time someone tried to act normal, someone else would bring it up again and we'd lose it all over.
Eventually, we brushed ourselves off and stood up.
"Okay," I said, catching my breath. "We should go. The first round is already finished."
The crowd had shifted. The hallway was louder now, more crowded, everyone moving toward the next setup for the games.
We started walking back down the corridor, splitting off as we moved.
Nika, Mira, and Aira went one way, already distracted by something else.
A few others scattered in different directions, merging into the flow of students.
That left me, Josh, and Liam.
"Third target," Josh said, a thin, unsettling smirk curving at the corner of his mouth as his hands slipped into his pockets.
"Danica Rojas."
Liam rubbed his hands together.
"Finally."
I didn't say anything. I was already thinking.
We found the event stall easily.
Everything we needed was still there like it had been waiting for us.
I grabbed the items without hesitation.
"Don't take too long," Josh said.
"I won't."
I walked straight toward Section A's girls' restroom.
The hallway was busy, but no one paid attention. Just another student walking past. Nothing suspicious.
Inside, I set everything up quickly, checking positions, angles, timing.
Then I stepped back out.
"Done," I said simply.
Now we wait.
A few minutes passed.
After a few minutes of waiting, a girl started walking toward the restroom.
Liam immediately straightened.
"Oh no," I muttered.
"Oh yes," Liam replied.
Before either Josh or I could stop him, he stepped directly into her path.
"Hey, beautiful."
The girl froze.
Josh slowly closed his notebook.
"I refuse to be associated with this."
Liam ignored him.
The girl blinked.
"Uh... hi?"
Liam reached dramatically into his pocket and pulled out a hair clip.
I narrowed my eyes.
Suspicious.
"Is this yours?" he asked.
The girl looked confused.
"Um... no."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure."
Liam nodded thoughtfully.
"Interesting."
The girl looked even more confused.
"What?"
"My hand is tired from carrying it."
"...What?"
"Please take it."
Before she could protest, Liam gently tucked the clip into her hair.
"There."
He stepped back and admired his work.
"Wow."
The girl immediately turned red.
"It actually suits you."
The poor girl looked like her brain had completely stopped working.
"R-Really?"
"Absolutely."
Josh covered his face.
I looked away.
Liam was somehow flirting and causing psychological damage at the same time.
The girl forgot entirely where she was going.
She stood there smiling awkwardly while Liam gave her a dramatic thumbs up and walked back toward us.
The second he returned, I crossed my arms.
"You carry hair clips in your pocket now?"
Liam looked offended.
"No."
"Then why did you have one?"
"It's yours."
I froze.
"What?"
Josh suddenly became very interested in the ceiling.
Liam grinned.
"The one you dropped earlier."
I slowly raised my hand to my hair.
The clip was missing.
My eye twitched.
"Liam."
He took one step back.
"Liam."
A second step.
"LIAM CASTILLO, YOU GAVE MY HAIR CLIP TO A RANDOM GIRL?"
"She looked happy!"
"THAT IS NOT THE POINT!"
Josh quietly opened his notebook.
Ruz's patience: rapidly declining.
"I CAN SEE YOU WRITING."
Correction: critically declining.
"Liam, run."
"I was already planning to."
And then he ran.
I chased him immediately.
His laughter echoed down the hallway.
"IT WAS FOR A GOOD CAUSE!"
"GET BACK HERE!"
After some time, we made our way back toward the restroom area.
Liam was still rubbing his arm, groaning softly under his breath.
Josh glanced at him and smirked.
"Yeah," he said, "you deserved that."
Liam shot him a look but didn't respond.
A few minutes later, another girl appeared at the end of the hallway.
I saw her before the others did.
Without hesitation, I shoved Josh forward.
He stumbled a step.
Then immediately realized what I'd done.
"You did that on purpose," he muttered through clenched teeth.
I smiled innocently.
"Distract her."
His eye twitched.
"I hate you."
"No, you don't."
The girl was already approaching.
Josh sighed the sigh of a man accepting his fate.
Then he straightened his uniform and stepped forward.
I watched in fascination.
Josh wasn't like Liam.
Liam flirted like a chaotic idiot who somehow survived entirely on confidence.
Josh flirted like he was negotiating a business deal.
Calm.
Polite.
Dangerously effective.
"Excuse me," he said smoothly.
The girl stopped.
"Yes?"
"I need a second opinion."
She blinked.
"About what?"
Josh pointed toward me.
"She's convinced that stealing event snacks isn't a crime."
"Hey!" I protested.
The girl laughed.
Josh immediately had her attention.
Traitor.
For the next minutes, they talked while Liam watched with growing horror.
"What is happening?" Liam whispered.
"I don't know."
"No, seriously."
The girl laughed again.
Josh smiled.
Liam looked offended.
"I work hard for my reputation."
Eventually the girl realized she'd been standing there talking much longer than intended.
Her face turned pink.
"Oh."
She glanced away.
"I should probably go."
"Probably," Josh agreed.
The girl nodded quickly and practically speed walked away.
The moment she disappeared around the corner, Liam pointed dramatically.
"See?"
"See what?" I asked.
"You two accuse me of flirting."
"You were flirting."
"And what was that?"
Josh calmly adjusted his sleeve.
"A conversation."
"That girl almost ran away blushing."
"A coincidence."
"A coincidence?" Liam repeated.
"Yes."
I looked at Josh.
He looked at me.
Then we both burst out laughing.
Liam threw his hands into the air.
"This is unbelievable."
Honestly, those two idiots were annoyingly good looking bastards.
They handled situations like this far too easily.
Then finally our dearest Danica Rojas are arrived.
We hid instead, watching carefully as she walked in. Let her come.
And of course… she saw me.
I froze instantly.
No escape. No excuse. No backup plan.
So I had no choice I followed her inside.
I stood near the sink, pretending to wash my hands and face, acting completely normal.
Danica walked in behind me.
The moment she stepped inside, she screamed.
I turned slowly.
"What happened?" I asked, as calmly as I could.
"There there's something in here!" she said dramatically, pointing toward the corner.
I frowned. "There's nothing."
"Yes there is!"
"No there isn't."
"Yes there is!"
I sighed. "It's fake."
"It is NOT!"
One… two… three…
I suddenly screamed.
"Aaaaaaaaa~ "
Danica screamed even louder.
And that was it.
She ran outside.
I followed her, still acting like I was panicking too.
Outside, she was still screaming .
I screamed back.
She screamed louder.
I screamed even louder.
By then, students had started gathering around us. Fortunately, most teachers and students were still occupied in the hallway due to the ongoing event.
Danica was pointing wildly.
"There is something in there! Something disgusting!"
I held my chest dramatically.
"I almost died!"
"Liar!" she snapped.
"I saw it!" I said immediately.
From the side, Josh muttered,
"This performance is art at this point."
Liam nodded. "This is insanity."
Then Nika casually walked past us, went inside the restroom, and came back out holding something in her hand.
A fake cockroach.
And a plastic lizard.
She dropped them in front of Danica's feet.
Silence.
Danica froze.
Then slowly turned toward me.
"You…"
"I didn't do anything," I said innocently.
Her eyes twitched.
"You are lying."
I tilted my head. "Prove it."
That was enough.
Danica exploded again.
"This is harassment! This is sabotage! This is…this is….!"
I cut her off calmly.
"This is dramatic."
She pointed at me.
"You are unbelievable!"
I smiled slightly.
"I know."
Behind me, my friends and Zayn had moved closer to me, and we were all trying extremely hard not to laugh. The tension was ridiculous like one wrong breath would make everything collapse again.
Danica's face… was...just….
Completely over it. Completely dramatic.
Then she kicked her foot against the floor in irritation and stormed right past the gathering.
That was it.
We broke up.
All of us burst out laughing at the same time.
Zayn grabbed my shoulder for support, both of his hands gripping tightly as he leaned forward. He buried his face in his hands, struggling desperately to keep himself from losing control.
I stood there, completely frozen, one hand covering my face as I shook from laughter so hard I could barely breathe.
Rifat and Eren stood on my other side, laughing in complete disbelief, like they still couldn't process what was just happening.
Josh buried his face in his notebook like it was the only thing that could protect him from the chaos around him.
Liam was practically drowning himself in his water bottle, trying desperately to hide his laughter.
Adrian, Mira, Aira, and Nika were all doubled over or barely holding themselves up, on the verge of collapsing onto the ground from laughter.
It was chaos.
Pure, uncontrollable chaos.
After a while, we slowly managed to pull ourselves together.
Barely.
We headed toward the hallway where the second round of the match was about to begin.
Students were already settled.
Section B v/s Section E.
But no one was actually focused.
Not even the players.
The entire field still felt like it was recovering, as if it hadn't yet shaken off everything that had happened throughout the day.
Whispers spread everywhere. People were laughing between plays, pointing at each other instead of the game.
Even the opposing sections were distracted laughing, talking, reacting instead of competing.
By the end of the match, Section B won.
But nobody celebrated.
Instead, players from both Section B and Section E were laughing together, shaking hands, exchanging high fives mid conversation, and still talking about everything that had happened throughout the day as if it mattered more than the score itself.
Teachers stood around confused, trying to bring order back.
But no one was listening.
Because the match didn't feel like a competition anymore.
It felt like one long shared disaster.