Archive of Our Own ^beta

“So what’s our plan?” Mal asked.

“What do you mean?” Moe responded

“You, of all people, don’t have a rebuttal plan? Moe, they just got us. Like really, really good. We need to get revenge.”

Mal, Moe, Lindsey, Emily, Jae, Sam, Rose and Steph were sitting in their hotel rooms at January Camp. They had just gotten pranked, again, by Pinoe, Ash, and Syd. Growing up with the National team, it was them that were the Queen of pranks during their youth days, but now the vets were schooling them.

“YOU really want to take on Ash, Pinoe, and Syd? They are the masters at this stuff, trust me.”

“Yeah, but can we really just sit here and keep taking it. Then we are easy prey. I don’t want to be easy prey Moe.”

“Yeah, but the second we take them on we insue a war. They bring in reinforcements, such as Ali, Alex, Tobin, Christen, Kling, KELLY! We would stand NO chance.” said Lindsey.

“Mal, they all have like 6+ years age wise on us, if not more. They have been doing this much longer, and they have learned from the vets before them!” Rose added.

“Look, we’ve proved to them that we belong on the field. We take them on in one-on-one situations. We score, we tackle, we win balls. But everyone knows that it’s the off the field culture that counts the most. We train for what, 4-5, maybe 6 hours a day. What are we doing for the other 18 or so hours?”

“Sleeping, or doing homework” Emily Chimed in.

“No! Were getting pranked. We might be kids, but we have to prove that we can hand with them off the field as much as we can on the field.” Mal demanded.

“I mean, if you REALLY want to. But you are going to insue a prank war. And I promise, you won't win.” Moe pointed out

“You will see. Besides, who’s side are you on anyway?” Mal looked at Moe, who didn’t really have an answer. She grew up on the national team with Lindsey, Mal, Emily, Rose, Sam, Jae and Steph. They were some of her closest friends, but the Gals were the Gals. She had been the baby of the world champions, the 15ers, and she formed a special bond with all of them. She had been their kid sister. However, that role had also led her to take on the brunt of the pranking for a while. She was young and innocent in many of the veterans eyes, therefore she was an easy target. ‘Orange Juice’ that was actually Kraft Mac and Cheese Powder, Air Horn Chairs, Stolen and Tampered Towels, you name it, they had probably done it to her.

“UGHHHHHH, FINE. I’m in. What’s our plan?”

“Go big or go home” Mal said.

“NO!” The others said in unison.

“Why?”

“Hope? Carli? Becky? Ali? Alex? That's a poor, poor decision to get them involved.”

“Fine, then what do you suggest?”

“A mid-level prank on Syd and Ash. Something that says ‘we're not gonna take your shit’ but doesn't challenge the entire team.” Said Moe

“Okay, I like your thinking.” Said Mal.

“What if we get into their room and put streamers all over the place and take plastic wrap to their chairs and stuff.” Said Rose.

The ‘Kids’ all agreed on that, they would just have to figure out when would be best to do it. They had multiple scenarios thought out, but before they could set future plans it was time for team dinner.

While at dinner the kids sat and listened to their teammates talk about their plans for the next few days. They had an off afternoon and Ash, Ali, Syd, Alex, Tobin, Christen, HAO, Whit, and Becky and Kel decided that the next day they were going to the Beach for a afternoon. The kids saw this as their opportunity.

They stole the keys to one of the team vans later that day and claimed they were going ‘Shopping’ which wasn't entirely a lie. They went to the target that was down the street and bought 8 containers of plastic wrap, 8 sets of streamers, and a 4 packs of Balloons. Along with some other stuff. Their afternoon off was the next day, so they were ready and planned to make their move. They had a hard training session that morning, a small recovery session, and then had lunch as a team before the team split for the afternoon off.

As soon as the kids knew that their teammates had arrived at the beach, via their snapchat stories, they set the plan into action. The cleaning lady was doing her rounds in the hallway, and Lindsey gave her the sob story about being locked out of her room, which wasn't actually her room and was actually Syd and Ash’s room. Once she was in, and the cleaning lady was gone. The kids snuck in the room.

They began with the plastic wrap, the chairs, the bed, suitcases, TV, mini fridge, toilet seats, remotes, dressers, laptops; you name it, they wrapped it. Next came the streamers. They hung them from the ceiling, in front of the doors and closets, on the mirrors, and out to the entrance of the balcony. As some of the kids finished the streamers, the others blew up the balloons, placing them around the room and in the shower. This they decided was an excellent prank. They took pictures of the masterpiece and walked out of the room.

Their joy and excitement was quickly put to a halt though, when they walked out of the door to see Carli and Hope leaning against the wall giving them a knowing look.

“What are you guys doing?” Hope asked with a smug look.

“Uhhhhhhhh” was the universal sound coming from all of their lips.

“We were just…” Moe began…

“Finally getting back at them.” Carli finished for her, laughing.

“Let’s see what you guys came up with.” Hope said pushing through them to get into the still open room. ”Plastic wrap, streamers and balloons. Not very creative, but it gets the job done and the point across. Good job kids.”

“Wait, so you aren’t mad at us?” Emily squeaked.

“No, we’ve been waiting. It was only a matter of time until you finally pushed back.” Hope Answered nonchalantly. Admiring the plastic wrap work and the streamers in the room taking a few pictures.

Carli agreed with her, “They have been on the borderline of Hazing. But you guys finally pushed back, so now I don’t have to put an end to it. Good job kids.”

The two seasoned vets walked out of the room and down the hall, leaving the kids dumbstruck.

The next few hours dragged as they waited for their teammates to return. According to their snap stories they had waited at the beach until the sun set, and then went for dinner afterwards. When they FINALLY returned the girls waited patiently with the door ajar in the room across the hall that was shared by Moe and Lindsey. When Syd opened the door, she screamed, which let to Ash, and Ali to drop their things in the hall and run to the door, where Ash let out a few expletives and Ali just turned and laughed. The whole room of ‘Kids’ erupted in laughter as Mal quickly shut and locked the door before Ash and Syd could figure it out and react. After about 10 minutes and a lot of laughter from the kids, (They put Mal’s iPad up to the peer hole and recorded the reaction of their teammates filtering through to look at their handywork) they received a text message in ‘The Gals’ Group chat.

Ashlyn Harris: Oh, it’s on kids, it's on.