Chapter 3

As soon as Rick left, Jason took his seat behind his desk, looked at his phone for a minute, picked up the receiver, punched in some numbers and waited. On the second ring, the person on the other end answered.

“Christian, it’s Jason.”

“Hey what’s up Jason?” the blonde member of the British group, BBKAY asked good naturedly.

“Christian, I think you guys are taking this joke thing a little too far.” Jason told him. “You guys really scared him this morning.”

Christian frowned on the other end of the line.

“What are you talking about?” he asked confused.

“Which one of you guys dressed in black and hung out in Rick’s room last night with a knife?” Jason asked then.

“What!” Christian asked stunned. “I really don’t know you're talking about, Jason, but it wasn’t us!” he added.

“Come on Christian, are you sure it wasn’t any of the other guys?” Jason asked again, picking up a pen and twirling it.

“I’m sure.” Christian emphasized, “We had all gone out with the other guys last night and when we all got back we were too tired to even pull something like that.” Christian stated.

The line was quiet as Jason thought about this.

“If it wasn’t any of you guys, then who was it?” he asked, dropping the pen on the desk.

“I don’t know.” Christian said then, “Wait a minute, what time did you say all this happened?” he asked Jason.

“I think Rick said it was five thirty this morning.” Jason replied, “Why?”

“And he said he was asleep at the time?” Christian continued.

“Yep, but Christian I don’t know- wait a minute,” Jason said now catching on, “Are you trying to tell me that you think he dreamt it?” he asked.

“It is possible.” Christian stated, “He could have just imagined the whole thing!”

“That could be true. The guy does have one active imagination. Maybe this whole break-in, note-leaving thing has got him so spooked that he thought he saw someone this morning.”

“Could be.” Christian agreed.

“But we shouldn’t take any chances.” Jason said, “There could really be someone out to get him. It wouldn’t be the first time.” He added, “Why don’t you guys just tell him it’s a joke so he’ll stop worrying?”

“Not now.” Christian told him, “It’s just starting to get good. The more worried he gets, the better!”

“What exactly did Rick do to you guys that you all would want to get him back this way?” Jason asked curiously.

He, himself had been at the base of Rick’s practical jokes when they were younger and wasn’t surprised that he was still pulling them.

“Well,” Christian began, “Besides putting Glad wrap under the toilet seat in our bus so that we didn’t actually notice until we used it and giving this girl, who was apparently obsessed with me, my cell number, my home number and my email address and actual address so that I had to change my numbers quite frequently to stop the persistent calls. The address I’m still working on.”

“But that’s not so bad.” Jason said smiling.

“Wait I’m not done.” Christian said, “On our last tour with them, I was in the dressing room alone finishing getting dressed when in walks these two gorgeous girls who then tried to seduce me. I got so distracted, I lost track of the time and when the other guys came to look for me- well, let’s just say that they saw more than they hoped for. I was so embarrassed and that was at one of the first shows and the crew found out and they kept teasing me about it the whole tour. At the end of the tour, Rick told me that he’d hired those two girls to distract me. He had gotten a pretty good laugh out of it. Him and everyone else, this is payback time.” He finished.

“I can’t believe he did that.” Jason said surprised but still smiling.

“Well he did.”

“Okay, I understand why you would want to do this, just make sure you don’t do anything serious.” Jason told him, leaning back in his chair, “My life is hectic enough without having to worry about my Bayside buddy and his troubles.”

“Well at least I’m glad he’s running to you and not anyone else who might interfere with our plan.” Christian said. “In New York, he wanted to call the police and I had to tell the other guys that it was a joke so that they could convince Rick not to call them.”

Jason shook his head.

“So everyone knows it’s a joke except Rick?” Jason asked.

“Not everyone, only the other BB and well, me, Steve and Mark.” Christian said.

“Someone’s gonna catch on to this you know?” Jason told him.

“That’s why we’re trying our best to make sure no one does. So help us out okay?”

“I’ll do my best.” Jason said before hanging up.