But I Never Promised You

Jack grabbed my wrist and gently pulled me to a secluded area of the bus. “Okay, here’s the plan. I casually walk over to the emergency door and threaten to open it and jump out if someone doesn’t get me a package of Skittles. I’ll even start lifting the handle to make it seem believable.”

I slapped my forehead. “Jack, that is the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard of. This is what we’re going to do. First, you know the sleeping pills I always carry with me, but never take?”

“Yeah, but what does sleeping pills have to do with getting in trouble?”

“Slow your roll, Turbo. I’m getting there. Okay, we dissolve the pills in bottles of water. One pill per bottle because we don’t want anyone to overdose and we give each person a water bottle and tell them we’re going to have a chugging contest. Whoever finishes first gets a prize. We won’t tell them what the prize is until after they drink the water, because I haven’t thought up a prize that everyone would be willing to chug a bottle of water for. We’ll just tell them that it’s going to be awesome and we’ll decide on a prize when we find out who the winner is.”

“Okay, how are we going to get that many bottles of water? There have to be like forty people on this plane right now, if you exclude the pilot and flight attendants.”

“Simple. We’ll tell the flight attendants about our plan of holding a chugging contest and hope she gives them to us. If not, we’ll have to sneak in and take them.”

“Okay, so after we get the water, where are we going to dissolve the pills where no one will see us?”

“Again, simple. You know the area at the back of the plane that is just extra space?”

“Duh Mika! I was back there while you were asleep trying not to bother anyone else and get kicked off the plane.”

“Good. That’s where we’ll have the flight attendant take the water and we’ll sneak back there and pretend we are going to the bathroom and when we come out, we’ll sit down by the water.”

We heard footsteps coming toward us, so we hurriedly changed topics. We wanted no one to know of our master plan to drug everyone.

“Hey, what are you guys doing? You two just scream ‘we’re planning mischief’,” asked Jack’s manager.

“We’re not doing anything, but sitting here discussing skateboarding tricks. Well, actually, we are being mischievous. A little birdie told me that a certain member of a certain band, who shall remain nameless for security purposes, is terrified of mimes. So, when we go to the skatepark, we’re going to bring him with and there will just happen to be a mime across the street when we arrive. Touch of bad luck, don’t you think?”

“You are devious, Mika. I may or may not know this band member and he gets on my nerves. If there is anything I can do to aid in this plan, do let me know.”

With those words, Jack’s manager left us.

Jack just looked at me open mouthed. “I thought he was going to catch us. You’re not just devious Mika, you’re an evil genius. I’m proud to call you my best friend. Wait, is the mime plan going to be executed or was it just talk to throw him off our trail?”

“Oh, it was not just talk, it’s happening. I even have the mime arranged. I just have to call him to tell him the time and place.”

“Okay, the coast is clear, what is after the water?”

“Once everyone falls asleep comes the tricky part. You know how we’re each allowed a carry on?”

Jack nodded.

“Well, we’re going to take all of the bags from each and every person and move them.”

“Where are we going to move them to?”

“You know the door that says ‘Employees Only’?”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Yes, I do.”

“Okay, I snuck a peek inside when one of the attendants went back there and it’s full of storage. It’s like a room full of filing cabinets, only bigger drawers. We’re going to sneak in there and put them in the storage drawers. I have even managed to obtain uniforms we can slip on after we have secured all the bags. We just have to make sure all of the actual attendants don’t come out of the cockpit while we are storing them in there.”

“That’s brilliant. Everyone is going to freak out when all of their stuff is gone.”

“Exactly. Oh, I should probably tell you, take whatever you want for the rest of the flight out of your bag because ours are going in there too.”

“Okay. Wait, why do our bags have to go in there?”

“Do you want to immediate blame for this or do you want to let them sit and stew over it until we think they’ve suffered enough?”

“Wouldn’t it be kind of obvious if we’re the only ones awake?”

“No, that’s why we’re going to sip on our water with the dissolved sleeping pill. We’ll get tired slowly and when we’ve finished moving everything, we can chug what’s left of our water. We’ll be asleep just like they were.”

“Is there something you haven’t thought of?”

“There was one thing that had slipped my mind, but I have now come up with a solution for that as well.”

“Which is?”

“Okay, you know how I mentioned dissolving the sleeping pills in the water bottles?” I didn’t wait for a response from Jack, I just continued, “Some of the guys might not notice that their water bottle had been opened previously, but others might and it could be questioned. So, we can either tell them we opened the bottles just before passing them out to ensure easy opening for the chugging or we can put the water in cups after the pill is dissolved. Personally, I think cups would be best, you can drink faster out of a cup than a bottle.”

“Excellent. Let’s get started.”

We both stood up from the seats we had been seated in and started making our way up the center aisle toward the cockpit. None of the members of the other bands paid much attention to us. They were busy working on things for their band or were still sleeping, which was wonderful for us. They wouldn’t remember seeing us walk up here.

Jack knocked on the door leading to the cockpit and the door was opened a few seconds later by one of the female attendants on duty.

“May I help you?”

Jack looked to me, expecting me to explain the situation.

“Actually, you may. You see, Jack and I would like to hold a contest, so to speak, between the different bands and the winner of the contest gets a prize. We figured that since most of the bands aren’t exactly buddy buddy with each other yet, the best time do hold the contest would be when they are forced to be together, on the airplane. We’ve also come to realize that most contests we would normally participate in are not available options due to the limited space, so here is where you come in. We’ve decided that a chugging contest is probably the best we can hope for and were wondering if you could supply us with enough bottles of water and cups for the people participating.”

“Why certainly. Come with me, I’ll show you where we keep them and then whenever you want to start the contest, you may get them out yourselves. It seems like most of the band members are asleep now anyway.”

We followed her down the center aisle until we reached the door reading employees only.

“Now, you two are the only people I am allowing to come through this door. If I hear that you brought someone else with you, that will be the end of your contest or future ones you may come up with.”

“We understand.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

“Jack, go do a quick head check. I want to make sure we grab enough water bottles.”

“Can’t we do that after she shows us where they are?”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

Once inside, we were led to a large refrigerated section. The attendant opened the door to the farthest right for us.

“This is where we keep the bottled water.”

We looked inside while she held the door open and saw four shelves, three feet wide by two feet deep filled with different types of bottled water.

“Perfect.”

“Now, our cups are over this way.”

On the other side of the room, in a drawer near the center of the wall were the cups.

“Now, in case you’ve forgotten the exact location of either of these items, each refrigerator and drawer is labeled with what it contains.”

She motioned for us to follow her and we walked back out into the main area of the plane.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

“You’re welcome miss. Enjoy the rest of the flight.”

We followed her up the main aisle and sat in the seats we had vacated just a short time ago. Once she disappeared back into the cockpit, Jack and I stood and walked back towards the storage room. After looking around to see that no one was watching us, we slipped through the door.

“There are forty-six people including you and me.”

“Excellent.”

I removed the bag I had placed on my back to hold the water bottles and began pulling them off the shelves and placing them in the bag.

“Jack, you should grab the cups. I think one sleeve of them should be enough.”

Jack opened the drawer labeled cups and pulled out a sleeve of plastic, red cups. “There are fifty cups in one sleeve. We’ll have enough.”

I had gotten all forty-six bottles into the bag and was zipping it up.

“Let’s go.”

Once again, we slipped out of the storage room and returned to our seats. I set the bag down in the middle seat so we could both reach it and went to grab my sleeping pills. The remaining members of All Time Low were still asleep, so no one noticed me slip the bottle into the waistband of my jeans. I practically skipped on the way back to the seats I shared with Jack, I was that excited. Since Jack was taller, he sat in the aisle seat. He would be able to see someone coming from farther away.

I had placed another bag on the floor for the completed bottles, or rather the ones that would put someone to sleep after being consumed.

I pulled out the first bottle and opened the lid, dropping a small, blue pill into the water. After placing the cap back on the bottle, I started shaking it. I could see the pill starting to dissolve. Roughly two minutes later, the pill was dissolved and no one would know the dangers of drinking the water.

I grinned; looking like the evil genius I had been named a short time ago. This was going to be fun.