Modern Family: New Life-Chapter 71: Prank II

"Nice morning, isn't it?" Andrew asked casually, looking at Alex while having breakfast.

Alex, with dark circles so pronounced they looked like permanent shadows under her eyes, lifted her gaze from her breakfast and shot him a murderous look.

"Great joke, Andrew. You really outdid yourself this time," Alex said sarcastically.

"Not bad," Andrew replied with a slight smile, shrugging.

"Not bad," Alex muttered under her breath, mimicking his nonchalance with annoyance.

"If the hypothetical prank we pulled on you doesn't meet your standards, then why do you look so upset?" Haley asked with feigned innocence while spreading butter on her toast.

"Because thanks to that stupid prank, I slept poorly and barely at all!" Alex snapped, hitting the table with her spoon.

"Mom! Punish them!" she demanded, looking at Claire, who had her back turned while organizing things in the kitchen.

"You have no proof against us!" Haley defended herself.

"Proof? It's obvious it was you two, or else I'm schizophrenic," Alex growled.

"I think the more plausible option is schizophrenia," Haley replied with amusement.

Luke, who had been solely focused on devouring his sugary cereal, furrowed his brows in curiosity.

"Schizophrenia? What's that? Can you eat it?" he asked before taking another spoonful.

"No, you can't eat it. It's a mental illness," Claire said, turning around to look at Luke. Then she looked at Alex.

"And Alex, there's no time to talk about punishments right now. Besides, it's not a big deal, you just lost a few minutes of sleep," Claire added, making Alex's tired eyes widen in outrage.

"Not a big deal!? It is for me! How can you say it's not important? I could've been late on the first day after the break!" Alex protested, raising her voice.

Claire resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her daughter and raised a hand.

"We're not discussing this right now. Otherwise, you really will be late," she said, pointing at the kitchen clock.

Alex pressed her lips together and huffed in frustration, but she had no choice but to drop the subject for the moment. She stood up abruptly, grabbed her backpack, and headed for the door with a deep frown, while Haley and Andrew exchanged an amused glance before following her.

Haley and Andrew were driven to Palisades High School. Alex was taken to the middle school, which was just a few minutes away by car.

"It's not a big deal," Alex repeated in her mind, echoing her mother's words as she walked toward the classroom where she had her first class.

"Hey, Alex!"

Alex blinked and reluctantly looked up. In front of her stood Austin, a chubby boy with bowl-cut black hair and brown eyes.

Austin was one of the few people she talked to at school. Not because they were great friends, but because at least he had an acceptable level of intelligence and didn't drive her crazy with nonsense.

"Hey..." Alex muttered without much enthusiasm and kept walking toward her classroom, paying little attention to Austin, who quickly followed her.

Unbothered by her tone, Austin picked up his pace to keep up with her.

"Did you do the assignments they gave us over winter break?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

Alex let out a dry chuckle.

"What do you think, Austin? That I left them for the last day like some irresponsible slacker?" Alex said with a hint of mockery. "Of course, I did them. The moment they assigned them."

They reached the classroom and entered along with the rest of the students, who were beginning to settle into their seats.

Alex walked straight to her usual spot, sat down, and pulled out her notebook with a sigh of resignation. She just wanted to focus on class and forget about the morning disaster.

When the teacher arrived, he asked for the winter break assignments. She handed hers in, and then the lesson began.

She picked up her usual pen and started writing the title at the top of the page, but as soon as she saw the ink color, her eyebrows furrowed instantly.

A neon pink—so bright it almost hurt her eyes—spread across the paper with every stroke.

Alex blinked, stunned. She examined the pen closely. On the outside, it was exactly the same as always. But on the inside...

"Andrew...!" she muttered through gritted teeth, feeling the fury rise within her.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She wouldn't let her cousin's pranks get to her. Even though they already had—though she would never admit it.

Luckily, she always had one or two spare pens. She reached into her pencil case and pulled out another pen. She removed the cap, tried writing... and the same neon pink appeared on the paper.

Her eye twitched in frustration. She tried another pen, just in case, and got the same result.

All three of her pens had been sabotaged.

She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, counting to ten.

'I'll just write with this ugly, obnoxious pink,' she thought, having no other choice.

Fortunately, the school day continued without any further mishaps—though she had no choice but to use the bright pink pen.

Then came history class, and she pulled out her textbook. Or so she thought. It had the same cover, with the title clearly visible on the front.

However, when she opened it to the page where they had left off last class, her brow furrowed as she read:

[Hobbits and ponies rushed forward. They had already shaken off half of their fatigue and all fear. "Hey! Come merry dol!" came the song to them as a welcome.

"Hey! Come merry dol! Brave ones, leap!

Hobbits, ponies, and all, to the feast!

Let the joy begin! Let us all sing together!"]

Alex blinked. 'What the hell?' she thought.

She flipped through the pages quickly and found more strange text talking about Hobbits and dialogues from someone named Gandalf. She checked the cover again—it was the right one.

However, she now realized the book was smaller and had clearly been wrapped with a fake cover.

'Andrew,' she thought.

That bastard had switched her book and even covered it with an identical version of her history textbook's cover.

Before she could think of a solution, the teacher's voice rang through the classroom.

"Alex, could you please read the paragraph on page 132?"

"Uh... I didn't bring my book," Alex replied quickly, shutting it as if she had never opened it.

The teacher, however, raised an eyebrow and pointed at the book in her hands.

"You didn't bring it? But you have it right there."

"No, it's just that... this isn't—" she tried to say, but it was too late.

The teacher extended a hand. "Let me see it."

Alex swallowed hard. She had two options: give him the book and make a fool of herself, or insist she had nothing and look like a liar.

She sighed in resignation and, without a word, handed it over.

The teacher took it, opened it, and as soon as he read the first line, his brow furrowed.

"The Lord of the Rings? Strange that you have Tolkien's book with our textbook's cover..." he murmured aloud, and immediately, a few classmates let out giggles.

Alex felt like she wanted to sink into the floor.

"Alright, Miss Dunphy," the teacher said, closing the book and looking at her with a mix of confusion and amusement. "While Tolkien is a fascinating author, I'd prefer if you brought the correct book to my class. I expect you to have it next time."

The laughter around her grew louder as the teacher handed her back the book.

As soon as he turned to continue the lesson, Alex sighed and let her head drop onto the desk. At that moment, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned and found Austin, who had an expression of barely contained excitement, as if he had just uncovered a huge secret.

"I didn't know you liked The Lord of the Rings," he murmured enthusiastically. "That's awesome! I'm a huge fan. Actually, we have a club. You should totally join!"

"Club?" Alex muttered, confused. She wasn't a fan of The Lord of the Rings. She only knew about it because Andrew and his nerdy friends liked it.

Austin nodded eagerly. "Yeah! We meet after school to talk about Tolkien, analyze the story, and sometimes play role-playing campaigns set in Middle-earth. It's a small club, but we're really passionate. You'd love it."

"I'll think about it," Alex replied noncommittally.

Classes continued as usual. Alex made sure to check every book before opening it, afraid another one had been tampered with. Fortunately, none seemed altered. Still, she wasn't sure whether she could let her guard down.

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She had been naive to think Andrew would stop at a light prank, like waking her up early.

The classroom was completely silent. The teacher was grading papers at her desk, and the students were reading individually, making use of the last few minutes before the bell rang and they could go home.

And then, without warning, a sound shattered the tranquility.

At first, it was a faint sound, like a murmur. But within seconds, the sound became clearer and turned into something unmistakable for everyone: moans of pleasure.

Heads immediately lifted. Some students exchanged confused glances, others stifled hidden laughter. The teacher looked up from her papers, frowning.

The sound continued.

Everyone started searching for the source of the disturbance until, gradually, all eyes turned to Alex, who had a horrified expression.

She felt the heat rise in her face as she realized the sound was coming from her own backpack.

"What...?" Alex murmured, confused, looking at her backpack.

Without wasting any more time, she rushed to open her backpack and began desperately searching through her things. She checked the main compartment, then the side pocket, but the noise kept echoing through the classroom.

The murmurs grew louder.

Alex felt her heart race as her trembling hands rummaged through the backpack until she found a hidden compartment she didn't even remember existed. There, deep inside her backpack, her fingers pulled out a phone she didn't recognize, but it was the source of the sound.

She clumsily unlocked the screen and stopped the sound—it was a call.

'Andrew...' she thought, a mix of fury and relief, but the embarrassment still completely enveloped her.

When she looked up, she noticed that everyone was still staring at her, some with mocking smiles, others with pure confusion.

Her face burned.

"Alex, what was that?" the teacher asked, standing up and walking toward her desk.

At that moment, the bell rang, and the teacher told everyone they could leave, except Alex, who had a gloomy expression.

Five minutes later, Alex left the classroom alone with a defeated look. Luckily, she wasn't punished due to her good grades and conduct, but she was scolded for the first time.

It was something she didn't want to repeat.

'Damn you, Andrew... This isn't over,' Alex thought as she walked down the hall toward the exit of the school.

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