Ryan woke up to a buzzing next to his bed. He opened his eyes drowsily, and slammed the sleep button on his alarm clock. “Urgh, just five more minutes!” He groaned. Ryan was not a morning person. Finally, it went off again, and Ryan rolled out of bed, reluctantly. With a few yawns he managed to stand up, and look at his clock. 5:36. Perfect. His sister and parents would be up in about half an hour. Still, the perfect amount of time to prank them. First step? Check the calendar. Ryan turned his head towards his wall. April first. April fools day. Good. Next step: setting up the pranks.

Ryan went to the bathroom, and replaced the toothpaste with his prank bottle. It looked almost exactly the same, but there was only water in it! Next, he filled a bucket with water and placed it precariously above his sister’s door. He also put some whipped cream on her hand, and placed a feather on her bedside table for later. Then he ran back downstairs. He poured oil all over the floor to make it slippery! Ryan was going to clean it up later, but he wanted to have some fun first. He also took a box of oreos and replaced the filling with the toothpaste he replaced. Everything was coming together. The last thing was to put some clear invisible plastic wrap in front of his parent’s doors. He pulled it from the box and lunged up the stairs; two steps at a time. He took some tape and attached it to the doorframe. Now, it was prank time.

Time to wake his sister up! Ryan snuck into Emma’s room, quiet as a mouse. He stealthily took the feather from the bedside table. He also took a washable marker, and drew a mustache on her face. Then, he tickled his sister’s nose with the feather. She twitched a few times, and finally smacked her face with the hand filled with whipped cream. She gave out a loud yelp. Success!

The yelp Emma released was just loud enough to wake his parents up. She bolted to the door handle, and once she reached it, pushed it open with a forceful blow. The bucket above her door fell right onto her face. “With all that whipped cream, I thought you might need a shower!” Ryan laughed. After she removed the bucket from her head, Emma gave him a look, groaned, and turned away from him. While Emma raced to the bathroom, his parents were coming out of their room, half awake. “What’s going on here?” Ryan’s dad asked sleepily. Another scream protruded from the bathroom as Emma realized she had a green marked mustache.

“Goodness! Is she okay?” Ryan’s mother asked, taking another step forward. Both his parents walked right into the trap! “Aagh, what the- what is the meaning of this!?” They were both tangled up with the invisible wrap. If they kept twisting, they would turn into clear mummies!

“APRIL FOOLS!” Ryan burst into fits of giggles, and fell to the floor.

“Aah, this boy.” His mother shook her head. “We only put up with this once a year!”

It’s not even over yet. Ryan thought, a suspicious smile stretched across his face. The three all went to the bathroom to brush their teeth, but when they tried to squeeze it out, it soaked the toothbrush with water! “Wha—” His sister was extremely confused, but a look of realization spread across her face. Her eyes widened, and then narrowed. “RYAN!”

“APRIL FOOLS!” Ryan bellowed. “I TRICKED YOU AGAIN!”

“You little bugger!” Emma cried. She rushed out.

A slight smile appeared on his dad’s mouth. “You’ve gotten good at this…” He chuckled.

They all jumped and turned their heads when yet another yell came from downstairs. Ryan’s parents looked at each other. Another one? They all came out and looked at Emma. She had fallen because she slipped on the oil. She looked up at them, trying to hold back laughter. Suddenly, Emma couldn’t hold it in anymore. She burst out laughing. “You got me,” She said, defeated. She tried to get back up a couple times, slipping and sliding everywhere. “Woahhh…” She said once she finally got on her feet. Hanging on to a chair for dear life, she slid away.

Ryan’s dad carefully stepped around the puddle of oil. He opened the pantry and said, “Well, now it’s time for breakfast!” He took a pack of cookies. Ryan looked in big anticipation. Oh no! It was chips ahoy! It was supposed to be oreos! But this dilemma was soon solved when his mother reached for the oreos.

“Well, I guess we can eat something unhealthy for breakfast, just this once, to celebrate how good Ryan is getting at pranks… It is a holiday after all!” His mom said.

“Yeah, he’s going to be a professional pranker when he grows up!” His sister replied, grinning.

His mother shook her head proudly, reaching for an oreo and taking a bite. Her face took a second to register. And then, her face morphed into a disgusted scowl. “Plah!” She spat it out. “Yuck!”

“APRIL FOOLS!” Ryan did another dance of victory. The entire family laughed.

“Hahaha, alright. How ‘bout this? I’ll give you a cake since you are so good at pranking.” His dad said.

“So will I!” Said his sister.

“Me too!” His mom smiled.

Wow! Pranking was totally worth it! Now he was getting cake! Soon, they all brought out their cakes. Chocolate cake, strawberry cake, and some mystery flavor. Yum! “I’ll try the mystery one first!” Ryan said excitedly.

“That one’s mine!” His sister said excitedly. Ryan stuck a fork into the cake. It was completely covered in frosting. But suddenly, the cake exploded! Water splashed everywhere! Emma just covered a water balloon in frosting! Ryan yelled out in surprise. “APRIL FOOLS!” Emma cackled.

Ugh. Of course she would prank me. Oh well, at least I have two other cakes. Ryan thought. “Yeah, yeah, ya got me.” He said hesitantly, “Now time for some real cake!” He took the next one. It was dad’s. He didn’t do the best job with icing. It was a good sized square. But Ryan learned his lesson. He was not going to use a fork. He took a huge bite, only to realize too late that it was a sponge! “April fools!” His dad chortled. He had just covered a sponge in icing! I can’t believe I fell for that one.

Ryan examined the last one carefully. It looked like a real cake. Ryan poked it. Felt like cake. He took a sniff. Smelled like cake. He tried to carefully lick it. Tasted like cake. He took a bite. Yum! He took a bigger bite. Double yum! Another bite. DELICIOUS! Ryan began to scarf it down. But suddenly a disgusting taste covered his mouth. “Ew! What is this?” He cried.

“I filled it with Mayo.” His mother smirked. “April fools!”

“Geez, yall got me!” He said. “I better go for a walk to come up with more ideas!”

He opened the door and stepped out. But he tripped! His whole family had deceived him with the old fishline trick! They all laughed. What a wonderful start to April Fools day!

Citations: https://mymodernmet.com/april-fools-day-history/