Free Nothin But Net by Matt Christopher

— the room shared by Brian Kelly and Mike Gruber. Tim and Billynodded to each other, and Billy slowly turned the knob. The door opened with only a few minor creaks. Good thing they’d oiled
     it earlier, before the other kids came back from the social.
    Tim put the bucket down at the side of Mike’s bed. Then Billy gently took Mike’s arm by the wrist and lowered his hand into
     the bucket of warm water. “Let’s go!” he mouthed, not making any sound.
    They left the room as quietly as they had come and didn’t bother to shut the door behind them. Again, they held their breath
     till they nearly turned blue as they mounted the steps and tiptoed back to their room. Safe in their beds, they went to sleep
     smiling, knowing what was bound to come at the first light of day.
    “AAARRRGH!”
    “What happened?”
    “What’s going on?”
    “Gruber wet the bed!”
    “What? No way!”
    “Yes way!”
    “Shut up, you jerks, it’s not funny!”
    “Sorry, Mike.”
    “Sorry, Mike … you really did it, huh?”
    “I said SHUT UP!”
    Billy and Tim lay in bed, laughing to split a gut, then got up and high fived each other. But they wiped the smiles off their
     faces when they heard multiple footsteps clunking up the stairs.
    “You two are history!” Mike screamed as he barged through the door. “I’m gonna take you apart!”
    “You’re not gonna do anything,” Jody said, grabbing Mike from behind and holding him in a bear hug. “You just calm down, Gruber.”
    “They stuck my hand in warm water!” he shouted, and Tim could see the tears of humiliation forming in Mike’s eyes. “I’m gonna
     make them pay!”
    “You’re gonna do nothing, you hear? You dish it out, you gotta be able to take it.” Jody spun Mike around and forced him to
     look him in the eye. “I want a promise from you right now, or you can go speak to Coach Gabe, okay?”
    Gruber snarled, but relaxed his body. The immediate threat, Tim could see, was over. Still, he knew Mike Gruber would remember
     who had given him his comeuppance. The battle was over — the war had just begun.

    The water trick was an old stunt Billy had read about in a book of practical jokes once. Tim was surprised the other kids
     hadn’t already tried it on the two of them but thought it sounded like a great trick to play on his enemy — even if it was
     kind of cruel.
    It turned out that with all the pranks that went on at Camp Wickasaukee, this one had never been tried on a camper over the
     age of ten before, let alone brought off successfully. Tim could understand why Mike was so upset — if it had been him, he
     would have been totally furious. It was even worse than kissing the whoopee cushion.
    Mike continued to be sullen all that day, through basketball clinic, swimming, and soccer. Tim and Billy, on the other hand,
     were having their best day yet at camp. All of a sudden, the other kids were treating them with warmth and friendliness. Tim
     guessed that he and Billy had earned their respect, not just for striking back, but for pulling off such a big prank on such
     an untouchably popular kid.
    Funny, though — the more slaps on the back they got about it, the more Tim felt guilty for sinking to their level. He was
     no longer angry — which was good, because last night, he’d been like a volcanoready to blow. But now that he was over it, Tim could see that he and Billy had started a feud that was going to last the
     rest of their four weeks here, and make it a totally miserable experience.
    By the second afternoon, Tim had made up his mind to apologize to Mike Gruber and to try and turn the page on everything that
     had happened. He told Billy about it during letter-writing period, an hour before supper.
    “Are you out of your gourd?” was Billy’s response. “You seriously think he’s gonna forgive you and want to be your best buddy
     from now on?”
    “All I want,” Tim responded, “is a truce.”
    “Yeah, well, good luck,” Billy