Nemesis: Chapter 12

Mia was horrified when she heard from her sister what had happened at the lake. Rosie had thought that she had better tell her sister quickly, before Jessica had the chance to tell Mia her version of events. Sure enough, both girls blamed the other. Jessica had been pretty mean, but surely Rosie had taken it one step too far. Mia didn't want to lose Jessica as a friend, but what if the two rivals asked her to choose between them. What could she do? Mia demanded that Rosie apologise to Jessica. There were plenty of witnesses, what if one them recognised Rosie and told the hospital, her job could be on the line. Rosie hadn't thought about that eventuality and gulped, she would have to beg for Jessica's forgiveness after all. She hated diplomacy.

Mike was equally worried on his girlfriend's behalf. He admitted that he was turned on by the girl fight and to be fair, Jessica had started it. Plus, she had tried to rip Rosie's clothes off first, it's just that she had failed, whereas Rosie hadn't. Just then, Carl, Mike's Jamaican housemate knocked on his bedroom door. Carl, twenty-three, stood at six foot two and proudly displayed his large biceps wherever he went. "Our little project has finally finished. We just need to test that it works. Fancy inviting Rosie round tomorrow by any chance?" Carl declared. "Oh, I've got a better idea", Mike replied.

Later that evening, Jessica received a phone call from Mia. Mia wanted to patch things up between the two people closest to her in all the world. She said that she had persuaded Rosie to apologise, she really was contrite and was willing to make up for humiliating her. Mia also wanted Jessica to apologise in turn to both Rosie and Mike for sabotaging their date and to promise not to report what happened to the hospital. It hadn't crossed Jessica's mind to get Rosie sacked, but she knew that if she did so, Mia would hate her forever. She didn't tell Mia this of course, holding this back as a bargaining chip to her advantage. Mia asked if Jessica would be willing to come over to Mike's house as they would be having a barbecue tomorrow afternoon. Lavender, Mike's housemate Carl and Mike's younger brother Luke were also going. Georgia however wouldn't be able to make it, as she was unable to get time off work. "Oh, if that's the case, I'll be over at noon, on one condition." Jessica replied. "Which is" asked Mia. "Don't worry about it, I'll get Lavender to help me sort it out."

The next day, Jessica slipped on a light green crop top and grommet skirt and popped over to Lavender's. Jessica wanted to give Rosie a thorough gunging. Once she apologised and accepted her messy fate, then they would be equal. Rather conveniently (though Jessica didn't realise this at the time) Lavender had already made a few buckets of gunge and pies the night before. Lavender seemed all too happy to help Jessica, maybe Rosie had been a bitch to her too.

Upon arriving at Mike's, Mia greeted Jessica at the door. Mia was dressed in a loose pink tank top and white mini skirt. Boy did she look adorable. Rosie, like Lavender, was wearing an A-line skirt and t-shirt. Jessica walked up to the boys who were manning the barbecue. Twirling her hair, she tried to flirt with Carl. Mike introduced the pair. "This is my housemate Carl, he's a trainee carpenter. By the way, I am so sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean for it to get out of hand. I can't apologise enough for not helping. I should have done." "Don't worry Mike, I forgive you", Jessica teased, flashing a smile and flaunting her curves. "This is my brother Luke" Mike continued, dragging his blonde brother's attention away from the barbecue that he was crouched over. Jessica gulped, wasn't he one of the boys that she saw perve on her yesterday? She could tell from his smirk and the glowing glint in his eye that yes, he was. "Why hello, nice to meet you Jessica", he beamed, hardly able to hide his excitement. Two years younger than his brother, Luke was also an inch shorter and lacked the rugged jaw line that made Mike so achingly handsome. Like Mia with Rosie, Luke always lived in the shadow of his far more successful sibling. But unlike Mia, he hid his jealousy well.

Mia dragged her sister over to the barbecue. "Rosie has something that she would like to say to you" she began. "Don't worry, everybody here already knows what happened. "Oh Erm I'm sorry for ripping your clothes off and leaving you nude at the lake Jess" Rosie stammered. "I mean, you did try to do it first and you deserved it," she continued before Mia gave her a kick. "But no seriously, I was way out of line, please don't tell the hospital, for Mike's sake as well as mine, we could both be fired. Do you forgive me?" This grovelling apology was music to Jessica's ears. "Well sure, but there's something I'd like you to do for me first" she began before Mia cut in. "Jessica, I think you should apologise to Rosie too for trying to ruin her date with Mike in the first place." Jessica gritted her teeth. I'm sorry Rosie, but I really didn't do anything different to what you did to Mia at Lavender's a few weeks ago." Rosie had to admit that she had a point. Rosie began to feel sympathy towards the redhead for the first time.

"Now in order for us to be equal, I want you to let me gunge you", demanded Jessica. Rosie had known all along that this was likely to happen, her fears had been piqued when she saw Lavender make a few mysterious trips back to her car. She had hoped that her own best friend wouldn't be in on it to. "Remember I only tried to pie you with the cheesecake because you tried to do it to me first." Jessica added, having started to speak in growing confidence. Having had a moment to think, Rosie retaliated. "Hang on a minute, you helped get me messy three times, how is it my turn to get gunged again?" "Do you want me to report you or what?" Jessica shrieked back. At that moment Lavender returned to the garden having transported all the messy buckets and tins from the back of her car. Carl turned to look and gave Lavender a knowing wink. He sure was enjoying where this argument was heading. Luke tried to look all serious, to hide his own excitement. He had let his brother know that he wasn't going to tell anyone about the role that he had played in the incident, on the proviso that he was invited here today. Mike clearly had got off lightly, for he was probably going to invite his brother anyway. His girlfriend didn't appear to be as lucky however.

Running out of options, Rosie suddenly had a brainwave. "Why don't we let Mia decide who should get gunged? Whoever she thinks was at fault should get the slime." Backed into a corner, Jessica reluctantly agreed. "Mia, remember all I did was pie her, whereas she tore all my clothes off." Not to be outdone, Rosie fought back. "Jessica humiliated you last week and tried to do the same to me yesterday. She's no great shakes as a friend. Remember, I'm your sister." Mia was torn, how could she decide? Whoever she chose to be gunged wouldn't talk to her for months. She might lose Jessica as a friend forever, whereas surely Rosie might one day forgive her. But then again, if she upset Rosie, she would refuse to do the TV show with her and then how would they raise the money for the hospital?

Lavender sensed that her friend was in trouble. Whoever she chose, it wouldn't end well. So, the curly brunette spoke up. "Rosie, Jessica, stop fighting, can't you see that Mia can't choose between you. You've brought this upon yourselves, now grow up. In order to solve this argument, there's only one person who can get gunged." Rosie and Jessica looked at Lavender blankly, was she offering to take their place? They sincerely hoped not.

Following a dramatic pause, Lavender continued. "Mia sit down on the stool, I'll gunge you myself." Rosie and Jessica stood in shock. They realised that Mia could never have chosen between them. If she had chosen to gunge both of them then the two of them would have both still been offended. But now they had to share the burden of the blame. Mia would have to sacrifice herself to save her two closest relationships.

A lightbulb similarly flickered in Mia's head. She mouthed "Thank you", at Lavender, removed her sandals and sat down. She hadn't planned to get gunged, her miniskirt was brand new, but this would get her out of a tricky situation. Plus, she quite liked being slimed now anyway. Lavender picked up a bucket of purple gunge and slowly tipped it over Mia's head. This was the first time that Carl had ever seen anyone get gunged, he guffawed loudly at the sight of the purple slime dripping down onto Mia's chest. Luke, when younger, had shared his brother's fascination with gunge. He wondered if Rosie yet knew his brother's secret. He appreciated how Lavender slowly tipped the bucket so as to ensure maximum coverage of Mia's entire face. A second bucket of thick yellow gunge was similarly deposited over Mia. She looked like a giant slab of melted cheese. Mia milked everyone's sympathy for as much as it was worth, though she wasn't really feeling sorry for herself at all. With piercing eyes, Mia stared directly at Rosie and then Jessica who shrank back in embarrassment. The two girls apologised to each other and even managed a brief uncomfortable hug. They were glad that Mia seemed to be enjoying herself.

Lavender picked up a pie and slammed it on top of Mia's head. The cream ran down over the top of her ears. Carl thought that Lavender was acting rather violently and was confused as to why no one else seemed concerned. Clearly, they were all crazy. A second pie was slammed into her chest, which Lavender massaged into the teenager's cleavage. Cheekily grinning, Lavender sauntered over to Mia and devoured her pretty face in a pie sandwich. To Luke's great delight, Lavender pulled Mia's tank top away from her chest and tipped half a bucket of red gunge down her cleavage. The teenager didn't even try to hide the fact that he was looking. Momentarily forgetting that boys were present, Lavender asked Mia to stand up. She lifted up the back of Mia's skirt, exposing the back of her lingerie. Clowning around, pretending not to know what to do with the pie, Lavender surprised Mia by impetuously tickling her exposed hip, causing her to wiggle, before pieing her on her behind. Sadly, for Mia, her skimpy underwear did not offer her much protection.

As she poured the remainder of the red gunge down the back of Mia's legs Lavender suddenly remembered that Mike, Luke and Carl were watching. She whispered "sorry", to Mia, folded her skirt back down and patting her on the bum. Thinking that her gunging was finished, Mia tried to make her escape. But Lavender caught hold of the strap of her tank top and wheeled her around, so that she had to sit down again. Lavender then asked Carl whether he would help her lift the final two buckets, for they were rather heavy. "I couldn't decide whether to bring tapioca or semolina pudding, so I brought both." Mia flinched; even Luke began to feel sorry for her. But Mia gritted her teeth and accepted her fate.

With Lavender's expert hand, she guided Carl to pour incredibly carefully and slowly so that he would cover Mia's entire body. The tapioca seeped into the teen's tank top and clung to her bosom. Lavender licked the brunette's nose before directing Carl to move to the front. She asked him to pour the semolina directly over Mia's face so that it would slowly flow down onto her bare shoulders. Carl lost control of the bucket and ended up chucking half of its contents at Mia from barely eight inches. Carl directed the remaining pudding at Mia's svelte legs before apologising for his clumsiness. "That's alright Carl", Mia sputtered, before trying to spit out semolina that she'd accidentally swallowed, "You're a wam virgin, look you've even spilt some it down your own top too. If anyone should be apologising it's those two", Mia continued before pointing towards Jessica and Rosie. By now, the two no longer felt too sorry for the poor girl as they were having too good a time laughing at her expense to care.

Mia's penance was finally complete. Lavender got the garden hose out and hosed Mia down. The tapioca and semolina were particularly difficult to wash out of her hair. She opened up the top of Mia's tank top to wash clean her chest, giving the ecstatic Luke a second peak at her womanly assets. Checking with Mia for permission first, Lavender delicately lifted up the back of Mia's skirt and squirted her behind with the cold water. Mia jumped in shock before smoothing what was left of her skirt down. Mia abruptly realised that she was in a pickle. Not expecting to be gunged, she hadn't brought any spare clothes. The barbecue was being hosted at Mike and Carl's. Rosie had yet to stay the night, so they had no women's clothing lying around. In terms of men's clothes, they had nothing that remotely fitted her, she would have to remain in her stained clothes all afternoon. Fortunately, it was a baking hot day, she would soon be dry. She picked at the tapioca still in her hair, she couldn't wait to have a shower when she got home.

Luke and Mike returned to manning the barbecue whilst a laughing Carl helped Lavender to clean up. Sliming someone was more fun than he had ever imagined, it was just a shame that he would have to change his top. Popping back into the house, he slipped on his favourite basketball shirt and brought out the fruit punch. Shaken and gradually starting to get rather tipsy, Rosie and Jessica appeared to have made up. They laughed and joked together as they ate the barbecue, delicately avoiding talking about the events the day before.

Lavender left Carl to talk to Mia. Once again, she apologised profusely for lifting up her skirt. She should have taken fewer liberties in front of all the guys. By now, Mia was mostly dry from the gunge, she tried to flick tapioca at her friend but only resulted in landing it in the fruit trifle. Sensing an opportunity, Jessica began to flirt with Carl. This annoyed Lavender immensely, who thought that she had made her own intentions clear first. Jessica was trying to avoid Luke as much as possible, which was quite difficult as he kept trying to sit next to her. Still, at least he was trying, Carl on the other hand seemed to be playing hard to get. Of course, all Carl really wanted to do was to return to his engrossing conversation with Lavender, but she seemed too fussing over Mia to notice.

Absent-mindedly, Carl asked Jessica to pass him the ketchup. Showing off to the hot Jamaican, Jessica shook the bottle and aimed it at his frankfurter. Unfortunately, she missed, badly, squirting it all down the front of his basketball shirt. "Ah man, yellow is the worst colour to get stains out of" he cried. "It's my favourite top too. But hey, at least this gives me an excuse to try our little project out for the first time." The four girls, intrigued, began to listen intently.

"I don't know if Mike has told you this Rosie, but before he met you, as a boy both he and Luke used to watch all the gunge gameshows on TV. It was fate that brought the two of you together. None of us had any idea that you girls had also developed an interest in gunge" Carl continued as he pointed to the lovers. "Except of course, you lot seem to act out your desires, whereas I've never seen Mike try to gunge anyone before. Boy on boy action just doesn't seem to cut it", Carl mocked. Rosie was taken aback, she had never thought Mike as the type of person to have an interest in gunge. For a start, he had never mentioned it to her. What else didn't she know about her boyfriend? Plus, why would he hide his fascination? Was he embarrassed about it? If he was, should he be? Mike began to look embarrassed. His cheeks went red as he limply smiled at Rosie, squeezing her hand. Carl meanwhile, continued "As a carpenter, I'm interested in making all sorts of structures. As a dare one day, Mike bet that I couldn't build him a gunge tank." Mia raised a smile for the first time since her gunging, someone else was about to get really messy.

"All afternoon, I've hidden the tank under a tarpaulin behind the wax myrtle at the back. Yesterday, I asked Lavender to make me a few buckets of gunge, hence why she already had some leftover gunge to use on Mia today. Now Mike, owes me quite a few beers, I have no intention of testing my machine out on a man. I'm a full-blooded male after all. I've been wondering who to test my contraption out on all afternoon..." A hush fell on the group, who was he going to suggest? "From what I've heard, Jessica did more than her fair share of messing yesterday and she's got ketchup all over my favourite shirt this afternoon, so in my view Jessica should receive the honour of being my first victim."

Rosie screamed in delight. Luke smirked. Mia flashed a wicked smile at Jessica who simply shook her head. There was no escaping the gunge this time, no real excuses for why she should remain clean. If you conspire to gunge someone, you have to be willing to be gunged in return. She slipped off her sandals and stepped inside the gunge tank. "How many buckets of gunge are left?" She enquired. "Eight", snickered Lavender. Jessica shuddered. "I think that Mia should have the honours of pulling the lever" added Carl. Mike helped load the first bucket into the top of the tank and Rosie, Luke and Lavender crowded round in anticipation. Mia removed her sandals in case any gunge splashed upon then and got into position.

Mia pulled down on the lever. Red gunge rained down on her friend. To her credit, Jessica didn't try to get out of the way of the gunge, but neither did she look up. The gunge rained down onto her shoulders and into her crop top. Jessica blew a few kisses to Lavender's camera, who was busy snapping away. Carl meanwhile had fetched a camcorder to record the whole thing. Mike reloaded the tank. Mia looked at Jessica sweetly and formed a heart shape with her hands. She then pulled down on the chain sending blue gunge down upon her victim. This time Jessica did look up and caught a face full of slime. The redhead shrieked and adjusted her top to stop it falling down. She avoided looking at Luke as she did so. Her top secure, Jessica pouted and posed for the camera. Mia pulled the lever for a third time. Yellow gunge hit Jessica in the chest. The teenager lost her balance and left her midriff at the mercy of the torrent of slime. Jessica, sitting in the pool of gunge at the bottom of the tank playfully splashed around.

Mike refilled the tank with green gunge. Lavender stopped Mia from pulling on the chord. "Mia, there's a few pies leftover, I think that Jessica's cute face deserves a plastering." "My pleasure", Mia replied. She picked up the pie and opened the front of the tank. Gunge oozed over her toes. She leant in to pie Jessica but with her friend still sitting down couldn't quite reach. She took a step forward when suddenly Jessica stood up and stole the pie from her grasp. Before Mia knew what was happening, Jessica nailed her in the face. Her vision obscured, Mia was helpless to prevent Jessica from dragging her into the tank. Jessica held Mia into place and Luke raced over to pull the lever. Green gunge flowed down on the unsuspecting Mia, who with her hands held by her side, couldn't even wipe the gunge from her eyes.

Eventually the flow of the gunge eased. Mia turned around and kissed Jessica on the cheek. The girls embraced as Mike filled up the tank once more. Lavender tried to hand Mia another pie, but once more Jessica stole it from her grasp. She gently eased it into her best friend's face. Shocked, Mia was slow to react as Jessica lifted Mia's tank top off above her head. The redhead threw the top out of the tank and laughed. Accidentally, she had thrown it to the top of the wax myrtle. Having regained her composure, Mia retaliated. She took hold of Jessica by the waist and removed her crop top. Similarly, she threw the top out of the gunge tank, but this time away from the shrubbery.

Mia turned around and embraced her friend. Wrapping her arms around Jessica's shoulders she whispered "Let's never fall out again." Mia buried her face into Jessica's shoulders. Jessica shot Luke a look and smiled. Perhaps he wasn't such a creep after all. He didn't look all too dissimilar to Mike, a good thing, and seemed to really like her. With Mia lost in the moment, Jessica acted on her basest impulse and swiftly moved Mia's miniskirt down her legs. Mia kicked them off and allowed Jessica to (purposely) throw her skirt to the top of wax myrtle once again. Jessica stepped to the back of the tank as Mia motioned to remover her friend's skirt in return. But before she could do so, Mia was nailed by a deluge of orange gunge that Luke released into the tank. Slime flowed down her exposed stomach and seeped into the top of her lingerie. Mia had taken the brunt of the slime yet again, she was now almost as messy as her best friend. Carl meanwhile was marvelling at the sturdiness of his craftwork. He had expected it to collapse or topple over under the weight of all the gunge. He hoped his good luck would continue. Still, if he wasn't converted to liking gunge before, he certainly was now.

Mike tipped a bucket of blue gunge into the top of the tank. Almost forgetting himself, he looked to see whether Rosie was watching before checking out her sister. Stripped to her underwear, she was far prettier than he had realised. He wondered whether Rosie was this kinky. Mia rather gave up on the idea that Jessica was the one who was supposed to be getting messy. Luke and Jessica seemed to be ganging up on her.

Discretely, Jessica pulled on the back of Mia's knickers exposing the top of her crack. Standing at the side, Luke was the only one who could see what Jessica was up to. Mia blushed as she saw Luke check her out and mouthed to him that she'd get her revenge on him some day. She'd been naked in front of boys before and though she didn't know Luke and Carl that well, they didn't scare or threaten her. Luke pulled on the lever once again and Mia was engulfed in the blue gunge. Just like before, Jessica received just a small smattering of slime as she leant out of the way, her bare chest hiding the extent of her clothed gunging just five minutes before. Jessica ensured that the gunge seeped into Mia's knickers before letting go. Mia flinched as the material slapped against her bare skin.

With Mike distracted, Luke filled up the tank with grey gunge. Quite clearly, Jessica sensed that she had proved a hit with the teen. Perhaps she would get lucky this weekend after all. Mia tried to move to the back of the tank to force Jessica to take the next deluge of gunge. Sadly, she chose the exact moment that Lavender lent in with two chocolate filled pies to do so. Jessica, pushed to the front and stared viciously at Luke as if warning him not to pull the lever. She then took hold of both pies and gave Mia a pie sandwich. Mia gave her friend a long hug who in return licked pie off her nose. Jessica fiddled with the back of Mia's bra before whispering to her "You know that I would never do anything intentionally to hurt you don't you? Do you forgive me." "Of course, I forgive you Jessica, we'll always be best friends no matter what" Mia replied. "Good" Jessica continued, still whispering. "I want you to help me teach Rosie a lesson. Will you help me." "Absolutely, what would you like me to do?" Mia asked. Jessica continued to whisper to Mia, who paused briefly, before beginning to giggle. "Do you know what? I'm in. Let's do it." Mia whispered after a short delay.

Jessica subtly nudged her way around the edge of the tank so that she was once again standing behind her friend. Grabbing everyone's attention she then began to address her audience, focusing on Rosie in particular. "I'm not going to report you to the hospital Rosie, in truth I would never go that far. But I've still not properly forgiven you for stripping me naked. I thought about trying to humiliate you today, by getting you to strip, grovel and beg me for mercy. But then, you'd want to retaliate and our vicious, spiteful disagreement would spiral out of control. I need to show you that it's not okay to just strip someone in public, in front of dozens of people that you don't know. Yet I want to put an end to this argument right here, right now. If I was to take your top off now, you'd never learn. You need to learn that your actions have consequences. These consequences may not affect you directly, but instead, they can hit the people that you love."

The crowd listened intently. Lavender shot Rosie a bemused look. Suddenly, Jessica slapped Mia on the back. Mia stumbled forward and their audience watched in horror as her bra fell to the floor. Wearing nothing but her knickers, the topless brunette shrieked before flailing her arms around in order to cover her breasts. Just as Rosie prepared to give Jessica a piece of her mind, Mia giggled and gave Jessica a peck on the cheek. "Don't worry guys, Jess asked me whether I would consent!"

Rosie realised that this had been Jessica's plan all along. The redhead had made her feel responsible for her younger sister's humiliation. If she hadn't stripped Jessica, Mia wouldn't have gone topless in return. Still, she couldn't believe that her sister would agree to this, in front of three men that she barely knew. Was this shift in her sister's character a change for the better? Mia, less shy, happier and more outgoing than before, clearly seemed to think so. Mia folded her arms across her chest, only Luke, remaining standing to the side could still see anything. The tension in the air suddenly lifted. Rosie had learnt her lesson. Lavender was initially outraged at Jessica for humiliating Mia in front of their friends, but then realised that she had done the same, to Mia in the shower, less than a month ago. The curly brunette moved over to the side of the gunge tank. "Well I applaud Mia for becoming such an exhibitionist, but I think it's best if we help her cover up a bit", Lavender announced. With that she pulled the lever sending a deluge of thick grey gunge onto the topless brunette. Once again, Jessica escaped most of the slime, whereas Mia's modesty was at least now partially covered. "Much better", Lavender laughed.

"Hmm, I'm still not sure", snickered Jessica. "Luke, do we still have any custard left?" Luke swiftly took his cue and poured three unopened packets of custard into the gunge tank. As Mia discretely tried to scratch her nose without betraying her modesty, Jessica took the opportunity to throw her friend's bra out of arm's reach. Luke pulled on the lever one final time. The custard covered every last inch of Mia's almost naked body. Mia bent down and looked for her bra. Unable to find it she splashed the pool of gunge at Jessica's legs. In retaliation, Jessica kicked the gunge at Mia's face. The brunette was now by far messier than her friend, surely this hadn't been Carl's intention?

Carl meanwhile had been watching intently. A girl he barely knew had just stripped topless in front of him. This was all rather new to him, all rather awkward. "Gee guys", he began, I need to host barbecues more often! Still, I've got ketchup all over my shirt, I should go and change." In a show of solidarity with Mia he removed his shirt and threw it to the floor. Lavender couldn't help but marvel at his rippling muscles. "Do you know what, I think I've got ketchup on my shorts too", he continued before stripping to his boxers. Lavender felt a hot flush and blushed. "Gosh, I've got gunge on my clothes too", announced Luke who likewise stripped to his underwear. Jessica looked him over. He didn't have Carl's muscles but for a lad his age he wasn't too bad. Still, he could work out more.

Mike meanwhile quickly picked up Luke's shorts and rubbed it against his own shirt. Now he also had an excuse to strip bare. Rosie tried to stop him but he insisted on joining in the show of support.

Like Mia, the three men were now wearing nothing but their underwear. Mia felt touched that they were trying to make her feel more comfortable, trying to deflect the embarrassment onto themselves. Mia realised that the guys were showing that they liked her, that they respected her and that they cared. Rosie, sensing where this was going asked Mike to help her retrieve Mia's clothes from the top of the wax myrtle. She wasn't going to strip to her underwear if she could help it. Mia turned around and removed Jessica's skirt. Cheekily she submerged it into the gunge pooled at the bottom of the tank before throwing it to safety.

All eyes now turned to Lavender. "Well I'm pretty clean myself", she sputtered. "I've got no need to remove any of my clothes." "No, you're not" boasted Carl as he grabbed the bottle of ketchup and squirted it all over Lavender's t-shirt. Luke meanwhile picked up a large jug of fruit punch and upturned it over her head. Cursing, she removed her top. As she lifted her t-shirt over her head she was surprise by Carl with a pie to the face. "Well I'm not removing my nose," she joked. This wasn't quite the level of attention that she planned on receiving from Carl, but hey it was better than being ignored.

Looking down from the top of the tree, Rosie realised that she was the only one still wearing all of her clothes. She begged Mike to go and fetch her the hosepipe, before she descended the tree. No one would dare ask her to strip if she could spray them with cold water. "I think I've found your bra", beamed Lavender to Mia. Glad, Mia turned around. Instead, Lavender slammed a lemon meringue pie into her chest. Without realising, all the boys turned to look. Rosie shot Mike a dirty look. Highly embarrassed, Mia started to plot her revenge. Jessica meanwhile scooped up the meringue which had fallen to the floor and splatted it on top of Mia's sticky head.

Luke was the one who finally found Mia's bra. He handed it to Jessica who helped her put it back on. Rosie then pointed the hose at the gunge tank and washed the two friends clean. With their hair soaked and clinging to their skin, the girls embraced one final time. As Mia exited the tank, Jessica gave her a gentle pat on the bum. Jessica soon followed her friend out and began to look for her own clothes.

Mia, still in nothing but her underwear, turned to her curly haired friend. "Lavender, at the start you said that there were eight buckets of gunge. To my count, we've only used seven. You know what, I've never really thanked you properly for getting me out of that fix earlier. I feel that I should repay you somehow." With that, she picked up the trifle from a nearby table and overturned it over her friend's head. Cream, custard and jelly stuck to Lavender's already sticky hair and dribbled down onto her chest. "In fact, you conspired with Carl to gunge Jessica and with Jessica to gunge Rosie, before finally deciding to gunge me. I think that we should all get our revenge, don't you?

Mia picked up a jug of custard and poured it over Lavender's head. Jessica gave Lavender a pie sandwich with the last of the cream pies before ushering the poor girl to the gunge tank and locking her in. Mike filled the tank with the final bucket of pink gunge. Jessica took great pleasure in pulling the lever and destroying the girl who had dared to double cross her. Still topless, Lavender slicked back her hair. "Sorry guys, it looks like you're all out of gunge. Would you let me out now?" "We would" Mia replied, but we have to clean up the barbecue first." "There's just one problem", Carl pointed out. "Yesterday was bin day, what are we going to do with all the leftover food?" Simultaneously they all looked over at the top of the gunge tank and laughed.

Working together, they collected up all the remaining food. Handing every item to Mike to tip into the gunge tank they ensured that not one single drop was wasted. In first went in all the uneaten salad and whole bottles of salad dressing and mayonnaise that nobody had even touched. Potato salad, Branston pickle, cottage cheese and mayonnaise soon followed. Mia released the disgusting mess all over her friend. Lavender cried out in disgust as the concoction of leftovers hit her. Winching, she tried to scoop out the cottage cheese that had oozed into her bra.

In next went the remaining bottles of tomato ketchup, mustard and brown sauce. Mike had clearly bought far too much food. Just how many people did he think he was inviting? Fried onion, baked beans and horseradish sauce followed next. Jessica insisted on pulling the lever this time, rejoicing as her friend received her just deserves. Lavender simply shuck her head as her face became engulfed in the baked beans and the mustard ran down her back. This wasn't how her day was supposed to pan out.

The remaining trifle, the fruit salad and cheese cake went in next along with the left-over jugs of custard, cream and the chocolate sauce. Carl ensured that he got a turn at pulling the lever and blew a kiss at the pretty brunette as he subjected her to her messy humiliation. Lavender just stood and accepted her fate as chunks of pineapple lodged into her hair. Finally, the left-over sangria, fruit punch, lemonade and orange juice were poured into the top. Mike decided to that it was his turn. He ensured that the final deluge lasted longer than every other gunging that day. Lavender had learnt never to double cross her friends again.

The group laughed at Lavender's expense. Despite a few hiccups, everyone had, by the end, had had a great time. Rosie aimed the garden hose at her best friend, aiming deliberately at her chest. As she sprayed her with water she began to think to herself. She and Jessica would never be the greatest of friends, but they were both part of the greatest social group she had never known. Though they may never forget the events of yesterday, they could soon forgive each other. Though they were both completely different, the two of them had one thing in common, Mia. More specifically, they both loved her. Furthermore, they loved thoroughly gunging the pretty brunette and adored pieing her in the face. Perhaps if they could finally work together for once, they could put aside their differences and give the girl the greatest gunging of all time. In the meantime, thought Rosie, wasn't it strange how she had arrived at the barbecue expecting to be the one both humiliated and gunged. Instead, as the afternoon drew to a close, not only was she the only girl not to get gunged, but she seemed to be the only person, boys included, still wearing any clothes. Truly it's funny how things turn out sometimes, actions do have consequences after all.