The Fun Prank That Went Totally Wrong

Cutter's Log - Stardate 3102.92.40
Current Song - Peg (Steely Dan)

Cleaning out my memory of things left stuck to the bottom, this particular day was labeled "do not share to anyone, ever."

This was a big mistake that I made when I was a freshman in high school. I am normally an "open book" kind of person when it comes to this Blog, but here is something that I have been very reluctant to share because it caused so much controversy. In addition, many questions were posed about my actions that day, as well as many rumors that are absolutely false.

I'm sharing it now because I hope to clear whatever negative rumors were associated with my actions that day. Much time has passed, and I feel that everyone will now understand it well as opposed to sharing it right away and be subject to more scrutiny.

It started as a fun joke, and turned into a security matter involving two high schools.

***

I had friends at both Sterling and Rock Falls. When I wasn't working with Sterling athletics, I was sometimes attending basketball games at RF with my friends there. Thus, I sat in the RF student section at times, stood up with the Rowdies and "booed those refs" whenever Seth Wade shouted for us to do that.

I had attended games quite a bit come softball time that some of the parents were joking around with me by saying, "Cody, we got an extra room at our place if you want to stay."

Then the transfer rumors began.

"You should just transfer here," some of my friends began to say.

There was really no way I was going to transfer, because it would involve quite a bit of paperwork and higher registration fees. I knew that, too. Plus, my parents were dead set on not letting this happen.

One thing led to another, and a practical joke was planned.

I had pulled pranks on my classmates in the past, most of the time being that "unthinkable one that did it" when something bad happened. A lot of those things went unsolved because they just didn't think I - someone sweet, innocent and perfefct - would do this. It should be noted that none of my pranks involved intentions of crime and violence, and everything I did was in good taste.

Just because I liked my RF friends a lot didn't mean that they weren't subject to my pranks and gags. At the height of those transfer rumors, I decided to play on it.

One morning I rode my bike to RFHS, set my bike down on the front lawn and went inside through the SW door. I had my bookbag on my back and all. I just started walking until I found someone I knew. I made my way up to the science wing where a bunch of my friends were.

"Hi! Yeah, I'm here! It's a honor ..."
"I'm living with my grandma ..."
"It's good to be back in Rock Falls ..."
"I won't be able to see you at lunch, I'm meeting Mr. Gemeny. A little "welcome" talk I guess."
"Yes it's May, I know ..."

The shock was real.

But I had to play this real well and improvise some of the questions asked to me. That involved knowing about eight hours at RFHS compared to seven at SHS, and knowledge of who the teachers were and what they taught: "I have Mr. Kusnerick first hour ... and then finally I have Mr. McCord eighth hour." And then asking how "cool" the teachers were. This also including knowing the difference between Algebra 1A and 1B, which was not the case at SHS.

In order for the gag to work out successfully, I couldn't be spotted by the adults that knew who I was (there were only three). I had to carefully make my way down the second-floor hallway, reaching the English wing where some of my sophomore friends were at.

"Well, gotta run, I got Coach K first hour ..."

So I made my way down the stairs to the social studies wing and bumped into a few more of my friends near his classroom. Only this time, I had to find another "class" for first hour. I believe I said I have Coach Denny for first hour, and couldn't find the room.

With class time ticking nearer, I approached my exit. If I didn't make the exit at the right time, the prank would have gone terribly wrong. My backup plan was hiding in the restroom for an entire class period. I would have been "skipping school". But I went back to the front lawn, hopped on my bike, and sped across 12th Avenue into Sterling.

I guess the hot rumor that day was that Cody Cutter had finally transferred. However, I think they got a little concerned when they didn't see me in the halls the rest of the school day.

The joke had to come to an end at some point. The next day, the sophomore girls had a home game at Optimist Park. When I parked my bike at the speed limit sign (as was the norm), I was greeted by a bunch of surprised girls that loudly asked if I had really transfered to RFHS. That's when I told them that, no, it was all a big joke. But quickly I remarked that I wouldn't rule it out (wink, wink).

Over the next few days, I guess a huge security issue was addressed. Remember, this is a high school - only a couple of years after Columbine and just months after 9/11. None of which entered my mind during all of this.

SHS's school police officer pulled me out of my 6th hour smart-people math class. This came as a shock to the rest of the kids in my class, as well as the teacher, because I had always been known as a good kid.

We walked down to his office and sat down.

"I've been talking with Officer Doane ..."

And that's when it all came crashing down.

I had to explain the whole gag, and the fact that why I did it was because I love my friends very much. It was all in good fun. I don't remember much about this conversation, other than talking on the phone with Officer Doane at the same time. He told me something about, "well, if you want to visit, you sign in at the office and they'll give you a visitor's pass," or something like that.

Nevertheless, both school administrations knew of the matter, as well as my parents.

I was grounded for two weeks and couldn't go to any softball games.

All these years I had thought someone had tipped me off, but I knew that the whole "joke" was one that couldn't be well-maintained. I didn't factor in the rumors that went on the rest of that school day. I always thought that someone had made a big deal about it, and some teacher had overheard.

All I got for this was a warning.

However, I rarely ever played practical jokes and gags after that.

The only times I really go back into my "gag bag" is April Fools' Day. This is because, as me and my friends get older, we think of April 1st as just "April 1" and not AFD.

My best gags since then were my 2011 and 2012 AFD jokes.

2011 - During a time when I was struggling to make ends meet, I played a joke that I was shutting down Northern Illinois Sports Beat. This was believeable because everyone knew I was struggling to maintain the website for some time. I changed the homepage and everything. One of my writing contributors saw this and nearly had a heart attack.

2012 - On Facebook, I wrote that I had moved to Newark. Many friends believed that because I was on the verge of moving out of my parent's house at any time, and I had spent a lot of time in the Newark/Sandwich/Plano area covering some sports.

My 2013 AFD joke backfired. I told all of my friends that I was leaving Shell and was giving away cash, food and a new car. The "cash" was 11 cents, the "food" was a stick of gum, and the "new car" was a little Hot Wheels car. After I found out that people have actually been sued for these things, I pulled it. However, one of my friends bought into it. She saw me at work the following night and thought that my "last night" was the night before, and really thought I was giving away "my car." I told her about how I had planned to go to Walgreens to buy the car, to which she replied "Walgreens doesn't sell cars." That's when she got it.

I believe in order to make a practical joke feel genuine, you have to poke fun at yourself a little bit. However, there is a line that can't be crossed before too many people take you too seriously. The past three years involved me struggling with my website, looking to move away, and leaving my job.

It's all in good fun. I think I enjoy it a little more now that I know where that line is that can't be crossed.

I surely crossed it when I was a freshman.

I will close by issuing my apology to Mr. Wolfe, Mr. Gemeny, Mr. Akers, Officer Doane at RFHS, as well as Mr. Binder, Mr. Beswick, Officer Mohr at SHS, and others for my actions that day. I know it's long overdue.