Emily Braithwaite

This is the second part of a series of stories based upon some wind-ups I have pulled on friends and colleagues over the years. There are many more out there but this one is one of my favourites.

Rossy had still not returned to work. I was still getting over the farce that occurred with the blind date we went on with the girls he met on Yahoo. It was payback time.

And payback was a bitch.

I only intended to do the wind-up on my friend for one night but it snowballed into one of the funniest and elaborate scams I have ever pulled off.

I registered a feminine looking nickname in Yahoo and joined the Cardiff room knowing that he was going to be in there. It didn't take long for him to be drawn to me because of the things I was saying in the main room.

We began chatting and then I decided to log off because I was laughing too hard and couldn't concentrate.

The next day we started talking again. This time, I was ready to give a little more information about my character. Information I knew would lead him to his friend. Me.

Emily told him that she studied at the same university that we went to. She also told him that she which school she went to. I purposely told him that it was the school I went to.

As soon as I mentioned which school I used to attend I ran downstairs knowing what was going to happen next. My phone rang and he asked me if I knew of a girl who was two years younger than me called Emily Braithwaite. I motioned to my sister miming the words 'say yes,' to her.

'No, I haven't heard of that name. But my sister may know her.' I answered. I then made sure he heard me ask her and get the response I wanted.

Hook, line and sinker.

The next day I scanned a photograph of when I went to London after winning a competition to meet the stars of World Championship Wrestling. I cut out the image of myself with a Nitro Gitl and sent it to him saying that it was the most recent picture. He asked who was edited from the image and I couldn't resist. I told him it was an ex-boyfriend who 'shall remain nameless.'

At this point I was on the phone to my other friend, Paul. We were both laughing hard but nothing was as funny as the time Rossy returned to work.

A few of us were sitting at a table waiting to start our shift and he started telling us about Emily. He started bragging about things that she said to him. I sat there listening knowing that eighty percent of what Emily had told him was exaggerated heavily and it was hard to keep a straight face.

I started growing tired of the act after a fortnight and finally came clean. He laughed it off admitting he was had. He vowed to get revenge somewhere along the line. It's been six years since and the act still hasn't been avenged.

Yet.