The Monopoly Board

Be prepared. What you are about to read is considered the stuff of legend among the squad. Prepare for a tale of true love, heartbreak, betrayal, and heroism. This is a story for the ages. This is the story of the Monopoly Board.

Origins
The Monopoly Board saga began long ago, sometime in the year 2009. The tradition of having birthday "gatherings" was just beginning. Alex, Brandon, Nathan, and Robert were all at Nathan's house to celebrate his birthday and the choice of games was much more limited in those days. The games mainly included Halo, Roblox, and Monopoly. Nathan and Robert had already known each other for a few years by then, so the hijinks were expected between them (Note: The Turning of the Kinect also occurred on the same day).

Chapter 1: Betrayal
The next day, after many hours of caffeine-fueled gaming and general stupidity, the squad eventually left Nathan's house. However, not everything had left Nathan's house. Something wasn't right in Robert's world. Robert soon realized that he had somehow left the biggest and most important piece to a board game at Nathan's house. The board. (How this managed to happen still boggles the minds of the squad). This was before the barrage of jokes and stories that came to form this very encyclopedia, so one could say that the squad was more "innocent" back in those days. So, like any other person, Robert asked Nathan about bringing the board back or about leaving it somewhere where he would remember during the next visit. However, the board would not see its owner for a few months due to school and Nathan forgetting about it a couple of times (since Nathan would more commonly visit Robert's house). Something happened in those few months (probably just middle school in general) that sparked a sense of evil or trickery in Nathan that would make him not return it whenever he he visited Robert's house, which continued to happen for at least a year.

However, Robert's chance would come next year on Nathan's birthday. At this point, the Monopoly board was beginning to root itself as a common joke within the squad. This inspired Robert to focus on getting his board back even more during the next visit. So, one year later, after the initial leaving of the board, Robert saw his board once again. This satisfaction would prove to be temporary, however. Robert, satisfied with the past day and the fact that he was reunited with his board, went to use the bathroom before being picked up from Nathan's house. The board, however, did not leave with him. Somewhere during the last few minutes of being at Nathan's house, Robert left the board on the couch. Nathan soon found the board and, since this was after almost three years of middle school, found it in his heart to keep it and tell Robert that he had it, like any other "great" friend. Nathan saw this as a form of "punishment" for Robert for his forgetfulness. This is where the board began to evolve from a simple joke into a staple of the squad.

Chapter 2: Heartbreak
Like any other romantic epic, there must be a form of love between two characters. In this tale, that love was shared between Robert and his Monopoly board. Like any rational person, he wanted his board back and he did not want the joke to continue at his expense, but that did not stop the squad from constant ridicule and reminding Robert of the board. Jokes such as "Hey Robert, let's play Monopoly, oh wait!", and many others were said. This constant ridicule would take place over the next year or so, until the next evolution of the board took place in high school.

Chapter 3: The Great Journey
This is where the Great Journey began. At this point, most of the Squad was in high school, the main exception being Darren. The Squad showed that it would continue to use the Monopoly Board joke, because of the fact that it was now almost four years since the first incident, it had no sign of leaving and had not lost any steam. During these years, Robert also began having the Squad over for his birthdays as well, and many more events transpired involving the Monopoly Board in these cases.

The next stage of the Monopoly Board took place around 2014. Before this, not much occurred in terms of the Monopoly Board, mainly the ridicule and constant joking as mentioned in the previous chapter. Around Robert's birthday, he invited everyone to come to his house and hang out and play games, as per usual. However, Nathan brought the Monopoly Board along this time, concealing it in his bag. Nick almost gave that secret away, constantly hinting at the board and saying that Nathan had something of Robert's in his bag. Somehow, the secret was safe. At some point, Robert had to use the bathroom and Nathan slipped the board into a drawer in Robert's room. After this, the gathering continued as normal and everybody went home. About a week or two later, Nathan received a rather expletive message from Robert stating that he had found the board. The news was passed to the Squad and the story of the board seemed to be coming to a close. Five years. Five long years. That's how long it took Robert to get his board back.

Or so he thought.

Just a couple of weeks later, Robert had the Squad over at his house again, this time, Nick was the main perpetrator. The board was still in the drawer that Nathan had placed it in, and Nick knew. Nick took it upon himself to steal the board from Robert's drawer and give it back to Nathan at some point, and Robert was not amused. The board would stay in Nathan's house for another couple of months before another chance was given to get the board back, at Nathan's next birthday in 2015. As per usual, everyone was over and board games were being played and obviously Monopoly jokes were being thrown around. Nathan decided to place the board in a bookshelf downstairs where everyone was in order to see if Robert would notice and take his board back. The board went unnoticed until Alex took the board and hid it in Nathan's pillowcase upstairs, unbeknownst to Nathan. The board would stay in Nathan's house for another year after that until a devious plan was devised over the summer of 2016.

During one of the Crooms Squad's many times spent at Flipper's Pizza, Nathan, Cole, Shane, and Angel came up with a plan inspired by Loot Crates. Brandon was currently in California in the Marines and had not seen the Squad in person in a couple of months. They all came up with the idea of sending Brandon a Loot Crate-style box with various things inside, mainly Pop-Tarts and some other inside-joke-related things. Over the summer, Nathan gathered trivial things such as a bag of sand from Cole and Shane's yard, Doritos, Pop-Tarts, and many others. Brandon's birthday, being in early November, was not far away by the time all the items were gathered, and the day before it was sent, Nathan checked one last time if there was anything else that would be good to send. The Monopoly Board jokes were surprisingly low over the summer and the joke seemed like it was dying. In an attempt to revive the joke, Nathan decided to send the Monopoly Board inside the "Loot Crate" to California and kept it a secret from everybody until the day it arrived at Brandon's base. The squad had planned to do a Skype call and Brandon would show everyone the unboxing. Brandon proceeded to open the Loot Crate, reading through the "pamphlet" Nathan created and looking through the other things that the squad came up with. However, the highlight of the Crate was at the bottom of the box and the best was saved for last. At that moment, Brandon revealed the Monopoly Board in all its glory in front of the entire squad, including Robert himself. The reactions of everyone afterward is still a great memory for most of the squad, especially Robert's disapproval. At this point, the squad had been through many "phases" and many events had occurred in the individual members' lives, so the "roasts" that were exchanged became more and more personal, even though the nature of them was for humor and not serious. This meant that there was an "anything goes" approach to tricks and jokes played on each other, which is what led to the Monopoly Board being sent across the country, to the amusement of everyone except Robert. At this point, the next move was up to Brandon. Would he send it back to Nathan? Would he send it to Nick? The choice was his. Later, after learning he would be deployed to Japan, him and Nathan discussed whether he should actually take the board with him to Japan to elevate the joke even further. Nathan was in support of elevating the joke, while Brandon seemed unsure for the most part. Eventually, Brandon came back to Florida before moving to Japan and the decision was made, unknown to Nathan. They went to Robert's house to hang out, and Brandon had made up his mind.

Chapter 4: The Final Solution
At this point, the Monopoly Board had shown itself to be a joke that would stand the test of time throughout the Squad. It had already been out of Robert's hands for seven years and had traveled across the country. The next move was up to Brandon and he had made his decision.

Nathan and Brandon had made their way to Robert's house when the time came to reveal the next event in the Monopoly Board's life. They were in Nathan's car in front of Robert's house and Brandon made a phone call to Robert, telling him to come outside. Robert came out, surprised by the fact that Brandon had called instead of texted, and probably suspicious. Brandon then gave Robert faith in humanity once again. All of Robert's questions had been answered. Life had its purpose and peace was finally restored in Robert's world. Life had a certain beauty to it and Robert was astonished at how unpredictable and how amazing life can truly be.

'''Brandon gave Robert the board back. The end.'''

Chapter 5: Aftermath
To this day, the Monopoly Board joke is still going strong. It is likely to stay a joke as long as the Squad is together and it is doubtful that Robert will ever bring his Monopoly board to anyone's house ever again. The chance remains that more may happen in the future, so the end may not really be the end.