My Second Recess Fanfic. They're more like the ~10 minute episodes they used to do.

Note: It really is going to focus around Gretchen. So think of this as a prologue.

I feed off your comments :)

It was early Wednesday morning at Third Street Elementary, and the sun hadn't even risen yet. Fog rolled throughout the playground, decreasing visibility considerably. But why would it matter? No one would be at school for another hour. Except for a certain group of 6 friends.

TJ laid out the blueprints to the school building on the ground. "Ok, everyone have their sections?" He asked his 5 friends. They all nodded.

"Good. I'll stay here with the hose. Remember, we only have enough cups for one every square foot."

TJ nodded as Vince, Mikey, Spinelli, Gretchen and Gus rolled their restaurant-style carts through the back door of the school. TJ put the blueprints back in his red cap and fixed it backwards over his light brown hair. He felt pretty proud of himself: putting cups of water all over the school has been done before, but certainly not by a bunch of 5th graders. The harmless, but time-consuming cleanup required would mean all the kids would have to be outside. The artificial extension of recess would put him in the books for good.

TJ waited for 20 minutes for the first person to return, Vince. His basketball shorts and shoes must have let him run through his section fast. He grabbed out his extra cups and rapidly spread them around on the cart, while TJ filled them with the hose.

"Teej, this was a great idea. You're going down in history for sure!"

TJ smirked. "That's what I was aimin' for. Of course you guys are gonna share the fame too."

Spinelli was right behind Vince as soon as TJ was finished filling up the cups with the hose, and heard their conversation. "Wait, I thought you didn't want anyone to know about this?"

"That's right. On our last day of 6th grade we can do this prank again and let people know. It'll be like our calling card."

"Ah, gotcha," Spinelli smiled, as her brown eyes sparkled in the moonlight. Her cups were just done being filled as she rushed the cart out. From around the back Mikey came out, huffing and his face bright red.

"TJ, I was a little thirsty, and I kinda drank a few cups of water. I hope that's ok."

"How much?"

"Oh, like 6."

"That's ok, Mike-O. We've got plenty of time to spare. It won't slow us down. Heck, drink a few more if you want."

"Gosh, thanks!" Mikey exclaimed. He was pretty easy to please.

Gretchen came around the corner after a few minutes.

"TJ, while I admire your excellent planning skills, I found my section, the locker section, to be slightly too misshapen to benefit from a square-foot distance of cups. I positioned the majority of cups in the middle and spared some for the bathrooms." TJ was relieved to know the possible problems of this prank were in good hands.

"Thanks Gretchen. I don't know what I would do without your brain behind these pranks."

Gretchen beamed with joy. And Gretchen burned those words TJ said in her mind. She ran off with the cart, repeating to herself those words. I don't know what I would do without you, she thought to herself as she jogged down to the school, her red pigtails bouncing up and down.

After a few more minutes TJ expected Gus to show up, but he heard nothing. "Gus," he spoke on his walkie-talkie. "You there, man?"

"Um, TJ, I have a problem." Gus said in a tone, more worried than his usual one. "You know how you said go to the back of the hall first? Well, I kinda forgot… so, I tried re-arranging them but now the cups are all around me!"

TJ kept calm. "It's ok, Gus. Make yourself a path and worry about it later. We still got plenty of time…"

Through the walkie-talkie TJ could hear the sound of a… car? Impossible! Teachers weren't supposed to arrive for another 45 minutes!

"Mikey, we got company. You have a visual?"

The tall kid was able to see out the window over the fence. A violet and strangely-designed car pulled into the teacher's parking lot. On the license plate read, "Da Finster".

Mikey radioed in with haste. "Guys, it's Ms. Finster! We're doomed!"

Vince took his turn. "Wait, I can see her. Teej, she's on my side, looks like she's only going over to her Classroom, the usual route. I haven't even started putting cups over there."

"Whew", TJ spoke. "Ok guys, keep yourselves out of sight. Prank adjourned."

The walkie-talkies went silent and they could hear the mumblings of Ms. Finster.

"Those dang miscreants." She lamented. "Stealing the key and locking the Teacher's Lounge. Little hooligans didn't count on me changing the lock, did they?"

"Uh-oh" TJ froze. He urgently grabbed his walkie-talkie and whispered. "Gus! She's over by you! Hide!"

Gus heard TJ's message and started panicking. He looked around and shook. "Oh, no! Where do I hide?" He said to himself, not knowing his hand was still on the walkie-talkie.

Spinelli whispered harshly, "Find a closet, Griswold! And stop using the walkie-talkie!"

Gus found the Janitor's closet and luckily, it was still unlocked. He entered into the cramped room. Silence once again filled the halls until Ms. Finster's steps were heard throughout the hall. Luckily, the cups were either in another hall or in the corners where the darkness obscured her view.

Ms. Finster walked closer and closer to the Janitor's Closet, which was just around the corner from the Teacher's Lounge. However, one cup of water caught her view, left over from when Gus was trying to make a path. She picked it up. "Lazy ne'er-do-wells can't pick up after themselves," she muttered.

It sure is dark in here. Gus thought to himself. And spooky…he looked up at the ceiling and saw a big, empty spider web, and his heart began to race. He quietly stepped around a little, until an enormous black spider appeared right in front of his face, hanging by a string.

"AAAAHH!" Gus screamed, and stumbled. Ms. Finster quickly jolted her head towards the room. "What in tarnation?" She yelled. Gus reached for something to steady his grip but only came in contact with the cart. It flew out the door and right into Ms. Finster, with Gus toppling out the door.

But that wasn't the worst part. The cart was filled with cups of water which, upon impact, splashed all over Ms. Finster, soaking her with freezing cold hose water. Gus only sheepishly looked up at the menacing figure, and couldn't tell the water was cold due to her face getting extremely flushed and her rage boiling through it.

"GRIIIIIIIISWOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!"