T H E R E__ I S__ N O__ R E C E S S__ I N__ H I G H __ S C H O O L



CHAPTER ONE


TJ leaned on the stairs to 6th street High School. Wearing some blue jeans and a white wife beater with a green shirt over it he was waiting for Gretchen, Vince, Mikey, Spinelli, & Gus to show up. His hair was semi-spiked. He shifted his weight from his left foot to his right. Over the years they had remained just as good friends as when they were in elementary school. He watched other students pass him and enter the building.

Gretchen walked up to TJ. She was wearing a green tank top with baggy khaki pants on. Over the years she had decided to get contacts. Even thought she liked looking smart she knew that she didn't need her glasses to be smart. Her hair tumbled down her back. She had let it grow out over the years. It now had a wavy conjure to it.

"Hey TJ, are we the first here?" she questioned.

"Yeah." he replied.

"Sorry TJ but your going to have to change that to a 'no'." Vince said as he and Mikey walked over to him and Gretchen. Over the years Mikey had slimed down some. He was now on the wrestling team. He stood six feet wearing blue jeans and a white FUBU shirt. Vince was to his left wearing a pair of khaki pants and a blue Nike shirt.

Vince had remained in sports over the years. He played every sport but his favorite was soccer because it reminded him of the times they used to play kick ball at recess.

Spinelli came around the corner wearing black baggy pants and a baby blue tube top. Her long black hair dangled in a ponytail.

"Hey guys, what's up?"? she asked.

"Not to much." TJ replied.

"The sky." Gretchen remarked.

Spinelli and the rest of them smiled at her attempt to be funny.

Gus interrupted their conversation. "Hey guys." he said. He had gotten contacts shortly after Gretchen had gotten hers. He stood two inches short of six feet. He was wearing a yellow Tommy shirt and matching yellow pants.

"Hey Gus." TJ said.

"So are we all still going to TJ's on Friday?" Spinelli asked.

"Yeah." Gus replies.

"Yes. I am going too." Gretchen states.

"I still have to ask." Mikey says.

"No, sorry guys but I have to practice for the big basket ball game." Vince tells them all.

"That's too bad Vince." TJ says.

"Do you think you can stop by after practice?" Gus asks.

"Yeah I think I can. That is if Coach Klem does make us do extra drills." Vince says.

"Okay...it looks like were set." TJ says as the bell rings.




"Hey Kevin hand me that wrench." TJ requested from under the hood of his black Eagle Talon.

"Sure TJ." Kevin said as he handed TJ the wrench he had asked for just a moment ago.

"Thanks." TJ says as Kevin hands him the wrench.

"Hey Kevin I found the problem. The transmission is blown. Do you think the school can get us a new one by Friday?" TJ asks.

"Can't you fix it with spare parts?" Kevin wonders.

"Nope, none of them fit.." TJ tells Kevin.

"Sorry to say this TJ but they can't have one in until Monday." He told TJ as he looked up shipping and ordering on the log file.

"Damn. I guess I am going to miss this week's race." TJ says to himself.

"Hey it isn't so bad. You can always race next week." Kevin tells him trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah I guess." TJ says.

Just then Mr. Reton, the auto teacher, walks up to them. " Hey TJ. Kevin. You got 5 minutes to clean up before the bell rings." he reminds them.

"Thanks, Mr. Reton." TJ says.

Mr. Reton walks away and TJ closes the lid to his car and starts to clean up with the help of Kevin.




Spinelli walked out of her 1st hour and over to her locker. She opened it up and grabbed her math book. Looking at the clock she saw she had three minutes left until the bell was going to ring.

Spinelli slammed her locker and walked into the bathroom. She set her books down on the sink and took out her hairbrush. She dropped her hair out of the ponytail and combed the strays back into place.

Just then the bell rang. Spinelli hurriedly took her hair tie and put her hair in a loose up side down bun. She picked up her math book and walked out of the bathroom.

She walked down the hall to Mr. Willson's room. She then opened the door and walked into the classroom.

"I see we're late again, Miss Spinelli." Mr. Willson said dryly.

Spinelli said nothing she just walked over to her seat and sat down.

"No reply? Oh well. Here Miss. Spinelli, your just in time for your math test." he tells her smugly as he hands her the math test.

Spinelli grimaces at the test. She had completely forgotten about the stupid test. "Oh well." she quietly says to herself.

Spinelli looked over the test. The first problem asked her what the probability of drawing a black marble out of a bag filled with 3 blue marbles was.

Spinelli grinned this was going to be easy.

Spinelli soon finished the rest of the problems on the test. She set her pen down and opened her not book and started to write a note to Gretchen.

Gretchen!
Hey girl what's up? I just got done with the math test. I thought it was going to be easy but it was a piece of cake. But then again you don't have to worry about these things. Now do you? Oh well. So what's up with you?

Anyways I can't wait until Saturday. Bobby is racing. Are you going to come? Well if you can't there is always next week. Even though Bobby is racing I want TJ to win. Isn't it weird that I want my friend to win over my boyfriend? Well I think it is odd. Well I got to go.

Spinelli

Spinelli put her pen down. She took the piece of paper out of her notebook and then folded in half. After that she folded the halves into halves, then she folded the haves into each other. Taking the long strip she folded it in the middle sort of making a right angle. She then folded the paper over the angle and into a square. Taking the square she folded it in half diagonally. she opened the fold and took the one side and tucked it under the other making a triangle.

Then she took her pen and wrote Gretchen on the note and then underlined Gretchen's name.

Spinelli put her pen down again and then picked up Gretchen's note and put it in her pant's right side pocket.

After that she picked up her pen and started tapping it against her other hand until the bell rang.




Gretchen went to her locker and got her science book. On her way to science Spinelli stopped her and handed her a note that she had taken out from one of her side pockets.

"Here Gretchen." Spinelli told her.

"Kay thanks." Gretchen said.

"Bye, I'll see you at lunch." Spinelli called to Gretchen.

"Yeah, okay." Gretchen responded before walking into her science class.

Gretchen took her normal seat in the back.

She then unfolded the note and began to read it.

Gretchen was distracted when Gus walked over to her.

"Hey Gretchen. What's up?" Gus asks.

"Not much" Gretchen says as she puts the note from Spinelli away.

"Please take your seats." Mrs. Hemmings says startling Gus and Gretchen. Gus took his seat next to Gretchen as usual.

"Today we are going to be finishing our hot air balloons." The teacher said excitedly.

"Will you please grab your supplies and get into your groups of two." Mrs. Hemmings asked the students.

Gretchen and Gus remained in their seats since they were already partners.

"Do you want me to get the supplies or do you want to get them?" Gus asked Gretchen.

"I'll get them." Gretchen responded as she got up.

Minutes later Gretchen came back with the supplies.

"Okay the directions say we are supposed to cut this pattern out of all the sheets of paper." Gretchen said holding up a pattern.

"Okay. Gretchen can you trace the pattern and then I'll cut it out?" Gus asked.

"Yeah, sure." She agreed.

After about fifteen minutes they had completed their task of cutting the pattern out of all the sheets of the paper.

"Okay Gus. Next it says we are supposed to glue them together like this." She said showing him the sample picture.

They began on that and after thirty minutes they finished.

"Okay it looks like all we have to do is test it with the fan." Gus said.

Gus held the balloon's top while Gretchen held the bottom and turned on the fan.

Gretchen was about to turn off the fan when one of the Ashley's tripped falling into the balloon with a pair of scissors.

In a matter of seconds Ashley Q. had destroyed their balloon.

"Oops. Sorry." Ashley Q. said before turning her back and smiling.

Just then the bell rang.

"

Great." Gretchen said as her and Gus put their torn balloon away.

"Hey its okay Gretchen." Gus reassured her.

"Come on, let's just get to lunch." Gretchen said.




Spinelli walked into the lunchroom with TJ.

"Come on let's get in line before it gets to long." TJ said.

"Yeah." Spinelli said as she got in line with TJ.

"So TJ do you have any idea what kind of poison is for lunch today?" Spinelli asked him with a semi-smile on her lips.

"Last I heard it was rat poison. I think there serving it in honor of the Ashley's." TJ said with a laugh.

Spinelli smiled too. She had to admit that there was nothing better to feed rats then rat poison.

TJ picked up a two trays making sure to hand one to Spinelli.

"Thanks TJ." Spinelli said.

Spinelli took a piece pizza and TJ took a sub. Spinelli grabbed white milk and TJ grabbed chocolate.

They both walked to the lunch lady behind the computer.

Spinelli took out a ten-dollar bill and handed it to the lady before punching in her five-digit code.

Spinelli stood off to the side waiting for TJ as he punched in his code.

After he was done they both walked over their usual table to wait for the rest of the gang.

Soon everybody was at the table.

"Hey guys just to let you know I'm not going to race on Friday." TJ said after he finished his sub.

"What? Why not?" Spinelli asked.

"The transmission in my Talon is shot." TJ responded.

"Man, sucks." Spinelli said.

"Yeah, I know." he agreed.

The bell rang and TJ and the gang went to their next class.




Spinelli sat in her homeroom. She was wondering why she was even going out with Bobby. He was such a show off. He really didn't even see her that much. The only time she ever see him is when TJ goes to race his Talon on the streets.

Spinelli was taken out of her thoughts as the bell rang.

Spenelli picked up her books and stuff and walked to her locker. She bent down and put her books in her backpack. She then grabbed her white Columbia coat, put it on, and slung her bag over her shoulder.

Just then TJ ran up to Spenelli.

"Hey Spenelli. Do you want to walk home with me?" TJ asked?

"Yeah sure." Spinelli agreed.

Spenelli and TJ then walked out the main doors.