Pay Back, a recess fanfic

Ok, I now give everyone fair warning this fic has its rating for a reason, it's dark and has character death so don't come whining to me afterwards. Also due to recent events concerning this kind of thing I will say that this means no disrespect to anyone and is not meant to reflect on any one incident, I actually started writing this little over 2 weeks ago and was somewhat surprised to see the news about the V-Tech massacre.

On a side note I have corrected some small mistakes (spelling/ grammar) that sort of thing.

Disclaimer: Recess does not belong to me, if it did that would mean I'd work at Disney and I'd be a lot happier.

Pay Back

It was past his bedtime, he knew that, if his mother caught him it would mean grounding but this was too important. Today was the last straw; they were all going to pay. After 4 years it was time to put an end to it, he finished writing his letter just in time as he heard his mother's footsteps walking down the hall. He jumped up from his desk and dove into bed and under the covers as the door opened and his mother poked her head in. He pretended to be asleep and it worked the intruding woman left and he was alone again. His thoughts turned toward school; they all thought they were so cool, above everyone else with all their cliques and groups.

The Ashley's were always so cruel to everyone, and King Bob, yeah right, some king, all he cared about was his throne. Lawson and his gang of bullies were the worst though; they never lost a chance to pick on those weaker than them. Not all the kids were bad he knew, there was that Mikey kid, he was real big and had tried to help sometimes, but eventually even Mikey would turn his back on him when his friends were around, too worried about being the saviors of the playground. Whatever, he didn't need Mikey for this. He didn't need anybody, he had gotten through 4 years alone, this was nothing.

The boy then started thinking about that afternoon, he had been out at recess trying to avoid both the Ashley's and Lawson's group but luck was not with him. Lawson caught up with him by the jungle gym, and the usual happened the older boy backed him up against the side of the jungle gym and pushed him to the ground. By now a crowd had gathered around the scene including the Ashley's who were giggling behind their hands, Randall was taking notes for Miss Finster, even TJ's group was there watching. Lawson spurred on by the attention went even further; the bigger boy put his foot on his back and kneeled down. The sixth grader was stronger than him there was nothing he could do; Lawson had then picked up a handful of dirt and shoved it into his mouth forcing him to eat it. The crowd laughed as he tried to wipe the dirt off his face only to make it worse, although he finally managed to push Lawson's foot off his back, and then he had run away pushing through the giggling crowd.

The young boy finally managed to fall asleep dreaming of tomorrow when everything would be paid back.

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TJ was walking to school with his best friend in the entire world, Vince LaSalle, the shorter of the two, TJ was chatting away about the newest movie and Vince was twirling a basketball in his hand. The two friends entered the school yard and met up with the rest of their gang; Spinelli, Mikey, Gus, and Gretchen.

The group was enjoying the last few minutes before the bell rang when a boy walked up; he was short with an oversized blue jacket that was zipped all the way up despite the warm weather.

Spinelli jumped up, "Hey ain't you that kid from yesterday?" She asked slightly louder than necessary. The kid's eyes shifted to look around before he turned to Mikey ignoring Spinelli entirely, "Mikey, you're a good guy, that's why I'm telling you that you shouldn't come out to recess today." The boy said with a definite coldness to his voice.

Mikey just looked confused, "But why would I stay inside..." Mikey started to ask.

"I warned you and your friends, it's your fault if you don't listen." The boy said cryptically. Then the bell rang and he was gone into the crowd of students filing through the school doors. After a minuet of puzzled silence the six friends followed their classmates inside.

'Riiiiiiiing' The recess bell rang, closely followed by the stampede of students rushing to get outside, followed again by the much slower gray haired playground monitor Miss Finster. TJ and friends weren't the first ones out the door this time; the group had hung back in the classroom.

"Come on Mikey, what are you waiting for?" Asked Vince who was standing in the doorway, Gus was standing beside his large friend a look of uncertainty on his face.

Mikey just shrugged, "I've just got a bad feeling you guys." The blonde haired boy said.

Gretchen adjusted her glasses "My guess is that you're still worried about what that kid said this morning, right?" She looked over at Mikey. He nodded confirming her guess.

Spinelli burst out laughing, "Are you kidding, why are you so scared of some weird kid telling you not to go outside. What's he gonna do? He can't go up against all of us." With that said she walked out the door followed by Vince and an unsure Gretchen and TJ and finally Gus and Mikey.

Once outside the group saw that everything was indeed normal, nothing seemed out of place, they didn't even see the weird boy from this morning, so they went about their playing as usual.

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Ten minutes before the bell would ring to send them all back to class, TJ and his group were hanging out by Old Rusty when Gus suddenly stood up and pointed at something near the center of the playground. "Hey guys look it's the boy from this morning what's he doing?"

When TJ turned to look he didn't see anything at first and he was about to say so to Gus, but then the kid's blue jacket caught his eye.

The boy had his head bent toward the ground, TJ thought it kinda looked like he was praying or something, then the boy lifted his head and TJ was surprised to see tears and a really cold look in the kid's eyes.

The young boy took a deep breath and slowly unzipped his jacket, then without warning he whipped two pistols out of the inside of his coat and opened fire on the unsuspecting playground.

There was instant panic as the shots sounded across the playground, kids scrambled every which way, some managed to dive for cover others fell to the ground. King Bob's bodyguards ran in every direction leaving their king behind, the Ashley's shrieked and ran for their clubhouse. Miss Finster came running up to the scene with Randall right behind her. "What in tarnation?!" She shouted as a bullet whizzed past her, the old woman quickly ducked behind the school wall. But cried out when she saw that Randall was laying on the ground just yards away from her, his ever present notepad still in his hand, blood pooling on the ground beside him.

Gus was quick to react thanks to all the Army drills his Dad made him go through, he grabbed the person next to him, which happened to be Gretchen, and dropped to the ground pulling her with him. "Get down, quickly!" He shouted over the shrieks and screams only to look up to see his friends scattered trying to find cover along with the rest of the school.

Mikey dropped beside the shorter boy a second later total fear in his eyes. Vince ran for cover behind Old Rusty but didn't make it as with a spurt of blood the athletic boy was brought down. Spinelli headed for the Ashley's tire clubhouse with TJ right behind her, she was almost there when another shot rang out followed by a familiar scream. The tom-boyish girl skidded to a halt and whirled around only to find TJ lying on the ground, blood already staining his baggy jeans. Spinelli froze only for a second before she sprinted back to her friends' side and dove on top of him to try and shield him from anymore bullets.

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Three minutes after the first shot was fired there was relative silence again on the playground, only broken by the crying and screams of the terrified and injured children. Miss Finster looked around the corner of the school where she had taken cover. When she made sure it was safe she walked quickly to where Randall was laying, a quick check told her that no amount of help would bring him back, the old teacher shed only a tear as she moved on to the next child, knowing that the children would further panic if they saw the teachers break down. Principal Prickly poked his head outside of the school doors to make sure it was safe to exit. When he saw that there were no more bullets flying, he along with the other teachers rushed out to check on the students.

When the kids saw their teachers exit the school they also started to come out of hiding one by one, from behind trees and bushes and even the jungle gym. Miss Finster called out to the scared children, "Everyone who is not injured go to the cafeteria and wait, do not try to help your friends, you will probably wind up hurting them by accident." Although the old woman seemed to be in control she could barely keep her voice steady enough to issue the instructions. She followed the crowd inside so that they wouldn't be by themselves.

Gus stood up followed by Mikey, who helped Gretchen to her feet as well; all three had tears running down their faces as they tried to find the others in the shocked and scared crowd of students making their way into the school again. "They're probably already inside." Mikey offered weakly, although he didn't sound too hopeful about that himself. The trio made their way inside anyway so they wouldn't be in the teacher's way.

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Miss Grotke was by the Ashley clubhouse, she had to pry three Ashley's away from Ashley Q who was lying on the ground bright red blood spilling from a wound in the girl's chest. Miss Evens, the poor soul who was the kindergarten teacher, knelt beside the still form of Vince, he was bleeding from a severe wound in his back but when she felt for a pulse surprisingly she could feel his very faint heartbeat. She almost cried out in relief, but realized that without serious help the young athlete would soon leave this world.

Principal Prickly moved through the schoolyard, worriedly looking around trees and shrubs looking for injured students, he suddenly came to a halt not too far from Miss Grotke. What he saw just a few yards away chilled him to the core; TJ Detweiler's tousled brown hair and freckled face was all the older man could see of the young boy, one of his friends was sprawled on top of him shielding the rest of his body from sight. Prickly ran to the boy's side, knelt down and gently moved the young girl off of him. The usually energetic and problematic boy lay so still that for a moment the man thought him dead. Then, thankfully, the boy moaned in pain and his brown eyes fluttered open, intense pain etched on his face.

"P..P..Principal P..Prickly, what is g..going on? Is Spinelli O..Ok?" TJ's voice was shaky and his breathing was labored. The boy was unusually pale and blood continued to flow freely from his leg. Prickly knew if he didn't get to a hospital soon the youngster would bleed to death.

Prickly turned his attention to the black-haired girl in his arms, noticing for the first time that her shoulder was bleeding slightly, the older man checked her over and surmised that her shoulder was the only injury and that it wasn't life threatening. "Don't worry Detweiler," he said forcing a small smile, "your girlfriend is going to be fine." TJ grimaced slightly as the last of his strength left his body and his head fell back to the ground with his eyes closed. In the distance Prickly could hear the sirens of the police and ambulances.

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Three days after the shooting Spinelli walked down the hallway in the city hospital, her arm in a sling; with her were Mikey, Gretchen and Gus. The girls each had a small bouquet of flowers in their hands. When the group reached their destination they were surprised to find Miss Finster and Principal Prickly exiting the hospital room, the two adults just nodded a greeting to the kids.

"Principal Prickly, is TJ awake? We brought him some get well gifts." Gretchen asked, holding up her flowers, she wanted to make sure the gang wouldn't interrupt her friends much needed rest.

The principal just nodded as Miss Finster spoke up, "He should be we just got down talking to him." Then she added with a humorous tone, "That little hooligan." After that she began to march off down the hallway, Prickly just shook his head. "Leave it to Detweiler to be able to rile her up at a time like this." Then his face turned serious, "The doctors say his leg will be able to recover eventually, but he'll have a serious limp for a long while. By the way any word on your friend, LaSalle?"

Gretchen shook her head, "The hospital still won't allow visitors that are not family." At the mention of their other injured companion the group fell silent.

Then Gus spoke up, "My Dad said that he talked to Vince's dad yesterday. The doctors say Vince was paralyzed or something, he may not even be able to walk again." Mikey turned to Principal Prickly, "How could something like that happen to Vince?" Prickley just shook his head; if there were answers he certainly didn't have them. The dark haired educator excused himself and let the group have time alone with their friend.

When Spinelli and the others walked into the room TJ greeted them with his usual smile but it didn't stay there long. When the girls had handed over their gifts and found seats around his bed he asked, "So Vince is in here too?" TJ couldn't keep the worry out of his voice. And, after relaying again, what Gus's dad had said he couldn't keep the tears out of his eyes.

TJ spoke again after a minuet of thought, "Principal Prickly was just here, and he told me what happened to everybody." The boy paused, "Ashley Q is gone, so is Randall, Jordon, one of King Bob's bodyguards is dead too; and then there was that kid, he shot himself at the end. Principal Prickly said that he left some kind of good-bye note for his mom but didn't say what was in it." There was silence around the group again as nobody really knew what to say. "I do know one thing though," TJ paused looking around at his friends and finally landing on Spinelli, "I'm super lucky to have friends like you guys, and I came so close to losing that the other day, that's what scared me the most." He grabbed hold of Spinelli's hand, hoping he wouldn't get punched later. "And, I've been thinking with everything going on I'd be really happy if you'd be my girlfriend, Spin." He called her by her old nickname he had given her in the first grade, which in turn made her blush a deep red.

Spinelli felt like she should punch her friend's lights out for embarrassing her like this, but she didn't, in fact there was a part of her that liked it. So instead of knocking him into next week she timidly wrapped her good arm around TJ's neck and landed a gentle kiss on his cheek. Unfortunately the tender moment was interrupted as the nurse came in and shooed the children out so the patient could get some rest.

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--- Moral of the story----

It doesn't matter how small something may seem or even if you're the one starting it, if you just sit back and watch, if you don't stand up and say something, you are just as bad as the bully because you allow it to happen.

THE END

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I know it got really OOC there toward the end with TJ but, I mean he did just have a near death experience, and those can really make you think about important stuff like that. Anyway please review, flames are accepted but will be ignored. Thank you.