Disclaimer: I do not own Recess or any of its characters.

Author's Note: This is just a one-shot for the Halloween holiday coming up!

Halloween Kiss

"Gretchen, honey, you never told me why you started to love Halloween so much," her husband pointed out as they were helping their two kids get ready for Halloween.

A small smile played at Gretchen's lips when she thought about how much she used to hate Halloween. She had never liked candy all that much, thinking about the cavities that it could give you, and she was not a big fan of dressing up either, always wearing the same doctor outfit year after year. But, then, one Halloween, one night, had changed her dislike of Halloween into an admiration for the holiday.

99999

Fifth Grade, Halloween

Gretchen looked around the gymnasium, impatiently tapping her left foot as she did so. The sixth graders had decided to throw a Halloween dance sponsored by the school and held in the gym, and invited the fifth graders to join them. Gretchen and never been to a dance before, and had not really felt like going now, but yet, here she was dressed as a doctor, thinking of all the things that she could be doing instead of being here, such as experiments or reprogramming her computer. However, Spinelli had made her come along because TJ Detweiler wanted to go and had drug Spinelli along. And now she could not seem to find either of them, or the other three of her so-called friends.

As the slow music began wafting through the gymnasium, Gretchen finally spotted her best friend, Spinelli, on the dance floor with TJ. TJ was dressed as an astronaut and Spinelli as a wrestler. The two were trying to dance, somewhat awkwardly. Dancing right next to them Vince LaSalle, dressed as a football player, was being particularly nice to his dancing partner, Ashley Q.

Then, suddenly Gretchen spotted the last two friends in her group, Gus Griswald, dressed in a military uniform, and Mikey Blumberg, dressed as Julius Caesar, by the snack table. Gus seemed to be in his own world as Mikey enjoyed the snack table set before him. She started to make her way over to the table, but quickly decided against it. She did not want to spend her night at the snack table. Nor did she want to spend it near this wall she had stood by since getting here.

Gretchen then began to quickly make her way to the door, wanting to make a quick exit before Spinelli saw her leaving and called her back over. But, in a move that was so classic of her, Gretchen tripped as she exited the door. Luckily, somebody caught her before she could fall to the ground and helped her straighten up.

"Thank you very much," Gretchen said, with as much dignity as she could muster as the guy let go of her. She looked up at her helper and saw a boy dressed as a ghost.

"Welcome," the boy mumbled. Gretchen could feel as if she should know the boy, but she couldn't quite place his voice, and his face was covered, except for his eyes, mouth, and nose, "are you leaving?"

"Yeah, my friends are all busy," she dismissed, trying not to sound as lonely as she felt when she made the statement.

"Mine too," the boy mumbled again, plopping himself down on the nearby bench. Gretchen followed suit, "this sucks."

"I agree," Gretchen said, smiling at the mysterious boy, "growing up seems to be a bit of a drag."

"Yeah," the boy smiled back at her, "but, you know, not all things about growing up are bad."

"Such as?" Gretchen questioned.

"No longer having to wear Halloween costumes," the boy indicated his ghost get-up, "and, you know, other things."

"I think you're going to have to be a little bit more specific than that," Gretchen said, confused by the statement.

"Well, you know, this," the boy then leaned in and gave her a short kiss. After doing this, he jumped up from the bench they were sitting on, "Sorry, didn't mean that. Hope you have a good night. Happy Halloween."

As he began to walk off, Gretchen could feel a smile playing at her lips. She knew she shouldn't have liked this kiss, she was only in fifth grade, that kind of stuff wasn't supposed to happen for another couple of years. Plus, she didn't even know the identity of her mystery kisser, but that seemed to make it all the more enjoyable. It had been her first kiss and she had found it truly amazing. Maybe Halloween was not such a bad holiday after all.

99999

Present Day

"And who was your mystery kisser?" her husband asked teasingly as he protectively pulled her into his arms.

"I never knew," she shrugged, "but I wish I did. I always wanted to thank him. I felt so lonely that night."

"Well, Happy Halloween," her husband muttered to her, giving her a short kiss. As he backed away, Gretchen could feel a mysterious idea stirring up inside of her. After this, her husband began to walk off.

"Irwin?" Gretchen called in a questioning voice.

"Yes honey?" Irwin Lawson asked as he turned back to look at his wife, arching an eyebrow in amusement.

"What exactly were you that Halloween night?" Gretchen asked, innocently.

"I don't remember," he shrugged nonchalantly, grinning at her.

"Well, then never mind," she dismissed. But as he walked off, Gretchen knew she had found out who her Halloween kisser had been.