Prompt: Johnny 'Baby Tooth' V. returns. Rewrite of "That Stinking Feeling."
Spinelli's boots thudded on the ground, her dark hair bouncing up and down as she ran.
She passed T.J., by the cheese, who's red hat spun comically around on his head when Spinelli rushed by him.
"Hey, Spinelli," T.J. called after her, "Where you headin'?"
"Don't worry 'bout it Teej," Spinelli called over her shoulder, "Just, um, go play without me."
T.J. watched curiously as Spinelli dashed further and further away from him, her dark green backpack thudding against her back as she disappeared across the blacktop and into the school.
Gretchen, Vince, and Gus came up behind him, "What's going on, T.J.?" Vince asked.
T.J. shrugged, "I don't know, but something's up with Spinelli."
Mikey came running suddenly down the hall from the direction Spinelli had been going.
"Guys! Guys!" Mikey cried, "I just saw Spinelli, and she was going into... The Janitor's Closet."
Everybody gasped but Gus.
"NOOOO!" Mikey cried, his eyes shut tight and staring up at the ceiling.
"What's the Janitor's Closet?" Gus asked.
"It's bad news, Gus," Vince said, shaking his head, "Bad news."
"I heard a kid went in there, and he was given detention for the rest of his life," T.J. said.
"Technically speaking," Gretchen said, adjusting her glasses on her nose, "That's quite impossible. However, I do believe it's possible to get detention until we graduate, especially with Spinelli's reputation."
"What do you think she's doing in there?" T.J. asked.
"Miss Finster! Miss Finster!" They suddenly heard, as Randall came dashing down past the kickball field and towards the blacktop, "I saw two people go into the janitor's closet!"
"Well, Randall," Finster said, stooping over and an evil grin spreading across her face, "Who was it?"
"It was Spinelli," Randall said loudly, so everybody could hear, "And Johnny V.!"
The playground was silent.
The Diggers stopped, looking up from their trench. One even dropped their shovel, his mouth aghast.
King Bob was flailing his arms in the air, "A fourth grader and a fifth grader!? This is a travesty! This situation could potentially ruin the structure of the playground as we know it! A fourth grader and a fifth grader can not be friends."
The Ashleys, however, looked at each other, sly smiles creeping across their perfectly powdered faces.
They grinned at each other, simultaneously crying, "Scandalous."
"Come, Ashleys, let's go plot the demise of our less beautiful and less popular Ashley."
The Ashleys erupted into a fit of giggles, loud, evil, conniving.
On the outside, the Ashleys' clubhouse may merely seem like a large pile of junk tires, but the interior is lined with pink paper imported from France by Ashley A.'s father, and one whole wall is devoted to what the Ashleys call, "Boys We Approve."
Ashley A. was standing, while Ashley B., Ashley, Q., Ashley T., sat around her.
"So, other Ashleys, what, like, do you think we should start with?"
"We could start a juicy rumor about how Spinelli finally decided to get rid of those nasty boots of hers," Ashley Q. said, "And she gave Baby Tooth half her allowance for a month to give her his."
"Not scandalous enough," Ashley A. said dismissively. She tapped a manicured finger on her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"I've got it!" Ashley T. said, "We could do a KIAT."
"Like, no way!" Ashley B. said, "Nobody will, like, believe it."
"They will if we, like, play our cards right," Ashley A. said, her hand now fiddling with her necklace.
"Ooo, this will be, like, so much fun!" Ashley Q. said, rubbing her hands together.
"Well then, Ashleys," Ashley A. said, her evil smile deepening, "Operation Kissing In A Tree is underway."
"Hey, where's Spinelli?" T.J. asked looking up from his lunch tray to peer around the cafeteria.
"Beats me," Vince said, shrugging and taking another mouthful of his lunch, "'Cause all I know is that this pizza is de-elicious."
"I concur that pizza is quite wonderful," Gretchen said, "But the absence of Spinelli is quite worrying."
"Oh, Spinelli," Mikey said, lapsing again into one of his musings, "Where for art thou our small, violent friend?" He raised one of his arms up into the air, and another clutching at his chest dramatically.
"What if she's been abducted by aliens!?" Gus suddenly screamed, his hands clutching his head in fear. He burst out in dramatic sobs, "We'll never see Spinelli again!"
"Hey, Detweiler, where's that Spinelli girl?" a voice said from behind T.J.
T.J. turned, "What's it to you, Lawson?"
Lawson shrugged, "Just wanna ask her if the rumors are true."
A devious smirk was alighting his freckled face.
"What rumors?" Vince asked.
"Y'know the rumors." Lawson said again, and then looking around the cafeteria, he leaned down, lowering his voice to a whisper, "Spinelli's got a boyfriend!"
The word seemed to echo across the cafeteria.
Boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
"Ew!" one girl cried, "That's disgusting."
"And even worse," Lawson said, enjoying the attention, "It's Baby Tooth Johnny V.!"
There was a moment of silence before the whole cafeteria burst out into laughter.
"Spinelli? Baby Tooth? Haha!"
T.J. looked extremely disgruntled, and he crossed his arms over his chest, "How come Spinelli never told us that she had a- a-," his brow furrowed even more, "boyfriend."
Gretchen adjusted her glasses, "Well, perhaps she may have feared that we would react so adversely, like you are right now."
"Well, I mean," Vince interjected, defending T.J.'s outburst, "You have to admit that it's a little fishy that Spinelli wouldn't even mention it. Especially to us."
Just then, the cafeteria doors burst open, and Spinelli entered with Johnny V. close behind. He handed her his chocolate milk, and Spinelli nodded.
"See! He gave her his chocolate milk!" Gus said, "That's gotta be proof right there. I mean, I wouldn't even give my chocolate milk to one of you. And you guys are my bestest friends ever!"
"Ah, young love," Mikey sighed, clutching his chest, "How it makes the heart grow tender."
"It's not love!" T.J. said suddenly, his voice bitter.
"I agree. We shouldn't form a hypothesis before gathering more research. It's proven by the scientific method to be the most accurate way of gleaning information," Gretchen said, a knowing finger in the air, the other adjusting her glasses.
"Hey guys," Spinelli said, plopping the chocolate milk carton she had received from Johnny V. down next to her lunch tray, "What's hanging?"
"Lawson just told me that Johnny V.'s your boyfriend," T.J. said accusingly.
"Oh, well," Spinelli said, looking sheepish.
"You mean it's true?" Mikey asked eagerly.
"No, I mean, it's not true, it's not!" Spinelli stuttered.
She looked around, grabbing her carton of chocolate milk. Her brow furrowed, her lips thinned into a hard line, "You know what? I don't have to this take from you guys! I'm leaving."
"What d'you think's going on with Spinelli and Baby Tooth?" T.J. asked, watching with narrowed eyes as Spinelli stalked off out of the cafeteria and out onto the playground.
The rest of gang watched as she angrily threw around a tether-ball, and then punted a basketball so far that it disappeared over the hill until it was a pin-prick in the sky.
A few tables down from them, the Ashleys sat regally, sipping tea and watching with amused expressions as the buzzing of sweet, sweet gossip behind spread set in throughout the cafeteria.
"She makes it, like, way too easy. We just need to catch her and Johnny V. together again and it'll be, like, set!" Ashley B. said, flipping her hair.
They grinned, "Scandalous."
T.J. would like to classify this tingly feeling in his chest as a stomach ache. He asked Gretchen, and she said something about it perhaps being 'heartburn.' He doesn't know how his heart caught on fire, but it sure feels uncomfortable.
He sat on the plush bed in the nurse's office, his legs dangling over the side, "So whattaya think? Is it fatal?"
She laughed, "Oh, no, sweetheart. You're perfectly fine."
"Well then what's wrong with me? Everything I see Spinelli and Johnny V. I get the tingly feeling all over my body. And sometimes I feel like punching something. A lot of things."
"Well, it's all just a part of growing up," she says, "You're gonna be a grown man soon," she said, mussing his hair, "So don't you worry."
T.J. sighed, but jumped off the bed nonetheless. He kicked at the floor, "Yeah sure. She's worse than Guru Kid, not even giving me any actual answers to my question. I betcha it's fatal. I'm probably dying," T.J. concluded gravely.
"Spinelli and Johnny, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in a baby carriage!" the Ashleys cat-called, cackling madly.
Spinelli rolled her eyes, walking past them.
"We've gotta put a stop to this!" T.J. said, turning in disgust away from Ashleys who were sun-tanning in lawn chairs outside their clubhouse, "There're soiling your good name, Spinelli, how come you don't wanna do anything about it?"
Spinelli shrugged, avoiding the question, "This isn't my fight."
"Spinelli? Avoiding a fight? I never thought I'd see the day," Vince said, shaking his head.
"Hey, I may not have many morals, like y'know, 'words are louder than actions' and all that junk, but at least I believe in honor," Spinelli said matter-of-factly, "It's a huge samurai thing. Besides, I asked Guru Kid and he said something about letting it 'unfold by itself.'"
"But still, Spin', you gotta do something or else you'll look like a coward!" T.J. cried, his arms up in the air to emphasize his point.
"No, T.J. I'm not gonna do anything and that's final," Spinelli said testily, her face twisted into an unpleasant expression,"I gotta go. I promised somebody I'd help them with something."
She ran off, leaving the T.J. with a disgruntled expression.
The bell rang, and kids flooded out, flailing arms in excitement at the prospect of going home and watching TV.
"Looks like Spinelli's AWOL again," Vince sighed.
"Listen, guys," T.J. said seriously, "I feel really bad about calling Spinelli a coward, so I need to find a way to make it up to her."
"Given the data, I think we can sufficiently say that Johnny V. and Spinelli are really," Gretchen gulped, "Boyfriend and girlfriend."
"So?" Gus asked.
"Perhaps a romantic date during school will be a sufficient apology," Gretchen said, adjusting her glasses.
"I guess," T.J. said, readjusting his hat, "We'll do it tomorrow then, during lunch," T.J. hefted a sigh, "A romantic lunch date for two, here we come."
"So you think you got it, Baby Tooth?" Spinelli asked, walking down the hallway alongside Johnny V., "Make sure to keep your wrists straight, and don't be afraid to use your legs."
"Hey, thanks Spinelli," Johnny V. said, "But I wish you'd stop calling me Baby Tooth, especially since you knocked out my tooth after our first lesson."
"Hey, I think it's kinda catchy," Spinelli said, shrugging, "I wish I had nickname like that, maybe like... I don't know, 'Wrestler Girl' or even better, 'Tough Kid.' Yeah, Tough Kid! From now on, I"ll be called Tough Kid."
Spinelli pushed opened the cafeteria door, and Johnny V. trailed after her into the cafeteria.
They both froze at the inside. The cafeteria was dimly lit, the only light some candles placed at various places around the cafeteria. Mikey was standing at the front door, a towel on his arm and wearing a tuxedo.
"Mr. V., future Mrs. V., please come this way to your table," Mikey said, motioning them to the table.
"Aw, this is getting ridiculous!" Johnny V. roared, stomping his foot in frustration, "Spinelli and I are not together!"
"Yeah," Spinelli jabbed a thumb in Johnny V.'s direction, "I've just been giving him tae kwon do lessons, alright? We've been practicing in the janitor's closet because Hank told us we could practice there. He's been paying me in chocolate milk and a couple Senor Fusion comic books, that's all."
The lights in the cafeteria flickered back on, and T.J. stepped forward, an expression crossed between relief and confusion on his face, "But Spinelli, why didn't you just tell us before?"
"I was embarrassed," Johnny said, "I mean, who learns tae kwon do from a girl?"
"Well, I mean it's Spinelli," Vince said, shaking his head, "You guys shoulda said something. You had all of us worried."
"Hey, who started that anyways?" Gus asked, "I mean, I just wanna know who first said that Johnny V. and Spinelli were," he shuddered, still unable to stomach the word, "Boyfriend and girlfriend."
A fit of giggles erupted from the corner of the cafeteria, where the Ashleys stood grouped together with hands held up to their mouths.
"Why you little-" Spinelli cried, dashing after them, "I'm gonna cream you little powderpuffs!"
"Aah," Mikey sighed, "Good 'ole Spinelli."
"Hmm, she's something, huh?" Johnny V. said.
"Yeah," T.J. sighed, "That's my Spinelli."
A/N: I tried to keep everybody in character, and I really just wanted a rewrite of "That Stinking Feeling."
I was surprised to find that this fanfic community isn't that big, considering the amount of people that ship TJ and Spinelli together.
A few notes:
1) I kept it from being too romantic, because they are just fourth graders. I remember having a crush in fourth grade, but I don't remember feeling jealous, so I kept the romance to a minimum.
2) This may become a collection of Spinelli-TJ centric episodes. Spinelli is definitely my favorite character, and my favorite episodes usually revolve around her.
Thanks for reading.
- JJ