Recess: The Next Generation

Episode #1- Unknown Connection

Part 2

Pete stayed away from King Sam's throne at lunch. In fact, he stayed away from the whole playground. He just sat on the steps, waiting for the bell to ring. Actually, he couldn't wait for the bell to ring for the end of school. But it seemed like he would be waiting for an eternity.

Somebody stood over him, creating a rather large shadow. He looked up to see a large boy with dark hair, a dorky looking boy with square glasses, and a skinny lean girl with big, round, thick glasses, with black hair in two messy pigtails.

"What do you want?" Pete asked.

"Do you know where Laura is?" The nerdy guy asked.

"What's it to you?"

"Well, we're looking for her."

"I don't know where she is. I'm not even suppose to be talking to you."

"What? Why?" So far only the nerdy boy had spoken.

"Look, I already got Laura into trouble, and I don't need you on my conscience too."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean stay away from me unless you want to get chucked into jail, like Laura was!"

So the group walked away. "I wonder what his problem was." Gertrude wondered out loud.

"Isn't it obvious," The big round boy with the dark hair said. "He's an outcast. An unwanted member of society."

"But why would we get into trouble for talking to him?" Louis asked.

"Maybe he has a detention," Gertrude suggested.

"Anyway, we still have two more people to find," Louis told them.

"Louis, I've already told you, the likeliness of our parents friends all having children the same age as us is very unlikely," Gertrude replied.

"But not impossible," The large boy countered.

"Look, Mitch, I know it's not impossible, but it might as well be. I mean, they might not even go to our school!"

Just as she said this, a dark skinned boy raced past them. He looked very fit, and they watched him a few moments as he continued to lap the playground. They looked at each other.

"I think we found another!" Louis said, excited.

"But- but…" Gertrude was looking for something to question.

"Hey, it may be unlikely, but not impossible," Louis said, starting off towards the boy.

But talking to him proved very difficult indeed. He would not slow down, and it was hard enough keeping up with him, but practically impossible to talk to him. But eventually he did stop, after Louis managed to ask him to stop and run at the same time. Louis collaped, exhausted.

"Hey," The boy said to the small group.

"Hi, I'm Mitch," Mitch said. "And this is Gertrude, and Louis."

"Well, that's all very interesting, but I've got to practice.

"Wait!" Louis said, still out of breath on the ground. The boy turned. "Is your fathers name Vince?"

"Yeah," The boy replied, slightly confused. "How do you know?"

"Our parents were friends with him," Louis told him. The boy laughed.

"You're kidding right? I mean, what are the chances?"

"I know it seems very unlikely, almost impossible, but it is plausible." Gertrude sounded very scientific as she said all this.

"What's your name?" Louis asked.

"Kyle."

"Well, we've found all but one," Louis announced, proud of himself.

"Which one?" Kyle asked.

"Spinelli."

The group wandered inside the school building, looking for the most organized kid in the school, Sean. He was where they expected him to be, in the personal records department. They didn't care to knock, so Sean got quiet a fright when they entered.

"What are you doing here? Your not suppose to be in here! You're not allowed! Get out!" He seemed very agitated about the situation.

"Relax, we just came to ask you a question," Mitch said calmly.

"Well, ask quickly. If you get found in here, I'll get into trouble too." He still seemed very nervous.

"We want to know if anyone is enrolled here under the name Spinelli," Gertrude told him clearly.

"The name rings a bell," Sean said, searching through some files. "But I don't think there are any students here under that name, but- Aha!" He pulled out an old file and placed it on the table in front of them.

"Ashley Spinelli," Gertrude read from the file.

"Yes, she attended at this school almost 20 years ago. According to her file, she was a rather mischievous girl, always causing fights. Very much a Tom-boy." Sean recited this all by memory, without even glancing at the file. Kyle picked up the small photo attached and examined it closely.

"Do you know if any of her children come here?" Gertrude asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. Of course, if she got married, she would have changed her name, and any children she might have had would go under that name too." Sean was searching through files again.

"This picture looks familiar," Kyle mused to himself. He had seen it before, he just couldn't remember where.

Sean pulled out another few files. "Here we go," he said. "June, year 5, Mother, Ashley Spinelli. Looks like she might not have changed her last name, but her children came under the name of their father."

"Children?" Mitch asked.

"According to our records, she has three children that attend our school. One is in year 7, and twins, both in year 5.

"And what are their names?" Kyle asked.

"June, Pete and Sam Lawson."

Eventually, the bell rang for the end of the day. The small group had given up their searching for June, knowing that she was part of the Months club. Everyone was leaving, with the exception of a few detention students and extra curriculum, such as clubs and sport. Gertrude stayed back for chess club, and Kyle had to go to basketball training. Louis and Mitch had their own reasons to get home quickly. Louis' father worked on a tight schedule, and expected his family to do the same, and Mitch couldn't wait to get his mother's homemade cookies.

But Pete didn't want to go home. Sam was staying after school with his "people", and June had gone over to a friend's house. Pete didn't have any friends, and that was partly Sam's fault. Ever since he was crowned King, he had been treating June like a Princess, and him like a piece of dirt.

But the real reason he didn't want to go home is because he knew his parents would be fighting. They always were. They fought over the smallest things, like what to watch on TV, or what to have for dinner. Pete hated it when they yelled. Of course, they always acted like nothing had happened, like they were a perfect family, but they would always find something to argue about the next day.

So Pete walked home slowly. He passed a lolly shop, and was tempted to go in a buy everything in the shop. He didn't buy everything, but he did buy two liquorice rolls and a gobstopper. He sucked on the gobstopper as he walked, making sure to take his time on both tasks.

Pete passed a house with a girl sitting on the front porch, looking at her shoes. Pete recognised her instantly; Laura. He walked up to her, but she didn't look up. It was only when he sat down next to her that she noticed him.

"Oh! You scared me. I didn't realize you were there," Laura said.

"That's okay," Pete tried to say, but with a gobstopper in his mouth, it came out like Datz Ocel. Laura laughed. He spat his gobstopper into a tissue. "Do you want some liquorice?"

"Yes, please." Laura loved liquorice. He handed her one roll and she chewed on it gleefully. "Thanks," she said, with a mouthful of liquorice. Pete smiled.

"So you like liquorice?" Pete asked her jokingly.

"I love liquorice!"

"Yeah? What else do you love, then?" He asked, interested in the answer.

"I loved dogs," She announced.

"What sort of dogs?"

"Big dogs, small dogs, I love 'em all!" She took another big bite of liquorice.

"Do you have any dogs?" He asked.

"No, unfortunately. Mum won't let me. She says they're a hassle to keep. I asked dad, but he won't admit to wanting one, even though I know he does. What about you? You got any pets."

"Yes, actually. I've got a Husky dog called Snowy."

"Snowy?" Laura seemed amused.

"Well, he was my sisters dog, and she called him Snowy. It kinda suits him, I guess. She doesn't play with him anymore, now that he's so big. Actually, I think she's kinda afraid of him." This idea made Laura laugh.

"I'd like to see your dog," she sighed.

"You can," he said, to her surprise. "I mean, if your parents would let you, that is. You could come over right now if you like." Laura was thrilled with the idea.

"Okay, I'll just ask my mum!" And she rushed inside the house. She came out a few moments later, looking very happy. "Let's go," she told him.

They walked the rest of the way to Pete's house relatively quickly. Pete's mother was the only one home, as Pete's dad worked late, or so he told Laura. Pete quickly introduced his mother to Laura. Laura thought she was very pretty, but her eyes were sad. But she didn't have to much time to dwell on this, because Pete pulled her into the backyard.

They had a huge backyard. They had a pool, a big pool, and a trampoline with protective netting. The garden that surrounded the fence line was scattered with holes dug by Snowy, the dog, who was yet to be seen.

"Snowy!" Pete called. Immediately, a big Husky dog came bounding from around the side of the house. Laura could see that his fur was originally completely white, but was now covered in dirt and dust from wherever he had come from.

"Wow, what a great dog!" Laura exclaimed, rubbing him over, which sent dust and dirt everywhere. "But he needs a good clean."

"He had a good clean yesterday. Yet, he still manages to get dirty again."

"One of life's greatest mystery's," Laura said, laughing.

They spent at least an hour playing with Snowy, before the dog ran out of energy. By then, Laura and Pete were out of energy too, and they collapsed on the soft grass, laughing. Pete looked at Laura.

"You want a drink?" He offered.

"It depends," she said.

"On what?"

"On what you've got to drink."

"Let's go have a look then, shall we?" Pete stood up, then put out his arm and pulled Laura onto her feet. They went back into the kitchen.

"Hey, mom, what's there to drink?"

"We've got water, cordial, lemonade, cola, juice. Take you pick," She didn't even look up as she listed off the possibilities.

"What do you want?" Pete asked Laura.

"Lemonade, please."

Pete got up and got them to glasses. He poured lemonade for Laura, and cordial for himself. He drank the whole glass without taking a breath. Laura tried to do the same, but the bubbles made her choke. Pete laughed at her.

"You want to go on the trampoline?" He asked.

"Okay."

"Be careful!" Pete's mom called after them.

The trampoline was huge, big enough for four people to jump on without even touching one another. Pete started showing off, showing her how to do tricks on the trampoline, such as bouncing onto you back and then back onto your feet, and doing flips. But most of them he had to demonstrate a few times, as he never quite got it right the first time.

And then they played 'don't crack the egg', where one person, the egg, has to hold their knees to their chest and keep them there, while the other person tried to get them to 'crack'. It was all very fun, until they got exhausted again. They both stopped bouncing and lied down on the trampoline. It was actually quite comfortable, for a trampoline.

Pete looked at Laura, who was panting and smiling. The sun was setting, and it spread an orange light across the yard. Pete suddenly notice how beautiful Laura was, how her brown hair shimmered in the light of the setting sun, how her eyes sparkled with happiness. He felt slugs in his stomach just watching her breath. (A/N: I call butterflies in the tummy slugs in the tummy, because they feel more like slugs than butterflies!)

Laura sat up and checked her watch. "I've got to go, Pete. Dinner will be ready for me back home in five minutes, and dad will be home by now."

"Okay," he said, standing up and unzipping the protective netting around the trampoline. "Did you want me to walk you home?"

"No," Laura said, knowing that her father didn't want her to hang out with Pete. "No, I can find my own way back. I'll be fine." They walked back into the house, and Pete showed her to the front door.

"See you tomorrow then," he said.

"Yeah, bye!" She called.

"Bye," He called after her as she ran off home.

So, Spinelli married Lawson?? Wow, didn't see that coming. Actually, I didn't. This story has a mind of it's own!

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