Disclaimer: If only I owned the characters of Recess…then everyone would be in love with me…well, maybe not, but then I'd have the satisfaction of being semi-rich.

Chapter Two: Insanity and Complications

The seconds ticked by, but still there was no sign of Miss Grotke. Her 6th grade class was getting restless. Paper airplanes were being thrown, spitballs were being spat, and curses were being yelled. There was also speculation and rumors being spread around the classroom of Miss Grotke's whereabouts.

"I'll bet she was kidnapped by aliens," one kid whispered to another.

"No, she was abducted by aliens, stupid!" the other kid whispered back and slapped the back of his friend's head.

Another kid put in his two cents. "Naw, I'll bet she joined a secret government agency and is off killing monsters and goblins."

"No, dragons!"

"Pirates!'

"The kindergartners!"

Kids were yelling to get their ideas and opinions heard. Finally, Spinelli got so fed up with the screaming and ridiculous suggestions, she stood on her desk and let out a screeching whistle. The kids all stopped and stared at her.

"People! Calm down! Miss Grotke is not off fighting monsters, or pirates, or kindergartners, even though she should be. She's talking to Chad."

"Who's Chad?" a voice called from the back of the class.

"Chad's the lead singer of that band you guys all head playing at recess. He's – "

She was about to tell everyone Chad's connection to their teacher when the kids erupted in sound again.

"He's kidnapped her!"

"Took her to the kindergartners and now they're devouring her…"

"He's gonna murder her and send us her body in a big cardboard box!"

"He's making her watch Alf reruns!"

Screams were head from every corner of the room and everyone except Spinelli, her friends, and the Ashleys, dove under their desks. Spinelli just winced at the mention of the worst show in the entire world.

The Ashleys sighed in unison. "He's so dreamy!"

"Who, Alf?" Spinelli asked in disbelief and disgust.

"Ewww!" The Ashleys all squealed.

"No!" Ashley A. wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes. "Chad! Like, duh!"

Even Spinelli could not disagree with that. But she frowned at the four girls anyway, and opened her mouth to say something that would contradict it when…

Miss Grotke burst into the classroom, dark hair flying ever which way, eyes wild with anger. She focused those crazy eyes on Spinelli and bellowed, "Ashley Spinelli! Get off that desk this instant!"

Spinelli slowly climbed down.

"And the rest of you, desks are for sitting in, not hiding under!" The kids crawled out, wary of what their obviously loony teacher would say or do next. "I did not accompany you to this school to watch you act like kindergartners!"

"I'll bet Chad really did make her watch Alf!" Vince mumbled to himself, just loud enough for Miss Grotke to hear.

Miss Grotke's head whipped around and she shot a death glare at Vince. "Don't you ever mention that repulsive name in this classroom again," she said through clenched teeth.

Vince frowned. "What, Alf?"

"No, the other one."

"Oh, you mean…"

"Don't," Miss Grotke snapped, "even think about saying it, Mr. LeSalle." She squeezed her eyes shut and took a few deep breaths. "Okay, class."

Everyone tensed, ready to escape should the need arise. Meaning, if Miss Grotke should have another little outburst.

"Open your textbooks to page 23. We're going to start learning about the lifestyle and times of the Ancient Egyptians."

A sigh of relief rippled through the class as they opened their books.

Thank goodness she didn't find the spitball in her desk drawer, Spinelli thought to herself. And she spoke a moment too soon.

Miss Grotke did indeed find the slobbery, soggy ball of paper in her desk drawer, and proceeded to pick it up between her fingers, holding it as though it were a dead rat. She turned and faced the class with this disgusting wad in her hand. Everyone froze.

They waited…

…and waited.

But still Miss Grotke stood there holding that mess, and saying nothing.

Then, quick as lightning, she flung it across the classroom, and it landed with a loud flop on the other wall. Her students just gazed at her, completely and utterly stunned at this stranger behavior their teacher was showing. Not a single child moved in their seat.

Miss Grotke stared in revulsion at the glob of…stuff on the wall, then spun on her heels and snatched her textbook off the desk.

"The Egyptians were ahead of their time in both technology and maturity…" she began reading out of the text.

Woah, calm down turbo, Spinelli thought. I think she's lost a few of her marbles. Or gone off her rocker. Or…what's another one of those crazy things? I dunno. She's gone insane. And what was with that whole Chad thing? She shrugged. Meh. Not my problem.

She focused on the words in the book instead of the thoughts in her head.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Gee whiz, what was with Miss Grotke today?" Gus asked no one in particular.

"Yeah," T.J. replied, a pondering look in his eyes. "Did you see how huffy she got when Vince mentioned Chad's name? What's up with that?" He glanced around at his friends. "Anyone know?" He focused in on Spinelli who seemed incredibly interested in her shoe. "Spinelli?"

Her head shot up, eyes looking very guilty. "Huh? I…uh…I don't know nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing." She glanced around nervously. Then wondered why the heck she was so nervous.

Maybe insanity is contagious, she thought, then laughed at herself.

T.J. lifted a brow. "Don't know anything, huh? Well, let's just see how much you really do know."

"What?"

"Swinger Girl said she saw you talking to that guy, Chad, right after they were done playing at recess."

"Yeah, so I was talking to him. What does that have to do with anything?" Spinelli replied defensively.

"Well," T.J. continued. "Swinger Girl also said that you looked pretty fascinated by what he was saying. And by him in general. Anything you want to share?"

"What, are you like jealous or something, Teej?" Spinelli said without thinking, then slapped a hand over her mouth.

T.J. stopped dead in his tracks. "Excuse me?"

Gretchen, Gus, and Mikey glanced at each other knowingly.

"Uh…I just remembered…I have to…uh…" Gus fumbled for an excuse to leave.

Gretchen jumped in. "We have to go to the library. To study. Right, guys?"

Gus and Mikey nodded, but Vince just watched T.J. and Spinelli, who were still glaring at each other, with growing interest.

Gretchen grabbed his arm. "C'mon, Vince!"

"But I wanna stay!" He tried to pull his arm out of Gretchen's surprisingly firm grip with no avail.

"No, Vince. We have to go!"

"But why?"

Gretchen tugged at his arm until he fell into step with the rest of them, leaving T.J. and Spinelli behind. "I'll explain on the way.

With one last glance behind him, Vince grudgingly followed the rest of his friends. He knew there was something between T.J. and Spinelli, even if they didn't know it themselves. Something that went much deeper than that one kiss the two had shared a few years ago behind the old dumpster; something that none of them were ready to face quite yet.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The street was silent. Even the birds had stopped singing their songs to watch the two kids stare each other down. Neither budged from their position, each one waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally, T.J. broke the silence.

"What did you say?" he repeated very slowly, trying to control the sudden anger he felt.

Spinelli squared her shoulders and set her jaw. "You heard me." She was suddenly very afraid of the boy she was facing.

He glared at her. "There is no way I'm jealous of that loser."

"Loser? Loser? You, Theodore Detweiler, are calling Chad, the singer of the coolest band ever, a loser?" She raised an eyebrow. "Where do you come off saying something like that? That's just your jealousy speaking."

"I have no reason to be jealous of him. So why would you say I am? I'm not." T.J. babbled.

"You really are jealous of him, aren't you, Teej? Why do you suppose that is?"

T.J. blinked. "I'm not jealous. Why should I be? I'm not!"

"Okay, Teej. Whatever you say." Spinelli nodded and looked at him like he had no idea what he was talking about.

Then he exploded. "I don't like you hanging out with him! I saw the expression on your face when the Ashley's mentioned Chad. I saw it!"

"Saw what, exactly, Theodore? A frown? Because that's exactly what I did! I frowned." And she did so again. "Why am I explaining myself to you? You don't deserve an explanation. You don't even deserve my time!" She turned away in a huff.

She had taken only two steps when T.J. grabbed her arm and pulled him to her, crushing his mouth to hers. Spinelli couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't focus on anything but the lips that were on hers. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back with as much enthusiasm and passion as he gave her. The world was spinning out of control, but neither one cared.

T.J. had no idea what the heck had come over him. Spinelli had turned her back on him, and he just snapped. Now here they were, locked together like the world could end any second, and he couldn't think of anything but the fact that her mouth was currently devouring his, and he had this really strange feeling rushing through his body. It was a foreign, yet oddly familiar feeling.

Then Spinelli pulled away.

"Woah," she said, her mind still reeling. "That was…that was…"

"Amazing," T.J. suggested.

"Yeah." Spinelli sighed.

They glanced at each other, and then it dawned on them just how weird the situation was. They leaped apart, and Spinelli said, "Um…how about we just keep this…matter to ourselves. Okay?"  She bit her lip.  "Because, you know, if you tell anyone, I'll have to kick your ass and all that stuff."

T.J. looked sideways at her. "Yeah. Sounds good. Well, I better be getting home. So…"

Spinelli glanced at the ground and back up at T.J., and smiled to herself. His face had gone beet red.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," she said.

"Yeah."

"So...bye."

They turned and walked separate ways, T.J. tripping only once, and Spinelli walking into just one tree.

When they were just out of hearing distance, a snicker was heard from a bush, and a red sneaker found it's way to the sunlight. A greasy head popped out, making sure the coast was clear

Then, with another snicker, Randall Weems crawled out from his hiding space, digital camera in one hand, tape recorder in the other.

"This is great!" he cackled. "T.J. Detweiler and Ashley Spinelli! I always knew there was something between the two of them!"

He glanced around to make sure there was no one to listen to his ranting and raving.

"Just think of what I can make them do for me now, what with this little piece of yummy information! I'm such a genius!  Mwahahahahahahahaha!" He threw his head back and laughed menacingly.

"Now I will take over the playground!" With that last declaration, he raced down the street to his house to print off his new discovery.