The Valentine's Dance: A Wayside Fanfiction

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. This is a continuation of the fanfic I'm currently working on (the other chapters are on my profile, of course)!

Chapter 11: Conversations

As Todd was about to unleash the Double Reverse Cherry Bomb on the 1st grader across from him, a thousand thoughts and a million worries entered into his mind.

"Will I get in serious trouble with Louis from what I'm going to do? What really was in that Mushroom Surprise? Do monkeys know that they are monkeys? And why can I still remember a lot of the rules that Dana has bored us with over and over?!"

As Todd started pondering this and the seconds were crushed into hours, he realized that he needed to act rationally. But it was already too late. The ball hit the pavement and before anyone else could anticipate it, it went flying right past a giant window on the 5th floor. Almost the entire playground was stunned as they looked up at the new eclipse that had formed. Suddenly, Todd and the other four-squarers could hear a bunch of wailings slowly growing closer and closer...

"Todd! TODD! What did you just do!? You forgot one of the most important Wayside rules (as seen in section 4B.5 of the newest edition of the rulebook): 'It is strictly prohibited to create a solar eclipse while using a red ball during traditional recess time'! They are not allowed to go up that high!" Dana had somehow gotten closer and closer to his ear without him noticing.

Suddenly, everyone who heard this (since many were still in awe of the beautiful sight up above) broke into hysterical whispers about this. Somehow, the commotion had made it so that no one could remember what color of ball they were playing with in the first place. Todd had suspected that something was wrong because everyone was like this, but then again, this is Wayside.

"Aw man," Joe started. "I cannot remember the last time this has happened. In fact, it's never happened! If only there was a way to see the other recess balls so we would know..." Suddenly, Terrence heard this and had a brilliant idea. "I bet that we could ask Louis to see what was taken from him! Then we would know!" The students immediately rushed over.

Unbeknownst to the others, Maurecia and her pet Fluffy were watching from the bushes near the other side of the courts. While Fluffy was oblivious to the situation, Maurecia looked like she was about to cry her eyes out. "Oh, Fluffy," she bawled while petting the parts of him that weren't so spiky. "What am I going to do? If he gets another strike then he's going to go home early again, and I can't have that! The dance is tomorrow and I keep stalling! Why didn't I just ask him when I had the chance! Every time I have an opportunity to see him I just feel like punching... but that'll ruin my chances. My fist is already starting to hurt sooo muuuch..."

As soon as Fluffy had heard this, he started to growl. She was always thinking about Todd when he wants her attention even more. "Fluffy, what has gotten into you?! Can't you see that I'm feeling so bad..." They turned away from each other with arms crossed before looking back after half a minute. "Oh, you know I can't get mad at you!" As they reconciled, they both started to feel better about things. "I just hope this will all get better for the both of us."

"I have to look a bit harder dudes, it seems like everything's been a little out of order today. Let me check what I still have." Louis said reluctantly, after everyone had stopped playing to return the balls. Now the pressure was on for real. If it really was a red ball that was hurled, then Todd would be sent straight home on the dreaded kindergarten bus. Just thinking about the loud screams and the snot all over the place made him shiver. But on the bright side, it would at least give him more time to think over things.

Louis pulled out a green ball. Then another. And another. After that was the icky yellow ball, which no one wanted. Finally, there were the red balls. As all the kids (minus Maurecia, who was already growing nervous again) gathered around to see what would happen.

The number of red ones varied from day to day, since they would often get kicked into a classroom by accident and be collected by Mr. Kidswatter as part of his duties. As a result, no one could know how many there were until Louis announced the verdict. At first, he only took out three from what he was given. Then six. Then twelve. Last, but not least, there were twenty-four, making the total forty-five, which was higher than what most there could count to.

"On days like this..." Most of them could not help but turn towards Todd, who was shivering with a worried face and his arms over his head. "I would usually have..." Todd was now closing his eyes to protect himself from his classmates' overwhelming gazes. "At least..."

Suddenly, the big double doors burst open as Mrs. Jewls stepped outside, upset that she could not see where her file cabinet in her room was. Despite the huge noise caused by this, no one heard her stomp across the grass to where the students were. At the same time, Maurecia could not take her pain anymore, and had skated over from where she was to see Todd before anything bad could happen to him. She was so overwhelmed with emotion that she crashed into the large group, including their pink-haired teacher who was about to explode. The kids yelled as they all briefly went up in the air before falling like a shooting star. And did it hurt!

Louis, Terrence, Bebe, Dana, Myron, Todd and even Shari coughed and brushed themselves off. When their vision stopped being blurry, it was revealed that Louis had a lone red ball in his hand, which meant that the one in the sky was indeed, a red ball. "TODD!" Mrs. Jewls yelled. "You just violated one of the strictest rules we have for this playground, and that leaves me no choice but to circle your name on the chalkboard (under the word DISCIPLINE) send you home on the kindergarten bus."

"Kindergarten bus. Kindergarten bus. Kindergarten bus. Kindergarten bus..."

These words rang over and over again in Todd's head, as if they were the final sentencing of a court case, and all he could do was sit in shock of what he had done. He had begun to realize that no matter what he did in school, he would never be able to abide by every single weird rule they had. He felt like an outsider in a place where everyone loved him. Before he could start crying, however, another voice had interrupted his deepest thoughts.

"Wait!"

As he looked up, he found that Maurecia had stood over him with her arms sticking out to "protect" him from anyone else, her purple hair flowing as the eclipse started to fade. "You can't do this to him! It's not fair!" she proclaimed, defying every norm Mrs. Jewls set out for all of them while Louis was left without words. "You guys can't take him away from me- I mean- all of us! He always goes home early when it seems like you're doing it on purpose! These rules make sense to all of us but how can we expect all of it for someone like... Todd~!" she yelled, before swooning without thinking about what she was actually doing.

The ball was now slowly starting to fall back down as the sun came back, but no one, not even the 1st grader who it was meant for, was concerned about it. "Well," Mrs. Jewls started, folding her arms while the kids started to go back inside. "If you are going to talk to your teacher that way, then I suppose I'll just have to write your name on the chalkboard next to Todd's." While Maurecia would usually be upset about this, Mrs. Jewls' words gave her a brilliant idea.

"Dana! According to the Wayside rulebook, are there any other rules I have broken?" Myron looked confused at her while Dana took it out, despite having memorized it already. "Well, not in my recent memory at least. But I would be careful if I were you; there is an entire section dedicated to not kicking the yellow ball out of the-" Before she could finish her sentence, Maurecia used all of her strength and kicked it straight out to the street. "Anything else?!"

Dana played along. "Hmmm... well, it says here that doing Wheels Extreme into the-" Before any teachers could interfere, Maurecia and Jenny had already yelled "Wheels Extreme!" and used a ramp to crash into the 19th floor. Mrs. Jewls, Louis, Todd, Dana, and Myron could only watch as the pair came out of the smoke and rubble from above. "I've had enough Maurecia! I have no choice but to put a checkmark and circle with your name on the chalkboard and send you home early with Todd on the kindergarten bus!"

Shortly after...

Everyone had gone back to class since there was still time between recess and what was left of the day. "Class, I want to make sure that we are all following the school rules. Dana, you make a great example for all of us, and I appreciate you very much." Mrs. Jewls announced. The class clapped for her (even John who used his feet) and Dana blushed and started to giggle before demanding, "Enough with the fun!" "I just want to make sure that you guys don't think of me as too mean. And that you especially don't leave bad grades on my report card as a result."

While she continued lecturing, many of the students weren't listening and decided to do their own thing. Rondi was flossing her beautiful front teeth, Stephen was making plans for a new Halloween costume, Joy was thinking about how to sneak some Tootsie Roll Pops, Calvin was helping Bebe with some cat drawings, and Kathy was plugging her ears.

Todd still was a little stung from what had happened earlier, but he was amazed that his friends would stand up so much for him like that. Myron noticed this, turned around in his seat, and gave him a thumbs up alongside a face of reassurance. He went right back to creating campaign materials soon after. But Todd's mood had not changed quite as dramatically as Maurecia's did.

Maurecia had never felt better in a long time, writing more love letters and swooning while letting Fluffy have some of her leftover ice cream.

"I didn't know that I still had that sort of adrenaline in me... but then again, it has been so long since I had changed... I cannot believe I just did that..."

Strangely, it seemed like her need to punch Todd had diminished from what it was like before. Maybe it had something to do with venting her frustration out in front of pretty much everyone? The feeling of protecting someone who she cared about so much gave her a sort of rush that was different from her earlier interactions with the boy.

"Maybe I could use this to my advantage... if I can keep finding ways to get rid of my frustration and instead use it to protect him... then I can stop punching him and hopefully improve our relationship... and maybe finally work up the courage to ask him out for tomorrow night..."

Meanwhile, there were some students that actually were listening to their teacher. Usually, Mrs. Jewls would have everyone pay close attention to her if they were not following her lesson plans for long enough, but she was so exhausted from earlier that she ultimately let it go. "Alright class, I feel like now would be a great time to discuss how to have a healthy and balanced diet. Our fabulous cook, Ms. Mush, and her assistant Sammy would usually be helping us out here, but I heard that they are preparing for tomorrow with the Dance Committee. So! I will be helping us out today,"

She promptly pulled out a chart with many odd symbols that certain students recognized more than others. The teacher pointed towards the very bottom of the unconventional shape. "Now class, who can tell me what our first food group is?"

Dana, D. J., Leslie, Allison and the three Erics all raised their hands. "Yes, D. J.?" The boy cleared his throat, showed the bright piano under his nose, and answered, "The lima bean group?" Mrs. Jewls jumped for joy. "Excellent work! Now, who can tell me the next one?" Dana made sure to raise her hand a little bit higher than the rest, almost hitting the ceiling. "Yes, Dana?" "I know, I know! It is the chocolate group, because we need more of that than lima beans!"

Mrs. Jewls gave her a golden star and pointed towards the last, and biggest group of them all. The three Erics were so impatient, they all answered at the same time. "All of the meals Ms. Mush makes for us!" Eric Fry, Eric Bacon, and Eric Ovens answered. "Fantastic job, all of you!" Mrs. Jewls exclaimed for all the ones who had participated. A few more activities took place, and then it was finally time for Todd and Maurecia to go home. No one else had even thought to have their name on the chalkboard under the word DISCIPLINE.

As the two left with their materials, a lot of the class applauded for them both as if they were baseball stars leaving the field after a rousing game. "Please don't go you guys!" Myron and Dana begged. But they knew that Mrs. Jewls would find out if they found a way to stay. "I hope you guys can start learning a little bit more around here. Have an amazing day you guys, and we will see you tomorrow!"

Todd and Maurecia began the long walk down the stairs to the slightly-long bus ride home. Todd was not looking forward to spending more time with the kindergartens, even if they really liked him, but at least he didn't have to do it alone. Of course, there have been times where someone else also had to go home early with him, but this time, things were different.

At first they didn't really talk to each other because they thought they had nothing to say, but all it really was, was nervousness. Todd, because of him being unsure as to how to thank her, and Maurecia, because of her having to finally work up enough courage to ask him out. As they came to the 27th floor, Todd decided to speak up.

"These stairs are a lot easier down, than up, huh? Must be different with roller skates..." he started, still nervous. Maurecia chuckled a little and replied, "I really could take them off, but I'm so used to them at this point it would make me feel more weird." "Hey, I think there's something I should tell you..." Todd suddenly said. This made her even more nervous.

"I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me back there... I had no idea that you cared so much about me. Not even Dana or Myron would have the courage to do that. You just have a courage that I'll probably never have. But that's probably because everyone knows you could beat them up anytime." Maurecia's amusement calmed her down a little bit as they went past the non-existent 19th floor. "You think that I'm brave all the time? Even after I changed from being the girly-girl I was, it's not like that side of me has completely gone away. There's a lot to me."

"Well, I mean you have no problem with punching me all the time, so a lot of the time that is the first thing that comes to my mind when I see you. A lot of the time I am so caught up with how different I am that I don't even think of things like that, even though everyone's used to me." Maurecia stared at the boy as the steps didn't even matter.

"Todd, for someone so romantic, you always seem to be thinking too much! I know that I can be rough sometimes, but there really isn't anyone I don't like. Well, maybe Kathy. But you're so special Todd! And I don't mind spending more time with you if it means something like spending more days on the bus with you! Oh Todd, you make it worth it!"

Soon enough, they had passed by the cafeteria, auditorium, and Mr. Kidswatter's personal ice-skating rink, now they were heading onto the bus. Fortunately for them, the kindergarteners had been on a rousing field trip to a nearby zoo and were sleeping it off, so there wasn't any of the usual cries that brought Todd bad memories. Fluffy had also tired himself out and rested on her backpack. The doors closed, and the two were sitting together near the front, as close as when Dana chopped their desk in half.

Both of their houses were not too far away, so Maurecia already knew that she had to act fast. If she could get out those few words, her concerns about potentially punching Todd again would be gone.

"Todd, you have always been there for me, and I feel so fortunate to be your friend. I am glad that we have some sort of relationship together, since it is crazy that we even met in the first place!"

"You're right about that. Being at Wayside has definitely been a different experience for me. A good, if not frustrating one, of course."

"Todd, I need to ask you something..." Both of their hearts were beating faster than that of the fastest man in the world.

"Will you go out with me to the Valentine's Dance tomorrow night?"

~to be continued~

Sorry that this one is a little on the short side, I mainly just wanted to get something out to let you guys know I am still here! Hopefully the content more than made up for it as I am trying to improve my writing. Last chapter is next, and it will be out soon, hopefully ^^ Thank you for all of your amazing support.