Ace's Groove Moves

The Gangreen Gang was always causing trouble around town, even on weekdays. But, today, they felt like just relaxing and watching a movie at the movie theater.

"Got the popcorn!" said Billy as he shoved the popcorn bucket in Ace's face.

"Yeah, good," said Ace waving his hand at the bucket. "All right, let's get our seats." He studied his ticket. "It's in Theater Six."

They started to make their way to the theater, when a familiar and gravelly voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Where do you think you're going?" said the voice.

The voice was revealed to be Truant Officer Jack Wednesday. The Gangreen Gang stared in silence at the officer. They had a run-in with him before and they knew not to mess with him.

"Well, where do you think you are going?" repeated Wednesday.

"Uh…well…we…" began Ace, as he tried to collect his thoughts. "We're gonna see a moo…vie?" he answered slowly and quietly.

"On a school day?" said Wednesday sarcastically. He gave an exasperated sigh. "Apparently, you 'upright citizens' didn't learn anything the last time." He motioned toward the exit. "Let's go."

Dragging their feet, the gang reluctantly followed Officer Wednesday.

Later that morning, Wednesday led the gang into the entrance of their local high school.

"Primary school didn't work the last time," said Wednesday. "So, we're gonna see how you fare in secondary school."

The gang groaned as Wednesday turned to the admission office to sign them in for the day. "They're all yours now…I suggest you watch them CLOSELY." He left through the front entrance and, suddenly, the Gangreen Gang was alone in the school hallway.

"Dah, what do we do now?" asked Billy.

Arturo pulled out a small piece of paper. "Well, here's our class schedule," he said.

"Class schedule?!" repeated Ace. "Lemme see that!" He snatched the paper and studied it. Then, he laughed, scratched his head, and enunciated his words slowly in a sarcastic tone…"Oh, we'll be goin' to class all right. We'll be goin' to 'Crash 'em 'N Smash 'em' class!"

"Yeah!" agreed the gang laughing.

"Oh, are you?" said a familiar voice.

Ace and the Gangreen Gang swung around and saw that the voice was Jessie's. "You're gonna smash 'em?" she asked defiantly.

"Jessie!" Ace yelled out surprised. He started to blush. "Uh…no. We didn't say we were gonna…smash 'em….We said we were gonna…be smashing…'IN'…'em."

"Uh-huh," said Jessie suspiciously. She stared at them and then walked away.

"One thing we ssshould do isss get HER once and for all," laughed Snake.

Arturo and Billy laughed while Grubber raspberried.

Ace, however, was not laughing. He actually liked Jessie, but hadn't told his gang or anyone else. He didn't know how they would react.

Suddenly, the bell rang to go to class and Arturo, Billy, and Grubber ran off, excited about all the mischief they were going to pull. Snake stayed behind with Ace.

"Aren't you excited, Ace?" he asked his best friend. "Thisss could be our chance to find a way to get back at Jesssie."

"Oh, yeah," said Ace unconvincingly. "I just can't wait. Hee hee."

Snake looked at him suspiciously. "Sssettle down before you blow a gasssket," he said sarcastically. Then they were quiet. Snake began thinking about past run-ins with Jessie. "You never wanna do pranksss when ssshe's around. Whaaat…do…do you LIKE her or sssomething?" He laughed.

"What?!" said Ace in a flustered way. "No! Whatever gave you that idea?" He blushed and turned away.

Snake suddenly realized his best friend's secret. "You DO like her!" he said. "You LIKE Jesssie!" He started to laugh again.

Ace shushed him frantically and then looked around. "All right, I DO like her. But, don't tell the rest of the guys."

"Don't worry, Ace," said Snake wiping his eyes from laughing so hard. "I won't sssay a worrrd..." Ace just stood there as Snake continued laughing. Then, the bell rang and they ran into the classroom.

They were the last ones to enter their English class. When Ace went to sit in the back of the room, he looked forward and suddenly saw that they were in the same room as Jessie!

"Okay, everybody," said the teacher as class started. "Today, we are going to recite poetry. You are all going to come up in pairs of two. One person will be the recipient and the other will read a carefully selected poem aloud from our poem book to that person. The content and feeling of the poem should be picked specifically for the recipient. Now, I'm going to need two volunteers."

She looked around the room. No one volunteered. Just as the teacher turned away, Snake threw his book on Jessie's desk and it made a loud thud.

All eyes suddenly turned toward Jessie, including the teacher's.

"Jessie," said the teacher. "Why don't you be our first recipient?"

Jessie slowly got up from her seat and stood in the front of the room.

"Now, who would like to read Jessie a poem?"

"Why don't yousss go up there?" Snake whispered to Ace.

"Uh…I dunno…" Ace whispered back.

"Thisss could be your chance to impresss her," said Snake. He elbowed Ace hard in the side and as Ace jumped up, the teacher saw him flinch.

"Ah, Ace," said the teacher. "Very good."

Ace started to get up.

"Don't forget your poetry book," laughed Arturo as he shoved the book in his hands.

"Oh, yeah," said Ace. He went to the front of the room and started going through the book to pick out a poem for Jessie. Everyone was staring at him as he fumbled through the pages. They were all a blur as he rustled through the book.

"Just pick something…" Jessie whispered annoyed.

"Uh, yeah," he said. He dropped the book and grabbed it off the floor. "Uh…Ummm." He cleared his throat.

Suddenly, he stood tall to impress Jessie. He saw the words "noble" and "lovely" in one of the poems.

'This looks good…' he thought. He started to read.

"'Who art thou, my noble companion? Thou art a lovely…mockery, foul and frightful…with a misshapen head….'"

He stopped when he realized what he was reading. The whole class was laughing and Jessie put her hand on her face in embarrassment.

Grubber raspberried.

"Yeah, Grubber," whispered Arturo. "That was a great prank!" They laughed hysterically. "Switching Ace's poetry book with this other book!" He held up a book, called "Parody Poetry." "They didn't know what hit 'em!" He laughed along with Grubber and Billy.

Next, in outdoor gym class, they were playing basketball.

"Jesssie's looking this way," Snake said to Ace. "Why don't you make the next basssket?"

Ace looked at him and then looked at the hoop with confidence.

"Here we go," he said.

He threw the ball towards the hoop, but the ball missed and bounced off the board. The ball went flying towards a mud puddle and splashed Jessie and the rest of the class. Jessie groaned as she looked at the mud all over her.

Ace stood there, shocked and embarrassed, as Jessie tried to wipe off the mud.

Later, in Biology class, the students were outside in the school's garden. They were studying the types of plants. Ace looked around and saw a batch of purple flowers at the edge of the garden.

He had to find a way to make up for his goofs toward Jessie. He thought of a great idea, after all…purple is her favorite color! He went over, picked a purple flower, and walked over to Jessie.

"Jessie?" he asked as he held the flower behind his back.

"Yeah?" she said looking at him.

"Um…uh…" he started. He hesitated for a second. Then, he gave her the flower.

"Thank you, Ace," she said surprised. She took the flower. "It's so…pretty."

Ace blushed as Jessie admired the flower. But, the moment was cut short when a bee suddenly flew out of the flower and headed right toward Jessie's face!

"Ah!" yelped Jessie as she jumped a foot off the ground.

She dropped the flower and the bee flew around the other students in the garden. They all started shouting and running. The bee flew away, but the school's garden was trampled from the students running all over it!

Finally, when lunchtime came, Ace, Arturo, Billy, and Grubber were in line to get their food in the cafeteria. Jessie was a little behind them in line.

"I hope they have mango pudding cups today," said Jessie.

Snake, who was passing by her, heard this and rushed over to Ace.

"Ace, Jesssie jussst ssaid ssshe hoped there are mango pudding cups," he told him.

"Mango pudding cups?" he said. He looked far in front of him to see if they had them. Fortunately, they did! But, there were only a few left. By the time Jessie would get there, they might all be gone.

"I know," Ace told Snake. "I'll save her one."

As Ace got to the pudding cups, he reached to grab the only pudding cup left. But, as he put his hand on it, someone else put their hand on it at the exact same time! Ace turned to see that it was Kirsten Crandall, the school's queen bee.

"I saw it first!" shouted Kirsten.

"No, I did," argued Ace.

"Let go!" she argued back. "It's mine!"

The two were tugging back and forth on the pudding cup, when Jessie noticed the struggle. She went over to try to mediate it.

"Woah, guys, why don't you ju-" she was cut off when both Kirsten and Ace squeezed the pudding cup, causing it to explode all over Jessie.

Kirsten snickered, while Ace and the Gangreen Gang looked in shock. Then, Arturo grabbed a clump of mashed potatoes and threw it across the cafeteria.

"Food fight!" he shouted.

Suddenly, everyone began throwing food all over the cafeteria.

"Aah!" cried Kirsten as she was clobbered with food. "This is a brand new RaRucci top!"

Ace and Jessie ducked as food flew all around them. The cafeteria was in total chaos and his gang was right at the center of it.

Later, the Principal was finishing up reprimanding the gang.

"You will spend all of this Saturday in detention," said the Principal. "Now, you may go."

The gang walked out of the office.

"Man, we got 'em good today," boasted Arturo. "Let's think of some new stunts for tomorrow."

Arturo, Grubber, and Billy ran off while Ace and Snake slowly followed from behind.

"I can't believe it," said Ace. "How could a poem, a basketball, a flower, and a pudding cup go so wrong?"

"Look, you tried," said Snake trying to comfort him. "Maybe you could think of sssomething that would make it up to her." He continued walking, while Ace stopped in his tracks.

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "After everything that happened today?" He continued to walk. "I'd be lucky if Jessie ever spoke to me again."

As the gang walked further into the hallway, Jessie appeared from behind a corner.

Later, as the gang opened the door to their hideout, they saw something on the table.

"What is that?" asked Billy.

On the table was a mango pudding cup with a small note attached to it. Arturo picked it up.

"'Ace…'" Arturo said as he read the note aloud. "'…Thank you for everything.'"

"'Thank you?'" asked Arturo curiously. He gave the note to Snake. He read it and then smiled.

Grubber raspberried.

"I don't know," said Snake as he grinned and gave Ace the pudding cup. "They didn't leave their name."

Ace looked at the pudding cup and then smiled at Snake.

"Man go…I mean Mango…" started Ace. "…My favorite!"