Okay. I am a major shipper of TJ and Spinelli. But I decided to be unique and challenge myself, so I wrote this little story about Spinelli and Gus (a very unlikely couple). :)

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"Last one to the swings is gonna get Gelman-ized!" TJ shouted.

The group started to run. Gus and Gretchen were the last the get there. Gus had his hands on his knees and was gasping.

"You guys know not to joke about that! You know how much he hates me! He could put me in traction until I'm 12!" he yelled.

"Sorry, Gus-o. Won't happen again," TJ told him, smiling.

Spinelli shook her head. Even though Teej was a good guy, she knew something like this would happen again pretty soon. TJ would forget and Gus would be scared out of his wits yet again. Spinelli sighed. The least TJ could do was remember what he promised once in a while.

They went inside into Ms. Grokee's class. Although she could usually keep the kids to pay attention, Ms. Grokee had a hard time today. At least with Spinelli. For some reason, Gus kept popping into Spinelli's head. How he had been bent over, puffing and gasping. How he had looked so scared when he was running. Yet, somehow, that seemed good in Spinelli's eyes. TJ and Vince always boasted so much about how they were so good in kickball and never got scared. Gus was so-

"Spinelli? Spinelli? Did you hear me? How does the ozone layer affect the mosquitoes?" Ms. Grokee asked.

"Erm, well. They get sunburned, right? Because the schmo-zone is so thin?" she guessed.

"No, Spinelli. I suggest you look over your assigned pages a few more times," the teacher told her.

Spinelli sighed. Even though she didn't really care about what happened to the mosquitoes, she didn't want Ms. Grokee to be mad at her. She looked over at her friends. TJ and Vince just laughed, knowing that Spinelli usually could be counted on to give them a laugh in the middle of class. Mikey looked confused for a moment, but accepted it to be just "Spinelli-ness". Gretchen immediately got out her book and started working on something Spinelli knew had to be a plan for tutoring her. Gus was the only one that really looked concerned.

He scribbled something on a piece of paper, folded it up, and handed it to her.

It read, "What's wrong? You looked weird. Are you sick?"

Spinelli rolled her eyes. Even though "you looked weird" wasn't the best choice of words, she knew Gus meant well. She looked over at him and shook her head, telling him that she wasn't.

Soon the school day ended and they all headed off home. Spinelli was glad. All she really wanted to do was go home and forget about this whole day. She just wanted to forget about Gus. He seemed to be popping into her mind at the most inappropriate times.

But TJ had a different idea for Spinelli's afternoon. "You're coming to the pond with us to catch salamanders, right, Spin?"

She just shook her head. "Nah. I'm going home. I have things to figure out."

TJ just shrugged and motioned for the rest of them to follow him to the pond. One by one, the others started to follow him, giving Spinelli strange looks. Gus waved TJ on, yelled that he'd catch up with them, and then ran up to Spinelli's side.

"You're sure you're okay? Nothing's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, Gus. Why don't you just go to the pond, okay? I gotta go home and think about some things," she told him, walking a little faster.

Gus had to run to keep up with her. "Think about what? Uh, if you don't mind me asking, of course."

"Well, I do mind. So just go with TJ."

Gus hesitated. "You sure nothing's wrong?"

Spinelli nodded. He turned around and started to walk down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. Spinelli wanted to stop him. Or at least tell him something.

"Gus!"

He turned around and looked at her.

"Uh, thanks," she said with a smile. He smiled back.

"You know what? I might be up for going to the pond. I don't think I need to think about anything right now," Spinelli said.

And with that they set off for the pond to be with their friends.

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That it. The end. I hope you liked it. If you did, please review. If you didn't, please still review. I like it when you guys give me tips on where and what I can improve. Thanks for reading! Toodles!