CHAPTER 3: THE SETUP
"RRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!" went the bell for recess. "Oh my!" exclaimed Ms. Grotke (Coincidentally, she had begun teaching fifth grade class just as T.J. and his classmates moved up to fifth grade). "Recess already? Oh, darn this solar-powered watch". Then she gained a more cheerful tone. "Well, class, I guess that's it for the year. Remember, like I said before, even though I won't be your teacher next year, you can still come to me if you're having trouble adjusting to sixth grade life. Have a safe recess, and a safe summer vacation, everyone!"
As she said this, everyone left the room with smiles and chatter. Before Spinelli could leave, though, Gretchen grabbed onto her shoulder in an effort to stop her.
"Huh?" Spinelli said almost angrily, thinking that someone was looking to pick a fight. "Oh, heya, Gretch" she greeted in a more friendly tone.
"Hey, Spinelli," said Gretchen, slightly nervous about how Spinelli would take her request. "Uh, Spinelli, I need you to do me a slight...favor."
"Sure, Gretch," Spinelli said. "What?"
"Well....remember back in fourth grade....when you and T.J. helped me with that experiment, in which you had to kiss and describe your emotions that followed?"
Spinelli was completely caught off guard with this memory. Although her facial expression didn't show it, she was blushing at the thought of her and T.J. kissing. In her usual tough-girl tone, she responded, "Yeah, so?"
"Well, I...uh....sort of need you two to do it again, because..."
Before Gretchen could continue, Spinelli cut her off. "What?!" she responded in disbelief. "No way, Gretch! Uh-uh! What are you, crazy? Don't you remember what happened last time? All those kids were watchin' me and T.J. like we were gettin' married or somethin'!"
"But don't you see, Spinelli?" Gretchen immediately responded. She was about to use a bit of psychology to trick Spinelli into agreeing with her. "The results from that experiment - i.e., you and T.J. being repulsed after the kiss - could have occurred BECAUSE of the others watching you. My experiment results are very important to me, Spinelli; and that experiment was the only one of mine that was done improperly. This is why we have to perform it again. I promise you, no one will know about this kiss, other than T.J., me, and you."
"But...but what about T.J.? I know he won't go for this again!" Spinelli said, looking for a way out of the experiment. The last time she kissed T.J., everyone pretty much forgot about it. She knew that if she did it again, she wouldn't be as lucky. She would lose her tough girl rep, just like the time she called Ms. Grotke "mama", or when her temporary crush on Johnny V. was revealed, but this time, it would be permanent.
"I already confirmed T.J. as a ready and willing participant in this experiment," Gretchen said, blocking Spinelli's only polite way out. Now I only need you to be on board. Come on Spinelli; don't you want to help me out by finding out whether or not us girls will actually like kissing boys?"
Now Spinelli was trapped. If she gave any negative answer, she would either be considered a bad friend, or Gretchen would think that she wasn't interested in the experiment because she already knew she liked kissing. After a short internal struggle, she, as T.J. did earlier, sighed to show her defeat.
"Fine, Gretchen," she said. "I'll do the stupid experiment. Let's go. Where's T.J.?"
"Ah-ah-ah," Gretchen said, "Not yet. Meet him by Old Rusty after school, then go to my house, where no one can see you two. My parents will be at work until five o'clock, that leaves about two hours, plenty of time. Here's my house key; keep it safe."
"What about Vince, Mikey, and Gus?" Spinelli asked as a final, feeble attempt to get out of the whole thing.
"Not to worry," Gretchen responded, "I'll keep them busy at Vince's. Oh, and I'll call you from there to see how it went, so you'll have to wait for that call."
"Wait a second," Spinelli said, nervously pocketing Gretchen's key. The thought of her and T.J. kissing alone entered her head, and terrified her. For some reason, she thought it was even scarier than kissing in front of a crowd. "Uhh...Aren't you supposed to be with us, y'know, to actually SEE our reactions?"
"I don't need to see it, Spinelli, as long as I know what happens, so I can start analyzing the results in contrast to the previous experiment," Gretchen replied. "Of course, I can trust my two friends to tell me the truth, right?"
"Uh, right," Spinelli said, depressed. She had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but she knew she had to do it.
Finally, the three o'clock bell rang. Almost immediately, every kid in Third Street blasted out of the school, eager to start summer vacation. Vince, Gus, Mikey, and Gretchen were among the rushing crowd, until Vince noticed that T.J. and Spinelli were nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, where's Spinelli and T.J.?" Mikey asked his three friends.
Gretchen quickly responded with a prepared excuse. "Oh, they went over to T.J.'s house to watch pay-per-view wrestling." She knew that this excuse was believable, since T.J. and Spinelli were the only ones in the group who loved pro wrestling, plus T.J.'s family was the only one in the group's to have pay-per-view. "Hey Vince," she continued, "how about we go to your house to watch Beanie McChimp?"
"That sounds great!" Gus said.
"Great idea, Gretch!" Vince agreed. "I just hope my parents stocked up on Winger-Dingers."
The four friends laughed and headed over to Vince's house.
Although the four friends had left the school, T.J. and Spinelli were on the playground. T.J. went towards Old Rusty to see if Spinelli was there, and she was. She caught sight of him and smiled as a friend should, although she was really nervous. "Hey, Teej," she greeted him.
"Hey," T.J. hailed back. Immediately, he got "that feeling" again. He almost looked at her lips too long, before he caught himself and said, "Well, I guess Gretchen told you about the re-experiment, huh?"
"Yeah," she said. Both of them eyed the ground for five seconds.
"Well, we should hurry up and do this," T.J. said, trying to sound as regular as possible.
"Yeah, let's go," Spinelli responded, doing the same as T.J..
They began walking to Gretchen's house, not saying anything for about five minutes. Then, all of a sudden, Spinelli hit on a topic that broke the ice.
"So, T.J.," Spinelli finally said, "You catch that match between the Minister of Mayhem and Killer Calhoun last night?"
"Oh, yeah! Man, that was awesome!" T.J. responded excitedly. "I couldn't believe it! That last slam actually BROKE the entire ring down! That was amazing!". He actually started to see her as just a friend again.
"Well, what'd you expect? Together those guys do weigh over eight hundred pounds...mix that with a superplex off the top rope, and you'll always get destructive results!" said Spinelli with excitement.
After a long period of walking and talking, the two were finally nearing Gretchen's house, still discussing pro wrestling.
"Yeah, but the best part was when Iron Ivan Torgoff did that German suplex to Bloodbath Bates..." T.J. continued. He then grabbed Spinelli's waist from behind to demonstrate, and continued, "...right on the steel chair!", while playfully pulling her up and down. They were both laughing at first, but then they slowly stopped, noticing the position they were in. It didn't take long for T.J. to go from friendly rough-housing to appreciating the fact that he was finally holding the girl he loved. Spinelli felt a bit scared about the way T.J. was holding her; it was the way a boy would hold his girlfriend. Simultaneously, T.J. quickly let go of Spinelli as she pulled away from him slightly. They looked at each other for a second, then looked to the ground in embarrassment. Quickly thinking, T.J. saw Gretchen's house.
"Well, here we are," T.J. said, as if nothing awkward had happened. "You got the key?"
"Right here" Spinelli replied quickly. They both ran to the house and entered after Spinelli opened the door.
"Man, I don't know how Gretchen's folks keep their house so clean," Spinelli said upon seeing the well-organized Grundler home. It was even hotter inside than outside, so she then moved to the opposite side of the family room to turn on the air conditioner, as she did casually whenever she visited Gretchen. She also took off her hot black jacket.
"Yeah," T.J. agreed while closing and locking the front door and closing the windows. "So........how's about a kiss, baby?" T.J. asked half-jokingly, imitating a 1920's gangster he saw in an old "shoot-em-up" movie with Spinelli and the gang. He was hoping that she would remember it. She did.
"Now, Theodore!" Spinelli replied, imitating a Southern belle from the same movie. They both sensed that if they kissed while joking around, it would be easier, and more likely that their friendship wouldn't change. Spinelli sat down on the Grundlers' soft couch and continued, "Why, we just met two days ago! It would be improper!" Usually, Spinelli would never try to act like, what she would consider to be, some sissy, weak, make-uppy girl from the South. But at that moment, it didn't seem so bad.
"Truss me, baby," T.J. said, sitting on the couch beside her while overacting, "You ain't seen improper yet!". Then he wiggled his eyebrows, which made Spinelli chuckle. "Why, Theodore J. Detweiler, I do declare that you're putting a move on me!" Spinelli said, removing her orange ski cap and placing it on the coffee table. T.J. removed his red cap, and continued,"Lissen up sweetheart, in a coupl'a months I'm gonna be the new king'a Third Street. How's about you bein' my queen?" He joked while holding up her chin.
Suddenly, Spinelli had a look of ecstasy on her face. "Wow Teej, you mean it? Queen of the playground?" Spinelli asked in her regular voice. T.J. was still holding up her chin, but this time, he didn't let go. It was now or never.
"RRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!" went the bell for recess. "Oh my!" exclaimed Ms. Grotke (Coincidentally, she had begun teaching fifth grade class just as T.J. and his classmates moved up to fifth grade). "Recess already? Oh, darn this solar-powered watch". Then she gained a more cheerful tone. "Well, class, I guess that's it for the year. Remember, like I said before, even though I won't be your teacher next year, you can still come to me if you're having trouble adjusting to sixth grade life. Have a safe recess, and a safe summer vacation, everyone!"
As she said this, everyone left the room with smiles and chatter. Before Spinelli could leave, though, Gretchen grabbed onto her shoulder in an effort to stop her.
"Huh?" Spinelli said almost angrily, thinking that someone was looking to pick a fight. "Oh, heya, Gretch" she greeted in a more friendly tone.
"Hey, Spinelli," said Gretchen, slightly nervous about how Spinelli would take her request. "Uh, Spinelli, I need you to do me a slight...favor."
"Sure, Gretch," Spinelli said. "What?"
"Well....remember back in fourth grade....when you and T.J. helped me with that experiment, in which you had to kiss and describe your emotions that followed?"
Spinelli was completely caught off guard with this memory. Although her facial expression didn't show it, she was blushing at the thought of her and T.J. kissing. In her usual tough-girl tone, she responded, "Yeah, so?"
"Well, I...uh....sort of need you two to do it again, because..."
Before Gretchen could continue, Spinelli cut her off. "What?!" she responded in disbelief. "No way, Gretch! Uh-uh! What are you, crazy? Don't you remember what happened last time? All those kids were watchin' me and T.J. like we were gettin' married or somethin'!"
"But don't you see, Spinelli?" Gretchen immediately responded. She was about to use a bit of psychology to trick Spinelli into agreeing with her. "The results from that experiment - i.e., you and T.J. being repulsed after the kiss - could have occurred BECAUSE of the others watching you. My experiment results are very important to me, Spinelli; and that experiment was the only one of mine that was done improperly. This is why we have to perform it again. I promise you, no one will know about this kiss, other than T.J., me, and you."
"But...but what about T.J.? I know he won't go for this again!" Spinelli said, looking for a way out of the experiment. The last time she kissed T.J., everyone pretty much forgot about it. She knew that if she did it again, she wouldn't be as lucky. She would lose her tough girl rep, just like the time she called Ms. Grotke "mama", or when her temporary crush on Johnny V. was revealed, but this time, it would be permanent.
"I already confirmed T.J. as a ready and willing participant in this experiment," Gretchen said, blocking Spinelli's only polite way out. Now I only need you to be on board. Come on Spinelli; don't you want to help me out by finding out whether or not us girls will actually like kissing boys?"
Now Spinelli was trapped. If she gave any negative answer, she would either be considered a bad friend, or Gretchen would think that she wasn't interested in the experiment because she already knew she liked kissing. After a short internal struggle, she, as T.J. did earlier, sighed to show her defeat.
"Fine, Gretchen," she said. "I'll do the stupid experiment. Let's go. Where's T.J.?"
"Ah-ah-ah," Gretchen said, "Not yet. Meet him by Old Rusty after school, then go to my house, where no one can see you two. My parents will be at work until five o'clock, that leaves about two hours, plenty of time. Here's my house key; keep it safe."
"What about Vince, Mikey, and Gus?" Spinelli asked as a final, feeble attempt to get out of the whole thing.
"Not to worry," Gretchen responded, "I'll keep them busy at Vince's. Oh, and I'll call you from there to see how it went, so you'll have to wait for that call."
"Wait a second," Spinelli said, nervously pocketing Gretchen's key. The thought of her and T.J. kissing alone entered her head, and terrified her. For some reason, she thought it was even scarier than kissing in front of a crowd. "Uhh...Aren't you supposed to be with us, y'know, to actually SEE our reactions?"
"I don't need to see it, Spinelli, as long as I know what happens, so I can start analyzing the results in contrast to the previous experiment," Gretchen replied. "Of course, I can trust my two friends to tell me the truth, right?"
"Uh, right," Spinelli said, depressed. She had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but she knew she had to do it.
Finally, the three o'clock bell rang. Almost immediately, every kid in Third Street blasted out of the school, eager to start summer vacation. Vince, Gus, Mikey, and Gretchen were among the rushing crowd, until Vince noticed that T.J. and Spinelli were nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, where's Spinelli and T.J.?" Mikey asked his three friends.
Gretchen quickly responded with a prepared excuse. "Oh, they went over to T.J.'s house to watch pay-per-view wrestling." She knew that this excuse was believable, since T.J. and Spinelli were the only ones in the group who loved pro wrestling, plus T.J.'s family was the only one in the group's to have pay-per-view. "Hey Vince," she continued, "how about we go to your house to watch Beanie McChimp?"
"That sounds great!" Gus said.
"Great idea, Gretch!" Vince agreed. "I just hope my parents stocked up on Winger-Dingers."
The four friends laughed and headed over to Vince's house.
Although the four friends had left the school, T.J. and Spinelli were on the playground. T.J. went towards Old Rusty to see if Spinelli was there, and she was. She caught sight of him and smiled as a friend should, although she was really nervous. "Hey, Teej," she greeted him.
"Hey," T.J. hailed back. Immediately, he got "that feeling" again. He almost looked at her lips too long, before he caught himself and said, "Well, I guess Gretchen told you about the re-experiment, huh?"
"Yeah," she said. Both of them eyed the ground for five seconds.
"Well, we should hurry up and do this," T.J. said, trying to sound as regular as possible.
"Yeah, let's go," Spinelli responded, doing the same as T.J..
They began walking to Gretchen's house, not saying anything for about five minutes. Then, all of a sudden, Spinelli hit on a topic that broke the ice.
"So, T.J.," Spinelli finally said, "You catch that match between the Minister of Mayhem and Killer Calhoun last night?"
"Oh, yeah! Man, that was awesome!" T.J. responded excitedly. "I couldn't believe it! That last slam actually BROKE the entire ring down! That was amazing!". He actually started to see her as just a friend again.
"Well, what'd you expect? Together those guys do weigh over eight hundred pounds...mix that with a superplex off the top rope, and you'll always get destructive results!" said Spinelli with excitement.
After a long period of walking and talking, the two were finally nearing Gretchen's house, still discussing pro wrestling.
"Yeah, but the best part was when Iron Ivan Torgoff did that German suplex to Bloodbath Bates..." T.J. continued. He then grabbed Spinelli's waist from behind to demonstrate, and continued, "...right on the steel chair!", while playfully pulling her up and down. They were both laughing at first, but then they slowly stopped, noticing the position they were in. It didn't take long for T.J. to go from friendly rough-housing to appreciating the fact that he was finally holding the girl he loved. Spinelli felt a bit scared about the way T.J. was holding her; it was the way a boy would hold his girlfriend. Simultaneously, T.J. quickly let go of Spinelli as she pulled away from him slightly. They looked at each other for a second, then looked to the ground in embarrassment. Quickly thinking, T.J. saw Gretchen's house.
"Well, here we are," T.J. said, as if nothing awkward had happened. "You got the key?"
"Right here" Spinelli replied quickly. They both ran to the house and entered after Spinelli opened the door.
"Man, I don't know how Gretchen's folks keep their house so clean," Spinelli said upon seeing the well-organized Grundler home. It was even hotter inside than outside, so she then moved to the opposite side of the family room to turn on the air conditioner, as she did casually whenever she visited Gretchen. She also took off her hot black jacket.
"Yeah," T.J. agreed while closing and locking the front door and closing the windows. "So........how's about a kiss, baby?" T.J. asked half-jokingly, imitating a 1920's gangster he saw in an old "shoot-em-up" movie with Spinelli and the gang. He was hoping that she would remember it. She did.
"Now, Theodore!" Spinelli replied, imitating a Southern belle from the same movie. They both sensed that if they kissed while joking around, it would be easier, and more likely that their friendship wouldn't change. Spinelli sat down on the Grundlers' soft couch and continued, "Why, we just met two days ago! It would be improper!" Usually, Spinelli would never try to act like, what she would consider to be, some sissy, weak, make-uppy girl from the South. But at that moment, it didn't seem so bad.
"Truss me, baby," T.J. said, sitting on the couch beside her while overacting, "You ain't seen improper yet!". Then he wiggled his eyebrows, which made Spinelli chuckle. "Why, Theodore J. Detweiler, I do declare that you're putting a move on me!" Spinelli said, removing her orange ski cap and placing it on the coffee table. T.J. removed his red cap, and continued,"Lissen up sweetheart, in a coupl'a months I'm gonna be the new king'a Third Street. How's about you bein' my queen?" He joked while holding up her chin.
Suddenly, Spinelli had a look of ecstasy on her face. "Wow Teej, you mean it? Queen of the playground?" Spinelli asked in her regular voice. T.J. was still holding up her chin, but this time, he didn't let go. It was now or never.