Disclaimer: I do not own Recess or any of its characters.

Author's Note: Well, lilvickiryan, in answer to your question I don't know why ppl feel the need to get drunk, the only reason it is added into my story is because it ties in so well with it, besides, I'm not popular and never will be, so I don't know if they really drink excessively or not (well, actually, I know for sure a few of them do), but like I said it ties in with my story so well.

Chapter Eight

*The Aftermath*

Spinelli looked out the window of Lawson's car. She was so mad. The two men she cared most about in her school had betrayed her tonight. She could've cared less about TJ fighting with Vince, actually, she very much approved of it, she liked to see a good fight, but TJ had done it in a drunken rage. He had promised her that he would never drink at a party and her best friend had just broken that promise. Then there was Lawson, who couldn't, for some reason, stay sober for the life of him. She was thinking of sending him to an AA meeting after they got through this tonight. But right now she just wanted to get home.

She couldn't believe she was letting Lawson drive her home. She had tried to convince him to give her the keys to the car, but he absolutely refused. Then she had tried to steal them, but that didn't work either. By that time everybody else at the party had left, talking about nothing else but the fight between the former best friends, and she couldn't get a ride home with anybody. So, she had figured it would be safer to get a ride home with him then to walk on any sidewalk he would be near.

"Lawson! Slow down, you're going 90 in a 45 zone," Spinelli snapped at him, Lawson quietly slowed down to 85.

***

"You really screwed up Teej," Gretchen said quietly as she parked the car in front of his house. He groaned, he had a headache. And he wasn't too interested in the Gretchen lecture he was about to get. Even though he knew he deserved it.

"Screwed up doing what? Acting like a normal teenager?" TJ snapped at her.

"That's not normal teenager behavior, unless you're planning on becoming a drunken idiot who hits their wife when you get older," Gretchen snapped back at him.

"What? So does that mean Vince is gonna become one of those?" TJ asked her harshly. He immediately felt bad about it.

"That's not the point," Gretchen said silently, "All I'm telling you is tonight you really hurt Spinelli. Really lost a lot of trust she had in you."

"Yeah? So what?" TJ argued, "It's not like I have a chance with her, remember she has the perfect guy already, Lawson."

"She's your friend!" Gretchen angrily said, "Besides, you might still have a chance with her, I have a feeling her and Lawson aren't going to be together forever. But let me give you a hint, getting drunk is not the way to win her back."

"I know that," TJ snapped, "Besides, my drink was spiked. I didn't get drunk on purpose."

"Who was it spiked by?" Gretchen demanded to know. TJ looked directly at her. He couldn't tell her it was Vince. She still loved him and this would hurt her more than anything else he could've told her. He was just going to take this with him to his grave.

"I don't know," TJ said, then climbed out of the car, almost falling as he tried to walk on the sidewalk.

***

"Lawson! Slow down!" Spinelli angrily commanded him for the tenth time since they had left Menlo's house, "And you're driving on the wrong side of the road."

"I know," Lawson said, with a slow smile, "We're gonna play chicken with this car up ahead."

Spinelli looked ahead and saw a car heading straight for them, actually going the speed limit. Then she looked at Lawson, who, it seemed, wasn't kidding and was actually going to play chicken with the car.

"Lawson!" she yelled as they approached the car flying, she then tried to turn the steering wheel, but it was too late, they crashed into the other car, sending both cars flying.

***

"TJ, I can't believe you would do something like this to me," Spinelli accused TJ in front of the entire school, "I can't see now, I can't see anything about what's going on."

"But Spinelli, I can explain," TJ protested.

"Really? You can explain to me how you betrayed me?" Spinelli angrily said.

"Yes, its because I love you," TJ said, trying honesty as the best policy.

"Well, here's what I have to say about your love TJ," Spinelli said, leaning into his face, "Wake up Teej, wake up TJ."
 "Wake up Teej," he heard his sister say as she shook him awake. He woke up and looked at his clock, which read three in the morning. He hadn't got in trouble from his parents, actually he hadn't been caught because his sister helped him sneak in the house. He then shot his sister daggers.

"Why did you wake me up at three in the morning?" he snapped at her. Becky looked at him, and let out a sigh.

"Teej, Gretchen called," Becky started.

"At three in the morning?" TJ asked, "Dang, that girl sounds like the one who was drunk."

"There's been an accident," Becky informed him, quietly, "Teej, Spinelli's in the hospital. She's unconscious."

"WHAT?" TJ asked, sitting up very fast, then slowly going back down, "Ow, headache, but Spin's in the hospital?"

Becky nodded, "They're trying to call all her friends, trying to get them down there to be with her, they say she'll probably make it."

"What happened?" TJ asked, bewildered.

"I don't really know," Becky honestly answered, "But if you get dressed real fast I'll take you to the hospital."

***

"OK, I'm here, what do we know?" TJ asked, trying unsuccessfully to run into the emergency room, then he saw Spinelli's mom and dad, Gretchen, Gus, Mikey, Lawson's parents, and two sets of parents that he wasn't sure who they were. Except one of them looked remarkably like, "King Bob's parents," he whispered. Gretchen just nodded at him.

"Their cars hit," Mikey whispered to him. TJ sat down in an empty seat by Spinelli's mom, who was crying her eyes out. TJ felt weird. Like he wasn't in his body. There was no way this would happen to Spinelli, she was better than this. She knew what she wanted and she went for it. Nothing had happened to her. Nothing could happen to her. He needed her. He loved her.

Just then he felt a wave of nausea sweep over him and he quickly ran to the bathroom to barf instead of doing it on the floor in the hallway. He heard somebody in the stall next to him also barfing. Then they both walked out of the stalls at the same time, and TJ saw Vince.

"What are you doing here?" TJ demanded to know. With the prospect of losing Spinelli he didn't want this imposter of a best friend to be there. Pretending to be friends with Spinelli. Pretending things hadn't changed between the group.

"Spinelli's parents called me," Vince said sourly, knowing how bad TJ felt at the moment, and knowing he shouldn't really be here, "I couldn't just tell them that I just suddenly stopped being friends with their daughter, especially after an accident like this, now could I?"

"Fine, you're right," TJ snapped, "Just don't say anything stupid."

"Wasn't planning on it," Vince snapped back.

The two walked back out into the room to see King Bob's dad holding his wife, both crying their eyes out, and the other couple that TJ didn't know were holding each other, also crying. Gus, Mikey, and Gretchen quickly ran over to Vince and TJ.

"King Bob's dead," Gretchen said quietly, "Along with his girlfriend, Arinda, and they did a blood test and Lawson was the only one with any alcohol in his blood. We had to tell them about the party and Gus and Mikey and I decided you guys should go and sleep because you look very drunk and hung over at the moment and you don't want to be tested for intoxication do you? I'll go pick you up some Tylenol for when you wake up."

TJ and Vince silently agreed, "But how will we know when something happens?"

"I'll wake you up to tell you," Gretchen assured TJ, smiling at him gently before him and Vince took two very uncomfortable chairs. TJ didn't know if he could go to sleep knowing that the woman he loved was knocking at death's door. But as he closed his eyes TJ was lost to the world of dreams.

***

TJ woke up five hours later, and quickly ran to Gretchen, who grinned faintly at him, "You're grinning, does that mean this is good news?"

"She came out of her coma, actually, both her and Lawson did, their fine," Gretchen told him, still smiling a bit, "But Teej ...,"

"YES! Spinelli's OK," TJ said, "Can we see her?"

"Teej ..," Gretchen started.

"I'm so glad to have her back, you know how much I love her?" TJ asked, "I think I'm gonna have to tell her now. I almost lost her, what happens if I lose her again? What do you ...,"

"TEEJ!" Gus yelled, joining them, "Spinelli's blind."

"What?" TJ asked, not processing Gus's words.

"She is blind," Gretchen said softly, "Not really that big of a deal, the doctor said it might only be temporary blindness and that it could come back."

"She's blind?" TJ asked, "Poor Spin, that's awful. Please tell me Lawson suffers from something."

"Besides two broken ribs, a loss of great amount of bloods, and a broken nose, no," Mikey said, "But Spinelli also has a couple of cracked ribs, and she lost a lot of blood too. They say she was lucky to regain consciousness."

"I'm really gonna make Lawson pay," TJ growled, but Gretchen stopped him.

"Please, he's already suffering a major law suit from King Bob's and his girlfriend's parents, plus the law will hold a trial for drinking under age and driving under the influence," Gretchen told him, "He's suffered enough."

"Not yet," TJ growled to himself, but relented, "Fine, I'll leave Lawson alone. Only because I know that he does truly care about Spin."