AN's: We know the Joes and Cobras did not grow up in the same community, much less attend the same school, but let's pretend for a moment that they did. Only the school and a few characters from Recess bunch are used in this. Please read, enjoy, and review!
Chapter Two - Morning Lessons
The bell signaling the end of morning recess rang, and the children filed back into their respective classrooms. They were glad to be back in the warmth of the building, but all wished they could have played a little bit more.
"Now class," Ms. Grotke spoke in a relaxed yet authoritative voice, gaining the students' attention. "Take off your coats, winter hats and mittens and place them in the correct cubby holes, and hurry up. The faster you get everything put away, the faster we can go to on a restroom break and get a drink of water." This part of the school day was always a big production.
Standing by the wall, Dusty shivered as he started to unbutton his coat, muttering how he wished he could keep it on a bit longer.
Lifeline started to pull his coat off in suit with the rest of the class. His glasses fogged up. Taking them off and wiping the glasses against his shirt, he mumbled to no one in particular. "Ooh, I hate it when that happens."
"Come on class, get in line so we can go to the restrooms," the teacher instructed as they all finished putting their belongings away. "Tomax and Xamot, you are the line leaders since today is your birthday, " Ms. Grotke smiled, knowing their trip to the Principal's office was not for good behavior.
When they had formed two straight lines, the teacher opened the classroom door. "Remember, quiet in the halls," she told them as the class walked down the hall to the restrooms. There was whispering among the kids. Reaching the restrooms, they joined the other thirty or so students from other classes.
Lifeline stood there thinking. He could pay the twins now and not tell his father, or risk getting in a fight like he usually did and then get in trouble for not standing up for himself.
With a sigh, Lifeline walked over and pushed the boy's door open. It was crowded; all of the students were inside talking instead of returning to their groups in the halls. He heard Tomax and the one called Xamot talking. He slowly walked down to the stall they described and knocked timidly.
Before Lifeline could react, the door swung open and four hands pulled him into the stall. The door closed behind him. "So…" Tomax began.
"We see you made," Xamot replied.
"You made the right choice," both said.
"What is with you two?" Lifeline asked about them finishing each other's sentences.
The twins eyed him then Tomax spoke, "You see, we have a bit of a problem."
"Yes, you seem to have gotten us in a bit of trouble," Xamot reiterated.
"I did?" Lifeline asked, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.
"Yes, so the price just went up," Tomax informed him.
"It what?!" Lifeline exclaimed, his voice quivering.
"The price just went up," Xamot grinned.
"This is all I have, I don't get much," Lifeline stuttered, reaching in his pocket to pull out some silver coins. He suddenly wanted to just get out of the bathroom altogether.
"Well then, we may have to think of something else," they both said to the boy with glasses standing before them.
Ed swallowed hard, wondering what the other form of payment might be.
"You are to do our science homework for the rest of the year. We will meet you before the first bell. At that time, you will loan us your assignments so that we can copy them before it's due," Tomax stated as his brother grinned.
"This is in addition to your usual payment," Xomat added.
"But guys…" Lifeline began to refute.
"No buts Eddie," Tomax laughed, opening the door to the stall and pushing Lifeline out.
"See you at the snowball fight, Eddie," the twins laughed and added, "We will drop off our homework for you, too."
Lifeline nodded regretfully as he and the other kids filed back in line in the hallway, his stomach churning. The twins took their places at the front of the line, acting as if nothing had happened.
Dusty got back in line, somehow ending up behind Cover Girl.
Cover Girl grinned quickly as they walked into the classroom. As soon as all the kids were seated at their desks, Ms. Grotke said, "Please open your science books to page 233."
"OH NO!" Lifeline thought, "I forgot to fill in the answer when we came in." He looked at his paper; it was too late now.
Dusty opened his book, pulling out his paper to hand into the teacher. Scarlett passed her paper down the row with the papers from the kids seated behind her. Clutch grinned slyly as he handed his paper to Duke. The class clown had written the answers on his paper in all different colors to throw off the teacher.
Ms. Grotke pulled out a blank sheet of paper and jotted down a short note. She looked at Lifeline to get his attention. Lifeline did not respond until Cover Girl kicked his chair. As Lifeline turned to look at Cover Girl, she shrugged and pointed to Scarlett.
While the teacher had her back turned to the class as she wrote on the chalkboard, Scarlett carefully slipped Cover Girl a folded piece of paper with Carla's name on the outside in small letters.
Lifeline looked to Scarlett without saying a word, thinking the kick came from her side.
"What?" Scarlett mouthed ignorant of the commotion in the row next to her. Hearing Clutch gnaw on his pencil, she turned and murmured, "Eewww."
"Now class," Ms. Grotke began. "Who can tell me about an omnivore?"
Carla raised her hand, nearly jumping out of her seat.
"Like take a chill pill, dudette," Footloose huffed. The class giggled and laughed at Footloose's comment.
Duke winked at Scarlett, lost in his daydream. "Does that yawning and stretching bit really work?" he wondered silently, picturing the two of them watching a scary movie in a cold, dark theater.
Scarlett blushed, trying to hide her crush on her blond-haired classmate.
The teacher looked around. No one else bothered to raise their hand. "Carla, what is an omnivore?" Ms. Grotke asked.
"An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals," Carla answered matter-of-factly.
The twins grinned, knowing they would not have to worry about their homework anymore, which left them more time to concentrate on developing their enterprise.
"Very good Carla," the teacher praised.
Carla grinned, sitting back down. "Show off," Clutch muttered.
The teacher turned back around to write on the board again.
Lifeline smiled. "Wow, she is great," he thought to himself.
"Now class, since we are studying what animals eat, where might they live?" Ms. Grotke asked.
Several hands shot up at once. Looking about, Ms. Grotke picked a hand, it was Duke. "A cow eats grass and grains."
"Very good Conrad...Now can you tell me what is special about a cow? Besides it only eats plants and plant materials?" Ms. Grotke questioned, raising a eyebrow.
Duke sat there with a smug look on his face, "Why yes, Ms. Grotke , a cow has one stomach with four compartments."
"Right again Conrad, I can see you did your homework," Ms. Grotke praised and went on to explain the function of each part of the stomach.
Duke smiled to Scarlett, she grinned back. "That and my Grandfather had a cattle farm in Bloomsdale, Missouri." he thought to himself.
"Maybe we should have had him do our homework," Tomax commented to Xamot while the teacher's back was turned.
"No, we would be getting no help from him. It's bad enough he's friends with Eddie," Xamot whispered back, "Just keep who we have, guaranteed homework and income."
Tomax smiled evilly at his brother.
Meanwhile Dusty's eyes went to the classroom window, it had started to snow again. He shivered in his seat, still trying to get used to the cold weather.
"How about another animal?" Ms. Grotke asked. Looking about she picked the boy in a blue hood, "Dalby?" she asked.
"Ms. Grotke, you know I go by Cobra Commander," Cobra Commander fussed, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Dalby?" the class mumbled.
Flint raised his eyebrow. "No wonder he didn't want anyone to know his real name," he thought aloud.
Ms. Grotke, cocked a eyebrow at the blue hooded boy. "Do not give me any sass mister; otherwise, I am going to call you mother again. I let you wear that silly hood like I let Dashiel wear his beret, but as long as I am older then you I am not calling you Commander. Is that clear?" she reprimanded.
"Dashiel?" Destro smirked mockingly.
Flint clenched his teeth together and puffed incoherently.
"Oooh," the class roared at the teacher's threat. Mrs. Grotke was normally the most laid back teacher in the school, but she also meant business.
"Yes, ma'am," Cobra Commander sulked.
"Now what were you going to tell me?" Ms. Grotke questioned.
"A fish lives in water," he proudly proclaimed in his answer. There were a few more giggles.
With a sigh, Ms. Grotke nodded, "Yes, they do."
"Otherwise they cannot survive. Like the saying says, a fish out of water cannot survive," Cobra Commander beamed under his mask.
"Okay," Ms. Grotke smiled as sat on the edge of her desk. She looked at her class. "Let's play a game."
The class cheered. They didn't realize how much they learned while playing her games. All year long, the children thought she was letting them goof around, but when it came quiz or test time, they were amazed by how well they did.
They had played the girls against the boys, split the class down the middle horizontally and vertically, and so to mix things up, Mrs. Grotke decided to split the class up by height. "Everyone, I want you to line up against the wall from tallest to shortest," the teacher stated.
"Hey, one of you is actually taller than the other," Jinx commented, suppressing a chuckle, having one of the twins stand to either side of her.
"The quiet one speaks," Xamot mocked, standing tall.
Tomax glared at his brother. "Good things come in small packages," he retorted.
"Pigs," Cover Girl said, sticking her tongue out at both twins as she walked down the line.
"Hey, he said it, not me," Xamot pouted.
"Pigs," Cover Girl mouthed from her spot between Clutch and Scarlett.
"Oink oink," a couple of voices mimicked.
Ms. Grotke clapped her hands loudly. "Quiet please, or you will spend game time writing down the answers to the review questions at the end of the chapter we just discussed instead."
Silence soon occupied the previously semi-disruptive classroom, and Ms. Grotke continued, "Start counting down the row and please, please remember you're number."
"One," Lifeline started, followed by Xamot's "Two." The others follow suit until Cobra Commander uttered his "twenty-four."
"CC is the shortest kid?" Duke asked out loud to no one in particular.
Cobra Commander shrugged as twenty-three sets of eyes looked his way. "I… uh… haven't had my growth spurt yet like you guys… and girls." He cleared his throat. "Uh, Ms. Grotke, can we just start this game?"
"Oh yes. Of course," the teacher answered. "All the even numbers stay where you are. The odd numbers form a line over here," she said, pointing down an aisle. "Keep your voices down as we walk down the hall." Seeing several hands raised and knowing they wanted to know what game they were going to play this time, Ms. Grotke informed, "You will just have to wait and see."
Mrs. Grotke led the two lines of children down the hallway to the gymnasium. "Marvin and Brad, please set up the bases like you do for wiffle ball. The rest of you keep it down to a dull roar and stay with your team." Ms. Grotke went to the white board and began drawing a grid. The columns were labeled: Math, Social Studies, Reading, Science, Music, Art, and Physical Education. Below each column header were: Single, Double, Triple, and Homerun, indicating the difficulty level of the question.
TBC…