"You guys wanna play on our jungle gym? We call it Old Crusty."

"Wow, we call ours Old Rusty."

With that, the they two groups left the bickering principals behind fighting on the kickball field to go play and have fun. The whole reason they came to play kickball in the first place.

The twelve of them climbed atop Old Crusty, swinging from the monkey bars and going down the slide, at least until half of them had to go back to their own school. It wasn't everyday that you find a school full of doubles.

"Do you guys have a Queen, too? Our is Queen Jessie."

"We don't have a Queen, we have a King; King Bob."

It was easy enough for them to break off with their doubles and play. Except for the two leaders. TJ and CJ sat the highest on the jungle gym, talking among themselves as their friends swung and climbed and slid beneath them. There was plenty to talk about after discovering a school of lookalikes being practically down the road, you know, once the creepiness was gone.

"So since you're like me, are you the prankster princess?"

"Oh, yeah. That one was tricky. I had to trick Queen Jessie into thinking I couldn't do it to get close enough to finally get her with a joy buzzer."

"It was a whoopie cushion for me."

The two of them shared a laugh. As much as the two of them loved an enjoyed their friends, they were the only pranksters in their group. It was nice to have some who was just as into the art of trickery as they were.

"So if you weren't here and forced to play against us, what would you being doing?"

"I'm glad you asked." TJ reached under his hat and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I've got this one plan, and I've been working on it for a couple weeks. I was gonna to try and pull it off today, but then we had to come here."

He unfolded the small square of paper until it was completely open. Drawn on it was a map of where his plan was going to take place, including where everyone was supposed to be and what they were supposed to do.

"There's this rumor about a room that they hold all the toys confiscated from students for decades, and I want to see if it's true," TJ said.

"Wow, your school's layout is just like ours, too," said CJ. "It looks like the outline of our schools are the same, but mirrored. That's kind interesting."

"I wonder they'd build them with that one difference."

"I dunno. Grown ups are weird."

"Weird enough to make their students play kickball to settle a feud," said TJ. The two of them looked towards the softball field where their principals were still fighting on the ground.

Meanwhile, their respective friend groups played, not paying the two of them any attention, and they were becoming increasingly thankful for the alone time. They could be playing, but staying like this on top of the jungle gym by themselves was much more appealing, even if thy just sitting.

It confused the both of them. By all means, they should be playing right now, but this was better, and they didn't have to the words to describe why just talking to the other about stuff was enough. It was confusing, but definitely not in a bad way; more like in an unknown but curious way.

When their hands brushed against each other, they nearly jumped.

"Sorry," they said in unison. The two blushed.

"Hey, uh, are you and your friends doing anything after school?" TJ asked. "Just curious."

"Nah, I don't think so. We were going celebrate if we won, but that didn't happen," said CJ. "You've got something in mind?"

"Me and my friends were going to do the same thing. But after we get back I think we're all just gonna go home," he said. "But. . .and you can call me weird, but I kind of don't want to stop talking to you."

"That's not weird. I wanna keep talking to you, too," she said. "I have an idea! Give me your hand." TJ held his hand out to her. CJ pulled a pen from under her hand. It tickled a bit as she wrote in the palm of his hand. When she was done, he looked. "There, that's my phone number. You should call me tonight."

"Haha, yeah, I should. I will!" He said with a goofy grin on his face. A shout from the youngest Prickly pulled them out of their private conversation. It was time for his group to go and head back to their school across time. While both their group climbed of the jungle gym, the two leaders went a little slower just to talk a little longer.

On the ride home, while his friends fell asleep, TJ looked at the numbers written on his hand. He had to be careful not to smudge it. CJ was expecting him to call.

ZZ

I've had this sitting on this for like, weeks. Thought I'd get it out before I'm completely burnt out. Speaking of which, I am going through a bit of burn out when it comes to writing fics, lately. I've gone through it before (part of why Youthful Rebellion has been going on for FOUR YEARS), and like before, it'll come to an end. But for right now, I need sometime to recharge my fic writing batteries