10th Grade, High School

Age: 15-16

June 2008

…

The school board sits at a long table. Superintendent Skinner sits in the middle, Tad White to his left and Milton Brown to his right. The other five members of the board flank them equally on either side. Nearly all the seats in the school board meeting room are full and parents on both sides of the issue come to make their arguments at the podium. As one mother continues to rant at the podium about athlete privileges as the clock beeps signaling the end of her time, Tad White's eyes glance away from her and toward the door. TJ swallows his spit and ducks his head back behind the open doorway from where he's eavesdropping.

"What a mess," Spinelli mutters. She leans her back against the wall and slides down, sitting down and letting her boots crash on the floor. "So much for loopholes."

"Who even ratted?" Vince asks, crossing his arms.

Gus shakes his head. "Probably Randall," he says. Then his eyes spark with another idea. "Or Menlo? Menlo is always such a nickpicker about rules."

"Doesn't matter," TJ mumbles. "What's done is done."

He glances back inside. Tad White, the school board member who always seemed out to get him when he was at Third Street, doesn't look much different from his memories. Just a little grayer. But he still has the same drawn expressions and grumpy personality that TJ remembers from when he tried to skip school in fifth grade or during the whole 'whomps' fiasco in fourth grade. The man has some sort of vendetta against him for always winning and now Mr. White seems to finally have the upper hand.

Things had been going normally until early last week, when the timeline for the class presidential elections were announced. Mr. Dudikoff had told TJ that there was only one other duo who had signed up – AZ Hamilton and James Phillips, the same boys who he and Spinelli had beat to be the class president and vice president for their freshman and sophomore years.

However, the day before the speeches, the principal had pulled TJ into his office and had asked him if he had really been a member of the track team this winter. Apparently, someone had anonymously alerted him that TJ may have not done his mandatory six-week sit out for failing a class. By the time TJ got out of the principal's office, a flier had been circulating around the student body, indicating the same thing on a printout of TJ's transcript. TJ failed math and had no consequences.

The PTA did an investigation, found the track loophole Coach McMillan had used for him, and also a large number of student athletes who had been waived from the punishment through the same loophole. A vocal minority of parents whose children weren't student athletes filed a complaint and the school board brought the issue to a meeting.

So, the meeting isn't necessarily about TJ as an individual, but TJ will be the one to bear whatever punishment Tad White and the rest of the board deems appropriate.

"What do you think's gonna happen?" Vince asks, scuffing his sneaker against the tile floor. "Think they'll bar you from football?"

Gretchen looks up from her Galileo and tuts. "Unfortunately, judging from the previous rulings from the school board in similar matters, I would say it's highly likely."

Spinelli crosses her arms over her chest. "I bet it was Randall," she grumbles. "I'm gonna kill him when I see him."

"Oh, Spinelli, violence just begets more violence," Mikey says.

"Well, if he's dead he can't be violent back, can he?"

TJ puts a hand on her shoulder. "Spin," he says quietly, shaking his head.

She makes a face and rolls her eyes. "Fine, but when I see the little weasel, I'm gonna let him know what I think. The whole school didn't need to know your grades."

Gretchen nods. "Technically, your transcript is a private document so he could get into trouble if we could prove that he hacked into the school's network to get to it."

Vince shakes his head.

"Maybe we shouldn't go down that road," he says, wincing. "Remember that you also hacked into the school's system this year to look at the sex education curriculum. We don't need you getting into trouble with the school board too."

They hear a gavel hitting the wood, someone inside calling the end of the meeting.

"Thank you for all of your opinions," Superintendent Skinner says. "We as a board will now convene and make a decision. The final result will be disseminated at our next meeting, the date of which will be on our website. Thank you."

"Come on," TJ says, jerking his head in the direction of the door. "Let's go."

They sneak out into the fresh air before any of the parents leave the room and start heading back toward their neighborhood.

"I just don't get why anyone would even care," Vince says, kicking a rock on the sidewalk. "So you didn't do so well in a class, so what? It's not the end of the world."

"I'm telling you, it's that freak Randall," Spinelli says. "Always scheming and snitching."

"But what good does it do for Randall?" Vince asks. "It's not like he's the next best player on the football team. Or he didn't make the baseball team because TJ didn't sit out."

"And now a bunch of people are probably gonna have to sit out next season," Gus adds. "I mean, the seniors will graduate and it won't matter but that report had a bunch of people's names on it who used that same loophole."

"Perhaps it was merely someone frustrated with the current social hierarchy," Mikey suggests. When the others glance at him questioningly, he shrugs. "It wouldn't have mattered if it was TJ or someone else entirely, they were just frustrated that the same people always get voted for or are always in the limelight. The opportunity just arose and they took it."

Gus frowns. "But how would they have figured out TJ failed if they didn't already know? It's not as if we went around talking about it."

"Anyone who saw TJ in the library with Elizabeth Roy could probably guess why he was there," Gretchen says. "She's head of the peer tutor program, after all."

"I still think it's Randall," Spinelli grunts. "Twerp knows way too much about everyone."

TJ holds back a bit as the group continues walking, bringing up the rear with his hands stuffed in his pockets. The rest of his friends are angry on his behalf and he finds he can't exactly match their fire. He isn't angry at all. He is more upset with himself. He always prided himself on his morals and leadership skills, being a fair playground king and being someone that people looked up to as a role model. He never needed to be the best, he just wanted to do the right thing.

Did power corrupt him? It did back at Third Street during the whole Ajimbo phase, but he had vowed never to let that happen again. No, it wasn't power. He knows exactly what it was, even if he hasn't wanted to admit it.

He feels like he's being left behind.

His friends are now a few paces ahead. When he looks up he can nearly see steam coming from Spinelli's ears in her fury and Vince just keeps shaking his head, unable to fathom why anyone would want to ruin their sports seasons over TJ's bad grade. Gretchen is no doubt attempting to logically determine why someone would print out his transcript and distribute it through the school and Mikey is attempting to connect emotionally to the culprit. Gus keeps track of their theories, questioning when things don't make sense and connecting clues each of the friends offer.

His friends are all brilliant. Gretchen, Vince, and Gus all currently sit in the class's top ten and, while she complains about the difficulty of her classes, Spinelli gets all As except in math, where she still squeaked out a B. Mikey may not be known for his GPA, but the whole school knows he has other talents – singing, songwriting, and acting to name a few. He is even writing and directing the fall musical next semester.

When they were little, their talents all merged together to form a supergroup – a team of ragtag misfits who were able to keep the playground afloat and have fun doing it. But as they get older and recess gets farther and farther away, his friends' talents are beginning to be more valuable, at least to the adults. Their school stresses the importance of college and internships and careers. His friends can fall neatly into the paths the school leadership and society deem acceptable.

It reminds him of the summer before fifth grade when they were all focused on their future careers and TJ just wanted to be a kid. But now he's sixteen and the years just seem to go faster and faster, barreling him toward adulthood with unprecedented speed.

Maybe his father is right. Maybe he needs to figure out a long-term adult plan rather than just trying to Peter Pan himself and stay a kid forever.

"There he is," Spinelli growls. TJ looks up just in time to see her storm ahead of the group and shout out. "Hey, Randall!"

Randall looks over his shoulder and his eyes widen at the group approaching him. He quickly turns around and starts walking faster. It only works to build up the fire in Spinelli, who starts sprinting after him. Randall shrieks and runs as fast as he can.

"Come back here, you little weasel!" she screams.

The rest of the six share a glance and start to run after them, knowing that Vince will be the only one able to catch Spinelli. He sprints out ahead of the rest, catching up right as Spinelli corners Randall against the fence around Third Street's back playground. He grabs her by the arms and holds her back.

"Are you really that jealous of TJ that'd you'd do something this low?" Spinelli sneers, trying to get out from Vince's grasp.

"It wasn't me," he insists.

"I don't believe you," she spits.

He crosses his arms as the rest of the six approach, forming a wall around him. The only indication that he is slightly intimidated is that his shoulders slump just slightly. But, when he responds to Spinelli, he sneers back at her with nearly the same indignation as her.

"I swear, it wasn't me," he says again. Then he looks over her to TJ. "I'm a snitch, not a computer nerd. I wouldn't know how to get into someone's private records."

Gus frowns and fiddles with glasses in confusion. "You did when you found out Spinelli's first name was Ashley."

Randall frowns and Spinelli yanks hard against Vince, who jostles just slightly.

"Jeez, Spin. You're gonna dislocate your shoulders," he says, his voice demonstrating his effort at keeping her back from Menlo.

"I don't care," she says. Then she glares at Randall. "So, did you work with your buddy Menlo? What was in it for him? I didn't think he hated TJ like you do."

"For the last time, it wasn't me!" Randall insists. "And I highly doubt it was Menlo either. He loves rules too much to break them, even if he thought it was for a worthy cause."

TJ nods his head. He has to agree. Although he isn't friends with Menlo anymore, Menlo was always a rule follower. He likes his I's dotted and his T's crossed. It would be wildly out of character for Menlo to go into his student file and print off his transcript, even if he had the ability to do so.

He sighs. "Come on, Spin. Leave him alone."

She turns back to look at him in disbelief. "Are you serious? You actually believe the little weasel?"

TJ shrugs and turns to Randall. He isn't sure. Randall has been known to double cross them before but his gut is telling him otherwise. Besides, he knows that even if it was Randall that told on him, TJ himself is also partly to blame. He went along with the loophole in the first place.

"If you say it wasn't you, it wasn't you," TJ says.

Randall's face softens at TJ's acceptance.

"Well, if it wasn't you, who was it?" Spinelli hisses. "Mr. I-know-the-whole-school's-secrets."

The curly haired boy turns back to her and frowns once more, taking the slightest step in the opposite direction.

"I have my theories," he says, holding himself upright and puffing out his chest. "But, it's gonna cost you if you want to know them."

TJ glances around at his friends, all of whom look ready to hand over anything to get Randall to squeal. But TJ just shakes his head. Even if they do find out who was behind it, they aren't going to do anything. This isn't playground politics, where everything is an eye for an eye. Even if there were adults involved in the wrongdoing, he made the final decision to bend the school's rules. He went along with it under the assumption he wouldn't get caught and that's the risk of using loopholes for personal gain.

But now, rather than fight the system, he would rather have the mess fade away. Whether it's the truth or not, he feels like everyone in school is just staring at him like he's an idiot. There's only a few more weeks of school left and then summer vacation, where everyone will forget and he can just start the school year anew.

"Come on, guys," he says, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "It's not worth it."

"You sure, Teej?" Vince asks.

TJ nods his head and the other five follow behind him.

…

The principal personally comes to get him out of his second period class, which causes the rumor mill to begin with a flurry of wild stories. By the time he sits down at the lunch table, the gossip surrounding him ranges from him having to go to summer school to him being expelled. The real story is much less interesting.

The school board has yet to finalize a decision. The board is leaning toward a complete ban rather than a six-week sit out with supplementary peer tutoring for all during the season, but that won't begin until the fall. With too many injunctions to deal with, they'd wipe clean all the previous loophole-users and start fresh in September. But, with the PTA breathing down his neck, the principal had to do something in the meantime.

With the school year almost over, most of the spring sports season completed, and an entire summer for things to fall through the cracks, the only thing left for the principal to take away was the class presidential elections. The vocal members of the PTA acquiesced, grateful for at least some visible punishment, as the boosters club was preparing public outcry about the potential to lose three of their varsity football stars in the fall if the report was to be believed.

Of course, he said it much more diplomatically than that. But, regardless, TJ would be bearing most of the punishment, but at least he'll be able to complete his baseball season as they head to playoffs and he can play football in the fall with his friends.

He just can't be junior class president.

When the school bell rings at the end of the day, he drags his feet up to Spinelli's locker, where he has been meeting her before practice. Between his school baseball practices and his rec league team practices, as well as her crazy lacrosse and ballet schedules, he hasn't been able to meet her after rehearsals, even though he isn't banished home immediately anymore by his parents. So, instead, he's been meeting her at her locker in between classes and trying to savor the short walk from her locker to the gym locker rooms.

She can definitely tell he's a little bummed by the whole election issue. Even though she doesn't pry, he can feel her squeeze his hand reassuringly. Their walk is quiet but comfortable.

When they arrive at the gym, they see Ashley A standing at the entrance to the boys' locker room. She is talking to Vince, her hands on her hips as she keeps her stance in front of the entrance. A few other boys walk around them but when Vince attempts to bypass her, she steps out in front.

TJ shares a glance with Spinelli, who crosses her arms suspiciously.

"Why don't you get to practice," he says, nodding his head toward the girls' locker room door. "I'll figure out what she's up to."

Spinelli rolls her eyes.

"But I wanna know what's got her skirt all twisted," Spinelli says.

"Obviously," he says. and he leans down to kiss her cheek. A light warmth spreads over her cheeks. "I'll let you know after ballet."

She tenses briefly and he raises an eyebrow. As quickly as she freezes, she shakes out of it and looks at him curiously.

"You're gonna be free to pick me up?" she asks.

He shrugs. There isn't much he has to do now anyway. After his baseball practice, it isn't like he'll have to practice for the presidential debate. They're no longer running. He has some homework, but he figures he can do that whenever. There's only a few days left of school. What's the worst that could happen?

The worst already has.

"We can finally get back into our routine," he tells her. "Good ol' times, right?"

Maybe he was being selfish, but he had assumed Spinelli would be thrilled that he could finally resume his old schedule of coming by to walk home with her from ballet. He hadn't been able to do so with the tutoring and then his baseball schedule often interfered. But he has early practice today and no rec league practice tonight.

But, instead of looking excited, Spinelli looks like she's going to be sick.

"Are you okay?" He instinctively presses a hand to her forehead and frowns. "Are you sick? You're sweating."

She pulls back just slightly and shakes her head.

"No, no. I, uh, it's nothing. I, just, will…probably be late. Madame Pavlova's on a warpath, you know. Big recital coming up, wants to make sure everything's perfect," she says, her words coming out a mile a minute. "I'll just meet you at your house. You can get some homework done instead of just waiting around for me and then we can just spend time together, nothing in the way!"

"If you're sure…"

She nods her head and turns around, looking ready to bolt into the girls' locker room. Only, she doesn't get far. Ashley A has shown up and wraps Spinelli's arm with her own.

"Perfect, you're all here," Ashley A says, a look of determination on her face. "Let's go."

"Go? Go where?" Spinelli demands.

Vince comes to stand next to TJ and groans under his breath. "She's taking us hostage."

Ashley A blows a breath out and glares at him.

"I am so not kidnapping you," she says, her arm tightening slightly around Spinelli's as the other girl tries to get away. "We're just, like, doing damage control."

"Damage control?" TJ asks as Ashley A leads them out of the gym and into the entryway. When they arrive, the other three Ashleys have arrived and are standing beside Gus, Gretchen, and Mikey.

Vince nudges TJ. "See. Told you. Hostage situation."

Ashley A lets go of Spinelli and glares at Vince, hands flying to her hips.

"Now is not the time to be funny, Vince," she hisses.

"Well, if you would let us know what you're so upset about, maybe we'd be less skeptical," he tells her, almost tauntingly, knowing that he's getting under her skin.

Ashley B rolls her eyes and steps forward beside Ashley A and addresses the group.

"We're concerned about the presidential election."

Spinelli crosses her arms. "And we're needed why? We can't run."

Ashley Q shakes her head. "Oh, my god. Do we have to explain everything?" she grumbles.

"Well, it would help if you powderpuffs explained something," Spinelli grumbles back.

Before the two can engage any further, Ashley A throws her hands in the air to catch the crowd's attention. Once she's satisfied that no one will interrupt her, she stands tall and speaks.

"Hamilton and Phillips are the only people on the ballot now," she says. She turns to TJ and hisses the rest in his direction. "Because someone couldn't pull a C in math despite having four of his five friends in AP math classes!"

TJ groans. No one will let him forget about it, will they?

"I suck at math. Everyone knows that now, so let's move on."

She gives him one final glare and then turns to look back at the rest.

"If we don't find someone to run in TJ's place, those fools automatically win and I will absolutely not have some random people planning our junior prom."

"You mean, you wouldn't walk all over them in order to get your way?" Vince asks. "It's what you do with everyone else, why would they be any different?"

Ashley T winces and Ashley B rolls her eyes, mumbling something about being oblivious. Ashley A appears ready to explode, her pale face flushed red with anger. It's finally Ashley Q who gives the group any sort of explanation.

"Ashley A dated Hamilton for, like, five minutes freshman year," Ashley Q says. She glances at her other Ashleys, as if getting permission to continue. "Let's just say it didn't end well."

TJ can honestly say that he doesn't follow the Ashleys dating life and so this is news to him, as it seems to be for the rest of his group as well. However, it doesn't surprise him that the Ashleys don't want to work with him because of it. The Ashleys like to be in charge and if there's anything in their way of that, they take care of it.

Vince raises an eyebrow and turns to Ashley A.

"Serious question, do any of your relationships end well?" he says, smirking.

Ashley A growls. "Shut up, LaSalle."

Ashley B stomps her heel on the tile floors, trying to garner attention. The group turns back in her direction, away from Ashley A and Vince.

"So, like, we need someone to run against them and our best plan is for it to be Vince," she says begrudgingly. "He's popular. He's smart. He's attractive. He'll look good on a poster."

Vince puts his hand on his chest in fake excitement. "Aww, you think I'm cute."

Beside him, Spinelli snorts. Even TJ fights a chuckle as Vince bats his eyelashes in Ashley B's direction, clearly intent on making this conversation as difficult as possible for the four girls to have with them.

Ashley B points a finger in his face. "Do you want us to back Vance? Because we can just as easily put him in."

That gets Vince to back down. His shoulders slump and he crosses his arms, nearly pouting.

"Why don't you though?" Gus asks, asking the question the rest of the group is thinking. Ashley Q is dating Vance after all and has been since homecoming. They should be able to weasel their way into being head of the prom committee through her connection.

Ashley A shakes her head.

"Prom is an entire year away. I am not risking a breakup ruining it," she whines. Then she looks back toward where Vince and TJ are standing. "We can at least trust that you'll let us do it."

"Okay, so Vince it is," Ashley B says, as if the decision doesn't require their approval. She looks at Spinelli. "Can you at least look presentable for the posters?"

"We could run her on an Ashley platform," Ashley Q says with a smirk. "You'd probably still fit in that red outfit we got you in fourth grade."

"And I could gouge your eyes out with plastic cafeteria sporks," Spinelli sneers. "But somehow I think both of those aren't going to get us a win."

The girls glare at each other for a moment before Ashley A steps between them. She looks at Spinelli, eyeing her from boots to braids, and shakes her head.

"No, we run Spinelli on a TJ platform," Ashley A says, almost as if she's talking to herself, maybe trying to convince herself of her plan. "Our peers still want TJ to win, the school just can't let him run to save face. This is how we get around that."

Ashley Q rolls her eyes, but Ashleys B and T both nod in approval. Spinelli crosses her arms and glances down toward TJ. He just shrugs at her. As much as he hates to admit it, the Ashleys do run a good campaign strategy. Since lunch, they've done enough research to determine their strategy to get themselves into a good spot for next year's prom committee.

"Like a 'Vote Spinelli, Get TJ' kind of scenario?" Gus asks.

Once Gus finishes his question, Spinelli turns away from TJ and towards the Ashleys, her mouth dropping in disdain.

"So, what am I? Chopped liver," she says. "Just a TJ stand-in?"

"Oh, shut up, Spin-whiny. No one cares about the VP anyway," Ashley Q sneers. "You're just there for appearances. Vince is who is getting the votes."

Spinelli's shoulders slump slightly and TJ ducks around Vince to put his arm over her shoulder.

"You bring the experience," he tells her. "You've done this whole shebang before and that's something people think about."

Across from them, Ashley Q leans over to Ashley B. "Like, omg, I'm going to need some cavities filled."

The two girls giggle between them and Spinelli crosses her arms tighter around herself. TJ glances up quickly to see if anyone else is taking notice and sees that Gretchen is frowning as well. Of course Gretchen knows how inadequate Spinelli felt when TJ chose her instead of Vince to run with freshman year. But, even then, Spinelli wouldn't let the Ashleys words bother her. He doesn't understand why they would now.

He shares a look with Gretchen and with a quick nod, Gretchen steps forward, taking the Ashleys attention away. TJ takes this time to recapture Spinelli's attention.

"Are you okay?" he asks quietly.

She nods quickly. "I'm fine," she says and then turns away from him to look at Gretchen.

"So, my only question," Gretchen says, directing it toward the four Ashleys, "is if you are all dictating this entire plan, why do none of you run yourselves? You're popular enough to warrant the votes without our involvement."

Ashley A looks disgusted. "Eww, gross. Like, why would I ever want to be class president?"

"Too much work I guess," Vince says under his breath.

Gus laughs a little too loudly and the group of girls turn to glare at him in unison. He shrugs his shoulders and his laughter stops instantaneously.

"All we want to do is plan prom. That's it," Ashley A states. The other three nod. "And, as unfortunate as it is, you lot are the best way for us to attain that without, like, having to do the whole class government thing ourselves."

"Also, you all have proven to run an excellent government, so it appears to be a win-win for everybody involved," Ashley T adds.

"Exactly," Ashley A concludes. She turns to Vince. "So, can we print the posters?"

Vince shrugs and turns to Spinelli. "You in?"

She shrugs as well. "I guess."

"Okay," he says. "We'll do it."

…

Notes

Episodes/Movies referenced: Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade, The Story of Whomps, The Game, Recess: School's Out, First Name Ashley

In Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade, the Board of Education is where Tad White and Milton Brown work. There are five others, but those two are names that are mentioned.

Thanks for reading!