"Yo Lasalle!" Lawson high-fived his once enemy turned friend.
"How's it hanging man, any idea what we're doing in gym today? Vince and Lawson walked into the boys locker room to meet up with some of their team mates before class.
"I don't know, I'm hoping for some kickball, we haven't played it at all this year."
"For real, I haven't played it since third street."
"I wouldn't be that excited for gym today if I were you." A voice yelled from the shadows.
"Butch?" Vince walked over to the voice to confirm his suspicion.
"Yeah it's me. You might want to get out of here before it's too late."
"Dude what're you talking about?" Lawson laughed, he wasn't one to buy into Butch's tall tales being that Butch is a grade below him.
A couple of their friends from the baseball and football teams joined them to hear Butch's story. There was an eerie feeling in the air. Vince felt the hair on his neck stick up, and wondered why he could hear ominous music playing in the distance.
"We're not doing any physical activities today. Today... we're watching the video."
"What video?"
"The sex-ed video."
All the guys sans for Lawson gasped.
Lawson rolled his eyes. "It sounds like a good day to skip then."
"It can't be that bad... can it?" Vince's voice cracked.
"Oh it can, did you hear what happend when Stinky Peterson watched the video?"
"I heard a lot of things about Stinky Peterson, say you might want to start changing the names of the characters in your stories kid."
"These aint your typical stories Lawson, they're legends." Butch took the tooth pick out of his mouth to give a more clear presentation. "Back when Stinky Peterson went here he watched that same video in gym class. The teachers warn you, it aint those PG rated flicks that you're accustomed to. It's not for the faint-hearted. Those with weak stomachs or heart problems were advised to sit it out."
"You guys aren't actually buying into this garbage are you?" Lawson looked around at his friends and watched as they hung onto each and every word that Butch spoke.
Butch's voice began to sound even more shrill than usual. "The video is so traumatic that the school legally has to have nurses and therapists on call. Stinky ignored the warnings and went to class anyway. Just when they got to the part explaining the reproductive system Stinky began to get really anxious. He was sweating bullets, his body was trembling, and he started breathing heavily. Finally he couldn't take it anymore he screamed bloody murder and ran out of the school, never to be seen again."
Butch surveyed his audience. He was pretty satisfied, they were just the right mix of terrified and disgusted. He put the toothpick back in his mouth and started again. "Some say he became a man right then and there, others say he actually aged backwards and was running back to elementary school. I don't even want to know what the reality of it is."
The guys looked shocked, but Lawson was unimpressed. "Well that was a bunch of hooey, either way that video does sound kinda nasty. You guys wanna skip class today or what?"
"Wait how come you didn't watch the video last year Lawson?"
"Uh I was uh sick... yeah sick..."
Vince smiled knowing Lawson was lying but he didn't want to call his friend out for being a chicken. "Yeah okay, I guess we could skip, where should we go?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Vince, Lawson, and four other guys from their baseball team; Jacko, Eddie, Willy, and Chucko, snuck out of school and walked to Lawson's favorite hangout spot, the dump. They found comfort in an old Volkswagen Hippy Van. They sat around playing cards and sharing snacks from Kelso's.
"FLUSH!" Vince called out as he raked in the jackpot.
"Ugh well I'm out of money." Lawson threw his cards down in defeat. "What should we do now?"
"We can start by getting out of this Van, it really reeks in here!" Vince stood up leave.
Lawson was in the front passenger seat, he got up to leave but bumped into the glove box, opening it and spilling all of the contents onto his lap. The guys looked on as he inspected the items. "No way! Guess who owned this van?"
They all looked clueless.
Lawson held up the car registration form for all eyes to see. "The owner of this 1967 Volkswagen was the one! The only! Miss Alordayne Grotke!"
Vince laughed. "Man I shoulda known this was Miss Grotke's old van, it smells like those hippy incense she was always burning in the class room."
"Oh man I don't think that was incense that she was burning." Lawson grinned widely and held up a small bag that was covered in dust. He blew the dust off it revealing something that oddly resembled oregano.
"Is that..?" Vince was at a loss for words.
"Yup, and oh look it even has papers of authenticity!" Lawson waved around stack of joint rolling papers, the guys' faces lit up.
Jacko took the weed and rolling papers and tried his hand at fastening a joint. "Who's on first?"
"Ummm it doesn't look like she left behind any matches or a lighter." Vince sheepishly pointed out.
"She forgot the goods but remembered the lighter, ha that lady's priorities were always out of whack."
Everyone but Lawson pulled a lighter out and held them out for Vince.
"I don't know guys..."
"What's wrong Lasalle?" Jacko lit the joint, and took a puff. He tried to pass it to Vince, but he turned it down.
"Oh come on what're you scared?" Chucko laughed, the other guys joined in.
"No its just..." Vince looked out the window as if there was an excuse out there for him to use.
"You're scared aren't ya?"
Vince started to sweat as his new friends ganged up on him. He silently wished Tj was there, Teej would have made it seem cool to say no to the peer pressure. Or at least come up with a decent excuse.
"Come on dude everyone else is doing it." Lawson whispered to him, he held the lit blunt in his hand and passed it to Vince. Vince hesitantly took it and brought it to his mouth, but he couldn't do it. He handed it back to Lawson and shook his head.
"How lame." Chucko scoffed.
"Way to chicken out Lasalle!" Willy took a puff and attempted to blow it in Vince's face, Vince backed up and waved the smoke away.
"I gotta go guys, I'll talk to you later!" Vince ran out of the van and headed back to school.
"Much later La-Chicken!" Lawson shouted from the van.
Vince had all the intentions of returning to school that day, but once Muddy Bottom Pond came into view he changed his mind. He walked down the path to the shore and found that he wasn't alone.
"Gus?" Vince ran up to Gus who was relaxing on the dock, kicking his feet in the water.
Gus looked up at his friend and smiled slightly.
"Long time no see, where have you been?"
Gus sighed, he seemed pretty down in the dumps. "Around."
"That's nice... I guess? So I've been meaning to catch up with you, are you going to the Halloween dance?"
"Nope." Gus said with an attitude.
"Did I hit a sore spot there bud?" As he sat beside Gus he noticed he smelled kind of odd, it was a familiar smell but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "What's that smell?"
Gus shrugged.
"Any...way... the reason I asked about the dance is because Gretchen is transferring schools, I was thinking me, you and Mikey could go to the dance with her and all hangout for old times sake."
The grumpy frown on Gus's face was replaced with a saddened one. "She's leaving?"
Vince nodded. "It whomps. I understand though, she feels like she wasn't being challenged enough."
"Well I don't want her to leave without saying bye."
"So you will go to the dance with us?" A voice yelled from behind them.
"Gretchen!" Gus ran over and embraced her in a quick hug.
She caught a whiff of Gus and covered her nose in disgust. "Gus, why do you smell like..."
"I don't want to talk about it." He cut her off and returned his feet to the water.
"Gretch what're you doing out of school during school hours?"
"Are you sampling the water-table or researching the biodiversity of the pond's ecosystem again?"
She laughed as if she was just asked the dumbest question in the world. "No I concluded those reports months ago. I just got a little bored, we were learning about matrices in my advanced algebra class. I mastered matrices by the time I was seven! God I can't wait to get to Oppenheimer and learn something new!"
"Yeah I can see how that can get boring. Though I'd never thought I'd see the day Gretchen Grundler skips school."
"Heh me either" Gus, Vince and Gretchen turned around to see Mikey join them on the dock.
"MIKEY!" Vince and Gretchen shouted in unison. Gus gave a subtle wave, he hasn't talked to Mikey since their awkward phone call last week.
Mikey took his shoes off and dipped them in the water. "So I just got out of a meeting with the guidance counselor."
"Oh no! You're not in anymore trouble are you?
"No Gretchen, the visit was made with good intentions, I'm looking to transfer to a school that has a concentration on the arts."
"You're leaving too!? Man this school year totally whomps!"
"I'm sorry Vince, but you still have Gus, and your new friends from all the sports teams."
Vince didn't respond, he didn't want to tell them what happened with Lawson and his team mates. They'll just have to hear it from the rumor mill like everyone else.
The four sat by the pond for a while, reminiscing on old times together, though they quickly changed the subject every time Tj and Spinelli were brought up, in fear of reopening old wounds.
"I can't believe all four of us skipped school today, what're the odds!?" Gus laughed.
"Actually it looks like all six of us had the same idea." Vince pointed to the entrance to the pond. Gretchen, Mikey, and Gus followed his gaze and saw Tj and Spinelli making their way to the pond.
