I'M SOOOO SORRY! Last semester was a disaster. I did well in my courses but I had no time to do anything, then I took a summer course and had the same thing happen, but I'm done with that for now. I'm 100% determined to complete this story, especially since we're getting very close to the conclusion.

VeVe2491: Thanks for the review! I Absolutely love when people try to guess what happens in the story. Keep it up! :D And thank you for noticing the evolution in my writing, I'm still working on it.

So here is another chapter. Enjoy. And again I'M SOOOOO SORRY!

Don't forget to review!

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"What's wrong with Menlo? He has been winking at us like all night!" Ashley B. whined.

"Like who knows." Ashley A. shrugged it off.

"Hey there's Ashley Q.!" Ashley T. pointed over to the nearly empty bleachers.

"Like what's your deal Ashley Q.?" The Ashley leader questioned when she found her red headed friend sitting alone.

"Like what are you even talking about?" She snapped back without looking.

"Where in the world have you been? You've gone total Carmen Sandiego on us. What's your deal?" Ashley B. snapped back harshly.

She looked up at her friends Ashley A. and Ashley B. looked angry while Ashley T. had a look of concern on her face. She sighed. "It's complicated."

"OOOH THAT MEANS IT'S ABOUT A BOY!" Ashley A. yelled a little too loud. Ashley T. slapped a hand over her mouth to shush her.

"Like who is it? Is it that exchange student Jean-Claud?" Ashley B. yelled.

"Is it Hustler Kid? I always thought he was soooo dreamy." Ashley A. added.

Ashley Q. bit her lip, she had no idea what she was going to tell her friends.

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As you can imagine things were a little awkward when the gang met up at Gretchen's locker. After weeks of tension the gang was suddenly thrown together and forced to set aside their differences for the sake of the school. Knowing that both the leader and the substitute leader had a lot on their minds, Gretchen stood up to the plate to address this meeting. After a recap of the events that took place outside and in Mr. Flynn's office, she briefed them on what they needed to do- stop Randall, present the evidence to the administration, and mend their friendships.

"I don't suppose you have a plan do yah Teej?"

"I'm thinkin' Vince, it's been a while since I've had to do this."

Tj paced around in circles. He hadn't had to get the gang out of a sticky situation since the summer and his mischievous scheming mind was seriously out of practice.

"You'll think of something Tj, just think back to the old days and the things that inspired you." Mikey tried to encourage his friend. Tj gave him a half smile and he returned it with a large grin. "Now time to cheer up another friend." He thought to himself as he sat down next to a grumpy Gus. "So you haven't run off yet."

"I'd be lying to say I'm not tempted, but I know this is important."

"Well I'm glad you're here, we all are."

"Glad to be here big guy."

"Can I ask how exactly did you get involved..."

"At the beginning of the school year I was so excited for the drill team that when I found that it wasn't a military team.. I don't know I was upset, I needed something to distract me."

"While I don't condone your choices, I'm proud of you for forgiving our friends, I'm proud of all of us."

"Me too buddy. Boy am I glad that this feud is over." Gus gave Mikey a side hug.

Vince snickered at them. "Let's not celebrate just yet." He pointed to Tj and Spinelli, he and Gretchen had been observing their behavior during the meeting. They refused to look at each other, but they were being friendly with other members of the gang. It was obvious what was going on.

xxxxxxx FLASHBACK TO 4th GRADE xxxxxxxxxx

"Well at least now we know for sure, there's no way we're ever going to want to kiss you girls." Tj said concluding his findings on the experiment.

"Yeah and we aren't ganna want to kiss you guys neither." Spinelli jabbed a finger at Tj's chest, and the gang laughed.

"Come on we better get to class before Mrs. Grotke gives us all tardys." Vince pointed to the school and the gang followed. All except Tj and Spinelli.

"Hey they're still on the play ground, should we go get them?" Vince noticed as they arrived in the classroom.

"Let's give them a minute Vince, there's no use in all of us getting marked tardy." Gretchen glanced out the window observing her friends as they conversed. Vince, Mikey, and Gus joined her.

"Gee we never did anything like this at any of the other schools I went to." Gus laughed.

"Third street isn't like any other school Gus." Vince reminded him.

"And Tj and Spinelli aren't like any other kids." Mikey smiled.

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They've suspected it for years and have made numerous jokes about it behind their backs, but they know now that it's true. Tj and Spinelli are crushing on each other. ..Gross...

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Tj was trying to focus on the situation but his mind kept wandering back to Spinelli. "Does she still have a crush on old baby toothed Jhonny V? Okay I know he lost the nickname 3 years ago but I don't like him. Ugh why did Spin have to kiss him?" And then it hit him ... Kissing...Spin... A classic game for young teenagers; Spin the bottle.

Tj stopped his pacing and snapped his fingers. "Guys I think I have a plan."

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"Cold Fusion to Ginger Pisces, you read me? Over." Tj whispered into his walkie talkie.

"Loud and clear Cold Fusion, the Notorious F.R.O.G and I just arrived on the balcony, and certified its clearance. Over."

"Right on. Now Where's Waldo? Over."

"Waldo's here marking the splash zone. Hey how come I'm Waldo? Over." Gus asked.

"Cuz we can never find you. Over." Vince laughed.

"Falcon how are you and kissing Kate doing? Over."

Spinelli rolled her eyes at Tj's code name for her.

"Kissing Kate and I are informing the masses now. Do you have an eye on frogger yet? Over."

"Not yet, traffic is a little heavy at the moment, I think...wait a minute..." Tj paused when he saw Randall leave the janitors closet and head towards the gym. "Frogger has left the pond I repeat Frogger has left the pond. Over."

"I'm on it." Vince replied and ran up to meet Randall. "Hey Randall, a bunch of us were about to play a game, you wanna join?"

"You're asking me to play?" Randall clasped his hands together gleefully and grinned ear to ear, he rarely gets invitations for anything. "Wait a minute... what's the catch?"

"No catch. You see me and some of the guys are feelin' kinda shy about dancing with the ladies, so to take the edge off we were going to play spin the bottle."

"So why do you want me to play?" This invite seems too good to be true, Tj and friends never invite me to anything. Though Vince isn't one of Tj's friends anymore. Could he actually be looking to replace his friendship?"

"Well it wouldn't be spin the bottle without the chance of kissing a loser... err... no offense."

Okay maybe not, but hey at least I'll be hanging with the cool kids. "It makes sense. So who are the girls that are playing?"

"Just about everybody, Swinger Girl, Up Side Down Girl, Gretchen, Spinelli, The Ashleys, Judy.."

Randall perked up when he heard a certain girl's name listed. "Okay okay! I'm in."

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Vince led Randall to the middle of the gym where a large circle was beginning to form. Vince took a seat by Tj and Spinelli.

"Good job Falcon." Tj whispered and nudged Vince playfully.

"Thanks Cold Fusion, is everything in order?"

Tj nodded.

Vince placed a hand on his shoulder. "How are you doing?"

"With what?" Tj asked like he doesn't know.

"Come on you know."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Vince rolled his eyes.

"Okay so who goes first?" Randall asked impatiently.

"Since you asked you can go first buddy." Vince patted Randall's back and shoved him towards the center of the room.

Randall shyly walked towards the bottle. He hadn't kissed a girl, but he's been thinking about it for a while now, ever since that experiment a couple of kids did back in the fourth grade. He didn't think he was going to get this opportunity anytime soon. What luck. He bent down and briefly locked eyes with his target before giving the bottle a spin. He watched it go round and round until... Spinelli. She had a look of disgust on her face, but then again when didn't she?

"OOOOH SCANDOLOUS!" The Ashleys cackled.

A few kids laughed at the irony, while others laughed at her misfortune.

"SPINELLI AND RANDALL SITTING IN A TREE K-I-S-S..." A few brave souls began to chant, but were stopped by the threat of Madame Fist.

Randall caught a look of sorrow on Tj's face, two guys dragged Spinelli up to the center to meet her doom.

"Well I may not be your first kiss, but I will be your best kiss." He said smugly when she arrived.

"Shut up weasel, let's just get this over with."

"Okay so how do we do this anyway?"

"Just close your eyes, pucker your lips..." She said slowly.

There was a long pause, but Randall was to shy to do anything about it, he just waited for her to make a move.

"NOW!" Spinelli yelled.

Randall puckered his lips and leaned in but was met with a wave of cold slimey water and the sound of hundreds of frogs raining down.

When he opened his eyes Spinelli was no where to be found, the spin the bottle players had backed up 15 feet, and the rest of the students swarmed behind them to see what had happened. He could hear the gang cheering nearby.

"Good job Gus!" Mikey high-fived his friend when he and Gretchen returned to the gym.

"Thanks, but it wouldn't of been possible without Gretchen's super magnets." Gus pulled out the magnet he was holding and waved it around, the magnet in the bottle responded by following his every move.

"Thanks Gus, and thank you Spinelli for teaching me how to unlock doors with a bobby pin it really came in handy tonight."

"No problem Gretch, next I'll show you how to start a car without the keys." The girls shared a laugh.

"Man you really out did yourself on this plan Teej." Vince shook his hand. Their friendly exchange didn't go unnoticed.

"Wait a minute! You guys are friends again!?" Randall yelled as he tried to wipe the swampy gunk off of him.

"We all are!" Mikey yelled and pulled his five friends into a bone crushing hug. Tj and Spinelli looked at each other and quickly adverted their eyes.

"You, you guys did this! Oooh I'm telling!"

What the!? Principal Spikey yelled when he arrived to check out the commotion.

"Principal Spikey, I'm glad you're here. We have substantial evidence proving Randall guilty of stealing the math test answers and the frogs designated for the dissection." Gretchen handed him a manila folder labeled evidence.

Principal Spikey raised an eyebrow and shuffled through the folder. "Mmmh. Mmmmh. Uh-huh."

The gang exchanged worried and confused looks as he went on.

"You think he's buying it?" Gus whispered to Gretchen.

She elbowed him to shut him up.

"These are some well written reports, Grundler, I think you might have a case here."

All the students cheered, save for Randall.

"But Principal Spikey!" Randall cried out.

"Menlo, escort Weems to my office, I'll be there in a moment."

"But... but.. but.."

"Come on Randall." Menlo yanked the snitch's arm and led him out. "Oh and I'm going to need that key back."

"Detweiler, Spinelli and Blumberg, I apologize for any accusations that were made against you three during this school year. I will make the appropriate corrections to your permanent records and notify your parents of the mistakes."

"What about all the students that were accused buying the stolen test answers?" Vince asked.

"I too will be excusing those students from any punishments they may have served for the false accusations."

Vince pulled Mikey into a hug. "You hear that buddy, you're in the clear! There's no way those schools are going to turn you down now!"

Mikey smiled and returned the hug.

"YOU HEAR THAT EVERYONE! RANDALL STOLE THE TEST ANSWERS! WE'RE ALL INNOCENT!" Tj yelled to the crowd, cheers filled the room. His friends congratulated him with pats on the back, high fives, and hugs. All except for one friend.

Vince watched as Tj and Spinelli continued to avoid each other. He nudged Gretchen's arm. She looked at him as he pointed to the two love birds.

"Hey gang, we have one last thing on the agenda. We need to talk about our friendship"

Tj opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a shrill voice.

"GRISWALD!"