I own nothing. The inspiration for this chapter came from the Recess episode, the Box, which can be found on Youtube. Nice reviews make me update quicker.

Chapter 5

Bernada paced.

"Let's review, shall we people? We have a kid, with no previous, save little public disturbance and nuisance, caught with nearly 10 000 Smoits worth of Cola. We have the captain of the girl's soccer team attacked and the head cheerleader. And we have no leads, save these worthless scraps of paper!!" she brandished the 3 squares of paper, with their strange graffiti in the Patroller's faces.
No one reacted.

"Does anyone have anything to add?" she asked, throwing the papers down upon her desk.
"The cola bottles were clean. No prints, and to be frank none of the debris that I'd expect from Dill Pickles bag." Zach volunteered, his normal nerves gone.

"Which supports Dill's story that he didn't know they were there." Tommy added, but as Bernada and Vallejo's gaze fell upon him he fell silent

"The mints bomb is the boys' locker room was an amateur effort." Alex volunteered this. "The mint had been added with a wax coating around it. No timer, only one mint, it may have even gone off early than was expected."
"We've traced the blood used for the girl's" Carlos volunteered. "Y's drama club. They were planning to use it for their joint production of" he consulted his note book, "bright spirit?"
"Blithe Spirit" Ingrid corrected him. "Nineteen's twenty drama by Noel Coward, performance at the end of this week."

"Sooo." Bernada observed, walking around to sit on her desk. "We've got nothing."

"There is," Julia spoke almost hesitantly, "one option we haven't tried yet."

"What?" Bernada asked, looking the girl in the eyes.

"Theodore Jasper Detweiler."

A babble of noise broke out.

"T.J." Detweiler?"
"The Rottweiler? I thought he was a myth."
"I heard he was dead."
"I thought he'd lost it."

Julia shook her head.

"T.J. still as sharp as ever, you just have to know how to ask him."

"Who's this T.J.?" Vallejo asked, coming around the desk.

Julia sighed.

"T.J. Detweilerused to be one of my lieutenants."

"It was back in the day." Julia explained to Fillmore and Ingrid as they walked across the playground to the large cabin, where they had been assured they could find T.J.

"When I first moved to Y, it was a very different school."
"How do you mean?"
"The patrol was corrupt. Instead of helping kids, they were exploiting them. Taking bribes, stealing, beating up suspects, you name it, they did it. No one stood up to them, kids and teachers alike were scared, especially as the head of the patrol was the principle's son." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "One day, they tried to make me pay protection. I refused. I'd just had enough."
"So what happened?" Ingrid asked, as they reached the shade of the trees.

"What do you think happen? I got busted into detention. Thing was," she paused, staring straight ahead. "I was the first one who dared to stand up to them." she shrugged. "When I got out, I sent a message for anyone who was sick of the patrol to meet me behind the dumpsters after school." She smiled. "I was overwhelmed by the response. I organised the resistance movement, the outlaws. We started small, just encouraging non violent resistance, encouraging kids not to pay the fines, that sort of thing. Then we moved to bigger stuff."

"Like what?" Fillmore asked, his voice holding a faint level of respect.

"All sorts. We raided their offices to retrieve stolen property; we laid stink bombs across the school, booby traps. Only one thing we never did was smuggling, especially not Cola. Soon it was clear to everyone that the patrol had lost control. Then the dirt bags tried to move in."
"She crushed them!" Alex said grinning.
"WE crushed them." Julia corrected gently. "I invited those who I saw potential in to join me, and got rid of the rest."
"And TJ was one of your lieutenants?" Fillmore confirmed.

Julia nodded.
"Him and about a million others. Alex, Jean Paul and Carlos all were. Zach used to make bombs for the movement." She stopped at the expression on Fillmore's face.
"We're none of us saints." She said, coolly, "but we're clean. Which is more than could be said for most." She stepped around a tree and finished.

"Eventually the head of the patrol got transferred. Bernada took over. She invited us to join. I told her to clean it up, then we'd consider it." She grinned. "She surprised me."
"And so you joined."
"yeah." She had spotted her target, but she turned back to face him. "And I've never regretted it."

She made her way down the door and knocked.

"Officers Carletti, Fiend, Fillmore and Third to see Theodore Jasper Detweiler."

The Man regarded them with suspicion, before Holding out a basket.
"Any books?"
"Only a circular one" Julia said producing it. She had told the others not to bring one with them.

"Any crackers?" they shook their heads.

"Any sandwiches?" again, they shook their heads.

"Any quadrangular items?"

"No." Julia voice was soft and regretful. The man nodded.

"You can see him, as soon as his current visitor has finished. Please leave your sashes and badges here."

He indicated some ugly orange plastic chairs and they sat down, after discarding their sashes. Julia sat in total silence, and Alex seemed reluctant to explain.

The door opened, and a girl came out, with black hair tied in bunches beneath an orange cap.
"Hey." Julia said, getting to her feet. "You're Spinelli right?"

As she nodded, Alex added, "He used to keep a picture of you guys on his desk, back when…"
"Back when." Spinelli confirmed. She shrugged and walked off.

"Ready?" Julia asked.
"As I'm going to be." Came the reply. They stepped into the room.

A boy sat in the middle of the room, his knees drawn up to his chest as he rocked himself back and forward.

Even from the door, they could hear him muttering,

"TJ good boy. Tm's a good boy."

"Hey TJ." Julia said, gently sitting down. "How are you?"
"Tm's good boy. Very good boy."

"Yeah." She agreed softly. Alex had joined her, but both Fillmore and Third felt like outsiders, so they stayed by the door.

"Did you hear about what happened to Dill?"
TJ nodded.

"Dill good boy. Brings TJ grapes and apples."
"And Phil and Lil?"
"Phil not good boy. Post paper to Bad boy. Lila not good. Knows."

"The paper," Julia asked. "Who did Phil send it to?"

TJ suddenly started hitting himself in the head

"No. no. TJ wrong. Good Boy. Try to help TJ."

"TJ" Julia grabbed his hands.
"Who's a good boy?"

The eyes gazed vacantly back.
"TJ good boy."

Julia nodded.

"Who tried to help you?"
"Bad boy."
"Who?"

"Hay. Hay."

Julia nodded, while Alex glanced at Fillmore.
"Any students at X named Hay?"

While they both shrugged, Julia focused on TJ.

"Never mind the name TJ, can you describe him?"

For an instant, something of the Alex seemed to shine through as he said.
"Kid's a badge at the collaborator. Not dirty, but cruising for a bruising." He blinked and repeated.
"TJ Good boy."

It was obvious to everyone that they had got all they were going to out of him. Julia nodded, tears in her eyes.
"You're the best, TJ."

She stepped out of the room.
"Hang in there." Alex added gently, getting to his feet.

Once they were outside the cabin, Julia leant against the wall, her head in her hands. It seemed to take her a few minutes to pull herself together, and then she glanced at Fillmore and Ingrid.
"Guess I owe you guys an explanation."

She breathed in and spoke.
"TJ transferred to Y, in 7th Grade. He was a bit wild, but essentially a good kid, so I appointed him as one of my lieutenant. He was eventually my third in command, after Alex."
"So what happened?"
Julia winced.
"We conducted a raid on the Patrol headquarters. Most of us got away, but they caught TJ. They wanted names. TJ refused to give any, even after 6 hours straight questioning." She shivered. "The guy who had him, was a real dirt bag named Randal. He said he'd make him talk. So he brought out The Box."

Both patrollers gasped. They had heard of The Box. Four white lines into which an offender was placed. Forbidden to move outside those lines, most cracked within 5 minutes.

"I thought that was illegal." Ingrid exclaimed. Julia shrugged.

"Stuff like that didn't matter at Y.
"TJ held out as long as he could. Our mole said that he lasted nearly an hour. But," she dabbed at her eyes. "They broke him. But even with that," she shrugged. "He never talked."

She sighed, deeply.

"Randal in permanent detention for the use of the Box, but it doesn't undo what was done. TJ is now terrified of anything square. The counsellors, they don't know if he'll recover."

The day was warm, but all three shivered.

"But like I said," Julia said, getting to her feet. "If you want information, Tm's the best."

"Really?" Fillmore asked, one eye brow raised, "cos I didn't really understand him."
Julia grinned

"Badge is someone who pretends to be clean. The collaborator is the school paper. Cruising for a bruising is someone who was making moves on our turf."
"Disco." Fillmore said. Julia shrugged.

"He's the master."

The bike was stolen. A bright red one. He'd found it by the woodwork shop, unchained. It was pretty much asking to be taken.

Now all he had to do was wait.

She was beautiful. He wished she could move his heart in the same way as the one he loved.

But she couldn't

He lined the bike up and began peddling.

TBC