Story: Of Spitfires and Friendships
Pairing: T.J./Spinelli, lite Gretchen/Vince
Rating: Mid T
Summary: T.J. doesn't really know when his feelings for Spinelli changed, but he can't imagine living without her. Too bad she has yet to realize her own. Slight AU.
A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I found them sweet and I appreciate them! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Recess and am merely using the characters for my own entertainment.
T.J. kept checking his phone, looking to see if Spinelli had contacted him or sent him a text. He had woken up in the morning, but she had been gone. He called her and texted her, but she hadn't answered so he wondered if she had even made it to school today. It was worrisome. Spinelli was elusive to a point, but this was a bit much, even for her. He wondered if everything was alright. He left her one last text message asking if she was okay before heading over to her first class, history, hoping she would be there.
T.J. found Gretchen standing outside the history classroom, peeping through the window on the door and trying to listen to what was going on.
"What's going on, Gretchen?"
"Mr. Buncler is talking to Spinelli about the test."
"Did something happen?"
"Well, if you mean she came in to class ten minutes late, put her head on her desk and slept through the entire test, then yes. Something happened." She sighed and turned away from the window and gave T.J. a suspicious look, "I stopped by her house this morning to give her a ride to school, because I figured she would be late, but her mother said she never came home. Weren't you supposed to see to it that she got home safely?"
"She slept over at my place last night."
Gretchen's eyebrows shot up and she pushed her glasses up her nose, clearing her throat awkwardly, as a small blush formed on her face, "Well. That would explain why she was so tired. I commend you, T.J. Detweiler. I didn't think you possible of closing the deal."
T.J. rolled his eyes, "You can stop your train of thought right there, Gretch, cuz it's wrong. Yeah, we 'slept' together, but sleeping was definitely the extent of what went on." Well, on her part at least. Though, he wasn't about to tell Gretchen how he spent the entire night trying to fend off a particularly bad boner and a koala-like Spinelli who had attached herself to him late in the night and wouldn't stop wiggling. "She just didn't want to go home for some reason."
Gretchen frowned, "Did she say why?"
"I don't know, but she seemed put off by something. She kinda freaked a bit when I insisted. And I don't mean normal Spinelli freaking. She almost seemed scared." Gretchen's eyebrows furrowed, and her lips thinned. T.J. knew she only got that look when she connected dots, "Do you know something?"
She grimaced, "Well, I don't know if it's really something... It's just, she told me-"
Before she could finish her statement, the classroom door banged opened, and Spinelli walked out, dragging her feet, a particularly sour look on her face, "That old bag of bones Buncler. I'd really like to lay him out."
T.J. patted the top of her head, smiling when she glared at him for the condescending motion. "What'd you get this time, Spinelli?"
"He's making me retake the test this Friday and I have to get an A on the end of the year exam or I'm retaking his class over summer break. And if I fail that too, I don't get the credits and I'll have to take the course again senior year."
Gretchen shook her head disdainfully, "I told you not to go to the party, Spinelli. You made a bad decision, and now you have to reap the consequences."
She rolled her eyes, "This sucks! I need an aspirin, I feel like throwing up, and I'm tired as hell! Why should I have to go to classes?"
Gretchen shook her head again, "Spinelli, you should start getting serious about school. You do want to graduate with us next year, don't you?"
"Okay mom." Spinelli grinned. "Whatever you say."
Gretchen rolled her eyes, "Anyway, I'm heading to my next class. I can't be late."
"Yeah I'll see you later, Gretchen! You need to tell me about you-know-what!" Spinelli called out.
T.J. frowned seeing Gretchen's face burn a slight red, but didn't say anything. What was that all about? Spinelli suddenly grabbed his arm, tugging him down the hall.
"We've both got a free period. Let's go get something to eat."
"Don't you ever think about something other than food?" He let her continue pulling him in the direction of the dining hall, "Did you hear? About the house with the party we went to last night?"
"What about it?"
"Apparently, the owners had been out of town and some frat boys broke into it and started a party. Twenty students got arrested when the cops showed up and everyone split."
She laughed out loud, but then grimaced and settled down when her head began pounding again, "Ha. Serves them right."
He narrowed his eyes at her, "Spinelli... That could have been us. We're lucky we left when we did, because apparently the cops showed up five minutes later."
She shrugged indifferently, "Who cares? We didn't get arrested, so it's not like it should matter."
"They found meth in a lot of the drinks too!"
Spinelli started laughing really hard, "No way! That's just too funny!"
He yanked his arm out of her strong grip and forced her to stop, spinning her around roughly so she could see his face. It wasn't funny and he was getting tired of Spinelli making too light of a deal over this. He glared intensely down at her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her lightly, "Wake. Up. Spinelli. You drank those drinks last night. A lot of them!"
She pried his arms off of her shoulders and frowned, "Chill, Detweiler. I'm fine, aren't I?"
"Look, Spinelli. You may not care what happens to you, but I do, okay?" Her face burned red. "You could have been seriously ill! Can't you take anything seriously?"
When she didn't respond, he scoffed and turned around and walked away. She could make him so mad sometimes, always goofing off, never taking life seriously. He understood she had a different philosophy on life than he did, but he wished she would realize that the things she did didn't just affect her, if they affected her at all. They also affected Gretchen, Vince, Gus, Mikey, and especially himself. Even if she wasn't going to stop being reckless for herself, the least she could do is consider the feelings of her best friends.
She ran up to him and grabbed his hand, stopping him from walking away, "Look. I'm sorry, okay T.J?" She looked up at him with brown doe eyes, biting her bottom lip in worry, "I just... Don't be mad, okay? I'm sorry. Truce?"
He rolled his eyes in defeat. Knowing her, she probably was not very sorry at all, or she didn't get what it was she was supposed to be sorry about in the first place, but how could he resist her apology with her face like that? It kind of annoyed him how cute she really was when she wanted to be. And she knew how to flaunt it too.
"Yeah, whatever." She grinned widely, and they continued on their way to the lunch room, "By the way, where were you this morning? I woke up and you were gone."
"I went home to pick up some clothes really quickly. I couldn't go to school wearing barf you know? It's not really my color."
"Your mom said she hadn't seen you."
Spinelli's shoulders tensed and though he didn't say a word to mention it, he could clearly see she was uncomfortable, "Yeah. I, um... I went in through my window and then left."
"So then why were you late for school?"
She snorted, "What's with the third degree, T.J?"
"I'm just worried is all."
"Well don't be." she snapped, "There's nothing to worry about."
He glanced down at Spinelli. Her face was a bit flushed and she was breathing a bit harder than necessary. She was so stiff and tensed up, he could immediately tell something was way off. It kind of upset him that she thought he would be fooled by her declaration that nothing was the matter. He had known her for almost eleven years now. What was so bad that she couldn't even tell him? He was her best friend who she told EVERYTHING. Even when she got her period! He wasn't gonna let her back out this time.
"Is something going on at your-"
"Yo, Spinelli!"
Conrad Mundy sprinted up out of nowhere, looking out of breath and a bit crazed, "You gotta check this out! Some freshman got into this huge fight with a senior and now it's like grade wide war!"
Spinelli turned to Conrad eagerly, welcoming the distraction from the question she knew T.J. had been a few seconds from asking, "No way! Who's winning?"
"The freshman! It's awesome! You gotta come watch!"
"Hell yeah! No way am I missing out on that action!" She gave T.J. a small smile, "I'll see you later, okay, Teej?" And then she ran off after him, leaving T.J. standing there, once again, annoyed that she had avoided talking about whatever the heck was going on in her life.
He frowned. It hurt that she was avoiding talking to him. It was as if after eleven years, she still couldn't trust herself fully to him. He pushed back the voice in his head telling him he was actually upset because of something deeper. Something that had to do with his feelings for his pint sized bestie. But he knew one thing for sure. If she thought avoiding the problem was going to make T.J. stop worrying about it, she was sorely mistaken.
Chapter 2! Hope you enjoyed it :)