Chapter thirty-two: Class Act!
Pausing on the sidewalk, headed toward home, they happened to look up. And to their right, they caught sight of all the movement scattering through the small play area.
"Hey check it out! The kids are out playing today." Chester realized, even though the wind still had a chill to it.
"Yeah. Maybe we can go play games with the kids," Snowflake commented.
The two pups stepped off the sidewalk to cross the lawn. And reaching the group of kids, Chester started to realize something.
"Hey look, it's Aaron!" He smiled, as they approached.
"Aaron? Who's that?" Snowflake asked curiously.
"The owner of one of the PUP Pals." Chester answered, glancing over at her as they walked.
"The owner of the PUP Pals is a kid?" Snowflake said, baffled by what Chester said.
"Well sort of.. he and his family take care of her." Chester corrected, realizing the confusing nature of his earlier statement.
They had nearly reached the group of kids, when they turned around to meet them.
"Hey Aaron,.." Chester greeted. "How's it going? That girl Rayla staying out of trouble?"
"Ha! More like she's keeping me out of trouble." A boy with dark brown hair and tan skin said, and the two shared a laugh.
"Hi Aaron, I'm Snowflake. Nice to meet you," Snowflake said, before stretching out a paw for a handshake.
Aaron came over to kneel before her, taking her paw for the shake.
"Friend of yours?" He asked, turning to Chester.
"Actually, yeah." Chester confirmed. "Snowflake's another member of the PAW Patrol that lived out of town somewhere. And kinda goes back and forth between towns from time to time."
"Hi! I'm Aaron Rycroft." The young boy said, then stood up again.
"So you go to school here, Aaron?" Snowflake asked curiously.
"For a while, yeah." Aaron replied, nodding. "Ever since my family moved here a while back.. we had no idea we'd eventually reunite with Rayla here either! Three years of wondering if we'd ever see her again.. and yet here she was! Returned to us in one piece and just as lovable as ever! She'd hardly changed at all, just grew in size.. and I'm still soo grateful to have her back!"
"Even more glad that she's on the team." Chester added. "Never saw it coming.. but it was soo worth it! She really deserved it after all she did.."
"Speaking of all we did.." Aaron brought up thoughtfully. "How's our hero been? I heard he got hurt again recently.. I've been meaning to have mom drop us by to see him.. but we just haven't gotten to it yet."
"He's hanging in there." Chester replied simply. "Holding on as best he can.. and being stubborn while doing it.. but,.. we're working on it.. Though a visit from you guys wouldn't be such a bad idea. And if I know Rayla,.. she'll have no problems straightening him out once she hears what's been going on with him lately."
"Heh! I don't doubt it, soldier." Aaron smiled knowingly.
"Aaron!" A woman's voice called, and the boy turned to look over his shoulder.
"Sorry, I gotta go.." he said, standing up again. "I think we're moving recess inside since the wind has been making it colder out here."
"Can we play with you guys? Like in the gym?" Snowflake suggested.
"I guess we could ask the teachers if that's ok.." Aaron shrugged, genuinely unknowing of what the answer would be.
The husky pup sat and waited.
"Well come on then.." Chester beckoned, hopping in the direction they wanted to go in. Then stopping to look back at them.
"Or are you wanting to be the rotten egg?" he added half jokingly, and somehow with a straight face.
Snowflake just gave Chester a baffled look.
"I'm NOT a rotten egg! Besides, I like my eggs scrambled," Snowflake responded as she followed Chester.
"Hahaha, what?!" Aaron chuckled.
"You know, a rotten egg.." Chester repeated. "Like, 'last one to the teacher is a rotten egg'." And in finishing this, he took off running from them.
Snowflake rolled her eyes before following him to the teacher.
"Hey Ms. Jennings, can me and my friend come in and hang out with you guys?" Chester asked, stopping merely feet from the teacher holding the door. "At least for the rest of the recess period?"
"Why of course, Chester, come on inside.." Ms. Jennings smiled, holding the door open a little wider for them. "It's mighty chilly out there today!"
"Thanks!" Chester smiled, then all three of them looked to the open gym where toys of all types lay neatly, awaiting usage.
Snowflake looked around and saw all the toys. There was even a rainbow parachute.
"Cool!" the husky pup said. Unfortunately, her statement got the kid's attention.
"Hey look! It's the PAW Patrol!" One of the kids called, as they all came running up to surround Aaron and the two pups. All of them chattering amongst themselves in their marveling wonder of their appearance.
"Oh I'm not a member of the PAW Patrol." Chester told them. "But my brother is.. Chase, the traffic cop."
"Really?! I love Chase!" A boy with dark skin and hair said, pressing both fisted hands to one cheek.
"I might've known.. he's pretty popular around these parts." Chester smiled.
"Are you a police dog too?" A girl quietly asked.
"Yeah! How'd you know?" Chester wondered in amazement.
"Because of your pup tag." The girl said, easing herself forward to point at his collar between the two boys in front of her.
"Oh right! Heh, Heh, great observation!" Chester smiled awkwardly.
"Snowflake!" Some more kids closed in on Snowflake, but within a certain distance so not to crowd her.
"You're here!"
"How long have you been in town?"
"Did you come to visit for the holidays?" The kids all asked at once, in a cascading fashion.
"I've been in town for a while. And yes, I did come to visit during the holidays," Snowflake answered calmly.
"Are you sticking around till new years?" A girl asked her, holding a red ball in front of her tenuously.
"Yes, I am sticking around until New Years," Snowflake retorted.
"Ooo,"
"Wow!"
"Woah.." The children awed.
"So who wants to play a game of dodgeball?" Aaron suggested.
"Isn't that unfair?" A boy in a blue shirt asked. "For the pups that is?"
"Pff! You kidding?" Chester scoffed. "Watch this.." he strolled over to a decently sized blue dodgeball, nosed it up carefully and kicked it skillfully to land it right to the boy's chest with a light 'plunk!'
"Now stop playing games,.. and show me what you really got!" The German Shepherd taunted.
"You asked for it." Aaron obliged, then threw the green ball in his hand. Starting a war they'd all join in on.
Soon they had taken sides in an all-out war against the two, naturally formed parties, letting them all lose track of time with as much fun as they were having. Though as kids were getting tagged out, they had begun to accumulate in one little corner, so when Snowflake finally took a defeating blow, she could now notice this and approach out of curiosity.
"Hi. What are you guys doing?" Snowflake asked curiously, as she walked over to the group of kids in the corner.
The kids, whose backs were to her, turned and parted ways so that she could see the bright, shiny material, bearing colors of red, blue, yellow and green, in the hands of one of the boys.
"The rainbow parachute?! I love playing with that!" Snowflake said with her tail wagging.
"Cool, we were going to play with it. Come on," a boy in a green shirt said. They all took the parachute and spread it out. Holding the edges, they then took turns raising and lowering it, having fun.
"Run under it!" a girl in white said, as they raised the parachute. After she said that, a girl in purple ran under it. Soon, all the kids took turns running under the rainbow parachute as it went up. And eventually, it was Snowflake's turn.
"Here I go!" Snowflake called, as she ran under the parachute as it rose up.
Snowflake ran under the parachute, as the colorful fabric surrounded her from above. Soon, she made it to the other side before the parachute came down.
"May I run under it again?" Snowflake asked politely.
"Yes," a boy in gray said. The kids raised the parachute again, and the husky pup ran under it.
Suddenly a ball hit the boy with the blue dinosaur shirt's shoulder and he began to fall forward, stumbling sideways to pull those to his right with him, and bump into the ones on his left. Kids on the opposite side let go of the parachute as soon as it started to pull them forward and the rest of the unbalanced kids all fell down.
"Whooph! Everyone alright?" The boy with the blue dino shirt asked.
"You guys ok over there?" Aaron called, dodging a ball sent his way just seconds later.
"Aw man!" Chester cursed, having missed.
"I think we're ok." Another girl called, beginning to stand up again.
Snowflake looked up suddenly, seeing the odd shifting of the parachute struck curiosity while in mid-air, until it finally fell upon the husky pup; pulling her over and dropping her on her side.
"Oof! Ah! Hey! What's- Ah! Ahhhhh! H-Help! Who turned out the lights?! W-What's going on?! Help! Let me out! I can't see! Ahhhhhh!" Snowflake exclaimed as she ran, shook and flailed her front paws, trying to get out of the rainbow parachute. She looked more like a rainbow pup ghost.
"Uh oh,.. sorry Snowflake." The boy with the Dino shirt said. "We'll get you out! Everybody?.."
All the remaining kids now took an end and began to either pull or lift, according to their placement until the fabric finally released the panicked pup.
"You ok?" The boy asked her.
"Ah! Oh! Phew! Thank you. Yes, I'm okay!" Snowflake replied, as she got out of the parachute.
"Ok good." Another girl sighed. "Ready to keep playing?"
"Yes," Snowflake said, wagging her tail.
As they continued playing, they took turns running under the parachute some more till they could successfully run four people under at once.
"Hey,.. what if we all run under the parachute at once,.." the boy with the green shirt suggested. "And whoever's stuck underneath it loses."
"That sounds great! Let's do it!" Snowflake agreed happily, her tail still wagging.
"Alright!.. One,.. two,.. three,.. Go!" The boy with the green shirt called.
A few kids made it out in plenty of time, but as the parachute started floating down again, the rest began to get confused.
"Hey wait! Which way am I going?" a girl with a pink shirt wondered.
"Ah! What color was I?!" the boy with the blue shirt cried.
"Where am I going?!"
"Look out!" shouted two more.
As Snowflake ran among the kids, she too saw the parachute floating down. She was going to be trapped under the parachute again, but with the kids!
"Oh no! I've got to get out!" Snowflake gasped, as she looked for an exit. She ran to the side, only to bump into part of the fabric.
"No no no no no!" Snowflake exclaimed as she ran in the other direction. Again, she ran into more of the parachute fabric. A third try gave the same colorful result.
"The rainbow parachute is collapsing! I gotta get out!" Snowflake cried, as she started to panic.
Looking around quickly, she saw an opening and ran for it! Snowflake managed to get out in time... just as the rainbow parachute collapsed, floating down on top of the kids with no escape in sight.
And when she turned around all she could see was the popcorn popping of figures under the parachute, and the fanfare of grunts and strains and various noises that gave her all the information she needed.
Snowflake gave a confused look at what she was looking at. Then upon hearing the noises, her ears dropped.
"Oops, I'm so sorry guys!" Snowflake apologized, seeing the colorful ghosts move about the parachute.
"Oof, its ok, but could you give us a hand- er.. Paw?" one of the boys answered.
"'Can try. Hold on," Snowflake said, before grabbing the parachute with her mouth. She pulled, trying to lift it, but only made waves of fabric in the process. This only freaked out the kids more.
"Ahh! Oh no! This isn't working!" someone cried.
"What do we do now!?" another one exclaimed.
Snowflake stopped moving the parachute, letting it settle down back on the kids who just continued to freak out.
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Another ball screamed by his head and then he caught on to what was happening behind him to his left.
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Snowflake kept trying to free the kids, but with no luck.
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"Yo, guys, time out." Chester called, leaving his place to race towards the corner action.
Snowflake just stared as if pondering what to do.
"Hey, you can't free the prisoners without a little backup!" Chester jeered. "Come on, guys!"
Then all the dodgeball players surrounded the pile of parachute covered kids, and pulled until it smoothed out.
"One, two, three, up!" Then everyone lifted up and pulled the parachute off all the trapped kids.
"Got it. Thank you, Chester. Thank you, guys. Though seriously, they were just stuck in the parachute. You guys can go back to playing dodgeball, and the kids and I will keep playing with the parachute," Snowflake replied.
"Ok, you heard 'em troops, back to the trenches, cause it's ON!" Chester called then the remaining players returned to the open gym.
"Let's keep playing with the parachute! I know we've gotten stuck under it, but it's fun!" Snowflake said. The kids agreed before grabbing the edges of the fabric. The next activity was to form a mushroom shape with the parachute.
"Okay, we lift the parachute, then walk forward. One... two... three... lift!" The boy in the blue T-rex shirt said. Everyone lifted the parachute, then walked forwards so the fabric would form a mushroom shape above them.
"Now what?" asked the girl in purple. Suddenly the mushroom shaped parachute started to lower- fast!
"We step back- Oh no!" the boy in the blue shirt said, but it was too late. The mushroom shape deflated, and the parachute floated down on top of half of the kids.
"Ah! No! Help!" cried a kid.
"Ahhhh! Oh no!" a boy in a white shirt exclaimed.
"Hey! Let us out!" three kids exclaimed.
"Ahhhhh! Help! Who turned out the lights?!" Snowflake exclaimed, as she flailed about under the parachute.
The other kids laughed, before helping their friends out from under the parachute as their covered pals kept flailing about.
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Chester took a ball to the shoulder, and even milked his defeat for the purpose he always had in mind.
"Nooooooo, I've been hit! I'm through! Finished! Ahhhhhhhh!" Chester then fell dramatically onto his back, if a flower had been nearby he'd likely have held it up against his chest to comedically reinforce his theatrics.
"Hahaha! Oh Chester,.. always the dramatic one." Aaron chuckled, tossing a dodgeball up and down in his hand triumphantly.
"What can I say?" Chester answered, when sitting up suddenly. "I was born for the theater." And even his showman's flare, couldn't stop the deadpan nature of his statement completely.
Snowflake and the kids kept playing with the rainbow parachute as they raised and lowered it for fun.
"HaHA, I win!" Aaron announced, relishing his success.
RING! Suddenly the bell rang and all the kids looked and immediately dropped what they were doing to line up at the door.
"Well,.. looks like that's our cue!" Chester called as the kids continued to gather at the far corner of the gym. "Later guys!"
"Bye!" some of the kids said before leaving.
"Hey! Wait for me!" the boy in the blue shirt said as he struggled to get out of the rainbow parachute, along with Snowflake. Soon, they both got out and went over to their friends.
"See ya later, Chess, have fun with your friend, say hi to our hero for me!" Aaron called, from the back of the line.
"You got it." Chester assured him. "And next time.. I'll smoke you for less!"
Then turning for the external exit, they left the children to return to their class.
Hey guys.. We are back! And actually we never really left.. Just been REALLY busy! So much so that production will be on pause, because we can now be posting more chapters. XD
Let's just say we got a little carried away with the writing part of this story and neglecting the posting side of it. ;D
So I apologize for the underground nature of our current progress.. But,.. at least that means we have a LOT of content to release and the plan is to start posting it till we get caught up to some degree. And with that..
I hope you enjoy this new chapter, can't wait to hear your thoughts on it, and I'll.. I mean we'll see you next time! Thx!