s2.e3

Heating Up

            “Ow! Ugh, damn it…” Jace grumbled as he pulled his used Goodwill bike off the ground and checked for any new scars on his elbows.

            Millie and Wes, chilling out against the shaded wall of the Target building’s back side with sodas from its café, watched him clean himself off and return to the bike seat to grudgingly try again—after his tenth tumble onto the rear parking lot’s asphalt.

            “I don’t think we’re quite ready for that moment where you say, ‘you can let go now, Dad,’ and I reply with ‘I’m not holding you!’” Wes remarked. “Keep trying, bud.”

            “Keep trying? This is crazy! I’m supposed to be learning how to do this on soft grass!” Jace exclaimed, and then after Millie snickered, added, “Great secret technique.”

            She shrugged. “It worked for me. All the bruises and scars just make you want to try even harder to get it right, like your life depends on it.”

            Jace grimaced as he applied another spray of antiseptic onto a fresh cut on his arm. “Seriously, that’s enough for today. I’m wearing my swimming suit under my shorts and it’s chafing like crazy, and if I keep getting sliced up back here, the water park’s going to give me an infection. We’re supposed to meet up at noon.”

            “Ah, that’s right, AquaZone opened yesterday,” Millie replied. “I’m a lousy swimmer anyway, but I wouldn’t be caught dead there, taking a bath with a hundred people in a giant petri dish. Yuck. But… have fun if that’s what you want to do.”

            “All right, all right,” Wes said and stepped up to his new car, this time a little more modern Honda black station wagon from 1993, for some extra space. “Let’s get your bike on the roof rack and we’ll head to the park. You’ve earned a break.”

            “Man…” Jace sighed and rubbed his sore muscles. “What a rough week…”

            After they dropped off Millie, Wes pulled into one of the few spots available in AquaZone’s dedicated parking lot, close to its small side entrance instead of the park’s main gateway. Jace, wearing a t-shirt, flip-flops, and his swim suit, hopped out, the $10 that he needed for a ticket crumpled up in his hand. He didn’t dare bring his old, very-not-waterproof cell phone to a waterpark, but that was what schedules were for.

            “Have fun, and I’ll be back for you at four, sharp,” Wes reminded him from the driver side window. “Try not to drown, okay? Your legs could give out in the deep end.”

            “I never liked the wave pool anyway,” Jace replied. “Oh, anything special you can remember about today? Must’a been memorable, it being the gang’s first visit and all…”

            Wes scrunched up his face for a moment in thought and answered, “Hm, this one’s a bit fuzzy, but the other guys might maybe act a little weird. Can’t remember why.”

            He gave Jace a wave and drove off, the bicycle rattling on the car’s roof as he did so. After a wait in line, Jace got a ticket and proceeded to the entrance—where the side park’s sole mascot, the shade-wearing water droplet Hydro Boy, watched guests enter from above on the marquee. Jace grabbed a blue towel and proceeded into the water park, filled nearly to capacity with hundreds of people, a lot of them probably tourists.

            Everything had a colorful fresh coat of paint and had yet to be sun-blasted or water damaged to oblivion, with the smell of chlorine as pervasive as the sunlight sparkles bouncing off of moving water. The park was smallish, so nearly all of it was visible right at the entrance area. King Arcade was just past the wall several hundred feet away, with the screams from the Red Demon coaster just barely audible.

            Jace didn’t need a tour from Wes this time; the park barely changed at all by 2020. It had a short yellow water slide, a large, enclosed twisting blue one, and a tall red one that started at the top of a fake snowy mountain, which held both its support beams and an always excessively long line. The slides all fed into the big main pool, which was Jace’s favorite place here—he liked the shallow, curving, fake beach part the best, and the pool even had its own island in the middle, though it was always full of visitors.

            Elsewhere was the nearly-as-big wave pool that still scared him a bit, a kiddy pool and watery playground with plenty of fountains, a log plume with a splash zone, two beach-themed cafés, a relaxing inner-tube river, and the Vortex, the park’s one roller coaster, with a downward loop “whirlpool” section notorious for making riders sick.

            “Jason!” he heard a few voices calling out. “Yo, Jason!”

            He found them surrounded by the crowds, chilling out poolside as they waved at him. Nearly the whole gang was there, Ash and Zach looking cool in their sunglasses. Sadie had her pink goggles around her neck, but other than Colin, who had a hat above his glasses, the rest lacked sun protection. All the boys, however, did have on light-colored shirts—like most of the guys around. Jace was used to that water park norm.

            Jace sped-walked over, tossing off his flip-flops on the way, and, already used to the warm water, went past the others and jumped off the edge and into the deeper end. Once his head was back above water, he flipped around and gave them a big grin.

            “Ya like swimming, or something?” Wessy asked.

            “Yeah, definitely,” Jace replied. “Did you guys just get here?”

            “Uh-huh…” Sadie said. “But we haven’t done anything yet, other than sit here and chat and dangle our legs in. The place is just… way too packed.”

            “It’s not going to get any less busy. C’mon, get in! Or we could wait in line for a slide.” Jace looked at them again and saw a little trepidation. “Something up?”

            “Ah, it’s just…” Colin gawked around at everyone in the pool and walking by. “We’ve swum at the community pool plenty of times, but this is… I mean…”

            “There are so many tourists!” Jared said with some agitation.

            “Yeah, so?” Jace questioned. “Are you embarrassed or something? I mean, we’re all wearing shirts… And it’s not like Sadie and Ash are in, like, tiny bikinis.”

            “That’s what I said!” Zach replied. “I’d get in and have a good time, but not when they’re all like this. Maybe it’s because it’s our first time at a water park…”

            Sadie self-consciously crossed her arms over her stomach—perhaps to try and hide that last little bit of baby fat she still had—and said with a forced, nervous grin, “It’s just kinda weird. At the pool, it’s mostly kids or old people… But here…”

            Ash, a beanpole, finished for her, “You see these people? They’re super models! The guys not wearing shirts are, like, a bunch of waxed buff dudes, and there’s also teenage girls in two-pieces that… honestly, kinda make you feel bad about yourself.”

            “What a bunch of…” Zach muttered.

            “Wow,” Jace stated. “Guess you’re just not used to seeing half the town in their swim clothes. They won’t make fun of you, guys. Come on. There’s a heat wave.”

            “Exactly! It’s the perfect time to cool off!” Zach argued. “Look, none of us are supposed to be ripped or anything. We’re still only fifth-graders. I don’t get you guys.”

            “It never used to be a problem, at least not back when we were last swimming at the end of last summer,” Colin stated. “Now we’re all suddenly… weird about it.”

            “Not me, man. I’d run around here wearin’ nothin’ but my shades if it was legal.”

            Sadie winced. “Yeah, thanks for that, Zach…”

            Arthur then came over with two orange ice pops and handed one to Ash. Jace had never seen him without his glasses, but he didn’t seem to be squinting.

            “Oh, hey, Jason’s here,” he observed. “And he’s actually in the water.”

            “You see okay without your glasses?” Jace asked.

            “Yeah. We’re farsighted. Just need ‘em for reading, so they’re in a locker with our mom’s stuff. Guys, can we get going before the waterslide lines get really backed up?”

            The rest of the gang looked at each other, mumbled a bit, and finally fully left the water and got to their feet—at which point, Jared began staring at something in the distance. As they began to make plans, Jace pulled himself out of the pool, and drew attention to himself, what with the war wounds and several waterproof Band-Aids.

            “Whoa, Jason…” Wessy was the first to speak. “You get into a fight with D’ or Hutch and lose or something? You’re looking pretty banged up.”

            “Um, yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of training… For the big Bullet Water game.”

            “You’re pretty hardcore, huh? Anyway, yeah, let’s hit the slides first.”

            Arthur replied, “All right, and then we can… Seriously, Jared?”

            Surprised like he had been caught doing a bad thing, he exclaimed, “Huh, what?”

            “Are you staring at my mom again? That’s really messed up, man.”

            “Really, Jared?” Ash added with a disgruntled sigh.

            Jace turned around and spotted the twins’ mom, sunbathing and reading a magazine on one of the loungers strewn across the fake beach. Her two-piece was pretty skimpy and she was athletic, so he could kind of understand why she was attracting gazes from guys passing by, and even some from a certain tween.

            “Hey, your mom’s… you know…” Jared had no idea how to defend himself against the twins’ stares, so he changed the subject. “Water slide time!”

            He then hurried over to the end of the line for the tall red one.

            Twenty minutes later, they finally made it to the top of the last set of stairs and reached the summit of the mountain, where a teenager no older than sixteen exhaustedly guided kids and adults into the water jet pool that would propel them down the slide. They happened to be flanked by two chubby older men on the way up, both of whom decided to be among the few guys in the park who didn’t want to wear shirts.

            But Jared, Zach, and on occasion Arthur as well hardly seemed to notice them, as their eyes often meandered elsewhere, to other sights in the crowd. Jace, Wessy, and Colin were oblivious to it, but Ash and Sadie certainly took notice.

            “Next…” the teen waterslide guard said to Colin, who was first up.

            He stepped into the little pool, where he removed his glasses and slid them into a protective plastic case that was tied around his neck. It was the first time Jace had seen him without his eyewear in full light, but unlike the twins, Colin looked like he could barely see and had to basically shrink his face as he sat down in front of the jets.

            “There’s the old Colin right there,” Wessy commented, mostly towards Jace. “He walked around like that most of fourth grade until his parents finally got him glasses.”

            Looking a little nervous about it just prior to going down, Colin nevertheless pushed himself off and onto the slide once the teenager gave the signal.

            Jared laughed. “Hope he doesn’t run into the fat guy who went before him.”

            “Ya mean like how Homer Simpson got stuck in that old episode?” Zach replied.

            “Yeah, exactly!”

            “Rude, guys,” Sadie said with a sigh and went up for her turn.

            After she strapped on her goggles and fearlessly shoved off, Jace went next, having already gone down the slide dozens of times. The instant the teenager opened his mouth to clear him, he pushed, laid back into the rushing water, and enjoyed the ride.

            The slide, sometimes called “Red Demon Jr.” or the “Aqua Demon,” was eight hundred feet of swerves, curves, and towards the end, a few rises after a long drop that simulated waves. The first two seconds at the top also gave riders a nice view of both parks, but at the bottom, they needed to be diligent about getting away from the drop area. Once Jace hit the water, he quickly swam away and joined Colin and Sadie.

            “Yeah, those two are kinda being jerks lately,” Jace heard Sadie tell him.

            He paddled up closer to them and asked, “Wait, who are the jerks?”

            Sadie spun around in the water as Ash crashed down behind them and answered, “Don’t tell ‘em I said anything, but Jared and Zach… Something’s up with them.”

            Colin shrugged as much as he could in the water, replying, “Guess I don’t see it.”

            “Y-yeah, I don’t really get it, either…” Jace said, but thought he kind of did.

            “What are you talkin’ about?” Ash asked once she too had joined them.

            “You see it, right, Ash?” Sadie replied. “Jared and Zach. You totally see it.”

            “Oh, yeah. That. Arty’s starting to act kind of weird, too. So have a bunch of other boys at school. ‘It’ must be starting. Caught my bro looking at a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue last week… Gross.” Ash stopped talking just before Arthur joined them.

            Treading water with his bicycle kicks as he thought about things, Jace realized he might have actually had some vague idea what was going on; he may have seen it before, back in 2020, in his former friend Austin during the last half of fifth-grade.

            He just hoped it wouldn’t get in the way of any friendships, or the mission.

            It was mostly Jace who led the way to the other attractions throughout what was left of the day. They did the log plume ride next, which had big fiberglass fake trees that only sat six per log—Jared and Zach, purposely or otherwise, ended up in one with three high school girls. What with the limited seating, the wait was long, despite the ride lasting maybe twenty seconds and being little more than a steep drop into the large but shallow splash zone that also drenched anyone on the nearby walkway.

            Wessy took them to the wave pool afterwards, just to check it out; it was far too occupied to be much fun. Jace didn’t leave the shallow end, and even just watching the mass of swimmers bob up and down in the machine-made waves made him a little sick.

            Following a snack break, they chilled out in innertubes and floated down the river, which attracted more of the older set, but gave them a chance to hang around and chat for a bit. Jared and Zach were the least entertained with the particular “ride.” To kick things up again, they then suffered through the forty-minute wait to get on The Vortex, drying off long before they boarded what was the entire park’s only other coaster. Colin came the closest to throwing up, but managed to hold it together.

            After they returned to the main pool and tried the other two slides, they found themselves chilling at a familiar locale—a playground, but of a larger, wetter variety.

            “Aw, man, the school should install fountains and sprinklers and stuff like they have here,” Wessy said, watching water jets spray the other forts and the younger kids stepping on them to increase the spray height elsewhere, much to their amusement.

            Jace, his muscles especially tired by now, dangled his legs off the side near one of the little waterslides. The central, colorful play fort was so big that it held the eight of them with room to spare. But Jared and Zach still seemed to be all but ignoring their friends, instead keeping their eyes on the park’s other attractions.

            Wessy, oblivious to all of that, told Jace, “Hey, Jason—you did a good job leading us around today. It was almost like you’ve been here before.”

            Sadie, who had been whispering with Ash, then exclaimed, “But it’s too bad Zach and Jared weren’t really with us, huh? Hey guys, do you even remember any of the rides?”

            “Huh?” Zach turned to her and pushed down his shades. “What’cha on about?”

            “Don’t act like we didn’t notice you and Jared, staring at boobs all day,” Sadie answered, garnering a snicker from Ash and red faces from the two accused.

            “I—I was not!” Jared fired back. “W-well, only because Zach was doing it first.”

            “Hey, don’t hate on us just because we’re starting to notice girls,” Zach replied. “It was going to happen eventually. Not like we’re disrespecting them or somethin’.”

            “Uh-huh,” Ash replied. “We love it when guys stare at our chests.”

            “I’m not getting involved in this one…” Wessy said, as Colin gazed off into space. “Puberty, things getting weird between boys and girls… Yeck, not for me.”

            “They’re just teasing you guys,” Arthur said. “C’mon, we all had the talk, right?”

            Jared, Jace, Wes, and Colin all looked at him inquisitively.

            “Man, guess we’re at that age now where some of us are suddenly a little ‘older’ than the others…” Zach stated. “Look, whatever happens when we all turn into weird, awkward, hormoney teenagers, let’s promise that things don’t get weird between us.”

            “Not a problem!” Wessy naïvely tried to assure the others.

            Jared said nothing and went back to gawking at certain passerby tourists, but did avert his eyes when the twins’ mom came up to collect the kids. An awkward sort of silence remained throughout the group that hadn’t gone away by the time they were all picked up by the parents out front, one by one as Mrs. Teller watched over them.

            Adult Wes had been correct when he recalled that “something weird happened.”

            “We’re running out of time,” Wes told Jace shortly after he came home from school the next day. “The big game is this Saturday. You still need to learn how to ride a bike and work on a team full of water gun-toting kids. So, we’re going hardcore.”

            “I don’t like the sound of that…” Jace replied.

            Millie was around to “help out” again, as Wes held Jace’s waiting bike. They had gone to a quiet corner of the neighborhood, away from all the familiar blocks to practice in one of Desert Tree’s few cul-de-sacs. Grudgingly, Jace put his helmet on—Millie’s technique at least let him protect his head—and he took a seat on his bicycle.

            “Just go ‘round and ‘round the cul-de-sac,” Wes instructed. “Practice your turns, master the bike. And this is just so you can arrive at the game. Your aim still needs help.”

            “I played online shooters all the time back home, dude…”

            “Online… shooters?” Millie wondered.

            “Don’t ask,” Wes said. “Probably better you don’t know. Jace, I forgot… What did happen at the water park yesterday?”

            “It was mostly fine. But some weird… boy-girl stuff made it a little awkward.”

            “That starts to happen at your age.” Wes took out his iPhone—something Jace rarely ever saw him do—and turned the volume all the way up. “Here, train to this!”

            He pressed the play button, and Push it to the Limit began blasting from his phone speakers. As Wes got into it, Jace rolled his eyes and began his not-at-all extreme bike riding around the circle of asphalt. He was still wobbly, but after picking up some additional evening practice the previous day, he was at least riding on his own.

            After the song looped for what must have been the fifth time, Millie eyed Wes curiously and asked over the music, “You like 80s jams or something?”

            “Huh?” He looked at her as Jace peddled nearby. “You kidding? The 80s and 90s had the best music, rock especially. You… haven’t seen Scarface, right? At your age…”

            She shrugged. “It’s one of my dad’s favorite movies.” After Jace crashed and let out a loud swear, she added, “It’s weird saying this since I’m still living in this decade, but you seem to be pretty… nostalgic, I think is the word? About this time, I mean.”

            “Yeah, well…” Wes went to his parked car and took out the water guns in the back, handing one of them to Millie. “I grew up in this era, too. I’m not that old.”

            “You don’t say…” Millie checked her gun’s water level. “What town?”

            “That’s enough questions. Jace! You can stop with the bike. We’re switching to water gun practice. I’m gonna teach you some advanced dodging techniques today.”

            Jace hit the kickstand and grumbled back, “Ah, man… with Millie again? She gets so freaking competitive, even just for practice… Why can’t I just shoot at you?”

            “Hey, I actually don’t like running around and getting sweaty,” Millie replied and pocketed a Lincoln that Wes had given her. “But if I have to, I’m gonna win.”

            “You don’t win practice, and anyway… Ugh, Dad! Just, why her?”

            He shrugged. “Sorry, kiddo. I’m too tall a target. You need to hone your aim so you can hit and not be hit by all those other short people running around with you.”

            He tossed Jace his water gun, which he caught, barely. He let out a big sigh as his opponent pumped her weapon repeatedly to maximize the pressure and range.

            It wasn’t just that she could be scary; he was also still a little hesitant, nervous even, about playing any sort of game at all against a girl. Stupid, he knew.

            Despite that, he also spent Tuesday and Wednesday pushing it to the limit and biking along the razor’s edge, and remembering his lessons about confidence, he became exponentially better at both subjects. He soon graduated from learning to shoot straight and avoiding water jets in a wide-open space, to understanding how to use bushes and mail boxes for cover, the team lingo, and formulating area-specific strategies. He wasn’t used to being so physical, but as a veteran of first-person shooters, he did have a leg up.

            It was on that Wednesday, right around sunset, that Wes wanted to see the culmination of the training efforts. Specifically, he wanted to see them combined.

            “Come on, it will look totally awesome,” he pestered his nephew on the street in front of their house. “Just do it once. I won’t even play cheesy 80s music this time.”

            Jace shook his head, got on his bike, rode to the end of the block, and returned at full speed—with his Super Soaker in one hand. As he pedaled past Wes, he hit him with several vindictive sprays, right in the face. This made both his uncle and Millie burst out laughing, after which Jace screeched to a stop and walked his bike back over.

            “Good! Very good!” Wes said once he settled down and dried his face. “Too bad bikes are banned in Bullet Water games. You could provide the drive-by support.”

            Jace mumbled, “So… learning how to do that served no practical purpose.”

            “Hey, the best things in life never do.”

            On Thursday, Jace was granted a recovery day so that he could relax a bit before the game that weekend, which he was grateful for. He was perfectly fine with spending recess chilling on the main fort with the others, hoping to just take it easy. The strange winter heat wave was only getting worse, and it was taking a toll on the kids.

            “Now I really want them to install sprinklers here…” Jared moaned.

            They looked around at those on the playground, few of their peers moving in excess. At the basketball court, Carson and Gerald seemed to be into it again, and even the inseparable Tamatha and Trudy, hanging out in the shade of the trees, looked like they were having a spat, arguing over some inconsequential thing.

            “Never thought I’d see that…” Sadie spoke up. “Tam and Trude are actually more than three feet away from each other for the first time since… before I can remember.”

            “I think this heat is starting to get to everyone,” Arthur replied.

            Wessy strode up to them like the air temp didn’t bother him at all, coolly and quickly walked right up the slide like he often did, and joined them in the shaded fort.

            “Wanted to tell ya guys, I met up with Gavin at the K yesterday so we could agree on our final rosters for the game Saturday. They’re just about set in stone now.”

            “Cool, so who… isn’t making the cut?” Jared inquired.

            “That’s the thing… I mean, we’re all in. You, too, Jason. Because it isn’t just him and his buddies. Turns out he knows a lot of kids on his end of the neighborhood, and roped a whole bunch onto his team. This game is gonna be crazy big, guys. Maybe epic.”

            “Okay, okay,” Sadie replied. “Just give us a number. How many we talking?”

            Wes held out quite a few of his fingers. “Eight. Eight versus eight. Crazy.”

            Jared counted his own, mouthing everyone’s names as he did so, and he realized something after a few seconds. “There’s only seven of us. We’ll be at a disadvantage.”

            “He said we can still add one more… I just wonder who it could be.”

            “How about Lucy?” Sadie asked semi-jokingly. “She can shoot, remember?”

            “Ugh, Sadie, don’t remind me of that… I was thinking maybe we could ask around, get one of the other guys in our class to join us?”

            “What about Ash?”

            Arthur shook his head. “There’s no way she’d go for it. How about Wright? Saw him playing DOOM in the lab. Or Carson? He’d be cool under pressure, probably.”

            Colin spoke up, “I’d be afraid to ask, but… Hutch might actually be a…”

            Jared and Wes looked at him, and Colin gave up on trying to make a point.

            Sadie then interjected, “Hold on, are you two seriously not even considering…”

            Wessy rubbed his chin and thought aloud, “Wonder if Robby or Brian…”

            “Yeah, I knew it! Our eighth team member just has to be a boy, doesn’t it?”

            “W-well, I just… don’t know if the other girls would want to do it, that’s all!”

            “I mean…” Colin nudged his glasses. “Not to sound mean, Sadie—you’re tough, but look at the girls in our class… Could you see Spice, or Willa, or… or Millie running around in the sun, shooting water guns at a bunch of seventh-graders?”

            “Hehe, yeah…” Jared laughed. “Millie, on a team, listening to orders…”

            “Sheesh, don’t even consider Delilah,” Sadie groaned and rolled her eyes. “Not like The Dump’s bouncer-bodyguard would be intimidating or anything…”

            December suddenly came storming over, looking quite angry for some reason, which was an unusual look for her. Zach followed close behind, making hand gestures and remarks of the “just calm down, what’s the big deal?” sort.

            She suddenly stopped, right where most of the fifth-grade student body could see her, and yelled, “Just be quiet, Zach! You know what you said!”

            “Ugh, what now…” Sadie moaned. “Zach! What’d you do?”

            “Nothin’, Said'!” he shouted back. “She’s freaking out for no reason!”

            “Any men’s sports team could beat any women’s sports team, huh?” December said loud enough for everyone to hear. “Is that what I overheard you telling Park?”

            “I-it’s not like that! He was just asking me about sports betting, and I happen to know a thing or two about that, really… Also, it was just a joke!”

            “Oh, wow,” Sadie grumbled. “The hits just keep on coming today.”

            “Emergency class meeting, everyone!” December announced. “At the court!”

            “Man…” Wessy said. “December doesn’t get mad often, but when she does…”

            He went down the slide, as the others hopped down until only Colin remained on the fort, who just wanted to stay put. He looked at December nervously.

            “That means you, too, Colin,” she insisted.

            Jace didn’t know what was about to happen, but he had gotten tired of all the boy-girl stuff going on recently. It almost felt like the theme of a TV show episode.

            “Here’s what’s up,” December said once everyone in class had gathered on the basketball court. “There’s a half-hour left of recess, and we’re gonna use it for a good old-fashioned kickball game. I’m a captain, and Zach volunteered to be the other.”

            “What? No I didn’t!” he argued.

            “Haven’t had a kickball game in a while…” Delilah said and crossed her arms.

            Carson looked out at the old kickball field at the corner of the playground that was both dusty and overgrown, near the chain-link fences. “You know I’m not much for running around and getting gross. But I’ll still be a pitcher—always was good at it.”

            “Zach’s going to be a gentleman and let me pick my first three players,” December proclaimed. “That was nice of him, right?”

            “Whatever, December…” Zach sighed. “Let’s just get this over with.”

            “All right. So… I pick Delilah as our pitcher, Sadie, and Felicity.” Once her choices walked over to her side, December added, “Notice a theme, Zach?”

            “Yeah, yeah… I get it. Wes, Jared, Arthur… get over here.”

            “Oooh, I see,” Willa said. “It’s a boys vs. girls game! Y-yeah, I can get into it!”

            “Man, I have seen way too many of these episodes,” Jace complained to Colin.

            “What brought this on, exactly?” Colin wondered.

            “What do you mean?” Ash replied. “You guys have been acting really weird the last few weeks, and I was there when Zach made that stupid joke.”

            “What do you mean you guys…? I never…”

            “What’d he say?” Trudy wondered.

            “That men’s sports teams could beat any women’s team at anything!” Ash said.

            Zach tried to protest, “That’s not what I—”

            “Wow, so not nice, Zach,” Trudy grumbled. “December, I want in!”

            “Sure,” the captain agreed. “And I guess Tammy, too.”

            “U-um, actually…” Tamatha spoke up as Trudy walked over. “We’re kind of having a tiny bit of a tizzy right now, so maybe it’s better if I don’t play…”

            December raised an eyebrow. “You two… are fighting?”

            “We are not!” Trudy replied, hands on her hips. “Tam’s just being a tiny bit of a dum-dum right now because at our last sleepover, she insisted that Brandon Walsh is cuter and smarter than Dylan McKay. But it’s not even a contest!”

            Wessy did a gagging motion towards Jace and Colin as Tamatha glowered.

            “Okay, that’s it!” she said angrily. “I will not be on the same team as her. Zach, I don’t care if you’re a terrible sexist pig, put me on your team!”

            He groaned. “I am not a sexist pi… Fine, whatever, get over here.”

            Tamatha demonstrated her maturity by sticking her tongue out at a shocked Trudy as she skipped over to join the boys. She got too close to Wessy for comfort, who rolled his eyes and sidestepped away from her.

            “Let’s just finish this up,” Zach asked of December. “Colin, Gerald, and… Carson. I think that about fills the rest of the spots.”

            “I’m pretty good at kickball,” Gerald admitted, but then crossed his arms and turned away from Carson. “But I’m not being on his team.”

            “For the love of… All right, what is it this time? I thought you worked this out.”

            “Me, too. We were totally cool for a few days. But then he goes and makes fun of Barbra Streisand. She’s a national treasure!”

            “You really have to learn how to get over a joke, Gerald…” Carson mumbled.

            “All right, all right,” December grumbled. “Just because Tam’s on the other team anyway, Gerald… you might as well come over here. But that’s it. There’s no point in making a point if we mix it up anymore. Anyway, Spice…” She said and watched as the fashionista began to work out a way of politely declining. “I know you hate physical activity unless it’s for a pageant, so you can just watch and cheer us on.”

            “Thanks, December! I’ll do that.”

            “That means Ash, Willa, and… Millie, can finish up my team.”

            “Oh, fine,” Millie muttered, but then as she walked past Jace, she whispered, “Can’t wait to crush ya.”

            “Careful, guys,” Jace cautioned his friends. “Millie can be pretty intense.”

            “How would you know?” Zach wondered. “Anyway, Jace, I would’a picked you, too, but I know you’ve already been beating yourself up with training stuff. Oh, yeah—Wright, you can fill in for Gerald. You’re not bad, from what I remember.”

            “Four square’s more of my scene, man, but sure,” the shades-wearing Pogs-player said and rushed over. “C’mon, let’s get started already! Time’s-a-wasting.”

            “Yeah, this game’s going to be short, so we gotta make it sweet, right?”

            “W-wait…” Colin suddenly piped, after having fidgeted for a bit. “Um, could I actually not participate in this thing?”

            “Why not?” December asked him. “Aren’t you in a little league team?”

            “Well, yeah, but that’s a little different, and…”

            “Still a sport. C’mon, Colin. You nervous your team is gonna lose and you’ll think it’s all your fault or something?”

            “A buncha girls aren’t about to beat us,” Wright proclaimed.

            “Hey, if Colin doesn’t want in, he can just cheer,” Wessy said. “But Robby and Brian don’t look interested, so that just leaves Jason, and I’m not sure if he’s up for it.”

            Colin and Jace looked at one another, Jace seeing a hint of desperation in his eyes. Whatever his reason, Colin really did not want to be in some dumb boy-girl kickball game. But Jace also realized that, despite his achiness, this might be a good chance to show the others that he could be a team player, even before the big water gun game.

            “I’ll do it,” he said and ran up to take Colin’s place, who seemed relieved. “Do we trust Zach to make the right calls and stuff?”

            “Man, I don’t know what I’m doing,” he replied with an exasperated sigh. “Just, uh, everyone do their best when it’s your turn to kick the ball. Run the bases as fast as you can. It shouldn’t be that hard to beat them, honestly.”

            Jace looked at the other team, to see Millie giving him a menacing grin, Delilah cracking her knuckles, and their intelligent, athletic captain doing pre-game stretches.

            He remembered all the many things his mom had pressed into him over the years about equality and respect, and the social movements from his time, and wondered if he should insert just a little bit of those emerging new norms into a few 90s kids.

            “I… wouldn’t underestimate them,” he cautioned. “If you want to win, I mean.”

            “What’r’ya talking about?” Jared asked, trying not to laugh. “Zach kinda does have a point, about boys beating girls at everything all the time without even trying.”

            Zach sighed again. “That isn’t even remotely close to what I—”

            “Watch it, Jared,” Tamatha said. “I’ll help you win so I can beat Trudy, but not if you’re like that. I don’t even care about the boys vs. girls thing. I just want to win.”

            Jace continued, “Anyway, I was going to say that kickball is a lot like soccer, and the USA women’s team is pretty good… They’ll probably win the World Cup one day.”

            “Already did,” Tamatha corrected. “We won the first cup in 1991. So shut your face hole, Jared, and let’s get this game started already.”

            The boys all looked at her, and she looked back, unapologetic.

            “Wow. Are you always that way, or just when Trudy isn’t around?” Arthur asked.

            “Oh, it is so nice being away from her sometimes,” she told them.

            They shrugged off the explanation, or lack of one, and headed over to the sports diamond that could be used for the soft, base, or kick varieties of ball. The kids in the class not on either team tagged along as well—and they soon attracted fifth-graders from all across the playground, interested to see the rare sight of two full-sized teams playing a game. The nature of those teams only attracted further attention.

            “Tam aside, I guess it is pretty important that we win this game,” Zach said as they reached the field and December grabbed a kickball. “I didn’t really want to do any of this, but we might as well kick some butt out there.”

            “Why’s it important?” Jace questioned.

            “What do you mean why? We can’t lose to a girls’ team. Our pride is on the line.”

            Jace muttered to himself, “Give me a break… As if it’s going to prove anything.”

            “Talking like that got you here in the first place, dope,” Tamatha chided Zach.

            “Okay!” December shouted once the teams were in place and the audience grew even more. “We should have time for three quick innings. Nothing special on the rules. Let’s have a clean game. And Millie and Sadie…” She looked over at them, both raring to go. “Keep the trash talk to a minimum. It… eats up too much time.”

            “No promises!” Millie replied.

            December pulled out a whistle, blew it, and the boys took up position around the field to let the girls kick first. Park, near the class’s cheer squad, read the crowd and saw an opportunity. He zipped up his hoodie, took out a notepad, and did his thing.

            “Place a bet?” he asked one kid after the next. “Quarter, two quarters? Whoa, a whole buck for the boys? You got it, good sir. And you ma’am? That’s not a surprise…”

            “Does December always carry a whistle around?” Carson wondered.

            “I have a feeling she came to school with all this already planned,” Zach replied, and then shouted to the others. “All right, team, here we go! Eyes open, feet ready!”

            December took out some gum and promised Zach, “You’re goin’ down.”

            Willa was the first kicker up, and she garnered a few snickers from several of the boys who didn’t expect anything from her. But, following two fast balls from Carson, she surprised both teams when she launched the ball into the air, sending it above Carson’s head and towards Arthur’s position in the outfield.

            “Cat speeeed!” Willa exclaimed as she rushed around the bases.

            “Willa, stop!” December yelled out. “Don’t go for it!”

            She didn’t listen, and squandered her good kick by being tagged out on third base by Wright, a second after Arthur delivered the ball to him. From across the field, Zach winked at December as Willa let out a disappointed sigh and returned to the dugout.

            “It was a good hit,” December told the cat girl. “You’ll get a second chance.”

            “Hey, December!” Zach called out. “No shame in forfeiting!”

            “Yeah, just wait…” She bit off a few inches of gum from her Bubble Tape roll to chew on aggressively. “Felicity, you’re up. Maybe try bunting,” she said with a wry grin.

            Jace, guarding first base, turned to Zach and said quietly, “Hey, if you want to win, you need to take this seriously. That was a good kick, and it was from Willa.”

            “Eh, don’t worry.” He pushed his shades up and grinned. “We got this. Totally.”

            Felicity stepped up to home plate, her athletic skill unknown—to most kids, at least. Carson took her lightly after she didn’t even attempt to kick the first pitch, and put minimum effort into his next toss. Just about everyone was surprised, again, when she ended up walloping the ball, sending it rocketing to the fences. The girls on the team and in the audience erupted into a cheer as Felicity walked the bases.

            “H-how?!” Jared, on second base, exclaimed as a sneering Felicity passed him.

            “My parents sent me to an expensive summer camp last year,” she explained. “Me and December played some serious kickball there. Buh-bye!”

            “Ugh…” Zach groaned. “But I’ve got a secret weapon, too.”

            “You must mean Tamatha,” December teased him.

            Following a no-hitter with Ash—who looked disappointed in herself—the bottom of the first inning commenced with Delilah taking the pitcher’s mound. Jared came to the plate first, looking for his chance to shine.

            After whiffing two of Delilah’s powerful fast balls, he landed a messy hit that nevertheless got him to first base, which Millie was guarding.

            “Psst. Reiner. Hey. Heeey,” she scoffed when he got near. “You ready to lose?”

            “Shut up, Millie.”

            “Oo-hoo-hoo… The files I have on you… I know stuff about you that you don’t even know. I know you let someone steal a base last little league season, too…”

            Jared turned to her, taking his eyes off the current kicker, Tamatha. “Did not!”

            She pressed on her cheeks to scrunch up her face and said mockingly, “Cost your team that game, didn’t ya? Word got around, that you can’t keep your eye on the ball.”

            “Ugh, Millie, knock it off!”

            “Speaking of!” she said just after the distinct sound of a rubber ball being punted.

            Jared turned around and wasted several seconds looking for the ball, when he could’ve been running to another base. Tamatha was heading his way as Willa, in the right outfield, was chasing after the red ball.

            “What are you doing?” Tamatha yelled at him. “Run, stupid!”

            She ran past him, at which point he sloppily followed right behind her. Willa kicked the ball to Trudy, and it arrived in time for her to gleefully tag out her maybe-former BFF. Jared skidded to a halt half-way and double-backed to first, only to watch the ball sail over his head. Millie caught it just as he arrived, and she bopped his head with it. Aside from shame, Jared also felt a little pain; Millie was unexpectedly strong.

            With two outs, Jace headed to the plate, feeling quite serious and ready to show his team how it was done despite still finding the reason for the game annoying at best.

            “Come on, Jace!” Wessy shouted from the sideline. “You got this!”

            He looked at the crowd watching, Park still taking bets, and Brian, Robby, and Colin cheering him on. He didn’t feel nearly as pressured as he had during the dance competition. Delilah was an intimidating pitcher, but he knew he had this.

            She sent him another one of her powerful fastballs, and he stuck his foot out to bunt it, right where he wanted. It rolled past her, drifted between two bases, and was eventually grabbed by Ash, but not before he had landed on second.

            Zach sent Wessy in, who after two strikes that led to some nail-biting, landed a solid hit. Jace went running and managed to get to home, scoring the boys their first point to some loud applause. Wessy went for a second run, but couldn’t make it past third, where Sadie tagged him with the ball just like Millie had to Jared—but not as hard.

            The second inning was more eventful. After Carson struck out Trudy and made Felicity hit nothing but foul balls until she landed a kick that was caught, Millie got in a solid bash against the red rubber. She sped across the bases and looked quite aggressive as she did so, scaring two of the boys protecting them. Arthur, now on third, fearlessly tagged her out after catching the ball, though it was contested at first. With no referee, Millie looked ready to fight over it, until December relented and had her back down.

            For the boys, Arthur got in a decent kick, but was tagged out by a gleeful Ash, who as always never wanted to be outdone by her twin. Trudy then leapt and caught Tamatha’s kick before the ball hit the ground, looking equally pleased about it. A few minutes were wasted when this resulted in another shouting match between the two that eventually both Zach and December had to step into and break up.

            Following those two outs, the boys had their chance to clean up the otherwise messy inning—and to loud applause and changing bets, managed to score one decent kick after the next, and one walk, to fill the bases. With Wright on first, Jared on second, and Wessy on third, Jace stepped up to the plate where Delilah stared him down.

            Confidence, he recited in his mind. Confidence…

            He looked around at his classmates, all of them ready to run, and settled on Wessy for a moment, sharing third with Sadie. The two seemed pretty happy together, despite being temporary opponents. It looked like they were sharing an old inside joke. He wondered how often they had a chance to be semi-alone together, and then…

            He had a different thought: a flashback, or maybe, a flashforward. Strange, he thought. This is familiar. He then grudgingly remembered. Towards the end of “his” fifth grade, when relations with his former friends were particularly tense, there was a kickball game, on this very field. Bases loaded, a chance to come back from behind. It was his turn to kick. Chad was pitching. Ugh, Chad. He was even more annoying than Austin.

            He had smiled at Jace as he tossed the ball, getting in his head. Jace missed. The game was lost. Everyone blamed Jace, rightfully so. Jace went home feeling like crap.

            Knowing that the moment could not repeat itself, he put all his focus on the game, didn’t let Delilah intimidate him, and used his controlled rage from a horrible memory to smash the ball to the fences. A grand slam. He scored four points, shocked looks from his team, uproarious cheers from the crowd, and even more confidence.

            After Jace finished his victory run, Willa came up to the plate, her team looking to somehow turn a 5-1 deficit into a win. They looked determined and received loud cheers despite their position and Zach’s premature gloating. Jace no longer cared that much and found a spot in the outfield; he’d already gotten something out of the game.

            After two strikes, Willa got off a good kick and ran towards Jared—who, in a moment of pure jerkiness, yanked the cat ears right off her head as she passed by. She freaked out and covered her bare hair with her hands, but then double-backed, picked her ears off the ground, and gave Jared’s shin a kick, which shut up his laughing fit right away. She then made it to second despite the incident of poor sportsmanship.

            Willa was then stuck at second base across a series of steady pitches from Carson that took out both Millie and Ash. It all looked just about over by the time Felicity was sent in, and the crowds had grown quiet. But after a quick leg stretch, Felicity suddenly pulled a Babe Ruth and pointed out to the fences. Carson, unshaken, launched the fastest ball he could muster—only to watch it get clobbered for a two-run homer.

            The girls watching began to cheer again, and then went into an uproar following a one-two punch from Millie and Trudy, who both scored a run for the team, tying it up. With the game suddenly even, Carson finally broke a sweat as Sadie came up next. That last out he needed finally arrived only after Sadie managed to hit a homer as well.

            Jace had noticed Colin during Sadie’s big moment. At some point, he had begun to cheer for the girls instead. Maybe there was no greater reason for it other than his known preference for come-from-behind victories and rooting for the underdogs.

            Zach, now panicking, watched as Jared struck out. Then he watched, feeling good again, as Arthur and Jace got hits that put them on first and third base. Tamatha was sent in next, and it was up to her to seal the deal and get her team a win. After two strikes from Delilah at her A-game, the crowd fell into a hush again. Tamatha glared at her other half, guarding first base. Trudy glared back. She felt powerful and vindictive.

            She was powerful. Not to be overshadowed by everyone else, Tamatha kicked for the fences, sending the ball rocketing away. Away… and centerfield, directly at Gerald.

            He jumped up and caught the ball cleanly. The boys’ last chance to meet or surpass the girls’ six points had come and gone. Game, set, and match.

            “Ah…” Zach’s shoulders dropped as cheers deafened him. “Well. That sucks.”

            The bell rang just in time, and December held her hand out for high-fives from her team as they ran back towards the playground entrance, each of them receiving more congratulations from the other onlookers who had just witnessed an exciting, tense game of kickball. Park, the unmoved businessman-bookie, passed out some coins as many head-hanging boys passed him by. There was disappointment abounding, sure—aside from Jace, who still didn’t give a damn either way—but only Tamatha and Jared seemed to be particularly mad at the results of a tight game that someone had to win.

            “Hey,” December said to Zach as recess emptied out. “Rematch sometime?”

            He worked up to a grin, pushed down his shades a bit to show his eyes, and shook her offered hand. “It’s not cool for the coach to sulk. Not bad, December…”

            “So does that mean you learned a lesson?”

            “What? No. Seeing as how I never said any of… W-wait… Did you just want…”

            She smiled again and ran inside, leaving Zach scratching his head. Jace was among the last inside, as he wanted to get a good look at the empty playground. He wondered if it would ever get so full and busy again once the “big kid” Dump reopened.

            There was a test waiting for them when they returned to the classroom, so any further discussions about the game were dampened until the bell rang, at which point they spilled out into the pickup area. Several students from other classes were talking about the spectacle as well, and Millie was the first to run up and meet with Jace.

            He stopped walking and turned to her, her grin still wide. “You don’t need to brag. I don’t care that our team lost, like all the other guys.”

            “It’s all good,” she said and raised her right hand for a fist bump, which was something Jace had taught her. Once he rather grudgingly obliged her, she continued, “That was actually the most fun I had at school in a while.”

            “Really? I thought you hated sports.”

            “Well, sort of. I’m not interested in rules, or team devotion and all that, but… Can I tell you one of my secrets, if you promise to keep it?”

            “Do whatever you want, Millie…”

            She looked around and came in closer. “So… I watch professional wrestling with my dad. It’s kind of our… thing?” She flexed an arm. “I do like getting fired up.”

            “Wrestling, huh? I guess that kinda explains some things.”

            The others walked up to them, with Ash telling Lucy all about the game. She seemed mostly disinterested, but did like the part about the girls winning.

            “But did they really win?” Wessy questioned and rubbed his chin.

            “Yes,” Sadie replied. “Yes, we did, Wes.”

            “Think about it. Tammy was the one that kicked the game-losing ball, and Gerald was the one that caught it. I’m just saying. The lines get kinda blurred, right?”

            “In any case, I saw Colin cheering for them,” Jared said accusingly. “Sometimes I wonder about your loyalties, dude. And, uh, Jason? Millie is right near you, just FYI.”

            Colin shrugged defensively. “I cheered for your team, too, J! You know how I am. I… I like a good underdog story. It has nothing to do with, you know, us or them.”

            “They weren’t the underdogs! They… they were just as good…”

            “That means something, coming from Jared,” December said, after sneaking up on them. “And, Colin, I gotta ask, were you just worried about maybe beating me?”

            “I, um…” He nervously ruffled his hair. “Something like that… I’m not actually that bad at baseball, or kickball, I guess. But I don’t like this… boys vs. girls stuff.”

            She laughed. “To tell you the truth…” she looked at Zach, “I just wanted to play one last good kickball game in case I didn’t get a second chance. I’ve been waiting for some big excuse to get everyone to agree to one for a while now.”

            “So it was all just an act,” Zach replied. “Man… You could’ve just asked.”

            “But it’s hard to get anyone interested in that sort of thing now. Everyone’s growing up, and… I wanted some last good memories of my time here.”

            “What do you mean?” Colin asked her. “Are you moving…?”

            “Well, I… Um, I’ll tell you later. The point is, as I learned from summer camp… Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider, girls go to college to get more knowledge.”

            “Yeah, thanks,” Arthur sighed. “Never heard that one before.”

            Robby, who overheard them as he walked by, stopped and replied, “But if we’re the ones that managed to get the first rocket to Jupiter, are we really the stupid ones?”

            She grinned, play-hit his shoulder, and ran off to find her dad’s waiting car.

            “By the way, our mom’s picking us up today,” Ash said. “Anyone want a ride home? And, no, you’re not invited, Jared…” she added when he looked interested.

            Wessy responded with a “sure, why not?” and seeing a chance to talk in private, Jace took the twins up on their offer as well. It beat taking the bus in any case. The two followed Arthur and Ash to a waiting SUV with a tennis racquet sticker on the back and got in, with Ash taking the front and Wessy getting between Jace and Arthur in the back. The twins’ mom looked like she had been working out, and still had on a sweatband.

            “Thanks for the pickup, Mom!” Ash told her as they left the school.

            “No problem, baby. My two o’clock cancelled so I had some free time. You both have fun today or something? I see a few stains.”

            “Mm-hmm. We had a big boys vs. girls kickball game. My team won!”

            “By one point,” Arthur emphasized.

            “Ah, a good old Battle of the Sexes, huh? Well, as long as both sides had fun. Oh, hey, guess who I’m coaching this weekend. You won’t believe this one.”

            “Don’t make us guess, Mom,” Arthur said. “You know we’ll never get it.”

            “Your principal, Mr. Shumaker! Can you believe that? Wants to get into tennis at his age. I guess he’s planning out his retirement.”

            After she laughed, Ash replied, “Welp, you are the best coach in the city.”

            “Maybe, but I’m no miracle worker. Oh, Arty, did you sign up for that laser tag thing at King Arcade yet? You and Wes still want to do that, right?”

            He shrugged. “Mm, well, he wants to do it more than I do. It’s up to him.”

            Reminded of the upcoming game, Wessy became thoughtful about it.

            Jace got off with him once Mrs. Teller dropped them at his house, and he didn’t waste any time. Before Wessy could ask him if he wanted to hang out at the K or at his house or wherever, Jace got in a necessary request.

            “Wes, hey… For Bullet Water this Saturday… I think we should ask Celeste.”

            He stopped in his tracks, turned to him, and let out a nervous chuckle. “What? Why her of all people? She’s kind of creepy around me, dude, if you didn’t know.”

            “I do know. But I have a few good reasons why we should give her a chance.”

            He crossed his arms and breathed deeply. “They’d have to be really good ones.”

            Considering the week’s awkwardness at the park and the result of the ball game, maybe it wasn’t the best time to bring her up. But the mission asked for some bravery.