s2.e5

Manic Monday

            Once all sixteen kids picked up their bikes from the pile on adult Wes’ driveway, they took off towards Kettle, and then rode to the celebratory pizza place that was in the same shopping plaza as the local Blockbuster. Jace felt a new sense of freedom on the way there, and was beginning to understand the benefits of owning his own vehicle.

            Papa Peppino’s, at the end of the plaza, had been replaced by a beauty salon by the time Jace came around, but he was used to the place and its food as it was now; Wes often ordered from it when he needed a break from Pizza Hut, and they had eaten dinner at the casual locale several times already. Today, it was about to be invaded by a group of kids of varying ages almost big enough to fill a classroom.

            They filled up the bike racks and headed in, their dirty faces and red and blue-soaked t-shirts earning a few stares from the other patrons and the wait staff. Tables were brought together, and pretty soon the Super-Soakists were squeezed in tightly together in the back near the three classic arcade cabinets—which Gavin eyed from a distance, checking to make sure his local high scores were still on the board.

            After the pitchers of Pepsi were poured, the chatter about the game’s most epic moments began while the four pizzas were tossed in the oven. Only Jared seemed sullen and reserved about things, and as Wessy had kept the food coloring incident a secret, the others figured that he was just upset about missing the final gun-and-run. Jace, about as tired as Colin who looked ready to collapse, could barely focus on all the many little discussions, but he did feel satisfied about the game and seeing the others happy.

            Soon, the pizza arrived: a pepperoni, a sausage, a green pepper, and one ham and pineapple. Mikey and Janice looked pleased about their divisive choice.

            “Looks good, huh, babe?” Mikey said as the others watched, a few grimacing.

            Janice smiled back, his braces already near her lips. “Think we’ll have leftovers?”

            “That’s what happens when you have refined tastes.”

            She giggled, and they locked lips for longer than the two seconds that already made it uncomfortable for everyone looking in their direction. The sight reinvigorated Jared’s sardonic nature, and he quickly made kissy faces towards Sadie, opposite him. She just gagged, rolled her eyes, and then looked away from him and the smoochers.

            “… Uh, anyway…” The Terror continued the list he was going through before the food dropped, “when I was eleven—I mean, yeah, I was already stealing Halloween candy by then—but I had more issues than just a need for material possessions. Now I know that I did those things because my parents didn’t let me trick-or-treat, so I was angry about that too, but that was also the year I was held back a grade.”

            “And the year he got his nickname, around our side of Desert Tree,” Gavin said.

            “Which I didn’t like at first. That hurt, man. Words hurt.”

            “It’s brave of you to admit that. That’s… what I’m supposed to say, right?”

            “That works. I mean, I was all of a sudden the biggest kid in class, and no one wanted to be my friend, and I had this new name, so of course I’m going to do the only thing I can do and live up to it. Most kids don’t sabotage bike chains, or pre-lick Ring Pops and hand them out, or drop stink bombs in all the school toilets.”

            Stu replied, “Or, just, you know… beat up kids for no reason.”

            “To be fair, I could’ve given wedgies, but I never did. I saw them as undignified.”

            “Must suck to have to repeat a grade,” Arthur said, and—for a split second—Jace was worried he was also talking about him. “Did you have the same teachers?”

            “Uh-huh. A few. Buuut… sometimes it was easier doing things a second time.”

            “Man, even the bullies in Desert Tree are nice,” Zach said, leaning back in his chair after tearing into a slice. “I love getting to grow up here.”

            “Reformed bully,” Terror corrected. “I’ve made a lot of progress.”

            “Do you have, like… a therapist or something?” Jace asked him.

            “Huh? Nah, my parents couldn’t afford that. I just got lucky that all my buddies took a chance on me. Gavin here changed my life, just by sticking around.”

            “Yeah, yeah…” Gavin sighed. “You big softy.”

            When the pies were half-way gone, Jace, after an image of eating in a pizzeria with his dad passed through his head, took the chance to ask the middle-schoolers, “Hey, um, do any of you know Conrad Baker? He’s a sixth-grader, so…”

            “Conrad?” Duval was the first to reply. “How do you know that guy?”

            “He kinda ran a secret club at our school last year,” Wessy said. “But then we realized he had become a jerk. Or, maybe he always was one.”

            “Kid’s a punk,” Dierdre revealed a shocker. “He’s always in detention when I, you know, have to go to it. Heard he keeps skipping classes, too.”

            “He’s just a nuisance to everyone,” Daron added. “A loser who thinks he looks good in a leather jacket and that it makes him King of the School, even in sixth grade.”

            “Yeah, stay away from him when you go next year,” Gavin concluded the peer reviews. “And, hey, you ever need help with guys like him, we’ll have your backs.”

            “Ouch…” Jace murmured under his breath. “Geez, Dad…”

            “Welp, that settles it,” Wessy said. “I won’t even remotely look up to him now.”

            “You did in the first place?” Sadie asked him. “He ran a club by a dumpster, and I heard he actually charged kids a dime just to get in and pocketed all the money.”

            “Aw, man, he did that to The Dump?” Stu replied with a groan. “What a butt.”

            Gavin exclaimed, “Hold up, Stu. You never told me you had a trash club.”

            “Yeah, dude. DT Elem’ totally did. What, didn’t Miller have a hidey-place?”

            “We just had one in an alley the sun couldn’t quite hit. We called it…”

            Celeste jumped in, “The Shade! Yeah, that place is still there, still cool.”

            “Good to hear.” Gavin raised a soda-filled glass. “Anyway… I’m not even upset the Reds won—heck, it made for a better story than it just ending in a tie. So, ‘grats.”

            The others brought up their drinks as well, getting the table a few more stares from the patrons who hadn’t spent the morning sweating and getting soaked with dyed water. Once the cheers were over with, Wessy nudged Colin, sitting next to him.

            “And here’s to my buddy Colin, who scored the only point.” Wessy waited for a reply, but Colin seemed lost in thought as he chewed on some crust. “Hey, you okay?”

            “Huh? Y-yeah, just thinking about… some other stuff. Pizza’s good, though.”

            “You earned some extra leftovers. If there’s any left.”

            Colin gave Wessy a smile, finished his crust, and went back to being pensive.

            Jace collapsed onto the nice, comfortable couch upon returning home. Nearby at the computer desk was Wes, playing a PC game for a change. He turned the volume down once his nephew arrived, but the loud gunshots, alien screams, and profanity-laced remarks of its deep-voiced protagonist remained quite audible.

            Wes peeked over at him as a new level loaded, then went back to the screen and greeted Jace, “Long day, huh? So… did someone actually win that thing?”

            “Colin scored a point. It was crazy… but we did it.”

            “Huh. Interesting… I hope I can remember that later on. I wonder if… Nah.”

            Jace sat up and asked, “What?”

            “Again, my memory’s fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure no one scored in the original game, on a different block. We tried a final run of sorts, but it didn’t work out. Glad Colin got you the win, especially since he’s not going to be in the laser tag tourney.”

            “Yeah, about that… Um, Celeste was great, but now I’m worried about Jared getting in. We caught him cheating, and you chewed him out pretty good.”

            Wes paused his game, sighed, and turned back around. “It’s always Jared. So now Wessy is going to think he’ll actually try cheating there too, and get them disqualified.”

            “Yeah, probably. We’re making final team plans tomorrow, at Arty’s. How am I supposed to fix this? Jared totally screwed things up for himself.”

            “I’ll come up with the right things to say before then. I think it is fixable.”

            “So… what are you playing? Sounds like something M-rated…”

            “Duke Nukem 3-D. A classic—I had to buy it. Just came out, too.”

            “Hey, Unk, can I ask you something? I know you like these years so much you went back a second time, but I’ve been thinking. If you could, would you ever want to actually go back? Like, be a kid again, not just an adult watching all this stuff happen?”

            Wes leaned back in his office chair, swiveled around, tried to respond, thought for a bit, and then finally replied, “Mostly…? Maybe? If I could fast-forward through the boring or painful stuff. But it’d be weird not having total freedom all of a sudden. Or a bed time… Not being able to drive… Having to ask if I could watch certain movies…”

            “Wow, and I thought you hated being an adult.”

            He shrugged. “Yeah, I said that. But… I’m used to it.” He returned his gaze to the monitor. “I’ve been used to it for almost twenty years.”

            A loud alarm woke Jace the next morning, before the sun was up. It sounded like a strange electronic trumpet, repeating every second. Thinking the house was on fire, he jolted up and went to the living room, where the stereo system’s speakers were blasting out a noise that forced him to cover his ears. Wes had beat him there, and was trying to find the right dial on the wired-up CD player to turn it down. A nearby clock read 5:27.

            “What the hell, dude?” Jace yelled out. “What is that?!”

            “My security system!” Wes shouted back, and managed to reduce the volume to a reasonable level. “It’s my Nostromo alarm—the ship from Alien. Set it up yesterday. Just didn’t expect it to be that loud… or sensitive. Dunno what it’s complaining about.”

            “I knew I recognized that sound! Holy crap, it’s like the house is self-destructing.”

            “Saw that movie, did you? I guess it wouldn’t traumatize 2020 kids too much…”

            “We watched an old videotape at Zach’s place. Colin almost fainted, when, you know… That was a weird sleepover, actually. I don’t think we ever saw his parents.”

            Wes looked around the room to check for any broken windows. “Okay, so I didn’t panic when it went off, because I figured there was no way time cops would break in just a day after I set it up. Probably a fault in the wiring… I’ll have to…”

            “I’m actually kind of impressed, I admit,” Warren said as he walked in from the kitchen. Fully suited up, he looked around and added, “But you forgot to lock your back door. It’s the stupid mistakes that end up getting you killed. By cyborgs.”

            “Why are you here, and at this ungodly hour?” Wes groaned and switched off the alarm. “Couldn’t you have just jumped ahead to noon first? Hope you brought coffee.”

            “Jace,” Warren said and turned to him, who was now wide-awake. “You can go back to bed. I need to have a chat with Wes. Nothing to worry about. Boring stuff.”

            “Whatever,” Jace said, but looked at him suspiciously as he returned to his room.

            “I haven’t gotten up this early in years, kid,” Wes complained once they were alone. “I hope you dropped by to say something really interesting.”

            Warren motioned to the dining table. After another moan and a yawn, Wes joined him, sitting across from the ninja. The time-traveling assassin in training tapped the table with his servo-enhanced fingers for a moment and then removed his head gear.

            “I’ve been limiting my time jumping to avoid detection,” he explained. “Forcing myself to sneak around in real time sucks.”

            “Aren’t ninjas known more for that anyway, over their chrono-capades?”

            “Can you be serious for a second? I’m going to give you something, and I need you to take good care of it and only use it when you absolutely have to.”

            Upon hearing about a possible gift, Wes shut up and watched as Warren took out a time quartz—the one that must’ve been his original. It looked worn and had several cracks, but its interior holographic interface was still functional.

            “You’re giving this to me?” Wes asked and grabbed it. It felt cold in his palm, as if it would never absorb any body heat. “Can I travel through time with it?”

            “No,” Warren replied emphatically. “That big circle on the interface is the only thing you’re going to mess with. I pre-programmed it to send you to today, twenty minutes from now. If the time cops find you, or… if I’ve disappeared for longer than usual, press that button—keeping in mind that it doesn’t move you through space. It can communicate with mine so I’ll be alerted, and nearby, once you properly use it.”

            “Ah… I get it. You’re worried about… things.”

            “I mean it. It’s not a toy. I know you want to play around with it, but don’t.”

            “Yeah. Okay, sure. Emergencies only.”

            “One more thing. It doesn’t have a lot of life left in it, and it’s very tough, but don’t damage it. I’ve read the… ‘instructions,’ and if these things break…”

            “You don’t need to tell me. I’m always gentle with my tech.”

            Warren got up to leave, but put his headgear back on first and warned Wes once more, this time with his digitized voice. “Resist temptation, and just… don’t.”

            “I won’t! Geez. We have to work on our trust issues.”

            Ninja pointed to his goggles and back to Wes to say he had his eyes on him. He then left the way he came, with Wes making sure the door was locked this time.

            After making wake-up juice, the mischievous uncle took the quartz to the office he had set up for himself in one of the smallest rooms of the house. It had become his secret lab, and unbeknownst to Jace, he had recently bought a used laptop and was using it for his notes and plans instead of the tower PC, now relegated for internet and gaming. He went to the desk, turned on its lamp, and with a magnifying glass, began studying the magical rock he had thought about often for the last few weeks.

            “Okay…” He said and took a sip of coffee. “Let’s see what makes you tick.”

            Jace awoke to his phone alarm at a more reasonable time. With an hour to get to Arthur’s house, he changed and made an early lunch upon seeing that Wes hadn’t prepared one for him. He took a bologna sandwich to the couch, watched a few minutes of MTV music videos, and after inhaling his food, went to Wes’ door and knocked.

            “Hey, Unk. I’m going to Arthur’s now.” He waited. “Hey, you awake? Helloooo? All right. Whatever. Guess you’re still catching up on sleep. So, bye.”

            Outside, it was just as hot as it had been pretty much every day recently, but Jace didn’t mind so much, and was happy to take his first real bike ride in his neighborhood. With some time to spare, he even made a detour to his future house to check up on it.

            It had a "for sale" sign out front. Worried that his tampering was somehow causing Felicity’s family to leave town, he weighed if it was worth investigating. Luckily for him, she was already waiting on the porch steps, looking bored in her Sunday best.

            Trying not to second guess himself, Jace walked his bike into their shared yard and waved at her with a tepid smile. She sort-of waved back, so he drew closer.

            “Hey, Felicity… Um, you look… nice?” he awkwardly complemented.

            “What, this stupid dress? Ugh. Mom wanted to take us to church today. And she’s still in there, putting her face on. Like God cares about makeup. I don’t actually care about all this religious stuff, by the way… Did Millie tell you where I lived, or…?”

            “Oh, I was just passing by and saw you… Are you really selling your house?”

            “Yeah. And it sucks. I like the place. But Mom’s been making so much money since winning that stupid election, that she wants to move a few blocks away to the nicer homes. It’s so dumb. But she and my sister are all like, ‘it’ll be great, you’ll love it!’ Like… no? Those places aren’t like this good old house. They have no… no…”

            Remembering what Wes once told him about his dad’s house, Jace found the word she was likely looking for and finished her thought, “Personality?”

            “Yeah, exactly! And ever since I ‘changed’ for them, they think we’re this big perfect American family now. I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”

            “Oh. Sorry about that… It’s hard not being able to be yourself.”

            She gave him an assuring grin. “I just have to hold out until I’m a teenager. Then I think I’ll be able to get away with anything. Anyway, see you later.” She got up to head back inside. “I have to force them out of there so we can get this over with.”

            “Hey! Jace, right?” Arthur’s dad greeted him at the door to their family’s house, one of the bigger residences on the kid’s block. “Come in! Your buddies are waiting.”

            Jace had stopped by the place a few times and knew his way around, despite not yet having a sleepover there. The twins’ mom wasn’t around at the moment, but their dad seemed busy and went off into the attached garage. Jace caught a peek inside as he walked by its open door, at the workbench covered in electronic parts. Their handy pop was already getting back to work on soldering a gizmo of some sort.

            Going down the hall, Jace next arrived at Ash’s bedroom door. He looked in to see her reading a book on her bed, with a shelf full of them nearby. The room was otherwise pretty empty and still smelled like her mom’s exercise equipment.

            Upon spotting Jace, she looked up from her book and gave him a little wave. “The dorks are all dorking out in Arty’s room. I don’t think I’m gonna be on the team.”

            “But… you didn’t want to be, right? Um… you haven’t really made much progress with your new room since I was here last time.”

            She shrugged and went back to her book. “Still beats sharing. Mom keeps promising we’ll do some shopping soon. Then the room will be mi-i-ine,” she sang the last word. “Gonna look dope. Arty can keep all that old kids’ stuff in his stinky room.”

            Jace smiled and shook his head without her seeing. She’s too cute, seriously.

            The brief chat with Felicity had cost him a little extra time, so he was the last to arrive for the meetup, though he was still right on schedule. In Arthur’s room, games, their consoles, their posters, and assorted other merchandise filled up whatever space wasn’t already occupied by early 90s kids’ furniture, in all the bright primary colors.

            “Jason, there you are!” Arthur welcomed him. “Get in here, close the door.”

            The whole crew was in attendance, with Celeste off to the side, chewing gum and looking at the ceiling from the spot on the carpet where Ash’s bed still had an imprint. Colin was still a bit subdued, but Zach was looking as cool as always, and Wessy…

            Actually, Wessy was acting peculiar. He looked nervous standing between Sadie and Jared, shaking a bit like a chihuahua that still had the spirit of a wolf trapped inside its tiny body. His eyes darted about, he bit his lower lip every few seconds, and he fiddled with his hands. The others seemed to have at least noticed it, but none of them appeared to be concerned, perhaps brushing it off as another of his sugar rushes.

            “Okay, we’re here to put together a final team for the laser tag tourney,” Arthur began the proceedings. “And, I just wanna let you know, even if those of us that don’t get picked—or… didn’t really want to go anyway, you’re still part of a team. We can help make strategies and stuff, right? And celebrate together when we totally win.”

            “Are we gonna have a vote or something?” Jared asked. “How’s this work?”

            “Maybe, sorta. We’ll figure that out. I think we can start with Celeste, since after the Bullet Water game, I kinda know how it’ll go. Raise your hand if she’s in.”

            To no surprise, everyone did so—Jared, of course, a little more hesitantly than the rest. Wessy, however, rocketed his arm into the air as soon as he could.

            “Yeah, about what I figured,” Celeste said and got to her feet. “But, hey, we don’t have to vote. Let’s just talk and debate. It shouldn’t be a popularity contest.”

            “What do you think, Wes?” Arthur asked him. “Who else do we want?”

            Jared looked sullen again and avoided eye contact with Wessy and Jace, knowing neither one would want him in after he so horribly violated their trust.

            “Well, I definitely want Jared on the team,” Wessy replied, to both his and Jace’s surprise. “Yeah. Now and forever. No matter what I say in the future, I absolutely want him on the team. Yes. If I say otherwise sometime later, I’m just joking. We need Jared.”

            “O… kay…” Arthur stared at him, as did the others. “I mean, I’m giving my dad the entry form in a few hours, so it’s set in stone anyway at that point…”

            “You feeling, like, normal, Wes?” Zach wondered. “You’re pretty antsy today. Did you pour Coke on your Froot Loops again?”

            “No, I’m fine!” he replied and made a strange grin. “Just excited about the game. So, Colin, you totally didn’t want to be in, right? That’s okay. You don’t have to be.”

            His best friend looked at him and muttered, “Well, I…”

            “And Arthur! Uh, Arty! You said you’d freak out, right? You’re more interested in lookin’ at maps of the park and coming up with a strategy and sh… tuff, right?”

            “Uh…” Arthur didn’t know how to react. “I didn’t say I’d freak out…”

            “Hey,” Zach spoke up. “If we’re in ‘no hard feelings mode’ here, I gotta agree. You guys can cheer us on from the sidelines and then we’ll all have celebration pizza again. The quicker we finish making a team, the more time we get to plan, right?”

            “So… what about me?” Sadie asked Wessy. “I’ve gotten a little excited about it.”

            “Y-yes!” Wessy exclaimed. “Sadie, you are so important to the team!”

            “And I am, too,” Zach said. “Right? Hey, Wes. Right?”

            Wessy glanced at him, then to Jace, then back, and replied, “Actually, Zach, uh… Look, I totally think you can get us pumped before the match, but I wanna give Jace… Jason a shot. What with all his recent training and the recent Bullet Water game, you can tell that he really has his heart in this. Also, I don’t want you running off on your own.”

            The others stared at him again, rather dumbfounded by Wessy’s sudden change in his inflections and his newfound adult-like reasoning.

            “I mean…” Wessy thought of a better, more kid-like way of saying it. “I think he’ll live longer. It isn’t freeze tag, Zach! We can’t revive you after your suicide runs!”

            Zach groaned. “Then just say that instead. I liked the voting idea better. At least let me talk about it with the others. You owe me that much, right, Wes?”

            “Fine, you all have that chat. I gotta… Jason! Can we talk privately for a sec?”

            Jace shrugged and, feeling weirded out by Wes’ behavior, simply replied, “Okay.”

            Wessy pulled Jace away into the hallway, and then into the office room at the end of it, where Arthur’s dad kept three computers of varying ages and models.

            “Okay, so, what’s up?” Jace asked. “You’re kinda making the others wonder.”

            Wessy looked around the room, slowly spun around in a full circle, brushed the hair under his cap with his hand, and generally looked out of sorts some more before he finally answered, “Jace. Buddy. Keep with me on this. I’m Wes. Your Wes. It’s me, man.”

            “Wait, w-what?”

            “It’s me, we went through my pantry door together! I wanted a nice weekend?”

            After needing a moment to get over the bizarre fact that such things were coming from a kid’s mouth, Jace exclaimed, “But, how? How did you… become a kid again? And, hold on, where’s the real Wessy? Did you do something to him?”

            “Dude!” Wes-Wessy nearly shouted as he shook Jace’s shoulders. “This is Wessy. Just, with the adult version’s mind inside. I’ve been stuck like this since this morning!”

            “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. That’s insane! … How’d it happen?”

            He tried to calm down and remember things. “Ninja kid gave me a time quartz—I guess it’s still at our place. I poked and prodded at it, because, you know… it’s me.”

            “Did he tell you not to do that?”

            “What do you think? And then the thing starts vibrating and glowing, and before I know it, I wake up in my childhood bedroom, feeling strange. I have small hands, small feet, small… The point is, this feels so wrong. It took me a half-hour just to learn how to walk again! I kept bumping into things and bumbling around, and then Mom… Then my mom comes up and asks me if I’m okay. Freakin’ hell, I’m so twitchy, too.”

            “Okay, so, now I know, but how are we supposed to fix this?”

            “I… I dunno. I don’t want to be stuck like this,” Wes said as he looked at his reflection in a computer monitor. “Guess there’s no choice. We’ll just have to wait for Warren to show up again. Worst case, I can use the quartz to go to the fail-safe time he set up, but I’m worried about using it while like this. Might just screw things up more.”

            “That’s messed up. But at least you took care of our keep-Jared-on-the-team problem. Um, wait… Mom still thinks I’m too young to spend the night home alone.”

            “I don’t want to be alone like this, either.” Wes gestured to all of himself in its smaller form. “Maybe Mom will let you sleep over. That’s weird for Sundays, but not unheard of… Aw, shit. If I am stuck like this for a full day, and I have to go to school…”

            “Wes, Jason!” Arthur called out. “Where are you? Get back in here!”

            Jace and his mini-uncle rejoined the others, where Zach was looking a little sulky.

            “They voted you in, dude,” he said with a sigh and looked at Jace. “Maybe democracy isn’t always on my side. Try to win it for us, okay?”

            “We said you could be on the team next year,” Sadie replied. “That’s fair, right?”

            The news came as a relief to both Wes and Jace, as now the two didn’t have to worry as much about the game. The real Wessy would just really need to be back by then.

            Ash, who had appeared in the doorway with her dad, got in a scoffing remark, “Hope you have fun shooting invisible lights at each other.”

            “Sheesh, Ash, Dad’s helping set the whole thing up, you know,” Arthur moaned.

            “Oh, that’s okay,” he replied with a laugh. “I get paid no matter how silly the tournament is. Anyway, Arty, Mom called to say you both need new clothes, so unless your friends want to share a boring day with us, they’ll probably want to go home.”

            “Oh, fun…” the boy twin murmured. “We’re done here, anyway.”

            As they said their farewells and headed out, Jace saw Wes check his pockets for something—not that it was worth questioning, or stood out among his recent behavior.

            “Thanks for the meal,” Jace said to Wes’ mom later that evening, where he had sat and ate at the small dining table. “Spaghetti is always a classic, I guess.”

            “Yes,” she said with a familiar chuckle. “Wes insists we have it on Sundays. I don’t always oblige, but I think a Sunday sleepover is special enough to call for it.”

            “Mom…” Wes-Wessy whined, almost sounding like he would as a normal child.

            “Oh, you know it’s impossible for parents to not embarrass their kids. It’s just nice having a meal together with only one of your friends. Usually there are at least three or four of them over at once, and at that point, it’s either pizza or Taco Bell.”

            Jace brought his plate to the sink before Wes did and scored another compliment from his mom. She almost sounded surprised that he’d show some basic manners. Jace realized his own mom must’ve passed them down, who likely got them from her dad.

            “Oh, Jason, would you like to watch The Simpsons with us?” Great-Aunty asked him. “It’s kind of our Sunday show. If you think that’s okay with your dad—every now and then it does have some adult humor. But we’ve seen every episode.”

            He looked at Wes, now waiting for his turn to use the sink, and replied, “Um, yeah, my dad’s cool with it. He kinda lets me watch pretty much anything, actually.”

            “Come on…” Wes said under his breath. “Not everything. I’m semi-responsible.”

            That night’s episode of The Simpsons wasn’t exactly the boys’ cup of soda, as it focused on Marge becoming a socialite, but Jace rather enjoyed the quiet evening of TV in a truly lived-in house; it felt like he was home again with his mom.

            “You’re giving Tiger a lot of love tonight, Wes,” Great-Aunty said during a commercial break. “It’s like you haven’t seen him for a few days or something.”

            He had spent the night on the carpeted living room floor in front of the TV, petting his childhood pet that mostly just wanted to sleep.

            “He’s a good dog,” he replied. “He deserves it. I don’t want to forget him…”

            “Aw. But he’s not going anywhere. I think he’s built like a tank. All the things he’s eaten that should’ve killed him… So, do you have any pets, Jason?”

            He shook his head and replied, “If I did, hm, I think I’d be a cat person.”

            “I grew up with cats, actually. Tiger was my first dog, too. The old mutt.”

            Wes once more dug into Tiger’s coat, like he wanted to feel every individual hair.

            “Things don’t feel as messed up as this morning,” Wes said from his bed, where he was sitting up and looking at everything in his room. “I mean, short of breaking in, I was never going to see this place again… unless something crazy like this happened.”

            Jace replied from his sleeping bag, where he was playing some Wario Land on his Game Boy Pocket, “When was the last time you were in this room?”

            “I mean, it looked nothing like this by the end of middle school, and then it went into post high school-stasis when I went to college… Mom sold the place when I was thirty and left town. I kinda meditated on everything in here as my way of saying goodbye, then moved what was left that still mattered to my apartment.”

            “Wow. So… not that long ago.”

            “No. And I think leaving home for the last time triggered, you know, my long-running melan… cholic nostalgia phase. Gah, it’s hard to speak with this tongue.”

            “Wes, I should’ve told you a while ago, but your story about finding the time gate was really freaking depressing. I didn’t know you were that… sad.”

            It took Wes a few seconds to reply, “… Well, that was a long time ago for me now. Stuff like that gets easier to talk about, the further it is in the past.”

            “But you still don’t feel… You’re not still that bad, right?”

            Before little Wes could answer, if he could at all, his mom came in and flicked the light switch to bring a subdued sleepover to its final, titular event.

            “Lights out, guys,” she said in her warm, caring way. “And Wes, don’t let me catch you reading comics or game magazines in bed again. You. Need. Sleep.”

            With that, she closed the door. Wes was of course restless, and when Jace checked on him after a few minutes, he saw that he was still staring at his room, even in the darkness. It was like he was trying to burn a fresh image into his mind.

            “Hey,” Jace spoke up, with an important question. “Where do you think Wessy is right now? Should we be worried about that? What if… he’s in your body?”

            “Would be kind of funny if he pulled a Big on us, huh? He’d probably already be at a bar, trying out beer after crashing the car into something. But, seriously, I think he’s just asleep, hopefully not experiencing any of this. Warren needs to hurry and show up.”

            “Yeah… But you’re probably going to have to go to school tomorrow.”

            “Just great. And right after I finally stopped having dreams about it.”

            Mondays at school were bad enough, but Wes also had no knowledge of current subjects, and Jace trying to fill him in that morning hadn’t helped much. It wasn’t a big problem for the day’s first two classes, as he simply kept quiet and was fortunately never called on. But when math rolled around so did a test, and it was messing with him.

            “Psst. Jace, you’re good at math, right?” he whispered over to him. “Do you have the answers to… questions one through twenty? I’m freaking out with this stuff…”

            Jace replied, “Can we not get caught cheating? How do you not know any of it?”

            “Dude, I don’t remember what long division even is.” Wes looked around, caught a glimpse of Millie staring at the two of them instead of her test, then returned to Jace and added, “I feel bad. I bet Wessy studied, and now I’m going to bomb it.”

            “I’ve seen him react to his math test results. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

            Giving up on his chance to get his young self a decent grade, Wes huffed and leaned back in his chair. He then watched Ms. Porter, at her own desk, trying to reach some papers she had accidentally pushed off, without getting up. She was making a valiant effort at reaching, and in the process, she knocked her glasses off.

            Seeing one of his uncle’s nostalgic smiles form on his face, Jace followed his eyes towards Ms. Porter, now squinting as she felt around for her glasses.

            He suddenly felt a little gross about it, so he decided to focus only on his test.

            “Wes, you’re, um… Hungry today,” Arthur observed at the lunch table.

            The kid had plopped himself down among his friends with a full tray of food, paying extra for the entire banquet that included the Monday pizza, milk, a cookie, a cup of peaches, a vegetable medley, and French fries. Students springing for every option was nearly unheard of, so he got a few curious glances as he “enjoyed” each item.

            Jace leaned in and cautioned him, “You’re drawing attention to yourself.”

            He swallowed a bunch of food and replied, “What? I’m hungry. Besides, I haven’t had this stuff in decades. You know I’m gonna take the chance to try it again.”

            Noticing that Millie was looking at Wes again from another table, Jace added, “I don’t know why you’d want to do that, but can you, like, be normal at recess?”

            “Recess!” he exclaimed, nearly spitting out food. “Oh, can’t wait to see that.”

            “Oh, good…” Jace moaned. “Soon you’re going to want to stay this way.”

            Wes went running out of the big double doors for recess, despite the heat that had either incapacitated the other kids or driven them to the brink of sanity. By this point, most everyone was using the weather as an excuse to play out their little feuds with both former friends and eternal rivals, meaning there was absolutely no chill left on the grounds, and squabbles were breaking out across it every minute.

            Mr. Drake “monitored” recess like a captive audience of one, breaking up only the biggest of fights but enjoying the rest with a sick sense of humor. Wes, however, barely noticed. Unaware of the last few weeks that had afflicted the student body, he ran off to The Dump after briefly soaking in the sight of his childhood playground.

            “It’s just like how I remember it,” he exclaimed as Jace tried to keep up with him. “Ah, man… It’s one thing seeing all these kids again—some of them I haven’t seen in like, twenty years—but then just to be in this whole place again… Dares, stories, myths, video game secrets, Park selling his crap. It’s all coming back! And The Dump…” He came to a stop at its entrance and smiled towards Delilah. “Hey, D! What’s up?”

            Her arms crossed like usual, she just grunted, “Tch. Whatever. I don’t know.”

            “Um, Wes…” Jace murmured. “This heat has kind of…”

            Looking past the bouncer, Wes saw only three other kids in the club, none of them from his class, and none of them really doing anything but sitting in the shade.

            “Well. That’s disappointing,” Wes said with a sigh. “What’s going on out here?”

            “I’m trying to tell you, this heat wave has lasted for so long, and now everyone’s pissed off. Friendships are being ruined. Even Tam and Trude couldn’t keep it going.”

            Wes thought for a moment. “This is… familiar. I remember this Monday…”

            “Why don’t we just go hang out with the others at the fort? It’s cooler there.”

            Wes shrugged and let his nephew lead the way. As they walked the grounds and baked in the heat, he made sure to observe the civil war that was brewing. The kids that weren’t simply trying to get some respite in shade were unloading their problems onto others, who then whined or complained back at them. Barbs turned into insults, and perceived slights that might have happened months ago were brought up as a reason to return to a fight or instigate a new one. The fifth-graders had turned each other into punching bags; their only outlet for the near month-long misery they had endured.

            “Recess is collapsing,” Jace told him. “I try my best to stay out of it, but…”

            Near the fort, they met up with Millie, watching an all-out brawl between Tam and Trudy. They were wrestling on the dirt, screaming so shrilly about obscure personal things between them that no one would ever know what they were fighting about. And the worst of it was, the tussle wasn’t even in the playground’s current top three fights.

            “Wow…” Wes muttered. “Those two are supposed to be like inseparable twins.”

            “This all fixes itself, right?” Jace wondered. “It can’t last forever.”

            “What, all this chaos?” Millie asked, overhearing them. “Why would Wes know?”

            “Oh, hey, Millie,” Wes replied without thinking, causing her mouth to drop open just a bit in surprise. “Man, things are really falling into anarchy around here.” He then leaned in and spoke to just Jace again, “My memory’s screwed up again, but I can’t stop thinking about a ‘speech.’ Maybe I gave one? But I can’t like this. It might fall to you.”

            “Wait, seriously? I can’t give a speech! What would that even do?”

            “One might’ve originally helped with all this. Look, I can’t do it—I’m just going to sound like an adult; I couldn’t connect with all these kids. Or even know what they’re all going through right now. But you do, and they like you. You gotta go for it! In case I get back in my real body tonight, I don’t want this ugliness to be my last memory of recess.”

            Jace groaned and looked around at all the fighting, arguing kids—Carson and Gerald still among them, their ongoing quarrel perhaps the most passionate, and the one that seemed to kick off all the others that followed. He’d need the high ground if he was going to do something stupid like give a rousing monologue. The playground bridge looked like a good spot, but Sadie was currently engaged in a rap battle with a rival girl from another class, who had sweat dripping from beneath her backwards cap.

            “Millie,” Jace said, turning to her. “I need to know about some shared interests.”

            “Huh? Oh… Give me a second to go through my mental library.”

            After receiving a bit of student peer trivia from her, Jace worked his way up to the fort, past other bickering kids. He noticed that Park was under its canopy, hawking a service—this time offering a handheld, battery powered fan to desperate renters.

            “Hey, it’s a dime a minute,” he told a boy from another class who was blasting himself in the face with moving air. “I’m not running a charity here. Your time’s up.”

            Once he took back his product, Jace, seeking some help, asked, “Hey, Park?”

            “What’s up? Giving my class a discount on the fan. For you, a nickel a minute.”

            “Actually… Do you think you could gather up as many kids as you can? I, uh… This is embarrassing, but I’m going to try to get through to them. With a … speech.”

            Park processed this idea and snickered. “Oh, this’ll be worth a laugh. I mean, no offense to you for trying. I just wonder how they’ll react. Okay, give me a minute.”

            He jumped off and began passing around the news. Within seconds, classmates were taking a pause in their squabbles and turning towards the fort. Knowing he was now committed, Jace let out a big sigh and went over to the bridge, hoping to borrow it.

            He tapped on Sadie’s shoulder, but she was too engaged in her rap battle. Fired up for her next chance to take down her mean-looking street girl opponent, she got right into it, speaking into her threatening closed fist like it was a microphone.

            “A’ight, check this. Yo. Mmhm. I’m sick of the heat, but I won’t be beat, not when I’m lookin’ at undercooked meat, smellin’ like feet. Your rhymes are lame if your words are tame. You’ll need a thesaurus before you go pro, ‘cuz all you do is bore us while you go slow-mo—tryin’ to think up the next line but you’re outta time and you’re so bad it’s a crime, this round’s mine. But I’m not gonna prattle when you already lost. This. Battle.”

            She finished by crossing her arms to assert dominance. Those watching from the fort and down below did their “oooh”s and Sadie’s foe looked knocked off-kilter.

            “Well, I…” She didn’t know how to counter the ten-year-old rap god. “You don’t… You can’t even… Oh, forget it, Sadie. You’re taking this way too seriously.”

            “That’s what I thought. Now jump off my bridge and fall in the lava.”

            “There isn’t lava. Peh. Whatever,” she grumbled and leapt down to the ground.

            “Pretty good, Sadie,” Jace told her. “But do you mind if I have the bridge?”

            She turned around with a wide grin and wiped the sweat off her brow. “Sure. But you have to beat me in a rap battle first. Let’s do it! I’m on fire, like the air.”

            “Sadie… I know you need this right now, but I gotta try and fix recess.”

            “Wait, wait. Are you… going to give a speech? Oh, man! You really are, huh?”

            “I’m just tired of seeing everyone like this,” he replied, and looked down at the gathering kids—trying not to dwell on the coming task too much. “Aren’t you?”

            “What? I love angst and aggression! But, I wanna see this, so the bridge is yours.”

            Sadie jumped down and joined the others as a lull fell upon the fifty or so kids that had gathered. Wes gave him a thumbs up as Park returned with Delilah in tow.

            “Um, hi, everyone,” Jace began, still trying to come with something to say. He then raised his voice and got into it, “It’s been a crazy last few weeks, with the heat, and the fights, and… Okay. This is recess. This is where we get a break from school to do whatever we want, and we shouldn’t waste that time… um, fighting.”

            He looked around. Of course, his listeners were unmotivated. He remembered his own last weeks of recess at school, the ruined friendships. He knew he could draw on that experience, but to do so would mean speaking honestly and dwelling on emotional things. A stiff breeze hit him, bringing the waxy smell of petrichor. But he had suddenly become so introspective that he was no longer really aware of his surroundings.

            “This sounds like something Wes would try to do,” Zach muttered to Colin.

            Jace restarted, “All right, look, I get it. I can’t save recess from falling apart. So, let me just try to save a few of you from making a big mistake. You don’t want to ruin a good friendship because of some stupid little differences or arguments. Tamatha and Trudy…” They both looked up. “You’ve been BFFs since preschool. You definitely have more in common than what you don’t. Just give each other a little space sometimes, you know? If you try to force the other to be just like you, you’ll drive them crazy.

            “Gerald and Carson…” Jace could see the scowls on their faces. “Isn’t it enough that you’re both into music? And I happen to know, from a semi-reliable source, that you both like soul and R&B. But you were always too busy arguing about what you don’t like, that you never bothered to ask. And, Carson, Gerald has all of Seal’s CDs.”

            “Oh, dude,” Carson exclaimed and turned to him. “You dig my main man, too?”

            “Are you kidding? I fall asleep to that sultry voice pretty much every night.”

            Jace continued with one more quarrel he could think of, “Brian and Robby. Um… I don’t think most of us have actually noticed your fight, but the truth is, none of the Star Wars—or—Star Trek games have quite gotten it right yet. Maybe… wait a few more years.” A few dozen eyes fell on the two nerds, who both looked away shyly. “Anyway, that’s my point. I just came to this school this year, so I don’t know most of you—I didn’t get to grow up with all of you—but at my old school… Well, if you got a good friend, hang onto them. You’ll really regret it otherwise. And it’ll suck. Yeah…”

            With that, Jace stepped off the fort as murmurs went through the crowd. Zach attempted a slow clap, but it got nowhere and he gave up after no one joined in.

            “Not… exactly what I was expecting,” Wes told Jace once he was with him and Millie again. “But… I guess a ‘hey guys, stop fighting!’ speech wouldn’t’ve done a lot.”

            It still didn’t look like Jace had accomplished much regardless. Other than the six kids he had brought up by name, the rest of the student body was already getting right back to civil war. If anything, total anarchy had only been delayed. Nearby, Hutch pulled up a smaller boy by his shirt collar and was about to punch him in the face. Back at the doors, Mr. Drake finally looked ready to bring the hammer down and restore order.

            Then something wet hit Jace’s nose. One by one, he and the others looked to see a suddenly gray sky. A storm system had moved in out of nowhere, its dark puffy clouds rushing by and at long last, bringing relief. Shade, a plummeting temperature, and then, a spattering of rain. Miracle rain. The fifth-graders gawked upward like turkeys to soak in the nature’s bounty that seemingly washed away the last weeks of rising fervor.

            “I’m so sorry, Trudy!” Tamatha shouted an apology as the two hugged. “I said so many awful things to you. I do think your new clothes are still pretty, even if…”

            “I’m sorry, too! And I do still like Lisa Frank. Let’s never fight again, Tam-Tam.”

            All the kids looked happy even though they were getting soaked. Only Mr. Drake seemed to be disappointed that there was now no one to haul into detention, but he still fulfilled his job as a member of the faculty and called recess early on account of a storm.

            Ms. Porter’s class got to spend the remaining half hour with the computers. Wet clothes and electronics didn’t mix, so Mr. Huggins handed out plenty of paper towels.

            It was a nice surprise for Wes, as a lab visit wasn’t typically a Monday thing. Glad to get time with the machines of his youth, he used the technical talents he had picked up as an adult to poke and prod at his computer in a way no one else his age could.

            “Hm…” he murmured as he typed into the command prompt. “I never knew the school’s system was set up like that. It leaves some system files just a little vulnerable.”

            “Please don’t hack our grades,” Jace grumbled. “I’m kind of proud of mine.”

            “You already ‘hacked’ your grades by doing all this a second time.”

            “Hey, Jason,” Gerald said as he and Carson came up to him together. Once Jace turned in his seat, Gerald showed his gratitude. “Thanks for saying what you did. I’m actually nervous about public speaking, believe it or not… We’re getting along again.”

            Carson added, “Yeah, man. And we’re learning about other things we like, too.”

            “Great,” Jace replied. “You guys stay cool, okay? It’s… good to have friends.”

            “Hey, what was that music program you told me about?” Gerald asked Carson as they walked off. “We should totally compose something together. Real chill stuff.”

            Feeling like he actually had accomplished something, Jace smiled. But it quickly faded when Millie twirled around in her chair behind them and ruined everything.

            “Yeah, good speech, Jace. Did your dad help you with it? The dad sitting next to you, hacking the school computer system?”

            “Ah… crap,” Wes moaned. He stopped what he was doing and glared at her. “Okay, how’d you figure that out? I, um… screwed something up and became kid-me.”

            “I was starting to think you were someone in this class. Now I see the resemblance. When you said hi to me without a look of revulsion on your face earlier… Well. Yeah.”

            “Ugh. I wasn’t even thinking about that… Hopefully I’m just like this for a day. I’m assuming Wessy, er, this Wes will return to normal when this is fixed. Don’t be weird around him after that happens. Jace has been handling things with him, me, us just fine.”

            “Fair enough. I’ll try not to mess up your plans. Still… Sheesh, I can totally see how he grew up to become you.” She smiled when he looked insulted. “I just wonder how you’ll handle parents day. You were supposed to come in and say hi today.”

            “Damn—er, darn it, I forgot about that. I can’t really go up and talk about myself when I’m like this. We’ll have to delay it somehow…”

            “Anything else you want to keep from me?” Millie asked with crossed arms.

            Jace got the last secret out before Wes could advise otherwise, “He’s actually my uncle, not my dad. I mean… did he ever strike you as dad material?”

            “Not really. Now it makes a lot more sense, about how you talk to each other. What made you want to go back in time, anyway? And… Time Squad is fake, isn’t it?”

            Wes turned to his computer and got back to typing, replying, “We’ll talk when we aren’t surrounded by my old classmates. Heh, here… let’s give them a little surprise.”

            After a few more commands, Wes hit the enter key, resulting in a simultaneous beep on every screen in the lab—along with the message, “THE SCHOOL KNOWS WHAT YOU JUST DID. DETENTION.” He was quite proud of himself and all the gasps and shocked groans he had generated. Jace and Millie only called him immature.

            “… And that’s how busy it can be at the shop,” Park’s dad concluded his ten-minute presentation about his job. “You’d be surprised how many people need a banner or other advertising materials. We’re about to print a huge one for the high school’s football team. And the t-shirts, whew, when a new restaurant needs a full set for their employees with some fancy art, there goes your weekend. So. Any other questions?”

            Robby raised his arm and asked, “Do you have a replicator?”

            Park, next to his dad who now looked confused, grumbled back, “Not everything needs to be about Star Trek, Robby. C’mon, dude.”

            “It looks like we’re ready to move on,” Ms. Porter said and walked back to the front. “Thank you, Mr. Myong. Ah, who’s next… Jason! Is your dad waiting outside?”

            He answered, “Oh, um, no. Sorry. He was throwing up this morning. A lot.”

            “Hm. That’s too bad. Well, hopefully he feels better and can come in tomorrow. That just leaves Willa for today. Do you have your mom or dad with you?”

            She stood up and replied, “Nah, they’re both busy business people and are too busy right now. I brought my grandpa. He’s probably smoking in the hall.”

            “O-oh… Please make sure he puts it out before he comes in.”

            Willa left the classroom to fetch her pop-pop. During her brief absence, Park got in a snarky remark that received a few laughs from the other students.

            “Think her grandpa dresses up as a lion?”

            His dad, waiting near the wall, shot him a glance that stopped a follow-up in its tracks. Several seconds later, Wes smelled a familiar smoky smell, and it was at that moment that he made a connection. Meeks. Her last name is…

            He was suddenly very thankful to spend the day as a kid instead of visiting as an adult, which would’ve gotten him recognized by his shady stockbroker.

            Pulled ahead with one arm tightly in Willa’s grasp, Eddie walked in, feeling very out of place as he tepidly waved at the kids in a way which screamed he wasn’t used to being around them. Once he reached the front, he pocketed his pink sunglasses and stood in place awkwardly. Or maybe he was just picking out possible future clients.

            “This is Grandpa Eddie!” Willa announced. “He’s very good at making money!”

            “Wait, Eddie?” Jace whispered to Wes. “Isn’t he, like… how you make money?”

            Wes sunk down in his seat and groaned. “Of all the places…”

            “How you doin’, ah, kiddos?” Eddie greeted the class. “Eh, Willa, cupcake, how does this go? Do they just start asking questions, or what?”

            “You can tell them what you do, Mr. Meeks,” Ms. Porter instructed.

            “Right, gotcha. I help people with their stocks. That’s, hm… When you buy a very small piece of a company, and if they make money, you make money. If you lose money, well,” he chuckled, “I guess you weren’t working with me.”

            “Stocks? Boring,” Wright complained, and got frowned at by the teacher.

            “Oh, yeah? Tell that to the millionaires. I’m sure they’re all really bored.”

            Spice raised her hand. “How do you know what companies to buy?”

            “You don’t buy the entire… You research, that sort of thing. But sometimes you get a client that really knows what they’re doing, who does all the work and is great at it.” He scowled. “Then it turns out he doesn’t want to reach his full potential, and he won’t answer your calls, or he makes a bad investment just to seem imperfect, and—”

            Ms. Porter interrupted, “Does anyone else have any questions for Mr. Meeks?”

            Wes, having sunken even lower into his chair, mouthed, “Please let this end.”

            Delilah spoke up, “My dad says you took all his money and calls you a cheat.”

            Eddie let out a grunt and shot back, “Eh, your dad can bite me, kid.”

            “Mr. Meeks!” Ms. Porter exclaimed over the laughter of quite a few students.

            Willa smiled, squeezed Eddie’s hand, and said, “Grandpa’s such a funny old guy.”

            Later, they got off at Jace’s bus stop, concluding the back-to-school-day. It had been full of surprises and a special kind of nostalgia, but Wes didn’t want to go through it a second time. Under light rain, they headed home to figure out how to correct things.

            “It was nice seeing all my friends again, firsthand,” Wes said as they approached the house. “I know I didn’t exactly talk to them that much, but I wanted to play it safe.”

            “I guess the only time you screwed up was around Millie.”

            “Despite that, when you did your speech thing, I saw the way you’ve really grown into this whole visit. And… I realized that you’re a pretty amazing kid, Jace.”

            When Wes opened the front door and they went inside, they were both surprised and relieved to see Warren sitting in the living room. Wes gave him a nervous smile.

            The ninja boy just looked at him, exhaled and mumbled, “Unbelievable.”