AN- I just wanted to make note that this story is totally unrelated to my other recess stories, Recess Drama, The Complications of Life and Let the Hard Times Roll in. Well, on that note, I hope you all enjoy this one :)

...

It had been years since the days of Third Street Elementary School, back when the six could not be separated.

But that was now in the past.

Yes, as unlikely as it seemed, the golden group had dissolved.

There was no huge fight or argument or anything of that nature. T.J., Vince, Spinelli, Gretchen, Mikey and Gus simply didn't hang out together anymore.

It began in middle school. A bigger campus, more students…perhaps it was only natural.

Gretchen, of course, being as smart as she was, was placed into the Advanced classes, automatically isolating her and ensuring the fact that she would have no classes with the rest of her friends.

The others weren't any luckier. They were all placed in different homerooms and classes throughout the day, barely even getting a glance at their friends during class change. Unlike elementary school, where there had been only one lunch, there were now three, and as luck would have it, the six were all spread out. Gretchen and Mikey had the first lunch, Spinelli and Vince had the second and T.J. and Gus got stuck in third.

But in the time it took to finally spot one another in the crowded cafeteria, lunch would have nearly ended and few words could be exchanged as they scarffed down what they could of their lunch. Soon, it just became easier to sit next to a group of kids from their last class than search each other out.

Sure, for a while they managed to get by hanging out together after school. But then after school activities took over and Vince had baseball practice and Gretchen had science club and Mikey had drama.

It had been a gradual progress; instead of seeing each other everyday, the gang got together on weekends; and then only during school holidays; and then just once every few months. Soon even those scarce meetings became non-existent and contact was limited to a quick smile in the halls or a friendly nod in the lunch line. And soon those small gestures disappeared until each member of the once seemingly ideal group of friends just became another face in the crowded school.

Now the gang was in its junior year of high school, and they were just as distant as they had been in middle school.

Spinelli had embraced her artsy side. She hung out with students from the art club and would wear only clothes she had designed herself and her signature boots.

T.J. and Vince both turned to athletics. T.J. played for the soccer team while Vince was the captain of the track, basketball and baseball teams. Once and awhile the soccer team would do something with the basketball team or one of Vince's other teams, and the two former best friends would be forced into the same environment. However after a polite hello, each would retreat back to their own side.

Gretchen, to nobody's surprise, was the school brain. She was number one in the class and enrolled in so many Advanced Placement classes that it was a wonder she could even sleep. She devoted the little free time she had to the National Honor Society, Science and Math clubs, and the robotics team. Her circle consisted of the other over achievers of school, their topics of discussion rarely ever straying from academics.

Mikey put his soul into the drama department. Staring in every school play, he sometimes found that acting like a character on stage was easier than being himself. Still a rather large boy, Mikey was often teased for his size, and the fact that he was in the drama club, which most kids in the school labeled a "queer-zone", didn't help the bullying.

Gus had taken the break up the group the hardest. Maybe it was because they were the first real friends he had had. Gus had only one person he hung out with now: Frances Abrams; the former Hustler Kid. Almost as he had back in fourth grade he became Frances's apprentice. Gus would try to appear unnerved whenever Frances would give him drugs to deliver to a student or force him to collect money from a client. He tried to pretend he was okay with it all.

…

It began like any other regular day. Students struggled to stay awake during the classes but were suddenly fully alert come lunch time.

Ironically, every year during high school, the gang had the same lunchtime.

…..

"Spin, that's way too much like your landscape you did last year," Spinelli's friend Joe told her, picking up her sketchpad.

"Is it?" Spinelli frowned. "Oh well, I might as well start over." She pulled a charcoal pencil out of the pocket of her baggy black pants.

"Don't worry," Spinelli's other friend, Glenn, told her, absentmindedly scribbling her nails with a pink marker. "You'll get first in that art show for sure."

"Thanks," Spinelli mumbled, turning to a new page of her sketchbook. She looked around the cafeteria, looking for something that would inspire her.

It was useless, though, she realized after staring around for five minutes. This was high school, after all. No one ever did anything even remotely inspiring here.

…..

"Dude, that was an awesome game yesterday," Vince's best friend, Jack said to him. "Three pointer at the buzzer…you were on fire!"

"He always is," Vince's girlfriend, a very attractive cheerleader named Amanda said, wrapping her hands around him.

Vince tried to smile. "Yeah, thanks. But it was Cole that passed it to me, you know."

"Eh, Cole's not the one who made the shot, though," Jack pointed out. "That was all you man."

Vince looked away, plastering on a fake grin as his girlfriend hugged him even tighter.

He always felt like this...empty, and he could never fathom why. Here he was, star athlete, popular, had a stunning girlfriend…and yet, he didn't feel happy.

…

"I can't believe they got rid of the tater tots," T.J. said, stabbing the crappy carrot sticks that served as the tots' replacement.

"Yeah, real bummer," his friend, Sebastian, said offhandedly, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Now they've gotten rid of deserts and those," T.J. continued to fume. "Why?"

"Probably so kids don't get fat," said his other friend, Steve. "I mean we can't have a whole school of Blumburg's walking around, can we?"

The rest of the table burst out laughing. T.J. tried to laugh around with them, but it was a weak attempt.

"Anyway," T.J. said, changing the subject before this lunch became another rag-on-Mikey session. "I think maybe I should start a petition about the tater tots and send it to the school board along with-"

"Dude, relax," Sebastian said, rolling his eyes. "It's not that big of a deal…Sometimes you've just got to leave things as they are."

T.J. nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

The problem was, that T.J. had never been good at that.

…..

Gretchen struggled to keep her eyes open as she flipped through her textbook, which she propped against a bottle of water. She had been up until three in the morning working on a physics project, and it was looking like tonight would be another long night tonight.

"How did you do on Mr. Lake's test?" asked her friend, Beth, who was nearly as smart as her.

"100," Gretchen replied without even looking up from her textbook.

"Same here. By the way, you're coming to the math meeting after school, right? We have the competition next Saturday and we really need to beat Ulysses High to advance to the finals."

"I'll be there," Gretchen assured her. "I just need to swing by Mr. Yings room to ask him about my paper on the Triangular Trade System that he wanted me to enter in the History Fair first."

"Okay, just don't be late," Beth told her. "Remember, we're all counting on you."

"I know," Gretchen sighed, closing her textbook. "I know."

….

"Mikey, guess what?" Mikey's friend, Sheldon, asked, running over to his table. "I was just talking to Ms. Rhodes and she said that we have enough money in the drama club account to get new costumes before the one-act competition next month!"

"That's great!" Mikey smiled. "Can you imagine how cool it will be when we get up on stage wearing-"

"Whoops, sorry there, Mikeysaurus," two basketball players said, walking past Mikey, purposefully spilling their milk cartons onto his lap as they passed.

Mikey grabbed a napkin from his tray and tried to soak up the milk from his pants. He watched as the two jocks sat down at Vince's table, feeling a surge of sadness well up inside him at the sight of his former friend.

"Tough break, Mikey," Sheldon said, handing him his own napkins as well.

"It's fine," Mikey sighed. "Just forget about it."

…..

"Yo, Griswald?" one of Frances's regulars said, sitting down next to Gus. "Where's Franki with my stuff?"

"I don't know, Dylan," Gus said. "He said he had to get something from his locker."

"But I need him," the boy said, his hands shaking. "Don't you have anything for me?"

"You know Frances doesn't give me that stuff to sell," Gus told him. "Just wait and he'll take care of you."

"I can't wait; I need the goods now!"

"Fine," Gus conceded, standing up. "I'll go look for him."

He headed out of the cafeteria in search of Frances, so that there could be yet one more happy customer.

…

The bell to release students from lunch would be ringing in five minutes. Students were just beginning to finish their meals and get up to throw their trash away. Suddenly, there was a large explosion from outside the school. The students exchanged curious glances with one another, wondering aloud what could cause such a noise. Just then, the cafeteria door opened, and the deafening sound of gunshots ricocheted through the room.