Disclaimer: I do not own Recess

Mud clung to her clothes and was matted in her hair. Gretchen had woken up on the ground next to her pickup truck, not really sure how she had gotten there. Fortunately none of her possessions had been damaged and her telescope was still standing, it appeared only she was a mess. A looming sheet of dark grey was above her and in the distance she could hear the faint shake of thunder, she looked at her wristwatch, 5:47 AM. 'Crap.' She packed everything away carefully before getting into the car.

She tried to recall the events that had happened last night. She remembered driving to the gas station and seeing T.J, she remembered driving up the hill and setting up her telescope, she remembered stargazing and reading her magazine, and...and she remembered the meteorite. She remembered the bright light as it broke apart into six smaller ones and then - nothing. What had happened? Had she fainted perhaps? Gretchen came back into focus as she drove along the overgrown dirt road away from the hill. Suddenly, she slammed on her brakes, stopping the car at the sight of an old friend who had stumbled out onto the street looking far worse than Gretchen. Vince was practically covered head to toe in mud and, unlike Gretchen, the mud on him looked wet.

Vince had woken up in the same overgrown place he had found whilst walking last night, he didn't understand why he had fallen asleep there, let alone in wet bog-like mud. After he had woken up, it took him about half an hour to find the road, where he was now, face to face with Gretchen Grundler. At first he didn't even recognise her. Not that she had changed a lot in appearance but more so the fact that Vince had just...forgotten about her.

Gretchen rolled down her window, aware that even though Vince was her old friend he was now a school celebrity and she; a brainiac, nerd, outcast, and stereotypical school loser, should not be talking to him according to all of the social laws of highschool. But still...she wanted to make sure he was okay. "Vince? Are you alright?" Gretchen asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I, uhh, tripped..." Vince said as he began walking over to the car and scratching the back of his neck, his face scrunched up in confusion as he felt something strange, as if there was indentations on his neck. 'Probably mud.'

"Well can I, um give you a ride?" Gretchen asked.

"Oh no, it's okay. I'm kinda...muddy." Vince said, once again noticing truly how dirty he was - it was like he had bathed in mud.

"Well, I'm not that much better." Gretchen said, Vince looked down at her and saw that her dress was torn a little and quite dirty, her knees were scuffed with dirt and it looked like there was a little dry blood on there too.

"You sure?" Vince asked.

"Don't worry about it." Gretchen said with a smile. Vince went over to the passenger side and got in and Gretchen began to drive off. 'Even under all that mud he still looks rather attractive, how is that fair?'

"Huh?"

"What? Is something wrong" Gretchen questioned.

"I thought, did you just say something?" Asked Vince.

"No, why?"

"Oh never mind aha… guess I'm just, hearing things." He said. 'Did I hit my head or something? The hell…'

Gretchen shrugged him off and continued to drive. A fog of awkward tension began to creep into the car as rain began to spit down from the sky.

"So, uhh, do you still live where you used to?" Gretchen asked as she switched on the windshield wipers. 'Looks like it'll storm all day.' They approached a traffic light and stopped.

"Yeah, it does." Replied Vince. Gretchen looked over at him with much confusion. "What?" He asked.

'He can't...No. Don't be stupid Grundler.' "Uh, nothing. You never answered me though, do you still live-"

"Twelfth Street, yeah. House 8." They sat in silence for the rest of the way back to Vince's house. Vince was submerged in his own thoughts whilst Gretchen was trying to focus on driving as the rain got even heavier and thus the roads busier but eventually they had reached their destination.

"Well this is me. Thanks for the ride." Vince said as Gretchen pulled up at the curb outside his house.

"You're welcome, uh bye." Gretchen said as Vince exited the car, he waved as she left before going back inside and heading straight for the shower. As Vince went inside he saw that the time was just past 6AM. 'Great.' As he showered he considered skipping but then decided not to, knowing that coach would kill him. But damn, for the first time in a while all Vince wanted to do was sleep but instead he was awake, and would be subdued to the same repetitive shit at school all day long.

Frazzled and confused. That's how Spinelli felt. What had happened last night? Why was she still wearing the same clothes? Had she fallen asleep? No...those, those lights! 'What were they?' She reached out to shut her window but missed it. She blindly fumbled more before finally turning to actually look at the window. "Fucking..." 'Did it fall off or am I just that fucking short.' She looked up to the window it was there, but she wasn't. She looked down at herself seeing that she was the same colour as the pouring rain; transparent. Panic pounded through her veins as she got off her bed and looked into the mirror. She wasn't there. "What the fuck!" Spinelli ran to her bedroom door, reaching to open it but instead going right through it. She was in the hallway. And the door was closed. Spinelli walked through the door again going back into her bedroom. She stood there for a second, completely confused. The rain continued to pour growing heavier and heavier, thunder cackled in the distance. "WHAT THE FUCK!"

Sitting up suddenly, T.J. awoke the same way he fell asleep, to the sound of someone screaming. He was in his treehouse and was absolutely soaked. He rushed toward his house shivering from the cold and teeth chattering like wild. He fumbled in his pockets looking for his keys, shit, they weren't there. He saw his mother inside and shakily tried to knock on the door. Jan jumped before rushing to the door and unlocking it. "T.J! My God, are you alright?! Oh you're freezing let me get you a towel! Where you out there all night? Oh look at you!" She said as she wrapped a towel around T.J. and ushered him upstairs toward the bathroom.

"I-I'm f-f- AACHOO!"

"Oh my poor boy." Jan started up the shower for T.J. who stood practically frozen next to the sink, he glanced up in the mirror and-

"M-m-m-m"

"What is it T.J. honey?"

"What's all this commotion about so early?" Asked Sam groggily before seeing the state of which T.J. was in. "The hell happened?! You look like you got pulled straight out the river! God, you're freezing!" Sam said as he touched T.J's face.

"Sam help him, I'm going to go call the doctor."

"Alright, okay son let's get you warm come on." Sam helped T.J. get out of his soaked clothes until he was in just his boxers and got him into the shower, that to T.J. felt like fire. "Come on T.J. you gotta warm up, here." He handed T.J. a warm cloth to help T.J's frozen body adjust to the vast temperature difference. Slowly T.J. began to stop shivering and warmed up. '...my hair.' T.J. eventually warmed up enough to leave the shower by this point his father had also left to get ready for the day. T.J. wiped away the now steamy mirror and looked at his hair. Sure enough his hair was lighter, a firework of white hair twirled and intertwined with his usual brown locks, the white strands of hair exploded from the crown of his head and thinned out into individual streaks of light toward his bangs. 'What the fuck?'

"T.J. sweetie, the doctor is here. Put this on honey." His mom handed him his dressing gown and helped him into his room, snot raced out of his nose continuously, and when he sneezed it was even grosser. He sat on his bed as a doctor (otherwise known as Doctor Hughes from five doors down) came into his room and took his temperature.

"Yep, you've got a fever. Not much I can do though, keep warm, get some rest, and drink plenty of water." Doctor Hughes patted T.J. on the shoulder and muttered a 'call me if it gets any worse' to Jan before leaving.

"I just called the school and told 'em you were off sick son, heh they almost seemed happy about it." Sam said. Jan gave him a warning glance but T.J. just chuckled, a chuckle of which turning into a coughing fit.

"T.J. honey I really have to go to work today but I don't want to leave you alone so I'm going to call the neighbours and see if anyone can come check up on you every now and then okay? In the meantime you snuggle up and stay warm." She planted a kiss on his forehead before leaving his room already dialing a number into her phone.

Also taking a day off was Mikey. Though he wasn't really sick he just said he was so he could get out of going to school. His acting skills came in handy in those kinds of situations. He had spent his morning baffled by the strange scar that cascaded across the back of his hand in a strange shape. It almost looked as if an electric tree had started growing under his skin. He was very confused. He tried searching up what it could be. 'A rash? An allergic reaction perhaps?' But to what? He tried to recollect upon what he had done last night though it mostly seemed a blur. 'Odd.' The only thing Mikey could find was that his strange mark. He decided he'd keep an eye on it just incase it got any worse.

Mikey moved away from his rickety desk and back to bed, glancing out of the window he saw that the rain had gotten so heavy that it looked as if sheets of water were just falling from the sky instead of individual droplets. Macbeth mocked him from his nightstand and the years of being pushed around and bullied drowned him all at once much too quickly. He hid under his covers and tried to calm him breathing. Words. How could they be both his passion and torment! And then he calmed down the best way he knew how. Food. Mikey had always liked cooking and eating had always brought him comfort - which probably wasn't the healthiest way for him to deal with his problems but that's what he did. He made himself an omelette and began to watch a breakfast talk show. Talk shows were definitely one of Mikey's guiltiest pleasures. Benjamin and the others often spoke of how talk shows are epitome of modern societies disrespect for the arts since they had no 'real message'. But Mikey liked them. The host was currently discussing some celebrity gossip about a love triangle between people who Mikey had never heard of, but the host still managed to make him laugh. Just then the phone rang. Setting his omelette aside Mikey answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hiya sweetie, how you feeling?" It was his mom, she hadn't even been at work for an hour and was already checking up on him.

"Oh still pretty rough but I've managed to have some breakfast so I guess that's good."

"Oh that's great honey. You know I'm thinking that there must be a bug going around. Jan just called, you remember Jan don't you?" He didn't. "T.J's Mom," Well, now he did. "He's come down with something too, she wanted to see if I could check on him but you know how it's been since I started this new job and all the hours! My lord! Oh and you'll never believe what Moira…" Mikey set the phone down and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He figured his mom probably wouldn't even notice. And he was right, when he picked up the phone she was still going. "And so if you're feeling up to it that would be great."

"Sorry I didn't catch that first bit mom what'd you say?"

"I said, I told Jan that you could check on T.J. at some point. I figured it'd be fine since they're only a block away but if you really aren't that well then I can tell her no." Now, Mikey didn't particularly care for T.J. that much anymore and he even though that what he and his friends were like to other students was really rather awful. But the thought of him being alone and sick stuck a pin in him moral compass and he just could resist.

"No, it's fine mom. I can check on him."

"Oh that's great! I'll call Jan and let her know, thank you sweetie."

"No worries mom." And with that Mikey went back to his omelette and talk show. T.J. could wait until the celebrity love triangle story was over at least.

Lol so it's been like months but here ya go. This isn't much but it's all I got for now. And as for not updating in a while I have no other excuse that the fact that I am a literal piece of human garbage but anyway. And big thank you to all my lovely reviews very much appreciate it!