As Wessy was at his dad’s that weekend and no one else was really in a hosting mood, it was decided after the movie that no sleepovers were necessary. Jace wouldn’t have been able to make it anyway, as Wes had already scheduled their first get-together with Millie so they could see where she fit in and start working on a game plan.

“Nuh-uh, wrong again,” Millie said, a slice from Pizza Hut in one hand and one of her many composition notebooks in the other. “Robby Peterson did not have a crush on Willa Meeks in third grade. You’re right that she didn’t start wearing her cat ears until fourth, but Robby liked Marianne Lowell for, like, six seconds. She’s not in Ms. Porter’s class.” She took a sip of Pepsi, poured more of the liter that had been delivered along with two deep dishes, burped, and added, “He did lose a playground fight to Reynold Weichster a few weeks ago, though, when he said Star Wars was better than Trek.”

From the other side of their new house’s small table, Jace and Wes looked at one another before Wes replied, “Think you do enough spying, Millie?”

She shrugged and put her current notebook back into one of her two bags full of the things. After a bit of searching, she pulled out a newer book and flipped through it.

“Anyway, you asked about December and Colin for some reason, and, let’s see… Yeah, I’ve seen them hang out in the computer lab, but on the playground, they’re never together. She’s both a computer nerd and athletic, so the two probably don’t have much in common outdoors. Robinson’s always struck me as a kid that almost has asthma.”

“Whatever that means…” Wes sighed and checked his watch. “We better get you home before it gets late. Are you sure your Dad’s okay with you coming out here? You’ve been helpful to our, uh, mission, but I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“Nah, he thinks I’ll have a better shot at college if I have a lot of hours ‘tutoring.’ Of course, it’s not like Jason really needs it. I’ve seen the ‘A’s he gets on his homework.”

“Well, thanks for all the info you’ve given us—tonight and the past couple visits, too. I know I ask some weird questions, but some of these details are… important.”

“Hey, as long as you keep ‘sacrificing’ one of these pizzas for my green peppers and mushrooms, you got a deal. Just don’t let me forget my leftovers again. But why do you want to know all this stuff about our class, anyway? Are you trying to make some card collection with all of our faces on ‘em? And on the back are like, what, stats, fun facts? Height, blood type, quirks, weaknesses, strengths, birthdays… Magic powers…”

“I’m sure it must seem that way,” Jace said after a tiny laugh.

“Been wanting to ask because I’m just barely curious… I overheard you and your friends this past week talking about that Bio-Dome movie? It kinda sounds like it’s tearing you guys apart. You talk about it and argue with Jared with such passion!”

“Yeah, um, it was really stupid. Jared was the only one who found it funny.”

“But, as I’ve told him…” Wes leaned back in his chair. “Sometimes seeing a movie is more about the experience with friends.”

“Colin left halfway through and hung out at the theater arcade until it was over.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Er, like something he’d do.”

Millie nibbled on her pen and asked, “One more thing? You’ll probably never tell me why our class is so important, but are Wes’ friends even more important somehow?”

“They all grow up to be heroes of time,” Big Wes said with a shrug.

Jace looked at him incredulously and gave Millie the response the adult likely should’ve, considering their position, “But you can’t tell them that and we can’t tell you anymore, because it might change the future and keep them from becoming… heroes.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Millie shoved all her notebooks into her bags, zipped them up, and finished a pizza slice crust. “Anything else you wanna know tonight?”

“Actually…” Wes thought about his question first, as to not raise suspicion about his younger self with detailed inquiries about future events no one outside the class would be wise to. “Do you know anything at all about Celeste Vogel?”

“Vogel… Vogel… Wait, she’s not from our school, right?”

“Sherman Miller.”

“Oh. Other side of the neighborhood. I have a list of their fifth-grade students, but little more than that. I do know that Wes Colton has mentioned her a few times, but only out of, hm, I’d call it annoyance. Some sorta lovey-dovey history there, I think.”

“She’s friends with Sadie and Ash, though,” Jace mentioned.

“True. What do you want to know about her?”

Seeing that Wes was having difficulty coming up with a way to answer, Jace did instead, “We want to show Wes’ friends that she knows how to shoot straight.”

After a few seconds, it clicked for Millie and she replied, “You want to get her on his laser tag tournament team, huh? Trying to hook them up or something?”

“Smart as a whip, aren’t ya…” Wes said, impressed.

“But, no,” Jace answered. “His team just needs to win or do well, for… reasons.”

“She’s a good shot, but we need a way for Wes to see that when he’s never going to have a reason to find out in the first place,” Adult Wes said about himself.

“I see…” Millie took a moment to think again. “But, ya know, getting him to see her high score on Virtua Cop won’t just make him think about her real-world potential.”

Jace replied, “That’s a good point… But how do we get them to…”

“Don’t you guys play water gun games? Just invite her to one of those.”

“Dad, yeah, that’s it! We’re having a game with Gavin on a block we haven’t played on before. So, technically… it could be this one, or the one she lives on.”

“This…” Wes had an epiphany. “This used to be the block she lived on, back in kindergarten. Y-yeah, then she moved for first grade and changed schools.”

“Maybe Ninja set this up, too.” Millie tapped her forehead to indicate her wits. “If you guys want an ‘arena’ advantage in your dumb game, this seems like a good chance to convince Wes to give her a shot. You’re welcome. Now take me home.”

Wes didn’t say it out loud, but he had to admit that if the Time Ninja wasn’t around, he himself probably wouldn’t have smoothly set up something so elaborate.   

All that mattered now was Jace swallowing his pride and getting sent to the clink.

• •

The owner of The Dump, whoever they were, hadn’t cleared it the following week, either, leaving its frequent guests stranded on the playground proper for the third week in a row. At the rate things were going, January might end up Dump-free.

“And don’t complain to me about it!” Delilah told the kids waiting for an update at the start of recess. “If we get caught there, then there will never be a Dump again.”

“Ah, man, this bites,” Jared groaned. “I’m running out of things to do out here.”

Park, making the rounds and having just been denied a sale by Tamatha and Trudy, came over to Wes’ circle, where he opened his shoe box full of wares.

“Here they are, guys! Dad finally let me use his button press, check ‘em out!”

They gathered closer and each grabbed a button with the computer art of “DANCIN’ J. CONNOR”. They looked professionally made, sure, but…

“Not really striking while the iron was hot, huh?” Wessy commented.

“I did the best I could… The shop was backed up with orders. They’re a buck each, but for you guys, fifty cents. It was still an epic moment worth remembering!”

“Man, time sure flies,” Arthur said, eyeing the basketball court where the dance contest went down six months ago. “Ya know, the court’s empty again since Carson hasn’t been in his usual spot the last few days. We could just… hang out there.”

“Yeah, all right,” Zach said and forked over two quarters for a button.

Sadie, Wes, Colin, Arthur, and “Jason” himself followed suit, with Jared giving Park a “maybe later” as a response. The buyers went ahead and adorned the buttons just for the heck of it, Jace doing so only because they did. And then before they knew it, they had already spent ten minutes at the court, just sitting or sprawling out on the blacktop. It was a cool, cloudy day, so the asphalt wasn’t blistering hot.

“See, Sadie, this is all we do in The Dump, really,” Wessy told her after a respite in their non sequitur banter. “Only here, there aren’t any walls, and it’s… cleaner.”

She looked up at him, standing against the basketball hoop pole, then back at Jared, sitting across from her, and continued a chat, “Anyway, that line in the lyrics is ‘I recommend biting off more than you can chew, to anyone.’ It’s not hard to understand.”

“Only if you saw the words written down first! Look, Morissette is a great singer, and she’s pretty haw…” He stopped himself. “I mean, I respect her, but I just like songs where the lyrics are easy to understand, you know? I can do whatever genre, as long as I actually get what’s being said. If ya don’t, you’re only getting half the music, right?”

She shook her head and sighed. “Sometimes that’s important, like in rap, but being creative with words is part of the art of so many songs. Songs aren’t laid-out bed time stories, J’. Sometimes the artist wants you to think about what you’re hearing and actually listen to them more than once. They’re trying to draw you in.”

“Okay, fine, but I still don’t get how you can have You Learn memorized…”

“You kidding? It’s an easy one compared to some of the stuff I listen to!”

“You like rap, Sadie?” Carson suddenly said as he came up to the court, Gerald right behind him. “Dang, girl, you just went up a few more places on my cool list.”

“You don’t actually have a cool list, right?” Zach asked him as he practiced a pose.

“Nah, that’d be lame. But, Sadie! Think you could talk some sense into Gerald?”

She huffed. “Are you still on about that? Look, he has different tastes. So what?”

“He called rap and hip-hop trashy and not real music, Sadie…”

The accused looked a little scared as she glared at him and growled, “What?”

“Hey, don’t get her dragged into your stupid argument, too!” Wessy protested.

“Wes, let me handle this.” She crossed her arms and looked disappointed. “Ya know, Gerald, everyone likes you, and it’s okay if you don’t like the west coast stuff. But don’t call it trash like it has no value! You live in California. It’s part of our history now.”

“You both are taking this way too personally,” Gerald said with an agitated sigh.

“You just can’t relate to it, man,” Carson muttered, knowing full well he would likely only make things worse. “The music is about the black man’s struggle.”

“I respect that! But it doesn’t mean you gotta make songs about drive-by shootings, beating up women, and doing drugs! Drugs, Carson! Remember when those DARE officers visited and showed us all the different types of really bad drugs?”

“It has to be aggressive and tell the truth! No one would care otherwise!”

“You know what? What you like isn’t the point. You came after me first. You insulted me. Me. Gerald Eger, the nice guy, the selfless problem solver! I never make fun of anyone’s tastes in anything, but I’m… I’m gonna defend myself!”

“Dude… I made a joke a couple weeks ago about smooth jazz. Calm down.”

By now, the group had gotten to their feet and were watching the spectacle, which Sadie had suddenly found herself pulled into. The debate had also attracted attention, and close to half the entire fifth-grade student body was gathering in a circle around the basketball court just to witness a never-before-seen Gerald freak out. He looked at the other kids, and feeling trapped, took a deep breath and flew off the hinges.

“I won’t calm down! You even made fun of the theater, the one thing that really matters to me, and a beloved, ancient art form! And you kept escalating everything after I made a remark about your music in return. Now everyone’s staring like I’m a freak!” He turned to the audience. “I’ve helped every last one of you over the years, and this is how you treat me? Oh, look at Gerald wigging out! Let’s all laugh! You know what? No more Mr. Nice Kid. We are not hunky-dory. I will never solve a single problem ever again!”

All the while, Jace had backed away into the surrounding crowd, where he could hear them whispering things like “whoa, Gerald’s gone crazy,” or “do you think Mr. Drake is gonna come over?” This was all too similar to the 21^st century fights he knew.

Soon, like all arguments had by youth, they ran out of counterpoints and let emotion take over, devolving things into nothing more than a shouting match. Arthur had joined in as well—perhaps surprisingly to defend smooth jazz—with Sadie and Jared taking Carson’s side. Zach just seemed to be enjoying the verbal warfare, while Wes was actually trying to get them to calm down before they attracted the playground monitor. And poor Colin, suffering from trauma, was kind of hiding behind his best friend.

They went from being ten and eleven-year-olds to kindergarteners, trading insults and barbs instead of really defending or attacking music anymore. Then, finally, no less than three minutes after it had begun, Mr. Drake and all of his wrath descended upon them. Jace had only ever seen him break up a few one-on-one fights at a distance.

“Okay, that’s enough!” the short, older man shouted above the kids as he broke through the audience barrier and shut everyone up. “That does it! Mr. Eger, Mr. Brook, Mr. Colton, Ms. Lorraine, Mr.… A-all of you! Detention!”

“W-what?” Colin stuttered. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Hey, come on!” Wes shouted at Mr. Drake. “Colin wasn’t involved!”

“It’s very clear what’s going on here! Very clear! You’re all in on it!”

“Man, that ain’t right,” Zach muttered. “Fascist.”

Arthur found Ash in the crowd and yelled, “Tell him I was trying to break it up!”

She crossed her arms and laughed. “You chose the wrong side, Arty.”

“Gah, Ash! Just because you still like Run-DMC? That’s so old school, sis…”

“Come on, before I make it detention for the whole week,” Mr. Drake said and began leading them away as the crowd broke apart. “Go, off the playground!”

Jace hadn’t woken up this morning thinking this would be the day everyone got sent to detention, or that this was how it all went down. Realizing he still had to get sent as well, he took a deep breath, and against his better judgment, stepped forward.

“Hey, Mr. Drake!” he shouted out and bit the bullet. “U-uh… You suck!”

He and every nearby kid stopped in place and turned, wide-eyed, too stunned to unleash even a few “ooo”s. The only sound came when Zach let out a single chortle. As if his head was on a swivel, Mr. Drake looked back at Jace with fire in his eyes.

“Mr. Connor… You’ll be joining them.”

He shrugged despite his fear, said “Okay,” and ran up to join his shocked friends.