“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.”