Fifteen minutes later, everyone stepped onto the porch outside in their bathing gear, near the glass table where four boxes of Pizza Hut pies were waiting for them, kept warm by the sun and next to a cooler full of ice and liter-sized soda.

           “Help yourselves,” Zach said and got the outdoor speakers going, which were hooked up to the multi-CD changer in the living room. “You can even eat in the pool.”

           “Won’t the pizza get soggy?” Jared asked, staring at the water.

           “Not unless you, ya know… jump in while holding a slice, J. There’s more than enough stuff to float on. I even got a pool lounger with cup holders!”

           Zach began tossing in noodles and various air-filled floaters into the water, while Wessy was the first to check out the pizza selection. He pulled out a slice of peperoni and examined the crust—which was leaking out a cheese-like substance.

           “Z, is this that stuffed crust, uh, stuff?” he shouted over to him.

           Over by the diving board and still chucking in buoyant objects, Zach yelled back, “Yeah, have you tried it yet? It’s still pretty new. I think it’s good.”

           Jace and Ash each grabbed a slice together and started nibbling on the triangles. Nearby, Colin folded up his glasses and put them on a lounge chair.

           He leaned in and squinted at the water, asking, “How warm is it?”

           Having made himself an easy target, Celeste snuck in behind him and yelled, “Better find out!” before shoving him in. Colin flailed and disappeared into cerulean water, where he quickly reemerged and spat out some chlorinated aqua.

           “Agh, Celeste! Do we always have to be on our guard when you’re around?”

           “You’re not stuttering, so I guess it must be pretty warm,” Celeste said with a chuckle. She then backed up, ran, jumped, and curled up, exclaiming, “Cannonball!”

           Water splashed all over the pool deck, with Zach being the next in, diving off of the springy board. Jared messily jumped in next, while Arthur and Wessy opted to steadily wade in. That didn’t suit Sadie, so she cannonballed as well, right near them to ensure they’d get soaked. When it came to pools, Jace had an odd little preference of his own to use the ladder and start in the deep end, which he did upon finishing his slice. Ash, meanwhile, hung out at the side for a bit, content with dangling her legs in.

           Zach dove down, then emerged into an inner tube, which he started using to lazily drift about. He didn’t seem to mind getting his current pair of shades wet.

           “This is nice, Zach,” Jared sighed placidly as he went by on the lounger, a Solo cup filled with soda in one hand and a slice of sausage pizza in the other. “I mean, it really is, don’t get me wrong, but… Are we really going to spend all day doing this?”

           Zach raised his sunglasses with a single finger and replied, “We can do this for however long you want, then go in and play games or watch movies. I didn’t plan out some epic schedule this time around, guys. I just wanted a real chill party for once.”

           Celeste took a break from pretending to drown Wessy to remark, “I would’a figured someone like you just invited the whole class, or at least a few dozen kids.”

           “I did that back in first grade,” Zach replied, reminiscing for a moment. “It was interesting, but I think I’m more about the smaller get-togethers with the ones you think are special. Don’t get me wrong, my class had some cool kids this year, too, but they don’t compare. A big party’s fine when you want noise and that anything-can-happen vibe—and I know them, since my folks have thrown a few—but this… This is a time.”

           “Where are your parents, anyway?” Wessy questioned after emerging and fighting his way out of Celeste’s grip. “We’re not, like, swimming totally unsupervised, right?”

           Zach gestured towards the second floor of his house, and everyone glanced up.

           Zach’s mildly enigmatic dad was peering down from his office that overlooked the pool, busy chatting on his cell phone while wearing a pair of shades himself, indoors. Upon seeing all the kids looking at him, he gave them a thumbs up, and kept talking.

           “And where’s your mom?” Sadie asked. “I feel like I barely ever see her.”

           “Exercise room, probably,” Zach answered, and then got out and headed towards a nearby shed. After opening it, he began to take out and toss into the pool old Super Soakers from Bullet Water games past. “Here, see if these still work!”

           The water guns bobbed on the surface, and most everyone grabbed one of the oldies, filled them up, and sprayed at each other or into the air. After another few minutes, everyone had settled down, eating pizza on the pool or taking random potshots with their soakers. With the easygoing music really setting a tonal preview for the lazy summer afternoons to come, conversations soon became casual and inconsequential.

           “This definitely beats all the noise and screaming kids at my party,” Sadie commented, staring up into the sky through the shades Zach had gifted her as she sat on the watery steps. “It’s nice to just do absolutely nothing once in a while.”

           Zach, dangling his legs off the diving board, replied, “I’m hoping to do more of it on my summer vacation. We’re going to Hawaii this year. Got an aunt that has a house there. Gonna be another epic one, too… I’ll be gone a whole month.”

           “We miss ya in the summer, Z,” Arthur said, floating on his back.

           “I know ya do. But that’s how it is. You guys gotta find stuff to do without me.”

           “Well, actually…” Wessy hesitated a moment. “I think I’m going to summer camp, too. I told my dad I was thinking about it, and then he was all like ‘great idea, I’ve been saying you need that experience!’ or whatever. Next thing I know, he’s signing me up. Sooo… I guess most of us are doing that now. Oh, and Lucy’s going, too. Since my dad and Becky were going overseas without us anyway. Hope it doesn’t get weird…”

           “Yeah, I’ll be there,” Jace spoke up.

           Celeste added, “I’m in, also! I should’ve gone years ago. I’ll be in my element!”

           “Cool,” Colin replied. “It’ll be great being all together. What about you, Jared?”

           Adrift on two noodles, he muttered, “I keep telling you, it’s not for me.”

           “You still got time to change your mind,” Sadie told him.

           “'I just… I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said with a sigh.

           “Oh?” Sadie reached over and yanked the noodles out of his grip, condemning him to the open water as the others laughed. “I bet you just wanna avoid me.”

           “Gah, Sadie!” he exclaimed and spat out water.

           “I kinda get scared at the thought of how competitive you’ll get, too,” Ash said.

           “It’s not Sadie or Celly you need to worry about,” Zach replied. “Marianne can be ruthless when she wants to be. I got stuck on a group project with her last month, and ugh, I still think every time the phone rings, it’s her again, checking on my progress.”

           “Let her do her worst,” Sadie remarked. “She won’t ruin camp for us.”

           Hours later, after the sun had gone down, cake was shared, and presents were opened and displayed across the dining table—the haul including several Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Game Boy games—the boys waved goodbye to the departing girls and retreated into the big living room, where their sleeping bags covered the floor.

           Zach first put on Jace’s movie choice, the Ace Ventura sequel, When Nature Calls, where Jim Carrey’s nutty pet detective goes to Africa. As expected, the movie really only provided background ambience. The big bowl of popcorn, candy, and the conversations were what the night was really about. Dug into their sleeping bags just to keep warm, the chats inevitably returned to summer camp halfway through the movie.

           “I only got to go to Morning Dew once, after third grade,” Zach said. “It was a pretty cool place, but it probably mostly depends on what kinda counselors you get.”

           “Jared, I’m telling ya, this is your last chance to go with the younger kids,” Colin added. “Next year, you’d be dealing with older, grosser, meaner middle schoolers.”

           “I can’t go,” Jared reiterated with a sigh. “Can we just drop it already?”

           “But you and Wes could use the time to make up and stop fighting,” Arthur said.

           “What are we, a couple? And we’re not fighting. We just got… issues to sort out.”

           “Do you really not want to go, when almost everyone is?” Zach asked once more.

           “Look, my parents can’t afford it right now, okay?” Jared exclaimed, but quickly calmed down. “They… started going to couple’s therapy, whatever that is. I guess it’s to save their marriage or something. But it’s expensive. So money’s going to be tight.”

           “Oh… Sorry about that, man. Home issues can suck. Maybe… next year?”

           “Y-yeah… Maybe we really could all go. I dunno. We might need to, to survive.”

           Jace realized that in this proper timeline, Jared’s parents would’ve had a chance to repair their relationship instead of seeing it driven to the brink by an earthquake. And he—and Lucy and the twins for other reasons—wouldn’t have to move away.

           “It was good to be at the top this year at school,” Zach thought aloud. “Wish I could be there for camp and make that feeling last just a little longer.”

           “Hey, Z, did you pick a new club owner yet?” Wessy asked him.

           “Yeah, but I think I’m gonna wait until the very last day of school, after school, to make the announcement. Drake’s been on the prowl again, so we need to keep the place quiet for now. Besides, if I reveal the big winner out front of the school when the fourth graders are also running around, everyone will get to actually meet the new boss, too.”

           “And when are you gonna tell us about the owner before you?” Jared wondered.

           “Sixth grade. If you still even care by then. If Cookton doesn’t have a club, do you think we should make one? Might be harder without a playground…”

           “It could just be wherever we’re currently hanging out,” Arthur said. “With or without Colin, we gotta stick together as much as we can.”

           “Yeah…” Colin murmured tiredly. “We will. Definitely.”

           Sunday went by in a blur, the gang spending much of the day in the mall arcade tossing away quarters on multiplayer cabinets. Just like their previous two visits, Gavin and his crew never appeared—which was unusual, according to Wessy. The kid could often be found at his old stomping ground most weekends. Then again, Arthur suggested, maybe he’s just got the cash to go to Galaxy Hub every weekend now instead.

           Monday was when the portables had been brought in and made ready for business in the quake timeline, and school had resumed in a much more confining and awful way. Jace didn’t even care that he’d have to sit through familiar lessons and redo all his homework again, this time putting forth his usual effort instead of winging it. At least the classroom would be wide open, nice and cool, and have less agitated peers.

           When the class reconvened after lunch, Ms. Porter separated everyone into rather random groups so they could work on a quick science project together. Once desks were put together, Jace found himself with Millie, Delilah, and Gerald. Their objective had to do with the olive oil floating on top of the water in a clear cup.

           This group project must’ve been scrapped in the bad universe, what with the time constraints. Frustratingly, there didn’t seem to be a very effective way to separate the oil from the water with the tools provided. Spoons, talcum powder, filters, pebbles, and a sponge had yet to change much about the composition in the cup.

           “I think this is just some environmental lesson,” Millie said as she lazily poured in sugar. “Ms. Porter’s just gonna say, ‘see? There’s no easy way to clean up an oil spill.’”

           “Great,” Delilah replied. “If I captain an oil tanker, I’ll try not to ram a beach.”

           “A lesson about a problem with no solution is kind of unique, though,” Gerald said, watching the oil closely. “Oh, hey, guess what? Me and Carson are going to music camp this summer. It’s this brand-new thing the university is doing.”

           “That’s cool, Gerald,” Jace replied. “Delilah, you talk to your brothers yet?”

           “Oh, yeah.” She leaned back in her chair and grinned. “Here’s how it went. I asked them to sit down because I wanted to tell them something. But they just laughed and stayed standing instead. Then I was all like, ‘you guys really need to stop being mean to me.’ Then they laughed some more. So I got really serious-looking, and guess what?”

           Jace leaned in, waiting to hear how his advice helped this time. “… Uh, what?”

           “I gave them a big speech about how they needed to respect my space, and that I was allowed to have my personal likes, and I should get equal TV time… And you know what happened? The next few seconds were like something out of a Disney fairytale.”

           “Enough suspense, just tell us,” Millie sighed.

           “They… kept laughing. So I made myself look crazy and beat the crap out of ‘em until they cried! It was great. They haven’t bothered me again yet! Yeah. Turns out when people realize you can start somethin’ too, they think twice before coming after ya.”

           “That’s a horrible way to go about life, Delilah!” Gerald chided her.

           “That isn’t what I…” Jace muttered. “I mean, if it worked for you, I guess…”

           “You still gave me the push I needed to stand up for myself, even against teens,” Delilah said. “Speaking of camp, Jace, you’re goin’ to Morning Dew, right? Don’t worry. If anyone from Miller tries to pull anything on anyone in class, I got your back.”

           “Um. Thanks. Sounds like there’s gonna be a lot of us going.”

           “Why would anyone want to go to summer camp?” Millie asked, even as her eyes went over to her backpack, where an unfilled submission form was poking out.