As Jace tried to listen to Wes list all the street names and turns to take, his voice began to phase out of his focus, as it had shifted to Wessy, always about a block ahead of him. The shade of tree leaves casting ever-changing shadows on his little uncle, Jace thought about what he was seeing. Wessy was doing something daring, reckless, and new. But he was also at his absolute prime as a fifth-grader; as an elementary school student. His time at DTE would never get any better or braver than this moment, right now. Every dare, lunchroom joke, bit of rumor mill gossip… It felt like it all led to this.

           “You keeping up, Jason?” Wessy shouted back to him. “No worries, we’re almost there! I know the neighborhood like the back of my hand. How’s our time?”

           Jace checked Arthur’s watch. “We’re at eight minutes!”

           “Great! We might get there thirty seconds ahead of schedule! Hey, man, you’re gonna get to check up on your old school! Do these houses look familiar?”

           Jace looked around. Of course, everyone only thought he used to go to Miller, so all the houses were actually strange. But that was okay. Somehow, he trusted Wessy.

           With one last sharp turn around a corner, Sherman Miller in all its glory appeared just another block ahead, its two-story mass standing out among all the residences. The old red and white school, a modern building when it was constructed in the 1960s, beat DTE’s student body number by some two-hundred kids—and was less efficient with its space, making it a sprawling campus inside and out overall. The idea of taking a grand tour of the place with Wessy almost felt mind-bendingly weird, but today, they would likely see nothing else other than its sprawling playground.

           Jace followed Wessy to the bike rack cage, where they propped up their rentals against the chain-link. The playground fence was right by the road, so all that was left to do was climb over it and then try to locate The Shade.

           I hope he doesn’t rely on me to find it, Jace thought.

           They attracted attention from a few fellow fifth-graders passing by as they scaled the fence, but fortunately, they didn’t alert the school monitor, an elderly woman off in the distance who was busy yelling at some Pogs-playing kids. The playground only had a few trees on the outer edges, and more concrete paths than it seemed to need—so it was blasted by the sun, which bounced off the white walls. “The Shade” was an apt name for a club, then, if a place where the sunlight was diminished was seen as a commodity.

           “Who the heck are you?” a boy that sort of looked like Jared asked them once their feet hit the pavement. “You guys… don’t go to this school, do you?”

           “Uh… Um…” Wessy looked at Jace and whispered, “Maybe it’s just in my head, but it’s almost like they have different accents here or something.”

           “We’re looking for The Shade,” Jace said. “We have an important delivery.”

           “The Shade? That’s a secret place for SM students only. You gotta get outta here.”

           “B-but… Oh! I actually used to go to this school! Uh, yeah, I had to transfer to DTE this year. I never even got a chance to see The Shade. All we got is a smelly dump. It, um… It really sucks and stinks. So… Could we just see for it a few minutes?”

           The boy stared at them another moment, then shrugged and laughed. “Eh, I mean, whatever. It’s the last day of school. It’s right over there, dudes.” He pointed to a nearby back alley with a narrow entrance. “It’s the one spot of the school the sun never quite touches during recess all year. So, the founder called it The Shade, back in 1982…”

           “Yeah, yeah,” Wessy said and started heading over. “I bet it’s great. Thanks!”

           Wessy and Jace rushed across the short distance to the neighborhood’s other secret school club, under the beating sun the entire time. As advertised, The Shade was an oasis from the UV rays. The alleyway was windowless, owing to its secrecy, and combined with its two-floor high walls and being built at just the right angle, all three of the sides were in shadow, keeping the area much cooler than the rest of the playground. Instead of a dumpster, the alley featured exterior piping and electrical systems, and the drone of the air conditioning units on the roof above muffled any escaping sound.

           The Shade was narrower, but bigger overall than The Dump. Most of the two dozen kids hung out in the paved area between the grass, many looking remarkably like doppelgängers of the Desert Tree students. They even had taped-up posters, as well.

           Celeste, leaning against a wall and having a debate with another girl about the best 80s action movie stars, did a double-take upon noticing the just-arrived foreigners at the entrance, both of them taking the place in with a muted sort of awe.

           “Jason? Wes?” she exclaimed as she ran up to them. “What in the world are you doing here? You look out of breath. Did you run from your school or something?”

           “Biked,” Wessy breathed out. Not wanting to waste any time, he reached around, pulled out Celeste’s project, and handed it over. “Celeste, we got each other’s boxes!”

           “Seriously? Man, I didn’t even check this morning!”

           “I just found out, too. We don’t have a lot of time. Where’s my box?”

           “In my backpack, inside the school. I’ll go get it—just wait here, you crazy guy.”

           “What are we supposed to do until then? Hey, we don’t have much time!”

           Running off, Celeste shouted back, “Just be a Miller kid for a couple minutes!”

           Wessy and Jace walked a little deeper into the exotic land, and soon, most of the eyes were on them. From just hanging out, to sharing snacks or playing card or Pogs games, the kids here didn’t seem too different from their counterparts. If anything, though, they may have been a little better-dressed and just a bit more self-assured.

           “Heeey, yo… Over here, lads,” a very relaxed blond boy in shades said to them, who wore a loose blue tie and big sandals. “I overheard the deets. Real cool, man.”

           They approached the boy, who was sitting in a slumped position on top of a green electrical transformer. He seemed to have mastered how to barely move at all.

           “Are you the owner?” Wessy asked him. “You look like the owner.”

           “Sharp one, man. Hey, you had a long ride. Have a soda if you want.” He pointed with his thumb, down at the bucket of ice and Cherry Pepsi by the box. “Name’s Kyle. I got the job for being, like… supremely chill, you know? You gotta keep things real cool.”

           “Uh, far-out, man,” Wessy mumbled and took one of the sodas offered to him by a boy who sort of looked like Arthur. “You pick what’s on tap yourself?”

           “Nah… I gave up fizzy in third grade. I’m a coffee guy now. You should try it.”

           “You two really biked from DTE?” a girl who sort of looked like Sadie asked them. “And all to help Celly, huh? Wow. You must really like her or something.”

           Wessy blushed and replied, “N-no. It’s just, we both would’a been in trouble.”

           “Does your recess monitor ever try to bust this place?” Jace inquired.

           Kyle chuckled. “All the time, duuude… But our bouncer’s a good lookout.”

           He half-waved to a kid who eerily looked just like a boy version of Delilah by the entrance, his arms crossed. The guard nodded back and went back to guarding the place.

           “We almost lost our club today,” Wessy told Kyle. “But everyone came together to save it from our cranky monitor. You should’ve seen it. It was… uh, real cool. Man.”

           “Legends never die, my dude. Ya got a confidence about you. What’s your name?”

           “Wes. And this is Jason. He actually used to go here. You heading to Cookton?”

           “Who isn’t? Guess I’ll see ya around, then. You’re already cooool in my book.”

           “Hey, Kyle?” said a kid at his side who looked like Colin, minus the glasses. “Got another dispute that needs settling. Sonic and Mario again. It’s gettin’ intense.”

           “Well. Duty calls.” Kyle yawned and hopped off the transformer. “Hey, you guys have a safe ride back. Don’t forget to get your passports stamped on the way out.”

           “Passports?” Wessy questioned. “Oh… Must be a joke. Crap, we gotta go…”

           Celeste snuck up and tapped on Wessy’s shoulder, another shoebox in her hand. He took it, checked inside for his peach, and breathed out a heavy sigh of relief.

           And then, the strangest thing. The two stared into each other’s eyes. There was also a slight redness in their cheeks. Jace was actually worried that they might even…

           “Um, thanks, Wes,” Celeste suddenly said. “I really appreciate it.”

           “Y-yeah. So… I guess I’ll see you at summer camp in a week…”

           She waved them both off, and Jace couldn’t help but ask Wes, “What was that?”

           “What?” he replied as they left The Shade. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

           Pounding the pedals hard on the way back, the boys arrived with three minutes left to spare following their brief stint as Miller students. As they parked in the bike rack, though, they worried something was wrong. On the other side of the fence, The Dump was empty again. Feeling like their legs were about to fall off as they climbed the chain-link, they soon heard the thumping bass of a nearby stereo playing a funky beat nearby.

           On the playground, all of the fifth-graders had gathered around the fort, and most were dancing with wild abandon, unashamed of their movements—although a few, like Jared and Sadie, exhibited some actual smooth skill. Up on the fort, Carson was grooving to a boom box that someone must’ve somehow smuggled in.

           “Wes! Jason!” Zach called out to them as they approached. “You made it back! C’mon, you still got a couple minutes! We’re having a recess blowout bash!”

           “No monitor to bring us down!” Arthur added after Jace handed back his watch. “Man, you guys look beat. Hey, get these guys a soda! C’mon, they pulled it off!”

           “Already got one,” Wessy exclaimed as he took out the can of Cherry Pepsi from his pocket. “Snagged it from The Shade owner himself. Who brought the boom box?”

           “Oh, that was Gerald,” Zach said, and pointed at the kid who was doing some unexplainable original dance passionately. “Who’d’a guessed, right? No one would’ve ever suspected him. But you can thank Carson for the retro 1990 beats.”

           “Ah… We missed most of it,” Jace moaned as he was handed a soda, which he began to glug down as quickly as a carbonated drink could be. “Did you plan this?”

           “Of course! But it never would’ve happened if Drake had gotten his way. C’mon, Dancin’ J. Connor! You still got… One minute until recess ends! Let’s see what ya got!”

           Jace was reluctant at first to revisit that part of his second trip to fifth grade, but all of his friends’ eyes were on him and expectant in seconds. Millie wanted to see if he would make a fool of himself, too. With a sigh, he handed his soda to Wessy and did so, using up the little remaining strength in his legs in the process. And this time, he didn’t feel any need for confidence to get through it—because it was fun. Something he had once nearly forgotten how to have. Every smooth slide and arm thrust came out just right.

           But just as he started really getting into it, U Can’t Touch This came to an end, and the timing was dismally perfect; only one second later, the playground bell rang for the last time before summer, and the transition seemed nearly instantaneous.

           All had gone quiet, and the dancing and celebrations ceased. The students looked around at a playground that had served some of them for half their lives. The fort, the swings and basketball court, Bob the tree… It almost seemed like they had all been covered by a thin layer of monochrome—like some of the saturation had been pulled out of their color, and a sort of everyday magic had faded from the world.

           “Well… That’s it,” Zach said. “Um… Happy trails, everyone.”

           The kids began the trek to the doors, a few clearly emotional. Willa pulled off her cat ears, December let out an audible sniffle, Wessy soaked it all into memory, and even Marianne let out a wistful sigh. And then Zach started walking towards The Dump.

           “Zach, we gotta get back to class…” Jared said to him.

           “Y-yeah, I know. I just want… I want one last, good look at the place.”

           Zach’s closest friends followed him, with Delilah, Park, and Hutch—the other big admirers and protectors of the place—tagging along, as well. And it was as if that inexplicable change had hit their club, too. It now looked like nothing more than a dead end with an old rusted dumpster. Jace wondered if everyone else felt the same way.

           “You know, guys…” Zach exhaled after taking in a big gulp of the smelly air. “I almost suddenly kind of think that this whole trash club thing was… a little childish.”

           “Nah,” Wessy spoke for everyone else. “At least, not while we had it.”

           Zach grinned. “Heh. Ya know, Drake was right. I’m a damn proud troublemaker.”

           “… And, um, so at the end, James arrives in New York on his giant peach with all his insect friends, and that’s the scene I made.” Wessy held up his diorama for the class to see, which featured the fruit itself, Creepy Crawler bugs, and a Lego James and crowd, with a city skyline also made out of more bricks. “So his story came to an end, after a journey of, uh… self-discovery and conquering of fear. Oh, yeah. I took some inspiration from the movie version that came out a couple months ago, but I totally did read the book, Ms. Porter. Because I know the Silkworm bug was… only in the book.”

           “Thank you, Wes. Very good,” Ms. Porter said as he smiled, closed his box, and returned to his seat. “Every story is one of self-discovery, isn’t it? Now, who’s next…”

           Like most everyone else, Wessy had given a respectable final book report. But Jace had noticed a tinge of sadness or longing in his voice during the presentation.