Team8s and Counting

148. No Need to Hide

"Yes, yes, please!" Sprinkle exclaimed. "I don't want to go back to class, I want to go home."

Barf Bag was starting to get slightly suspicious of Sprinkles behavior. It was rare that Sprinkle was ever limited by pain. If he had really hurt his bottom badly enough to the point where he couldn't sit down, then why was he sitting on it when she walked in, after all, he could have just stood with the ice pack. She knew that there must have been something else that was going on, but she decided it wasn't worth arguing with him, at least, not right then. "Okay Sprinkle, I'll take you home."

Sprinkle was relieved that he was finally getting out of there. "Thanks mom."

As the two of them headed to the car, Barf Bag noticed a nice, hard, uncomfortable looking, wooden bench right outside of the school. "Huh." she thought to herself. "Let's see how bad this injury really is." Barf Bag froze in her tracks, pretending to have forgotten something. "Oh my gosh, I left my phone in the nurse's office!" she exclaimed, playfully covering her mouth in exaggerated surprise. "Wait here for just a second, okay? I'll be right back!"

Sprinkle's eyes widened in confusion. "But Mom, I don't want to go back there!" He tugged at her, his heart racing at the thought of returning to the classroom where all the kids had laughed at him.

"You don't have to go back in." She said, walking over to the bench. "Just have a seat on this bench and wait for me, okay?"

Sprinkle nodded, happily taking a seat on the bench, not even flinching. Barf Bag pretended to walk back to the nurses office, but really, she was trying to see how long Sprinkle was going to sit on the bench for before he got up from pain. Sure enough, the kid had a smile on his face, his 'injury' not limiting him from sitting at all, contrary to what he said earlier.

Barf Bag made her way back outside after just a few minutes, her phone in her hand. "Okay buddy, I'm back."

Sprinkle smiled, "Yay! Now can we go home?"

Barf Bag decided to test if he was trying to exaggerate the injury or not. "You know...for someone who hurt their bum, you sat on that hard bench for a decent amount of time."

Sprinkle immediately got up from the bench, not wanting to get caught in the act. "Um...I was just...uh...testing it out!" he stammered, his cheeks turning a bright shade of red. "I wanted to see if it was really as hard as it looked!"

Barf Bag crossed her arms, a playful smile creeping onto her face. "Oh really? You were just testing the bench? Didn't you say earlier that it hurt to sit down?"

Sprinkle knew he had just gotten busted. "Okay, okay," he admitted, fidgeting with his hands. "Maybe it doesn't hurt that bad."

Barf Bag knelt down in front of him, trying to keep a straight face. She knew that Sprinkle hadn't told the full story of what really happened. "So, what really happened during show and tell?"

Sprinkle sighed, his bravado slipping away. "I got embarrassed when I fell. Everyone was laughing, and I just wanted to go home," he confessed, looking down at his shoes. "I thought if I said it hurt, I could get out of there. All the kids were laughing at me, mom!"

Barf Bag understood how he felt. "I'm sure it wasn't all the kids, Sprinkle."

Sprinkle stomped his foot on the ground, "It felt like it though!"

Barf Bag sighed, remembering a similar time she wanted to hide from everyone after an...incident back on the show. She didn't want to tell her kids about it, at least, not yet, but she thought that maybe hearing her story would make him feel better. "Sprinkle...I get it. In fact, do you want me to tell you a story of when I felt the need to hide from everyone."

Sprinkle looked up at his mom, curiosity shining in his eyes. "Really? You had a moment like that?"

Barf Bag nodded. "Well...kind of. You see, it was back when I was competing on the show, The Power of Two, with Daddy and your aunties and Uncle. You remember me telling you about that, right?" Barf Bag had only recently told her kids about TPOT, thinking that it was about time they started to know the history of Team8s.

Sprinkle nodded, "Yeah, you told me about it last week!"

Barf Bag smiled, and continued on with her story. "I ended up getting sick on the show. Everyone else was trying to help me feel better...but in trying to make a concoction to make me feel better...they made me turn into a zombie."

Sprinkle's eyes widened. "Like, an actual zombie?"

Bar Bag nodded. "Yes, an actual zombie. I ended up being the start of an apocalypse that wiped out a lot of the cast. Thankfully, it ended up getting resolved, but after that ordeal...I didn't want to show my face around anyone for a while. So...I hid from everyone, including the family. I didn't want them to feel like I was a danger to everyone."

Sprinkle wanted to hear more of the story. "How did you come out of hiding?"

Barf Bag sighed, placing a hand on Sprinkle's shoulder. "Eventually the next challenge started, and everyone found me pretty quickly after the challenge was over. And, even though I thought they were going to be scared of me, but..." Barf Bag smiled at the next memory, remembering why Team8s was as close as they were today, "they just wanted to make sure I was okay. Even though a good chunk of the cast didn't love what I did...your aunties and daddy were worried about me, and told me that they would always be there for me."

Sprinkle smiled, feeling a sense of comfort wash over him. "So they weren't mad at you?"

Barf Bag shook her head. "Not at all. They knew it wasn't my fault, just like your friends probably didn't mean to make fun of you when you fell, well, most of them I'm assuming. Sometimes we all have embarrassing moments, but that doesn't mean our friends stop caring about us."

Sprinkle thought about this, realizing that maybe his friends didn't actually think less of him for the accident. "Do you think they'll still want to play with me?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Of course they will!" Barf Bag said confidently. "You're still Sprinkle, the kid with the coolest red truck in class. Even if some people still want to make fun of you...those ones are not worth it. After this, you'll know who your true friends are."

"Do you really think so?" Sprinkle's eyes brightened at the thought.

Barf Bag nodded, patting Sprinkle on the back, "Of course, that's how it always goes. Most of your classmates will probably forget about this whole thing by tomorrow."

Sprinkle felt a little better as he listened to his mom's comforting words. "Thanks, Mommy. I love you."

"I love you too, Sprinkle." Barf Bag stood up, brushing some imaginary dust off of her. "Alright, let's get you home. And maybe we can think of some fun things to do to cheer you up!"

As they walked to the car, Sprinkle felt a sense of relief wash over him. The fear of returning to school had faded, replaced with the excitement of spending time with his mom. Sprinkle felt better knowing that this wasn't a big deal, and that his true friends would still be there for him.

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I love when the parents get to share BFDI stories with their kids, and this one is no exception! The scene in TPOT 10 where everyone goes and comforts Barf Bag will always be so wholesome to me! Not much else I have to say, see you in the next chapter!

- Sunny