Team8s and Counting

168. The Tooth(less) Task

Sack walked towards Thread, still wiggling his tooth. "I want it out, it feels weird!"

"Wow, already?" Flare exclaimed. "I didn't lose my first until I was seven!"

"Me too!" Bookmark added. "They can be really annoying though."

"Anyway." Sprinkle continued. "We were thinking about using some string and tying it to a door, closing it, and then seeing if the tooth falls out."

"But." Capy interjected. "We can't really use a door, soo..."

"Sprinkle thought we could tie the string to your wheelchair instead!" Dimey exclaimed. "Then someone can push you, and the tooth should fall out!"

Thread raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. "Tie it to my wheelchair? That's... an interesting idea."

Flare looked intrigued. "It might actually work, though. If we push you fast enough, the string will pull the tooth out."

Bookmark frowned. "But what if it hurts? Sack might get scared."

Sack, hearing this, immediately put his hands on his mouth. "I don't want it to hurt!"

Thread smiled reassuringly. "We'll do it carefully, Sack. If you don't like it, we'll stop, okay?"

"Okay..." Sack nodded hesitantly. "But only if it doesn't hurt."

Sprinkle clapped his hands. "Great! Let's find some string."

The group looked around the playground to try and find something they could use, but then, something caught Capy's eye. "Look!" Capy pointed to a piece of red yarn tangled in the fence near the playground. "That could work!"

Flare ran over to grab it, carefully untangling the yarn. She held it up triumphantly. "Got it! This should be long enough."

Thread wheeled closer, inspecting the yarn. "Perfect. Let's tie one end to Sack's tooth and the other to my wheelchair."

Sack sat down nervously in the grass, holding his mouth open. Dimey knelt beside him, tying the yarn gently around his loose tooth while Capy held Sack's hand for comfort.

Bookmark tied the other end to the frame of Thread's wheelchair. "Ready, Flare? Give her a good push, but not too hard!"

Flare positioned herself behind Thread's wheelchair, gripping the handles with determination. "Ready! On the count of three. One... two... three!"

With a quick push, Thread's wheelchair rolled forward, and the string snapped taut. Sack let out a small gasp as he felt the tug. A split second later, he spit something out into his hand.

"Guys!" He exclaimed, looking down at his hand. "It worked!"

The rest of the kids rushed over, and looked at the tooth in awe.

Sprinkle held up his hand. "Up top!" Sack gave Sprinkle a high five, and everyone was relieved that the tooth came out without any major problems.

Sack put his tongue on the empty space where the tooth used to be."My mouth tastes like metal though."

Bookmark looked at Sack's bloody mouth, and squirmed a little bit. "Yeah, I'm going to get an aide to take you to the nurse." Bookmark ran off to find an aide, leaving the rest of the kids to celebrate Sack's milestone.

"Dude, you're officially cool now," Dimey said, patting Sack on the shoulder.

Sack grinned, despite the metallic taste in his mouth. "Thanks, but I didn't really do much."

"Nah, you were awesome!" Flare chimed in. "I was so scared when I lost my first tooth. You didn't even cry!"

Thread gave Sack a thumbs-up. "Way to go! And thanks for letting my wheelchair help. That was kind of fun."

Sprinkle puffed up with pride. "See? I told you this would be awesome!"

Capy nodded in agreement. "Totally. And now you get to keep your tooth for the tooth fairy tonight, she might give you a dollar or two!"

Sack's eyes widened. "Wait, I get money for this?!"

"Yeah!" Bladey said, laughing. "Put it under your pillow, and the tooth fairy will come!"

Sprinkle leaned in with a mischievous grin. "Unless... you know...you don't put it under your pillow right! Then she might skip your house and take someone else's tooth instead."

"What?!" Sack exclaimed, his excitement morphing into worry.

"Sprinkle, don't scare him," Bookmark scolded as she returned with an aide in tow. The aide gave Sack a warm smile.

"Alright, buddy, let's get that mouth cleaned up and check you out at the nurse's office," the aide said kindly.

Sack nodded, clutching his tooth in his hand. He glanced back at the group. "Thanks, everyone! You're the best!"

As the aide led Sack toward the school building, the remaining kids began buzzing with excitement about their next recess adventure.

Thread glanced at Sprinkle. "You know, I was a little skeptical at first, but your idea actually worked. Nice job, Sprinkle."

Sprinkle beamed. "What can I say? My mom is a doctor, guess it runs in the family!"

The group erupted in laughter as the bell rang, signaling the end of recess. They all headed back to their respective aides, talking about Sack's bravery and the excitement of the loose-tooth operation.

And in a tiny little box in Sack's hand, his first tooth gleamed—a small trophy of courage and teamwork on a sunny day at the playground.

........................................................

I've been wanting to write a chapter that features all five of the Team8s kids without any of the adults getting in the way, but I actually ended up including all eight of the main fanchildren in this chapter, yay me! I also wanted to explore more of the dynamic between the twins, with Sprinkle being more of the daredevil, while Sack is still a cute lil potato, and hope to expand more on their dynamic as we get further into this book. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next chapter!

- Sunny