This chapter of A Secret in Second Grade was made by  tn9007723,  Angel, and me. Grace is owned by tn9007723, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo and Game Freak.

After the duo decided to get some lunch, they made their way to the playground, enjoying their time in the sunlight out of the cold classrooms. Children were playing on the swingsets, going down slides, even out on the basketball court that was at the school. Grace walked by with Alex, sitting down on the bench watching the other kids play.
“So… why do the teachers turn on the air conditioning? It’s… it’s so cold in there.” Alex looks at her, thinking of how to respond.
“Could be that...it being cold keeps you up. I mean, think about it. You go to bed when warm, but you wake up in the middle of the night without your sheets, it’s freezing.” He said smiling, looking back at the kids.
“It’s beautiful and warm out here,” Grace said, smiling as she pulled out two sticks of gum to share with the Zorua next to her.
“Well well, seems instead of sticking to the plan you go hang out with the fresh meat.” A voice called out, Alex recognizing it as Max, while Grace quickly hid the gum in her pocket and turned to face the Poochyena again. “And who do we have here? Oh, the gum blower? Hah, yeah, funny. Come on Alex; we need to get going.”
“You know what, I’ve had it. I’ve...had it with you trying to be the top of the food chain! I’m done being your little puppet.” Alex stood in front of Grace, trying to protect her. “I’m not gonna let her be like those other kids you’ve messed with.” Grace stood shocked, Alex standing as if Max was going to punch him.
“You think I want to fight you? Oh God you’re stupid. You two aren’t even worth the effort of fighting.” Grace, with her knees shaking in fear, holds onto Alex’s arm tightly, only for them to see Max start to walk away. “Nah, I think you know me better. I attack someone when they least expect it. Why fight for myself when you can have others fight for you?”
He left with just that, as the bell rang and everyone ran for their classrooms, Grace and Alex returning and seeing the teacher finish eating her lunch. “Ah, there you are! Alright, who’s ready for storytime?” On cue, everyone cheers in excitement, except for three specific kids in the crowd. During the reading, Alex saw Max whispering something to one of the nearby kids. He knew it might spell trouble for them, but only after a while, did the day finally end and they all were released to go home.
Grace and Alex waited to be picked up; they finally saw a Delphox walking over to them. Grace waved while the Delphox looked at Alex. “Hey there sweetie, how are you? And is this a new friend?”
“My name’s Alex. Nice to meet you!” Alex said while Grace was holding her mother’s hand. “And...are you Grace’s mom?”
“Yup, just call me Zoey.” Looking back at Grace, she commented “Well you have quite the new friend here. How was your first day?”
“Mom, could he come over for a sleepover please?” She pleaded, giving her mother puppy dog eyes.
“G-grace, don’t you think it’s a bit sudden? I mean...I know the weekend is rolling around, but you just met him.” Grace continued her pleading until her mother finally gave in. “Oh fine...he can stay the night. But you need to see with his mother if it’s all OK.”
After a brief talk and get together with parents, Alex was over at Grace’s house with enough items to spend the night. Grace had already gotten everything set up with some food, games, and other stuff, as she let Alex inside. After a quick greeting, the two went directly up to her room, with the parents sitting down on the couch. “Hey...Nick? Don’t you think it’s kinda odd she met someone on her first day at school?” Zoey said, sitting on the couch with her husband. “I mean...well, she has him over now but...we never taught her to be cautious...did we?”
“Zoey...she’s in second grade, not even eight years old yet. She’ll be OK. If you’re worried about that kind of thing, which is my job mind you, then I think I’d be concerned.”
“You have that much confidence in her?” She snuggled up against him, hearing the children laugh in her room.
“She’s going to be alright. OK? Plus the TV up there will keep them busy.”
Up in Grace’s room, they were both watching kids shows, and telling each other funny jokes.
“Hey, how about a game of truth or dare?” Alex suggested.
“Sure!” Grace jumped up from her seating position. “Ok, truth or dare Alex?”
“Truth!”
“Do you have a crush on anyone at school?”
His face went a bright crimson, looking at her then away for a moment. “Y-yes…”
“Ooooh~ Who is it?” She peered, looking for an answer.
“N-nope! My turn, only one question!”
“Aww, alright.” She crossed her arms, making a bit of a pouty face. “I pick...truth!”
“With the bubblegum...what’s...what’s with that stuff?”
“Well, whenever I get crazy nervous, I try to be alone when I use it...mommy and daddy said I couldn’t use it around others ‘cause bad things might happen…”
“Oh...ok. Well, your turn.” He looks a bit nervously at her.
“Ok, truth or dare?”
“Dare!”
“I dare you...to tell the truth! Who do you have a crush on at our school?”
“W-what?! You can’t do that!”
Grace started to giggle out loud. “Yes, I can, so you gotta answer!” She began scooching towards him, expecting an answer with his face still being a bright shade of red.
“Well...OK fine I have a crush on you!” He yelled, flopping onto the floor after screaming it out. Grace’s hands went to her mouth, covering as she gasped. “I... I like you…” He grunted out, his face still on the floor. “I... thought you were cute with that big bubble so...I... well…” After a moment, he started to stand up. “The reason why Max is mad at us is that...I knocked him out after that. He was saying we should go after you and I used my illusions on him...made him go to sleep afterward.”
“So... he…”
“He didn’t see you with your bubbles, all he thinks is that you hang onto bubblegum a lot.” Grace ran and hugged him, both falling to the floor. She cried ‘thank you’ again and again. “Huh?! H-hey I... what’s with all that for?”
“For being amazing.” she said, hugging him closely.
“O-ok...s-so...you...gotta do something…”
“Dare. I choose dare.”
“Well...I dare you to blow the biggest bubble you could blow.” He requested, and as she nodded, she went over to her dresser to pull out a pack of bubblegum starting to chew it up. Both decided to lay down on the carpet, Grace still chewing furiously. After a good while, the gum came to the right point where she could blow it up, pushing it to the roof of her mouth and wrapping her tongue inside of it. “Ready?” Alex asked, seeing Grace nod before starting to puff out a small bubble. The bubble effortlessly grew, getting as big as her face and growing. Soon getting up to reach down to her torso in moments. “Grace...whoa, can...you go bigger?” Alex stuttered with his question, looking back at her as she kept puffing, each breath going into the bubblegum bubble. Soon enough, it became as big as her, even reaching over a good portion of Alex. “Grace...how...big do you plan on getting this bubble?” All she did was blow, growing with each huff, grinning from ear to ear as she put her arms up, the bubble nearly twice the size of them. It pushed up against Alex, amazed by the sheer size of the growing bubble, but still terrified that it could pop all over them. Suddenly, he felt his hand was grabbed by hers, figuring out he was holding her hand. Somehow it calmed him, smiling as he saw the bubble grow to cover more of the room, not even coming close to stopping. After nearly half an hour of blowing, Grace had become tired, the bubble coming close to the edges of the room, having taken up nearly the entire space. The two relaxed, Grace smiling at her masterpiece while Alex sighed, looking at the bubble that was on top of them both.
A sudden knock interrupts their conversation. “Grace? It’s your father; you two need to get to bed now.” Nick said through the door.
“Um...ok. We’re gonna finish watching this episode!” Alex said, hoping the bubble wouldn’t block the voice.
“Well at least let me come in and say goodnight.” He started to open the door; it pushes up against the bubble. “What the...hey Grace what did I tell you about...ngh...barricading your door?” The bubble pushed the door back into place, Grace feeling its strain as he tried pushing again, until forcing it open so hard that the bubble burst with a loud bang! Nick heard the gunshot-like sound, looking around to see the room completely covered in pink. “What the…” after doing a bit of digging, he managed to pull Grace and Alex out of the bubblegum remains.
“Grace that was fantastic! Do another one!” Alex cheered, with Nick laughing a bit.
“OK, first of all, I thought you barricaded the door, but no, it was a massive bubble. I’ll let the punishment for that slide. Secondly, Grace you and your friend sleep out in the living room tonight due to you covering your room in gum. You’ll need to make it up somehow, but we’ll save it for later.”
After a brief goodnight from both her delphox mother and lucario father, Grace and Alex both were in sleeping bags, lying on the floor while staring at the ceiling.
“Grace?” Alex asks.
“Yup?”
“That was crazy…” He started to form a bit of a blush. “Y-you’re...amazing…”
A blush began to run across her face as well, hearing what he said she leaned over from her sleeping bag, kissing him on the cheek. “Y-you are too…”
The two smile back at each other, finally giving one another one final goodnight before they both decide to drift off to sleep, snuggling a bit closer to each other.