Rebellion

I bet you couldn’t believe that once I was the co-captain of the Army. Especially when I say it that way.
You see, the “Army” I’m talking about was split up into two groups…made up of 5th graders and below. There were two divisions: my gang and J’s gang. J read all the books about the Army and all the Halo novels. He said he knew everything back then, about the Army. Me, I could get people to follow us. And I knew the song.
Right, the song. One of few good things my brother ever taught me was the song. It was a changed version of the Union Battle Song, back from the Civil War, the one that goes “my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Yeah, well my brother and his friends inherited the changed version, and then passed it down to me. Me and my sis, I mean. So we became the sole carriers.
But we wanted to share the knowledge. So my sis told J, and I told my friends. J taught his group of friends, who later became his unit. My friends became my unit. And when J and I got together, everyone listened, even the older kids. And there was always a signal, even if J and I didn’t realize that’s what it was. Maybe the signal was me and J talking, ‘cause that was back when in the time when guys and girls didn’t talk to each other ‘cause girls had cooties and guys were gross. Maybe that’s what told all the kids to gather, just me (a girl) and J (a guy) talking.
We didn’t get the chance hang out much on the playground, our two gangs. Usually J and his gang were too busy fighting with the Master Chief against the alien Flood infection and Covenant invasion while my gang and I were too busy fighting off Orcs and saving MiddleEarth.
But one day the Noon Monitors overstepped their bounds. You see, when we were kids, we thought we ruled the playground. My brother had passed it to me, you see, and J had gained the right. The Noon Monitors couldn’t tell us what to do. I
It started in the winter, when they said we couldn’t play in the snow without snow pants, even if we had every other bit of gear. And let me tell you, when you’re as small as I was back then, you can’t move in snow pants.
Then, we got new mulch on the playground. Suddenly, we weren’t allowed to run in the mulch. Then they said no running or climbing on the equipment. The only places we were allowed to run was the grass and the blacktop (but the former only if you were playing basket ball).
J and I didn’t think that was fair. Too many kids were being sent to the Wall for timeout because they were playing hide-n-go-seek-tag on the playground. Capture the flag was non-existent. The Flood could easily wipe out J’s unit while the Orcs could overcome or outrun my gang.
That’s when J recommended the song. To “rally our troops,” he said. I agreed. What better way to gang up against the Noon Monitors than to sing our song and alert everyone?
We picked a nice sunny day. Really, it was all spur of the moment. J and I walked out to Recess with our respective gangs and went to our respective sides, trying to look inconspicuous. Then J and I left our gangs and met under the main wooden play-gym. We didn’t say anything, just nodded to each other before yelling to our friends.
Neither of us noticed the other kids starting to gather too as J and I walked to the top of the tallest wooden play-gym. We had wanted to use the big-twisty slide, but we both knew that, if the Noon Monitors surrounded us, we’d have no escape. So we picked an option with more exit points.
By the time his and my gang had assembled on and around the wooden play-gym, most of the playground had gathered as well. J and I were nervous. We didn’t think everyone would come. Especially not the basketball and four-square players; they never stopped for anyone!
The Noon Monitors realized something was up, ‘cause they started coming towards the group of us not long after we’d all gathered. It was now or never, but neither J or I could move. Finally, J gave me a nudge. It was my song, after all. I was the true leader of the playground, in times like this.
Plus, if we got caught, I could just cry. I was a little person, they’d feel bad. J was bigger, and a guy. Guys didn’t cry. It wasn’t allowed. But we’d agreed to take our punishment, whatever it would be. Neither J or I would cry.
So I carefully climbed on top of the railing and balanced there. I felt like I would fall any second, until J grabbed my ankles and held me there. He was tall, and strong. He’d keep me standing.
Now the Noon Monitors were walking quickly towards us, almost running. But they were still on the blacktop. We had time.
I cleared my throat and announced that we would sing the Anthem and for all who knew it to join along. Then I started to sing. J was quick to join in, and so were our gangs. And then the whole playground was singing. The Noon Monitors got there and stopped. They couldn’t do anything, there were too many of us. They waited till we were done with our two verse three chorus song.
After the song was over, J and I panicked. The Noon Monitors had us surrounded.  We were trapped. Then J and I grinned.
“FALL OUT!” We screamed. Our gangs translated it to “SCATTER!” And that’s what we did. Everyone ran, in all different directions. J and I jumped off the play-gym and our gangs followed us. We dashed right by Noon Monitors. They couldn’t stop us, there was too much going on. They caught a few kids, but had to let them go because they didn’t start it. We did.
We got away. Lots of the kids helped us by being diversions and scapegoats. After the Noon Monitors gave up (Recess was almost over anyway), J and I met back in front of the big-twisty slide. Kids crawled out of their hiding spots to cheer. We bowed and then turned to each other. We saluted, and marched away together, perfectly in step, our gangs marching side by side.
The bell rang.