The words and punctuation ran out the doors of the school to play on the playground. Period stayed behind and just sat on the steps as party and his clique rushed by him and ran toward the swings. Why play? He'd put a stop to any fun. Everyone thought he was a nerd.
Skip, Hop, and Leap started to jump rope. Leap and Hop swung the rope and Skip began to jump.

"Hey! I want to jump too!" Rock said. He pushed Skip.

Hyphen ran over to them. "Don't push her!" She stepped in between Skip and Rock to split them up. "You're such a bully."

"No, I'm not," Rock said. "They wouldn't let me play."

"You didn't even ask," Comma said. He stood nose to nose with Rock. Leap, Hop, Skip, and Hyphen gathered around. Comma stepped back, and the group began to separate. "You're not worth my time, Rock."

Period continued to watch everyone. Exclamation Point and her friends, Lines, Numbers, and Shapes filled his ears with their chatty voices while they played hopscotch. Exclamation Point always got so excited and emphasized the things she wanted everyone to know.

"I got a new dress!" Exclamation Point said.

"That's nice," Lines said.

"And I got new pencils and erasers!"

Numbers rolled her eyes. "That's nice. It's your turn to throw the rock."

Period looked over the side of the stairs.

Parentheses and Ellipses stood there. Parentheses wrapped her arms around Ellipses. "Please don't feel left out. I'm your friend."

Ellipses sniffed. "Okay. I'll try. Parentheses?"

Parentheses stepped back. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for not letting me feel different or separate."

Period returned his gaze to the playground again.

Question Mark, Colon, Run, Jump, Fun, Games, and Laugh were all playing tag. Question Mark was "it."

"You can't catch me!" Run yelled to him.

"What did you say? Question Mark asked. He caught Colon and tagged her. "You're it."

"That's not fair." Colon lifted her fingers and touched each one as she said the list. "Why didn't you chase Jump, Fun, Games, or Laugh?"

"I did, but I caught you," Colon said.

Dashes sat on the bottom step with the words See, Spot, Bark, and Bark. Dashes sat between Bark and Bark. "What are you girls doing?"

"Nothing," See answered.

Semicolon sat at the end of Dashes, See, Spot, Bark, and Bark. Spot looked at him. Semicolon shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want to separate anyone." They began nudge and push each other.

Period sighed. Apostrophe, Brackets, and Quotation Marks sat next to him. Apostrophe placed his arm around Period's shoulders. "I'm here for the missing."

"Who's missing?" Period asked.

"You," Apostrophe said.

"C'mon nerdo. C'mon down to the playground. We don't want you to be separate from us and the words," Brackets said.

"Yeah," Quotation Marks said. "I promise to play nice. I won't run and in front and behind you to make you trip."

Period sighed again. "Alright. I guess."

They stood, ran down the stairs, and joined all the others on the playground. Soon, the bell rang, and they filed back into the classroom.