Here is an alternate ending to "Arthur's Underwear", as requested by whome33!
Arthur, Buster and Binky were all in the kitchen, Mrs MacGrady sewing the tear in Arthur's pants.
"Here you go Arthur," said Mrs MacGrady, once the tear in the jeans were sewn perfectly until there was no trace of a rip shown. "Good as new,"
"Thank you Mrs MacGrady," said Arthur.
Whilst putting on his pants, Arthur asked, "Um, Mrs MacGrady, is there a back exit I can use?"
"No," said Mrs MacGrady, "But I'll let you three out once all the students are gone, since I understand how you all feel right now. I'll tell Mr Ratburn that I asked you three to do an errand for me so that you all won't get into trouble if he asks you three why you are late."
Mrs MacGrady and the three waited in the kitchen until the commotion died down. Mrs MacGrady poked her head out the door.
"They're all gone," said Mrs MacGrady. "Arthur, sometimes when we all feel embarrassed or have nightmares, it helps to talk about it to someone we trust, like a teacher or a parent, that way we feel less worried. You probably want to tell your parents about what had happened so that you will feel better,"
"Okay," said Arthur, taking her advice.
"Good, but before you go, I have one last statement. A banana without its peel is still a banana,"
"What does that mean?" asked Arthur, muddled.
"It means that we all get embarrassed sometimes, but we are still ourselves inside," explained Binky.
"And you are still Arthur," said Mrs MacGrady, "A kind handsome young man,"
The moment Arthur, Binky and Buster walked into the classroom, Mr Ratburn was teaching so there was no chance for any of the students to laugh at them.
By the time the bell rang and the students were dismissed, Arthur walked by himself back home. He saw several students pointing and giggling at him, but he remembered Mrs MacGrady's advice and decided to suck it up, but he still felt slightly uncomfortable. He felt that he needed to talk to his family about this.
That day, when Arthur got home, he found Jane sitting in the living room.
"Hi mom,"
"Hi Arthur, how was school?"
Arthur hesitated.
"Mom, can I talk to you about something?"
"Of course, you can sit on the couch with me,"
"Mom, I know it's embarrassing, but you see..."
Arthur whispered in his mother's ear.
"Was that why you have been complaining about 'pants' and 'underwear'?" asked his mother.
"Yes," admitted Arthur, blushing.
"I see," said Jane, "So that was why you have been having these nightmares?"
"Yes,"
"Well I admire you for coming to talk to me about this. Sometimes we all get embarrassed, but as Mrs MacGrady said, this does not change who we are, and it helps to talk about our troubles with someone. And I'm glad you got to talk to me about this, now that I know what has been making you uncomfortable for the past week. And you are lucky to have helpful friends like Buster and Binky and a nice lunch lady like Mrs MacGrady,"
Arthur smiled.
"What if I have another underwear dream?"
"Then you can talk to me about it,"
Arthur snuggled into bed, dreading to sleep.
Arthur dreamed about his teacher, Mr Ratburn kidnapping his friends in a haunted house, whilst Arthur himself was dressed as a superhero.
Arthur flew off to the haunted house to rescue his friends. However, unlike his previous dreams, none of his friends in the dream were laughing. In fact, Arthur managed to save his friends from Mr Ratburn and take them out of the house.
Arthur woke up, relieved from his happy dream.
The next day at school, several classmates were pointing and giggling at him.
However, by the time Mr Ratburn walked in, before he started teaching, he decided to have a talk with his whole class.
"Before we get started, I would like to remind you all that everyone sometimes experiences an embarrassing moment. Everyone gets embarrassed, and accidents happen to everybody. But I would like to remind you all now that just because a person is embarrassed it is not appropriate to laugh at them or make fun of them, because it is all considered bullying, and we do not tolerate this sort of behaviour in Lakewood Elementary. Do you understand?"
"Yes," answered the students in unison.
Mr Ratburn then resumed to teaching. He was actually notified by Mrs MacGrady about the incident in the cafeteria involving Arthur, Binky and Buster, but to avoid embarrassment he kept his speech vague and did not mention any of their names.
At the cafeteria, his friends came up to him.
"We're sorry we made fun of you,"
"That's ok," said Arthur.
Over the next couple of days, Arthur and his friends started to forget about the incident in the cafeteria, and Arthur started to stop having underwear nightmares.
It was a Saturday morning. Arthur and Buster were at the Sugar Bowl.
"It's been a week since I had an underwear dream!" said Arthur.
"Good for you," said Buster.
They were just finishing their milkshakes and stepping out when Arthur stood in his path.
"Uh, Buster? I think you're missing something,"
Buster looked down, to his horror he was not wearing pants at all.
Buster woke up, screaming.
"Oh no, here we go again!"
Buster sighed, although he remembered Mrs MacGrady's piece of advice.