Hey everyone. I've been away from fanfiction for a little while, but recently I felt a need to get back into it. I've been watching a couple of Simpsons episodes recently, both old and new, and although I wouldn't call it my favourite show, they're quite a lot of elements to it I really like.
I love the character of Bart but I mainly love the idea of him having potential but never have been able to show it because of things like his first day of school in 'Lisa's sax'. Or always being overshadowed as shown in 'Barthood'.
My favourite character without a doubt though is definitely Maggie. Ironically being part of the main five, she's one of the few characters in the show who hasn't really been used or explored that much. Enough to show her personality but nowhere as near the amount of episodes the other four get. One aspect is her relationship with Bart, which we only ever once we got a glimpse of in 'How Lisa got her Marge back' and I honestly wished they'd have more episodes of the two together.
I like to think Maggie grows up to be a mixture of Bart and Lisa. Smart but a bit of a prankster at the same time. Kinda like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, where she has intelligence but uses it for mischief.
Anyway, I wrote this little oneshot about these two and I really hope you guys like it!
The Simpsons belong to Fox and Matt Groening.
The school bus pulled up outside the Simpson house and the two young eight and ten year-old siblings jumped off and began heading towards the front door, the eight year-old one in particular in the lead. Usually it was the elder who couldn't wait to get home and away from the school of dread but today, the younger child had some rather exciting news to tell her parents that she was practically bursting to get out.
"Mom! Mom! Guess what!" Lisa Simpson ran into the front living room with the fireplace and to the side of the chair her mother was sitting in. "The school's having a big history test in a few weeks, and the person who gets the highest marks will win a cash prize! Which will be presented to them just before the Thanksgiving break!"
"Ooooh" her mother responded with. "What a great opportunity. Is it about the history of the pilgrims?" she asked putting down a magazine she had in one hand whilst holding Maggie with the other, whom was currently playing with a squish toy hammer.
"Well some of that will be in there, but it's mainly just history in general really" said Lisa setting down her bag.
"What's that? Marge, you're not planning another intervention for me are you?" Homer Simpson called from the other living room, to which Lisa gave a puzzled look and her mother explained whispering:
"I found several used scratchcards under your father's car seat, I think he may have a problem, he overheard me talking about it with your aunts on the phone." She then called in her usual voice, "Homey there's going to be history test at the kids school and the one with most marks gets a cash prize."
"Woohoo!" Homer cheered. "That money's as good as ours!"
"Homer you don't know that" retorted Marge.
"How much is it Lisa?" he asked coming into the room, Duff beer in hand.
"A hundred dollars."
"Woohoo!" he cheered again. "Wait, is that all?"
"Well Homer that's quite a lot for a school as it is. Really they should be putting that money to good use. I hope this isn't just some way for them to cover up that gas explosion in their science lab with the press."
"God works in mysterious ways Marge. Gas explosions for us to win a hundred bucks, cardiac arrests to supply paramedics with work. It's all in his great plan. Good job Lisa, that'll be something to be thankful for this year."
Bart rolled his eyes as he made his way up the stairs, bag half slung over his shoulder. Already they were speaking as if she was going to be the one who would win. Heck they were probably right, as soon as it was announced in school he knew it was going to be her. Her or Martin perhaps. In fact he wished it would be Martin. Him gloating at school was far better than mom and dad fawning over Lisa at home, Bart would take that any day.
But hey, just another day right? He was used to that by now. And he figured he couldn't really blame Lisa for trying to win. A hundred bucks, fairplay. He'd definitely try to win if he only could.
If there was one good thing however about this whole presentation thing, was that it was the perfect opportunity for a prank, especially on a one certain Seymour Skinner. Bart sat on his bed with a growing smile thinking over what he could do. Magnets? No he tried that. Crickets? No, didn't work the first time. Swap his speech for a more vulgar one? But he would see it and just not read it. He would think of something in time.
For now, he would be thinking about tomorrow. Homer had promised to take him out to the park for a game of Baseball. And although Homer was fawning over Lisa just now, going out to the park was something Bart was really looking forward to. He actually kinda loved the feeling of running and jumping into piles of leaves chasing after a ball with the cool wind blowing against his skin with the orange evening sky. Yeah, what a feeling that was. It almost even took his mind off the test altogether.
Later that day as Bart was heading back upstairs after dinner, he passed his baby sister Maggie; whom was trying to carry a big box of legos that was bigger than her own head toward her room. She waddled and did the best she could to balance the heavy box in her tiny hands. Though she was struggling and inevitably couldn't hold the box for much longer. She tripped in her onesie and all the pieces in the box spilled out in front of her on the upstairs landing.
Bart heard this and turned to see his little sister on the floor looking at all the lego pieces, glancing her eyes down sadly and feeling as if it was hopeless. He stepped over to her after seeing her expression and knelt down beside her. "Too heavy huh?" he smiled and she gazed up up still looking rather sad.
"The trick is to put it in the wagon and pull it" he advised and started to pick up all the legos for her and put them back into the box. He then took a small toy wagon that was nearby and put the box in beginning to pull. "See, no prob."
He pulled it into Maggie's room and placed the box down. "So what were you gonna make with all this anyhow?" he asked as she followed him into her room.
Maggie sucked on her pacifier and pointed over to an empty crayon box. She then turned to the legos and started to piece together several blue bricks into what looked like the shape of a crayon. She sucked on her pacifier again.
"Miss your crayons huh? What happened to 'em?" Bart inquired but soon got his answer when Snowball ii came in a coughed up a lilac fur ball and walked out.
"You know you can't actually draw with legos though right?" Bart asked again to which his sister nodded, and then placed the lego crayon next to the empty box and rested her head in her hands rather sadly.
"Oh, but it reminds you of them. I see, I feel the same about that isotots game. They faked it at the end. I never got a chance to genuinely prove myself" Bart reminisced grimly.
"But hey, don't worry kid" he continued sitting cross-legged by her. "There's something even better you can build." Bart took several pale, green and red coloured pieces and rapidly placed them all into a shape in the floor until he finished. "Ta-da! See, it's Krusty!"
Maggie tilted her little head, impressed with how fast Bart managed to put it together. She crawled over, tripping up once, and examined over the piece.
"You wanna do it too? Here I'll show ya." He picked her up and placed her in his lap, and took several more lego bricks in his fists. "Watch this." He pieced them all together into different shapes.
"This one's an X-wing, this one's a Batarang, this one's a lugar," Maggie tried to reach that latter one. "And for something more 3D, a rattle!" Bart had built with the long lego bricks a type of round cage with a handle, and put the short lego bricks inside of it. Maggie giggled and took it as Bart set her down and stood up.
"Welp, best get going, got a prank to plan you see." He grinned and saluated goodbye to her as she began to shake her rattle.
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The next morning, which was a Saturday, Bart brushed his spikes on top of his head and placed his lucky baseball cap upon it. Grabbing a bat out of his closet and a glove he slid down the stair bannister and managed to catch his dad walking by.
"Dad, we going out now to play Baseball? We've still got a running feud going remember?" reminded Bart pulling out a tally and a pencil. "Let's see, I think I'm on three of games I've won versus the one game you won when I wasn't actually there, which is out of the four games we played since I started this tally six years ago and-,"
At this point Bart noticed in the next living room Lisa was putting on her coat and grabbing her bag as if she too was going out somewhere.
"Uh, baseball. Right" Homer laughed nervously. "Listen boy, could we do this another time? It's just that I have to take your sister to the library to study for the hundred- I mean, history test."
"Can't we play baseball after you've dropped her off?" asked Bart, his tone saddened.
"Sorry boy, I'm staying there. They have computers there now, and want to buy some illegal products online without anyone tracing our IP address" Homer explained that last part in a whisper.
"Maybe you should come too Bart" suggested Lisa coming up them. "We all know you need as much help as you can get."
Bart furrowed his brow a little. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well I'd tell you but," she put a hand on his shoulder and said in a faux caring tone "you probably wouldn't understand." She turned and walked out the door with a smug face as Homer closed it behind them.
"You know you have to pay to use those computers right?" he heard Lisa to Homer.
"D'oh!"
Bart sulked into the living room and slung off his cap sitting down on the sofa, head in his hands.
"Oh what's the matter sweetie?" Asked Marge who had just come into the room with a basket of laundry. "You look as if someone's squeezed a lemon into your orange juice."
"I was supposed to play Baseball with dad today, but he's taken Lisa to the library instead" Bart glumly explained.
"Hmm, I hope he's not buying counterfeit designer jeans again. He should've kept his promise and taken you there, and I'll make sure he does when he gets home." Marge smiled cheering Bart up a little. "In the meantime, I have something really fun we could do."
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"A coin collection?" Bart wined sitting at a table with a book with old coins sellotaped to it next to his mother.
"You won't believe some of the old things you find underneath our old age couch. I've found things there from twenty eight years ago" said Marge.
"A Kennedy half-dollar?" Bart picked it up. "Why do you keep this? It's only worth about five bucks."
"Now yes, but in years time it could be worth five fifty. Ooh look! An old British pound coin! That takes me back to the days of the early two thousand tens" Marge picked it up. "Your father tried to pay with these on that vacation to Brighton last year and got into a fight when they wouldn't accept it."
"Good thing the health insurance in that country is free."
Bart boredly rested his head down and waited for Homer's return. When he finally did Bart perked up a little as Marge was about to tell him that he made a promise, but just before she could, Lisa ran up to her and got her attention.
"Mom look at this book I found for you! It's about all the secrets of doctors practices and surgeries, written by a former doctor himself!"
"Well that's-, really?" said Marge suddenly becoming interested and taking the book. "Goodness, I never knew that's how they did that."
Bart slumped again. Hopeless. Completely hopeless.
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Sitting in the middle of class last period the next monday, Bart per usual had his mind on anything but what Mrs Krabappel what droning on about. Well it wasn't just anything this time, he was concentrating on figuring out how to get Skinner at that presentation. It had to be something clever. It couldn't just be something simple. No doubt Skinner would anticipate some kind of joke trying to be played on him, he'd be watching Bart like a hawk for the next couple of weeks, he-
"Bart!"
He snapped up quickly.
"Are you paying attention Bart? Oh what am I saying? Of course you're not" Mrs Krabappel said very cynically. "You know you all have a good chance at winning that prize money, lord knows I don't" she muttered that last part.
"I'll be giving it away to a charity to help develop anti-assault devices for children!" Martin boasted out loud, assuming it was going to win.
"Is it still in the development stage?" asked Nelson throwing a book at him, only for it to be bounced back off an invisible force field and hit him in the face.
"No it's in the prototype stage" revealed Martin.
Then it came to him! Bart suddenly had an eruption in his mind, like an epiphany Homer once had. What was the best prank to perform at that presentation? What would no doubt shock everyone and be something he wouldn't even get in trouble for? What if, dare he think, if he won the prize money? What if he got full marks on the test, Skinner would be absolutely flabbergasted, and the best part was he wouldn't be able to do anything about it other than begrudgingly hand over the prize money! That'll show his smart alec sister, she'll be so jealous! And mom and dad and everyone at the Thanksgiving table would be fawning over him instead.
But wait, what was he thinking? There's no way he'd ever do it. Even if he genuinely tried, he wouldn't even come close to getting fifteen percent of the questions correct. He had genuinely tried to study for a test before, and even then the best he got was a D-. He could never do it honestly.
Well, if he couldn't do it honestly, there was an alternative.
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Bart had everything set for tonight. As soon as his mother had kissed him goodnight and left the room, he jumped out of bed and began changing into some sort of black attire, the type burglars would usually wear. From underneath his bed, he pulled out a series of tools:
A rope with a hook on the end, a torch, a pair of pliers, two halves of a coconut (you'll see why) a pocket knife which he still secretly kept, and some snacks, y'know in case he got hungry.
He pushed his door open ajar a touch, peeked out, and decided to move. Just as he was heading down the landing, a small cry faintly began to whine in the direction of Maggie's room. She had woken up, and would be heard on the baby monitor.
"Uh-oh." He crept as fast as he could over to her room, snuck in and quickly switched off the baby monitor. "Phew" he sighed in relief before climbing up to Maggie's cot and attempted to shush her.
"Hush Maggie hush, look, rattle, see the rattle?" He desperately tried to make her go back to sleep. "If only it was as easy as Homer. Look Maggie your pacifier" he placed it in her mouth she still kept crying through it.
"Uh, cookie? Hamburger? An unhealthy amount of Buzz Cola? Stealing the history test answers with me?"
At that point Maggie stopped crying. She looked up at her big brother and took on a disapproving expression, her hands on her hips.
"What? How else am I gonna pass the test and win the money?"
Maggie folded her arms, still holding the same expression.
Bart sighed. "Look Maggie" his tone becoming more serious. "Would you still love me if I failed?"
Maggie's face suddenly changed to a concerned one and quickly nodded her head.
"Oh yeah, would they?" he gestured his head to their mom and dad's room, to which Maggie paused and then took a sling of skipping rope reeled up over her arm and pointed a 'let's roll' gesture with her thumb.
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Skateboarding down the lamp lit streets of the town, Bart finally made it to Springfield elementary, Maggie tucked into the bag on his back, her top half sticking out. Setting the bag down, he pulled Maggie out and took the length of rope with the hook on the end, swinging it before it launched itself up onto the roof of the school building. He pulled himself up with Maggie in his bag and onto the roof, where he made his way to a tool box, easily opening it with his pocket knife, and cut a wire with the pliers.
"No Maggie you can't play with the pocket knife, only in emergencies or a visit from con-men" he took it out of her reach after she tried to make a grab for it. "Now, how to get in?" he scanned around. He couldn't get through the windows, but there was the air vent. No, he was too big, and he couldn't leave Maggie out here on her own. Maggie! That was it!
"Maggie, do you remember when mom had to take you along to parents evening to principal Skinner's office? And I told you to memorize everything for future reference?"
Maggie nodded her head.
"Could you um, get the history test answers for me?" Bart rubbed the back of his neck.
She gave a thumbs up and climbed into the vent.
Five minutes passed and Bart kept a lookout around the school. He could've sworn he faintly heard something that sounded like a steam engine. Then he realised, that was no engine, groundskeeper Willie was snoring away in his shack across the playground. Worry came over the boy. What if he woke up? What if he went into the school and caught Maggie? She could be-,
Just then Bart felt a tugging on his sleeve. He looked down to see his sister smiling and holding the test answers up to him.
He gasped. "Maggie you got it! You little genius you!" he ruffled her hair and whipped out his phone taking a picture of the paper. "Now quick, put it back so no one suspects anything. I'll keep the ol' groundskeeper snoozing." As Maggie climbed back into the vent, Bart pulled out the two halves of the coconut and began clapping them together as loud as he could, which sounded almost like the trampling of hooves. The snoring stuttered a little bit.
"Aye, is that ye Edward 1st? Back for more is ye? Come on then you annexing bastard! I'll show you what's for!" exclaimed Willie, clearly dreaming.
Bart put away the coconuts just as Maggie crawled back outside. "Come on Mags, we better get home before we get another Jacobite rebellion."
She climbed into his bag and he slid back down the rope, remembering to take it with him as climbed on his skateboard and headed off home with a hope of victory in his heart.
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The next morning at school, the buzz was all around that someone had cut the alarm wires, after ripping open a tool box on the roof. Oddly enough though, it looked as if no one had broken in, and nothing had been stolen.
Some kids were whispering that the school had an attempted burglary. Milhouse believed the school was haunted. Sherri and Terri spread the rumour that it was an angry ex-student who was expelled. Which didn't make any sense since no damage to the school was actually done.
Bart didn't even care about having to sit through dull lessons all day. In fact, he could've practically skipped to the playground. And that's exactly what he did. And it caught sight of the bullies.
"Hey look, there goes the fruitcake!" Nelson pointed out.
"Don't go near the tree with the beehive in it Simpson! They'll be all over ya!" Jimbo laughed along with others.
Bart realised what he was doing and immediately stopped embarrassed. Then as he turned around, Dolph seemingly out of nowhere appeared and landed a punch right in the stomach.
"Oooooh" Bart gripped the area of impact in pain and fell to his knees, as the rest of them gathered round to land their punches too.
He got home later that day, deciding to walk home since he didn't want anyone to see him all bruised and beaten, and then he walked through the front door only again to see both his mom and dad crowded around Lisa in the front room.
"And then, Miss Hoover asked me to host the school's spelling bee next year!" she boasted.
"That's excellent sweetie."
"Wow, first the history test now the spelling bee. Is there anything you can't do?" said Homer.
"Uh, mom? Dad?" called Bart attempting to alert them to his condition.
"Just a minute honey. So do you have to dress smart for it Lisa?" said Marge, the three of them not turning to look at him.
Bart just sighed and gave up heading upstairs. As he threw off his bag his phone fell out of it and onto the floor which caught Bart's eye. As he picked it up, he saw that it had been smashed and damaged to the point where it wouldn't turn on. It was broken. He had lost the picture. He collapsed to the floor in an agonising groan. He would he ever pass that test now?
Well there was only one option. He couldn't believe what he was about to say but "I have to do it fairly."
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That night Bart stayed up past his bedtime doing the unthinkable, he was studying. Under a lamp on his desk he tired-eyedly scrolled up and down through Wikipedia articles on anything related to history. Heck even things about the 2000s he clicked on. By morning his eyes were bloodshot with bags under them.
All throughout the week he uncharacteristically stayed up late hitting the internet other than just to look at epic fails or tutorials on how to skip class without anyone realising. And like before, getting through the first paragraphs was difficult enough. He lost interest straight away and had to strain himself to carry on. This change didn't go unnoticed. Although he would take extra precautions not to be seen by taking the laptop to the treehouse, Maggie from her high chair could see him from the kitchen window.
Now normally Bart was the type to 'procrastinate' from studying. He'd even out right avoid it. But he must've really been desperate to win that prize. Was this really all just for a prank?
Maggie one day was sitting on the carpet in the middle of the living room with a colouring book in front of her. She reached to the side to grab a crayon but instead grabbed an oblong lego brick which only resembled a crayon. That was right, she still didn't have any. Her eyes cast down and she began to sniff a little.
That's when surprisingly, her big brother came into the room who, when Maggie looked up, seemed almost completely out of it. He had taken a break from trying to study and in his hand, glowing like the holy grail, was a brand new box of crayons. He spoke to her in an exhausted voice.
"Hey Mags, listen, I just wanted to say thank you for helping me that other night at the school, even though it turned out to be pointless in the end. I know how you really wanted a box of crayons, and I saw these in the store window when I was out yesterday. I was saving my allowance money for a history text boo-, I mean, prank smoke alarms, yeah that's it, but then I remembered what you wanted and, well I guess these will help you more than, prank smoke alarms, will help me."
He gave her the box which she took with both hands, admiring it with gratefulness.
"Y'know, I wish I had an older sibling that would buy me stuff. I wouldn't have to rummage through bins looking for old used silly snakes that go in fake peanut butter jars otherwise" he chuckled. "I don't worry if I sound tired, it's just, a lung hemorrhage, nothing that can't be cured. Anywho, I'd best get back to the treehouse." He got up and walked out the room.
"Not for anything important of course!" he quickly affirmed before he left, leaving Maggie to stare after him.
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Finally the day of the test came. It was two days before the thanksgiving break, and all the students were in class being handed their papers. Bart too droopy-eyed to make any last minute disruptions or class clowning.
"Now class, remember this is for the big money, well big by your standards. A hundred bucks is hardly enough to live on a month these days." Mrs Krabappel sat at her desk and began the test.
As the students buckled down, Bart shakily grabbed his pen and stared down at his paper. 'Okay, okay. Remember the articles, remember the first time you did this, take deep breaths. Just think of the praise you'll get once you win, and the love, and the admiration. Okay, first question.'
He read it. 'What was the former name of the Norwegian capital Oslo?' D'oh! Oh what was it? He never looked that up. Wait!' a thought came to him. What was that Roald Dahl book he read? The one about his life and where he used to spend summer as a kid? Then Bart clicked it. He wrote down:
'Christiania.'
Next question.
'What was the last name the Russian dynasty that ruled for over 300 years? C'mon what was the name in that Yahoo answer?' He smiled. 'Romanov.'
'What was the name of the collective group of kingdoms and principalities which now make up modern day Germany?' Bart wrote down with his pen 'Holy Roman Empire.'
The test buzzed on, and although he struggled on quite a few of the questions, he was sure he did his absolute best and for the first time he believed more than ever in himself that he could actually do it!
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"Okay everyone, thank you!" Principal Skinner settled down the crowd sat on the bleachers set up in front of the school's front entrance. It was one day before the thanksgiving break, and the parents and teachers have gathered along with the kids after school to attend the presentation,and to hear Principal Skinner's speech on how well the school was doing. Well not really, they had all come to hear who had won the prize money, though most students knew it wasn't going to be themselves. Bart was one of them almost, but he still sat there with his family, hoping and praying it might just go his way.
He thought he had done pretty well. Most of the questions he actually knew. Though there were ones he struggled with. No doubt it'd be those that'd let him down. Still he had to hope. Maggie glanced over at her big brother, seeing him cross his fingers and grabbing the bench tightly.
"Okay people, now before we get to who won the prize money, in an attempt to brighten our kids knowledge, and not just some good publicity for the press after that gas explosion," Skinner said quietly. "I'm happy to report on how well our education system is going and-"
"Boo!" Homer's voice was heard.
"Alright I'll skip straight to the prize money" Skinner gave up. "And so" he pulled out a piece of paper. Bart crossed his fingers even tighter. He felt his heart beat faster. This meant everything. This meant a good thanksgiving, and not a typical one. Just give him this one thing.
"The winner, and the one who scored the most of the hundred dollar history test, achieving the prize money, a hundred dollars, of course, goes to…"
Bart hung on and…
"Lisa Simpson!"
Bart's heart stopped beating. As a matter of fact it broke. He didn't even hear the crowd clapping and Homer 'woohooing' as Lisa got up from her seat walked up on stage and Skinner shaking her hand with Miss Hoover handing her the hundred dollars.
"Thanks everyone!" she said into the mic. "It's amazing what you can do with a little extra revision every now and then."
Bart was speechless. He worked so hard. He had actually, genuinely, tried this time and what happened? He still didn't do it. It wasn't even annoying or frustrating just, sad.
Lisa sat back down with them, the hundred bucks in hand, Marge and Homer congratulating her. "Bart, aren't you going to congratulate your sister?" encouraged Marge.
There was no point in being angry or sarky now. "Congrats Lis'" he said half-heartedly.
Maggie just back and forth between all of them.
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Bart took the time to take a look at the scoresheet posted on the Springfield elementary website later that day, and what he saw amazed him, and no doubt his teachers when they saw this too, he came third out of the whole school!
He came that close to passing. If it weren't for Lisa or Martin, he would've won the whole thing. It seemed no matter how hard he tried there were always going to be people who were better than him. The one thing that cheered him up about this was imagining the faces of Skinner and Krabappel when they saw how high he scored. Still, it wasn't high enough, and Bart couldn't pull off his ultimate prank.
Thanksgiving arrived as well as the rest of the relatives, much to Homer's dismay. Patty, Selma, Jacqueline Bouvier, Grandpa. So pretty much everyone he wasn't too fond of.
The table was all set with Pumpkin pie, Yams and other potatoes, all the vegetables and of course, the Turkey with cranberry sauce.
Everyone sat round. After saying grace, they tucked in immediately , especially Homer, who opted out carving the bird this year. Bart seemed to be the only person not eating at steady pace. Even the dog and cat were eating quicker than he was. It wasn't like most years where he would say or do things to gain the table's attention. In this case no attention was better than negative drama.
"So I heard you won some cash money prize in school Lisa?" brought up grandma Bouvier beginning conversation.
"Yes, there was a big history test in school, and the one who got top marks won the prize, which turned out to be her, wasn't it Lisa" Marge answered for her.
"It wasn't all that hard. Most of it I already knew anyway without having to study for" Lisa added.
"How much was it, a nickel?" asked Grandpa.
"A Hundred dollars" said Marge.
Grandpa spit out his food. "What? A hundred dollars? Why in my day you had to sell cars to get that kinda money."
"When was your day exactly?" asked Selma sarcastically.
"Well regardless we're all still very proud of her" Marge put a hand on her shoulder. "She's been getting straight A's all term, and her saxophone playing's coming along nicely."
Homer made a 'pfft' sound under his breath.
Bart stayed quiet, hoping no one would start conversation with him. But unfortunately for him:
"How have you been doing in school Bart?" asked grandma Bouvier.
D'oh! Why was it always the older relatives that chose to ask awkward questions in front of the family?
"Uhh, I've been doing okay. Pop quizzes and sharpening pencils and all that."
"How are your grades going?" Grandpa chimed in.
Bart wasn't about to let them all know about his several D's to F's in the past term. Neither was Marge.
"Well y'know, C's and stuff"
"We're all still very proud of him as well-"
"Do you play an instrument Bart?" Patty interrupted Marge.
"I used to play the drums a little while back" he informed hopefully.
"What happened?" pressed Patty.
"Well my arm was mauled by a tiger in the attic."
Both Patty and Selma gave a snorting laugh at that. "He he, tiger in the attic, what an imagination. What an excuse as well, takes after his father. He he."
"Hmm, jokes on them, I mashed that cranberry sauce they're eating with my own fingers" Homer said loud enough for both of them to hear as he scratched his backside, causing Selma and Patty to spit it right out.
"I uh, made a model a few weeks back for class, a spaceship" Bart tried a ditch attempt to impress the table. The table however remained silent, all staring at him, including Maggie, looking sorrowfully at him from her highchair.
"It's on the shelf in our class next to the others. Quite a lot of the kids liked it."
The table was silent still. Bart's voice sounded pathetic.
"So's how are all the school clubs your in coming along Lisa?" Grandma Bouvier changed the subject.
For the rest of the dinner Bart opted to staying out of the conversations staring down at the floor eating his turkey leg and the rest of his plate's contents, wishing he was invisible, whilst everyone resumed fawning over Lisa as she began telling them all about her ambitions and her club's activities to help end pollution and assisting animal care. This was the worst Thanksgiving he ever had. Even the year he ran away was still better than this.
The only one who kept their eyes on him was his infant sister, resting her head on one of her palms continuing to stare at him until the meal was over.
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After the washing up and everyone now sat in the living room, little Maggie Simpson crawled over the too stuffed to move Santa's little helper and Snowball ii and across the living room carpet. She didn't get very far though, her aunt Selma once she saw her pointed "Aw look, there she goes toddling along the floor. Remember when we used to do that with our older relatives around at Thanksgiving and Christmas?"
She got up, reached forward and took Maggie into her lap, much to Maggie's disliking and impatience. She hadn't seen her big brother since dinner. She wanted to find him now.
"Yeah I remember back then" continued Grandpa. "You were just playing across what then seemed to be an endless sea of carpet, with your new toys not thinking or caring about anything else, whilst your older relatives sat on the sofa some of them snoring and some wondering what was on the other side of the TV channel, cause I'm not that old you know, and an endless buffet of leftovers on the table that your mother made sure everyone got a bit of. He he, yep, here I am now, that older relative on the sofa. Enjoy it while it lasts little Margaret."
"Selma could you give Maggie to me? She'll need burping soon" said Marge coming in and taking Maggie placing her in her kitchen high chair. "Now has everyone got a slice of leftover pumpkin pie or turkey sandwich?" she asked going back into the living room.
Maggie used this chance to break free from her chair. She needed to find her brother and-, wait, there he was! The little Simpson infant glanced up through the kitchen window, and saw her brother sat on a tree branch outside. What was he doing there? She had to get to him. She sneakily lifted up the window, slid herself out with little difficulty, and began climbing up the tree, balancing herself along the branch before finally sitting down next to him. He didn't seem to notice her though, not until she sucked her pacifier making that distinctive sound.
"Uh? Oh, it's you Maggie."
She sucked her pacifier again, staring up at him.
"Come to give me some company huh? Well I appreciate it. Though I really came up here to be alone."
Maggie reached out with her tiny hand and tugged on his sleeve, pointing to the house.
"No I don't wanna go back inside just now" Bart dejected, so she gave up and just sat down next to him patiently.
There was a brief silence between the two, but then Bart started to talk, and Maggie once more looked at him. "Do you ever feel, hopeless Maggie?"
She sucked her pacifier, confused.
"Stupid question to ask you really" Bart realised. "I mean I guess you feel hopeless when you're in your cot and you can't get out, but what I meant is, stuck in a situation where no matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, you don't get anywhere because of it?"
Maggie nodded her head.
"And I still don't mean your cot."
Maggie paused, then looked down again.
"Some people work hard y'know, like that Frank Grimes guy, and don't have anything to show for it. Others don't work hard, and still don't have anything to show for it. So what do I do? We all know Lisa's gonna grow up to be the successful one. Mom and Dad will always like her best. And where will I be? Working at some Krusty burger no doubt."
There was another pause, as the little infant waited patiently for him to continue.
"I really tried this time y'know, I really did." His voice became a little louder. "But I still didn't get the top prize. No matter what I do there's always gonna be someone who's better than me. I shoulda just gone with an original prank rather than trying to win the test." Bart put his face into his knees and hugged them.
"I came third. Third in the score. It's the highest I've probably got on a test ever, and it still wasn't good enough. What would I do, if I wasn't a prankster Maggie?" he turned to look at her. "I wouldn't be interesting at all. I'd be someone who just sits quietly at family gatherings not drawing attention to himself because I wouldn't compare to the better sibling."
Maggie tilted her head, hanging on every word he was saying.
"Let's face it. I'm that kid in the family who when the relatives ask what they've been doing, and then reply with 'Oh, well that's interesting' and then gush over the other who deserves it. Because, I will be fair, I can't exactly blame Lisa for this. For wanting to be great and have mom and dad love you. To impress and have a decent future."
He gazed over the rooftops of Springfield and then turned away from his sister. "Maggie promise me something."
She listened intently.
"Promise you won't turn out like me. I can't believe I'm saying this but, you should start early Maggie, start learning now and-" he shuddered. "Do well at school. Don't be the only one mom and dad will fawn over. Because I know you can Mags, you can do better than I can."
Maggie didn't even blink. There was no way she wanted to leave Bart's side for anything right now. But, she had to do something. She tugged his sleeve again to get his attention, and when she did she lifted her finger as if to say: 'wait here'.
Bart watched his sister toddle back across the branch and climb into a window upstairs of the house. It must've been about ten minutes before she returned, and in her hand she held a piece of paper not letting Bart see it as she sat next to him.
"What you got there?"
His sister made the noise with the pacifier and pointed to another window.
"What?" Bart turned to catch what she was pointing at. Inside he could see Homer, who was clearly wasted, stumbling up the stairs, and in his drunken state, saw something that looked like a door handle. He grabbed a hold of it thinking it was his room only for the handle to break into several tiny bricks and one piece of blu tac.
"Hm? Marge! This door won't open!" he called down the stairs confused. Marge didn't hear him however and Homer glanced down and spotted a conveniently placed lugar on the floor and smiled. "Maybe this'll shoot the lock off."
When it didn't fire, he became frustrated but suddenly took on a calm demeanor and said "Oh I see, it's one of those sliding doors. If I just gently place my weight on it-" Homer then thrusted his body all the way through, falling inside the wall.
For the first time tonight, Bart smiled. A real smile. He even laughed at little at this. "I gotta admit, that was pretty funny. And pretty clever." Bart quickly became serious again. "But remember what I said Maggie, don't end up becoming like me."
Maggie just simply shrugged at that and rolled her eyes innocently as if to say 'eh, I can have a little fun once in a while'. She then held up the paper to him.
"What's this?" Bart took it and observed. On the paper written in crayon were the words 'I'm thankful for my big brother'. It was still thanksgiving after all.
Bart didn't say anything but just looked at his sister. The legos, going to the school together, buying her crayons, and other similar things he did for her throughout the year. Always showing her new things and how to do them, encouraging her along the way. And she thought it was unfair, how her brother was treated sometimes. A boy who could've shown great promise but was ruined early by a terrible school, overshadowed by a gifted sister, everyone believing him to be a failure when he would grow up, and him desperately trying to fit in and find some purpose by making people laugh. She just wanted to let him know that there was someone who was grateful to have him and thought he was one of the best people in the world.
"You really are huh?" Bart asked quietly in disbelief.
Maggie only responded by standing up taking her pacifier out of her mouth and kissed his cheek and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.
Bart smiled back and wrapped his left arm around her, fighting his hardest against a tear about to fall.
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In her room switching on her computer, Lisa cracked her knuckles self-congratulatingly. "Well, that was quite a thanksgiving. Definitely one of the best I've had. Now let's see" she said curiously. "Where did everyone else come on that test?"
She clicked on the school website and glanced through the test results. "Let's see. There's me of course, number one. Martin's second, better luck next time buddy, and third," Lisa stopped. No that, that couldn't be right.
Bart came third on the history test? Was she on the right page? There was no way he could pass over all the others say two. "Could he?" she whimpered.
If this was true, then that proved he could seriously catch up to her in grades if he really wanted too and over shadow if he really tried. 'No that would never happen' she dismissed, but gulped nervously right after.
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A few minutes passed and the young Simpson infant began to feel sleepy.
"C'mon, we'd better get you off to bed." She let her brother carry her back inside through the window and into her room. He set her down in her cot pulling the blanket over her, carefully placing Maggie's folded up paper in his pocket.
"Goodnight Mags, I'm pretty thankful for you as well." He left and switched off the light as he did.
Maggie then shuffled slightly, peeked her eyes open, took out her pacifier, and as she drifted off to sleep, she softly uttered the word:
"Bart."