A while back, I watched the most recent Sideshow Bob episode where he and Lisa become friends because of shared interests. I thought it was really cute, and it reminded me of her friendship with Bleeding Gums Murphy.
One of the genres listed in this is romance, and it will eventually turn into a love story between Bob and Older Lisa. But 80% of this will mostly be focused on their friendship. If you don't feel comfortable reading this, you can move on to another story. I won't be offended
DISCLAIMER: The Simpsons belong to Fox and Matt Groening. I claim nothing!
….
"Ow!"
Lisa gasped. Her attempts to stay quiet were foiled.
She was far too excited to go to sleep, so she got up and started reading at her desk. She had her lamp on the lowest setting and was even turning the pages as slowly as possible. She was trying to cross her legs and her foot accidentally slipped and hit the hard wood. It was displeasing to her and the roommate who woke up from it. "What the-" the young woman glanced at her alarm clock and groaned. "It's two in the morning!"
"I'm sorry Meghan," Lisa looked sheepish. "I just wanted to get some early reading done in my textbooks before class."
The girl rolled her sleepy eyes and scratched the top of her red hair. "How do you even know where to start? You don't get your syllabus until the first lesson."
"I'm just reading the first few pages of each book so I can get a feel of each one," she grinned. "It's still a lot to absorb; the school I mean. I still can't believe I'm here."
Lisa had every right to be excited. She had applied to many of the top schools in the United States. Of course, they all accepted her because of her outstanding grades, but the grants and scholarship money she had gotten from the state weren't enough to cover all expenses. Either way she added it up, she would either not have enough for tuition, or enough to buy her textbooks. She was about to give up hope and settle on Springfield University until her father went to his boss, Mr. Smithers.
Smithers had taken over the Nuclear Power Plant as indicated in Mr. Burn's will. Even though the man saw Homer as nothing but a buffoon who caused most meltdowns, he had some respect for him as a family man and knew he loved his children dearly. With the money Burns left behind, Smithers started the C. Montgomery Burns Yale Scholarship program, and Lisa became its first recipient. With it, she could attend Yale for as long as her education permitted it.
Meghan yawned and got up so she was leaning on her elbows. "I'm happy for you, Lisa. But we're going to have to start setting some ground rules about stuff like this." She gave her a tired grin. "I'll let it slide this time since it's the first day, but next time let's try to save studying and reading time before the midnight curfew."
The young blonde nodded. "Alright. I promise no more late night studying."
"Whoa," Meghan held up a hand interrupting her. "Don't do that either. Let's just promise to leave late night studying for midterms and finals. My older brother says that's when we'll really need it."
Lisa giggled. "Deal."
Her roommate bid her goodnight and settled back into bed, pulling the cover over her head and facing the blank wall behind her.
Lisa felt bad immediately. Here was a girl she could finally connect with, and she was close to ruining that relationship. Or maybe I'm being too overdramatic, she thought. Still, she quietly turned off her lamp and closed her textbook before climbing into bed. She reached under her bed and pulled the flashlight out of her emergency box. She scolded herself for not thinking of using the flashlight before. Then again, she wasn't used to sharing a room with someone else.
She pulled the thick cover over her head and turned on the flashlight as she began to read the book for her first class, which was a collection of Walt Whitman's poems and other stories; her favorite author.
...
The cops tightened the clamps on his wrist and ankles. Chief Wiggum was soaking his now bald head, which had to be shaved because his hair was too thick and would've absorbed all of the water from the sponge. His heartbeat raced as they lowered the metal cap onto his head.
Reverend Lovejoy stood next to him, reading the Lord's Prayer from his bible as the felon looked ahead at the two-way mirror in front of him. He could only see his reflection, but if he thought hard enough, he could see the people sitting behind it. The grief-stricken mother crying into her husband's shoulder, the husband comforting her with despair written all over his face. The young girl staring back at the convict with angry tears. She probably thinks he can't see her, but she would be dead wrong. A few of the victim's other family members would be there too as well as some townspeople who wanted to see justice brought down on the man who murdered the bratty, yet innocent young boy.
He didn't notice the pastor had left until Chief Wiggum had asked almost tauntingly, "Any last words, Sideshow Bob?"
He wanted to scream that he didn't do it, yet he also wanted to gloat about how the boy had it coming to him. It was very conflicting, and he couldn't make sense of it. Maybe he had finally gone mad. But before he could even utter, "I..." the other cop had pulled the lever...
The alarm blared loud enough for the whole apartment complex to hear. Bob's eyes snapped open, and he stuck a fist out to hit the off button. He quickly sat up, breathing slowly to try and calm his fast heartbeat. This wasn't the first time he had had that vivid dream. Sometimes it would be Krusty the Clown mocking him instead of Chief Wiggum. Every time he woke up from it, he would go through the mental list of what was true and what was false.
You are not in prison anymore, he reminded himself. And as far as you know, Bart is still alive.
It was true. No matter how dastardly or ingenious his plans were, he never achieved his goal of killing Bart. He had long ago moved on from revenge and made a new life for himself. Unfortunately, something inside of him wouldn't move on from it and in turn caused his heart wrenching nightmares. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He was brought out of his meditation by the sound of chiming bells mimicking the ones heard in Big Ben. It was coming from the Yale campus. Once more, he glanced at his alarm clock which said it was seven in the morning. He quickly got out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and shaved off the stubble growing under his chin. He shook his hair dry, and ran his fingers through them once to make his signature spikes stick out.
For the first day, he settled on a light pink button-up shirt with a maroon tie and medium brown suit jacket and pants. He quickly overlooked his paperwork and lesson plans before sticking them into his briefcase. He stopped at the mirror in the living room, giving himself a quick once over before leaving.
"Showtime."
...
Lisa was very happy that some of her classes were shared with Meghan. She considered her a mentor since she took a couple courses while still in high school, and her older brother James had graduated there the year before. As excited as she was, Lisa was still scared to be in a place where she didn't know anyone. She spent her whole life in Springfield, and the thought of being so far away from her family and friends was daunting. Lucky for her, Meghan was very understanding. She herself had moved from place to place her whole life since her father was in the military. She was beginning to feel like the big sister she never had.
Meghan was currently looking over her schedule as they walked towards the main building. "For your Algebra class, you're gonna want to avoid sitting in the front. James says Prof. Young spits a lot when he talks."
Lisa's face contorted in disgust. "Dully noted."
"And for Chemistry 101, pay extra attention to Prof. Norman's lectures. That's where all the extra credit stuff in her exams come from."
"Anything else?"
Her roommate shrugged. "That's just the ones I know about. You're a Science major and my focus is education. We're not gonna have as many classes together."
"I see," she frowned, but only a little, as Meghan gave her back her schedule. "What about English 101?"
"All I know is that the professor we have started last year," she replied. "James only met him a couple of times, and he says he seems pretty arrogant."
Lisa looked at her schedule and found the professor's name. R. Terwilliger. "Hmmm," she mused aloud. "The name sounds familiar, but I can't seem to figure out where."
"Well, we'll find out soon enough," was Meghan's reply.
The two girls quickly filed into the main building. They didn't make it to the elevator in time, so they had to rush up the stairs. They were out of breath by the time they got to the fourth floor. They both promised next time to finish breakfast early.
The classroom had the standard brown walls with very few motivational posters; most of them involving a quote from Shakespeare. Instead of individual desks, there were long tables on each floor level just as Lisa always imagined. The girls took seats in the front of the classroom just a few feet away from the teacher's desk.
Lisa turned and watched as other students filled the room. To her, they all seemed so cultured and refined, and some of the boys looked pretty cute. She could feel the giddiness bubble in her stomach. She was about to start her first class at a top Ivy League school. She was at a place she could finally belong, and she felt as if nothing could stand in her way.
"Alright everyone, sit down," a deep voice called out and the students that were still standing quickly got in their seats.
Lisa's spine went rigid. The rest of the noise in the room almost went mute as her senses focused on one voice in particular. It couldn't be... She quickly turned to face the professor who had set his suitcase on his desk. Lisa's eyes went wide. She could recognize that face, voice, and head of hair anywhere.
Her mind began clicking like a fast-motion calculator. R. Terwilliger... the 'R' stood for Robert, and the shortened version of Robert was Bob
Sideshow Bob.