A/N: This takes place in the original VeggieTales universe, not the Netflix one.
"Hey!" A high-pitched, squeaky voice called out, the voice belonging to a little cucumber who was currently being held upside-down and shaken by two bullies, a bigger cucumber and a gourd, "You can't do this! I said no to taking my lunch money, a-and stealing's wrong!"
Benny the Gourd just smirked at him and stopped shaking him, looking at him with a smirk as two quarters dropped from his "pockets".
"Yeah but what are you going to do about it, Pipsqueak?" The gourd asked before snickering, "You're just a helpless little pickle!"
"I'm...a cucumber." The smaller cucumber, known as Larry, said through clenched teeth and a lower, annoyed tone.
"Yeah whatever." Said Kevin, the bigger cucumber, as he bent down to pick up the two dropped quarters. "Hey Benny, shake 'im again, see if he has more money."
Just as Benny was about to shake the poor, defenseless cucumber again, a voice had stopped him.
"Stop it!" The voice shouted, causing the two to turn their heads and see another cucumber - with brown, wavy hair - standing in the middle of where the halls intersect. "Put. The cucumber. Down." She added through clenched teeth.
Benny just smirked.
"And who are you?" He asked with a slight attitude as he and his friend both dropped Larry head-first onto the smooth, tiled floor, "His girlfriend?" He and his friend proceeded to laugh at his joke as Larry rolled from his upside-down position and onto his stomach before standing up, the blood rushing back down to his body causing him to feel dizzy for a few seconds.
"No, I'm just someone who doesn't tolerate bullies." She said, taking a step closer, "Even if they're being mean to someone who isn't someone I know!"
"So you don't know whether he's a bully too, and you're sticking up for him?" Benny scoffed, his low voice showing no remorse before he pulled a sad face, "How do you know we weren't bullied by him before?" His tone held a fake sense of sadness.
"Because, I heard everything being said before I stepped in." April, the cucumber who was standing up for Larry, said matter-of-factly, surprising the gourd and cucumber, "You and your friend took his money, though he told you guys no. So you just decided to get the money out of him by holding him upside-down and shaking him until you got his money."
"Yeah!" Larry piped up, having recovered from his dizziness when Benny had asked his question.
"Shut up!" Kevin said through clenched teeth, elbowing Larry (don't ask how) in the side, causing Larry to yelp, his cheeks puffing out slightly due to his mouth being closed.
"Kevin, Benny, I'd like to see you two in my office." A voice that sounded similar to Mr. Nezzer's (but just a bit younger) said.
The two bullies looked from April - who was now smirking at them - to the principal, who was a young zuchinni who looked to be around his 20's.
"Yes, sir..." They said, hanging their heads down in shame.
They then left, but not before Benny smirked at Larry and nailed him much harder in his side with a smirk while the principal had his back turned, Larry's closed mouth yet again muffling the slightly louder yelp that tried to escape his lips.
"They're bullies." April mentioned once the three were out of earshot, glaring as she watched them walk down the hall. She then turned to Larry. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah..." Larry said, rubbing his sides with his invisible hands, "Luckily they didn't hurt me as badly that time. Last time was way worse!"
"What do you mean by 'last time'?" April asked, tilting her head to the side, "Do they always bully you?"
"Well yeah, they do." Larry mentioned, looking sadly at the ground, "Last time, they snuck up on me from behind, scaring the heck outta me. Next thing I knew, I was pushed face-first into a locker as the bullies picked me up and took me to the back of the school and by the smell of it I was shoved into the dumpster."
April gasped. "You were!?"
Larry sadly nodded.
"Yeah," he replied, "and now that I think about it, I remember it like it was yesterday. Then again, it was yesterday..."
"What happened?" April asked him, giving a confused look.
"Well, the same ol', same ol' that happens every time." Larry replied, "Like the thing you just saw... Benny and his friend Kevin - who oddly reminds me of a character from a TV show I know, except he's not from the sea - bullied me for my lunch money. Every time they'd come across me, I would say no to giving them my lunch money, and when I'd say no, they'd just bully me in different ways! Ways like giving me a swirly, threatening me... Heck, at one point I was wearing glasses and they broke them on me by holding them up in the air and telling me to jump for them... And then turning around and breaking them!"
"Wow." April said, "They're harsh!"
"By the way, I didn't get your name." Larry told her, looking at her curiously, "What is it?"
"I'm April." April stated plainly, "What's yours?"
"Larry." Larry said back, "Nice name!" April smiled.
"Thanks!" She said, "You too!"
"Uh, well...I'd better get going!" Larry told her with a sheepish grin, "We'll talk more at lunch, if you're interested..."
"Yeah that would be cool." She agreed, "Which lunch do you have?"
"Um, I normally get a pizza." Larry stated, wondering why she'd ask him about the lunch he has, "What do you have?" April giggled.
"No, like what half of lunch do you have?" She asked him with a smile, "You know, first lunch or second lunch?"
"Um... I have... I believe it's first lunch." Larry replied, "Though I don't know why anyone would have a second lunch, unless they're that hungry." April held back her laughter.
"Larry..." She said, already beginning to like the guy, "First lunch is where, let's say, the first half of the students in the school eat first."
"And what about the second?" Larry asked, looking a bit puzzled though he was beginning to understand it.
"The second half has second lunch." April explained, not being able to help but hold her smile as she talked to him.
"Ohhhh..." Larry said with a nod of his head before smiling, "I get it now!"
"Well, guess we'd better head off to class!" April said with a smile.
"Okay!" Larry said, still smiling, "See ya later, and thank you!"
"You're welcome!" April said back as the two went their separate ways.
A/N: Okay, I couldn't come up with a name for the gourd so the name Benny popped up. Also the cucumber named Kevin has nothing to do with the SpongeBob character of the same name. Besides, the Kevin from SpongeBob is a sea cucumber, not a vegetable.
Did you know: On the VeggieTales website when it first started up (you can see it on the Wayback Internet Archives), when you clicked on the things that say "What is VeggieTales?", "Show Me Some!", "What Critics Say", blah, blah, blah...you can see on one of those, at the top-right where it shows a character, that it says "Actually...they're not vegetables." After noticing that, I looked up on Google if a cucumber was a fruit and it said they were. I never knew this! Sure, I learned when I was younger that a tomato is actually a fruit, but I never heard anyone say that a cucumber was a fruit as well. Just look up "Wayback Machine Archive" (without quotes) on Google and when you're on the search page look up VeggieTales and when you see , click it and click where the thing shows less activity (the bars that appear in the squarish boxes) and when you are taken to the website you should see something that looks like Larry playing the sousaphone (yes he plays a sousaphone in the theme song) and Bob next to him, you should see underneath that a message that says, "This site is currently under construction." At the top of the page click the closest rectangular box with the most activity (again, the bars) and you should see the stuff I mentioned above ("What is VeggieTales?", "Show Me Some!", etc.). Click the "What is VeggieTales?" link and after that click the links underneath it on the right to see what I'm talking about. If you're having trouble feel free to PM me and I'll give you the link, since they don't show up as the full link on stories. :)
