A/N: Yaaay update... That's all I can say. Read & Review.
Mrs. Krabappel looked like she was in poor shape. The dark circles under her eyes looked bigger and darker than usual. The poor woman looked as though she hadn't got any sleep in days. She wore a hospital gown and was getting some well rest. She heard Bart's voice call for her and she turned her head in his direction. "Oh, Bart Simpson and Milhouse van Houten, what a surprise." she said, in a dull tone, not icy, lack of interest or anything bad.
"What's going on, Mrs. K?" Bart asked, hoisting himself in a chair while Milhouse looked sick to his stomach to be in a hospital room.
Mrs. Krabappel sighed. "Look, I'm very sick. i'm sure you have better things to do then to waist your valuable free time then spend time with a crotchety old witch like me. Go ahead, I won't stop you."
"I mean it, Mrs. Krabappel, Milhouse and I are worried about you."
The woman sighed and coughed a bit. "Bart, this isn't easy for me to say, but... I'm dying."
"Dying?" Bart's face paled. He looked as pale as that boy Wendell from class who nearly throws up around anything.
"Yes, yes, I know, you were probably wanting this to happen to me for a long time."
"What is it?"
"Cancer, terrible thing," Mrs. Krabappel never changed her mood and appearance for the ten year old. "Aside from my depressing life, I never thought I'd have it. I might have to retire as a fourth grade teacher."
"But, Mrs. Krabappel, if you can't come back to school, then who'll teach us?" Bart asked, very worried now. Why was he so worried about his teacher? He never really was all that concerned for her before.
"Don't worry about me, Bart," the woman patted his spiky little head. "I'm sure you can have a lot of classical pranks on your new teacher."
New teacher? Surely she meant a temporary teacher. Who could replace her for good?
"Okay, Mrs. Krabappel, it's time for your medicine." a nurse came in to take Bart and Milhouse away.
"Might as well get this over with, talk to you boys later." Mrs. Krabappel told them.
The nurse pushed them out and went inside the room to talk with the teacher in private.
"Whoa, Bart, that was kinda scary seeing Mrs. Krabappel like that!" Milhouse muttered. "You think she's gonna be okay?"
Bart didn't answer right away. He walked, almost like a zombie as he was on his way home with his best friend.
Bart wasn't the same once dinner time came. The other members of his family ate. Even Homer and Maggie started to eat off his plate.
"Honey, are you okay?" Marge asked. "You don't look so good."
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine..." Bart stared at his food.
"I told him to be friends with his teacher, we heard that Mrs. Krabappel's in the hospital," Lisa said, then sent a glare at her brother. "Bet you're glad about that, huh, Bart?"
Bart didn't answer and only looked much worse than before.
"Huh, Bart!?" Lisa repeated herself, poking him with her fork.
"Hey, quit it!" Bart hissed at her.
"Mom, Bart's yelling at me!" Lisa cried out.
"No yelling at the table!" Marge scolded.
"Can we all just stop talking for once and leave me alone?" Bart grunted, getting away from the table. "I don't feel good right now, just leave me alone!" he stormed off from the table and went to the living room.
The rest of the Simpsons' glanced at him, unsure of what to do. They haven't seen Bart act like that before.
"I wonder what's gotten into him?" Marge thought out loud.
"Eh, he's a boy, these things happen." Homer shrugged.
"Homer, as his father, you should talk to him."
"Alright, alright, I will." Homer said. He then started to pile his plate up with more food since Bart clearly wasn't going to be eating.
Marge glared at her husband. "I meant now, Homer."
"Alright, alright, get off my back!" Homer grunted, then left the kitchen.
Marge, Lisa, and Maggie then continued to eat while Homer would do so.
Bart was hoping TV would get his mind off things. It usually did before, of course, but tonight just felt very different for his life. He dully watched the television screen as the insanely and annoyingly catchy theme song of Itchy and Scratchy came on. The cat and mouse were fighting in the opening credits and then the episode came on. It was titled; 'Teacher Annihilation Week' as a take on the not often celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week.
The cartoon started with Scratchy as a schoolteacher. He walked into the classroom and sat down, setting his briefcase on his desk and greeted the class. He is welcomed by a classroom of Itchy clones that appeared to be dressed just like Bart, who also one by one give him apples. How cliché, giving a teacher an apple. Scratchy purred in admiration, he then ate all of the apples on his desk, not noticing the fuses on them. They turned out to be apple bombs and the teacher exploded and ended up in the hospital. That just reminded Bart of when he found Mrs. Krabappel in the hospital and not in school.
The students had a funeral service for their 'belated and parted' teacher as Scratchy was buried. They all had graduation outfits and tossed their caps in the air and as they saw Scratchy as an angel, Itchy took out an apple bazooka and fired it at Scratchy, making the teacher cat fall from Heaven and land in Hell where there were demon dogs to torture him.
Normally, this cartoon would make Bart laugh, but not this time. He instead, sadly sighed.
"Hey, boy, what's going on?" Homer asked.
Bart sighed. "Oh, hey... Say, Dad... Did you ever prank a teacher so bad and then they go to the hospital that you end up missing them because you weren't sure if they would come back or not?"
Homer blinked at him. "Is this about your teacher?"
Bart's eyes widened. "What? No! I wouldn't hurt Mrs. Krabappel too badly! Never! I didn't mean it, the guidance counselor says I'm going through a phase anyway..."
"Boy, calm down," Homer sat next to him. "Look Bart, I'm not the right person to give you advice as your father and you as my son... But, I see on those family sitcoms that everything turns out fine at the end. Whatever happened, I'm sure you can make up for it, I'm glad we had this talk son... Oh, boy, Marge bought ice cream!" he zipped away back to the kitchen.
Bart watched him leave and wondered what he could do for his teacher. This was going to be a lot harder than it already was.
