Chapter 3:

Stolen Dignity

The next day went pretty much the same as the last. Kevin stole the spotlight, everyone adored him, and Buster was left in the shadows of it all. This frustrated him is that he wasn't used to being ignored like this, he was the center of attention like Kevin. Not to mention he was flirting with Babs which really bothered him. The next thing he knew Kevin would convince Bugs to be his mentor, he couldn't let that happen. He pushed the thought out of his head, the thought was too unbearable, Bugs was his idol!

He was walking past Bugs' physics class the next day and saw Keivn at Bugs' desk talking to him with his sunglasses and usual cool look. He was actually trying to convince Bugs to be his mentor! Never!

Buster ran through Bugs' door in one of those slow motion scenes. "NOOOOOOO!"

Bugs and Kevin turned around and gave him a look that said "what the heck?"

Buster jumped and landed on Bugs' desk and knocked some of his stuff down. He looked back and forth from Bugs to Kevin who continued to stare at him.

Finally Bugs spoke. "Buster, I'm going to ask you this as nicely as I possibly can, what in gods name is WRONG with you?"

"Seriously cuz, have you lost your mind?" Kevin said.

Buster glared at him. "Quiet!" He turned to Bugs. "You were about to tell him you were going to be his mentor and let him idolize you instead of me!"

"Okay doc, number one I never agreed to let you idolize me or be your mentor."

"But you do it anyway!"

"That's because I don't want to hear you cry like you were about to do now," Bugs said.

Buster sniffed. "I wasn't about to cry." He turned around and quickly wiped his eyes.

Bugs crossed his arms. "Mmm-hmm, sure. And he wasn't asking for me to be his mentor."

Kevin shrugged. "I was asking him a question about the homework."

Buster was about to protest but then his mouth dropped to the floor feeling stupid. "But…but…but…"

Bugs stood up. "Right, now that we've got that all cleared up, I have a date with my girlfriend in my office," he paused for a second. "Wait did I just say that? Um, erase that last sentence form your memories." He started to leave but stopped at the door. "Get out of my classroom; you know I don't trust you guys when I'm not in here. Let's go!"

Buster and Kevin left the classroom, Buster keeping his glare fixated on Kevin.

"Are you alright Buster?" Bugs asked even though he had a pretty good idea.

Buster nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." He headed down the hallway.

Bugs decided not to interfere with Buster's problems just yet, maybe he could figure it out on his own.

Buster dribbled the basketball across the gym and made a perfect two point shot.

"Nice shot Buster," Lola said. She tossed the ball back to him. "Shoot it again." Buster shot it again and made a perfect shot. She tossed it back to him.

This time when he tried another ball knocked it out the way and went into the basket. They turned around and saw Kevin with a smirk on his face. Lola nodded her approval at the shot he made. Buster started to dribble the ball with an angry expression on his face and had it snatched from him by Babs.

He ran after her while she laughed at him. Babs was't the most athletic girl in the world so he could snatch it from her easily.

"You really thought you could take this thing from me?"

Babs smirked. "I was close."

"I betcha you can't even shoot," Buster teased.

Babs took the ball and tried but missed. Buster laughed at her. "I don't need to play basketball okay?" To prove her point she did a perfect back hand spring. She turned back to him with her hand on her hip and a smirk on her face. She walked over to Fifi while Buster watched her in amazement.

"That was nice," Kevin said.

Buster snapped out of his trance. "Oh, yeah it sure was."

"Babs your girl?"

Buster snickered. "No."

"But he wishes she was!" Plucky teased.

"Shut up."

"Well you do. How long have you had a crush on her?"

"Plucky knock it off!"

Bugs came in then and started talking to Lola.

"Excuse me, I have to go torture them now," Buster said. This was the highlight of every P.E. class, Bugs came in and he got to tease the two lovers. That's the good thing about a school where the teachers are together, it's more fun.

"They're not gonna like that very much," Bugs said.

Lola nodded. "I know."

"You badass."

"Do the two of you call each other badasses very often?" Buster asked.

"You shouldn't curse in school, it's not good," Lola said.

"You two curse. All of you curse, why shouldn't we?"

"You're underage," Lola said.

"She does have a point," Bugs said.

"So what are you doing in here Mr. Bunny? Discussing your pregnancy options?"

"Very funny. I just came to check on her."

"Aw, you came to check on her, how sweet," Plucky said.

Bugs rolled his eyes. "You guys are annoying."

Lola blew her whistle to get everyone's attention. "Hey, break yourselves up into teams, we're going outside to play football."

"Nooo! It's hot outside!" Mary Melody said.

"My like, curls are going to fall!" Shirley complained.

"You guys are some babies!" Monty said.

Buster and Kevin were elected as captains. Kevin picked first and naturally, he picked Babs which aggravated Buster. Then Kevin ended up with all the good people on his team. Buster noticed Kevin was clearly hitting on her even though he knew that he liked her!

Buster gestured for Plucky and Hampton to follow him and they went inconspicuously to Bugs and Lola.

Bugs kissed her.

"Don't leave me here with…them," Lola said sarcastically disgusted.

"Come to my office at lunch," Bugs said.

"You got carrots in there?" Lola asked.

"I've got one in my pants," Bugs said slyly.

Buster, Plucky, and Hampton's eyes got wide at that one.

"Mr. Bunny! That was perverted!" Plucky exclaimed.

"Like, what'd he say?" Shirley asked.

"He said he has a carrot for her in his pants at lunch!" Plucky said.

A disturbing picture came to Shirley's mind. "Omg…omg…"

"Okay, torture the rabbits time is over. Someone grab the football and head outside," Lola said. She turned to Bugs. "See you later."

Buster started counting and they all knew what he was counting for. "1…2…"

Bugs leaned down to her and kissed her lips passionately.

"3."

"Eeeewwwww!" they all exclaimed.

Bugs and Lola let go of each other's mouths. "Really guys? Could you be a little more mature?" Lola said.

"You guys act like you've never kissed anyone before," Bugs said.

"Well, he hasn't," Plucky said pointing to Hampton.

"Shh! Personal!"

Bugs gave Lola one last kiss which resulted in more "eww"s and then left.

"Go outside guys," Lola said. She took with her one of those mini fans and spray bottle to keep herself cool while the rest of them sweated their curls out.

The football game turned out to be terrible in Busters opinion. The girls were complaining the whole time about the heat. Kevin was constantly hitting on Babs making her face permanently red the whole game. And Buster's team was losing. What a pleasant P.E. class.

Buster sat at the piano in the music room playing one of his favorite songs he'd just memorized a few days ago. Since he was alone, he could worry about his depression and seclusion in peace. How was it that the kid you once thought was your best friend could turn into your worst enemy?

He heard the door open and half expected it to be Penelope or even Babs. Instead it was Kevin.

"Hey cuz."

"Hey. What are you doing in here?" Buster asked.

"Looking for Penelope, she wasn't in her classroom and she said I might find her in here." He looked around. "Apparently she's not in here either."

"Nah, just me," Buster turned back to the piano and continued to play "What I've Done".

Kevin came towards him. "Hey I love this song." He sat on the bench next to Buster. "Since when do you play?"

"Bugs taught me last year. He's really good. You know he actually writes music?"

"He writes it?" Kevin exclaimed surprised. "I thought all that stuff he played on TV was written for him?"

"Some of it was, some of it he wrote. A couple weeks ago he played this one song he said he wrote about a year ago, I think he dedicated it to Lola."

"Was it good?"

"Of course it was." Buster continued to play.

"Hey listen to this." Kevin took over and played this really complicated song Buster recognized as "Bleed It Out". Kevin's hands flew across the keyboard gracefully. It took everything Buster had no to pass out from surprise. Is there anything this kid can't do?

Buster interrupted him before he ended up passing out anyway. "When did you learn how to play?"

"I've been playing since I was seven," Kevin said simply. He continued to play and soon finished the song. He stood up. "Well I'm going to the football field. I might skip class. Coming?"

Buster shook his head. "No…"

"Well, see ya. Join me if you want to walk on the wild side for once in your life." Kevin snickered then left.

Buster pressed a couple of high notes then pounded on the piano frustrated. Then the bell rang so he had to go upstairs for class.

That afternoon, after leaving Sylvester's class with a lot of homework, Buster was complaining to Plucky and Hampton about how Kevin stole everything he had to live for while the two of them half ignored him.

"I mean, it's sick. The new kid isn't supposed to be automatically popular, when has it ever worked like that? He comes into my school and steals my popularity, my friends, and my mentor…!"

"Technically you still have your mentor," Plucky said.

"And we're still here," Hampton reminded him.

"For the moment…" Plucky mumbled.

"It's only a matter of time before he has Bugs, then what will I do? Who's gonna give me advice? Not to mention he's good at everything. He plays every sport known to man, he plays piano better than I do, and he can ride a frickin skateboard. Who do you know that can ride a skateboard?"

"I've seen Lola ride a skateboard, and Calamite and Gogo can ride one," Hampton said.

"As good as Kevin?"

"Seriously, have you ever seen Gogo ride a skateboard?" Plucky asked.

"That's not the point. The next thing you know he'll have Babs too!"

Gogo came past spinning his biology textbook on his finger. "Speaking of that, you'd better go ask her to the dance before your cousin does."

Buster glanced at the flier for the school dance on the wall in front of him.

ACME LOONVERSITY

SCHOOL DANCE!

WHEN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

TIME: 7:00 P.M.

WHERE: SCHOOL GYM

LOT'S OF FOOD AND MUSIC AND DANCING

ENJOY YOUR FRIDAYNIGHT IN STYLE WITH THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE

Buster's eyes got wide. "OH MY GOD I FORGOT!" He practically flew down the hallway throwing people into the lockers as he passed.

Gogo laughed. "I love doing that."

Buster ran as fast as he could to Babs' locker. He passed Porky on the way. "Hey B-B-Buster, no running in the h-h-h-h-c-c-c-c…."

"THIS IS AN EMERGENCY MR. PIG!"

Elmyra stood in front of him and held her arms out. "Bunny…!"

Before she could do anything else Buster trampled her.

"Hey, that was rude!"

"SORRY ELMYRA, THIS IS AN EMERGECY! KEVIN'S GONNA ASK BABS OUT!" He continued down the hallway.

Buster was running so fast he couldn't stop and actually passed Babs' locker. "AH!" He slid on the floor and turned burning his feet from the friction he created. Then he took off towards Babs who was at her locker adjusting one of the purple bows on her ears.

She looked at him questioningly as he leaned against her locker breathing heavily. "Um, hi Buster…"

"Babs…you…I…will you…go…to the…dance…with…me?" He gave her a hopeful look.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry Buster, but Kevin already asked me."

Buster literally crumbled into a million pieces of a surprised blue rabbit.

Babs looked away expecting him to be mad.

Buster composed himself. He could hardly form words he was so surprised, not so much that Kevin asked her, but that she actually said YES. "He…you…he did?"

Babs nodded. She got her pink bag out of her locker and closed it. "Sorry." She left feeling guilty.

Buster watched her go then collapsed onto the floor. Babs was going with Kevin! This couldn't be happening. The guy officially had everything, his should be girlfriend and his dignity. He felt like crawling into the deepest pit in the universe and never coming out. A few seconds later he saw Gogo standing over him.

"I told you. You should have asked her earlier, didn't you know Kevin was going to ask her, it sure was obvious."

Buster's face turned mad. He made a grab for Gogo but he was quick. "Argh, come here you annoying brat!" Then he chased him down the hallway.