Disclaimer - The rights to The Simpsons and its characters belong to Matt Groening, the Fox Broadcasting Company, and any others associated with the show. No profit is being made from this fanfiction, this is all just for fun :)
Just a heads up, this is a pretty long chapter, and I apologize for that! Halfway through, I wanted to just cut it in half and make the rest of it its own chapter, but I didn't want to rearrange my whole order and plan and risk ruining my story, so please just bear with me, I'll try not to pull this again. :)
(Another note I wanted to add before posting this: Unfortunately, my schedule has been messed up a bit. To make a very long story short, I asked my mother for advice on something (I usually talk to my father for advice, but I had already asked him something similar to this, and he'd get very ticked if I asked him again). However, midway into telling my mom the problem, I began to get nervous and realized I didn't feel comfortable telling her anymore. My mom didn't take too kindly to me wasting her time, so she's taken my cellphone away from me for an unknown duration of time (which has the outline to all the chapters). I'm hoping she changes her mind soon, but that's very unlikely lol... I'm very sorry about this, because it isn't fair to you guys at all. I'll try my best to pump out as many chapters as I can without the outlines. Thank you.)
Chapter 3 - Ms. Tindol's Opus
It was the very next morning in Springfield. Currently, the two Simpson siblings, Bart and Lisa, were exiting their house with their backpacks, heading for the bus (which had just reached their driveway). Marge stood on the house steps, holding Maggie. Homer was busy inside getting ready for work.
"Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!" Lisa says, bidding her parents farewell.
"Goodbye, Lisa and Bart!" Marge says, waving her free hand. "Have a great day at school! No fighting!"
"As long as we're not within a 5 feet radius we should be good!" Lisa says with a thumbs up.
Once they had reached the bus doors, Otto opens them, allowing them to step in.
That's when Homer rushes outside of the house, only clad in a white towel covering his lower half.
"Maaarge!" Homer moans with a frown. "Where did you put the clean laundry again? I need my collared shirt for work!"
"It's right there on the dryer, Homie." She points forward to the drying rack, where Homer's washed shirt, pants, and underwear hung on clothespin.
"Oh, right!" Homer goes over to the drying rack, and as usual, he finds a way to even screw that up.
Marge watches Homer go to the rack, and soon covers her mouth, gasping. "No! No! Homer, don't change out here! Go inside!"
The students on the bus didn't take too kindly to this display either, as they all shriek in terror (except Bart and Lisa, who were laughing their heads off and covering their face in embarrassment respectively).
"AHH!" They screech.
"Ha ha!" Bart guffaws, pointing at his father.
"Ohh.." Lisa moans, covering her face.
Luckily, that's exactly when Otto started driving the bus away. The kids have never been happier to leave for school.
Hoping to forget about that awful display, Lisa tries to think of something to talk about.
"Eh... So, Bart!" She looks over at her older brother. "I heard Mrs. Barbash got replaced yesterday by a new art teacher."
"Oh, you mean Ms. Tindol?" Bart replies.
Lisa shrugs. "I wouldn't know. Ms. Hoover's class didn't have art yesterday. But we're having it today, so I'll get to meet her. How is she?"
Bart shrugs. "Eh, she's ok, I guess..."
Lisa's ears perk up. "'Ok'? That's strange... I've never heard you use the term 'ok' for a teacher. It's always 'buttmuncher' or 'snot-slurper', but never 'ok'. Let me guess, she's a pushover? She just lets the students walk all over her, doesn't she?"
"Hm.. No." Bart answers.
"Oh. Then I suppose she just doesn't do her job!" Lisa guesses. "She probably just sits on the school phone talking to her boyfriend, while you guys tear the place apart..."
Bart nods "no".
"Or maybe... She's a troublemaker, right? She's probably just as immature as you, does she-"
"Nope. She's just a normal teacher, Lis..." Bart says, even though he knew while Tindol didn't fit into any of the categories Lisa had stated, she was far from a "normal teacher".
"This... Can't be real!" Lisa stammers with shock. "A completely normal, decent teacher that you find... Ok..?"
"Look, can we not talk about this right now?" Bart grumps, crossing his arms.
Lisa smiles. "Bart, do you... Like your teacher?"
(A/N: Quick author's note I wanna point out. When Lisa uses the term "like" in this sentence, she doesn't mean romantically. Keep reading.)
Bart groans. "Lisa! I said-"
"Bart likes his teacher! Bart likes his teacher!" Lisa chants in a "sing-songy" tone.
"Shut up!" Bart barks.
"Whaddya like so much about her? Huh?" Lisa teases. "Does she give you pity grades or something? Does she do your homework for you? Huh? Huh?"
Bart grumbles to himself, trying to ignore his sister's taunts. Just goes to show that Bart isn't always the vexatious sibling...
We cut to later in the day. The bus had already dropped the students off and they were currently scrambling through the hallways to get to their respective classes. Bart and Milhouse were walking together.
"So, what did Skinner do to you after taking you to his office yesterday?" Bart asks.
"Well first, I had to remove all the gum off the desks..." Milhouse begins.
"Yikes." Bart cuts in.
"Then, I had to write a formal apology letter to him while he watched and constantly corrected me for my bad grammar usage and spelling!"
"Go on..."
"And worst of all, I had to write 'I won't draw crass images of the principal' on the chalkboard over and over! It was hell, Bart! I mean, can you imagine if someone had to do that all the time?!"
"I can only imagine..." Bart says with an eye roll.
Just then, the two arrived to their classroom door, and there was a small note taped to the door's window, which read: "4TH GRADE REPORT TO ART CLASS" in black letters.
"Oh, great... Art at the beginning of the day?" Milhouse gripes, hanging his head low. "Sucks, right, Bart?"
Bart shrugs in response, making the onomatopoeic sound for "I don't know". "I don't see what the problem is."
"Wha?!" Milhouse exclaims. "But... But I thought you didn't like art!"
Bart is just about to respond before he's interrupted by the "big man" himself.
"Ah, Bart Simpson..." Seymour says, as he walks in front of the two boys with his hands behind his back. "Why aren't you headed to art class? Questioning authority yet again?"
"We were just on our way." Bart says, strangely lacking any hints of attitude or rudeness in his voice. "Why aren't you dead yet?" Ah, there's our Bart.
"Well, because I still possess the vital elements essential for living- Hey, wait a minute! That wasn't a legitimate question, but merely an ill-mannered, edgy wisecrack used to make me shut my mouth!" Skinner hisses.
"Just cut the talk and let us leave, Skinner." Bart says, as he walks to the art room with Milhouse. Skinner begins following them.
"So, I didn't hear any bad notes from our new teacher about you..." Skinner continues. "I assume you stole her demerit papers? Or taped her mouth, tied her up, and locked her in the janitor's closet like you did with our last substitute teacher, Mr. Willard?"
"Nah, too predictable." Bart remarks. That's when they reached art class, and Bart and Milhouse enter through the door, with Skinner following close behind.
Once the two boys enter, they head straight to their seats and plop down into them. Right on cue, Martin walks up to Bart, holding something large behind his back.
"Good morning, Bartholomew!" Martin chirps. Bart mutters an incoherent "hi" under his breath.
"Just so you know, I took some time to myself yesterday, and I've completely forgiven you for your little 'boner', as the cool kids say, that you performed yesterday!" Martin adds. "In fact, I made a new painting! Behold!" Martin shows Bart the thing he was holding behind his back, which was yet another perfectly painted drawing. This time, with the Mona Lisa, except, you guessed it, with Martin's face.
"The Martin Lisa!" He calls it. Bart squints his eyes. "Pretty rad, huh?"
"Rad? Try sad..." Bart sticks his finger in his mouth.
"I'm thinking of doing some more classic painting renditions! Maybe... Martin with a Pearl Earring, or The Birth of Martin! Yes, I can already picture it! Me, standing gracefully on a clam, as I use only my long, flowing mane to cover my-"
Just then, Nelson sneaks up from and grabs Martin by the shirt. With little to no effort, the bully smashes Martin's head right through his canvas, puncturing right through it.
"That's what you get for making me picture that!" Nelson says as he pushes the nerd to the ground. Martin moans in pain, writhing on the floor.
Meanwhile, Ms. Tindol was sitting at her desk, filling out the attendance sheet, now that it looked like everyone had arrived to class. However, she is halted by Skinner.
"Good morning, Ms. Tindol." The principal says, as he looks down at the sitting teacher.
Her ears perk up at the deep sound of his voice. She turns to face him and greets him with a pleasant smile. "Hello, Principal Skinner. How are you?"
"Fine, thank you." He responds. "Just wondering... Did Bart give you any trouble yesterday?"
"Bart?" She says.
"Oh, you may not know who he is. Probably because he replied with 'Lee Keyrear' or 'Mike Rotchburns' when you asked his name? Well he's the one with the inverted paper bag head, see?" He points at Bart, who is patiently sitting at his desk.
"I know who Bart is." Ms. Tindol says "And no, he didn't give me any trouble at all."
Skinner squints. "Hm... Is he making you say that? Did he threaten to do something to you? There's a wire there somewhere, isn't there?"
"Nope! Bart was just fine in my class yesterday." She grins. "In fact, he was a stellar student."
"My god, you are mental! I told Chalmers this is the last time we hire a deranged madman, but of course he doesn't listen!" He angrily walks off, while Ms. Tindol just stares at him blankly. 5 seconds later, Skinner rushes back to her with an anxious face. "Please don't tell him I said that." He pleads, leaving once more, once again, leaving Ms. Tindol confused and silent. When she taught at Shelbyville, the teachers weren't nearly "eccentric" as they were here... But she chooses to ignore that, as she faces back to her class.
"Well, good morning, class!" She greets
"Hi, Ms. Tinker!" Milhouse blurts, waving his hand.
"You moron, her name's Ms. Thompson!" Nelson says.
"I thought her name was Ms. Trimble!" Sherri and Terri say at the same time.
Tindol's welcoming grin slowly becomes a disappointed frown. To think that class just began 10 seconds ago and 3 people had already butchered her name. "Erm.. Actually, it's-"
"You guys, her name's Ms. Tindol. Get it right!" Bart states.
Her eyes enlarge from surprise for a second, before returning to their normal state, as she contently smiles and clasps her hands to her chest. "Yes, exactly... Nice to know someone's been paying attention..."
Some kids begin to snicker. Bart Simpson paying attention? Good one. Bart glares at them from the corner of his eye.
"Hey! It was just a lucky guess!" Bart whisper shouts at his fellow students.
"Now, class." Tindol gets up from her seat and walks in front of her desk. "Today in art, we will-"
"Can we play outside in stead of doing art?" One student asks, raising his hand. Before Ms. Tindol can even open her mouth to answer, Bart chimes in.
"Hey! She was still talking, doofus!" He growls. Bart gasps silently. "Now I'm defending the teacher? What's wrong with you, Bart Simpson?!" He says to himself.
Ms. Tindol nods. "Yes, thank you, Bart."
More snickers, this wasn't looking good on Bart's part. He covers his grimacing, red face.
"Now let me continue without interruptions." She begins. "Today, we will have free draw, so do whatever you please, as long as it involves art in some way, shape, or form."
"Bullying's an art!" Nelson says, right before delivering a punch at Martin's face.
"Visual art, Mr. Muntz." She corrects.
"Aw, come on!" The bully whines.
"We will be doing this for the rest of the class period, and I hope to see what you've all come up with tomorrow." She adds. "Also, I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't... copy what your friends did..."
"Oh, Ms. Tindol! I didn't copy anyone!" Martin proudly says. "You must be proud of me!"
"I'm proud of all of you." Ms. Tindol says.
"Yes, but especially me?" Martin asks. Ms. Tindol sighs. While she had nothing against a determined spirit, she couldn't help but think Martin's "kiss-ass" attitude was slightly over the top and occasionally annoying.
"Just..." She sighs, and forces a grin. "Get to work."
As Ms. Tindol returns to her desk, all the students reach under their desks to grab their personal sketchbooks, and they start their drawing. Well, all the students but Bart, who sat at his desk with a somewhat uneasy expression.
"Oh, man..." He says to himself. "I left my book at home! Hey, maybe I can snag Martin's... Nah, he's probably filled it with all those weird drawings, which I do not need to see..." He glances over at Ms. Tindol, who was sitting down at her desk, minding her own business. "Hm..."
Bart hops off his seat and walks up to the teacher. Once he had reached her desk, he looks up at her. "Uh... Ms. Tindol?"
She looks over, and as expected, smiles at the sight of her "stellar student".
"Hi there, Bart." She responds, with a radiant smile. "Is there a problem?"
"Well... Yeah..." He stammers, twiddling his fingers bashfully. "I didn't bring my sketchbook today-"
"That's fine." She cuts in.
"So, I was wondering if I could borrow some paper?" He finishes his query.
"Of course! You didn't have to be scared to ask me that!" She assures him.
"I wasn't scared!" Bart claims, now with a more hostile expression.
"Those twiddling fingers say otherwise..." She smirks a bit, as she points to Bart's busy hands. He looks down at them with a blank face and doesn't say a word, but only murmurs in embarrassment.
She smiles. "6 x 8 or 9 x 11?"
Bart looks back at her. "What?"
"The paper." She says. "6 x 8 or 9 x 11?"
"Uhh.." He mutters. "I want... Um... The one you draw on..."
Ms. Tindol laughs for a quick second at Bart's naivete. She found it strangely endearing. She then reaches under her desk and hands him a white, 9 x 11 piece of paper.
"Thanks!" He says with a smile. Quickly, he changes it to a rather uncaring, uninterested expression. "I mean... Whatever..." He turns back and walks to his seat, as Ms. Tindol watches him go away, still blissful as ever.
Holding the paper in his right hand, he uses his left to anxiously scratch the back of his head. "Ugh! What's with you? This isn't like you, Bart...". He sits down and rests his elbows on his desk as he rubs his temples aggressively. "Maybe it's something I ate... Like, this morning... I tried to tell Mom that milk was expired but dammit, she didn't listen!" He grabs his pencil and begins dragging it across his desk, making dents as he went. "Or maybe I'm being mind controlled, like in Radioactive Man issue #420, where Radioactive Man's worst rival, the Atomic Ammonium, latched his mind control minions onto Radioactive Man's head so they'd attach to his cranial nerves, therefore causing him to think he's his henchman, and it's up to Fallout Boy to get his mind straight and save the day! Or... More like save Radioactive Man so he can save the day... Hey, I got it! I know what to draw!" Completely forgetting about the current issue at stake, he begins swiftly doodling on his paper.
A few lines, scribbles, circles, and various other geometric figures later, Bart had completed his creation, and held it up in front of him with pride.
"Yes! Me as Radioactive Man!" He grins. Sure enough, on his paper, there was a cartoon of him, drawn to depict him as his idol, Radioactive Man. He was pointing up, with a speech bubble reading, "UP AND ATOM, MAN!" In large, bold text. However, Bart's beam of fulfillment slowly became a dissatisfied frown.
"Hm..." He mumbles, tapping his chin. "Something doesn't look right... But what?" He stares at it closer, squinting his eyes a tad. "Hm... Maybe it's the eyes."
Bart then proceeds to erase his caricature's eyes, and redraws them. However, that still didn't fix the problem.
"Or the hair! Definitely the hair." He turns his pencil over and erases his spiky locks. He tries to make them a bit thinner, but once again, the picture still doesn't appear right. Bart frowns.
"Ugh!" He groans, pulling onto the sides of his face with stress. "Why's this so hard? This looks awful! I-I should start all over!" Anxiously, he begins to erase the whole paper, grunting as he did so. However, the hard friction of the eraser and the stress put onto it didn't mix well with the thin piece of paper Bart was given, causing it to tear right smack dab in the middle.
Bart gasps, and can nearly feel himself on the verge of tears. He can feel his veins pulsating from rage and his teeth gritting wildly, and out of frustration, he crumbles the ruined artwork into a paper ball and throws it across the room, grunting with anger (and a hint of sadness). Being only 10 years old, Bart began to feel his eyes wet with tears, and before they even had a chance of running down his face, he quickly hid his head down on his desk, using his arms to shield him from onlookers.
It was odd, Bart never showed so much passion for something like art, to the point where he nearly cried about it. But for some reason, he just couldn't take it. He had lost all the motivation he had previously had, and could only sulk on his desk.
"Oh, man..." Bart mutters with a sniff.
Bart's paper ball, surprisingly, was still airborne, and once it made its landing, it had fallen right onto Ms. Tindol's desk. Since her head was already focused on her sketchbook, the landing caught her by surprise, as she abruptly backs away.
"Hm?" She says through closed lips. She picks it up and examines the paper ball. Slowly, Tindol unfolds it, curious as to what could be inside. Once it had been opened, she was greeted to the creased, crinkled, and torn paper. While it was hard to see, what with the several wrinkles and damages on the sheet, she managed to make out the many faint lines Bart has lazily erased. Though his name was nowhere in sight, and the drawing was barely visible, it wasn't hard for Ms. Tindol to guess whose art is was. But she just didn't understand why it was in such terrible condition. Hoping to get some answers, she looked at Bart, and was surprised and rather confused to see him lying on his desk with sorrow.
Lightly, she covers her mouth and stares. It wasn't until a few seconds later, she got up and steadily approaches him. Once she had reached the child, she looked at him once more without making a sound.
As she listens more closely, she can make out a few sniffling sounds, which only saddens her more. She isn't exactly sure what to say, fearing whatever she does will make him angry. But it didn't hurt to try. She clears her throat quietly.
"Erm... Bart...?" Ms. Tindol says in hushed voice. As expected, Bart didn't hear her, and kept his head down, so she attempts again.
"Bart?" She says slightly louder. No response. Was it really that bad? She then places her hand on the boy's shoulder, and lightly shakes him.
"Bart? Can you hear me?"
This managed to get his attention. He opens his mouth and slowly lifts his head up, only allowing his eyes and nose to peak out.
"What do you want?" He asks through his fit of sniffs.
She lowers herself so she's at an even height with the child. "Is there something wrong, dear?"
"It's nothing." He fibs, putting his head back down on the desk. "Leave me alone."
"Bart, whatever's troubling you, I'll gladly help-"
"I said leave me alone!"
He starts his sniffling back up again, and Tindol's crestfallen expression only increases in sadness. "Bart, I won't be able to go on with my day knowing you're still unhappy... Please tell me the problem..." He doesn't say anything back. Ms. Tindol doesn't move, and tries to think of a way to get it out of him. She looks back at the crumbled piece of paper in her hands. Gradually, she opens it back up again and glances at it.
"Hm." She mumbles. "Bart...?" She taps him on the shoulder, and he doesn't reply. Either way, she continues with what she was saying. "I just wanted to let you know... While I was sitting at my desk, a ball of paper landed right on my table, and I thought it might be yours..."
"Ball of paper...?" Bart slowly begins to remember about the condition the paper was in when he threw it.
She places the unfolded piece of paper in front of Bart. "Does this look familiar to you?"
Bart doesn't move for a whole 10 seconds before peeking his eyes from the top. He gets the glimpse of the picture, and can feel himself nearing tears once again. He frowns, and covers his eyes as he sniveled and snuffled. "Get that away from me!" He snaps. "It's awful!"
"Awful? Oh, what are you talking about?"
"You know what I'm talking about! Look at it!" He says. "Better yet, don't look at it! Just throw it in the garbage!" He points to the trash bin in the corner of the room, still with his head planted on the desk.
Ms. Tindol puts a comforting hand on Bart's shoulder.
"Bart... Don't say that." She urges. "While I can't see it very well, from what I can make out, it doesn't look very bad at all."
Bart doesn't say anything.
"Don't worry, you're just frustrated because it didn't meet your expectations, which is perfectly fine. That doesn't mean you can't improve upon it. I went through the same exact thing when I was your age. Even today I can get a bit irate when my art doesn't look how I want it to. But that doesn't mean I give up, and I also don't get rid of it. It's nice to look back on it for reference at times..." She explains. "Bart, you're such a talented artist for your age... I don't want this minor inconvenience to hinder you from embracing your gift."
Immediately, Bart's eyes widen and his pupils constrict to the size of atoms. While her whole speech meant a lot to him, one very specific part of it stood out to him, and he slowly peaks his eyes out from behind his arms.
"You... Think I'm an artist...?" He asks with apparent disbelief.
Ms. Tindol nods, now smiling sympathetically. "Now if only you'd let the world know it..." She goes back to a more saddened expression. "Bart, I can't make you into something you don't wanna be, but I think you have so much potential that you just aren't using. I want you to at least try to enjoy art, and if you can't, I have no right to stop you. But whatever you decide, don't ever be discouraged... You're a wonderful boy..." She smiles once more. "Do you understand?"
Bart lifts his whole head up from his desk, and stares at her blankly. Eventually, he speaks.
"I... I guess..." He quietly says, sniffing back his tears. Ms. Tindol smiles wholeheartedly, at him.
He then looks back at his desk and picks up the crumbled artwork. He looks at it for a while in silence.
"... You really think... It's good?" He asks.
"I think it's amazing." Ms. Tindol grins. "And it'd probably be even more amazing if you drew it again for me..."
Bart looks back at the picture. "Hm... O-Ok..."
"That's the spirit." Ms. Tindol softly says, as she pats his head. Bart couldn't help but smile a bit. "How about we go over to my desk? Bring your chair." This was probably the first time Bart had ever heard those words in that exact sequential order and it didn't mean trouble.
Bart takes his seat up front right by Ms. Tindol. Due to his short stature however, he was barely able to see over the teacher's desk, let alone draw on it. Ms. Tindol notices his struggling and decides to help him out (But not without watching for a few more seconds, just because of how adorable it looked).
She turns to the back shelf, where thick textbooks were lined up. She pulls 2 out.
Bart strains, as he continues his attempts to reach over the desk "C'mon... C'mon..." He says.
"Bart? I think I have the solution to your problems..." Ms. Tindol says in a sing-songy tone.
She picks Bart up by his shirt, immensely startling him. "Woah!" He exclaims, fearfully flailing his hands around. With her free hand, Ms. Tindol stacks the two large books on his seat, and plops him back on top of it.
"Heeey!" He whines, rubbing his bottom. "What was that fo-" He stops midway, once he sees he's reached new heights... Quite literally, I might add. "Woah mama!" He exclaims with thrill. "Huh, I guess books are good for something!"
Ms. Tindol giggles. She then slips him a piece of paper and a pencil. "Ok, now let's try again, shall we?"
He looks at his blank paper quite nervously. "Er... I dunno... What if I-"
"You'll do just fine, Bart." She reassures the child. "Just do your best, you'll be surprised."
Bart's anxieties began to rise again, but for some reason, Ms. Tindol's comforting words made all those fears flush away. He looks back at the paper with a more determined expression, grabs his pencil, and starts drawing.
"You can do this... You can do this..." Bart repeats in his head.
Ms. Tindol watches him over his shoulder, grinning at his determination. "Very good, Bart!"
"You're just sayin' that. I haven't even really started!"
"But it looks fantastic already! Trust me, I'm an art teacher." She jokingly remarks.
Bart begins drawing on the mask. He thought it looked fairly decent so far, but his worries returned.
"I think this is where I messed up last time..." Bart mumbles, holding his pencil away from the paper. "Can you draw it for me?" He begs.
"Oh, Bart. What kind of teacher would I be doing your work for you?"
"An... Amazing teacher...?" He says, and puts on a large, cheesy smile while holding his hands innocently behind his back.
She laughs. "Nice try, mister, but you're on your own."
"Aw, but Ms. Tindol!" He moans. "I'll just ruin it! It already looks really good!"
"Try, Bart. I said it before, and I'll say it again."
Bart sighs, looking down. Ms. Tindol begins to feel a bit bad.
"Hm... Well, Bart, I won't do your work for you, but I will give you some tips, if you'd like." Tindol offers.
"Like that'll help..." He groans.
"Trust me, they will." She replies. "First, and I'm sure you've heard this a number of times: Slow and steady wins the race!"
"But I'm not racing!"
"I'm being figurative, Bart."
"Figure-wha?"
"What I mean is, just go at a steady pace, and you're sure to succeed. If you rush, there's a good chance you'll mess up somewhere. You've got to be patient with yourself."
"That's not gonna work!" Bart rants. "If anything, I think it'll make it worse. My hands'll get all sweaty and wobbly and I'll screw up again!"
"That's only if you put pressure on yourself. Try, but don't be nervous."
Bart glowers a bit, but decides to try it out, because what the hell? He starts drawing out the face, but goes veeeery sloooowly. A bit too slow.
"Well, not that slow, Bart." Ms. Tindol says. "We'll be here for days."
He speeds up his pace just a bit, now moving steadily. Ms. Tindol nods, almost as if to say "better" without making a sound.
"Oh, this isn't gonna work... I bet it's just some art mumbo-jumbo that's been 'passed down for generations' or whatever... By the time I'm done with this, it'll look exactly the-" Bart gasps, as he looks at his finished face. He thought it looked much cleaner and better than his last attempt. "Woah! Wh-What just happened?!"
She grins. "Didn't I tell you?"
Bart's mouth is still gaped wide open in shock. He then smiles, feeling confident as ever. "Alright!" He cheers.
"Now just keep doing that, and I think you'll be delightfully surprised." Ms. Tindol advises.
"Sweet! Hey, thanks, Ms. T!" Bart grins.
"Ms. T?" Ms. Tindol thinks to herself. "How sweet... I have a nickname..." She beams.
Bart continues on with his drawing, carefully moving his pencil across his paper. He had just about finished the head, and was now going to the body.
"Bart?"
"Yeah?"
"If you don't mind me asking, what is the picture supposed to be?"
"Ah, it's just me as only the best superhero ever, Radioactive Man! You've probably never heard of him though-"
"Up and atom!" She quotes, grinning.
Bart's ears shoot up. "Woah! Do you really..." He still isn't convinced, however. ".. Pssh... Anyone can quote a 3 word catchphrase, that doesn't mean you really know Radioactive Man."
"You're right..." Ms. Tindol says. "Someone who really knows Radioactive Man wouldn't have read 918 of all 1,059 issues, own nearly every last piece of merchandise, and own the limited edition, one-of-its-kind bootleg Radioactive Man comic from 1992..."
Bart releases a rather prolonged gasp. "No way!"
She smiles. "Way."
Yet, Bart still wasn't 100% convinced, and had to perform a test. "... Radioactive Man, Issue #72!"
"To Betroth a Foe, in which Radioactive Man gets married to Larva Girl." The teacher replies within a second.
"Radioactive Man, Issue #91!"
"Attack of the Giant Maggots, in which Radioactive Man must take down the Malicious Maggot and his army, in order to save the city."
"Radioactive Man, Issue #27!"
"Radioactive Man In: Pinch in Scrape, in which Radioactive Man has his first face-off with Dr. Crab."
"Hm... Clever girl..." Bart rubs his chin. "But how about.. Radioactive Man Issue #753!"
"Nice try, Bart. Any Radioactive Man fan knows they unintentionally skipped 753, due to one of the publishers accidentally putting the wrong number on it."
"Ay caramba!" Bart blurts, his sclerae as wide as saucers. "I don't know what to say! An adult... A girl! Heck, a teacher, who reads Radioactive Man religiously?! I-I just can't believe it!"
"Well, believe it." She smiles.
"Wow..." He adds, smiling also. "Hey, if you're desperate enough, I know just the perfect guy for you. He's 500 pounds, but a good fifth of that weight's from all the comic books he hides under his clothes. You guys would be perfect for each other, and he'd make you look incredible by comparison!"
"Oh, Bart, that's very sweet of you, but I'm already in a relationship." She says.
"That's fine. Besides, his hands are always either covered in Cheetos dust or sweat from trying to come up with the most witty response in an internet flame war."
The two break out into laughter at Bart's quip. Tindol in her more demure, soft tone, while Bart did so in his rather obnoxious, hard-to-ignore tone.
The two's laughs began to catch a few student's attention. To be more specific, Nelson Muntz and the infamous twins, Sherri and Terri.
"Hey, is that Bart over there, sittin' next to the teacher?" Nelson asks in his brute, deep tone.
"It looks like they're laughing about something!" Sherri says.
"Good eye, Terri!" Terri replies.
"Terri! I'm Sherri!" Sherri claims. "Or am I...?"
Nelson smirks. "Look at those 2! Ha! I can't believe Simpson's gotten nice with a teacher!"
The two girls titter.
"Bart likes the teacher! Bart likes the teacher!" The girls sing, moving their fingers around as if they were orchestrating a performance.
However, Bart doesn't hear these taunts, as he was too busy enjoying himself.
"Oh, Bart!" Ms. Tindol says, finishing up her laughing fit. "You're such a funny little guy!" She pats his head.
"Yup, I know." He grins pridefully.
"Hey, how about we see your finished drawing?" She suggests.
"Ok!" Bart gleefully responds, passing his drawing to her. She adores the finished product.
"Oh, Bart! I knew you could do it!" She rejoices.
"Heh... Uh... Th-Thanks, Ms. T..." Bart nervously says, looking down. Guess this brat did have a heart...
"Anytime, Bart..." She scruffs his spiky yellow locks up, and he laughs in response.
"Hey, quit that!" He jokingly says, lightly taking her hand off.
"I'm going to get some more paper from the closet. Hold on, ok?" She gets up and begins approaching the material closet.
Bart gives her a thumbs up, and smiles as he looks up at the ceiling.
Meanwhile, outside of the room, the control freak principal, Seymour Skinner was scanning the hallways as he usually found himself doing. His hands folded behind his back, as he faces down his a serious expression.
"Hm... I wonder what Simpson is up to..." He says in his head. Luckily, he was nearing the art room's door. Once he had reached it, he walks directly in front of its window, and ducks his head down a bit so he can get a better look.
"Hm..." He murmurs. His eyes shift to Bart's desk immediately, but surprisingly, he wasn't there. "What the...? Dammit, he's escaped! He's probably out roaming the halls, planning his next attack! He never learns, does he..." His eyes move towards the teacher's desk, and sure enough, he spots Bart sitting by it.
"What in the name of..." He squints his eyes, thinking he wasn't seeing something right. "What's Bart doing at the teacher's desk? Stealing coffee filters, I presume..."
Skinner taps at the window, in an attempt to get Bart's attention. Luckily, it works, and he turns to face the window. "Hm?"
He's immediately greeted with Seymour's cold, stern glare. Almost as if to say "I'm watching you" without actually saying it.
While this was supposed to intimidate the boy, it only encouraged him to go farther. Bart begins making faces, as he pulls his bottom lip down and pokes his lower teeth from under it. He makes a "Durrr..." sound as he did so.
Skinner obviously didn't take too kindly to Bart's disrespect, as his scowl only grows.
After making a few more faces, Bart then decides to pull out his "best material", as he stand up on his chair with his back facing the principal. He then pulls his pants down, mooning him as he snickers. Skinner begins banging on the window with rage, yelling out unheard obscenities. Bart continues to taunt him by shaking it back and forth, and stops just in time, right before Ms. Tindol comes back to her seat.
"Ok, I got the paper." She smiles. Bart was innocently sitting back in his seat, as if nothing happened.
It didn't take her too long to hear the loud banging on the window, and she looks at it, only to see Seymour's angry banging.
"Oh my, is he ok?" She asks, staring at him.
"Ah, he does this all the time." Bart smirks, his head now resting nonchalantly at the back of his seat. "Just let the dude tire himself out..."
"Well, ok.." She says in a slightly unsure tone. She returns to her seat and begins quietly humming to herself, as she removes the many sheets of paper from its packaging.
Once it had been removed, a thick, abundant pile of card stock paper fell onto the table with a thud. Still humming, she begins to arrange them in small piles and put them in the desk drawers. However, she stops after 2 or 3 piles, due to something catching her eyes... Something that really should've caught her eyes forever ago.
"... Oh my..." She lifts her head completely from the bottom of her desk, and stares wide-eyed at the same exact spray painting portrait Bart did of Principal Skinner. It still looked the same as it ever did. Though the paint was slowly fading away, it was still hard to ignore.
"Bart, did you... Draw that?" Ms. Tindol asks, pointing to the picture.
Bart turns to face it, nearly forgetting about its existence. From the teacher's tone and how she reacted, Bart feared she wasn't too happy with him.
"Uhhh... Yeah..?" Bart says with a small gulp. They had already formed such a strong bond, he didn't want to taint it already.
Ms. Tindol's blank stare turns into a small chuckle. "Hehe!" She twitters. "It's a very nice drawing."
"Y-You aren't mad?" Bart asks, still in a slightly fearful tone.
"Mad? No!" She smiles. She looks back at it, not without giggling once more. "I'm assuming it's supposed to be the principal, yes?"
"Ha ha! You know it, sister!" Bart grins.
Tindol's grin extends from ear to ear. "Heh... Bart, could I ask you something?"
"You just did." Bart smiles.
"Bart!" Ms. Tindol blurts, giving him a soft, playful shove.
Bart cackles. "Ha ha! I'm just joking. What is it?"
"Would you mind showing me some of your other drawings?" She asks.
"Really? You wanna see some?" He asks.
"I'd love to."
Overjoyed, Bart hops from his seat and rushes back to his desk to get them. He pulls out a clustered, somewhat torn folder nearly bursting with Bart's many doodles. He runs back to Ms. Tindol, and drops the folder onto her desk.
"Presenting!" Bart begins, in a booming voice. "The art of Bart!" He begins flipping through the folder. "The usual admission fee is $8.00, but I'll cut you some slack."
She excitedly awaits to see all the pictures Bart has made.
"Ok, so first up, we have: 'Man With Fish Head and Fish With Man Body'!" He shows her the rather kooky drawing. It's exactly what the title states.
"Very unique." She says.
"Next, here's 'A Day in the Life of Radioactive Man'!" He shows her the next drawing, which was a silly illustration showing Radioactive Man's sidekick, Fallout Boy, hanging off a cliff, screaming at the top of his longs in a speech bubble: "SAVE ME RADIOACTIVE MAN!" as Radioactive Man stands nearby, facepalming with irritation.
"Ha ha!" Tindol laughs, covering her mouth a bit as she did so. "I could see this happening in the actual comic..."
"I'm surprised it hasn't been done." Bart adds with a shrug. "Now, our next piece is something I'd like to call, 'Angry Dad'!"
Sure enough, the illustration had Bart's iconic "Angry Dad" character, practically yelling his head off in the doodle.
"Angry Dad?" She repeats. "Who's that?"
"It's supposed to be my old man, Homer." Bart smiles. "I wrote a comic about it a while ago. Then, it became an internet cartoon, but it got canned after the company producing the episodes went broke. That's when my dad went on this insane rampage, you see, and he nearly died, but that's when-"
Bart's tedious tale had been cut short by the infamous Martin Prince, who was standing right in front of Ms. Tindol's desk, wearing his cheesy, "kiss-uppy" grin.
"Why, hello, Ms. Tindol!" Martin addresses, holding his hands behind his back. Bart scowls at Martin, unhappy with how he cut in with his story. Ms. Tindol's smile disappeared as well, forming a neutral expression, as she, too, was sad to hear the story end so quickly, seeing as she was quite interested.
"Hello, Martin." She replies, straight-faced.
"I just wanted to let you know, I've already made 3 more portraits. Would you like to see them?" He asks, bringing his face uncomfortably close to hers.
"It's fine." Ms. Tindol responds, trying to sound as kind and understanding as possible. She moves her face away from his.
"Are you sure?" Martin inquires. "I'm almost certain you want to!"
"No, I'm fine..."
"Well, whenever you're ready to, just let me know! I'll probably be working on another picture!"
"Mmm.." She murmurs.
Martin turns his glance to Bart. "Hello, Bart! I can't believe it's only the second day and you've already been sent to the front with the teacher!" He grins. "Excellent decision on your part, Ms. Tindol! Keep this one in check."
Bart and Ms. Tindol both face each other, with half-closed, slightly annoyed eyes.
Martin, still facing Bart, looked down at his torso and silently gasps at what he is met with.
"A gold star!" Martin whisper shouts, with wide eyes. Apparently, Bart hadn't removed it yet.
Martin clears his throat. "Ahem, Ms. Tindol? I hate to be a 'nark' as Bart and his fellow companions would call it, but it appears that Bart has stolen one of your gold stars and put it on himself, when it should be on me!"
Martin abruptly snatches the sticker off Bart's chest, and proudly places it on his.
"Hey!" Bart whines. "Give that back!"
"No need to thank me, ma'am!" Martin beams.
Ms. Tindol arches her eyebrow. "Actually, Martin..." She begins. "Bart earned that gold star, so I'd appreciate it if you gave it back to him."
Martin gasps once again, this time, much louder. "What?!" He exclaims. "I-I'd hate to second guess one of my teachers, but, Ms. Tindol! Y-You clearly aren't thinking straight!"
"Oh, I'm fairly certain I'm thinking straight." Ms. Tindol says, crossing her arms.
This was a display that comes only once in a million moons. It was unreal. Could it truly be? A teacher taking Bart's side rather than Martin Prince's?! This whole day was too bizarre for words.
Bart was somewhat touched to be stood up for by her.
"Yeah!" He smirks. "So I'll be taking that back, thank you!" Bart snatches the sticker back, tearing a small piece of Martin's shirt along with it.
Martin in speechless. He's trying to make out words, but his attempts prove to be futile, as he merely stammers with a befuddled expression.
"B-But... But... Th-This is preposterous! Preposterous I tell you!" The nerd rants. "I-It's ludicrous! Asinine! Absurd! Farcical, I tell you, Farcical!"
Before Martin can spew out more ridiculous adjectives, Ms. Tindol speaks up.
"How about you go back to your seat, Martin, ok?" Ms. Tindol calmly advises.
Still stammering with disbelief, Martin returns back to his seat with reluctance.
"Bart, your school is so... Unconventional..." Ms. Tindol says.
"Does that mean weird?"
"Eh... Sort of." She says, giving the "so-so" gesture with her hands.
"You got that right..." Bart responds. "Hey, can I show you some more of my pictures?"
She nods her head, with a "Mmhm."
He grins with all his teeth, and continues flipping through to see what he can find.
"Oh! Here's a good one!" Bart states. "This is an old 'Angry Dad' comic I wrote. Here, you can read it!"
He hands it over to her, and she looks through the comic.
The first panel showed Angry Dad sitting on the couch, watching television. Next to the crudely drawn cartoon was a speech bubble, indicating dialogue.
"I AM STARVING." It read in bold letters. "SOME BEER SHOULD FILL ME UP!"
In the next panel, Angry Dad is shown walking to the kitchen. The 3rd panel shows him opening the fridge with glee. (Well, Angry Dad glee, which isn't very gleeful)
He opens the fridge, only to see it's completely empty, and he is far from pleased.
"RAAAAHH!" He bellows with rage. "MAAARGE! I THOUGHT YOU BOUGHT GROCERIES YESTERDAY!"
In the next panel, Bart's sloppily drawn version of his mother is shown.
"I DID." Her speech bubble reads. "YOU ATE THEM ALL. I BOUGHT MORE JUST AN HOUR AGO AND YOU ATE THAT TOO."
He growls once more. "RAAAAH! I'M SO ANGRY!". And like any other "Bartoon", his head explodes. It reads "The End" at the corner of the panel.
The young teacher chuckles. "Do you have any more of these?"
"Yeah, but they're all pretty much the same thing." Bart admits. "Angry Dad does something, Angry Dad gets mad, Angry Dad's head explodes, lather, rinse, repeat."
"Well, every good comic writer has a gimmick." She explains.
"I guess you have a point..." Bart shrugs, placing the comic back in his folder.
"So, Bart. I understand you do cartoons... Have you ever tried branching out to different forms of media?" Ms. Tindol inquires.
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"I mean, have you ever done anything else?" She says. "I'm not saying your drawings aren't good. I just think since you're already so talented, you should try to see what else you can achieve with that talent."
"Oh!" Bart says, now having an understanding of what she meant. "Well, I also do graffiti."
"Graffiti?"
"Yeah! You see, I go by the name "El Barto" and every so often I'll- ..."
Bart stops, realizing what he had blurted. I guess in the heat of the moment, what with being rather giddy and excited, he unintentionally spilled quite possibly one of the deepest secrets he possessed.
"... Oh man..." Bart groans, covering his face a bit.
"What's wrong?" Ms. Tindol asks almost immediately.
"Ms. T, I wasn't supposed to tell you that! It's a secret!" Bart frets. "No one's supposed to know my secret identity! Not a single soul!"
"Bart..." Ms. Tindol says in a soothing voice, hoping to calm his nerves. However, he doesn't hear her over himself.
"If someone else knows I can't stay here! I-I'll have to move out of Springfield, change my name and identity, travel to another state, no! Country, no! Continent! L-Like Europe! Maybe I can become one of those Russian spies, I could pull that off, right?!"
"Bart..." She repeats, a bit more sternly.
"Oh, what do I do, what do I do!" He worries, and looks back up at his teacher. "Or maybe... Oh, Ms. Tindol... I didn't want it to come to this but I have to kill you now!"
Her eyes enlarge for a few seconds, but eventually return to her neutral state, and then form into a pleasant smile, finally able to say what she had been trying to.
"Bart... Your secret is safe with me..." She assures.
"Really?" He asks with doubt.
"Really." She nods.
"You promise not to tell anyone?"
"I promise. Even if my life depended on it, my lips will stay sealed." She imitates the motion of zipping her lips, sliding her pinched fingers across her mouth.
Bart gives her a relieved smile. "Aw, thanks, Ms. Tindol!" He says, rubbing his arm.
"Anytime... El Barto..." She grins, Bart grins back.
"Now, where were we? Oh yeah! So, for our next piece in my portfolio, we have-"
RING!
The bell had just rung, which meant the students had to return to their homeroom in Mrs. Krabappel's class. They all began to leave their seats and head for the door.
"Ohh.." Bart moans. "That's the bell.."
"Cheer up, Bart. You can continue showing me next art class." Ms. Tindol mentions.
"When's next art class?" Bart queries.
"I believe sometime next week." She answers.
"Next week?! I can't wait that long!" Bart complains, pulling on his face.
"You'll be fine." Ms. Tindol assures with a smile, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Now run along to your next class, ok?"
"Mmm.. Well, ok.." Bart murmurs. "Bye, Ms. T."
She waves goodbye back, as he heads towards the door, but stops himself before he turns the knob. He turns around to face back at her again. "Uh.. Ms. Tindol?"
"Yes?"
He walks back up to her. "I was just wondering if..."
"If...?" She repeats.
"If I could maybe take my painting home? The one from yesterday?" He asks speedily.
She looks at the wall where all the paintings hung. Bart's wasn't too hard to pick out, due to it's apparent diversity from the others (sans Martin's, of course). She removes its clips and hands it back to him.
"Here you go." She chirps.
"Thanks." He replies, looking at it with a straight face.
"I'm assuming you're taking it home to possibly add onto it? Maybe take my advice with the shading...?" She asks.
Bart's move becomes a bit crooked. "Pfft... No... Well... Maybe... I dunno.." He says the last part under his breath, with little to no coherence. "Uh.. Just wondering, if I were to shade- which I'm not going to!" He adds abruptly, Ms. Tindol giggles at this. "Uh... Where would I put it?" He continues.
"Well, you'd want to shade in areas where a shadow would be casting." She explains.
"What does that mean?" He asks.
"Hm.. Can I see your picture for a second?"
Bart hands the canvas to his teacher. She pulls out a pencil and holds the canvas up so it's facing Bart.
"Ok... So you see here, where your arm is overlapping your shirt?" She asks. Bart nods. "Now, assuming the light source is coming from this angle, you'd shade right here." She uses her pencil to direct where he'd do so. Same goes for this space between your shorts. Remember, when light is casting onto something, a shadow will be behind it, ok?"
"Oh, ok!" Bart states. "Thanks! Or whatever, since I won't need it..." She keeps her smile, as she stares at Bart. He silently walks out of the room, holding his canvas to his side.
Once he makes his way to the door, he uses his opposite hand to open it and enters the crowded hallway. He begins making his way to Mrs. Krabappel's class, but is stopped by Sherri, Terri, and Nelson, who were standing in his way, all wearing smirks on their faces.
"Hey Bart!" Sherri grins, her hands behind her back.
"Hey, Sherri." Bart replies, maintaining his neutral expression.
"Y'know, Bart... Me and my sister were talking, and we think you like the teacher!" The other twin says.
Bart goes pale and gulps. He's silent for a few seconds, as the twins eagerly smile at him with all their teeth. "Uhhh..." He hesitates.
"Look how white his face got! That means he does like her!" Sherri says, nudging her sister.
The two girls begin to sing their "Bart likes the teacher" tune, in the same tone of voice they had used back in class. Bart glowers.
"They're gonna get married, I bet!" Terri teases.
"No we won't!" Bart shoots.
"Haw haw!" Nelson says, in his iconic tone of voice, pointing at Bart. "Teacher's pet!"
Bart gasps. "What are you talking about? I'm not a teacher's pet!" He claims with fury.
"Yeah you are!" Nelson retorts.
"Nuh-uh!" Bart says.
"Yeah-huh!" The bully replies.
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh, times infinity!"
"You can't do that!"
"Yeah-huh I can!"
Bart growls. That's when Milhouse, who was also in the hallway, walks by him.
"Well, they do have a point Bart... You have been getting a little too nice with Ms. Tindol lately..." Milhouse mentions.
"Listen here." Bart begins. "Bart Simpson is not, and never will be, a teacher's pet! Teachers fear me! Teachers cower at the mere mention of my name! Teachers fall to their knees and-"
That's when Ms. Tindol walks out of her room, possibly leaving to get something before the next period started. Bart stops and looks at her.
"Hi, Ms. T!" He says with a smile. "Still can't wait for next week's class!"
"Hello again, Bart." She smiles, as she continues her walking.
Bart continues to stare at her, grinning as she left, until he realized he had disproved himself, whilst in the middle of trying to prove himself. "..." He stares blankly, without saying a word.
Sherri, Terri, and Nelson begin laughing their heads off at Bart's obliviousness. The two girls resume their teasing jingle, while Bart continues walking to Mrs. K's room, wearing a grimace on his face, while his head hung low in shame and ignominy.
We cut to the end of the school day. All the students were gleefully running out of the building as soon as they heard the final bell of the day.
Principal Skinner runs out, waving a paper in the air frantically.
"Kids! Wait!" He calls. "You forgot to collect the homework!" They ignore him and continue running. "... Hmph, jokes on you! By neglecting this homework, you're only hurting your futures, so I hope you're all happy with yourselves!"
Chalmers then walks up to him, and looks at the paper. "That isn't homework! It's a flier for the upcoming school bake sale!"
Skinner is silent for a moment, and then proceeds to sigh in defeat. "I know..." He says, looking down in shame. Chalmers averts his eyes in irritation.
As said, every student was racing out of the school building, eager to go home and do things like play video games, dress up their "Malibu Stacy"s, and watch "Itchy & Scratchy" on TV. Well... Almost every student, as one straggled away from the rest. No, it wasn't Martin, it wasn't even the brainy Lisa Simpson. Surprisingly, it was Bart. While he'd usually be the most enthusiastic about leaving school, he still felt very troubled and slightly distressed at what had happened a few hours ago. The whole scenario wouldn't stop playing in his head.
"Bart likes the teacher! Bart likes the teacher!"
"Haw haw! Teacher's pet!"
"They're gonna get married, I bet!"
They just kept replaying, over and over. Sweat began to drop from his forehead as he thought about it.
One would just assume this was normal mindless elementary teasing, but Bart couldn't forget about it. After that, it wouldn't leave him alone for the remainder of the school day, and it was still with him. Bart wasn't usually seen as the "sensitive" type, but being called "teacher's pet" was something he couldn't just let slide under the rug. He had a reputation to keep, and he knew being the teacher's best friend would damage that severely.
Bart's never really liked a teacher till now. He usually showed strong resentment towards his instructors, and this resentment was usually returned. But there was something about Ms. Tindol... While he did like how she shared many of his interest and appreciated his wild sense of humor, the main thing that made Bart like her so much was that for once in his entire life, he wasn't belittled by his teacher, but rather, encouraged.
It seemed as if just about every adult was out to get Bart. Even his parents occasionally disapproved of his interests. Knowing there was one out there who heartened him whenever they got the chance to and wanted to see him succeed felt so fulfilling to him. An adult who didn't repeatedly scold Bart, but didn't allow him to walk all over them either. There never seemed to be an in-between area. Well, until now, of course.
But still. The term "teacher's pet" felt so demeaning to Bart. He could feel his dignity sinking right down his shorts the second he was called that. He just didn't know how to carry on, knowing this is how he was seen by his fellow mates.
Bart had made it to his bus, and went up the steps to enter.
"Hey! Bart-Dude!" Otto greets with 2 finger guns. This would be the part where Bart would reply with something along the lines of, "Hey! Otto Mann!", but in his current mood, he just wasn't feeling it. He decided not to reply (much to Otto's confusion), and continue walking through the bus. He looked over the rows of seats, only to see his sister's starfish-esque hairstyle peaking out from one seat... In the very back of the bus. Of course, the one day Lisa picks to sit in the back is the same day Bart just about loses his reputation as the school's "bad boy", because now he had to walk past all those glaring, staring eyeballs, whispering and bad mouthing him to the people next to them.
Before he starts his walk of shame, Bart sighs to prepare himself. He faces down with a frown, as he slowly walks past the clear aisle, and just as he expected, people began to talk.
"Hey, it's Bart! I heard from Chelsea that she heard from Nathan that he heard from Sherri and Terri that he's into the art teacher!" One girl with long, brunette pig tails whispers to her neighbor.
"Y'know Bart's not a 'cool kid' anymore? He's a teacher's pet!" Janey says to Becky, who gasps in response.
"Yeah, he isn't acting the same... The last time he pulled a prank was a whole 4 days ago!" Chuck says to a boy next to him.
"Rumor has it, Bart and Ms. Tindol are smoochin' behind the lockers!" Adrian says to Richard, who both chortle.
"I heard Bart Simpson goes to our school!" Ralph blurts with a dopey expression. Classic Ralph...
Bart had finally reached the back. It took 10 seconds, but it felt like 10 years to him.
Once Lisa sees her brother, she puts down the book she had her nose buried in, and scooches herself over to the window seat so he'd have a place to sit. "Hi there, Bart!"
"Hi..." He replies in a sullen tone, taking his seat. "So, you've heard the news, huh?"
"News? I don't recall there being any news..." Lisa says, tapping her chin. Bart should've guessed. Lisa was fairly socially-inept, so it wasn't unlikely for her not to be informed by the latest rumor. He then rests his elbow on his knee and sets his head on his hand, wearing a gloomy expression.
"Oh, and by the way!" Lisa says, now grinning from ear to ear. "I met Ms. Tindol today, and I really like her! She's so unique and unorthodox... Sort of reminds me of another one of my teachers..." She smiles with sentiment, looking down as she thinks of him.
"Today in art class, she complimented my pony drawing!" Lisa smiles. "She said it had great depth, and showed an amazing understanding of analogous coloring!"
Lisa, still smiling, looks over to her brother, but her smile drops once she realized he wasn't saying anything and looked unhappy. This would usually be the part where Bart made some wisecrack about her intelligence, but he didn't say a word. She taps her chin.
"Bart, what's wrong?" She questions, moving herself closer to her older brother. Bart doesn't reply for a whole 10 seconds.
"Mmm.." He murmurs, looking down. He then shifts his pupils to his sister. "... Hey, Lis?"
"Yeah?" The concerned sister replies.
"You're really smart. Can I ask you a question?"
Lisa was touched to hear Bart say that, even if she didn't show it on her face. "Sure." She says.
"Well.. Uh.. I'm asking this for a friend... A really cool friend..." Bart lies. "So, what if this friend, who doesn't usually like his teachers, or adults in general, started to really take a liking to a certain one, because she was really cool and liked his artwork... Would that make him a teacher's pet?"
"Odd question..." Lisa thought. Why would Bart ask such a strangely specific query? And then it hit her.
The way he had awkwardly constructed the sentence, the terms he had used, it was clear to her Bart was talking about himself, and just didn't want to admit it. So she decides to play along.
"So... This friend you're talking about... Is he in your class?" Lisa says with a smirk.
"Uh.. I guess you could say that.." Bart answers.
"What are his hobbies?"
"Y'know, regular 4th grade stuff... Like playing pranks on his dad, skateboarding, y'know, the usual." He begins to get noticeably nervous.
"Have I seen this friend around?"
"Q-Quite a few times.."
Lisa's smirk grows. "What's his name?"
"Can you just answer the question?!" Bart asks with frustration. Lisa chuckles.
"Well, Bart... I don't think your 'friend' is a teacher's pet at all." Lisa smiles.
"You don't?" Bart says with astonishment (and relief).
Lisa nods her head "no", whilst making the onomatopoeic sound for it. "If anything, I think your 'friend' should embrace his appreciation for his teacher and not let anything or anyone stop him from doing so."
"Really...?"
Lisa nods her head.
"..." The end of Bart's mouth curls up a bit, forming a discreet smile. "Well.. I'll tell my friend what you said.."
"Good. I hope your friend takes my advice.." His sister replies. "Your... Blonde, spiky haired friend.."
"Hey! I never said he had blonde spiky hair!" Bart exclaims defensively, giving his sister a playful shove. She shoves back, laughing as she did so. The two siblings begin play wrestling on the bus seat, chuckling to their heart's content. Lisa couldn't help but be happy for her brother, knowing he finally found something to look forward to at school, and Bart felt exactly the same.
Our final scene starts in the Simpson's home. More specifically, the upstairs hallway. Bart and Lisa had gotten off the bus, entered their house, greeted their parents and baby sister, and walked upstairs to enter their rooms.
Once they had reached the corridor, the two parted ways, entering their respective bedrooms.
Bart opens the door to his room, with its fuchsia walls covered in various "Krusty the Clown" posters. He then takes a seat at his desk, puts his backpack down so its resting on the chair, and rests his hands under his chin in silence.
"So, Bart, it's official... You like a teacher..." He says, talking to himself. "Hell, almost like you'd like a friend..." Bart looks down at his floor, and stares at his backpack for a few seconds. He begins unzipping it. "But maybe..." He trails off.
Once his bag is completely open, he removes his painting. He holds it up in front of his desk and smiles at it.
"... Maybe... That isn't such a bad thing..."
He lies the canvas on his desk, and gets up to go find some paints.