After two years without a computer, I FINALLY got a new one. Updates for this story shall come every weekend now.

Start of a Career Chapter 4: Stealing a Kiss

It had been a little over a month since Sly and Bentley had snuck out of the school to go to Fraley's place. Christmas was getting nearer, being only two weeks away. This was the time of year the thief duo had been waiting for. They had already devised multiple plans for pilfering the presents, and had already set a date for when they would haul off all of their stolen loot to their fence, Fraley.

Sly lie on the floor of the entertainment room, "editing" a wish list that had been made by a fellow student. It was a plan Bentley had come up with. Seeing as how Mr. Mendez was a very rich man, he was willing to buy presents for all of the students. After a student had made his wish list, Sly would steal it. He would then "edit" it by erasing the listed items and replace them with his own items. The presents would be arriving on Christmas Eve night. He and Bentley would steal all of the presents and haul them on over to the pawn shop to make some big bucks. They had decided to save up all of the money so they could buy a van. They had already decided on a choice of career, and Bentley had stated that a van would be perfect for carrying stolen loot.

"Here's another list, Bentley. Just put it back where I stole it from, and one of the teachers will eventually pick it up." Bentley stifled a yawn as he looked up from a book he was reading.

"Can't you do it, Sly? I'm studying up on the Doppler Effect and-"

"Good grief, Bentley! I've been doing it all day! Get your lazy butt out of that chair, and put this list back. You're more of a book worm than Mr. Dyer." Mr. Dyer was the science teacher. However, most of the time he just read out of a book while the kids ran wild about the classroom. It was no wonder the kids didn't even no what the atmosphere was."Speaking of science, what it is the atmosphere? I got that question wrong on our last test. I swear I thought it was the thing that causes earthquakes and rainstorms." It was pretty obvious to everyone that when it came to subjects such as math, science, grammar, reading, and history, Sly was a failure.

Bentley let out a quick and agitated sigh. "Fine, I'll do it, but just this once."

"But what about my question?" Bentley answered it by throwing his science book on Sly's back. "Guess I'd better look it up in the book." He looked through the index, but couldn't find what he was supposed to be looking for. "Ah, screw it. I've already failed that test anyway. Besides, why would a thief need to know all of this super complicated science stuff? I highly doubt I'll ever need to know what causes earthquakes and rainstorms. But I wonder, what does cause those? Ohhh, I remember. It wasn't the atmosphere that caused them, it was the ozone layer. It said so in Newton's Law of Gravity." Happy with his answer, Sly stole a pack of jelly beans from a near-by student as he strolled over to Carmelita.

She was setting on the couch watching her friend Mona play a videogame. Sly leaned forward on the couch and poked Carmelita in the back of the head. She turned her head, but glared when she saw Sly standing there with a goofy grin on his face. "Heeey," Sly said in a slow, suave tone. "How's it goin'?"

"What do you want, Ringtail?" Carmelita snapped. "You had better not be up to any mischief, because if you are..." Her voice trailed off as she saw Sly waving a bag of cherry flavored jelly beans.

"Tell you what. If you give me a kiss I'll give you this candy. Do we have a deal?"

Carmelita eyed the bag of candy, watching as Sly continued to swing it left and right, like a pendulum. She wanted that bag of candy. Slowly, she leaned towards Sly, her eyes closed tightly. It took a lot of her willpower to keep from gagging.

Sly couldn't believe his plan was working. Carmelita was actually going to kiss him for a bag of jelly beans that he wasn't going to give to her. "But why is her face like that? Looks like she's choking on something," Sly thought to himself.

"Hey, Sly!" Bentley ran between the two, clutching a yellow paper. "I got another list for you to edit-" Bentley stopped mid-sentence as he felt both a pair of soft lips land on his cheek and Sly's murderous gaze. "Oops..."

Carmelita opened her eyes and saw that she had kissed Bentley. Her eyes went wide in shock, and she ran to the trash can. She bent over and threw up in it.

Sly felt sorry for the girl. He walked over to her while eating the jelly beans and said, "I'm really sorry about that. I would give you those jelly beans but..." He help the bag upside down. "They're all gone...Heh heh," Sly laughed nervously. Moments later, Carmelita's fist slammed into his face. Sly slowly stood up and glared at a scared Bentley. "You stole my kiss," he growled. He rolled up his sleeves and began running after a scared Bentley.

-------------------------------

Finally added the next chapter. Next chapter, "The Murray" appears.