Chapter 7: Lunch Conversations

"C'mon, Pinky, you owe me fair and square!" Peter pleaded his Chihuahua friend.

The morning had slipped by fast, consisting of lesson after lesson, in which the boys had aced. Now it was noon, time for lunch. Perry, Pinky and Peter walked through the lunch line, Peter constantly asking Pinky for the pizza on his lunch tray. Pinky refused each time the panda asked. Perry looked over at Pinky and saw that his friend was annoyed. He then took a glance at Peter.

"Y'know, Pinky did save you from choking on that sucker in class…" Perry pointed out.

Pinky perked up and his ears almost made the brown fedora shoot off of his head. He eyed Peter slyly and smiled.

"Hm…I did, didn't I? Well, it looks as though you owe me!" Pinky accused.

"Hey! Perry!" Peter yelled in contempt. "Besides, Pinky, I saved you from the locker and you promised me whatever I wanted off your lunch tray!"

Perry shook his head. He couldn't choose between his friends. Of course, in the woods where he was hatched, if someone saved your life you owed them until you saved theirs, then you were even.

"I thought it'd mean you guys were even." Perry interrupted them.

Peter and Pinky pouted and stared at the food on their plates. Pinky leaned over towards Perry.

"Perry! I'm trying to get a good deal here!" Pinky scolded in a whisper. "I would've shared half the loot with you! Well, a quarter anyway…"

"Sorry." Perry shrugged and apologized. He didn't want to offend anybody, but he didn't want his friends to fight either.

When they finally reached the end of the line, they walked to a table at the center of the room. Perry set down his tray first, and then sat down on the bench. He looked over his food. It was foreign to him and very unlike the bugs and things he'd had back in his homeland. Pinky sat down beside him and Peter sat down across from him. They were quiet at first and ate some of their food before Perry broke the silence.

"So, earlier this morning, where'd Mrs. Talon send you guys?" Perry asked.

"To the principal's office." Peter replied bluntly.

"Oh...What's the—" Pinky interrupted Perry mid-sentence.

"Before you ask, 'the principal's office' is where we're sent when we're in trouble or the teacher doesn't feel like dealing with us." Pinky explained, pawing at the vegetables on his plate.

"Oh…that doesn't sound fun…" Perry said.

Peter snickered, "It's not."

"Gee, how many times have you gotten sent there, Peter?" Perry asked.

Peter looked taken aback as if he didn't know what to say. He stared at the two, and then counted.

"Hm…How many times this year, or how many times today?" Peter asked.

Pinky laughed, "We all know how many times you've been there today! We were there too!"

Peter and Perry laughed too, and then looked at each other. Pinky had devoured the pizza on his plate and chewed loudly. Perry picked up the limp food, brought it up to eye level and looked at it. He cocked his head to the side.

"What's this?" He asked.

"This? You don't know what that is?" Peter was baffled.

"Um, no," Perry said. "Should I?"

Pinky swallowed and pointed at Perry.

"Listen, you can't be my friend if you don't know about pizza." Pinky joked.

"Pizza, huh?" Perry looked thoughtful. "Well, I'll give it a try."

Perry took a bite of the cheesy food that was covered with pepperoni and chewed. He savored the taste for a minute. He nodded and kept taking bites. It was so good! Once it was gone he began to eat the vegetables on his lunch tray. Pinky watched with disgust and wrinkled his nose.

"Ew, you eat your vegetables?" Pinky asked.

"Yeah, so?" Perry replied.

"Yeah, Pinky, I don't see what the big deal is." Peter agreed, taking a bite out of a celery stick.

Pinky rolled his eyes and pushed the lunch tray in front of him away.

"Well, I don't eat vegetables. You can have them if you want 'em." Pinky said and rested his head in his right paw.

Perry and Peter looked at each other and nodded. They split the veggies and ate, Peter still having the pizza on his plate. From across the room, a clatter rose and startled the three. Screams sounded from kids being thrown through the air. Coming from the problematic area was Rufus with a couple other larger mammals. They marched to the boys' table and Rufus placed a massive paw on the end and leaned on it. He came to eye level with the three smaller students. Rufus smirked and narrowed his eyes. Pinky started shaking more violently and Peter was stunned in his seat. Perry sat still, not flinching at all.

"Hello, shrimps." Rufus said in a low, rumbling voice.

"Hi Rufus!" Perry greeted happily.

Rufus eyed the platy-pup, confounded by his greeting.

"Uh…right. Anyway, Peter, I was wondering if I could have that pizza there." Rufus addressed the panda bear.

Peter started shaking and picked up the sliver of pizza until Perry stopped him. Perry gave a slightly defiant gaze to Rufus before settling back down into his seat.

"Um, excuse me, but does he owe you?" Perry asked.

Rufus sat there; no one had ever talked to him like that before. Perry waited for the answer to his question patiently.

"No, I just take what I want when I want it. Got it?" Rufus finally barked.

Perry looked at him with a confused gaze when he went to grab the food in question.

"Well, that doesn't seem very fair to me." Perry said.

Rufus began to get angry. A low, thundering growl ignited deep in his throat.

"Y'know what else ain't fair?" Perry shook his head. "That I have to starve! Can't you hear my stomach growlin'? I need that slice of pizza."

Perry pondered for a second while Rufus reached slowly for the

"But you've had a slice and you also have all the veggies on your plate." Perry pointed out. "If anything, my friend would starve. Maybe you could trade."

Perry's logic was impeccable, and it bewildered their attacker. Either that, or Perry talked so much that Rufus was trying to figure a way to make him quiet.

"Listen, that pizza's gettin' cold while I'm sittin' here talkin' to you! Now shut up and let me have my food, or I'll flatten you into a pancake!" Rufus threatened through bared teeth.

"What's a pancake?" Perry asked.

"That's it! I hope you like syrup and butter, you stupid fur ball!" Rufus bellowed and drew back a huge fist.

Seeing the impending danger, Perry jumped just in the nick of time. Rufus's fist hit the bench and broke it where Perry used to be. The wood was splintered and torn, non-repairable now from the Rottweiler's deadly blow. Pinky rolled out from under Rufus's arm and landed on the floor. Peter Jumped away from the table and he and Pinky watched with wide eyes.

Rufus withdrew his fist, held his wrist and shook his paw around. He howled in pain and it brought tears to his eyes. He jumped around and cried about splinters before shaking his head. He was so furious, his mouth appeared to be foaming when he snarled. Before exiting the lunch room, he whipped his head around and glowered at Perry.

"I'll get you. Ya better watch your back, Perry." Rufus seemed to force the words off his tongue."I'm gonna get you, and your little friends too. Just you wait."

Perry watched as Rufus left the room. He then turned to his friends with a softer expression. He checked to see if they were alright, and then looked cautiously at the exit to see if Rufus were to return.

"Well, he wasn't very nice, was he guys? I mean, what'd we ever do to him?" Perry said.

Pinky and Peter stared at Perry in disbelief.

"Y-Ya mean…You're not…Y'know, scared?" Pinky asked in a trembling voice.

"Why should I be?" Perry asked, not showing the least bit of fear.

"'Cause he'll pummel you into the ground!" Peter exclaimed.

Perry studied them for a moment before saying, "He looks mean and scary, but really he's only got the fighting skills of one of us. He's in our class, you know."

Again their friend's logic wasn't really arguable, and he was right. Rufus was only in their classes, the beginners'. Pinky and Peter nodded and Perry followed them to dump their trays. Before Peter could dump his, Pinky asked for the sliver of pizza left on his plate. Peter sighed and said to go ahead. Pinky licked his lips and basically swallowed the little snack whole. He rubbed his belly.

"Delicious!" he said, obviously very content.

The bell rang, signaling it was time to leave, and the three boys did so. For the rest of the day, although Perry had told his friends he wasn't afraid of Rufus, he couldn't help glancing over his shoulder every once in a while. He hadn't really taken Rufus's warning to heart, but he was slightly paranoid. For once that day, Perry was looking forward to going home.

Okay, so I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter! And, if your confused here that I put the " on the things that they say this time instead of the ' that's because the ' I usually use when animals are talking to keep people from getting confused that humans can't understand animals. If I confuse you now, I'm sorry, LOL I have been known to be a confusing person. Well, carpe diem, and happy new year! :) -Kittypig