Soon, in Nicktropolis, it was time to get ready for school. Mike was of course going to Nicktoons High/Nick Jr Elementary School with Phil and Lil as a new transfer student until she would get back on her feet and go back to where she belonged in Cartoon Network City even though CN's president, IM Weasel banned contact and visiting that world under any circumstances, but had a change of heart after Mike's accidental visit there the first time which started the classic rivalry between Otto Rocket and Eddy Sampson for Mike's affections before Mike realized she was in love with Lil DeVille of course. There was also an after school activity that Mike had for being a new exchange student character on the teen drama Moody's Point who would move in with Moody and her father and help her between the drama of choosing between the school heartthrob: Sternum and her childhood best friend who had a huge crush on her: Spalding.
"That story sounds really intense, Mike," Lil said as they came to meet their friends at the bus stop. "I just can't imagine what going through that would be like."
"Let's hope nothing like that happens, though it wouldn't surprise me if you ended up killing your brother cuz he always sticks his nose where it doesn't belong." Mike remarked.
"Hey!" Phil complained and glared.
"You know it's true, Phil," Mike rolled her eyes. "Why do you always gotta mess with your sister like that?"
"It's a twin thing. You wouldn't understand." Phil huffed and crossed his arms.
"...No, I guess I wouldn't." Mike narrowed her eyes at him.
Soon, they made it to the bus stop with the others who were of course the likes of Chuckie Finister, his sister Kimi, Tommy Pickles and his brother Dil and their cousin Angelica, and Susie Carmichael.
"So me and Dib are gonna go meet up at Zach's house," Dil began to tell the others with a smile plastered on his face. "His parents actually wanna join us and take a closer look at Zim. They seem to think that he's an alien too! Isn't that cool?"
"...Sure, Dil. Whatever you say," Tommy shrugged. "Just call Mom in case you're gonna be late for dinner and make sure you do your homework."
"It's so great that me and Dib found a guy like Zach Gurdle," Dil beamed at himself. "We all really understand each other."
"Maybe you should run away together and join the circus together." Angelica rolled her eyes before smirking as she applied some lipstick and looked through her compact mirror.
"At least he found himself some real friends than trying to befriend someone like Savannah Shane all the time." Susie muttered firmly as she crossed her arms.
Angelica just stuck her tongue out at Susie in response before the latter girl chuckled to herself.
"Oh, look. Here come Phil, Lil, and Mike." Chuckie pointed out.
It was true as the three were shown to be coming over to the group. "Hey, guys." they then greeted.
"Mornin'!" Dil beamed. "You guys wanna come over and hang out with me and Dib? We're supposed to be doing really cool stuff."
"Hunting aliens again?" Phil and Lil guessed in flat unison.
"Aww... How'd you know?" Dil pouted.
"Call it a lucky guess." Lil rolled her eyes slightly.
"You okay, Mike?" Tommy asked the redheaded tomboy. "You look like you have something on your mind."
"Huh? Oh... Don't worry about it, Tommy," Mike replied. "It's kind of personal."
"Oh... Okay then," Tommy said before shrugging. "Well, you know you can always talk to us. We're all friends here. And Angelica."
"Hey!" Angelica complained.
"Yeah, I know, it's just something personal," Mike replied. "I'll tell you later."
Tommy shrugged before he began to talk with the others. Phil then decided to walk over and talk to them as Lil came over to Mike's side.
"When do you think you'll head over to Pride Rock?" Lil asked Mike.
"I dunno, Lil," Mike shrugged. "I guess I'm just waiting for a sign."
"Like what?" Lil then asked.
"I dunno, but I'll know it when I see it," Mike reassured. "Just don't worry too much about me, okay?"
"Well, all right," Lil replied. "Just don't stress yourself out, especially when someone like Lancer or Crocker will hand out a pop quiz on a random subject so that we fail no matter what."
"Some people are just really fickle," Mike said. "I've been hit by worse back home, especially when Sarah feels like she always has to get her way just because her mother's Head of the PTA."
Lil merely nodded as she understood that and that very much annoyed her too. Eventually, the school bus rode by and it was time for them to come on the bus and head over to school for the day.
Mike found herself a little distracted in school today as she was a temporary transfer student there. Mr. Crocker was rambling on about his theory about fairies being real and mentioned that Ms. Briggs seemed to have a werewolf theory of her own and highly suspected that certain students such as Sam Puckett was probably one of them. They were a match made in a very disturbing part of Heaven, or at least, that was how Mike viewed them, as well as various other students.
"MAZINSKY!" Mr. Crocker shouted, startling the tomboy instantly out of her desk.
"Ugh... What the hell, man?" Mike grumbled as she clutched her chest as her heart raced and she began to feel sick.
"Are you even paying attention?" Mr. Crocker glared.
"...Yeah." Mike said, though it seemed to be a lie.
"Then what did I just say?" Mr. Crocker soon asked her as he crossed his arms.
"Uh..." Mike paused before she helped herself back up into her desk. "In a world where fairies exist, who cares about anything? Because a fairy could make 2+2 equal fish?" she then guessed at the top of her head.
Mr. Crocker blinked at her a couple of times. "...That was a lucky guess, Mazinsky," he then scoffed. "You must think you're as smart as AJ, don't you?"
"Mm-mm..." Mike merely shrugged. "...I need the bathroom."
"Oh, fine..." Mr. Crocker rolled his eyes before giving her a hall pass. "Curse you children and your tiny bladders... If it were up to me there'd be no bathroom breaks, but we can't have that, can we?"
Mike took the hall pass and soon left the classroom as Mr. Crocker went back to his lesson. "Man... I haven't been in this school long and I already feel like I need a break..." she grumbled to herself. "Sometimes I wish I could be like Eliza or Debbie and travel all over the world and have school lessons occasionally." she then looked over to see a woman.
The woman had a slender figure body, with dark tan skin, and short black shoulder-length hair, wearing a cream-colored shirt, a light green sweater, a dark reddish skirt, small white pearl earrings, and black slip-on shoes. "All right, children, since our volunteer for learning in the classroom is not here today, we should probably head back inside and get back to learning about how to count by twos just like our new friend: Franklin the Turtle from storytime." she then said with a small smile.
A lot of students looked nervous about that like that was impossible for them to learn or even do.
"I'm sorry, dears, but I need to make a phone call and I need someone to watch you in recess and help you for the rest of the day until naptime." The teacher said with a small frown.
Mike began to look thoughtful until she stepped over to see the teacher. She seemed to think about and miss the old days of Kindergarten and grades until about third grade and thought maybe she could sneak over and help out to take her mind off of the stressful situation she was faced with about going back to Pride Rock, especially with the experience she had before and after, not to mention the stress she had back in Cartoon Network City before she came to stay in Nicktropolis for a little while. "Uh... Excuse me, ma'am?" she then spoke up as she walked on over.
"Huh?" The teacher blinked before she looked over. "Who are you? I don't think I've seen you before... Not to mention, teach you in my class back when you were in Kindergarten."
"It's a bit of a complicated story, ma'am, but my name is Mike Mazinsky and-" Mike then began to say.
"Ohh... You're that transfer student from Cartoon Network City," The teacher then realized with a small smile. "I've heard about you."
"You have?" Mike asked, a bit nervously.
"Si," The teacher nodded. "Principal Wartz sent out an email to all of the teachers, including the Nick Jr Elementary School hallway about your arrival in case we noticed anything strange or unusual," she then explained before smiling. "Anyway, where are my manners? My name is Ms. Shrinivas."
"Nice to meet you then, Ms. Shrinivas," Mike replied. "Is there some sort of problem?"
"Well, I have very important calls and business to do at my desk and I'm afraid I can't do it all because my classroom volunteer is at home with a cold," Ms. Shrinivas explained with a weary sigh. "I need someone to look after the kids until 1:30 when their parents come to pick them up. They need to go to recess, learn their numbers, do art projects, and of course, there's naptime after their lunch. Do you happen to know anybody who would be willing to help?" she then asked.
"Oh... Well... I could do it," Mike volunteered herself with a small shrug before smiling. "I love little kids and little kids love me."
"Oh... Are you sure?" Ms. Shrinivas asked then. "Don't you have class or something?"
"Ah, they won't be too worried about me, plus my girlfriend's in the class and if anything happens, she can help me out," Mike replied. "Consider it my honor to help out, Ms. Shrinivas."
"Well... All right then," Ms. Shrinivas said as she gave a smile back to Mike. "You're hired, but if there's any trouble, don't hesitate to come to me right away. I love these children like my very own, so I would be devastated if anything happened to them."
"Then I'll help out in any way that I can." Mike smiled.
"All right then," Ms. Shrinivas nodded before she shook hands with Mike. "Just promise me that you will be responsible with them."
"I will, ma'am. I won't let you down." Mike promised.
"That's what I like to see in a fresh young student: enthusiasm!" Ms. Shrinivas smiled in approval once the deal was set. "Why don't you give this pass to your teacher though to be on the safe side?" she then suggested as she brought out an excuse note.
"What's this?" Mike asked as she accepted the note.
"Anyone who volunteers for the younger kids in the Nick Jr hallway get excused absences or tardiness so that they don't end up in detention," Ms. Shrinivas explained. "It happens all the time whenever Paulina Sanchez, Demi Bunny, or Brayden Martin come by our part of the school."
"Oh, I see," Mike said. "So I guess I'll head over to class and tell them where I'm going and come back to you then?" she then guessed.
"Exactly," Ms. Shrinivas nodded. "And feel free to bring a friend with you if you want, but just one friend. More than two big kids around might overwhelm the kids a bit and I'd like it better than Amadeus Wolfgang's company with his friend Edmund."
"Amadeus?" Mike snickered a little bit.
"That would be Gina's big brother," Ms. Shrinivas then explained. "He's quite a handful and I'm sure that you've heard of him."
"Yes, I have," Mike replied. "I'll be right back then."
"Okay. Please don't take too long before my students become cranky." Ms. Shrinivas then said to her with a nod.
Mike soon went back over to Mr. Crocker's classroom with the note she was given.
"Ah, going to volunteer around the school, eh?" Mr. Crocker hummed thoughtfully as he looked over the note with a shrug. "Meh... Whatever. One less mouth to teach... If only Turner was going with you."
Timmy rolled his eyes from his desk as he overheard that, sitting with his pink notebook and his green pencil.
"GET OUTTA HERE THEN!" Mr. Crocker snapped, making Mike flinch and wince again.
"Sheesh... You don't gotta yell..." Mike rolled her eyes and shook her head before she came over to her girlfriend. "Hey, Lil. Wanna blow this joint and look after a bunch of little rugrats?"
"Sure... If I can take a nap along with them..." Lil smirked, looking rather hopeful about that idea before rolling her eyes. "If Phil doesn't make fun of me and think about me opening up a Nanny Service or whatever that joke was supposed to be."
"Yeah, I don't get how Duncan found that funny about Henry and Alexandra that time we visited PBS Town and they were looking after Arthur, DW, and Kate Read that one time," Mike shrugged. "Some boys are just dumb like that, I guess."
"They're slow leaners." Lil added as she stuck her tongue out.
The two tomboys then laughed a little at that.
"NO LAUGHING IN MY CLASSROOM!" Mr. Crocker snapped from behind his teaching desk.
"Come on. Let's get outta here." Mike then told Lil.
"Right behind ya." Lil replied before she followed Mike out of the classroom and back into the hallway.
After a little while, Mike and Lil came back over to meet Ms. Shrinivas with her class who waved at them and soon led them into the classroom. Eventually, they came into the room which was very colorful, though there were a lot of bright orange and sky blue crayon drawings that went together, such as two dogs, a parent and child holding hands, an adult pig with a smaller pig, two butterflies, and even pawprints. There were even drawings of a cute bunny in a blue sweater, a cow by the name of Connie, an orange dog named Kipper, a blue octopus named Oswald, a yellow monster with red polka dots called Beast, and a friendly-looking mouse named Maisy. In the corner by the cubbies, there appeared to be a cage with a pet class inside who was yellow and appeared to be a possum by the name of Piper O'Possum. Mike just had to wonder if there was any relation to Sledgehammer O'Possum back in Cartoon Network City in the old What a Cartoon! Hall of Fame.
"Good afternoon, class." Ms. Shrinivas greeted warmly to her students who all sat at their little tables who smiled in excitement.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Shrinivas~" The class chorused sweetly and innocently.
"These are our new friends," Ms. Shrinivas introduced. "Mike Mazinsky and Lil DeVille from the big kids' hallway and we're going to have a lot of fun with them. Can we say hello?"
"Hello, Mike Mazinsky and Lil DeVille." The class then greeted as they looked over at the two older girls who visited their classroom today.
"And what do we do with our special new friends?" Ms. Shrinivas then prompted her students.
The students then jumped out of their tables and instantly hugged Mike and Lil. This surprised the two girls, but they put up with it for as much as they could and gave polite and friendly smiles so not to get in trouble or to scare away the younger kids. One girl however was a bit shy and nervous about approaching the two.
"...What's with her?" Mike asked, seeing the shy girl by herself.
"Oh, that's Traci," Ms. Shrinivas replied calmly. "She's a little shy... I think she just misses her big brothers Steve and Joe."
"Oh... I see..." Mike then said before looking at Lil. "That's that girl who has the blue dog that's a girl, right?"
"Yeah..." Lil nodded. "Kinda like how you guys have a pink dog that's a boy." she then added, of course referring to Courage the Cowardly Dog.
"Right..." Mike said before looking at the teacher. "So, uh, Ms. Shrinivas, what do we do with these guys then?"
"How about you take the kids outside for recess and I can finish up that work I have to get done and I'll read them a story with their snack?" Ms. Shrinivas suggested. "Of course, you kids are welcome to join us if you'd like."
"Hmm... That sounds pretty good," Mike said before smirking at Lil. "You up for a snack?"
"Do Trolls live under bridges?" Lil smirked back before laughing with Mike.
"I know a Grumpy Old Troll," Dora spoke up as she came over to Mike and Lil, waving her hand. "Me and Boots see him all the time we haveta cross a bridge."
Mike and Lil just glanced at Dora.
"...That's great, kid," Mike said before looking at Lil. "That's Paulina's cousin, right?"
"Yeah... It is..." Lil nodded.
"Well, I can tell that she's going to be interesting." Mike remarked to herself.
"Come on, Mike," Lil then smirked. "Let's go play with the kids and get your mind off of your own issues for a little while."
"Sounds good to me," Mike replied before whispering to herself. "Who knows when it'll be a good time to head back over to Pride Rock to help out with whatever it is I'm supposed to do."
Lil then nodded as she came to go with Mike and they both came to head outside to keep the young kids company while they would play, either on the playground equipment or make up their own games using their imagination, which the second part was always SpongeBob Squarepants' favorite, especially with the kids.