TREATING HIM LIKE A DOG.
Right when the class ended, Margot and I decided to start our part on the whole "slaving the wolf" stuff. We made him carry our books while going to our next class; sure, this doesn't seem to be so bad, but we made him walk behind us while totally ignoring him, and our classroom was really far from the one he would attend his next class, so he surely would need to run to be on time.
Ruby and Margot were chatting while walking in the corridor, with Wally closely behind them, carrying their books and his own. The wolf seemed to be slightly upset, but decided to obey the girls, thinking that, maybe, if he was extra-tolerant, the other students would eventually accept him.
"Oh, Fool, hurry up! We don't want you to walk next to us, but we don't want to be late for class either! This teacher arrives on time once in a while!" Margot snapped at him. Wally nodded, and accelerated his walking.
Unknown for the trio, some Perfectos were behind the corner, waiting for them. Giselle, the swan girl, was among them, watching the girls and the wolf approaching, and ready to give her companions the attacking signal.
"Get the wolf!" The swan jumped from her hideout, and, a second later, her comrades emerged as well, holding water balloons. Margot and Rhubella shrieked, and jumped out of the projectiles way, while Wally tried to cover himself from the attack; of course, he received several impacts.
"Giselle, are you crazy?" Rhubella snapped at the swan.
"What? Don't tell me you don't want us to do this!" Giselle replied, confused.
"Of course not! He is carrying our books, you fool! And, unlike you, I really use them to do my homework!" Ruby cleared.
Oh, yes. I was a cute little princess then.
The attack finally ceased, and the ambushers left, right after each one gave a little kick to the wolf, who was now on the floor, curled like a ball and totally soaked. Margot and Rhubella approached him, concerned about their books.
"Oh, great! The first day of school, and we'll need to buy a replacement for our new books!" Margot said, slapping her forehead.
"Well... maybe not. The books aren't that ruined. Look." Wally stood up, showing the books to the girls. Amazingly, most of them weren't wet at all.
"Hey, how did you make that?" Ruby asked, impressed.
"When I realized I was about to be attacked, I tried to protect them showing my back to the water balloons, and then threw myself to the floor making my best to cover the books. It seems it was enough... except for this one." Wally explained to the girls, and then checkeda particular book that was almost as soaked as himself. It was one of Rhubella's.
Ruby sighed, and was about to ask the wolf to drop the book at the nearest waste basket, when Wally took a deep breath, and then started blowing over the book. After a few seconds, the book was totally dry, and in a close-to-good condition. Then, he moved a few steps back, and started shaking himself in a dog-like way, until he was dry as well.
"Ready. Not exactly as good as new, but it can be read." Wally told the girls, smiling and showing them the book. Ruby and Margot wide opened their eyes, and then the rat whispered to the wolf.
"One advice, rookie. Never, ever, do a toon-like trick in this school, even if it's something as simple as that. That's just for minor-leveled toons, like the fools of Acme Looniversity. Not that I should worry about you, but if you get beaten for this, you might as well be carrying my books again when that happens." Ruby explained. The wolf sighed, and nodded. Then, he and the girls kept walking to the classroom.
Again, I was being a total jerk with Wally, but, secretly, I was truly impressed. He protected our books without us telling him to do it, and made his best so I could have my book in a decent condition, so, by now, I was considering him to be, at least, a good helper.
The trio finally arrived at the girls class, who, as the others, was supposed to be delayed (the teachers also liked the whole "fancy delay" stuff). Wally carried the books to the girls' desks, and dropped them there carefully.
"Well, misses, I'll better leave now. So long." The wolf said to the girls, and then dashed to the door. Unfortunately for him, a brown feathered chicken, a couple of inches taller than Fowlmouth, with a silver colored beak, whose was standing next to the door, extended his leg, making Wally to trip and fall over his belly. The other students laughed, and, a second later, some of the heaviest ones and the girls that were using high-heeled shoes started walking over the wolf's back, chuckling and insulting him all the time.
"Hey, Idiot, you should go to your classroom! There's a difference between a "fancy delay" and a fool that arrives late!" The chicken shouted at the wolf. Wally, in obvious pain, stood up, and, without saying a word, started walking down the corridor.
"I'm sure that must hurt." Rhubella said, rolling her eyes and chuckling.
Harrison Nigel Silverbill... every time I have problems tolerating Fowlmouth, I remember that chicken, and that makes me feel better about our little bad-mouthed fowl. Nigel, like a few others students, kept his relatives' jobs as a secret. Now that I think about it, I think there was a rumor about him having an uncle of something working for a major criminal organization, and performing some stunts on your home town, Gosalyn. Anyway, Nigel was ten times more annoying than FM; sure, he had a great taste for fashion (when he wasn't using the school uniform, the least he ever used was an Armani), and a great use of language, but he always was flirting with all the girls. If one didn't fell for his money, she would do it by his persistence. Actually, Margot started dating Drake to have an excuse for refusing this chicken's invitations.
After their class finished, Margot and Rhubella walked to the cafeteria. Perfecto has one that looks like a luxury restaurant; the cheapest meal is the salad, and it still costs as much as a huge steak on a decent diner. On their way there, they saw Roderick and Drake, alongside a few other students, surrounding Wally.
"Okay, mutt, this is your program. The teachers always ask us to do some books' reports, so, since we'll be ordering you around all the time, I think is just right to give you a list of the books they normally tell us to read." The rat shoved a large sheet of paper in front of the wolf. Wally sighed, and picked it.
"We want those reports as soon as possible, okay? Oh, and you also have to come to our football's practices. We already have water boys, but we can save the school some money if you wash our uniforms." Danforth said with a smirk.
"And the cheerleaders and the gymnastic team's as well." Giselle added.
"And you'll better hurry up, or else!" Gunbo said, showing his fist to Wally. The wolf nodded, and lowered his ears even more.
"Guys, guys, calm down! We can't expect him to do all those things." Rhubella said, walking next to the other students, and crossing her arms. Wally raised his ears slightly, and gave her a weak smile.
"At least, not until he washes all our cars." Ruby smirked. The wolf's ears fell again, and he sighed. The Perfectos laughed, and agreed with Rhubella.
"Okay, it's lunch time. You better go and wash our cars, Fool. We don't want to see you near the cafeteria; you might spoil our appetite."Drake said to the wolf, and then he and the other Perfectos left. Rhubella gave Wally a fast look before leaving; the canine was looking down, and started walking to the parking lot.
"Well, if this mistreat can't make him a real bad guy, nothing will." Ruby said to herself.
Ruby, as usual, sat next to Roderick, in company of Margot and Drake. Rhubella asked for a cheese and mushrooms' cream, and a salad covered with Mozzarella. While she and her partners were waiting for their meal, they heard Nigel yelling at the waiter.
"You idiot! I said I wanted no cheese in my trout's sandwich! I don't tolerate lactose! If I get sick, I'll sue you until you loss everything!" The chicken said in a furious tone while throwing the sandwich, that only had a tiny bite, to the scared waiter. The man gulped, and picked up the food's remains after dashing to the kitchen to prepare another sandwich.
"Man, what a fool. It's really hard to find good service these days." Danforth said with his usual "I-am-better-than-everyone" tone.
"What a waste of cheese." Rhubella sighed. She, as most toon mice and rats, loved cheese, to the point she never dumped it, even if it was slightly spoiled. In those cases, she usually used it to fertilize her mother's garden; the result was flowers with a slight cheese smell, something she liked a lot.
Roderick and Danforth spent most of the lunch talking about business and new ways to cheat on the Acme Bowl. Ruby and Margot sighed; this was a regular thing on their table. Eventually, they got tired of just staying there, listening to their boyfriends without having any attention, and left the cafeteria.
The moment they walked out of the building, they heard a noise coming from its side. The girls decided to take a look, and gasped.
I'll never forget that sight. Wally, unlike us, wasn't rich, and depended on a monthly allowance his parents and uncle gave to him, and it wasn't a lot, so he had to get his lunch from our dumpster. I even saw him eating the same sandwich that was dumped, and putting some leftovers in a plastic bag, obviously to have something to eat later. I know you and Ronald sometimes eat from dumpsters, Hillary, but that's because you enjoy it; Wally, on the other hand, needed to do it because he had no other choice... he could have had a good meal on any diner just with the tip I left in the cafeteria! For the first time in ages, I really felt a little guilty.
"What is he doing in there?" Rhubella asked, with evident shock on her voice.
"Well... obviously, he is eating. You... don't feel bad for him, right?" Margot asked back; however, she was also a little shocked. Ruby shook her head.
"No... I mean... Hey, Stupid! Why are you eating? You should be washing the cars, remember?" Ruby popped out from her hiding place, and yelled at the wolf. Wally gulped (both in surprise and to pass a bite of beef), and looked at the rat; obviously, he felt really ashamed for being surprised scavenging.
"I already finished... Miss Rat... and I thought about having a little snack so I can be strong enough to keep doing the rest of my chores." The wolf replied.
At first I couldn't believe what he was saying. He had to wash at least 50 cars, and did it in less than 30 minutes? He had to be the worst liar alive... but Margot and I also noticed he was looking really tired, as much as if he had ran the marathon, twice, so we gave him the doubt's benefit, and ordered him to come with us to the parking lot.
"I can't believe this! You really washed all the cars!" Ruby said, amazed. Margot couldn't say a thing, because her beak was almost touching the ground. As he was told, Wally made a great job, and every car was shining as much as the day they left the agency. The tired wolf noticed the girls' expressions, and smiled a little.
"Well... if you have no more orders, I guess I should go and wash my teeth before next class. See you." Wally said, and then retired, obviously still tired. Margot and Ruby gave him a weird look.
"That guy isn't normal! I mean, maybe he used that blowing trick to dry the cars, but how he washed them so fast on first place?" Margot asked, finally recovering from the shock.
"I have no idea, Margot, but I guess this only proves he can be a good element in our football's team. With that speed, even the Acme's roadrunner will have a bad time." Ruby said as well.
The next day, we told Roderick about Wally's speed, so he obviously got interested, and also commented it to the coach and the rest of the football team. The next day, the team had the first practice of the year, as well as the cheerleaders... of course, our "practice" consisted basically on trying on the new uniforms, and sit for a while watching the boys.
The Perfecto's cheerleaders sat at their stadium's bleachers, watching the boys training. Wally was there as well; he wasn't a major football fan, but loved the team's activities, plus decided this would be a good way to finally being accepted.
"Okay, let's see howare we playing after the summer's break. Form two teams." The coach, a mean-looking vulture named William Buzzroy, said to the students. Wally ended in Roderick's team.
At first, it seemed everything was going well. Wally was doing a terrific job blocking the other team's players, and receiving passes. Unfortunately, he lacked something all Perfectos need to play.
He didn't want to cheat.
"Hey, you, Wolf, come here!" William yelled to Wally in an angered tone. Wally walked in front of him.
"Look, you are doing a very decent job... and I don't want decency on this team! Look, imagine that I'm the referee, andnext time one player tries to pass you, give him a bite, or make him trip when I'm not looking. Remember, it's only cheating if you get caught." The vulture snapped at Wally. He just couldn't believe it! In this school, the teachers encouraged the students to cheat.
And, as you can imagine, Wally didn't obey the coach. On the next play, he tried to catch the player holding the ball, but refused to bite him, or do anything against the rules. Wally was tackled, and the other team scored. Roderick and the coach weren't happy.
"So, we have a little rebel here, uh? Listen, Stupid, I don't want a coward on my team. You'll better start listening and obeying, or else!" William said to the wolf in his most menacing tone. Wally gulped; even if he was scared, he just couldn't go against his nature.
"I am sorry, sir, but I don't like to cheat. And I think we don't need to do it. Just look at the team; most schools don't have students with the strength of half of the players. Why we can't just play following the rules, and have some fun as well?" Wally said, giving the coach a little smile.
We all looked at Wally as if he had grown an extra head, three more arms, and a unicorn's horn, all at the same time. Saying an speech like that in Perfecto Prep was the closest thing to a blasphemy.
"You are out of the team! And, from now on, you are our new tackling dummy!" The vulture, totally red by rage, yelled at the wolf, and then motioned the whole team to start tackling him in turns.
"What an idiot! He, asking us to not cheat? Please, that's the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard!" Jasmine, Giselle's sister, and a cheerleader as well, said while chuckling.
"Yes, he is such a fool." Ruby said, but then talked to herself.
"But he most be really brave to defend his ideas that way."
Of course, Wally ended the practice extremely hurt. Worst of all, the coach ordered him to pick up all the equipment before leaving, and wash the uniforms. When we were leaving, I saw him almost crawling next to the helmets, to start picking them up. This time, I felt not guilty, but a little bad for him. By now, I honestly was wishing him to finally become a mean guy, so everyone could start respecting him.
I had no more classes with Wally for the rest of the day. The following morning, I saw him extremely tired, but, oddly, he managed to wash all the uniforms, and gave Roderick a couple of books' reports as well.
These scenes continued the first two weeks. Wally was always ordered to do something mean by one of the teachers, or a student, and, if he refused, he immediately got more chores to do. However, he always managed to do all of them, and even do his own homework, but always seemed to be tired, which was obvious, since he was doing the work of at least ten guys every day, plus receiving a beating each two days because of the tackling practice.
Anyway, on Friday, I ordered him to do my homework, and gave him orders to meet with me on Saturday, in front of the mall, so I could pick it up. You see, one of the few good things about me on those days was the fact I really wanted to learn, even if I was taking shortcuts, so I wanted to check Wally's work before delivering it on Monday.
Margot and Rhubella exited the Prep, ready to some goofing up at the mall, when Ruby realized something.
"Oh, no! I forgot to give that wolf our Math's homework! Now I'll have to go to his dorm!" Ruby snapped at herself.
"Relax, Ruby. Is just one homework. He can do it on Saturday, and give it to us on Monday." Margot said in an annoyed tone. Rhubella sighed.
"Margot, we have a quiz on Monday, remember? We need to study that homework! You know how hard is to pass the answers by using the cell phone!" The rat replied, and grabbed Margot by her arm/wing, motioning her to go back to the school. Margot sighed, and decided to go by her own will.
We found the dorms in no time, but, since Roderick only told me vaguely about where Wally was staying, it wasn't easy to find his room. And, when we found it, we heard a weird sound coming from the inside, like a wild wind, or a storm.
Margot decided to take a look at the room by watching through the doorknob; unfortunately, she only got a little irritation on her eye because of the wind coming from the inside. Rhubella then had an idea, and used her credit card to, carefully, open the door, as an expert thief.
Well, sometimes Roddy and I made some spying work on you, guys... I'm sorry, by the way. So, I had developed some useful skills, including opening locks and stuff. I opened the door as quietly as I could, and only enough so Margot and I could take a look. It was a major surprise.
Wally was dressed with a red outfit, that included a cowl, with lightning symbols. Rhubella immediately recognized it as The Flash's disguise, and the wolf was moving as fast as the hero. Wally was doing at the homework of ten students while washing the uniforms (manually) of both the football's team and the cheerleaders' squad., and cleaning his room, all at the same time!
After a minute or so, he was done with everything. He could had moved even faster, but he wasn't risking damaging the papers and the books by writing or moving the pages at his top speed. Wally took a deep breath, and then spin-changed back to normal. At that moment, Ruby and Margot wide opened the door, making him jump in surprise.
"So, that's your secret! You are an spin-changer!" Rhubella snapped at him. Wally gulped.
"You forgot our little chat about toon tricks, Fool? Oh, you are so going to pay for this!" Margot said in an angry tone. The wolf looked at them in shock, trying to say something.
"Do you have something to say in your defense, dog?" Rhubella said while glaring at Wally. The wolf opened his mouth, and then...
Wally fainted in front of us. Since we had no knowledge at all about spin-changing, we ignored about how stressful a super-powered change can be; sure, he has a lot more practice and endurance now, but then, our little surprise entrance, right when he was so tired, was just to much, and he collapsed. And, then, I felt really scared.
"Margot, help me put him on his bed, quick!" Rhubella, in panic, said to her friend, while grabbing Wally by his shoulders. Margot, a little shocked, reacted, and grabbed his legs. With a little effort, the girls placed him on the bed, and then Ruby started looking for something that might help her to wake him up.
"Hey, maybe my emergency snack can help! I hope the wolves' noses are as sensitive as people say." Rhubella said, and then took a little imported cheese's snack out from her purse. The snack was delicious, but its smell was a little strong, so she hoped it would work to make him react, by passing it in front of his nose. Luckily, it worked, and Wally woke up, eating the snack with a single bite.
"Delicious... thanks a lot, girls. That particular spin-change requires lots of energy, and I have to eat as much as possible to keep my strength." Wally, panting, said to both girls, smiling at them.
That smile... and those eyes looking at me. He was truly grateful with us, even if he fainted because of the work we ordered him to do, and our yelling. I had a very weird feeling then; it wasn't common having anyone thanking me for doing something... and I liked it. I think Margot liked it as well, because we didn't say a thing for a couple of minutes.
"Look, girls, I know I have to quit doing the toon tricks, but it's the only way I can do all the chores, and recover from the beatings. Please, don't say anything... and I promise I'll be your servant during the whole time I'll stay here." Wally said, sighing. He knew this was a sure way to be black-mailed, but had no other choice.
"Wallace... can you do other changes?" Ruby asked him. The wolf nodded.
"Not a lot right now, but yes, I can do some other impersonations. Of course, The Wolflash is the one I'm using the most these days." Wally said, looking down.
"You know, Ruby, having our own slave can be a good idea. Especially one that can do a lot of job in no time." Margot said with a sly look. Ruby nodded.
"Yes... and this can help you too, Wolf. If you become our personal pet, then you'll be under our direct orders, so the other students will stop mistreating you that much, because we'll own you, in a certain way." Ruby pointed to the canine while sitting on his bed.
"Well... if I'm going to be treated by dirt, better by two pretty girls than by the whole school. Okay, you have a deal." Wally said, extending his paw. Ruby hesitated a little, but eventually shook it, and then Margot did it as well.
"But don't expect us to be nice with you, Wolf. Actually, we'll make you work really hard." Ruby cleared. Wally nodded, and smiled.
"Well, at least my situation is already improving. You had called me by my last name twice, and even once by my first one, in less than two minutes instead of "Fool" or "Dumb", or something like that." Wally chuckled. Ruby and Margot couldn't help but laugh as well.
The next day, Wally met Margot and I at the mall, with the Math homework. To make everyone know he would be our personal servant, we made him carry our stuff all the day, and we even bought him a dog's collar, with a tag that said "Wallace Wolf. Property of Rhubella Rat and Margot Mallard", so he could use it at school. Of course, he would be teased and many guys would laugh at him, but that was the most they were allowed to do, except for the occasional prank, and his duties as the coach's slave. He was our pet to do anything with him, and our classmates had to respect that fact.