[Toddler Arc] Chapter VII – Preschool Daze


Cody's POV

Well, the time has come. Chris, Duchess and Damsel are all ready for their first day of preschool. Though out of the three of them, Damsel seems the most eager, Duchess on the other hand looked very nervous about the whole idea, which isn't too uncommon in some children. You've spent a few years happy with your mum and dad and all of a sudden, you're being separated from them for a few hours with a bunch of people you don't know, it's all too understandable why they would hate the idea.

Christopher's hair has fully grown now, and his hair is a pure white just like Dorothy's own fur. It's almost like he was Dorothy's child instead. Speaking of which, Dorothy came back home sometime after Clarissa's "party" with a deep blush on her face, yet she wouldn't tell us why. Maybe it was her time of the month, I don't know.

But back to the elephant in the room. I stood at the front of the preschool branch of the school that Dorothy used to attend, with Chris at my side and Duchess peeking from behind my legs as I looked down at the latter.

"I know it feels scary, sweetheart. But trust me, you'll be okay. You'll make some new friends and you've got Christopher with you. Think you can be brave for daddy?" I gently asked Duchess as she glanced down before slowly nodding.

"Oh, Mr. Dalmatian, right on time!" Our attention was brought back to the preschool front as we saw a female adult Dachshund in a white button vest and long sea foam dress approach us with a warm smile on her face before speaking again.

"I'm Miss Savina, teacher of the Youth Paws Preschool, pleased to finally meet you and your adorable children!" The Dachshund, Miss Savina kneeled down and gave a friendly grin to Chris and Duchess, the former returning a smile of his own.

"Hello, Miss Savina." Christopher greeted the teacher as politely as he could, which earned him a smile from me before I checked my watch. Twenty minutes before work starts. I knelt down to my two children and gave them a goodbye hug before standing back up.

"See you later, this evening!" I called out to the two, waving at them as I took my leave.

"Bye dad!" Christopher replied, waving back to me before Miss Savina gently took their hands and led them inside the preschool.

Christopher's POV

The inside of the preschool was full of kids like me and Duchess. That was when I noticed that my sister in fact looked even more scared than before, maybe with there being so many children here. I reached out a hand to her shoulder to try and make her feel better.

...Or I would've done, had I not been suddenly jumped and hugged from behind making me look behind to see none other than our cousin.

"About time you got here, cuz! Preschool's been so boring without you!" Damsel said, her furry cheek pressed against mine as all I could do was chuckle.

"Now, dears. If you all would like to stop for a moment to say "Hi" to two new friends of us. I'd like you to welcome Christopher and Duchess with welcome arms!" Miss Savina spoke out to the other kids in the room, many of which turned to notice us before waving to us.

After that, we were now left to do whatever we wanted, Miss Savina told us that she'd be sure to keep an eye on us if anything went wrong. I could see that Duchess was still scared with her holding my arm so tight it was like she was going to snap it off. Thankfully, Damsel saw this.

"Hey Duch, wanna see something cool?" Damsel asked, before gesturing Duchess to follow her, which she did so, whilst still looking around.

"Oink, you fat dumb pig! Giddy up!" I blinked as I heard a nasty sounding voice before turning to see a Rottweiler in a light pink dress on her knees. A cat with a plain tank top and shorts was sitting on her back and rocking back and forth, snarling down at her as the Rottweiler looked like she was trying not to cry.

I felt bad for the dog and walked over to try and get the cat to stop.

"Hey, why are you being mean to her?" I asked worriedly.

"Mind your own business, monkey! This fat little piggy has somewhere to take me!" The cat yelled back at me, nearly spitting in my face before looking back down at the Rottweiler meanly.

"Did you hear me?! I said "MOVE, PIG!" He yelled again before kicking her in the stomach, making her fall flat onto the floor and hold her stomach before finally bursting out crying.

"CLARENCE!" We then heard Miss Savina yell, sounding really mad as she stormed over to us and stared down at the cat. "I saw what happened! It's ten minutes in the naughty corner for you, mister!" Miss Savina then took the cat by the wrist and led him away from me and the Rottweiler. With Clarence gone, I helped the Rottweiler up as she sniffled.

"...You okay?" I asked, feeling bad at seeing her like this.

"M-My tummy hurts a little..." She mumbled as she wiped a tear, still hurt from Clarence kicking her before she looked up at me. I led her to a nearby table and helped her sit down, remembering that dad had put a box of apple juice in my bag as I took it out and gave it to her, watching her as she sucked the box dry.

"T-Thank you…" The Rottweiler said to me with a small smile, obviously feeling better. I decided then to introduce myself to her.

"I'm Christopher, what's your name?"

"R-Rachel." She replied as I smiled at her. Rachel was a cute name for her.

"Wanna be friends, Rachel?" I then asked, making her smile wider.

"Okay!"

Damsel's POV

Aww, I think Christopher just made a new friend. I could just about see him playing with a Rottweiler and often talking to each other. I knew my awesome little cousin would already be making friends.

Meanwhile, I was showing Duchess a neat little trick I figured out where you hold two crayons of a different colour and draw with both of them to make her feel better. It worked and she was already drawing a rainbow on a piece of paper.

"Told you preschool would be fun. You got me and Christopher with you." I told Duchess as I sat next to her as she looked up at me with a smile.

"Yeah! Preschool is pretty fun, thanks Damsel!" Duchess thanked me before I patted her back.

"I bet aunt Dorothy made a lot of friends here when she was little." Duchess then said before she stopped drawing, looking a little sad.

"...Was anyone here ever mean to her?" I blinked before frowning. Honestly, I didn't know myself. I had heard once that Dorothy had bitten Trevor because she was scared but that was the only thing I knew about her that wasn't nice sounding.

Before I could give an answer, we both heard what sounded like someone falling over as we both turned to see Christopher against the wall with a boy cat looking down at him meanly with two other cats holding back the Rottweiler Christopher was playing with.

"I hope you're happy, monkey! You got me in trouble! Now I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson on not to mess with me!" The cat yelled before holding out his hand as claws came out of his fingers before he started swinging at Christopher with them.

"N-NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" The Rottweiler pleaded to him but she was ignored as the cat kept scratching Christopher, who was trying to protect himself with his arms over him.

"HEY! NO ONE DOES THAT TO MY COUSIN!" I yelled before running over and ramming into the cat with my shoulder, knocking him to the floor.

"Ow! That hurt, you stupid mutt!" He yelled at me as I looked down at Christopher who was still shaking, his arms and some of his face were covered in light red lines. I turned back to the cat and started growling.

How dare that fleabag hurt Christopher like that!

"CLARENCE, THAT DOES IT! I AM CONTACTING YOUR FATHER RIGHT NOW, YOUNG MAN!" I nearly yelped as I heard Miss Savina's voice yell out before she marched into another room before giving a smug smile at the cat, who I now knew as Clarence.

"Now you're in trouble." I said as I crossed my arms, but Clarence only gave a mean smile of his own.

"Nope. My dad wont' care. As he once said, "What you call a dog with no brain… a DOG!" And that means pathetic balding monkeys related to dogs!" Clarence spat in my face right after that before walking away, the other two cats letting the Rottweiler go before we all rushed over to Chris.

"Christopher, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" The Rottweiler said as my human cousin in question stood up, sniffling as we got a better look at the scratches on his face.

"...I'm not gonna let that jerk get away with this, Chris. I promise." I told him before pulling him into a hug to cheer him up.


Cody's POV

I had just taken Chris, Duchess and Damsel home after their first day of Preschool.

And after I had heard what had happened to Chris, I was beyond pissed. Our other neighbour making snide comments about my family and dogs in general is one thing, but letting his own son get away with assaulting any one of my family is a new low even for him.

"Open the damn door, Constantine, I know you're in there!" I yelled out, not in the mood for any games that cat had planned for me. I was getting answers from him today, and NOT TOMORROW.

"Would you keep it down?! I do not appreciate you disturbing the balance of Miaow!" I heard the aggravated voice of the feline in question as I glared up to see him snarling down at me from an open front window.

"Well I don't appreciate your son attacking Christopher for no reason!" I yelled back, Constantine's brow furrowed in response.

"How typical that a human that lives with flea-bitten mutts would accuse my offspring of insinuating violence against yours! Leave my property or I'm calling Officer Pearl!" Constantine then went back inside and slammed the window shut as I raised a leg with the intention of kicking the door down and confronting Constantine and his vicious son myself.

"Cody, babe. Leave it… It'll only make things worse." Dixie said to me as she held me back.

She was right. What was barging into Constantine's home going to solve?

I sighed as we both stepped into our house to see Christopher sitting at the bottom of the staircase with a miserable look on his face.

Dixie then glanced at me with an expression saying that she had an idea before walking over to Christopher and kneeling down to her.

"Chris, sweetie? We heard you made a new friend at Preschool. Do you know her name?" Dixie asked Christopher as he responded by looking up at her.

"Rachel." was all he responded with.

"That's a lovely name… I was thinking. How does a playdate with her sound?" Dixie then offered, Chris immediately lit up at the sound of that.

"R-Really?!"

"Mhm! You, Duchess, Damsel and Rachel playing together tomorrow at the park!" My wife promised when we all suddenly heard a few rumbles.

"Trigger word!" The all-too familiar voice of Dolly rang out as seconds later, I was literally dog-piled by a few of my siblings which earned a laugh from Dixie and Chris.


A/N: Sincere apologies for not updating. Trying to get any motivation to continue any of these stories is proving to be a really hard challenge, especially with the holidays coming up. I'm glad I was able to post at least one new chapter before my Christmas break.

Once the new year rolls around, I'll try to update a little more frequently.