Chapter 12 Dismissal
Wendy watched the kids filter out of the classroom with her tail between her legs. Her heart was pumping like a machine gun, her breath was as fast as a bullet. She thought back to the food fight earlier that day. The chaotic, discordant flinging of food and drink reminded her of how monkeys like to fling their poop at one another. The screeching, shrieking, and overall yelling from before didn't help to ease Wendy's fear.
Nor did it help to get rid of her shame. Word of this was no doubt going to get to Bowser. Wendy felt her heart sink and her face drop as she visualized the disappointment on his face that was guaranteed to greet her. She had already disappointed him once. She didn't want to do it again.
"Hey," Morton said to his hyperventilating sister. "Are you okay?"
Morton placed his hand on Wendy's shoulder. His touch helped to bring her out of her fears, at least for the time being. She looked up into his caring eyes.
"Please don't tell Bowser about this," she whispered.
"What? The food fight?" Morton asked. Wendy's head bobbed up and down, causing Larry to snicker from across the room.
"I don't see anyway that we can't tell him!" he said. "I mean, that thing was crazy! If it wasn't for the principal stepping in, we would be drowning in food!"
Wendy studied the room. Crunched up pretzels laid around the carpet like muddy footprints. Applesauce drenched the floor, peanut butter crackers stuck to the walls and cubbies. Wendy sighed.
"I think we're already drowning in food," she said sullenly.
"Well, yeah sure, if you want to get technical," Larry said as he started to make his way over to the desk. Wendy noticed that he stepped in chocolate pudding as he did so. "But everyone knows that technicalities are for losers anyway!"
Wendy glared at her brother. She could taste the sour, unpleasant flavor of bile in her throat.
"What? So now I'm a loser?"
"What? No, I didn't say that! Don't put words in my mouth..."
Wendy stood up, slamming her fist down on the desk as she did so.
"I bet that you're really happy this food fight happened! I bet that you're thrilled that I'm going to receive an even greater punishment!"
Larry looked at Wendy in confusion and concern. Morton took a step toward his sister.
"Wendy..." he said softly. Wendy felt pent up tears start to slither down her cheeks.
"Don't, Morton," she said as she wiped her nose. "There's no point." She started making her way toward the supply closet. "I just want to clean up this mess so I can have some time to myself."
Larry and Morton exchanged a look with one another before also making their way toward the closet.
...
Lemmy sighed. He was currently sitting on a bench right in front of the school's entrance. The sky was gray and smoggy, the city was quiet as a mouse. This allowed Lemmy to spend time alone with his thoughts.
And boy, did he have a lot of thoughts. Iggy didn't have any right to take over like he did! Sure, he did have nine college majors. Sure, one of them just so happened to be in biology. But...this was supposed to be Lemmy's time to shine.
Lemmy shook his head. Maybe Iggy was right to take over the class. After all, Lemmy had never done anything like this before. Perhaps Iggy believed that he wouldn't do a good job. Perhaps...Lemmy would have done a horrible job. With this thought in mind, Lemmy sunk deeper into the bench. He put his head in his hands and stared at the ground, as if it held the answers that would lift Lemmy out of his turmoil.
In the distance, the school bell rang. The doors opened, and students started to make their way toward the buses. Lemmy watched them go. he recognized a few of them from the Biology class. They were laughing, obviously happy. Lemmy felt his heart constrict as he questioned if their joy had anything to do with Iggy's teaching.
"Woo!" Lemmy heard Iggy's voice exclaim. He turned and saw his brother approaching the bench. "Man, that was so fulfilling! I think the students really appreciated what I had to say!"
Despite himself, Lemmy forced on a smile.
"That's great, Iggy," he said softly. Iggy smiled.
"I am appreciative of your compliment, Lemmy. Now, what do you say we jump in our Koopa Clown Cars and go back to the castle?"
Lemmy bit his lip and stood up.
"Sure. Lead the way."
...
Celia paced slowly in front of the door as she waited for Ludwig's return. This day was...definitely a bad one. She didn't know if it could be labeled as the worst day ever, but it was definitely in the top ten. She was just thankful that the power had managed to be fixed in the end, otherwise the day could be considered a true disaster. Just as Celia was thinking this, Ludwig came in through the classroom door. He looked...extremely hurt, like one of his limbs had just been ripped off. He was doing a deep breathing exercise as Celia cast him a smile.
"Hey," she said gently. "Are you alright?"
"I'm...doing better," Ludwig replied. He turned away from her, continuing to take deep breaths as he did so.
"Well, that's good at least," Celia said. She snickered and placed her hands on her hips. "I don't think this is the best day for anyone's first day of teaching."
That caused Ludwig to stop with his deep breathing. Even with his back turned toward her, Celia could see that his right eye was starting to twitch.
"T...teaching! That's what he was doing?" He turned back to the concerned hybrid. "How do you screw up basic notation? A child could teach that! Heck..." He picked up the container of dog poop that Celia had given to Roy off the floor. "This could teach that!"
Celia noticed that blue flames were starting to surround Ludwig's left hand, causing her to become frightened.
"Okkaay...you're starting to heat up again, so you might want to calm down."
Ludwig placed the container of dog poop down. He took another deep breath, and the flames receded.
"Sorry," he said with a sullen tone. "I just don't understand how someone can be so...disrespectful toward an amazing, beautiful artform such as music."
Celia, admittedly, felt her curiosity pique up.
"Are you saying that as a critic or as an artist?"
"Neither. I'm saying it as a person. I owe everything I am to music. If it weren't for music then...I wouldn't even be here right now."
Celia felt her heart skip a beat. Perhaps it was just because of the way he said it, but Celia got a feeling he wasn't just talking about in the classroom. Right before she coulod respond, Roy came over with a happy grin.
"Hey!" he exclaimed. Celia turned toward him, returning his grin.
"Hey, Baby," she said. Roy took hold of her hands.
"So, all things considered, how do you think I did?"
Celia wanted to tell him the truth, but also didn't want to upset him. So, in the end, she let out a sigh and smiled.
"You did great, Roy."
Ludwig let out a sarcastic laugh.
"Haha, yeah!" Then, in a mocking, nasally tone, he said: "You did great, Roy."
With that, Ludwig made his way out of the classroom with Roy and Celia following a few feet behind.
