Chapter 8: Detention

It had been a few weeks since Sly and Bentley had framed the school bully. It was now early January, which meant that the short break was over and classes were starting again. Which meant that Sly would once again begin thinking up petty schemes and different ways to skip classes. Sly had been skipping his Science class, choosing instead to sleep the rest of the morning hidden behind a dumpster.

Sly awoke with a start as the intercom came on and Mr. Mendez's voice boomed out. "Sly Cooper, come to my office. Now." He didn't seem angry or aggravated, but Sly knew that he would be if he arrived late. Sly made his way to Mr. Mendez's office as slowly as possible.

Sly casually walked into the office and flopped down one of the cushy chairs in the room. "Not bad, sir. Quite a nice little den you have here." He then rudely placed his feet up on Mr. Mendez's desk. "So, what was it you wanted?" He smirked as Mr. Mendez's fierce glare fell upon him. If looks could kill, Sly would have dropped dead.

"First of all," Mr. Mendez muttered angrily through clenched teeth, "I'd really appreciate it if you would be so kind as to GET YOUR DIRTY FEET OFF OF MY DESK!!!"

"What was that? I wasn't paying attention."

Mr. Mendez's left eye twitched. Trying his best to stay calm, he stood and walked towards the door behind his desk, leading to the second part of his office. "Follow me," he muttered. He stopped at the door and waited for Sly.

"Hold up a minute," Sly said as he approached Mr. Mendez. "I couldn't help but notice that you're wearing a very expensive suit. Special occasion?"

Mr. Mendez simply smirked at him. "I'm a very rich man, little boy. I can afford anything, especially fancy suits. Ha ha ha!" Mr. Mendez was hoping that by rubbing the fact that he was very rich in Sly's face, he would anger him.

It didn't.

"I'm guessing you've got a hot date for the night. He he he, nice one, old man. You've still got it," Sly stated as he flicked the suit's tie.

"Wha? I'm married with two kids!"

"Say what now? You married two kids?" He leaned in close to Mr. Mendez and whispered, "Is that legal?"

Mr. Mendez almost slapped himself. "Ugh. I'm married and I have two kids, you nitwit!"

"Oh, I see. So, you're taking your wife out to dinner, is that it?"

"Actually, I'm taking her sister out in celebration of-"

"Wait, what!?" Sly actually looked shocked. "You're married and have two kids, but you're taking your wife's sister out on a date!? You've got some balls, I'll give you that."

"You idiot," Mr. Mendez yelled. "Let me finish what I was saying before you jump to bold conclusions! As I was saying, both my wife and I are taking her to dinner in celebration of her upcoming wedding." Mr. Mendez took a few sips from the mug of steaming coffee he was holding with both hands. "'Bout time she got married too. That old bat has been engaged for over fifteen years."

"Sounds like you and her don't get along very well,' Sly observed.

"Well, of course not! That hag has hated me ever since I married Darleen. Every single time she comes over to out house she has to constantly scream and bi-" A look of great annoyance crossed Mr. Mendez's face. "Why am I discussing this with you!? Get in there," he yelled as he threw the door open.

The office looked a little more different from the other one. It was completely dark except for a single lit lamp that sat on a large, oak desk. The desk was littered with papers of various sorts and it had a few pencils laying on it; Sly noted that those items were all that were on the desk. They were the only items in the whole room. The walls and floor were completely bare; not a single poster or rug. "And so I enter the dragon's den," Sly muttered to himself.

"You say something, Cooper?"

"Not a thing."

"Very well, then." Mr. Mendez sat down in a brown leather chair on the other side of the desk. A thick cloud of dust settled in the air, causing both Sly and Mr. Mendez to have a coughing fit. Afterwards, Mr. Mendez motioned for Sly to sit in the other chair. Once again, they both suffered another coughing fit. "Now, I suppose you know why I called you here?" Mr. Mendez glared at Sly.

Sly was currently ramming his index finger into his left ear in an attempt to clean it. He took his finger out and wiped it on the chair. "Huh?"

Mr. Mendez sighed deeply in annoyance and took off his glasses as he began rubbing his eyes, trying to ease the pain of a growing head ache. He then took out one of the sheets of paper laying on the desk. This, unfortunately, caused a bunch of dust to be lifted into the air, once again bringing them into coughing fits.

"Good grief, Mr. Mendez," Sly said between coughs. "Don't you ever clean this place?"

Mr. Mendez let out one last mighty cough that shook the chair he was setting in. "I tell the stupid janitor to clean it everyday. I'm about ready to fire that lazy bum. Anyway," he said as he began writing on the yellow sheet of paper, "I've called you hear in order to give you this." He handed Sly the piece of paper. "You have received detention for that little food fight you start yesterday."

"Oh c'mon, even you have to admit that was funny."

"I was hit in the face with hot chili," Mr. Mendez roared. "That whole mess was absolutely disgusting!"

"Are you talking about that food fight or are you looking at your floor?"

"You imbecile," Mr. Mendez muttered. 'The detention room is in room 34. You will go there tomarrow. It lasts for approximately eight hours. Now get out of here and go to class. And don't you even think of going back to that dumpster."

"How did you know about tha-"

"I can see the dumpster you were sleeping behind through my office window. Now, get out!"

Defeated, Sly sighed deeply and slid off of the chair hastily, only to cause both him and Mr. Mendez to suffer through another coughing fit.

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Author Note: Next chapter, Murray finally joins the gang. Read and review, please.