"There you are, you little brat! where have you been!?" James demanded angrily in his cold voice, a sneer on his smashed up face, thick red blood running down the bottom of his face, when he opened his mouth he had no teeth.

"J-Just out, Sir..." Sherman responded, fidgeting where he stood, his school clothes now dirty, his hand bleeding heavily, thorns imbedded in his palm. Fear gripped his whole body. James grabbed his arm and started to pull him towards a shack like house.

"Mr. Peabody!" He cried trying to get to his father, but when he turned to dog wasn't there. He was alone.

"C'mon!" James grunted, dragging Sherman more towards the house. Sherman tried to get away but just couldn't get out of this man's iron grip.

"Mr. Peabody!" Sherman screamed again, but the dog still wasn't there. Sherman yelped when James grabbed his shoulders and started to shake him.

"Wake up! That dog isn't going to save you this time! Wake up, Sherman! Wake up! Sherman! Sher-

"-Man! Wake up, Sherman! Sherman!"

SLAP

Sherman jumped and looked around, his cheek stinging. He rubbed it and looked up at Penny, she had her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed.

"Jeez, Sherman! Talk about dead asleep. Class got let in ten minutes ago, we made it all the way back to the class room before anyone even realized you were missing! The whole room was freaking out by the time I left to go and find you!" She yelled at him. Sherman said nothing, he just licked his, very, dry lips, his hand still on his cheek where she had slapped him.

"Sorry about hitting you, you wouldn't wake up! I was yelling your name and everything!" She explained, he could only nod at her, she grabbed his hand and pulled him up to his feet.

"Are you ok?" She asked him as he dusted off the back of his pants, getting the dirt and grass off.

"Yeah, I'm fine...do me a favor?" He asked her, she nodded.

"What?"

"Don't tell, Mr. Peabody about this."

"You don't have to worry about me telling him, you do have to worry about Principal Purdy telling him though."

Sherman groaned, the last thing he needed was another parent, principal meeting between those two. Penny giggled at him, he just looked at her, a bemused look on his face.

"You got a little sun burnt...a lot sun burnt." She told him. At first he didn't understand it, his arms and legs felt fine, he soon found out when she pinched his cheek.

"Ow!" He cried out and slapped her hand away.

"Oh boy, good luck explaining that one to Mr. Peabody." Penny snickered.

"Ahem." They both looked up to the school doors, principal Purdy was standing there, arms crossed, a very sour expression on his face. All he had to do was gesture for the two to come forward with his index finger and they did so.

"Thank you, Ms. Peterson, for finding Sherman, Ms. Peterson you may return to class, Sherman follow me." He said, they both nodded, Penny gave Sherman a sympathetic look before returning to class. Sherman, did as he was told and followed the principal. Luckily, his office wasn't too far from the recess yard. They walked inside, Sherman took his respected seat across from Principal Purdy.

"Mr. Sherman, I have to say, I never figured that you would be one to skip class-"

"But I didn't, Principal Purdy, please understand, I-I was tired, I fell asleep under the tree. Ask Penny, she had to wake me!" Sherman said quickly.

"Be that as it may, Sherman, school is not a place for sleeping, I have inform your father of this matter." Purdy reached over to his phone.

"No! Please!" Before Sherman knew it, he had jumped from his seat and placed his hands on top of Purdy's stopping the principal from picking up the phone. "Please...He has enough to worry about, can't we over look it? I swear, I promise, this will never happen again." Sherman said, as he slowly took his hands off of Purdy's.

"I don't know..." Principal Purdy said to the boy, Sherman wished he didn't have to pull this card out but seeing no other way out of it, Sherman spoke.

"Would it help if I said that tomorrow is my birthday?"

The moment he heard the sigh of defeat from the principal, Sherman smiled broadly.

"Alright, I will leave you with a warning. But, if this happens again, I will inform your father on this. Deal?"

"Deal."

-Transition-

"So Sherman, how was school?" Peabody asked the boy as Sherman strapped himself in to the sidecar.

"It was fine."

"Why is your face red?" Peabody asked, instantly noting Sherman's sun burnt face. Sherman said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Played too hard at recess."

"Hm...alright."

Sherman blinked, surprised he even got away with it. Mr. Peabody took off, Sherman hummed slightly, unknown of the thoughts going though his father's mind.

'Sherman, what is going on in your mind? Why are you lying? What aren't you telling me? Do you not trust me anymore?...' Peabody thought with a frown on his face.

Purdy had indeed called the dog about what happened with Sherman, despite the deal him and Sherman had made. Peabody couldn't help but sigh at this, he was sure that Sherman will tell him eventually, still, he couldn't help but worry, was Sherman not getting enough sleep at night? Was he not sleeping in general? He always seemed so happy and chipper as of late...

Was it all a ruse?

Was Sherman fooling Peabody into thinking that he was happy when really he's not?

More importantly, was the therapist and officer Barely right? would sleeping pills be the best thing for his child? Peabody shook his head. No! NO! Sherman did not need medication! How could he think such ludicrous thoughts? Like he told both the therapist and officer Barely, pills will only mask Sherman's problem, it will not solve it! No. Sherman was fine, he always said he was fine. But, even Peabody knew, that saying you're fine doesn't mean your fine...in a lot of cases, however, fine never really meant fine..

I'm not gonna lie, I took the first two lines directly from the pilot episode of the original TV show. I wander, did anyone else see that I did that?