Chapter 9: Second Day
The next day had arrived, and it was another day of school. Diddy was coming to Kong Kollege and, as he always did, he tried to sneak into some bushes so as not to be seen by the quartet of bully children... Although on occasions like this, it didn't turn out so well.
"Here you are, lizard!" Jemky exclaimed, catching him by surprise and knocking him to the ground.
"Dumb monkey!" Mandrew added, lunging at him.
Immediately, Diddy tried to grab their arms to stop them, but Rocky and Melenky stopped him.
"No, no, you don't see our faces, you silly monkey!" Rocky said, holding him down.
Diddy tried to get up, but the four of them continued to push and slap him so continuously that he was blocking himself again to act defensively.
"Hey!" exclaimed another voice, causing everyone to stop instantly. "What are you doing to Diddy?!"
As they looked, everyone realized that it was Dixie, who had arrived just as they were attacking Diddy. The four bully children didn't know what to say at first, but within seconds, they looked at her in a threatening way as well.
"You!" Mandrew exclaimed, pointing to her and heading towards her along the group. "You owe us one, dwarf!"
"It seems to me that with you we have a fight to end, don't we, girl?!" Jemky added in the same way.
"No one makes fun of us!" Melenky added.
"Oh, yeah?!" Dixie replied in a mocking tone. "Well, I don't have any problem with you."
"Huh, in that tone are you coming to talk to us, girl?" said Rocky, looking at her threateningly. "Nobody talks to us like that, you understand, silly little monkey?"
"And neither will I, no one is going to talk to me like that," replied Dixie, looking at them in the same way. "And if you want to fight, well-"
"Hey, well, wait a moment," Diddy interrupted, standing in front of Dixie and trying to pluck up the courage. "L-look, it seems to me that now is not a time to start fighting like that, so-"
"Shut up, you lizard monkey!" Jemky interrupted, pushing and slapping him with the group.
"No! Leave him, lice kids!" Dixie exclaimed, pushing the four of them.
"Huh, do you also want your due?!" Melenky said, grabbing her by the hair tightly.
"Girl with corn hair!" Mandrew added in the same way.
Instantly, Dixie pulled both of their manes, before pushing them hard away.
"First learn to comb your hair, before messing with mine!" Dixie replied.
"Stupid, don't mess with Dixie!" Diddy exclaimed, slapping them too.
"Huh! So, now you two want to challenge us, right?!" Rocky replied, trying to pounce on Diddy and Dixie.
"It's over!" Jemky added in the same way. "Now you're going to see! Pair of dwarves!"
Dixie immediately acted defensively and gave Jemky and Rocky another push. Mandrew was going to attack her, but Diddy got in his way, being interrupted later by a few slapping from Melenky, but Dixie also intervened. Suddenly, a new confrontation had been set up between the quartet with Diddy and Dixie. For her part, Dixie showed no fear in confronting those bully children and, this time... Diddy wasn't lagging behind, mostly for helping Dixie and trying to protect her on certain occasions; he seemed to have taken a little more courage.
"Miserable monkey!" said Jemky, knocking and holding him down to the ground, but Diddy slapped him in the face to push him away. "Hey!"
"Idiot oaf!" Melenky told Diddy, lunging at him, but then received a push from Dixie.
"Nosy girl!" Mandrew said to Dixie, pushing her, but she grabbed his arm tightly.
Suddenly, Dixie made a spinning motion with her hair, pushing the four of them away suddenly and even managing to pause the fight for a while.
"How the heck do you do that?!" Melenky asked, looking at her strangely as he got up.
"No way!" Mandrew exclaimed again, going against her. "Don't even think that with your silly hair you're going to-"
"Wait, wait, silence!" Rocky interrupted them all and looked away. "There comes Wrinkly!"
Instantly, the other three kids stood still, before gathering with Rocky and starting to walk towards the schoolyard, as if nothing happened.
A while later, Wrinkly appeared on the way and spotted Diddy and Dixie in the distance, whom she immediately greeted.
Diddy and Dixie also headed towards the classroom, where they were reunited with the four bully children, who gave them withering glances from the side.
"Good morning, little ones!" Wrinkly said as she greeted several of her students. "Let's start class, come on."
While everyone was in their respective positions, the four bully children didn't stop making warning signs and threatening Diddy and Dixie with their eyes, in turn that the two, especially Dixie, returned the same gestures.
The class continued normally during the day, where Wrinkly had them do exercises from her lessons to the children. For her part, Dixie had a hard time keeping up with the lessons, but Wrinkly was willing to help her up and catch her up, as was Diddy, who also lent her a hand.
Later, it was break hours, so everyone went out into the yard and began to gather in their respective groups.
"Were you able to do today's exercise well?" Diddy asked Dixie as they ate their lunches.
"At least a little better than yesterday," Dixie replied. "Although I may need to understand the second step better."
"It's not that complicated once you understand it," Diddy added, smiling, before finishing his lunch. Later, he got up. "I'll be right back; I must go and present the other homework to Wrinkly."
"Okay, Diddy," she replied.
Dixie finished taking her lunch and picked it up. Then, she also got up and started walking around the schoolyard to distract herself for a while.
Suddenly, as she was walking and looking into a corner, she heard someone coming walking near her. Turning around, she took on a look of instant strangeness, and even placed herself in a fighting position if necessary.
"How are you, Dixie?" Jemky said, greeting her as he walked beside her. "Hey, don't worry, I didn't come to fight now in case you think about it," he added with a little laugh.
"Uh, and do you need anything?" asked Dixie, still looking at him suspiciously.
"Well... I was just coming to greet you," Jemky replied, smiling at her. "By the way, I didn't know you fought so well... I see that you are very strong. How did you learn to do those movements with your hair?"
"I've always done them," Dixie replied with a short-forced smile. "It's from birth."
"I see, it seems that it's very useful to you... And it looks great to you," he added, winking at her and still smiling.
"Uhh, yes… Thank you," Dixie replied, still with a forced smile, and then looking away. "And well, if you'll excuse me... right now I had to talk to Mrs. Wrinkly about something important," she added as an excuse, before pulling away and leaving.
"Really? What happened?" Jemky asked her as if he was trying to keep talking to her.
"It's just a big deal," Dixie added, as if she was dodging him and then just leaving.
Within seconds, Dixie only retreated at a brisk pace heading towards the classroom. Meanwhile, Jemky stared at her with a look of strangeness, before shrugging his shoulders.
"You're already trying to flirt with that girl," Melenky said, appearing along with Rocky.
"Well, I have to try it, or not?" Jemky replied with a shrug.
"If girls don't like you like they used to," Rocky added with a few small laughs.
"Of course yes, and don't be envious," Jemky replied with a mocking tone.
"And am I going to envy you?" Rocky said wryly. "Besides, that girl is also like that silly monkey, and also she is always trying to challenge us; we're not going to allow ourselves to be dominated by her or have compassion."
Later, the class continued until it was noon, where everyone would go home. As Diddy and Dixie were about to leave, Wrinkly spoke to them.
"Hey, Diddy, I think I'll need you to help Dixie catch up," Wrinkly said. "Could it be that you can meet during this week? The following weeks will be some important lessons."
"Of course, no problem," Diddy replied, smiling. "In fact, we met yesterday."
"Oh, that's very good," Wrinkly replied. "I see that you are good friends. So, Dixie has to be prepared for next week's lessons."
"Okay, Mrs. Wrinkly," Dixie replied, cheerful.
Eventually, Wrinkly left, so Diddy and Dixie continued on their way. Both were going to continue calmly... although Diddy remembered something to watch out for, especially for Dixie.
"We'll go this way. Come on," Diddy whispered to Dixie, pointing to a narrow path.
The two began to walk stealthily and watched that none of the bully children walked nearly. But even though they had taken a different route, it didn't take that long for those four children to suddenly appear to them.
"Where do you think you're going, you pair of dwarves?!" Rocky told them, appearing with the group.
Resisting the urge to fight back, Diddy grabbed Dixie's arm and tried to veer off the way, but those kids gave them no time to escape and got in their way.
"You don't move from here!" Jemky told them as they held them both tightly.
"No, get away!" Diddy replied as he struggled with Dixie to free himself from the four kids.
"Stupid pair of pathetic monkeys!" Melenky exclaimed as they began to slap them.
Diddy and Dixie were not far behind and tried as they could to return the hitting to the four, this time having more success in pushing them away, and where Dixie ended with a spinning movement with her hair that blocked their view, and they could move away from them.
"Do you want to fight?!" Dixie said, waving her fists.
"We don't have any problem!" Mandrew replied before heading towards them along the group.
Immediately, Diddy and Dixie got into fighting position and began to resist the bully quartet and even return the attacks. In the middle of the conflict, Jemky gave Diddy a strong slap, but he returned it almost instantly, although winning another from Mandrew and Melenky.
"What very high have you put on, or not, monkey?!" Mandrew said in a threatening tone, before raising his fist to hit him. "Now abstain you-"
But suddenly, Dixie made another attack with her hair that sent those children away in one fell swoop.
"Ugh! Little beast with corn hair!" Mandrew exclaimed, rising.
"Fight well and stop wearing your ugly hair!" Melenky added in the same way.
"Ugly your disheveled manes!" Dixie replied, furious. "Learn to comb your hair!"
"I do comb my hair, for your information!" Rocky replied.
"Me too!" Jemky added. "It's Mandrew and Melenky who are disheveled."
"Hey!" replied Mandrew and Melenky.
"Anyway!" Rocky interrupted, bumping his fists and approaching Diddy and Dixie, looking at them threateningly. "It seems to me that you two-"
Before long, Dixie pushed him away again with a spinning movement with her hair, causing the rest of the group to rush back to attack them. Both Diddy and Dixie set out to fight back and respond to the attacks of the bad boys, although this time, Dixie gave them more attacks with her hair and strong pushes on several occasions, which was even leaving less opportunity for the four of them to perform an attack... And they even seemed to be getting tired.
"Wait, wait, wait!" exclaimed Jemky amid Dixie's attacks. "Stop!"
"Okay, okay, stop!" Rocky added in the same way as covering himself with his arms.
Dixie paused for a while as the four of them seemed to be panting a little tiredly, which implied that they were giving up on wanting to continue. Even, like the day before, they were sitting for a while on the floor until little by little they were manifesting their exhaustion.
"I... I can't anymore," Melenky said, leaning back on the floor.
"Me neither," Rocky added in the same way.
"Hey, but why?!" Jemky said to his group showing all tired, but at the same time, as if he didn't want to give up either. "We still have to continue!"
"Well, speak for you this time," Mandrew added with a shrug. "What's more, I think we should go to lunch now."
"No, why are you stopping?!" Jemky replied, still standing. "Let's keep fighting with those dwarf monkeys!"
Suddenly, the four of them had started a discussion, and they even seemed to have been distracted... which gave some advantage to Dixie and Diddy, where the latter beckoned her to simply leave from that area. Both began to walk stealthily until they took a good distance with the quartet, and then accelerated their steps until they entered the trees.
"Look, and those two escape!" Jemky was heard shouting in the distance.
Diddy and Dixie climbed up some trees and hid among the branches to lose sight of the four. They both heard the quartet nearby, although they seemed to have lost them.
"Let's go," Diddy whispered to Dixie.
When both of them were already farther away from the area, neither of the four could be heard anymore, so now they two could be calmer and smiled at each other.
"Those fools were left behind," Dixie said with a victorious smile.
"And they seem to get tired just like yesterday," Diddy added in the same way. "I've never seen them like this, really."
"They had to get tired at some point... And hey, today you looked more confident to face them, you did very well," she added, smiling in amazement.
"R-really?" Diddy asked in confusion.
"Yes, that is, today I saw that you were not afraid of them, you even counterattacked them all the time. You had more courage!"
"Hey, not like that either," Diddy replied with a slight laugh. "I mean... It's not that I wasn't afraid of them, I just wanted to stop them."
"Well, it's not so much that you're not afraid of them, I was too, I admit, but this time you had more courage to face them... And that's what you can do to stop idiot kids like them, because that's what they want to achieve: just annoy someone who seems weaker and helpless than them, but when you answer them, deep down they get scared. Well, it's not always like that, but most of the time it is."
"I see... Wow, maybe that's true."
"And that's what you can do so you don't have to put up with them so much," Dixie said, smiling firmly. "And well, I know you don't want to do that, but... another way to fix this situation is to tell Donkey and-" she added before getting a serious look from him. "Okay, maybe you're not ready, but consider it too."
"I don't know yet," Diddy replied, sighing and shrugging. "I wouldn't want a scandal to be made later... Anyway, and by the way, will we meet today too?"
"Of course," Dixie replied. "I'll wait for you this afternoon."
"Well, then see you later, Dixie."
"Okay, Diddy. See you later," Dixie said goodbye, before Diddy followed suit.
Then, both went their own way to their respective homes. For some reason, Diddy had noticed that this time he didn't feel so scared while he was returning home from school, in fact... he felt in a better frame of mind remembering what Dixie had told him about being able to face those four bully children. Suddenly, he turned to look at her in the distance... and smiled for a few seconds.
In the afternoon of that same day, Diddy had arrived back at Dixie's house, as he would continue to help her catch up on school lessons.
At the moment he arrived, Dixie and company received him the same as the day before and, in the same way, Tiny and Kiddy wanted to play with Diddy and Dixie, although they promised to do so after they finished. Diddy and Dixie headed to the same corner outside, where they began to take their belongings to start with.
"Were you able to understand today's lesson better, Dixie?" Diddy asked her as he rummaged through some sheets.
"I think so, I was even able to advance today's homework," Dixie replied, smiling. "I just had to make sure Kiddy didn't play with my notebook or my homework."
"Wow, he may be like a younger brother," Diddy said with a little laugh.
"He's practically my younger brother," Dixie added in the same way. "The four of us have already considered ourselves siblings, in fact."
"How does it feel to have siblings and live with them?" Diddy asked curiously.
"Well, what could I tell you? They have been my company in these difficult times and we have stuck together," Dixie replied, smiling at first, before getting serious and shrugging. "Although of course, we also have fights and arguments almost every day," she added, laughing a little.
"That sounds very changeable," Diddy commented, smiling with some confusion.
"You haven't had any siblings, Diddy?" asked Dixie. "Or something like a sibling?"
"No, it was always just me. Although sure, I could say that Donkey is sometimes like an older brother, and other times like a father."
"All your life have you lived alone with him?"
"Not exactly. I lived with my parents until I was four, then I stayed with Donkey since he was always very close to me, and then he adopted me after my parents... didn't come back anymore."
"What? Really?" Dixie said, looking astonished. "That is, your parents... are gone?"
"Yes, they... you know, they're not here anymore," Diddy replied, changing to a sad expression, though trying not to be at the time. "Although, well, that's a delicate issue. But yes, since I was a little child, I have lived with Donkey."
"Wow, it's almost like how it happened to me. Tiny and I also stayed with our aunt and uncle after our parents left, although... they also left this world afterwards," Dixie added in the same way. "Uh, but I understand, those are also sensitive issues."
"Yes, I know... I don't think now is to talk about this," Diddy added with a short and light smile.
"Hey, and then, if Donkey is your uncle, does that mean Candy is going to be your aunt one day?"
"I guess so, but that's when they get married," Diddy replied, smiling again. "Although, I don't think they will marry for now so soon."
"By the way, I've finished this part, what's next?" Dixie asked as she finished writing on her sheet.
"Well, here comes a very long step, so don't lose focus," he added, pointing to the sheet.
"But is it very difficult or not?"
"Well, if you memorize it well, it won't be," Diddy replied with a forced smile. "But don't worry, it's not so difficult either."
Then, Diddy began explaining the day's homework to Dixie, in addition to other topics they had seen in class. Between times, both also talked about some random topic they mentioned or even joked about some school matter.
But there was something that they both had not realized, and was that Tiny, Kiddy and Chunky were again behind the window spying on them in the distance, where between the three of them they made gestures and pointed at them, while laughing a little.
"This is getting interesting," Chunky said, smiling with his eyes raised.
"Oh, look at them," Tiny added in a tender tone. "They would be really perfect."
Later, Diddy and Dixie were returning to the house, where they had been laughing a little or joking between the two... which earned several looks of suspicion from Tiny and company.
When they met with the other young kongs, they started playing for a while until it was dark. And, at the time of leaving, Dixie went to accompany Diddy to the outside of the house.
"See you tomorrow, Diddy," Dixie said as she said goodbye. "And thank you for helping me today as well."
"It's nothing, Dixie. Whenever you want, don't hesitate to ask me for help," Diddy replied, smiling. "See you."
With that said, Diddy left for his home. When suddenly, he turned one last time to look at her, to which Dixie smiled and made another goodbye gesture from the distance. Diddy didn't know why, but he was also smiling on the way home and especially... he had been thinking about the moments with Dixie.
At night, Donkey and Diddy were in their living room watching television. Donkey was on the couch, while Diddy was on his hanging tire. They both watched a comedy show that they laughed out loud.
"Hey, that was really good," Diddy said as he finished watching the show. "At least it was much better than yesterday's chapter."
"It's normal, they always do much better the next episode," Donkey replied, turning off the TV, before taking a break. "And how did it go today, little buddy?"
"Well, all right there," Diddy replied, swinging on his back on the tire. "At Dixie's house it was the same as yesterday, and it seems that she is also doing well in school."
Suddenly, Donkey was silent for a while and looked at Diddy with a small smile and with some curiosity too... As if something was in his mind after knowing enough of his nephew's expressions.
"Hey, Diddy, and by the way," Donkey said later, "there is one thing I wanted to ask you."
"Huh? What is it?" Diddy replied, still distracted on his tire.
"What do you think about... Dixie?" he asked, smiling and looking at him sideways.
"Dixie? Well... she's a good friend," Diddy replied somewhat confused. "Why?"
"Well, I don't know how you take this, but... lately you hang out with her, play with her, laugh with her."
"Uh, we're friends, or what do you mean?" Diddy asked with a shrug. Suddenly, Donkey gave him a playful look until, within seconds, Diddy seemed to grasp the question. "Hey! Do you think that…"
"What if I tell you that's what you think I'm thinking?" Donkey said with a small laugh.
"Oh, no, no, no, not that, what are you thinking?!" Diddy replied, standing up firmly.
"Oh, come on, little buddy," Donkey exclaimed with the same playful look. "What's wrong?"
"Hey, no, Donkey! I wouldn't see her that way," Diddy replied, turning around.
"Hmm, are you sure?" asked Donkey, crossing his arms and looking at him suspiciously. "Because, do you know something else? I have noticed you are very happy these days; I didn't see you so much like that for going to classes."
"So can't I be happy about it?" Diddy asked, looking at him strangely.
"I'm just asking," Donkey said, shrugging and giving a sideways look. "And just this week Dixie went into school and you've been talking about her a lot."
"Oh, I already told you that we are friends, nothing more!" Diddy replied.
"But what if I told you, that's how I started with Candy?" said Donkey, looking up. "Being friends."
"Well, with Dixie we'll only be friends!"
"Oh, come on, Diddy, admit it!" he insisted, giving him a little push. "By any chance there is something beyond?"
"No and no!" Diddy replied more firmly. "And I don't know what this comes to, Donkey!"
Apparently, Donkey didn't want to give up on getting the information out of Diddy... In fact, he seemed to have learned of a recent detail, so he went to Diddy's backpack and began to rummage through it, then extracted one of the notebooks he had there.
"Well... And what do you tell me about this?" Donkey showed a page from Diddy's notebook, where 'by chance' was Dixie's name written on a heart.
Instantly, Diddy opened his eyes to the fullest, froze, and didn't know what to do at that moment... Actually, he had written it himself recently.
"W-what?!" Diddy exclaimed, immediately getting down to take Donkey's notebook and close it. "Hey, what do you do by rummaging through my stuff in the first place?!" he asked him to try to divert the topic.
"Rather, next time don't fall asleep on the table over your open notebooks," Donkey said in a mocking tone. "Much less if you were drawing little hearts."
"Uhh... No, no, no, but that's not what you think, Donkey! I write the names of my friends like this, look," Diddy said, now nervously, opening the notebook and rummaging through other pages. "Oh, wow, I seem to have forgotten to write the rest of the names. Look, it's getting late and I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep. See you tomorrow, Donkey!" he added quickly as he made his way to his room.
"Ohh, how tender!" Donkey said in a tone that was both tender and mocking. "My little buddy is in lov-"
"I said no! See you tomorrow!" Diddy interrupted, closing the door immediately.
"They grow so fast," Donkey whispered, sighing to himself with a few small laughs.
