Chapter 24: A Bully for Bingo

I've seen at least one or two dogs pull off the Puppy-Dog Eyes, or the "Please face" as the Heelers call it before, but to say that Bluey and Bingo were masters of such was a bit of an understatement. It had happened just a day or so after I met Mia and Captain that Bingo had wanted me to tag along with her to her own school much like how Bluey had done so with me. As you'd expect, Bandit and Chilli were adamant in me not going until Bingo made the face in question, her lips curled into a frown and her pupils larger with a noticeable shine. It only took less than a minute especially after Bingo let out a small whimper for good measure for her parents to reluctantly comply.

The next thing you know, less than a half hour later I was at the front of Bingo's school, or rather, the Kindy. A one floor building with cream coloured wooden walls and a white roof. Several other mother or father dogs were bidding farewell to their kids for the day, one of which was Harley who gleefully waved at me excitedly to which I replied with a smile and wave of my own.

"Why, if it isn't Nathan, our human ambassador!" An adult female voice got my attention as I looked ahead to see a middle aged dog with golden fur, a noticeably large tuft of it on her chest and like Coco, she too had eyelashes.

"Uh yeah, sorry Mrs. Retriever, Bingo really wanted him with her at Kindy today." Bandit explained a little sheepishly.

"Oh that's alright, Mr. Heeler, I've heard so many good things about Nate here, I reckon the other kiddies would love to have him here!" Mrs. Retriever accepted the apology, glancing at me with another smile.

With that being said, Bingo and I shared a goodbye with Bandit before we both headed inside to start the day.

"And then… I woke up the next morning to meet Bingo and her family, and that's how I've been living with them since then!"

I told the whole of Bingo's class, even Mrs. Retriever who were all sat on the floor as I finished the story of how I had woken up in Canistralia up to meeting the Heelers, obviously cutting out the scary details including the cave of spiders and especially the hound with the shotgun. The entire class applauded excitedly, especially Bingo and a dog next to her, her close friend which was a Maltese by the name of Lila.

Lila was rather shocked upon first seeing me as Bingo introduced me to her, but her initial shock was quickly replaced with friendly curiosity as did several of other Bingo's classmates including a young Dobermann called Jasper and a King Charles Spaniel named Bentley.

Well, not all of the class was cheering. The only one of the kids who didn't cheer was a small dog with cream coloured fur with a cap, all they did was just stare at me with a blank look.

Odd. I guess they hadn't caught wind of my presence in Canistralia.

After my little story time, the kids and I headed outside into the kindergarten's playground. Not a second passed when I was surrounded by several of the younger kids, namely Bentley and her sister Zara, Harley and that pug whom I now knew as Buddy, all of them having questions for me.

"Are there horsies where you're from?"

"Have humans always lived in a forest?"

"Are Bingo's mum and dad your mum and dad yet?"

Before I could even answer one of their questions, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of my neck like something had just jabbed me. Rubbing where I had been hit, I looked down behind me to see a rock on the ground before glancing up to see the same kid dog with the cap, now glaring at me with another rock in their hand.

"Hey! Why did you hit Nathan, Banjo?!" Zara exclaimed angrily at the dog.

"Shuddup, Bobohead! I didn't have any peanuts to throw at that orange bobohead's pet!" Banjo yelled back with a growl.

"P-Pet?!" I parroted, taken aback by the insult.

"Yeah! Your bobohead's pet monkey! Dance, bobopet!" Banjo yelled at me before throwing another rock at me, which I managed to dodge this time.

"Hey! Stop being rude to Nathan!" Bingo whom had witnessed the ordeal came over to confront Banjo.

"You're not the boss of me, bobohead! And isn't it time you went to clean out your pet's cage?" Banjo remarked before blowing a raspberry at Bingo, hard enough to spray some spittle on her face and then walking away.

"That boy ain't right…" I uttered out with a sigh.

Well, aside from Banjo, the rest of the day went fine. I finally got to meet that puppet Harley had once, Bob Bilby and I got to know some of Bingo's classmates. Lila in particular seemed to take big liking to me, probably because I was living with Bingo. Like Mia, she too hoped that the Heelers would eventually adopt me as did Bingo. Mrs Retriever at the end of the day told Bingo that I was free to come along with her to Kindy if she'd like which made her tail wag rapidly.

And to my surprise, Bluey had just started taking karate lessons, having learned so from her now wearing an outfit, I guess my experience had convinced her. Good for her!

Later that night, the girls and I helped Bandit take out the trash. Bandit deciding to entertain the girls by animating the bin lids and speaking in funny voices to make it look like they were speaking, even that got a chuckle out of me, especially with the recycling bin having something of a surfer accent.

"Hey, how was Kindy, Bingo?" Bandit then asked as he rolled one of the bins out.

"Good. Wait- No, bad." Bingo answered then quickly rephrased. "Banjo called me a bobohead."

"What's a bobohead?" Bandit asked, legitimately confused.

"I dunno." Bingo merely shrugged.

"Did he call anyone else a bobohead?" Bandit then inquired, seeming to pick up that "Bobohead" was just an insult.

"Oh yeah, he called everyone a bobohead. ...And he called Nathan our pet."

"What?" Bandit was actually a little shocked to hear that whilst I nodded to Bandit to confirm that it was true.

"Well, not nice, Banjo. Nathan is NOT our pet. He's…" Bandit paused, evidently trying to find the right word to describe my relation with his family.

"He's a family friend." Bandit then finished with a smile on his muzzle.

"Ooh, bin's full this week, girls! And hey there, Nathan!" We all looked over to a neighbouring household, the owner being a middle aged Great Pyrenees by the name of Doreen whom I had met a few days ago and got acquainted with.

"We had a barbie!" Bluey called out, referring to a barbecue. Bandit can cook some real mean grilled sausages.

"Mr. Crow will definitely be coming tomorrow!" Doreen pointed out, Mr. Crow being, well, a crow that very often picked at the trash of the neighbourhood every morning, only for Bluey to scare him off with a flute.

And that was exactly what Bluey did the following morning as me, Chilli and Bingo watched from the doorsteps, Bingo sat on my knees.

"Hey, Nate, Bingo, if someone at Kindy calls you a name, just tell Mrs Retriever, okay?" Chilli gently instructed, putting a hand on my back.

"Okay, mumma!" Bingo replied affirmatively while I just internally sighed.

'If only it was THAT easy.' I thought to myself, remembering how any time I tried to report to a teacher about being bullied back at school, they just shrugged it off and ignored the problem altogether. I think one of them even treated me like I was in the wrong.

"Mum, can I be a scarecrow when I grow up?" Bluey asked, joining us on the steps.

"If you'd like!" Chilli replied a little supportively, earning a little "Hooray!" from Bluey as we all watched the garbage man, or rather, garbage dog's truck pick up the trash and carry it off.

"Oh look, the bobohead and her pet are back! Don't even think about letting him use the toilet, he'd better go outside like any other animal!" Banjo pointed out in a snarky tone once more before running off.

Remembering Chilli's advice, Bingo came up to her teacher.

"Mrs Retriever, Banjo called me a bobohead and Nathan a pet."

"Well, are you a bobohead and is Nathan a pet?" Mrs Retriever asked, kneeling down to Bingo.

"No? Nathan's a family friend!" Bingo answered, rephrasing what Bandit had told her and Bluey the other night.

"Well, there you go!" Mrs Retriever said with a smile before she proceeded to gather everyone else up for today.

The next few days when rather normally aside from Banjo's antics. The next day, Banjo called Bingo a bobohead and me their pet again only for Bingo to argue back that she was not a bobohead and that I was a family friend.

Banjo responded by throwing his hat in a nearby water fountain. I guess someone standing up for themselves against him is enough to tick him off.

At this point, I initially thought that because of this, Banjo would no longer try to pick on me and Bingo and possibly try and get to know us instead.

...How wrong I was.

"You girls ready?" I asked as I was on the ground on all fours, well, threes as I was holding my arm out in front of me like a trunk as Bingo, Lila and I were playing something called "Elephant Safari" with of course, me being the elephant whom Bingo and Lila were riding upon.

"Ready!" The two girls cheered eagerly. With that, I lifted my trunk arm up, attempting to mimic an elephant's trumpet while slowly shuffling across the ground, well, it would be a little difficult without both arms. But nevertheless, Bingo and Lila were at least having a lot of fun judging by their laughter. Zara and Bentley meanwhile were pretending to be savannah tourists, using empty juice boxes as cameras.

"My goodness, that one is a big fella, mate!" Bentley said, mimicking a thick Australian accent.

"Give us another trumpet, Ellie!" Zara called out.

I was about to mimic an Elephant trumpeting again until I was hit with another familiar sharp pain, this time at the side of my face. Another rock had been thrown at me, just missing my eye but causing enough pain to make me react by putting a hand to where I had been hit, causing me to stumble and fall to the ground, taking Lila and Bingo down with me.

Amidst my groan, I heard jeering laughter near us. No prizes for guessing who it was.

"BANJO!"

Bingo exclaimed at the little dog in question, genuinely a little angry that he had ruined our current game.

"That's what you get for keeping a wild animal, bobohead! Is he just here to help you reach the monkey bars because your arms are too stubby to reach them?!"

One look at Bingo and I could tell that insult had actually managed to affect her as she fell silent and slightly looked down.

"Your arms are too stubby to be four, so you must be TWO!" Banjo kept mocking her as Bingo's evident sadness was more noticeable.

At this point, I couldn't just stand this anymore, this had gone on too far and it's time someone put a stop to it.

Helping Lila and Bingo down off me, I got up and marched over to Banjo, giving him a cold stare as his laughter slowed to a stop.

"Alright listen here, Banjo. I don't know where you go around picking on kids other than a cheap laugh but making someone sad, ESPECIALLY Bingo is where I draw the line. So I suggest you quit being such a bully and make up for your actions or I will NOT hesitate to get the highest of all authority here, Mrs Retriever here to deal with the situation personally!"

The entire atmosphere went silent. Even if I had my glaring eyes down at Banjo, I could tell every other kid watching was staring at me, jaws open in amazement.

Banjo didn't say anything for a moment, then his lips curled into a stifled smile before he burst out laughing.

"Wow, I didn't know the bobohead actually trained her pet monkey! Trained him to be a gigantic BUMHEAD!" Banjo immediately fired back before grabbing another rock and throwing it straight for my legs, but I anticipated this and quickly sidestepped, dodging just in time.

…

…

The rock would end up smacking Zara on the nose instead, knocking her to her rump.

"Zara, are you okay?!" I quickly turned and knelt down to the little Spaniel who quivered as not a second later, her nose had already began to leak a drop of red that ran down her muzzle before she started to cry.

"Oh god, it's flowing! Someone get Mrs. Retriever, I think her nose is broken!" I yelled out in a bit of blind panic as Buddy and Bentley immediately rushed back inside, calling out for their teacher. I meanwhile looked back at Banjo with now a glare even more ferocious than before while I held the sobbing Zara in my arms, the front of her muzzle damp and coated with running blood.

...I can't tell if either the result of what Banjo had just done or my piercing glare towards him made him suddenly tense up a little fearfully.

"Aw man, this Banjo…!" Bandit uttered to himself in frustration the following night as Bingo was telling him what had happened.

"He tried to throw another rock at Nathan, but he missed and hit Zara. Her nose was really hurt…"

Bandit's eyes widened a little at this before he looked at me.

"He didn't hurt you, mate, did he?"

"No." I shook my head "But I'm more worried about Zara…" I then uttered out, remembering watching Bentley's sister run over to her mom and sister at the front of the Kindy. Her mom then glaring behind me as I turned around to see the perpetrator standing by the doorway before quickly hiding away upon realizing Bentley's mom was staring him down.

"Aw come here, mates." Bandit gently pulled us both in for a hug which neither of us hesitated to return with our own which lasted for a few seconds before we all separated and headed back inside.

"Thanks for telling us, kids. It's good to get all that out, ain't it?" Bandit asked as we headed for the Heeler home.

"Yeah, da- B-Bandit." I stuttered, thankfully Bandit didn't seem to notice my near mishap.

Great. First I accidentally call Chilli "mom" and now I've nearly called Bandit "dad". WAY TO NEARLY MAKE THINGS AWKWARD AGAIN, NATHAN, GOD DAMN IT.

"Seventeen… Eighteen… Nineteen…"

"Oof!" Bentley exclaimed upon landing onto the ground, her grip on the monkey bars finally giving away to fatigue, leaving Bingo the last of the kids to still be hanging on said bars. We had decided to do a little test the next day to see if Bingo being "stubby" would really bring her down and not only did she manage to reach the monkey bars but she even managed to hang onto them longer than anyone else could.

"Yay, Bingo!" Lila cheered as did Bentley, Harley and Zara, who had a bandage on her nose. It'd be a few days before it healed, but at least she had managed to perk back up easily, must've been because I was here.

"Leave me alone!" We all heard a young male voice as Bingo and I turned to see Banjo in the distance, this time he was harassing another of Bingo's classmates, a young mixed breed called Felix.

"Why should I? You're just a bobohead!" Banjo mocked. Even after the events of yesterday, he was still being a problematic bully, at the very least he was no longer targeting Bingo, me or the others and was just resorting to insults.

Felix suddenly screamed in rage, stomping a foot and then yanking Banjo's cap off and throw it, making it land into the water fountain. Banjo rushed to the fountain trying to get it back but because of how high the fountain was for him, he could not reach it at all. He tried to climb up along the fountain but would slip off the metal and fall back down.

Then he did something that I did not expect him to do.

He just laid there and began to sniffle, pathetically reaching out an arm while still on the ground, as if hoping by some miracle his hat would hop off into his hand.

I then blinked and noticed Bingo start to walk over to Banjo to my confusion. She looked up at the fountain and took a bit of a running start before jumping up and just managing to grab the top and reach for the cap, pulling it out of the fountain.

She then held the cap out to Banjo who pushed himself up, taking the cap back and putting it back on.

"Thanks, bo… Bingo." Banjo said a little sheepishly, stopping himself from using his favourite insult and referring to Bingo by her actual name.

"Do you want to play with us?" Bingo asked the new dog whom nodded "Yes" before joining us, stopping in his tracks the second he noticed me, silent for a moment before finally speaking.

"…I'm sorry I called you Bingo's pet." Banjo uttered out, rubbing at his own arm.

I thought for a moment before relaxing and shaking Banjo's hand.

"If Bingo's willing to forgive you, then I should too. But… there's someone else you should say sorry to as well." I reminded glancing over at Bentley's sister.

Banjo nodded and slowly nodded, still looking down as he walked over to Zara to apologize for hurting her.

"It made Banjo cry, so I got it back for him and played with him in the sand pit. He even said sorry to Nathan and Zara! We're all friends now!" Bingo explained, finished her recollection of the day. Bluey was with us this time in her karate outfit, which now had a yellow belt.

"Oh, good one, Bingo!" Bandit animated the yellow lidded bin to speak with that surfer accent, making all three of us laugh.

"Hey, Yellow bin, are you sure you're meant to be here tonight?" Bandit mimicked the cranky voice of the red lidded bin he puppeteered before uttering "Good question" and calling out to Doreen whom was taking her trash out as well.

"Hey Doreen, is it both bins tonight?"

"Don't ask me, I just copy you!"

"No, it's only red bin tonight!" Bluey pointed out. "It's only both bins when the moon is a big moon, or half moon, or no moon!" She explained, pointing up at the moon in question as all of us looked up at the night sky.

"Oh, Bluey! I think you'll be a scientist when you grow up!" Doreen said, complimenting on how Bluey was aware of the trash collector's schedule with the use of astronomy.

"Ooh, can I?" Bluey beamed looking up at both me and Bandit.

"If you like!" Bandit and I replied in unison. Bluey replied with a quick "Hooray!" before hopping onto her dad's back with Bingo on mine as Bandit rolled the red bin back.

"Maybe I can invent a robot that takes the bins out for you!" Bluey offered.

"Uh… I hope not." Was all Bandit could say, a little skeptical at how such a feat could be pulled off.