Tattletale
#8 of Andlat
As anyone can attest, recess is the best time of the day, but the biggest bully in the school is on the prowl and it looks like he's set his eyes on Andlat as the newest member of his gang. What will the certified good boy do?
As Andlat walked around the playground, he took care to give the swings a wide berth. Swings terrified him, the cubs on them seemingly the slightest miscalculation away from breaking their leg against one of the iron bars or something. Recess had just begun, so he needed to find some way to occupy his time, preferably one that would distract him from the swings.
As he wandered, he noticed a small group of older boys, fourth graders, walking toward him. The leader of the group, a badger named Bart, was well-known as one of the biggest bullies of the elementary school. Andlat looked around for a way to escape without making it look like he was trying to escape, but it was too late.
"Hey, you!" Bart called out.
"Who, me?" Andlat said, trying his best to hide his nervousness, even as his tail fought to wrap around his leg. It would not occur to him until later that it was silly of him to be afraid of boys who were years younger than him, even if Jack had enrolled him in second grade.
"Yeah." Bart replied. His friends, or maybe cronies was a better word, Andlat thought, stood behind him, waiting for a signal from the badger. "I like your shirt." Andlat looked down at his t-rex shirt and smiled in relief.
"Thanks. I like dinosaurs." It sounded dumb the moment Andlat said it. He hoped that Bart and his friends were not about to start teasing him or something.
"They're awesome." Bart agreed. "Wanna come play with us?" Andlat nodded eagerly and joined the group. Since he was the same size as them, he wondered if Bart thought he was a fourth grader like they were. Silently, he resolved to make sure that they did not find out the truth. He wondered for a second what they would say if they knew that he was actually years older than them, but he banished those thoughts. The age he was treated as tended to fluctuate anyway.
It did not take long before Andlat found out just what Bart's idea of playing was. With a cruel cackle, he led Andlat and the others over to some kindergartners who were kicking a ball around in a circle, laughing and chatting happily.
"Hey, babies!" Bart yelled. The kindergartners all scattered, Bart's reputation preceding him. He cackled again. The only one who remained was a shy little bunny in an Ace Incredible t-shirt. The way he protectively grabbed the ball made Andlat suspect that he was probably the ball's owner.
"What do you want?" The bunny asked, his voice trembling. Andlat felt really sorry for him, but he also did not want to have the group turn on him.
"We just want to play with your ball." Bart replied, his voice leaving no room for the poor little bunny to object.
"Yeah!" One of the others in Bart's entourage added. It was the first time Andlat had heard any of them speak, even though he had had run-ins with Bart's gang before.
"I guess you can." The kindergartner handed the ball over to Bart, who smirked and summarily threw it over the fence. The kindergartner's eyes welled up with tears immediately.
"Does the baby want his ball back?" Bart teased, his friends all laughing uproariously. Andlat took one look at them and quickly slipped away, breaking into an all-out run as he made a beeline for the teachers who stood by the door, casually chatting with one another. His anxiety about the swings all but forgotten as he hurried. The teachers noticed the fox charging toward them.
"Ms. Witherspoon!" Andlat said before he even reached them. He pointed toward Bart and his friends. "Those boys" he took a couple ragged breaths. "They stole a cub's ball and threw it over the fence." The lynx frowned and blew her whistle.
"Thank you, Andlat." She said before marching toward them. The other teacher, a very friendly tabby who taught one of the kindergarten classes, smiled at the fox. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a sheet of gold star stickers.
"You deserve a gold star." She said, sticking one on his shirt. Andlat could not help but puff his chest up a bit with pride, any concerns about being a tattletale banished from his mind. He knew he had done the right thing. Unlike Bart and his cronies, he was a good boy.