Teaching Mr. Bristle: Part Four

     "Is this all Malara's doing?" Cody asked, figuring out what was going on.

     Malara got up from her desk and walked right next to Mr. Bristle, who was blushing once again because someone else knew about the "classes." "Yup!" the Elephante exclaimed. "Yesterday I taught him exactly how to organize a desk. This morning I came in early and helped him sort it all out." She grinned proudly.

     The three other pets looked at each other and laughed. "Well, Mr. Bristle," Cody said slyly, "you may have an organized desk. But do you have what it takes to teach us?"

     "I, um," Mr. Bristle stuttered.

     Malara once again spoke for her teacher. "He has exactly what it takes. Just wait and see."

     Garfy raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if she was really serious. The four of them left together and sat down in their usual spots.

     But that class did not turn out much differently from the others. The teacher failed to grab anyone's attention except Malara's, and once again did not teach them anything. Just because he now had an organized desk did not mean he knew how to teach, and this was quite apparent to the students. Malara was taking mental notes the entire time, figuring out what else Mr. Bristle needed help with.

          The bell rang loudly and all of the pets stormed out of the room. Mr. Shay had been standing by the door, waiting to make a dramatic entrance. "Mr. New Guy!" he shouted, stepping into the room. "This class sure is a wreck," he said bluntly.

     "I appreciated your input," Mr. Bristle snarled. "It's harder to teach them than you think."

     "Yes, well... I'm still not convinced you have what it takes. I'm going to observe your classroom tomorrow, and if you don't show any improvement by then, I think I'll have to put you on the list of teachers that don't last longer than two weeks."

     ***

     After their classes, Malara, Cody, Brick, and Garfy sat down at their usual lunch table. Malara had been wise and brought her lunch that day.

     "So, that homeroom teacher sure knows what he's doing," Cody joked.

     "I bet you he'll be a whole new person two weeks from now," Malara told him confidently.

     "Whatever you say," Garfy said. "I'm just curious as to how exactly you'll do it."

     "I have my ways," she responded, grinning. Once again, they all decided to drop the subject and discuss things such as the local sports team instead.

     After school was out, Malara decided she had the time to stay a bit and play basketball with her friends. The time flew by quickly though, and before she knew it she was rushing home to be on time for Mr. Bristle's lesson. Consequently, in all of her rush, she had left her backpack on the side of the court and simply ran home not carrying anything.

     Garfy picked the bag up. "Should we take it over to her house? She doesn't live very far from here."

     Cody shrugged. "We might as well," he decided, turning towards Brick. "Brick?"

     The Techo was standing in an upright position with his eyes closed, and snoring peacefully. Garfy laughed, and said, "Let's just leave him here."

     Cody nodded, and the two of them set off for Malara's house to return her backpack. Brick awoke later in a fit of confusion, noticing that everyone had left. He sighed, and returned to his house that was conveniently across the street from the basketball court.

     ***

     Once again, Mr. Bristle was sitting on the couch in Malara's living room. "What are we going to work on today?" the teacher asked his student, who was in fact, his teacher.

     Malara pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of the Gelert. "We don't need our blackboard for today, Mr. Bristle," she declared. "Today I'm going to try developing your social skills."

     "How?"

     "It's easy," she began, "we're just going to do a few simulations." Mr. Bristle raised one eyebrow curiously.

     Malara stood up. "Okay...pretend I'm Cody," she told him. "Now...what would you say if I said, 'What's up, moron?'"

     "Um... I'm not quite sure," he admitted.

     "So that's what your problem is! Responding-" Malara started, but at that moment when a knock at her front door interrupted the lesson.

     "Who could that be?" Jared asked from the kitchen.

     "No idea, Dad," Malara responded, confused.

     Jared left the kitchen and opened the door. A brown Grarrl and a purple Wocky carrying a backpack stood there. "Uh...hi!" Garfy exclaimed. "We're friends of Malara's and she left her backpack at the basketball court where we were playing. Just thought we'd bring it back."

     Jared smiled. "That's nice of you guys, come on in!"

     The two pets entered the house, only to be horrified by the sight of Malara and Mr. Bristle talking to each other in the living room.

     "Who is-" Malara began, then stopped as she saw who was there. "Cody! Garfy! What are you guys doing here?" she asked in shock, turning away from her student.

     Cody pointed towards the backpack. "You forgot something earlier," he explained.

     "Oh...thanks a lot!" She got up and retrieved her bag, running upstairs to put it away. So, in the living room, Jared, Cody, and Garfy stood in awkward silence while Mr. Bristle sat on the couch. The two younger pets glanced nervously at each other.

     "Hello Garfy. Hello Cody," Mr. Bristle said darkly.

     Garfy raised his hand in a mechanical wave. "Hi Mr. Bristle... Bye Mr. Bristle." The two of them nodded to Jared and were making a run for the door, when Malara suddenly descended the steps and grabbed them both.

     "Guys!" she exclaimed. "You two would be perfect for my simulation! I'm teaching Mr. Bristle how to respond to insults, and such."

     Her friends snorted with laughter, but a solemn expression quickly made its way across both of their faces. "Stay...here?" Cody asked, gulping.

     "Of course, and only for a little while," Malara replied enthusiastically. "Please?"

     "Um, well... Okay," Garfy muttered.

     Jared sighed, and left the room. I'll leave all of this to Malara, he decided, marching up the stairs to his room.

     The three of them turned to Mr. Bristle, who was paralyzed on the couch, his face redder than ever.

     "What do you say, Mr. Bristle?" Malara asked.

     "It sounds like an absolutely wonderful idea," he drawled unenthusiastically.

     Malara pulled up seats for her two friends, and they sat in a circle in her living room. "Okay, here's what I want you guys to do! Cody, Garfy, act like you normally would in our homeroom class."

     The two of them looked confused for a moment, not quite sure what to do. After a moment though, they were both lounging around in their chairs, crumpling up random pieces of paper and various other productive activities.

     Malara turned to Mr. Bristle, and said, "Okay, now let me see what you can do so far. Try to grab their attention and make them focus."

     The Gelert nodded and cleared his throat. "Ahem," he said in the most weak, pitiful voice Malara had ever heard in her life. Cody laughed out loud.

     Mr. Bristle raised an eyebrow at Malara tiredly; at the same time she shot him an exasperated look. "Come on," she assured him, "you can do much better than that. Raise your voice, and say 'Excuse me!' Try that."

     "Excuse me!" the teacher shouted with surprising force. Garfy twitched and jerked his head up, as did Cody.

     Malara jumped up out of her seat and smiled. "That was great!"

     "Wow, I never knew you had it in you," Cody wisecracked.

     Mr. Bristle simply gaped at the three of them. "How did I do that?" he asked slowly.

     "You raised your voice...?" Garfy offered jokingly. Everyone laughed, but it slowly dimmed to another awkward silence. It was unlikely to say the least, that these three students would be hanging out with Mr. Bristle on a school night. But as a faint grin spread across Malara's face, the four of them ceased to stare at each other quizzically and soon enough they were all bursting with laughter once again.

     After they had calmed down a bit, Mr. Bristle turned to Cody and Garfy. "So guys, um, what do you think? Do you think you could give me a break tomorrow and like, not goof off, or something like that?"

     "We'll think about it," Cody replied.

     "No, don't think about it, do it. That mean old Bori is coming to 'observe' our class tomorrow, and if you guys act like five year olds again then I'll be a goner."

     "You sure have a better way with words when you're not speaking in public," Garfy remarked slyly.

     "Yeah, well, it'll take me some time to fix up those issues. What I want right now is to not get fired." He smirked.

     "I'll do everything I can to help you out," Malara reminded him cheerfully. "Things can't go wrong when you have Malara on your side!"

     The Grarrl and Wocky raised themselves from their seats and picked up their backpacks. "We're going home, have fun, you two," Cody snorted.

     "Hey!" Malara shouted. Everyone chuckled except her, and ten minutes later they all had left.

     When Malara when to sleep that night, one particular thought raced through her mind: Will Mr. Bristle do a good job tomorrow?

To be continued...