Chapter Text
The sun was shining from above the Critter Valley, and the little birds were singing their afternoon serenades. And one particularly loud classroom, filled with voices and laughter of critters, excited about the final bell.
Kickin and Hoppy couldn’t sit still any longer and were already counting the seconds till their release. Baba and Rabie were gossiping and quietly chuckling about something.
In all of that chaos, there was one critter who was trying to ignore as much noise as possible and go back to sleep, Allister Gator. The laziest of the bunch, even beating Catnap.
Like most, he didn't enjoy learning in the classroom environment. He couldn't understand how some of his classmates found it 'productive' or 'interesting'. For him, he would rather lie around his house for the entire day and do nothing than rot in the classroom for 6 hours straight. He wished he could just turn himself off like some sort of robot. Which would be helpful considering the amount of noise some of his classmates make.
Luckily for him and the rest of his class, the bell finally rang, releasing them to the open arms of freedom. Allister started to drag himself from the seat and pack the random books he had. He didn't pay attention in any of his classes, so why should he bother packing correctly? After finishing packing up his book, he realized everyone had already left the class. Except him and Miss Delight.
"Allister" the teacher spoke from her desk with a friendly but tired smile, "Could you stay a little longer? I wanted to speak with you for a moment"
"Sure... I guess" Allister said, mentally preparing himself for another lecture about his grades or lack of interest in class.
"Allister, I have noticed that lately, you have been struggling with the material in class. I wanted to know why and if there was some way I could help you." Well, that surprised Allister. He knew his grades and attendance weren't all that good, but surely they couldn't be that bad, right?
"Em, yeah I mean... It's kinda hard to keep up with all this... learning." He didn't really have a sufficient excuse for her. 'Feeling kinda lazy today' definitely wouldn't cut it.
"Oh! Then maybe you would be interested in attending remedial classes?" Miss Delight visibly lightens up with hope a little. "There is a morning session tomorrow morning at 7 am before normal classes! What do you think?"
The thought of having to wake up an HOUR earlier almost gave Allister a heart attack. Sure, he understood that he would have to spend more time studying if he wanted to pass but he was already struggling with showing up on time! How is he supposed to properly function without 11 hours of sleep?!
"I... dunno know if I will be able to be in those... on time". A partial truth was better than a lie, right? He didn't really want to lie to his teacher but at the same time, he valued his sleep a little more. School was already exhausting; there was no need to add another hour to his day.
"Hmm... How about a tutor? Someone who could help you specifically with what you don't understand yet. I can find someone capable of helping you with..." And that was a moment when Allister stopped paying attention. Was it all really such a big deal?
He could have already been on his way home. On his way to his bed. Or maybe his backyard...
"And...Allister?"
...The weather looked nice enough for an afternoon nap...
"Are you listening to me?"
...He would give anything right now to lie on soft grass or drift on his back in the pool, bathed in the sun's warm light-
"ALLISTER!" His teacher's voice finally managed to wake the gator up from daydreaming. He didn't realize he spaced out THAT much during Miss Delight's monologue "Em... Y-yes totally! Definitely!"
Miss Delight sighed. "Okay, you can go now and enjoy the rest of the day." That was all he needed to hear. Allister, almost too enthusiastically, made his way to the door and to the sweet freedom. "Oh! But remember that...!" Unfortunately for his teacher, the gator had already left.
***
Allister was making his way home at a rather slow pace compared to the rest of the critters, who were also tired from being stuck in a classroom for almost eight hours. The majority of them had already gone to their respective homes but there were a few who still had the energy.
He could see Kickin, Hoppy, and Icky arguing over something by the football field, with Icky clearly losing their argument. He had never understood the strange, competitive dynamic of the three, wasting their energy on pointless bets and games.
He could also make out the silhouettes of Rabbi and Babba in the distance. One was clearly talking about something, and the other was playing with a small object. A red lighter, something no one would ever willingly give to a black sheep. Allister could only guess what she was planning to do with it... but he quickly gave up, concluding that there was no telling what Babba was capable of.
Almost everyone seemed to have company, either for playing or simply walking back home. Except for Allister. Not that he had a problem with it. Having people around most of the time only drained his metaphorical battery of precious energy.
Fortunately for the gator, his house was only about 20 minutes away from his school. He lived in an old, one-story, wooden house surrounded by the lush forest. It was not totally secluded from the rest of the city but definitely enough to give chills to anyone trying to find their way between trees, probably older than the the whole town.
Even the familiar scent of the forest and the buzzing noise of many insects flapping their little wings haven't really relaxed him. Allister lazily picked a key out of his backpack and finally opened the door. The only thing that greeted him was silence, sending a shiver down his spine.
"I guess they're still at work huh..." said the gator to himself unsurprised. His parents were rarely home during the day and sometimes even at night. Always either working or talking about work. He didn't have the energy to think about them right now.
Allister carelessly tossed his backpack on the kitchen table and started looking through the shelves and cabinets with the hope that his parents had at least left him something to eat, besides the frozen leftovers in the fridge from yesterday's spaghetti. Heating it up was too much work for him right now.
He only found an old bag of questionable candy corn that was probably there from the last Halloween. "A normal person would probably check the expiration date first..." said Allister while holding a single piece of suspicious candy in his hands.
While the gator was debating with himself the potential risk of food poisoning and whether he should just skip eating for now, he heard a few knocks coming from the door.
Allister with equally tired and confused eyes looked in the direction of the front door, wondering who could it possibly be. It definitely couldn't be his parents, it was far too early for them. None of his friends would bother with knocking, usually coming either through an open window or the door he forgot to close.
With a groan, he put the hazardous bag of candy back on the shelf and started dragging his legs in the direction of the now more frequent knocks.
When he finally reached for the door handle and opened the door fully to see who and for what reason dared to interrupt his well-deserved session of doing nothing. He thought he would see a delivery man who got the wrong address or maybe one of his friends finally decided to be civil and knock.
However, he didn't expect to see one of his classmates who was also not part of his standard social group.
In front of him stood a cyan-colored elephant he would usually only see in class or in line for lunch in the school cafeteria.
"H-hello there!" he said with a slightly awkward but pleasant smile. "I'm Bubba Bubaphant and I am here to help you!"
***
Bubba was a little bit worried about that whole situation. He was always happy to help Miss Delight, whether it was cleaning the board after class or bringing some old books from the library. Even tutoring some of his friends whose grades fell off a bit wasn't a problem. Helping others grow and flourish brought him joy and a sense of accomplishment.
But... When he had to interact with others, not his closest friends...That was a different case. He wasn't as outgoing and confident as Kickin or Hoppy, and he didn't possess the same friendly demeanor as Bobby and Dogday.
So when Miss Delight asked him if he would be willing to help a classmate in a rather dire situation, he agreed without hesitation. At first, he thought that it was most likely about Kikin struggling to focus in class. It wouldn't have been the first time he had to help the chicken with schoolwork.
But when he learned who he would actually be helping, he was a little... frightened to say the least. He didn't have anything against his scaly, a little lazy classmate! Which was the cause of his unease.
Not only did he know very little about the Gator, but he couldn't even remember any time the two of them had interacted with one another. Which was even more frustrating for Bubba who was always proud of his incredible memory.
And yet he could hardly remember anything about Allister, aside from his name obviously. He remembers seeing him a few times in the back of the class laying on his desk. Or maybe sleeping like Catnap.
Nevertheless, he didn't want to disappoint his favorite teacher, so his only logical course of action was to finally knock on the door. With the address and directions Miss Delight gave him, Bubba had an easier time navigating through the old forest than he originally expected.
He didn't quite know what to expect. On his way to the gator's house, he imagined all sorts of possible scenarios, from worst to best. The probability of every single one depends on Allister's mood, personality, motivation, etc.
Finally summoning the courage, Bubba took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, exhaled, and gently knocked on the door. He waited for a moment, hoping for some reaction. When met with none, he knocked a few more times before stopping completely.
...
He was only met with more silence. "...Maybe he is not home? I am not too early now, am I? " the elephant asked himself checking the watch on his wrist. Before he could confirm his theory, the door suddenly opened and the familiar figure of one of his classmates was now standing in front of him. 'Oh! So he is home after all' he thought equally relieved and worried.
'Well here goes nothing I guess' and before Allister could say anything, Bubba tried to put on the same friendly face he often saw on his friend Dogaday's face.
"H-hello there!" said the elephant. "I'm Bubba Bubaphant and I am here to help you!"