Delinquent Student and his Pet Teacher

A tiny cream coloured paw hovered over a dark shimmering silky dress shirt, counting the opened buttons from the top. One, two, thr– no, no, a third one would be a bit too much. The ginger cat the paw belonged to interrupted the counting motion and dusted off his shirt instead, he then licked his fingers and let them run over his brow fur. He stood in front of a door readying himself to enter, barely fitting his paw around a folder that seemed a bit too big for him to hold it underneath his arm. With too much confidence that would barely fit into the small cat, he puffed his chest, took one last glance at his pristine leather boots and put on his charismatic smile when he opened the door.

With the swirl of the door the room inside turned quiet at once while the cat struts inside. As soon as he passed the door and his bright orange fur hit the eyes of the 20 to 30 something students sitting inside, sighs of relief reached the tabby’s ears as they roamed through the room. This time his class consisted of a few humans, other animals and one or two other non-humans, that he couldn’t quite place what they were. The first round of sighs ended and Puss’ paw danced around his waist with the expectation of the next sound, a flashy and loud cheer that erupted suddenly, full of joy. Some chanted his name, some whistled and Puss couldn’t help the enticing beat of this music he loved so much and almost as if he danced along, he waved his paw above his head, greeting all his pupils, flashing a flirty smile to all of them. A small juice box of milk came flying his way, one small jump to catch it effortlessly, clacking his feet on the landing and bowing to his loving fans right after, just before he spins around to jump on the teachers seat behind a desk. Waving his full paws above his head, he slowly quiets the room.

“Alright, alright, it is always a great pleasure, but please… we don’t want to hold up the whole school for too long now, eh?” The room chuckled with him and he set down his folder and drink while throwing a cheeky wink through the class. He felt the relaxation coursing through the room like a small vacation between heavy stress, they were all thankful as always for the small time of peace they got with him. Puss opens his folder to get ready to start the lesson, he licks his paw to flick through the pages, hovering over the names before he just discards the whole folder to the side of the desk. “Naaaaah, you just tell me if there is someone missing today, alright?” As nonchalantly as always he ignores the strict routines everyone always has to go through, they were a waste of time anyways. He could see the room was full, no empty seats today, so why check?

One of the non-human students in the back meekly raised their hand, Puss still couldn’t tell what they were, but it didn’t matter to him, nor did he pay much attention. His paw curls and circles a few times before it points towards the student in the left back corner. “What will it be?”

The student continued as meekly as they started “Uhm, Mr. Boots…” The cat chuckles and flashes his signature smile at them. “Please, call me Puss.” He purrs.

The student mostly ignored his flamboyant moves as they were the usual ways of the cat and continued, “So, is our maths teacher sick only for today, orrr?"

Ah, here it comes.

Excitement ran through his fur like a small shiver, his favourite part of this. He puts on his best overdramatic opera act and sucks in a breath, leaning on the table with his head hung low as if someone had just died. “Well you see, your teacher… she called in this morning.” His voice was calm and as serious as he could make it sound. “She explained how she couldn’t come today…” Someone in class thought he had understood and sighed that she would be back with the next class, Puss had to resist the urge to chuckle. “Told me that she needed my help, since she felt so…” He clenched his fist and threw his head back “So very terribly sick.” He paused to see if everything had landed how he imagined it. The room was quiet with the anticipation of his next words. “And so I have to tell you with a heavy heart…” He pauses once again for the dramatic suspense and then raises his paws to his shoulders and brings back the smile on his face. “... That she took the rest of the month off!”

The moment had passed and Puss heard the lovely beat of cheering run through the room once again.

It was truly music to his ears and a song that he loved to listen to over and over again. It was their love that they threw his way that he loved to bask in every day that they offered it to him. He was well known in this school as a substitute teacher, everyone knew Puss in Boots and his ways. His classes always offered everyone an hour of stress free and school free relaxing, no tests, no strict routines, no yelling at disobedience as long as everyone kept things calm. 

Some days they played games together, other days they all watched a movie and on other days, when Puss was feeling generous, he started to gossip about his deadbeats of colleagues.

The students loved it. They loved him. Everyone was always telling him how he’s the best teacher around. Even if they meant it or not, Puss would love the compliments and pride himself with them. He was the only teacher around in this dreary school that the students would actually talk to and even ask for some life advice from time to time, not like the other teachers could be trusted with any of that.

Puss leaned back into his chair, enjoying the delicious gift of leche that he was given. He put on a movie for those kids, well not like most of them were actually kids, but still to him there were all just a bunch of loud youngsters. For a tiny second he thought about that maths test that they were having as soon as their teacher returned, but he wouldn’t mind it much, those kids had the internet and their phones to learn for themselves, not like he was going to be any help with maths anyways. His ears twitched with the one or two snarling faces in the back of the room, well that couldn’t be helped now could it? One or two students would always be upset, you can’t please everyone after all.

—

The next time he was with the same class, to sub in for their maths teacher again, the room seemed more deserted then usual. One or two missing the next time he had classes with them, when they knew already, wasn’t that out of the ordinary, but this time one seat in particular caught his attention. It was the second seat from the right in the last row, right at the gaps between seats, that was where he always saw a white mass of fur, usually sleeping in his class, but today the seat was empty.

As he points it out to some of them, one of the girls explains it to him, “You don’t know? Lobo is rarely in school as it is, it would be weirder for him to actually be here." She turned to her seat neighbour who agreed. “I’m surprised you even know his name!” They both giggled and didn’t seem to notice Puss’ confusion much. He was pretty sure that so far, he had always seen him when he was ‘teaching’ them, especially when he was one of those snarling faces a few times, but he quickly paid it no mind and went back to what he was going to do. This day Puss got a little game ready for everyone. “Alright then, shall we get started then?” The class answered him with the same enthusiasm they always do.

—

The laughter of the class quiets down as we fade to the outside of the school to a dim corner of the building that was cast in shadows. Rarely a window in sight on these walls, not more than asphalt and graveling dirt around. Light rarely shined into this corner since it was almost completely walled off and on one of these walls leaned said white mass of fur, a large wolf to be exact. The cigarette in his mouth lit up as he sucked in a breath through it, paying no attention to the teacher who stood maybe half a metre away from him, yelling the air out of their lungs at him.

He seemed absolutely unbothered by the situation around him, continuing his smoke as if they weren’t the only two people out there. The teacher noticed that yelling got them nowhere and quickly decided to reach for his cigarette only to get their arm caught in an instant by the taller-than-average-human wolf.

Without even turning to them he blew out the smoke first before he spoke with an intense growl. “Look here, pandejo .” The offended teacher was about to start their yelling once again, but was immediately stopped by the burning cigarette suddenly closing in on their forehead, stopping a mere hair's width before it could burn into them. “I’ll give you the benefit of doubt since you seem to be new here.” His red glowing eyes stared into them with a violent intent behind them. “But your kind doesn’t get to tell me what to do around here, comprende?”

His cigarette moved back to his mouth so he could take one last breath, his eyes never leaving those of the teacher until he spat the bud to the ground and let go of their arm.

The teacher trembled as they walked backwards away from him, still their eyes filled with anger, ready to fire back at him. “Go on.” He teased it further out of them, towering above, puffing his chest out. “Tell your colleagues. Tell your boss, but make sure to tell them that **** send you.” 

That put the final nail on their coffin. Struck with the realisation of who they were dealing with they froze on the spot. Nobody would know how this teacher didn’t recognise the red eyed wolf in an instant, that was the biggest tell that this wolf was the son of the biggest and most powerful politician in this district, the one who owned this school, the one who had more power over everyone in this building than anyone else.

He let out a small chuckle when he saw them turn pale with horror, shoving them aside to make his message as clear as the blue sky. 

Don’t mess with this one.

—

On the other side of the building Puss just finished packing up now, leaving the classroom for break time and getting ready for the next one. He stops in the middle of the hallway and perks up when he notices the wolf. He walks up to him and blocks his path. “Ay, where have you been, Amigo?” He let the roll of paper in his hands bounce on the wolf’s knee as a further means to get his attention. Clearly Puss would let his students do as they pleased, noting down their attendance was just for their own good and to be very honest with himself, Puss was just curious why he was suddenly skipping his class after not missing a single one.

Without turning his head too much, the red eyes of the wolf looked down to acknowledge the presence of the cat in front of him. Still awaiting a response Puss threw him a questioning look only to get a heavy growl as a response when the wolf almost stepped over him to pass him.

The nerve of that guy!

His eyes follow the wolf as he walks down the hall, nobody around him really paid him any attention and yet they still all made way for him. So far he had never really interacted with him directly and it wasn’t like he really wanted to anyways, all these unspoken rules around the wolf seemed so pretentious. Puss in Boots wouldn’t fear him just because he had the same surname of some goody two shoes of a politician, all of that wouldn’t get the better of him and he just carried on his way.

— x — 

It was a dead silent night, no winds were howling and the sky was clear. It would have been a starry night if it wasn’t for the bright lights of the city below, polluting the area. It was dirty, quiet, with not a lot of cars around. Small empty streets lead into even smaller alleyways that were filled with trash bags and the large containers in which the trash belonged. 

This particular one led behind a large company building, their back walls grimy and dirtier than others from the smoke leaving the vents. Far below the plumes of grime, just above the ground, one of the metal plates keeping the vent closed starts to move ever so slightly, slowly being hovered to the ground to avoid making any loud noises. Out of the small slither that was now open next to said plate, a small head started to poke out, two pointy cat ears twitched around, checking for all and any small noises around.

They stood still with the complete silence around them.

Nothing.

Not even after shoving the metal plate further to the side so the creature that was perfectly sized for the vents could step outside. Well kept and pristine leather boots hit the wet dirty ground underneath, a small, but big enough cape hid most of the ginger tabby that wore it. Bright emerald green eyes turned to each side of the alley and we now see the same striped cat that we knew from the day dust off his clothes. He looks back into the vent and to each side of the street once more, looking quite pleased with himself.

Puss leans back into the vent grabbing a large hat that hid even more of himself beneath it, a large feather adorning its crown. He traces the brim and adjusts it before he reaches back into the vent to grab a small, but almost half his size, bag that seemed quite heavy to lift. As he lifts it out and puts it onto the ground he can’t help but chuckle to himself. “See, Kitty? I told you ‘big’ Jack Horner wouldn’t be a problem.” He proudly whispers to himself before he lifts the bag full of very pricy goodies.

Just as the sack hit his back, a sound like sniffing got caught with his ears. He perks up and checks the area once more, but with nothing in sight he chalks it up to a breeze of the wind. Still not wanting to risk it, he makes a move and walks into a now suddenly moving shadow on the ground. He almost jumped back when the shadow got bigger around him and then a quiet humm from behind him made his heart drop.

“Oh~? Who do we have here?”

The familiar voice stops him dead in his tracks, his blood froze as he felt a completely unknown looming presence behind him. An eternally long second had passed in which he could hear steps getting closer, the shock sat deep and he couldn’t turn around to face the person just yet, hoping they didn’t know him and he could just leg it.

“Well, well, what could you be doing here at a time like this, Mr. Teacher?”

Puss jerked up, the shock now intensified even more and he felt a shiver run down his spine. Not only was he caught by someone, that someone was apparently from his school. His nose twitched trying to find or recognize a familiar smell. But… Mr. Teacher ? Everybody in his school would know his name, who could be the one that wouldn’t– “Stealing? From Jack Horner?” A deep rumbling chuckle following those words threw him off completely. The curiosity got the better of him now, turning to face the person behind him.

His gaze looked up to see red glowing eyes, in an almost completely silhouetted figure, stare at him. The white fur was illuminated by the street light behind him, his spiky leather braces and his pointy ears gave him the recognizable shape.

It was the wolf.

What an absolutely miserable timing to run into him.

Never once had the wolf cared or even acknowledged his presence in school and now he was the one to catch him like this? Now he suddenly cared about his presence? Curses shot through the cat’s head. Even if they barely exchanged any words in school, he knew who he was, running wouldn’t accomplish anything now other than pleading guilty. 

Only another second had passed, but the raised brow indicated to Puss that he should say something , but this canine was always the one to elude him, he never knew what to do with him nor how to even get him to talk to him and now he had to try and get out of this? What an unfortunate set of circumstances.

“What are you doing out here so late?!” Not knowing how to make a move, Puss tried to turn it on him, maybe he hadn't seen him getting out of the vent, maybe, just maybe, he’d buy it if he said he just walked past here.

“Oho? Is that really the answer you want to give me now?” The amusement in his voice told Puss immediately that he wasn’t getting anywhere with that and his ominous silhouette only made him more jittery. He never looked this threatening in school, what was with this sudden intense presence of his? Did his eyes always glow this much of a bright red colour? Something was off about this wolf.

Alright, Puss resisted the urge to smile and laugh back at him, he welcomed the challenge since there was no way out of this situation now. The wolf had caught him red handed, but so what?

He put the bag in his paws back down on the ground before he spoke in a rather calm and annoyed tone. “Okay, okay, you caught me, but you know what? Do you even know how much teachers get paid in this town?” Nothing in the wolf’s silhouette changed as he was now defending himself, his white big paws only grew closer. “And believe me, a substitute teacher gets paid even less! I have to pay for the roof over my head somehow, don’t I?” He still throws his paws around in gestures even when the wolf gets threateningly close.

“That’s quite a way to get the money, don’t you think?”

The dark shadow that was the wolf now gained an unnerving smile, which only confused Puss in return. The wolf was truly one puzzling mystery to Puss, he didn’t know if he would turn him in immediately, or if he wanted to blackmail him with this. It didn’t make sense to him that the wolf would now suddenly care about him, so he didn’t seem all too worried about it.

“Pah!” Puss scoffs and waves him off. “There are plenty worse ways than stealing some little goodies from a super rich guy! You think he’d miss these?” He puts one of his boots on the sack and leans onto it, only slightly being able to resist the urge to laugh.

Even if he quite enjoyed the thrill of the situation, the joyful humm that vibrated in the wolf’s throat left quite the unnerving aftertaste. He watched him stand there, seemingly in thought as his hand strokes over his chin. “So what? Are you gonna do something about this? Rat me out to the cops?” Instead of getting nervous, Puss only got more and more annoyed with him as he just stood there and looked at him. He wasn’t giving him any good responses, nor was his demeanour readable in the slightest. “Surely you don’t want to split the cash, eh?” Puss eyed him from top to bottom, surely the son of a fancily rich politician didn’t need this bit of cash, not that he was planning to actually split it at all.

“Oh, I’m not really interested in the cash.” He shakes his head without taking his eyes off the cat for even a second. Puss backed away slightly as he further crept closer to him, not like he’d fear the wolf in any way shape or form, he could take him, that much he knew. But his behaviour made him suspicious and he was getting just a slight bit too much into his personal space.

Puss stepped to the side of his goodie bag, meeting him halfway, not wanting to back off any further, which seemed to stop his movement towards him. “Then what are you interested in, amigo?”  Puss demanded and leaned forward, another ambiguous chuckle leaving the wolf’s throat felt like a trample on his nerves again, what’s with this dog? This situation called for a completely different reaction and yet the wolf seemed like he still didn’t care even though he was the one to initiate this interaction. “Hmmm… We’ll see about that, won’t we?” The words left him like he was humming a melody, stepping to the other side of the bag just to pass it and continue walking. Puss could still see that unnerving smile on his face until the wolf turned his back to him. It didn’t leave a good feeling in his guts about this.

The wolf just kept walking, leaving Puss in a stunned silence. “What, that’s it? You come to me just to let me go like this?” His questions seemed to fall on deaf ears with not a single reaction following them. One mystery over the another with that guy. Puss could only shake his head as he watched the wolf leave around the corner. What was all that about? He sounded so ominous and threatening and yet he didn’t even take any evidence with him. He didn’t take a photo, nor anything to prove that he saw him steal. 

Puss didn’t have the time to think about any of this, no matter how off this seemed, he had to grab his back and scurry off as fast as possible.