Chapter Thirty-Three - School Smarts

"Stay in here," the lady said as she held the door open.

The room she was leading them into was a largeish office with a big desk in the middle and some seats across from it. There was also a small sofa next to the doorway. The far wall had a few shelves with books and trophies on it and a few diplomas in picture frames.

"For how long?" Trinity asked. "I wanna go home."

The teacher lady huffed. "For however long it takes the principal to get here. I can't believe what you did in the art room. Your parents won't be proud of you."

Teddy was about to tell the lady where she could stuff her parent's pride, but Athena kicked her shin from the side. She looked down to the ground, looking real pitiful. "We're sorry," Athena simpered. "We'll behave, I promise. Just... don't tell dad?"

The teacher lady huffed again, then gestured towards the seats. "I'll be back," she said.

The door clicked shut, and both Teddy and Trinity turned towards Athena. "Dad?" Teddy asked.

"We have a dad?" Trinity replied, sounding shocked.

Athena snorted and shook her head. "I was just telling her what she wanted to hear. Should we leave now that she's gone?" There was a window overlooking the backyard of the school where there was a big sandpit and some jungle gyms and slides and a bunch of room to run around in.

"I guess," Teddy said. "But we're here now, aren't we? This is, like, the school's boss's room."

Athena's eyes narrowed. "That's not a bad idea," she said. "Trinity, lock the door."

"I'll do it," Teddy said. "Trinity, open up the window so that we have a way out."

"Aye-aye bear sister!" Trinity said with twin salutes. She ran over to the window and started wrestling with the latch.

Teddy, in the meantime, sized up the door. It opened inwards into the room, so the best way to close it forever would be to block its path. She eyed the sofa next to the door. Shrugging, Teddy walked over to the sofa and started to pull on it, but it was a lot heavier than it looked.

So she did the obvious thing and turned into a bear.

"Hey!" Trinity said as Teddy's behind bumped her away. "Watch it!"

Teddy rumbled back at her, then grabbed onto the sofa with her clawed paws. The soft leather made for great pawholds once her claws punched through the material. With a grunt of effort, she stood the sofa up on its side, then pushed it against the door. Now anyone trying to get in would have to shove aside the entire thing.

"Oh, wow," Athena said from the desk.

"What?" Teddy rumbled. She padded over around the room, chairs falling out of her way and the stuff on the shelves crashing down as her sides rubbed against the walls. She got to see the screen, though.

"The password was just the name of the school," Athena said. "This principal guy doesn't know anything about good security."

Athena squinted at the screen, then started to open up a few programs.

"Window's open!" Trinity said as she threw the window open. Her other self dragged a chair over and slid it outside, that way they'd have a place to step onto once they were out. A second chair served as a stepping stool from the inside.

"I found the school registry," Athena said. "And the grades."

"Perfect!" Teddy said. "Put all our names in as students."

"What? Why?" Athena asked.

"So we can graduate and get diplomas and stuff. That way we can get jobs. That's how the capitalists think."

"But we didn't go to school," Trinity said. "Except for today. Does that count as enough?"

"Doesn't matter. We'll have the diplomas on paper, because we're not stupid enough to actually go to school," Teddy said.

"Alright," Athena said. "I'll need a minute to figure out how all of this works."

"That means we've got a minute, right?" Trinity asked.

"I guess so," Teddy replied.

Trinity grinned, then started to rummage around. She started with the trashcan under the principal's desk, flipping it over and spreading its contents out. She picked the best stuff and shoved it into her dollar-sign bag.

Teddy wasn't really much of a looter, but Trinity looked like she was having fun, so she decided to help by opening all the drawers on the principal's desk.

They were designed for weak humans though, so Teddy ended up ripping them right out of the desk.

Trinity giggled as she jumped onto the loot spread out on the floor, stuffing heaps of pens and pencils and school stationery into her bag.

"Hey, do we use our real names or our hero names?" Athena asked.

"Real names, I think," Teddy said. "Does it need a family name?"

"Yeah," Athena said. "Okay, that's me down."

"What about the rest of us?" Teddy asked. She leaned over the screen to stare at it until Athena grabbed her by the snoot and pulled her muzzle away. The screen was covered in boring white text anyway.

"I'm doing us one at a time," Athena said. "Do we enter Trinity three times?"

"Nah, there's just one of me," Trinity said. "I can share it with myself."

"Oh, that makes sense," Athena said with a nod.

Teddy noticed something on the desk, a sort of microphone pointing towards the seat Athena was in with a large button at the base of it. "What's that?" she asked while pointing a claw at the thing.

"Looks like a PA system," Athena said. "To talk to the whole school... no, wait, don't," she warned.

"Why not?" Teddy asked.

"Well, first you should think about what to say. And second, I need to finish entering all of this. If you press that, then people will know we're here."

"And they'll be able to recognize your voice!" Trinity said. She was currently trying to stuff a potted fern into her bag. Its branches were sticking out every which way, but Trinity didn't seem to care.

"I'll talk in bear," Teddy said, but she did wait. At least a little while. It felt like Athena was taking forever to type things up.

"Almost done," Athena said.

That was good enough for Teddy. She pushed a claw against the PA system's button, then grinned as a squeal sounded out across the school. She cleared her throat and could hear the sound repeated through the walls.

Now she just needed to figure out what to say.

"Comrades! I am Te-- I am the bear of communism, and I'm here to tell you about the glories of the proletariat!"

"Yeah!" Trinity cheered in the background as she continued to steal stuff.

"Now, I might not know what communism means, exactly, but I believe in it. I know that it means that we should all share stuff, that we should be our own bosses, and that no one should take our stuff. Only we're allowed to take the stuff of others!"

"I don't think that makes sense," Athena said.

Teddy growled at her to shut up. "Comrades! Let's rise together! Let's bring down the fences that keep us out of the parks! Let's fight against those that say that we can't eat our fill! No longer will we live under the oppression of bedtimes and those stupid 'don't feed the animals' signs!"

There was a loud thump from the door, and the door wiggled. "Hey! Hey, let go of the PA!" someone shouted through the door.

"Oops. Sorry comrades, got to go!"

Teddy didn't know how to turn off the PA, so she flung it against the wall where it embedded itself into the drywall.

"Alright, let's go!" Trinity said. She ran for the window, one of her bodies leaping out and rolling to her feet while the other manoeuvred her big bag through. She helped herself carry it past the opening while Teddy and Athena made their way to the window.

The door was opening up a smidge, but the weight of the sofa was keeping it closed for now.

Athena used the chairs to climb through, then it was Teddy's turn. She was tall enough as a bear that she could just leap right through the opening. But then her belly caught in the too-small window.

Growling, Teddy turned back into her girl-self and tumbled out of the other side. She was quick to roll back to her feet. The others were already sprinting across the yard towards an open gate in the fence, so Teddy rushed after them while someone finally managed to barge through the door, sending the sofa crashing down with a loud bang.

"I like school!" Trinity said as she sprinted along the sidewalk. "We should come back more often!"

"We'll see," Athena said as she worked to keep up. "But we should get back home first, before Big Sis notices that we're gone."

"Nah, she won't notice!" Teddy said. "We were subtle about it!"

***