Revenge with Planes

Aero forced his eyes to stay open as the teacher rambled on about yesterday’s topic of discussion. He hadn’t had a great sleep the day before, and class was especially boring today. Every day, the teacher would start class by recapping the things they’d learned the day before. For twenty whole minutes. For the few students who didn’t have great memories and relied on this recap, it was extremely helpful and could definitely make a huge difference, but Aero always felt like dozing off. He had a decent memory and hated to waste time learning nothing. He knew many students thought the same way.

            Twitching in his seat, Aero let out a huge sigh, his paws slamming with great force onto the front of his desk in an uncalculated fashion. The things on his desk sprang up almost five inches. The sudden noise caused an abrupt silence as all the students turned to pinpoint the source of the sound. “Please,” Aero pleaded in a melodramatic fashion. “Please, let us learn something,” he croaked as if dehydrated from the lack of learning. 

            Other students erupted in laughter, completely drowning out the teacher’s attempts to rein the class back into focus. 

            Aero grinned, his posture returning to its normal state. The teacher, madly waving her hands, glared at him until Aero has the sense to look bashful. He dipped his head in mock shame, pursing his lips in attempt to hide his still-growing smile.

            The teacher resumed class, and slowly the students’ minds started to move away from Aero’s little joke and into flying. Aero let himself into this mindset as well, but the earlier triumph still sat in the back on his head.

            A good fifteen minutes later, Aero’s paw started to fall asleep. He tried to shake it out a bit underneath the desk. His paw still felt numb, so he wriggled even harder. Then he had an idea. He jumped right up on his seat, starting to shake his entire body. 

            “Wake up!” He yelped, jumping up and down. The other students stared for a second, but then they started joining along. Aero grinned widely, risking a glance at the teacher. Her glare cut straight through him, and Aero, immediately understanding the message, thumped into his seat.

            “Aero, this is your warning. You must stay quiet. You’re making too much of a disturbance to the classroom environment,” the teacher’s words were like a blade, and though Aero had heard many teachers say this to him before, he decided to obey. 

           The rest of the day went by slowly. Occasionally, he would crack a joke or two behind the teacher’s back, making the tired students grin and the studious ones glare.

            After getting home and finishing his work, Aero lay in his bed, letting the sounds of planes drag him into sleep. His eyes fluttered, today’s events bringing a huge smile to his face. Suddenly, an image of the teacher’s annoyed expression came into his mind uninvited, and his smile vanished.

Aero’s eyes opened, the teacher’s words repeating in his head, over and over. The grin he’d been wearing moments before had returned, and he sat up in his bed, his tail thumping steadily against it.

“You thought that was loud? Oh, I’ll show you loud!” he barked enthusiastically, a plan shaping in his head.

Aero woke up quite effortlessly the next day, barely able to contain his excitement. The sun was just beginning to rise, and Aero happily skipped out of the house, the ingenious plan he’d made the night before fresh on his mind. The beaten down path he’d been walking every single day since the first day he’d arrived was deserted today, and nobody would be walking to class for a few hours. He walked past the airplane hangar and sat at a bus stop. He didn’t need to wait very long, for the bus came a few minutes after he had. Aero found a seat by the window and bounced excitedly in it, mind racing. Finally, he got off the bus, walking for an additional ten minutes before getting to his destination.

Aero arrived in front of a gated mansion. He quickly found the owner’s key in its special hiding spot in an ornament on a tree. The bodyguards standing by the front entrance glanced at him suspiciously but did not move. The key was well hidden enough that they figured only friends of the owner would know where it was. When Aero stepped into the living room, he felt a sense of discomfort. Other animals milled around, each with a defined purpose. He wasn’t even granted a second glance. Some were maids, some were cooks, bodyguards, or other things. Even though Aero visited this place many times a year, he always felt like he was out of place. The ceilings were so high. From them hung jeweled chandeliers, suspended from above. The room was spotless, the various decorations were put in specific places, not to be moved even a centimeter. Aero cringed, wondering what to do. Inviting himself on the couch seemed a little rude.

“Aero! Long time no see, bud! Why don’t you ever come visit anymore?” A voice said behind him, it was almost impossible for him to make out the words. A paw slinged around his neck. Aero bristled, trying to move away. The smell of ash hit Aero’s nose hard as he whirled around to find a familiar face standing behind him. 

“Renoir!” Aero yelped, his tail suddenly wagging, as if someone had just pressed its on button. He immediately hugged his friend back, all thoughts of last night’s plans taking a backseat. The German Shepard corgi mix was a family friend of Aero’s, and though he was too old now to fly, he still did what he could to help in the industry.

“There you are! Thank goodness! I was just looking for you and I didn’t know if you’d be here and I’m just so relieved that you’re the first person I saw.. you know, last time I came here, they kicked me out! I didn’t try to not visit you but they just don’t want me here I guess…” Aero rambled, going off on a tangent. His thoughts were strewn about and he couldn't organize them.

“Shh…” Renoir grinned, used to the younger dog’s way of phrasing “I miss you” and “I’m sorry”. He ruffled the fur on Aero’s head, which Aero invited. “So why did you invite yourself into my home?”

Aero rewarded him with a sheepish smile, already feeling guilty for the next words coming out of his mouth.

“I need a little help,” Aero said, his plans spilling out of his mouth. With each word, Renoir’s smile grew, his eyes brightened.

“Come with me, I’m sure we can find the perfect thing!” Renoir whispered conspiratorially. He immediately leapt toward the front door, tearing into the yard. “Sandy! Start up the jet!” He whooped.

Aero smiled inwardly as he made his move to follow. Some said his own dramatic personality had been the effect of Renoir’s constant visits when he was young.

Renoir and Aero ran toward the starting jet. They sank in the soft, comfortable seats as the jet went higher and higher. At the top of his lungs, Aero whooped, Renoir quickly joining. The sky was such a mesmerizing gray now, and they wove through the fluffy white clouds, laughing and talking about the most trivial things. It all felt so blissful that Aero almost didn’t want to carry on his genius plan. 

Finally, their ride finally ended in the next city over, where Renoir had stored many vintage planes. They were all kept in perfect condition because the old hound was quite the perfectionist. The two of them got off the jet, both of them still wagging their tails and laughing.

“You can have any of the planes you would like,” Renoir stated, gesturing toward the row of planes. There were seventeen of them there, nine that Renoir had personally flied. The other had been donated to the dog because he was famous for his well kept planes.

Aero wasn’t sure where to start. He muttered to himself, thinking about the pros and cons of each plane. “That’s a passenger plane, a no go. Too much fuel required and probably too big to fly into the hangar. But the one next to it is too small, and probably doesn’t scream ‘Aero’s here!’” He whispered.

Renoir watched with a bemused expression. “You know, I might have a good fit for your requirements,” he said slowly “Walk with me.”

Aero obliged happily. They went to the fourteenth plane from the first, a smaller, gray jet. Aero stared in wonder, almost completely sure that Renoir was gonna keep walking. There was no way the older dog would trust him to fly it. But Renoir stopped, eyes alight.

“The f22 will fit your needs perfectly,” he explained, “it’s very small, and it will go undetected unless you want it to be spotted. Then, it’s loud as hell, and it’ll definitely scare the living daylights off your teacher!”

Aero thought about it for a moment. His plan had been to be late to school. When the teacher saw he wasn’t there, she’d do a victory dance, but at that very moment, he’d swoop in with a plane and be absolutely shellshocked. “Okay…” Aero said slowly, “it will definitely work but… the f22 is such a famous, high class plane… you’re sure you’ll let me fly it?”

Renoir’s gaze turned serious. “Look, boy, I’ve known you since you were little. I know you, in and out, and I know you have what it takes to fly this. Make me proud, son.”

Aero was touched. “Thank you so much,” he exclaimed, pulling his friend into an embrace, “and I will. I will make you proud,” he said so quiet he could barely hear himself.

Renoir extracted himself from the embrace, grinning ear to ear. “Give her hell!”

Aero flew in the f22 by himself, feeling a little jittery. He’d never flown something so complex before, but he welcomed the experience. “I hope I don’t crash into anything.. imagine my tombstone.. RIP Aero.. died because he took a teacher’s words too personally. That’s so depressing,” he muttered.

At last, the hangar came into view. Aero checked the time as he controlled the plane to lower. Yes, class started about twenty minutes ago. Perfect.

The gigantic metal door, powered by motion sensors, started to open. The sounds of the f22 were deafening as it started to land. 

“SORRY I’M LATE!” Aero screamed, feeling like his voice box was gonna tear. But it was well worth it to see his classmates’ dumbfounded expressions. Some even looked a little green, but Aero didn’t have the time to feel guilty as the f22’s wheels hit the ground. Aero turned the engine off and unstrapped himself, feeling like the most powerful creature in the universe. All eyes were on him as he disembarked from the plane, but his eyes were only on one.

He met the teacher’s outraged gaze with his own, and the overwhelming sense of accomplishment seemed to have gotten to her because she softened her expression.

“Nicely done,” she choked out.