(Clawd's POV)
Deuce and I rushed outside to find a certain rabbit girl sitting on the stone ledge of the fountain in front of the empty school. She had her face buried in her palms, her shoulders hitching as well as her breath. Deuce just stood there, watching as I moved forward to sit next to her.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to gang up on you, Harriet. We-" I tried to apologize.
"I'm Harley, you dumbass, Harriet ran into the woods." she glared up at me with red, puffy eyes.
"Oh, my bad…why are you crying?" I asked.
"Why do you care? It's not your problem."
"I care because you're my friend." I sighed quietly.
She looked down at her hands then towards the sky as if looking for the words to say. "Harri and I had a fight. She said I was the reason she…doesn't have any friends."
"Ouch." was all I could say. "Why do you think she said that?"
"I don't really know, dude. Back in the schools we went to, elementary and middle school, I was friends with the biggest bullies in school. I did pranks with them; picking on kids, frightening a lot of them, hell, I even glue Charlie's hand to Sarah's ass and the other between his legs!" she tugged back a playful smile, wiping her eyes.
"Sounds like you were the pack leader" I chuckled a little.
"Yeah but I was only friends with them because…" she sighed, the smile dropping into sadness and heartache. "I wanted to protect Harri as much as I could."
"Are you sure you weren't overprotective of her?" I asked.
"I dunno…maybe" she bit her lip.
In the spirit of comforting friends, I put my arm around her shoulder, rubbing her arm. Then, I remembered what she did to Heath for putting his arm around her. Slightly flinching at the memory and what might happen, I waited for the pain of my arm being twisted behind my back. Nothing. I glanced down at her, seeing her lean against me, accepting the comfort.
"And how did the protecting thing go?" I asked.
"Great…until today…" She rolled her head up to face me.
"Hey, I was just a little mad because I was confused; you two look too much alike!" I tried to save myself. "I'll apologize, just as soon as we find her."
It was as if what I just said brought her back to the present. She jumped to her feet, gasping with wide eyes and hands raised to her opened mouth. What? Was it really something I said?
"I've got to find Harri! She all alone in the woods!" She stressed.
I stood up next to her with my hands in front of me, "Okay, calm down, Harls, we'll find her. We'll-" I looked over my left shoulder and back at the panicked rabbit. "Wait…where'd Deuce go?"