[BEFORE THE DANCE]

Monday: June 1, 2020 - 8:34PM

No one's POV:

Skye: "Do you think you can help me ask out Marshall?"

Rocky: "...What?"

Rocky felt like the world came to a sudden stop when he heard that. Did he hear that right? Did Skye just ask him how to ask out Marshall? Was he the one Skye loved for a long time? Rocky wanted to be sure he heard Skye loud and clear.

Rocky: "I-I'm sorry, I must've heard wrong..."

"Could you repeat that question again?" - Rocky asked.

Skye: "yea. I asked..Well look. Lets just say there's someone you like but you're just too shy to tell them yourself, right?"

Rocky who is feeling a mix of confusion and sadness: "..Yeah.."

Skye: "Well that's the feeling I have right now. There is this pup I like, I WON'T SAY WHO. But I was wondering if you could give me a few tips that can help me out so I won't mess this opportunity up!"

Rocky was silent for a few seconds. He wasn't sure what to think. He knows Skye asked him how to help her ask out her crush, but all he could think about is how Skye wasn't his crush.

Rocky's POV:

I know that she asked me her original question but why did I hear her wanting to ask out Marshall? Is my mind playing tricks with me? If so, why was that the question I heard? I decided that this was too much for me and thought I should pick this up tomorrow.

My mind quickly returned to reality when I heard Skye's voice again. I forgot I was on the phone with her.

Skye: "Hello? Earth to Rocky? Are you there?" - She asked playfully.

"Yea! Yea! I'm still here! I was just in a trance for a few." - I said chuckling.

"The best you can do is find out his interest. Or ask his friends about his interest, but only if you're trying to do a surprise ask-out. Also, for best results, I would stay close to your crush until then. You both would then get to know each other better, that's if you're just now meeting...Which you aren't." - I explained.

I looked at Skye, who seemed pretty satisfied with my answer.

No one's POV: Both friends have decided to end the call early.

Skye: "Alright, thanks Rocky! I owe you one! But I'm gonna go now and get some actual sleep! Goodnight and see you tomorrow!"

Rocky: "Right! See you tomorrow as well. Goodnight!"

Skye was the first to hang up.

Skye: "I never should have asked him."

[BEFORE THE DANCE]

Tuesday: June 2, 2020 - 7:23AM

Marshall's POV:

I love this morning. In fact, I love waking up and walking in Adventure Bay early in the morning. The reason for that is because I live right next to the beach so with all of the water and the wind blowing on me it would feel like a breeze. It's kinda hard to explain it. I left home before Chase came to my door which was kinda odd. Chase would always wake up before me and everyone else in the group. His routine in the morning would be:

[Wake up at 5am]

[Brush his teeth]

[Blend his energy drink]

[Workout with his father in the basement]

[Shower]

[Eat breakfast]

[Leave his house and then come to mine so we could walk together to school]

That is all he does every morning, at least that's what I know. For all I know, he could be waking up earlier and adding new things to his morning to-do list. But it is still odd because he would usually be at my door by the time I finish showering, my parents would let him in and they would talk casually until I'm ready and then we go out for school. My parents are great friends with Chase's parents. They've known each other for lord knows how long. From what I heard, both my parents and Chase's met while they were both in a training academy that trains pups to become police officers or firefighters. My parents studied to become firefighters and Chase's studied to become police officers. My mom has been working for that Adventure Bay Fire Department but it didn't last long since she had to stop because she was pregnant with me. My dad took a few months off just so he could provide for her and me. After I was born, he immediately went back in to join the fire forces so he could do a lot more for us. When I turned 5, my mom decided to go back to working for the Adventure Bay Fire Department. To this day, they are still working for them. My mom has more time to be at home with me since her position isn't AS much as trouble but my dad is different. We barely see him since the fire department he works at is like an apartment for him but that doesn't stop him from stopping by to visit me and my mom whenever he has off-time. He is truly the best dad you could ever ask for. Which is why I want to become just like my mom and dad when I get older.

This wasn't the first time Chase never came up to my house though. I remember one time he had an early practice for his basketball team and he couldn't be late to it. And then there was another time when he and Skye were participating in a talent show in our school so they had to practice early for 2 weeks. Whenever Chase can't walk to school with me, he would either call or text me but that's not what happened this time. There was nothing. Even my parents were confused. When I came downstairs after getting ready, I looked around the living room for Chase, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I asked my parents if he had stopped by and just had to leave early but they said no, they haven't. During my walk, a small part of me was confused but a big part of me was worried because Chase is my best friend. I made a promise to him when we were small little pups. We met each other in 2nd grade. I was being picked on by a few pups bigger than me but Chase came in to rescue me.

[April 23, 2016 - 2:34PM]

Marshall POV:

I was walking in the hallway with the bathroom pass in my mouth. I could tell the teacher was getting annoyed with me because I kept asking to go to the bathroom for the past hour. I have to keep a mental note to myself to never drink 5 cartons of milk during lunch. As I turned around the corner to enter the bathroom, I heard coughing and snickering behind the door. I stopped for a second and asked myself if I should find another bathroom or not. But I shook that question off and decided to head in anyway because I knew I wasn't going to make it to the next bathroom and I did not want to get in trouble for running in the halls. I pushed open the door and immediately started coughing, while dropping the bathroom pass out of my mouth. The air was way too disgusting to breathe and see in but I still managed to gather up all the courage and tried to see in front of me, and what I saw scared me. What I saw were 3 bigger pups, big enough to be in 4th or 5th grade in the bathroom smoking. The worst part about it was this was the little pups room so there was no reason for them to be down here.

Grown Pup #1: "Well well well, look who we have here." - He chuckled

Grown Pup #2: "Who is this small little twerp?" - The husky grossly smugged.

Grown Pup #3: "Well aren't you a cute little one?"

I was too scared to think so I started backing up shaking.

"Y-Y-You're not s-supposed to b-b-b-"

I was interrupted by the German Shepherd, who seemed to be the leader of the three.

"D-DUH W-W-WE'RE N-N-NOT S-S-SUPPOSED T-T-TO DO W-W-WHAT?" - He mocked.

Now I was visibly scared. Every hair strain was standing up now. I have never felt so scared in my entire life. I could actually feel tears starting to form in my eyes.I didn't want to feel weak in front of them so I decided to step up to them to seem intimidating.

"Y-YOU'RE NOT S-S-SUPPOSED TO B-BE SMO-SMOKING IN HERE, Y-Y-YOU...IDIOTS" - I yelled out, hoping someone outside would hear him and for the 3 pups to back off.

BIG MISTAKE.

The 2 pups in the back were staring for a few seconds and then suddenly burst out laughing. I didn't know what to feel, but the next that happened scared me to the core. All but one of them, the German Shepherd, was just staring at me, with no smile on his face. He wasn't even frowning. He was just standing there, staring at me with a blank expression. I swear if looks could kill, I would have been dead in seconds. The 2 pups behind him caught on and stopped laughing. They looked at the German Shepherd after they noticed he wasn't laughing with them. They looked like they had seen this before. One of them looked at me and shook his head at me with a disapproving head shake. If words could be said through expressions, it would've been along the lines of: "You just made the biggest mistake of your life, kid." I looked back at the German Shepherd who had mysteriously gotten a lot closer to me. I looked down at the ground to notice he was walking towards me. As I noticed this, I was too frightened to move. I could even feel my brain kicking my legs, screaming at them to move but they wouldn't listen. I wasn't even shaking. This had to be a new level of terrified, maybe more than that. The entire room was eerily quiet, you could hear a fly die mid-air and hit the ground. Then the German Shepherd broke the silence which seemed like forever.

What he said made my blood run cold.

"If you ever. Raise your voice at me like that again. I will make sure you have no sound coming out of your mouth EVER again.."

It horrified me. I couldn't move. I couldn't shake. I couldn't make a sound. All I could do was stare at him with the widest eyes a puppy could make. That's when I felt hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I realized I was silently crying. The German Shepherd quietly smirked at me, like he just got what he wanted. A grown dog making a small pup cry and terrified.

"Y'know...I might as well do that now. You must think I don't know you, MARSHALL. But I do."

How did he know my name? I never saw him any day of my life.

"We know about how you would always tell any adult on anyone who does ANYTHING wrong. You know what that makes you? A RAT. A dirty RAT. And we don't like rats here, don't we boys?" - He said while lifting his head up but still looking down at me.

"No we don't dude." - The husky said straight

"The hell we don't." - The bulldog agreed.

"Now you little guy..." - The German Shepherd began.

I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate.

"Do you know what we do to rats here?" - He looked at me, no longer smiling but more with anger.

I wasn't sure if he wanted me to answer so I immediately nodded "no," too frightened to say anything.

"Boys.." - He said but was still looking at me.

"Show this pup what I will do to him." - He said.

I looked over to the bulldog who pushed down the husky and pretended to start tearing his throat apart while the husky was gagging and pleading for his life and then stopped moving, as if the bulldog just murdered him. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was going to become the husky but the difference was, I would die for real. But, this was a school. I'm just a pup and they're still pups as well so they can't actually murder, right? I was too scared and I didn't want to find out.

"Well now that you get the idea, we can't take the risk of you telling on us. So how about you do everyone a favor and let's get this over with" - The German Shepherd said.

He started taking small steps towards me, along with the 2 dogs behind him. I somehow managed to move my legs and I found my voice.

"Pl-please do-don't." - I said quietly.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over me SCRATCHING YOU!" - He yelled that last part out.

I could feel a sharp claw smack me across my cheek and fell to the floor. I started to whine because of the agonizing burn from the fresh scratch.

"Could you repeat that again Marshall? I couldn't hear you the first time." - He said but now starting to raise his voice.

I opened my mouth to speak but what only came out was a whimper. I was too scared to say anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door was cracked open. I didn't remember leaving it like that but then I realized that it was my only escape route. The German Shepherd must've seen my eyes moving to a different direction and fixed his gaze over to the cracked open door.

"Awww check this out fellas. The little guy thought he had a little escape route planned out." - He laughed out.

The dogs behind laughed along with him.

"Nonono, you can't just leave us already, we are already starting to have FUN!" - He growled.

The German shepherd marched up to me and slammed his jaw into my front left paw and started pulling me towards the group. The new pain he just added to my paw just added a new factor of fear. I started to cry out in pain. The German shepherd stopped and landed a hard hit on my head.

"Quiet down you little klutz!" - He yelled out.

At this point, I didn't care anymore. I didn't care what they were going to do to me. I just wanted to get out of there so I started kicking and yelling at the same time.

"NO! STOP! L-LET ME GO!" - I cried.

The German Shepherd got enough. He clamped his jaw on my back leg and tossed me to a wall, creating a loud thud. I was a small pup so the impact was the worst feeling I felt but I couldn't scream. It felt like at the moment of impact, all the air had escaped out of my body, so much to the point where I couldn't make a sound. At that moment I just gave up. I was in too much pain to do anything else so I just layed on the ground and closed my eyes with tears streaming down my face. At that moment, it felt like I was actually going to die. I could only imagine the devastation my mom and dad would be in once they heard the news about me. Even though my life was short, I still had a flash of memories wash over me. All of the happy thoughts kept me reassured.

"Time to say goodnight little dalmatian." - The German shepherd calmly said.

I waited for my fate until I heard a loud:

"HEY!"

He didn't sound like an adult. He sounded a lot like a pup, the same age as me. I opened my eyes to see a small German shepherd to my right side. Who is he? Why is he defending me? Please get out of here. I don't want you to get hurt because of me.

"You're in the wrong party pal. Get lost!" - The bulldog said.

"We're not afraid to hurt you either pup. Beat it!" - The husky exclaimed.

The small German shepherd caught the bigger one looking at him and he stared back. There was something different about this pup. He's a lot braver than me. He's not cowering in fear or anything. He's more angry if anything, like someone stole his favorite toy. The small german shepherd took a glance at me then back at the grown shepherd and started to make his way towards me. He then stopped right in front of me then stared back at the trio, mainly at the grown shepherd. It was like watching the most intense game of a staring contest. I could hear them both growling at each other. The two dogs in the back glanced at each other confused like they were asking: "Is this pup for real? Nobody has ever bothered to step up to him before."

"Look at you three, picking on a small pup. You guys think you're so cool? You're not! You're just a bunch of big stupid bullies! I won't let you hurt this pup anymore! - He yelled out.

I was astonished. I could tell the other pups in the back were surprised as well.

"I like this one. I want to play with you." - The grown shepherd said, now smiling.

"Well I don't! I will make you three pay for what you did!" - The pup howled.

He turned to look at me and yelled:

"Run now! Get the teacher or any adult!"

"B-But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me. Just go!"

As I was about to run out, I took one last look at my savior. As I looked at him, I swear it looked like he was becoming uneasy with the situation he was in, but still put on a brave face. He saw me looking at him.

"I said go! Don't worry about me!" - He demanded.

I did exactly as he said and I ran out, trying to find an adult to help, ignoring the pain on my paw. I wasn't just scared for me but scared for the pup who was standing up for him as well. As I was running to find someone, behind me I could hear a few growls and whines. Some of them weren't too high-pitched so it couldn't have been the pup whining, right? It took me a while to get down to the main lobby. I ran to the first adult I saw and told everything.

I didn't need to use the bathroom anymore.

[Cut to the end of the day: 3:45PM]

Marshall's POV:

I was sitting in the main office, waiting for my parents. My parents were both firefighters so it would take them a while to pick me up. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a familiar German Shepherd sitting on the furthest side. The grown shepherd was just staring at me with a killing intent look in his eyes. He looked beaten up. His front left arm was all scratched up, a piece of his right ear was bitten off and was missing a few teeth. It seemed that the pup did a number on him. He was called down to the main lobby to leave the school. As he hopped down and turned for the door, he stopped then looked at me and what he said haunted me for the rest of my life:

"I will get you and your little friend for this, Marshall. Watch. Your. Back." - He said quietly but loud enough for me to hear him.

And then he left out.

I was scared for the rest of the day. I was thinking about the pup that saved me in the bathroom. I wanted to look for him. In one of the office rooms to my left, I saw what looked like to be the one who saved me earlier. I got down from the chair and limped over to the room. I want to thank him. I peeked my head in the room and there he was. He was sitting on the chair with his front right paw bandaged, right eye patched up, his chest patched up as well. If you look closely, it's like you can see that the grown shepherd tried to go for his throat but failed. He was covered in scratches. His eyes were closed and I assumed he was asleep. I was just about to walk out.

"I know you're there dude." - I heard him say.

My heart stopped. I froze. I turned back to look at him but he was still looking straight ahead with his eyes closed. How did he know I was here? I made sure I was quiet.

"You're probably wondering how I heard you." - He said, now starting to look at me.

He pointed directly to his twitchy ears. "I have enhanced hearing."

"Also-" - He pointed to his nose.

"I smelled you too" - He laughed.

I laughed with him as well. I was relieved to know that he's doing okay but I still felt guilty. He saw me looking at the ground.

"Hey, what's wrong?" - He asked.

"I-I don't know. About What happened e-earlier..." - I started to choke up on my words.

"I-I was worried that y-y-you w-would ge-get hurt b-b-be-" - I couldn't even finish my sentence and I started bawling my eyes out.

"I-I'-I'm..I-I'm s-sorr-sorry t-th-tha-that I wasn't s-strong e-en-enough!" - I managed to say.

I was crying until I heard movement and felt two pairs of paws holding me. I stopped crying and opened my eyes to see the pup hugging me. I was confused.

"..W-Wha-What..?" - I tried to say.

"It's okay dude. You have nothing to apologize for. I chose to help you." - He reassured me.

I was at a loss for words. How could he not be angry at me? He got hurt because he tried to protect me. How could he be so forgiving? Who is this pup?

"And just for the record, my name is Chase, your friend that will protect you for the rest of your life!" - He happily said.

I could feel myself starting to cry again, but this time it was tears of happiness. A friend that could protect me?! But there's no way!

"Now I told you my name, what's your name?" - He asked.

"M-Marshall. My n-name is Marshall!" - I said.

"Well promise me this Marshall-" - He began.

I tilt my head to the side.

"I will protect you for the rest of your life and I will never leave by your side ever! As long as you promise me to be my best friend." - He stuck his paw out.

My heart was pounding. A best friend? I have had friends before, but not a best friend! I didn't care if he wanted to protect me or not. I just want to be his friend. I want to be by his side forever and hopefully to repay him for what he did for me someday.

"I promise." - I said.

I stuck my paw out to shake his.

"Best friends?" - Chase asked.

"Best friends." - I said back to him.