Chapter 13: My Blood

The drive to the Primary school was quiet until Shaun felt his phone buzz and he took it out of his pocket. It was a message in his friends' group chat.

Cpl Shepherd: Hey, we should ask our parents if we all can hang out this weekend.

Sean Bean: that sounds like a good idea, maybe all of you and Millie can come over here to my house!

Millie Meter: I agree, but Adrian can you change my name here, please?

Cpl Shepherd: I'll think about it LOL

Shaun smiled and put away his phone as he and his mom approached the school. As Chilli parked the car, the two got out to greet Bluey and Bingo, who ran up to them with open arms.

"Mama guess what! I made a new friend today!" Bingo said as they all hugged.

"Really? I'm so happy for you!" Chilli replied as they ended the hug.

"Did you make any friends today, Shaun?" Bluey asked her big brother.

"As a matter of fact, I did! Two actually." Shaun replied. "Speaking of, Mom? Can my friends come over this Saturday?

"Sure! I don't see why not, just as long it's okay with their parents." Chilli said to him.

Shaun smiled at her and everyone got into the car to head home while he texted his friends letting them know it was okay to come over. Adrian and Millie texted back and said it was fine with their families. When they arrived home, Shaun saw Judo next door outside and nervously walked over to her to ask her a question, with his face slightly red.

"Um, hi Judo. I want to ask you something." Shaun said, not making eye contact with the Chow Chow.

"H-hello Shaun, what do you need?" She replied, also not looking at him.

"Well, my parents got me a phone yesterday and I wanted to see if you had one too, so we can text each other." Shaun said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh, I got one! My mom got me one for my birthday!" Judo replied with her tail wagging.

"Really? That's awesome!" Shaun said looking up at her, his tail wagging as well.

The Husky gave her his number and she saved it in her phone. Before heading back inside his house Shaun leaned over the fence and kissed Judo on her nose. "Did I really just do that?!" He thought in his head before quickly running away inside, hiding his face. The Chow Chow stood there motionless, as she touched her nose and couldn't believe what happened. Judo shook her head and regained herself. She took out her phone and sent a heart emoji to Shaun and walked into her house.

(Saturday)

Adrian, Millie, and Shaun are all in his room, chatting and just hanging out together,

"And then she said, 'This is trifficult.'!" Shaun said while chuckling as he told his friends what Bingo said yesterday.

"Oh man, your sisters are so funny!" Adrian chuckled.

"Yeah, and they really know how to make games." Millie added on.

"They really do have a big imagination." Shaun replied, thinking about how lucky he was to have two great sisters.

"I'll be right back you two, I have to use the bathroom." Millie excused herself, leaving Shaun's room.

Adrian and Shaun continued to talk for a bit more before Shaun decided to ask a question that had been bugging him. "Hey Adrian? Why does Lance call you a 'freak'? He only calls me an 'American." He asked.

"It's because I'm a white German Shepherd."

"That's supposed to be a bad thing?"

"Well back in the States where we are from it's not, but here White Shepherds aren't common or popular. Other dogs see us as mistakes." He explained.

"Man, I'm sorry to hear that, but you are so cool though." Shaun said, feeling bad for his friend.

"Nah it's fine, why should care about what some Jerk-wad like Lance thinks of me? And thanks, you're pretty cool yourself." Adrian replied with a smile. "Now since I talked about me, what about you? It's obvious Bandit and Chilli aren't your parents, oh no offense. I didn't mean to make it sound so mean."

"No it's okay, it's only fair if I tell you. Truth is, I didn't remember how I got here for a bit, I just woke up in a playground and Bluey and Bingo just happened to find me."

"What? Where was your family? They weren't with you?"

"I don't know my dad, and my mom is… isn't here anymore." Shaun explained as he started to feel tears build up. "I have an uncle I used to hang all the time, but we haven't been able to find him so Mom and Dad just kinda adopted me, but I miss my uncle and Mom so much." He finished talking and tears began to fall. Adrian started to feel bad for the husky. He walked over to him and hugged him.

"Hey, it'll be okay, you'll see your uncle again." He said trying to cheer up Shaun.

"Are you sure? It's been years..."

"Yes, I'm sure, you just have to keep holding on to hope."

Shaun ended the hug as he started to feel better and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Thank you, I know we have only been friends for a few days but I'm so happy we are, and Millie too.

"I feel the same. Speaking of, where is Millie anyway? I thought she was just using the dunny."

Shaun and Adrian both left the bedroom to find out where their Coyote friend went too. They started heading downstairs but stopped when they heard the sound of her playing with Bluey on a game of Keepy Uppy. Bingo was over at Dougie's house.

"Forgot about us, did you?" Shaun said with a smirk as he put his hands on his hips.

Millie jumped when he spoke and smacked the red balloon up and it hit the ceiling fan as it got flung out the window and landed in the grass, popping instantly.

"Awww..." Bluey said in a sad tone.

"Sorry Bluey, I didn't mean to ruin your game." Millie replied also a little sad.

"It's okay I still have another one." She said as she went into her room to grab her last balloon.

Adrian and Shaun walked up to their friend.

"Sorry, I finished using the bathroom, but Bluey asked me to play with her. She was frowning and looking at me with puppy eyes."

"Yeah even though it's been three years, when she or Bingo give you their please face you can't say no to them."

Bluey came back to join everyone holding a blue balloon. "Do you two wanna play with us?" She asked, doing her famous please face.

Shaun rolled his eyes and Adrian chuckled. "Sure, let's all play!" The Husky said as he and the Shepherd joined in on the game.

(next week)

The friend trio all sat at a table in the lunchroom enjoying the food the best they could.

"My milk is frozen. It has ice in it." complained Shaun.

"And my pizza is cold. Was it even cooked?" Adrian also complained.

"This is why I bring food from home for lunch." Millie said while taking a bite of her sandwich. She peeked over Shaun and saw Lance approaching their table with an angry look.

"Oh boy." She sighed.

"What?" Shaun asked.

Before Millie could say anything, "American!" Lance yelled out.

Adrian and Shaun turned around and looked at the Retriever, before looking at each other with confused looks and pointing at themselves. "The Husky, you nimrods!" He yelled again.

Shaun started to get irritated as he stood up and got up to Lance. "What the heck is your problem? Can't we enjoy our crappy lunch in peace?"

"It's you that's my problem! It was bad enough I had to deal with just the freak!" he said pointing at Adrian, the shepherd looked away as his ears folded back.

Shaun chuckled. "what's so funny?" Lance asked, getting even more angry.

"Oh, it's nothing, just thinking about how you have to deal with three freaks actually, you get mad at yourself when you look in a mirror?" Shaun said with a smirk.

A few other kids in the lunchroom who stopped eating laughed and chuckled, Lance's face turned red with embarrassment and anger as he shoved Shaun to the ground and started punching him. After he got a few hits in, Shaun grabbed his fist and pushed him off with his legs. All of the Husky's fur was standing up as he stood up and charged at the Retriever, kneeing him in the gut and dodging his punches.

"Why are you doing this?" Shaun asked but he was ignored as he got kicked in his leg, making him fall again.

Lance got back on top of Shaun and started punching him again, breaking his nose. Shaun moved his head to not get hit in the eye, He grabbed Lance's arm and bit down on it, hard. The Retriever yelped in pain and tried to release his arm, but he tightened his grip. Lance managed to gather his strength and pulled his arm away, ripping off some of his fur and blood started coming out from the bite marks. Shaun stood up and spat out the fur and blood from his mouth and prepared to attack Lance again until a teacher came into the lunchroom and separated the two, sending Lance to the nurse's office and Shaun to the principal's office.

He sat in the room in a chair as the principal of the school, a tall and gray Great Dane, stared at the Husky. "So, Shaun Heeler, do you mind explaining what happened in the lunchroom?" he asked in a calm but serious tone.

"I was eating with my friends when Lance came over and started picking on me and Adrian." Shaun explained nervously.

"That's what some of the students told me, but the teacher who stopped you two said that you antagonized him and even bit him. Is this true?"

"Y-Yes sir, it's True. Am I.. Am I going to be expelled?"

"Hmm, since this is your first time getting in trouble that won't happen. But something serious like causing physical harm to another student isn't going to go unpunished. I'll have to get Lance's side of the story, but so far both of you are looking at least a week of suspension. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir, I understand." Shaun said barely above a whisper, his eyes looking down at the floor.

"Good, now go wait outside the room as I call your mother to come take you home."

Shaun nodded as he sat up and walked outside into the hall and shared a glare at Lance, who had his forearm wrapped in a bandage. The Retriever didn't say anything as he entered the office and sat down in the same chair Shaun was just in.

"You know I hate seeing you in here, this wasn't the first time you had a problem with Shaun or Adrian, but it was never this bad before. I just want to ask you why you keep picking on these two boys."

"… I don't know." Lance mumbled.

"You don't know? Look, I want to help you, but even though you have good grades if you don't fix this problem you have with them, I'm going to have to expel you."

Lance didn't say anything and just kept his arms crossed. The Great Dane sighed. "I already told this to Shaun but I'm suspending the two of you for a week."

"What!? This isn't fa-" He yelled but the principal cleared his throat and stared into Lance's eyes, making him be quiet.

"Go wait outside while I call your father to come pick you up."

"No don't call my dad!" Lance pleaded.

"Why? Is something going on at home?"

"N-No sir. Just call my mother, please."

"Alright, I will." The Great Dane said, suspicious of the Retriever's behavior as he slowly got up and exited the office, sitting next to Shaun. The two dogs looked at each other.

"I'm... I'm sorry for biting you." Shaun spoke, breaking the silence.

Lance just scooted away from him and turned his head away from him. The principal came out letting the Husky know his mother was here. He stood up and walked outside the building to his mother's car. He got inside but it was a quiet drive home as Shaun didn't talk despite her trying to get him to tell her what happened at school. When she parked the car, he didn't say anything as he got out of the car and headed inside.

"Shaun? Mama, why is Shaun home?" Bingo asked, she had to stay home from school because she got sick yesterday.

"Hold on sweetie." Chilli said to her youngest. "Shaun!" She tried talking to him, but he still ignored her as he started walking upstairs to his bedroom. "Shaun Heeler! Listen to me when I am speaking to you!" Chilli yelled, starting to get upset.

Shaun turned around and snapped at her. "Why should I!? You aren't my real mother!" He yelled out. The Husky's face quickly turned from anger to shame and regret as he realized what he just said. Chilli stood at the bottom of the stairs with her mouth open in shock as she covered her mouth and started to cry, walking outside to the backyard.

"M-Mom wait I didn't mean-" But she didn't listen. Bingo, who was near her, looked at Shaun with a scowl before running off to join her mother.

Shaun started to cry as he ran into his room and screamed into his pillow. "Why did I say that?!" he thought in his head as he mopped in bed. He turned around onto his back and touched his nose. "Stupid Lance, I think he broke my nose. Why couldn't he just leave me alone I never would've yelled at Mom." After calming down, he sat up on his bed, he was going to go apologize to his mom and Bingo, but he noticed a light shining out from under his bed. He got on his hands and knees to get a better look, the light had a warm glow to it, and it felt strange but also familiar to him. He reached out a hand to feel it when the lights in his room began to flicker and a strong force of wind started to pull him in closer.

He was sucked into the light and his room settled down. He was gone.