Chapter 12: Yes I'm Changing
A lot can change in three years, the kids are older and while Bluey and Bingo look the same as they did, Shaun looks very different however. He has more white fur on his arms, legs and tail. White fur has grown on his stomach and between his eyes and his fur has generally gotten messier, but he doesn't mind. Bluey is still going to Calypso's primary school but starting tomorrow Bingo will be attending as well. Tomorrow is the also day when Shaun starts Secondary School, but he can't help but feel nervous going.
"Hey mate good morning, how did you sleep?" Bandit said as he entered the kitchen and grabbed a drink from the fridge.
"I've slept alright." Shaun replied as he took a bite of the toast that he made for himself.
"That's good to hear, are you ready to start school tomorrow?" Bandit asked as he took a seat next to Shaun.
"Actually, I'm a bit nervous." He said to his dad while looking down at his half-eaten breakfast.
Bandit looked at him and put his hand on Shaun's shoulder. "It's okay mate, you know Bluey was a little nervous starting primary."
Shaun looked at his dad with a surprised look on his face. "She was?"
"Yep, but she made friends, had a lot of fun on the first day and she wasn't so scared anymore. And you wanna know something else? When it's Bluey's time to start secondary, I bet she's gonna be glad to have her older brother there to help her out."
Shaun thought for a bit about what Bandit said before speaking. "Yeah you're right dad, I'll be there for her." Shaun replied as he hugged his dad. "And thanks."
Bandit had a small happy tear in his eye as he embraced the hug. "It's no problem kiddo."
"Well isn't this lovely?" Shaun and Bandit stopped hugging when they turned to see Chilli looking at them with her phone out. "I'm gonna get this printed out and hang it with the rest of the pictures."
"Good morning, babe." Bandit said as he stood up and kissed his wife.
"Ugh gross." Shaun said looking away from them.
"You better get used to kiddo. Especially when you find that special someone." Bandit said rolling his eyes. "I think he already found that person." Chilli added on with a smirk pointing to the direction of Wendy's house.
"MOM!" Shaun yelled as his face went red and he tried to hide it by covering his face with his hands but it was too late.
"What? Judo?" Bandit said confused, looking at Chilli.
"Yeah, that day I sent you the picture of the two of them drawing a few years ago. I noticed at the restaurant how they were acting, and I think Judo likes him back." Chilli explained.
"Mom please stop." Shaun said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Hehe okay, sweetie." Just as Chilli said that, Bingo and Bluey ran into the room.
"Hey Mom, we heard Shaun yell your name, is everything okay?" Bingo asked her mom.
"Yeah, he's fine, I was just teasing him." She replied.
"About what mum?" Bluey then asked.
"Oh, don't worry about it." Chilli told her daughters. Bluey and Bingo looked at each other confused but shrugged it off. "What do you want to do today girls?"
Shaun looked up after he felt his face wasn't red anymore. "How about we go to the park?" He suggested.
"That sounds like fun! Can we Mom!" Bluey and Bingo asked at the same time making please faces.
Chilli sighed. "Yes, we can go."
"Hooray!" All the kids shouted.
"I'm afraid I have to miss out, I have to work on some emails for my boss." Bandit said, breaking the mood.
Bluey and Bingo looked a little sad, while Shaun was a bit confused. "I can't believe I haven't asked this, but what do you do for work Dad?" He said looking at Bandit.
"It's okay Shaun, I'm an Archaeologist, do you know what that is? Bandit asked.
Shaun nodded his head. "Yeah, you find and dig up dinosaur bones right?"
"Yes, that's correct, sometimes I'm out in the field, but most of the time I'm in my office writing reports and details of what bones we find." Bandit explained.
"That's pretty cool dad." Shaun said with a smile and Bandit smiled back. "I have another question, have you ever found human bones?"
The Blue Heeler looked at him with a puzzled look, "Well it was said that those creatures existed back during prehistoric times when dogs first learned to walk upright, but that's pretty much a myth now. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, just curious." Shaun said rubbing the back of his head.
After they talked Chilli made brekkie for the rest of the family before heading out. When they finished eating, Chilli and the kids got into the family car and were about to leave before Bandit came outside to talk to Shaun one more time.
"Hey, Shaun." Bandit asked while Chilli rolled down the rear window for them to talk.
"Yeah Dad?" He said sitting between Bluey and Bingo.
"Me and Chilli have something to give you when you all come back." Bandit replied with a smile.
"Oh? What is it?" Shaun asked tilting his head.
"It's a surprise." Chilli said, turning around in her car seat to look at him.
"Well, I can't wait to find out what it is!" Shaun replied smiling, thinking about what it could be.
Chilli and the kids waved at Bandit as she pulled out of the driveway to head to the park, He waved back and headed inside to work in his office.
After spending a few hours at the park and stopping to get lunch and some fruit smoothies, the family headed back home. Shaun was excited to see what the surprise was and as soon as they got to the house, Shaun jumped out of the car and ran inside to see Bandit on the couch watching a game of Cricket.
"Hey Dad!" He said as he hugged him with his tail wagging fast.
"Hey mate, are you ready to see what we got you?" He asked.
"I've been ready since you told me!" Shaun replied, letting go of his dad.
"Okay kiddo, let's just wait for your mom to come in first." Bandit said turning off the TV and standing up.
Chilli and the younger Heelers came inside, and Bandit went into the master bedroom to grab the present for Shaun. He came back into the living room and handed him a small rectangular box. Inside it was a phone in a dark blue case. Shaun's eyes lit up and his tail wagged again.
"A phone? Thank you so much!" He said as he hugged Bandit and Chilli.
"We figured since you've been such a good kid to your sisters, you should get something nice. And when you make friends at school tomorrow, you can talk to them on it while you are home. Bandit explained with a smile.
"You're welcome sweetie, make sure you take care of it." Chilli followed up, also smiling.
Shaun ran up to his room to check out his new phone. Laying on his bed looking at it, he thought of Judo. "I wonder if she has a phone too." Shaun said in his mind. Thinking of her he felt his face begin to turn red again and covered his face with his pillow. He quickly cleared his mind, put the phone into his pocket and headed downstairs to join the family again.
(the next day)
Chilli is driving Bingo, Bluey, and Shaun to their respective schools. She drops off her daughters first, pulling up to the Glasshouse Primary School. She parks her car and gets out to help her kids out of their car seats.
"Bye, mom! Love you!" Bluey and Bingo said as they headed inside the school.
"Bye, kids! Love you too!" Chilli replied. She got back into the car and made her way to drop off Shaun at his School. After heading inside the school, all the kids went out to play. Bluey, Bingo, Lila, Gruber, and Mackenzie played a game together until Bingo looked in the corner of her eye to see a dog she hadn't before coming outside. It was a brown Cavapoo dog, and he was holding something in his hands. Bingo decided to stop playing for a bit to go over and greet the new dog.
"Hi! My name's Bingo, are you new here?" She asked, waving while walking up to the brown dog.
Instead of answering her back, the Cavapoo looked at her for a few seconds and then started writing something on the board he had. It was a red plastic toy that had a board and a fake pen that was connected to the toy with a string. He wrote something down and turned it around to show Bingo.
"Hi, my name is Dougie. I'm deaf so I can't hear you."
Bingo took the time to read the board and was about to speak again but stopped herself. She pointed at the board to ask if she could use it and Dougie nodded. He moved a slider at the bottom of the toy back and forth until what he wrote was erased and handed it to Bingo, who started writing in it.
"Hello Dougie, My name's Bingo. Do you want to be friends?"
Dougie looked at it and nodded but before Bingo handed him his board back so he could write a response. "Bingo! Could you get Dougie to come here for a second?" Calypso yelled out to her.
Bingo tapped on Dougie's shoulder and pointed behind him, he turned around and saw their teacher waving him over. He started walking to her and Bingo watched but since he didn't have his writing board to write on, she wondered how they were gonna talk but she saw them making strange motions with their hands. Eventually, Dougie made his way back to Bingo and was writing something to him.
"What were you two doing with your hands?"
Dougie took the board back.
"It's called Auslan, It's Sign Language."
Bingo looked at the toy and asked to use it.
"That's cool, do you think you can teach it to me?"
Dougie had a big smile on his face that made Bingo smile as well. While smiling, the two didn't notice Bluey coming up to them.
"Hey, Bingo, who's the new kid? And what's that?" She asked her younger sister, pointing to the red toy.
"His name is Dougie, and he's deaf so he uses this to talk to other people. He also knows sign language." Bingo replied to her older sister.
"Wow that's pretty cool, could I use the toy for a second?" Bluey asked. Bingo handed it to her, and she grabbed the pen.
"Hi there Dougie, I'm Bluey, Bingo's older sister. Do you want to play with us?"
Bluey pointed behind her to the group of kids and they all waved at him. Dougie smiled again and his tail wagged as he nodded and the Heeler sisters and him walked over to their friends to introduce them to the Cavapoo.
(Thirty minutes earlier)
Chilli and Shaun made it to his High School. Chilli stopped the car in the drop-off area and looked at the Husky, who was staring out at the building.
"Shaun?" She asked him. "Oh, yes Mom?" He replied being taken out of his thoughts.
"Don't be nervous honey. You're going to be fine and make some new friends." Chilli said with a smile.
Shaun looked at her and leaned over to hug her, she did the same. "Thanks, Mom, I needed that." he said wiping a tear from his eye
"It's no problem Shaun, now go have a good time. Chilli said also wiping a small tear from her eye.
Shaun nodded and exited the car, He looked back at his mom and smiled before he entered the building. When he opened the door, he saw a bunch of dogs all talking and walking to their classes. Being around them, he started to feel claustrophobic and began speed walking around to find the principal's office to get his class schedule. While looking around he came across a white German Shepard that looked to be his age being bullied by a Golden Retriever.
"Hey, watch where you're going, American." The Retriever said with anger, looking at the white dog who was lying on the ground.
I-I'm sorry Lance." The Shepard replied barely above a whisper.
Lance bent down and looked at him in the eyes. "What was that freak? I couldn't hear you."
Shaun was never the type to get angry but seeing this interaction with the two dogs made his blood start to boil and he had to step in. "Hey! Leave him alone!" He yelled out to Lance, which made some other dogs who were ignoring the situation stop walking and stare at him.
Lance turned around to see who yelled at him. "Oh great, now there's two of them." He looked back at the dog on the floor. "This isn't worth my time, you won't be so lucky next time." He said as he stood up and walked past Shaun, not breaking eye contact with him. After Lance was far enough away, Shaun let out a sigh of relief and went to help the German Shepard off the floor.
"Hey, are you alright?" Shaun asked, extending his hand to the white dog.
"Yeah, I will be. You must be the new dog the teachers are talking about." He replied, taking Shaun's hand and standing up.
"Oh great, I'm popular already, aren't I? Shaun said a bit upset, not wanting this attention to him already.
"It's hard not to be, since you are the second one here being from America. The name's Adrian by the way." Adrian explained while introducing himself.
"Nice to meet you, my name's Shaun. So where are you from?" Shaun asked, wanting to know about this dog.
"I'm from Michigan, and you?"
"I'm from Illinois. Say, you wanna be friends?" Shaun said with a smile.
Adrian was a little taken aback by his forwardness but happily said yes to having someone else from the States to talk to. "Are you on your way to class?" He asked the husky.
"I was trying to find the principal's office to get my schedule, but then I ran into you and Lance." Shaun replied scratching his ear.
"Oh, I can show you, there's some time before class starts, nice job standing up to that meanie, by the way." Adrian said, happy someone finally stood up to him.
"I couldn't just stand by and do nothing." Shaun replied as the duo walked to the front office. Shaun entered to grab his classes for this semester and came out to show his new friend. They had the first class together which was English so they both headed there together. The next class he had was Art, which Adrian wasn't in, which made Shaun sad but enjoyed it nonetheless. When the bell rang, he headed to lunch and saw his friend already waiting for him, saving him a spot at the table with another person who wasn't a dog sitting with him.
"Hey, Shaun! I want you to meet my friend Millie." Adrian said waving the husky over to the table.
Shaun sat down next to the Shepard and said hello to Millie.
"Hi there, it's nice to meet you, I haven't seen a dog like you before." He asked.
"Well, it's because I'm not a dog, I'm a Coyote." She explained.
"Oh, that's pretty cool, Coyotes are more native to America, right?" Shaun replied.
"Yeah, but I wasn't born there. I lived here with my grandparents since I was a pup, or that's what they told me at least." Millie explained to the husky.
"Really? Why's that?" Shaun asked, wanting to know about the girl.
"I.. rather not talk about that." Millie said looking down as her ears folded back.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Shaun replied feeling bad for asking her.
"It's okay Shaun, don't be sad." Millie said, giving him a fake smile.
Shaun smiled back. "Hey Shaun, you wanna be in a group chat with me and Millie?" Adrian asked.
The Husky agreed as he took out his phone and added his two friends to his contacts, Adrian sent an invite and Shaun accepted. The lunch bell rang and everyone went back to class. The rest of the school day went by quickly, and it was time to go home. Shaun walked outside and saw Chilli waiting for him in the pickup area. He entered the car and Chilli noticed how much better of a mood he was in.
"Hey Shaun, I take it you had a good day?" She asked, smiling at him knowing what he was going to say.
"Yeah I did! I made two friends today! Another American and a coyote girl! Adrian and Millie!" He replied with a happy look on his face and his tail wagging on the car seat.
"Wackadoo! I'm so proud of you!" Chilli said as she ruffled the fur on top of Shaun's head. "Let's go pick up Bluey and Bingo."
"Okay Mom!" Shaun replied as the two pulled away from the school.
