Glasshouse club part 1
Bluey's dream*
Inside the dark emptiness of Bluey's dream, the heeler teenager, with her shiny blue fur standing out in the black background, is working in front of a whiteboard filled with visual pictures of every moment she spent with Mackenzie, with strings attached to pushpins, moving the pictures around and the threats up and down as if she was putting together a conspiracy theory.
The teenager removes a pushpin holding a photo of Mackenzie at the camping site to grab it and move it closer to her, looking at it with a melted face of total love.
"Oh my beautiful Border Collie," the teenager whispers, moving the back of her hand across Mackenzie's face, mimicking caressing him. "One day we will be together."
"Again with the pictures, girl?" Her younger self of six years old speaks behind her
"Yes!" The teenager snaps her head behind her to look at the girl. "Don't act like im weird you are also madly in love with him."
"Yeah, you are right…" The girl looks to her left at two more whiteboards, one with seven pictures of Lucky the yellow Labrador and one with only three pictures of Winnie the brown Labrador. The girl looks back at the teenager and continues, "So, are you planning how to confess to him again?"
"Yeah," The teenager says, still working on the whiteboard she uses for Mackenzie. "I could invite him to the arcade, but we will get so competitive I could just forget it. I could also take him to a nice restaurant, but thats is something I shouldn't do, im a girl, or maybe I could walk with him in the park, but thats too basic. This needs to be special."
As the teenager keeps moving pictures around, the girl walks to be next to her to help out on a plan, but when she looks away for a moment, she hits the teenager with her elbow and asks, "What about the whiteboard over there?"
The teenager stops on her track and leans to see beyond Mackenzie's whiteboard to notice…
Another whiteboard, far from where the two were standing but close enough for them to see ten pictures attached with pushpins, seven of them of a younger Jean-Luc and three of them of the teenage Jean-Luc.
Both the teenager and the girl raised their eyebrows, and if they were connected, they moved around the board and walked towards the new board. When they reached the board with Jean-Luc's pictures, the teenager grabbed one photo of the teenage Jean-Luc, and the girl grabbed one photo of the boy Jean-Luc.
Without saying a word, they looked at each other briefly before looking at the board again and started to work together, moving Jean-Luc's pictures and threads around the board.
Two days later*
Bluey's home*
"ALRIGHT!" Bluey storms out of the bathroom, looking all tidy and ready to party all night and says to herself. "Time to party blue girl!"
It's been two days since Bluey and Jean-Luc hung out in the city center. Two days of planning, messaging, and preparations to give Jean-Luc a proper welcoming party, all of that comes down to Wednesday's sundown. It is 6 p.m., a mere hour before the orange sky changes to the darkness of outer space, the perfect time to check how the party preparations are going.
Bluey walks to the kitchen and finds her mother cutting ham and salami on a wooden board to prepare a massive charcuterie tray, the perfect party snack for the huge number of dogs coming in. "How is everything going Mum?" Bluey asks.
"So far so good" Chili says putting the knife away to talk to her daughter. "We should have enough for the whole party."
"Awesome" Bluey says as she turns to the balcony.
"Hey!" Chilli calls her, making Bluey turn herself to her voice and say, signaling quotation marks at the end with her hands, "Do you want me to prepare my 'Lemonade'?"
"No," Bluey turns down the request, shaking her head. "I don't want to send Indy to the hospital, and I don't want to be responsible if Bingo or any of their friends have their first drink on us."
"Ok, fair enough." Chili understandably nods as she grabs the knife to continue cutting the ham.
"Besides…" Bluey walks towards the Balcony while still looking at her mom. "Your lemonade is really, really, really strong, DAD!" Bluey calls his father, lunging and leaning on the wooden guard. "HOW ARE THE LIGHTS GOING!?"
In the backyard, Bandit is on a stepladder in the middle of the yard, setting up light balls that are hanging on top of the green field by a thread. Trying to set up the atmosphere of 'the best night of their lifes' into the party "ALMOST DONE BLUEY!" Bandit answers back.
"BINGO!" Bluey turns her head towards her sister, who is standing in front of a table with a laptop, a gaming console with its virtual reality goggles, and a projector aimed at a large white screen, generally used if the Heelers have a big sports party like the classic Marrons vs. the Blues or whenever the family has a karaoke party with their friends. "HOW IS THE PROJECTOR GOING ON!?"
"IN SHAMBLES" Bingo answered back, looking behind her to see her sister up top. "NONE OF THIS IS WORKING AS IT SHOULD BE."
"YOU GONNA HAVE TO WAIT TILL ONE OF THE BOYS ARRIVE!" Bluey shouted back
"Pfff." Bingo rolls her eyes back to the laptop. "I don't need no man. You can do this girl" she whispers to herself as she continues to work on the electronics on the table.
DING*
The house's bell sounds off, causing Bluey to raise her ears. "They are here," she thought as she turns around to leave the balcony and kitchen.
"Wait, that bell means?..." Chilli asks as a rushed Bluey goes by
"YEAP!" Bluey replies, walking fast to the stairs and going fast down the steps until she finds herself in the foyer where the main door is. Bluey grabs the doorknock, twists it to open the door, and finds, as planned beforehand, a Border Collie and a dark blue Labrador with orderly and clean furs. "MACKENZIE, JEAN-LUC!"
Before any of the guys could greed back, Bluey lunges into both of them and hugs them simultaneously. Bluey was hugging Mackenzie with her right arm while she was hugging Jean-Luc with her left arm. "Glad to see you again guys."
"Me too," Jean-Luc smiles happily while he puts his right arm around Bluey's back to hug her. "I didn't know you would live so close to Mack's house."
Mackenzie moves his left arm around Bluey's back to hug her before saying, "Well, it has its perks."
When Bluey has enough of the lovely fur of Mackenzie and Jean-Luc, she takes a step back into the house and moves to the side to let Mack and Luke in. "You guys came in just in time. You guys are the first ones to arrive."
"Oh, so that means I have to personally meet everyone…Great," Jean-Luc says dejectedly as if something didn't go his way when he walks into the house with Mackenzie.
"Hey," Bluey noticed the change in tone in Jean-Luc's voice. She closes the main door and moves to the Labrador to put a hand on his shoulder. "Everything will be alright. We are really good people, right Mackenzie?" Bluey turns her head to her black-and-white best friend
"Yeah, they are all excited to meet you, Luke. I know they will all behave tonight" Mackenzie chips in his words of encouragement for the Canadian.
"Yeah, thanks, guys," Jean-Luc says as his irregular breathing comes out of his nose, showing his nervousness.
TOCK TOCK*
"Looks like the party just started," Says Bluey as the tocks on the door notify her of a new guest
Bluey moves to the door and opens it easily, showing the fluffy white fur of her long time…
"BEHIND YOU"
"huh"
"AGHHH"
"AHHHH"
"hahahahaha"
"Lucky, bastard!." Bluey tilts her body to the side to meet the face of the bad dog holding her by her hips. The yellow Labrador who sneaked up from the backyard and scared her just as she was busy with her neighbor, Lucky the Yellow Lab.
"Lucky, can you be a normal boy for once?" The female Chow Chow teenager of 17 years old, with her blue and yellow headband on her head, queries as she walks into the house
"You are asking for the impossible, madam," the 18-year-old yellow Labrador Lucky says with a smirk, still holding Bluey.
"At least can you start by letting go of Bluey? She is not your girlfriend." The Chow Chow asks again
"What's the magic word?" Lucky toys with the white dog as he gently shakes Bluey
"I will fuck you up if you don't let Bluey go" threatened the Chow Chow with a scary finger pointing at Lucky.
"Ok Ok" Lucky says scared, as he sets Bluey free from his paws.
Free from Lucky, Bluey looks behind her to see a confused Mackenzie and Jean-Luc with their eyebrows up at whatever Lucky did to her, but she still remembers the reason why they were here in the first place. "Jean-Luc, they are Lucky and Judo, my next-door neighbors."
"So this is the famous, fellow, Labrador, Jean-Luc." Lucky moves to the Canadian to shake hands with him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, mate."
"Mine too" Says Jean-Luc as he shifts his focus to the female Chow Chow
"My name is Judo." The girl slenderly extends her hand to shake it with Jean-Luc. "Unfortunate girlfriend of Lucky and Bluey's best best friend."
"Hey!" Lucky protests
"Again, with the best best friend?" Bluey thought, upset with rolling eyes
"I see what this is," Jean-Luc says as he finishes shaking Judo's hand. "An opposite attract relationship."
"Yeah, pretty much." "Yeah, it is," Judo and Lucky say as they nod simultaneously.
"Where is Chucky?" Mackenzie finally gets into the conversation
"I jumped the fence with him; he is probably talking to Bingo…" Lucky speaks as he puts his fingers together and makes them clash with each other like two dogs kissing. "...You know what's going on with those two."
"Ah…Chucky will never give up, huh?" Says Mackenzie
"Nope…" Lucky looks down defeated. "I couldn't talk him out of it."
Judo sees her boyfriend's demeanor and puts a hand on his shoulder to make him walk with her. "We are going to be in the back with Chucky and Bingo. I still gotta say hi to her."
"Sounds good. I will see you guys later," Bluey says as she sees how the couple moves to the back,
"Poor Chucky, first ever crush, and it's on a lesbian…or bisexual?"
DING*
"Nevermind" Bluey thinks as the bell rings again knocking her out of her thoughts.
Bluey moves to the door and opens it to reveal
Two female dogs, 17-year-old Dalmatian and chocolate Labrador
Chloe and Winnie. Bluey's best friends
"GIRLS!" Bluey exclaimed with her arms open and lunges forward to hug both of them just like she did with Mack and Luke, and started to do little happy jumps as all three girls giggled joyfully
After welcoming her best friends, Bluey separates from Chloe and Winne to present them to the dark blue labrador. "Girls, this is Jean-Luc, the exchanged student"
"Bonjour" Jean-Luc greeds with a waving hand
"Hi Jean-Luc, im Chloe" Says the black-spotted Dalmatian as she walks to the Labrador and hugs him. "Welcome to Brisbane"
"Thanks," Jean-Luc says as Chloe separates from him and stands aside to let her friend greed the newcomer.
"Hi, Jean-Luc," Winnie smiles happily and extends her right hand to the lightly taller than her Labrador. "I'm Winnie. It feels nice meeting another Lab."
"Nice to meet you, Winnie." Jean-Luc, with the same happiness, shakes her hand. "And yeah, the feeling is mutual."
…
…
…
Silence
For some unknown reason for Bluey, Jean-Luc, and Winnie just stayed there, looking themselves up and down like an invisible wall is in between them, with a soft and friendly smile on their faces as if they just wanted to be there forever. "What's going on?" Bluey thinks
"Ah, Winnie?" fortunately for Bluey, Chloe calls her out. "Let's go."
"Oh!" Winnie finally reacts. "Yeah, im coming."
Winnie walks past Jean-Luc, and if an eye magnet is located in Winnie's body, Jean-Luc keeps looking at her as she goes to the back.
"That was weird," Thinks Bluey as she watches Winnie and Chole go to the back. However, she feels something isn't right, as if something is out of place; it wasn't essential for Bluey, but at the same time, it was bothering her, like an itchy sensation she doesn't even know where it is
"HEY!"
A shoutmakes all three dogs turn to the open door to see five dogs at the entrance: one Dachshund Sausage dog with his characteristic green and yellow hat, one English Bulldog holding a set of car keys, and three Schnauzer color black, dark grey, and grey.
"No party is complete with everyone's favorite sausage dog," the 17-year-old black and brown long dog says smugly as he walks in with his thumbs aimed at himself.
"Snickers!" Bluey moves to his friends and hugs him as the four other dogs move to enter the house
"Sorry for taking so long" the 17-year-old English bulldog says, passing by Bluey and Snickers to greet the Border Collie. "Picking up Snickers is not easy."
"No worries" Mackenzie high-fives the bulldog and the three Schnauzers. "We just got started."
After Bluey stops hugging Snickers and Mackenzie finishes greeting his friends, Bluey turns to Jean-Luc and says "Jean-Luc, this is Snickers, Winton, Joe, Adam, and Dan."
"Nice to meet you, Winton," Jean-Luc greets them with a handshake as they all pass him one by one. "Nice to meet you, Snickers. Nice to meet you, Joe. Nice to meet you, Adam. And nice to meet you, Dan."
After the five dogs shake their hands with the Labrador, Bluey says, "Chloe, Winnie, Lucky, and Judo are already in the back. Oh, and Adam, can you help Bingo set up the projector?"
"Sure thing Bluey" Adam, one of the Terriers, says, still walking with his brothers and friends to the backyard.
"Well…"Bluey closes the main door "So far, I think it's safe to say everything is going well."
"Yeah" Jean-Luc says with a nervous smile. "I might need a list cuz I have to remember a lot of names."
"Just…" Mackenzie nudges the Labrador to grab his attention. "Do the old reliable and call us by our breed."
"Isn't it offensive?" Jean-Luc looks at his housemate with a scowl on his face
"Only if we let it be." Mackenzie deride it by shrugging his shoulders
"I can just tell them to give you a break," says Bluey. "We are kind enough to understand your position."
DING*
"Uh," Bluey says, looking behind her at the sound of the bell again. "Who is it now?"
Bluey…again… turns around to open the door and see
A 15-year-old male blue merle Corgi and a 15-year-old male white with brown on his back Borzoi, standing back to back in front of the door
"Prepare for trouble…" the Corgi announce, with a relaxed hand on his hip and an extended arm with a hand forming a pistol aiming at Bluey.
"Make it double…" the Borzoi repeats the same position as the Corgi, a hand pistol aiming at Bluey.
BANG*
Bluey SLAMS the door close in front of the two dogs and whispers as low as the laws of sound allow "Dumb kids…"
DING*
"Ughhhh." Without any other remedy, Bluey opens the door to see the dogs again.
"That wasn't nice" the Corgi innocently says with a finger aiming at Bluey with the Borzoi next to him shaking his head.
"Aiming imaginary pistols at me like that Turk in the Olympics while role-playing as team Rocket is not cool. It's DUMB" Bluey criticized them with an angry frown, wrinkling her eyebrows. "I told you guys to behave, and that's exactly what you guys will do tonight."
"Ok, ok," the Corgi says defeated, with his surrendering hand slightly up as he and the Borzoi walk into the house.
After the two dogs get in, Bluey closes the door and points at them while looking at Jean-Luc. "The Corgi is Banjo, and the Borzoi is Felix."
"Nice to meet you guys," Jean-Luc says as she shakes Banjo and Felix's hands.
"You look more purple in real life" Commends Felix as he finishes shaking Jean-Luc's hand.
"Dark blue…" Jean-Luc says in between his teeth with angry, half-closed eyes
"What's the difference?" Banjo asks with the total nerve in the world
"None!" Bluey shouts, gaining the two boys' attention. "Just go to the back. Bingo and Chucky are there!"
"Chucky hitting on Bingo again?" Says Felix as he and Banjo start walking to the back. "I'm not missing this!"
With Banjo and Felix far enough from the main entrance, Mackenzie comments, "Sometimes I wish Bingo could just hit them with a bat."
"Uh huh" Bluey nods
DING*
Without saying another word, Bluey turns around and opens the door to find
The soldiers of the club, Rusty and Jack, with their sisters Dusty and Lulu, and a 17-year-old female Afghan hound behind them called Indy. A long-haired dog with bands of several colors holding it together, a pair of dream catchers hanging from her ears, and a bandana on her forehead with a flower pattern of bright colors are typical of the hippie nature of her family. The hound also has a necklace hanging from her neck with a pink crystal, a rose quartz. A crystal Rusty gifted to her on her birthday years ago
"The calvary is HERE!" Jack shouts out to the sky
"Good, Cuz I got Bingo dealing with Chucky, Banjo and Felix in the back" Bluey says, looking at Dusty and Lulu with her thumb signaling behind her.
"Poor Bingo" Dusty says, letting her shoulders drop.
"We gotta help her!" with enthusiasm, Lulu cried out with her first up before marching fast, passing Bluey and Jean-Luc with the sole objective of helping Bingo.
Lulu didn't say anything to Dusty, but the young female red kelpie followed her best friend into the house towards the backyard.
"Now those are friends that are worth gold" Rusty says, looking at her sister and her friend go.
"Yeap," Jean-Luc agrees, looking at the two girls behind him.
"Jean-Luc…" Bluey says, turning to the Labrador. "They are Rusty, Jack, and Indy. The girls who took off are Dusty and Lulu, but I'm pretty sure they will greet you later."
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, mate." Rusty is the first one of the trio to shake Jean-Luc's hand
"Private Jack Terrier reporting for duty, sir!" Jack speaks performing a military salute before shaking his hand
"Nice to meet you, Jean-Luc," greets Indy, giving Jean-Luc a quick hug. "I'm really happy I get to meet you without alcohol around, hehe."
"Yeah, me too…" Jean-Luc separates from Indy "...I don't drink alcohol, and the exchange program forbids me to do so anyways."
"Well, glad to hear we are on the same boat" Indy says
"Ok, with introductions out of the way" Mackenzie leans in between the five dogs. "You guys better help Bingo in the backyard. Dealing with the mortal combo of B, C, and F is not easy."
But when Mackenzie finished speaking, Bluey noticed he quickly blinked his right eye to Rusty. She is not the smartest in the world, but she is not dumb enough to understand that Mackenzie is in the middle of something.
"Oh yeah," Rusty says as if he understands Mackenzie's blink. "We will be with Bingo." And with that and leaving a confused Bluey behind, Rusty, Jack, and Indy make their way to the backyard
"What was that?" Bluey thinks, moving forward to close the door again. "Should I bring it up to Mackenzie?"
But as Bluey touches the doorknob to close the door.
"OIIIII! WAIT FOR US!"
A female cries out, making Bluey look to where the voice is to find…
Three 15-year-old female dogs walking to the door: A grey and white Siberian Husky, a Purple and light brown Shiba Inu with blue glasses, and a dark grey and white short hair Alaskan Husky
Sadie, Juniper, and Harley
"DON'T CLOSE THAT DOOR YET!" Sadie screams again to Bluey, picking up the pace to get in the house faster.
"Hi girls." Bluey let go of the doorknob and step aside, leaving the path clear for the girls
"Hi, Bluey," Sadie walks in
"Hi, Bluey," Juniper walks in
"Bluey…" the female Alaskan Husky stops in front of the Heeler with her palms on her sides and standing upright, looking at Bluey straight into her eyes
"Harley…" Bluey says her name, steps back, and mirrors Harley to bend forward from her hip at the same time as her, still with her hands on her side, back straight, and looking straight down without establishing eye contact with the other's dog face…a textbook Karate greeting
When Bluey and Harley straighten back up, Bluey looks at Jean-Luc. "They are Juniper, Harley, and Sadie."
"Nice to meet you, Juniper," Jean-Luc greets and shakes her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Harley."
"Nice to meet…" Jean-Luc stops on his track when he is about to shake hands with the husky. His open palm changes to his index pointing at her, and asks "Do you usually have moments of 'Empty head Husky?'"
"Ahhh…" Sadie moves her eyes around to think of an answer while her hand is still hanging up, expecting the Labrador's handshake. "Yeah?"
When he heard Sadie's answer, Jean-Luc slowly changed the pointing finger to the open palm again to finally shake her hand, and in the middle of the ups and downs of his hand with her's, Jean-Luc says slowly "You are I, are going to hang along just fine."
"PERFECT!" Exclaimed Sadie, wagging her tail really fast as if somebody had infused a dose of energy that needed to burst somewhere.
After shaking hands with the three girls, Bluey says after closing the door, "Most of the guys are in the back. Mum prepared a tray with ham, salami, and cheese. Also, on purpose, Juniper, where is your brother?"
"Take a guess." The Shiba Inu of Juniper rolls her eyes at the question.
"With Lily?"
"Yeap…They are preparing for their next year of university together."
"How cute…" Mackenzie adds out of nowhere
"Enough talking about Oliver and Lily!" Sadie gets in the exchange. "I WANT SALAMI!" screaming out loud, and with her fist up, Sadie trots to the backyard with Juniper and Harley behind her.
"Yeah…" Jean-Luc says, looking to where the girls walked while hearing the screaming of the Huskey in the background. "(Just like Louis)."
DING*
"If my memory doesn't fail me." Bluey moves to open the door. "Almost everyone is here."
Bluey opens the door again to find
17-year-old brown Chihuahua, a pink fur Poodle, and 15-year-old pomeranian
Pretzel, Coco, and Pom Pom
"Hi guys…"
"JEAN-LUC!…" Coco screams, interrupting Bluey with her arms extended as she walks into the house to hug the Labrador. "Oh it's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Ah…Nice to meet you too?" Jean-Luc uncomfortably says with a cheek half closing his right eye while slowly hugging Coco
"Ugh," Bluey grunts and frowns at the sight of the poodle and Labrador together after closing the door. Ever since the words of an exchange student coming to their high school reached Coco's ears, she has always taken every advantage to call dibs on dating him in a competition in which only Winnie is involved. It shouldn't surprise Bluey that she is behaving like that, but Still, an itchy and confused sensation under her skin crawls around, begging her to do something.
"Hi, guys," Pretzel greets her and Mackenzie, barely getting Bluey to get her eye off Coco and Jean-Luc to occasionally look at him while he was talking.
"Hi, Pretzel, Hi Pom Pom." Mackenzie greets the two dogs with his fist and asks the Chihuahua, "Have you started to drive yet?"
"Yeah," Pretzel nods. "But I still have to drive with my mum for five more months; I managed to pick up Coco and Pom Pom, and when we arrived here, my mum drove the car home."
"He almost crashed into another car and drove through a stop sign." the Pomeranian, big enough for her arms and legs to appear out of the big white fluffy fur, shamefully adds with a thump, aiming at Pretzel next to her.
"I'm still a work in progress." Pretzel shrugs
"Well, most of the guys are already in the back. We are still waiting for Lila, Dougie, Buddy, Missy, the Cavalier sisters, the Jasper 'brothers', and Honey" Mackenzie says, counting with his fingers.
"Great!" Pom Pom exclaimed happily, turning her look to the poodle still hugging Jean-Luc. "Coco, let's go!"
"Ugh," Coco growls under her breath to force herself to get off Jean-Luc and says, "See you in the back, pretty boy."
"Uh," Jean-Luc doesn't react vocally, but he waves goodbye while Coco, Pretzel, and Pom Pom walk to the backyard. When the three…when Coco is far enough from him, he asks Bluey and Mackenzie, "Is it normal for her to greet newcomers like this?"
"I, dont, know?" Mackenzie responds unsurely of what he is saying
"Just…If she ever gets too far, just call me…" Bluey says with a lower angry pitch, unknowingly leaking her anger through her words "... I will deal with her."
"Yeah" Jean-Luc nods. "I will"
DING*
"Almost there, Bluey" The blue heeler thinks as she yet again moves to the door to open it and find
15-year-old light brown Pug and black and brown Aussie terrier
Buddy and Missy
"Hi guys…" Bluey greet the two friends of Bingo, trying her best not to sound angry
"Hi, Bluey" Missy's shy words come out of her mouth as she waves her hand.
"Salutations, Bluey." Buddy tips his imaginary hat to appear respectful.
Bluey steps aside to let the two dogs in. "Jean-Luc, Buddy, and Missy, more of Bingo's friends."
"Nice to meet you Missy." Jean-Luc shakes hands with Missy
Nice to meet you 'Bauddy.'" Jean-Luc shakes hands with Buddy.
…
…
"Uhhhhh" Buddy yanks his hand out of Jean-Luc's hand. "It's Buddy, not Bauddy" The Pug says annoyed.
"Bauddy" Jean-Luc repeats.
"Buddy"
"...Bauddy"
"Buddy!" The Pug says exasperated, trying to get the Labrador to say his name right
…
…
…
"Bauddy?" Jean-Luc raises an eyebrow
"Ughh"
"I think…" Mackenzie speaks. "It's just Luke's accent. Days ago, while I was showing him the city, he referred to someone as Bauddy instead of Buddy."
"Yeah…" Bluey says, thinking of what her secret crush said. "...Makes sense, considering his first language is French."
"Maybe…" Jean-Luc says, his inquisitive eyes looking up. "We call each other 'Bauddy' a lot in Canada, especially in my games."
"Oh, that makes sense," Buddy says, with Missy next to him nodding.
"Most of the guys are in the back. I got Bingo setting up the V.R. goggles to play something." Bluey says briefly looking at where the Backyard is
"Great!" Missy exclaimed, walking to the backyard with Buddy. "See you guys later."
After Buddy and Missy walk far enough, Jean-Luc turns to Bluey and Mackenzie and says "Bauddy…Thats a peculiar name."
"Yeah, Sometimes I would forget thats his real name" Mackenzie says
"Even Bingo doesn't know why his family named him like that" Bluey says lightly, shrugging her shoulders. "I guess cuz is easy to remember, but he still likes to be called Buddy."
"Ugh, why do I feel like you are throwing shade at me for calling myself Mack?" Mackenzie drops his shoulders and tiredly looks up as if Bluey's words struck a nerve in him
"What?" Bluey thinks "He wants to talk about it again? Not tonight my love."
"Thats just you, Mackenzie." Bluey says as she crosses her arms over her chest and faces the Border Collie
"You know how I feel about being called Mackenzie." The border Collie says faintly still looking up, but moves his eyes to look at Bluey
"Well, too bad," Bluey leans to Mackenzie with her hands on her hips and mockingly says, moving her bum side to side, "'Mackenzie, Border, Collie."
"Stoppit," Mackenzie jokingly says as he stops looking up to see Bluey. Her charm works like a charm.
"Uh,Uh," Bluey casually and with a sass waves her finger at him. "You know I love saying your name."
"But isn't it better if I also enjoy being called by my preferred name?" Mackenzie questioned with an eyebrow raised
"Nope," Bluey rapidly shakes her head before continuing "Mack doesn't hit the same as Mackenzie."
"Pfff," Mackenzie blew raspberries while looking away from Bluey. "Sometimes I can't deal with you."
"If you are not dealing with me, you are going to…no, you WILL be dealing with Bingo. And we both know Bingo will not give you a break."
…
…
…
Mackenzie looks back at Bluey, snaps his finger once, and points at Bluey, "Touche."
"Hahaha," Bluey laughs. She won this round against Mackenzie. "There is a reason im your best friend, Mackenzie."
"I wish I didn't say that," Bluey briefly thinks.
"Yeah, you are." Mackenzie looks at her, noticeably more at peace and with those eyes that Bluey can rely on to be calm, eyes that can stir up a lot of things inside Bluey: nervousness, openness, and most importantly…Love
"Don't worry, Bauddy," Jean-Luc says after witnessing Mackenize and Bluey's scene. "I can still call you Mack."
"Thanks, mate" Mackenzie talks back with one thumb up.
"Hmph." Bluey looks at Jean-Luc with a stare of total death and destruction…inheritance by her mother
"Oh shit" The Labrador looks away to avoid looking at Bluey. Despite the Labrador and the Heeler's relationship, even Jean-Luc is not safe from Bluey's death stares.
DING*
"We are not done yet, guys." Bluey changes her face to a more relaxed one, moves to open the door, and finds…
Four 15-year-old dogs
A male black and brown Rottweiler with one arm hugging over the shoulders of a female Cavalier Spaniel
A female white and brown Cavalier King Charles Spaniel hugging the Rottweiler surrounding his chest and belly
A male black and brown Doberman also with one arm hugging over the shoulders of another female Cavalier Spaniel
And finally, a black, brown, and white Cavalier King Charles Spaniel hugging the Doberman surrounding his chest and belly.
Jasper W, Bentley, Jasper G, and Zara
The Cavalier sisters and the Jasper brothers. Who are not brothers but best friends.
"Wow, Wow, Wow!" Bluey reacts to seeing the two couples together before asking, "What did I miss?"
"Ahhhh…Surprise!" All four dogs exclaimed shamefully
"Ahhh, ok… 'the Cavalier Sister dating the Jasper brothers' was not on my bingo card this year," Bluey says
The commotion caused by Bluey caused Mackenzie to walk to the door frame to see what was happening. "Huh, I'm actually amazed you guys didn't do this sooner, considering you four always spend time together."
"Yeah, I thought so too" Says Jasper W, still with one arm over Bently's shoulders
"We talked things out, and we decided to give it a chance," Says Jasper G, still with one arm over Zara
"We talked about this privately. I talked to W while Zara talked to G, and it looks like we are all on the same page," Says Bently, letting go softly of Jasper W
"Yeah," Zara let go softly of Jasper G. "this isn't a Poly relationship if thats what you are thinking."
Bluey and Mackenzie looked at each other in awe before they stepped aside to let the two couples in. "He is Jean-Luc, the exchange student, and almost everyone is in the back," Bluey announced as they entered the house.
With the four teenagers greeting Jean-Luc inside, Bluey takes advantage of being under the door frame to walk out and breathe a much-needed fresh air from her neighborhood. She notices that the orange sky is transformed into a lightly black sky projecting onto the houses, making the street lights go on with its shining peaceful light.
"Impressive," Bluey thinks as she walks to the guard on the veranda of her home. She sees Rusty's red sedan and Winton's white SUV parked in front of the house. The blue Heel puts her arms on the wooden guard and reflects in her mind, "These kids got a better love life than me, just…wow."
"They are growing up," Mackenzie speaks, catching Bluey off guard as he moves to be next to her.
"Yeah, I know…" Bluey says, still looking at the street in front of the house "I knew they hang out a lot, but I wasn't expecting them to actually date each other."
"Uh-huh," Mackenzie hums, looking at the street before him. "Hey, about what happened a minute ago? Sorry for bringing up the name thing again."
"Don't sweat it, Mackenzie," Bluey says, im pushing herself to stand up and look at him. "I know you secretly like that I call you by your real name."
"Just a little bit," Mackenzie jokes, looking at her, still with his forearms on the guard, while showing her his index and thumb close to each other.
"Mackenzie, don't lie to me" Bluey frowns.
"Ok," Mackenzie looks down defeated "I like it."
Bluey smirked and could have joked further with the Border Collie. But the sound of a vehicle approaching her homemade made Bluey and Mackenzie turn their sights onto the street to see a white sedan stooping next to Rusty and Winton's cars.
From the car, a white Maltese steps off from the front seat, and a brown-fur Cavapoo gets out of the back seat.
Lila and 15 year old Dougie
"Remember!" Bluey could even hear Shaila's voice from the veranda. "No alcohol, you are not ready for it."
"I know mum" Lila says, holding the door to speak to her mother. "Bluey doesn't even serve beer at her parties."
"Huh." Bluey felt a proud wave running through her veins; the reputation of being a responsible girl among the parents of the group sounded really good in her head
"OK, call me if you need me to pick you up," Shaila says for the last time before Lila closes the door to send her mom on her way home.
With her mom driving away, Lila turns to Dougie to walk together. But while walking, Doguie says, "Remember what we talked about, right?"
"Uh huh" Lila nods before looking at the veranda to see Bluey and Mackenzie. "Hi guys!"
"Hi Lila, Hi Dougie," Bluey greeted the two dogs as they walked up the small set of stairs. "How is it going?"
"Good," Lila says, already in front of Bluey and Mackenzie with Dougie beside her. "Excited to party"
"Wonderful," Bluey says. "Jean-Luc should be in the foyer."
"Alright," Lila says, letting Bluey and Mackenzie enter the house first. She also nudges Dougie and says, "Ok. It's time for your number."
"Oh, this is going to be fun," Doguie says, putting both his hands behind his ears; he grabs two brown devices and puts them in the pockets on his hip.
In the foyer, Jean-Luc was browsing his cell phone until he heard Bluey say, "Jean-Luc, they are Lila and Dougie, Bingo's best friend."
Bluey and Mackenzie step aside to let Lila greet the Labrador. "Hi, Jean-Luc, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Mine too," Jean-Luc shakes hands with Lila, and when he separates his hand from her, he finds the Cavapoo in front of him with a smile and a tail wagging. "Nice to meet you Dougie"
Jean-Luc extends his hand to Dougie, but the Cavapoo, still maintaining that smile and tail wagging, looks at Jean-Luc's hand briefly before looking at him again and shaking hands with the Labrador.
"You should ask him about hockey," Lila says, putting herself next to Jean-Luc."He is a really big fan of the North American Hockey League."
"REALLY?" Jean-Luc's eyes widen, and his tail wags before asking "What's your favorite team in the league!?"
…
…
…
"The Knights!? The Boulders!? The Aviators!?"
…
…
…
"I swear if you say you are a Red Jacket fan, I ain't speaking to you!"
…
…
…
"Do you even understand me?" Jean-Luc asks with dropped shoulders and a joy that left a while ago
Still smiling and moving his tail, Dougie starts moving his hands and fingers, making signals and shapes.
"(Shit) I failed hand signal class last year. What is he saying?" Says Jean-Luc, looking around, feeling little by little the desperation filling him up
"Even if you know sign language, it will not help you because we use ASLAN instead of ALS. Here, let me translate," Lila says before raising her hand and lifting two fingers as if she is signaling 'two' and shakes it lightly.
Doguie stops signaling after seeing Lila shake her two fingers. He lowers his hands, raises them back up, and starts signaling with Lila translating for Jean-Luc ["Hi, my name is Dougie Cavapoo. I like spending time with my mother, I like turtles, and I love spending time with Bingo and Lila."]
"Okayyyyyy." Jean-Luc slowly moves his face away from Dougie, keeping his sight on him. Weirded out about the situation until he looks straight at Lila next to him with an annoyed frown. "Why did you tell me to talk to him if he is deaf?"
Lila rolls her eyes towards Doguie and blinks one eye.
With the signal received, Dougie got the two brown hearing aids for his cochlear transplants from his hip and set them up on his ear before speaking. "And also, I started to hear three years ago."
"WHAT!?"
"Hahahahahaha!" Dougie, Lila, Bluey, and Mackenzie laugh out loud, admiring Jean-Luc's confused face.
"Heyyyy," Jean-Luc points at Dougie with a wobbling finger, following along with the joke, "That wasn't nice Bauddy"
"Well…" Dougie raises his shoulders with a face of total smug painted on it. "I love pranking new friends with the fact im deaf without my transplants. I love the face they put on after I tell them the truth."
"Dougie, Lila, and Bingo," Bluey starts speaking to Jean-Luc. "Are the only kids in the group that know ASLAN, so if you see them signally each other"
"That means they are up to no good," Mackenzie says, pouring out his years of experience with the trio. "Trust me, I know this from experience."
"Ok…" Jean-Luc looks at Dougie again. "But isn't it offensive to joke about this?"
"Depends per person," Dougie tilts his head side to side. "...But to keep it simple, I'm the only one allowed to joke about my deafness."
"Sound fair, I guess…" Jean-Luc says unsure, slowly looking away from Dougie
"Hey, where is Bingo?" Lila asks the Heeler
"Out in the back, she is setting up the laptop to do some karaoke," Bluey says
"Great, Dougie lets go" Lila signals Doguie and walks to the backyard.
Dougie starts following Lila, but he stops for a second to look at Jean-Luc behind him and says, "My favorite team is the Portland Sea Turtles, simply because they have a Turtle as their mascot." and with that, he looks forward and keeps walking to the back.
"The Turtles…" Jean-Luc pounders with a hand under his chin. "...I can respect that."
"With Dougie and Lila here," Bluey addresses Mackenzie. "That should be everyone from Bingo's group. The only person missing is…"
"Honey…" Mackenzie finished for Bluey
"I texted her yesterday and today but haven't received an answer," Bluey starts saying, "Did you text her recently?"
"No, I mean kind of." Mackenzie shakes his head lightly. "She did leave me some cookies yesterday, but I haven't asked her if she was going to go to the party."
"Oh boy…" Bluey put a hand on her face, a poor way of coping with the emptiness and sadness she started to feel."Do you think she is not coming?"
"Pff, let's just give it time," Mackenzie says determined.
"But she always comes in earlier. It's really weird of her to be this late."
"I know her. She will arrive." Mackenzie looks to the door, hoping the gold and white Beagle knocks on the door or rings the bell
"Well…I'm going to the back to see how everyone is doing. Are you going to stay here and wait for her?" Bluey asks
"..." Mackenzie keeps looking at the door as if the entrance would give him the answer. It looks like it worked when he looks back at Bluey and says, "...I will go with you. We can leave the door open for her."
"Alright…Jean-Luc, you coming?" Bluey asks the Labrador
"Yeah of course. Been wondering how big your house is, "Jean-Luc adds.
"Well, it's big, but let's go to the backyard," Bluey says before walking to the back with Mackenzie and Jean-Luc behind her. While walking, Bluey starts to think about Mackenzie and Honey.
Ever since the…"Incident,"... Mackenzie and Honey's relationship has grown Into a kind, gentle friendship. The cookies that Honey prepared for him are proof of that. Probably for Mackenzie, out of all the people invited, he really hopes Honey will attend the party.
Bluey never really has any reason to get annoyed by those two. Mackenzie and Honey could have dated each other a long time ago, but…considering how close they are and how much Mackenzie means to Honey to…take care of her…She knows there is little to worry about. It's just a compassionate friendship.
Bluey, Mackenzie, and Jean-Luc arrived at the backyard, a green field with a tree close by the building and strings of light balls suspended in the air, providing illumination contrasting the dark night coming from the outside. All of Bluey's friends were talking to each other near the tree, while at the table with the electronics were Bingo's friends with Mom and Dad. Even from the entrance of the backyard, Bluey could hear them talking.
"Have you tried changing the cable?" Buddy asks with his friends surrounding the table, trying to help Bingo
"Yes! Doesn't work!" Bingo screams out, on her knee and working on the cables
"Have you tried the ancient tactic of turning it off and on?" Banjo asks
"Shut up Banjo, you are not helping." Bingo bites back
And while Bingo's friends try to get the projector working, in the circle where Bluey's friends are talking, Rusty leans out of the circle and spots her with Mackenzie and Jean-Luc. "Bluey!" he shouts, making everyone in the circle stop talking and break off to walk to Bluey, forming a half circle around her. "Where is Honey?" Rusty asks
"I don't know; she doesn't respond to my messages." Bluey answers with an unsure shadow over her words
"She is not coming," Coco states. "She didn't even go to the last party."
"Chloe's party or end of the school year party?" Joe, one of the Terrier triplets, says to Coco with a doubtful frown
"BOTH!" Coco shoots back at the terrier and continues sorrowfully, "It's obvious she doesn't want anything else with us."
"She does!" Mackenzie retorts to the poodle "She is just late. I trust she is going to be here."
"How do you know she is just late?" Judo questions sadly "How do you know she isn't sleeping again?"
"I…" Mackenzie stutters, doing his best to come up with something. "...Cuz I know her, thats why."
"Bro…" Winton gets in the conversation "I know you care about Honey, but I think it's safe to assume she is not coming."
"Considering how she treated us before," Jack opinates "I wouldn't blame her if she decides not to go to this party."
"Honestly," Dan, another Terrier of the triplets, speaks, "I don't even know why she decided to rejoin the club in the first place."
"Don't be such a bad dog," his brother Joe nudges him. "If she would've disappeared, she wouldn't have contacted us."
"Are we aware!?..." Indy leans to the middle and moves her palm circularly in the middle to signal everyone, "...About what happened to her!?"
"Yes, we are!" Lucky gets in. "But she started to drift apart even before the incident!"
"That doesn't mean anything," Pretzel grunted. "It was because of him that she started to get away."
"Yeah!" Chloe agreed. "Now that he is gone, it's worth giving her a chance."
"But is she giving us a chance?" Snickers asks, raising an eyebrow
"As much as I would like to say yes," Winnie talks "I really would like her to communicate more with us besides Mack. It's not helping that she doesn't text us at All."
"She is right, you know?" Rusty says, looking at Bluey and Mackenzie "She can't keep hiding behind Mack if she wants us to forgive her."
"Im…Gonna go with Bingo," Jean-Luc says awkwardly and extends his finger to point at the other group. "I don't know why I feel this isn't my business."
"Well…" Mackenzie moves behind Bluey to put an arm over Jean-Luc's shoulders and pulls him close to him to say, "Luke, you are a wonderful, fun person to be around, and I know you're not an evil dog, but…You are right; this isn't your business."
"Yeah." "Sorry mate." "Yeah, nothing personal," the group murmurs and nods in agreement to Mackenzie
"Oh, okay. Call me when you guys are over," Jean-Luc says dejectedly as he walks to Bingo and her friends…still working on the projector.
Bluey sadly watches as Jean-Luc walks away discouraged after being passively and aggressively rejected from the conversation despite Jean-Luc offering to leave. She understands that it still hurts to be kicked out of a conversation…But she secretly agrees with Mackenzie… Honey's "situation" is not Jean-Luc's business.
"Guys..." Bluey finally addresses the group, finally by themselves and ready to hear the no official leader of the group. "I know it's been a long summer for most of us because of Honey, and I know most of us haven't seen her since last school year, including me. But she is still our friend. She still needs us."
"She's been by our side since Glasshouse eleven years ago. She's arguably one of our best friends and we are her best friends too, especially since she started to perform in front of our parents and the rest of the school. We were there on our feet and clapping for her."
"I know what she did is wrong…but that doesn't mean we should push her out; we are not them! We are not Bailey and her group. We are kinder than them, and we are not going down to their level."
"We made a promise a long time ago…that we will stick together until the end, even after graduation and beyond. We are still a group, a unit, a team, a club…we are still close friends."
Bluey extends her arms out. "And if Honey wants to move on and forget about us," Bluey drops her arms to her sides and continues humbly, "I'm fine with it…"
…
…
"Who said I'm going to forget you guys?"
"!" All sixteen dogs' ears shoot up at the sound of a gentle, half-British accent coming from behind Bluey. And she quickly turns around to find
17-year old, gold and white color Beagle, holding a black guitar case with her right hand, with her iconic teal glasses on, and a destroyed and yet hopeful smile on her face
"HONEY!" Bluey screams out with her tail wagging and sprits toward her
When the Beagle sees the heeler coming to her, Honey puts the case down and extends her arms to receive Bluey, who clashes with her, forming a tight hug. The rest of the group, except Mackenzie, didn't wait, and excitedly and cheering, they also sprinted and hugged her. One by one, all her friends formed a group hug, with Honey in the center of it receiving all the attention.
Honey, who has Bluey hugging her from the front, sinks her face into her shoulder. With a voice of a lump in her throat and tiny tears starting to come out, she screams to make sure everyone around her hears her, "I MISSED YOU GUYS."
"We missed you too," Bluey says, hugging her tighter and tighter as she waits for the guys outside to get out of the hug. When it is just her and Honey, she opens her arms, but Honey is still hugging her tight, and with her face on her shoulder, Bluey feels the tear wetting her fur. "Yeah, I get it, take your time 'Conductor tail still'" Bluey hugged her again, but this time with a hand behind Honey's head, slowly caressing her.
Bluey passed her hand behind Honey's head until she finally raised her head to reveal her teary eyes. "Sorry Bluey, im just…" Honey passes her hand through her eyes and then shakes them like a hand fan in front of her face. "Im just emotional right now."
Clap, Clap, Clap*
Bluey turns behind her to see Mackenzie slowly clapping his hands until he opens his arms out and says, "What did I tell you, huh?" Bluey looks back to Honey, who is nodding and passing her hand again through her eyes. That's when Bluey understood to step aside
With Bluey out of the way, Mackenzie gets closer to Honey, and they hug each other tight; it doesn't take long for Mackenzie to separate from Honey to put his hands on the sides of her head, put his forehead with hers and says with teary eyes "I told you im proud of you, I fucking told you, Honey. I knew you would show up."
"Yessss!" Honey exclaimed cheerfully, nodding again before whispering, "Thank you, Mack. Thank you for everything."
Mackenzie and Honey stayed still with their foreheads touching each other. The rest of the group clapped and cheered for Honey's homecoming after some of them spent a long time without seeing her. Still, Bluey just stayed there watching them together with a smile despite the thought of Mackenzie liking Honey in the back of her head. She…doesn't care at all. In fact, something was made explicit for her.
As long as Mackenzie keeps helping Honey recover
Honey will be fine
"HOORAYYYYYYY"
A scream reaches where the group is, and Bluey figures out who it is…Bingo
"TAKE THAT TECHNOLOGY, WOO HOOO"
"Looks like Bingo figured out how to make the projector work," Says Bluey, provoking The Collie and Beagle to separate their foreheads. "C'mon, you still gotta meet Jean-Luc."
"Oh, I have been waiting for this," Honey says, wiping her tears. She picks up the guitar case and walks to the backyard with her friends.
Already outside, the group found the projector working, displaying its image on the white screen while the other group with Chilli, Bandit, and Jean-Luc watched Bingo go crazy, whipping her arms around and screaming, "I TOLD YOU GUYS I CAN DO IT, TAKE THAT YOU BUM." Bingo turned to the group of her Sister's friends and continued, "I'M THE GREATEST TECNICIAL THAT EVER… HONEY!"
"Hey, Bingo," Honey says, slightly extending her arms to hug Bingo, who was coming to hug her. After the hug, Honey raises her case and taps it with her left hand. "You know what to do."
Bingo's mouth opens slowly in awe before she rotates her head to her friends and commands, "GUYS, LET GET THE DRUMS OUT HERE! WE ARE MAKING A CONCERT TONIGHT." Then she walks fast back to the house with Dougie, Lila, Banjo, Felix, and Buddy following her.
"Jean-Luc," Bluey calls the Labrador next to her parents. "This is Honey, the conductor of the school's orchestra."
Jean-Luc raises his eyebrows and walks to the Bagle to say happily, "Nice to meet you, Honey. Tommy told me good things about you and your work in the orchestra."
"(Nice to meet you)" Honey surprisingly answers in French before continuing, "I always wanted to meet a Canuck"
"Oh," Jean-Luc moves his head back and puts his hand on his chest. "Do you speak French?"
"Not really." Honey shakes his head. "Just wanted to impress you."
"Ah, I see," Jean-Luc says before pointing his finger at his mouth. "That accent, is British, right?"
"Yeah, for the king and country," Honey proudly demonstrated her British accent before continuing, "My parents are from London, but I was born and raised in Brisbane with an Australian accent. Over time, I learned the British accent from my parents."
"Well…" Jean-Luc extends his arms downwards "...You got one school year to learn what it means to be a Canuck raised in the ice of Quebec."
"Yes sir," Honey asserted with a smile.
"Well, that's everyone," says Bluey, moving next to Jean-Luc. "The Glasshouse club, what do you think?"
"Well…" Jean-Luc looks at the group of Bluey's friends standing before him."...I think this will be the best year of my life."
"YEAH," Lucky exclaimed, followed by the cheers of his friends.
After everyone cheered, Bluey said, "Let's help Bingo set up the drums. The sooner we finish, the sooner we will start the party." With that, Bluey and her friend walked to the house to help Bingo.
Maybe Jean-Luc is right.
This is going to be the best year of their lives…
Team Rocket and the Olympics: I…For real life, put two references in the spam of 44 words. Im…Disgusting XD, Team Rocket, is from…am I even allowed to say it without getting a copyright strike? And the Turk is a reference to Yusuf Dikec's iconic stance in the Olympics. I'm declaring myself guilty of annoying people with that pose.
Rose quartz crystal means love, peace, and healing…there you go; I saved you a Google search.
Empty head Husky: I was browsing through Tik tok, and I found a Husky video with comments like, "Oh yeah, those moments of Empty head, those are the funniest." so yeah, thats Sadie's and Louis's personalities in a nutshell in this fic
Doguie's introduction: I have never thought I would get to this point…but it is a reference to my other fic, "You are not Alone," when Dougie introduces himself in math class…and yes, it is a prequel to this story
"Canuck": A slang term to refer to Canadians, especially French Canadians
Im going to try and upload a new chapter of my other story "You are not alone" ASAP Cuz I'm going on a trip for two days and that means two days out of action, but after that, brand new fic coming up before the end of the month
Feel free to leave reviews, and until next time