Rusty's Secret

25. Coco's Secret

Jack and Rusty head into social studies class. "Good morning, everyone! Happy Valentines Day!" Mrs. Collie anouces to the class. Rusty blushes a little. He had forgotten it was Valentines Day. "I hope you're all excited about the dance!" Mrs. Collie said loudly. Coco walks into the room. "Oh, hello, Coco. Go sit down" Mrs.Collie said to her. Coco looks at Jack and starts to blush. "Today is the day I'll ask him" She said in her head.

Coco is sitting with Chloe and Snickers at their lunch table. She's staring off in the distance. "You ok Coco?" Chloe asks her. Snickers looks over to what she's staring at. It's Jack. "Oh, you like Jack, don't you?" Snickers laughs. "Well...Kinda...."  Coco replies nervously. "You might have some competition" Chloe points at Rusty, memorized by Jack as well. "Who, Rusty? No..." Coco refuses. "Are you gonna ask him to be your date for the dance tonight?" Snickers asks, taking a bite of his food. "Yeah....I just don't know how..." Coco says sadly.

The bell rings. "Well....go ask him!" Snickers shouts.

Rusty looks for his friends in the hall. He sees them talking by the lockers. "Guys...I have something to tell you..." Rusty says nervously as he stops in front of them. "What is it?" Mackenzie questioned.  "I-I.....have a crush on Jack....." Rusty admits as he squints his eyes and waits for their reaction. "Saw that coming....ow!" Bluey nudges Mackenzie with her elbow. Indy takes a few steps back as he said that, her smile turns into a frown. "That's great! Are you gonna ask him to be your date?" Bluey asked him. "I hope so...." Rusty said quietly.

Coco walks through the halls, looking for Jack. She eventually finds him looking through his locker. She stands behind him. "H-Hi Jack..." Coco said nervously. Jack turns away from his locker to see who was talking to him."Oh, Hi, Coco" Jack responded with a confused expression. "C-Can I ask you something...?" Coco says nervously. "What is it?" Jack asks. ".....uhm....W-Will you be my date for the....dance tonight..? Coco asked silently. Jack's face turns red. He didn't want to upset her by saying no, but he didn't want to lie to her by saying yes. There were people all around. He was sweating, he felt the pressure building on top of him.

"Go ask him!" Pretzel shouts to Rusty, pushing him forward. "Ok...Fine..." Rusty looks for Jack in the hallway. His heart was pounding. He looks by Jack's locker to see Jack talking to Coco.

"That's strange...he never talks to Coco..." Rusty said in his head. ".....uhm....W-Will you be my date for the....dance tonight?" Coco asked Jack. Rusty heard the question, he just stood there, waiting for Jack to answer. "I-I..." Jack was put on the spot. He didn't want to hurt Coco in front of everyone. ".....s-sure...." Jack lied softly. Coco exhales loudly. "O-Ok...see ya then!" Coco skips away. Jack turns around to see Rusty across the hall. "Oh, H-Hey Rus..." Jack says nervously. Rusty stands there as his eyes begin to water. He quickly runs away with tears in his eyes, dropping his dogtag onto the cold floor. "Rusty!" Jack shouts as he tries to chase after him.

BEEEEEEP

"That's the second bell....I better get to class" Jack whispered to himself. He carefully picks up Rusty's dogtag off  and walks into math class with Bluey and Pretzel. "Where's Rusty?" Bluey asks as they walk into the classroom. Jack doesn't respond. He just stares down at the dogtag in his hands. "Jack, are you ok?" Pretzel asks worrily. "Rusty ran away....I don't know where he went..." Jack says quietly, his eyes still focused  on the dogtag.

"Alright, is everyone here?" Mr. Retriever asks the class. "Where's Rusty?" He asks with a concerned look. "Jack said he ran away from him. We don't know where he is..." Bluey explained to him. "Why did he run away?" Mr. Retriever asks her.".......I know why.....But I don't want to say it out loud...." Jack says with his head down. Jack gets up and whispers something into Mr. Retriever's ear. "Oh...." Mr. Retriever replies.

BEEEEEEEP

"It's break time....mabye Rusty is outside...Alright! Everyone outside!" Mr. Retriever said worrily. All the students get up and walk outside to the courtyard for break time. Jack sits on the bench, looking down, Bluey tries to comfort him.

"Are you ok, Jack?" Mackenzie walks over. "No....." Jack says quietly. "Can you tell us why Rusty ran off?" Bluey asked him. "W-Well.....Coco asked me to be her date for the dance.....a-and I said yes because I didn't want to hurt her feelings...B-But I....think....I-I think.....Rusty wanted me to be his date...." Jack explains. "Oh.....Rusty told us that he wanted to ask you...but I guess Coco did first..." Mackenzie says sadly. "Wait, Coco liked you? I thought she still liked Mackenzie?" Bluey says as she turns to him. "Coco liked me!?" Mackenzie shouts in disbelief. "I guess so" Bluey shrugs. "Anyway, can't you just tell Coco that you don't want to be her date?" Bluey suggests. "No....I'm not like that...." Jack said silently. Jack sits there just staring at the ground. He's completely still, except for a few twitches. "Jack, it's alright....we'll find him..." Mackenzie says softly.

BEEEEEEEP

"oh...looks, like it's time to go home...see ya at the dance?" Mackenzie asks. "Yeah, of course!" Bluey cheers. "Yeah....I'll see you there..." Jack says sadly.