Rusty's Secret

31. Coping

Monday has arrived, and Rusty slowly steps onto the school bus. "Rusty!" Jack jumps out of his seat and runs down the aisle to give Rusty a big hug. "In your seat!" The bus driver yells from the front of the bus.

They both sit down together. Rusty stares at the floor, tearing up. "Rusty, what happened? Are you okay?" Jack asks nervously. "W-Well...Uhm...M-My....My...On F-Friday...M-My dad got into a helicopter crash...a-and he...." Rusty tried to explain. Rusty didn't finish his scentence, but Jack already understood.

Jack gives Rusty the biggest and tightest most heartfelt hug he's ever given. Rusty hugs back as he begins to cry into Jack's shoulder.

Mackenzie and Bluey walk onto the bus holding hands. As they sit down next to each other, they notice Rusty crying.  "R-Rusty, what's wrong, mate?" Mackenzie asks worrily. Jack, let's go of the hug. "H-He said his father passed..." Jack explains to him. "Oh my goodness, Rusty...I'm so sorry...." Bluey says sorrowfully. "I'm sorry for your loss" Mackenzie added.

The bus stops. And they all get off. Rusty and Jack walk into Mrs. Collie's class together.

While teaching the lesson, Mrs. Collie notices Rusty's strange behavior. He's not paying attention, he seems very upset and stiff, and he isn't talking to Jack during the lesson like what he usually does. She stops the lesson to talk to him. She leans over his desk. "Is everything alright, Rusty?" She asks mid-lesson. Rusty shakes his head no. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" She asks nicley. Rusty shrugs. "Come with me into the hallway" Mrs. Collie suggests as she walked toward the door.

She shut the door behind them
"What's wrong, Rusty?" She asks him.
"W-Well....My...Dad just p-passed away on Friday...." Rusty explained silently.  "Oh...I'm so sorry. Would you like to go to the student help center?" She questioned. "Y-Yes, please..." Rusty requeated.She walks out into the classroom and comes out with Jack. "Jack will be coming with you to the help center" Mrs. Collie explained to him.

"C'mon Rusty," Jack says as he grabbed onto Rusty's hand.. They walk down the hall for a while until they reach the help center. The door opens, and a familiar Shiba Inu walked out.

She stares at them before mouthing "faggots" "Stephanie, we have no time for your bitch behavior! Rusty isn't in the mood to deal with you, and neither am I!" Jack shouted angirly.
"Stephanie, you better be heading to class!" A teacher in the hallway shouts. Stephanie grunted and stormed down the hall.

Jack walked over to the door and knocked on it a couple of times.

"Come in!"

Rusty and Jack walk into the help center. Mr. Spaniel is sitting at his desk. He was a calm and understanding Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with floppy brown ears and a pair of black glasses sitting on his snout.

"Hello, Jack, Hello, Rusty. Why are you here today?" Mr. Spaniel asks as they sit down in front of him. Rusty doesn't speak, so Jack speaks for him. "He said his father passed away on Friday. He's really really upset about it" Jack explains. "Ah, Rusty, I'm really sorry about that. Do you have anybody you can trust to talk about your problems?" Mr. Spaniel asked him.

"Well, he has me" Jack said proudly. Rusty's face turns red. "Ok, so Jack is a trustworthy person you can talk to" Mr. Spaniel tells Rusty. "And I also heard you have a brother and sister. How are they reacting to the news?" Mr. Spaniel questions. "W-Well, they k-kind of had the same reaction as me...." Rusty answered, trying not to cry.  "Ok, you can stay in here with me for an hour or so. You can go sit over there and just cool down" Mr. Spaniel points to a table in the corner of the room. "Thank you" Jack smiled as he stood up.

Dusty sits on the swingset at her playground. She was staring down at the woodchips covering the mulch on the ground, trying her best to hold in her tears.

"What's wrong with Dusty?" Bingo whispers to Lila while they were sitting on top of the slides watching her. "I have no idea, I've done everything to try and cheer her up, but she's still upset" Lila explains. "We should go ask her what's wrong" Bingo said as she slid down the red slides, followed by Lila.

They walked over to her on the swings.  "Hey, Dusty. Why are you so upset?" Bingo asked comfortingly.  "M-My....M....M-My Dad...." Dusty says as she wipes tears from her face. "What about your Dad?" Bingo questioned curiously. "H-He....H....He's g-gone...." Dusty whispered.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Lila asked with a confused look. "H-He...H-He died...." Dusty said silently as she bursts into tears.

She jumps into Bingo and Lila's arms.
"Aw, Dusty....it's okay. We're here for you" Bingo said as she patted Dusty's back. "Hey guys, I heard some yelling an- what the hell happened!" Banjo shouts as he waks over. "H-Her, Dad died..." Lila whispers in his ear.  "Oh...Dusty...." Banjo says sadly as he walked over to join the group hug.

Digger lies in his temporary dorm room. His eyes go around in circles, following the ceiling fan. He sighs as he hears a knock on the door. He stands up from his bed and opens up the door. Tiny was standing on the other side.

"Oh....H-Hi Tiny..." Digger says, blushing a little. "Hi Digger, How are you holding up?" Tiny asks, blushing back. "I-I don't know, man, my father's dead, and I can't even be there for my family!" Digger says he shuts the door and sits down onto his bed.

Tiny sits next to him. "I hear you...I lost my Mom when I was six...I've been through the same thing" Tiny says calmly. "Really? How come you've never told me? I'm sorry to hear that...." Digger said said quietly. Tiny just shrugged his shoulders as they sat there in silence.

Tiny glances over at Digger. He's staring down at the gray carpet on the floor. And his eyes are a little watery. Digger notices Tiny staring at him and starts to stare back. They couldn't keep their eyes off of each other, no matter how hard they tried. 

Digger places his hand on Tiny's hand. Digger slowly leans in as they both close their eyes, Digger gives Tiny a long kiss on the lips.

After a couple of seconds, Digger eventually lets go of the kiss. "I-I....Sorry...." Digger says quietly, looking away. "N-No, it's fine....I enjoyed it..." Tiny said with a smile.

Digger watched his phone light up. It was a call from his mum.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Digger, it's Mum. Are you able to make it to the funeral next week...?"

"Yes, of course, Mum,"

"Ok, sweetheart. I'll cya then"

Digger hangs up the phone. "I have to go" Digger announced as he stood up. "What? Why?" Tiny asked in disbelief. "I have better places to be" Digger answered as he started to pack up things. "But you don't have your car!" Tiny argued, the students took a bus to get to camups. They left their cars in the school parking lot. "I'm calling an uber" Digger said as he stared down at his phone. Digger prepared to leave the room. "We only had a few more days on this trip anyway, I'll just tell Mr. Cattle my situation, and he'll let me leave" He said as he walked out in the hall. 

"But what about college!?" Tiny shouts. "Fuck college!" Digger shouts back, flipping off the air.

"Digger, wait!" Tiny shouts as he ran after him. "I'm coming with you!" Tiny said, catching his breath. "Ok, c'mon then!" Digger said he continued walking.