polaroids

| a beagle problem |

Rue's system ran on instincts.

And this time, her instinct was to run. Not away from her past, but towards her possible future. In this case, that was to the boy in front of her.

Avery was taken aback at the sudden hug.

Nevertheless, he managed to not fall down and make a fool of himself. He laughed into her hair as she buried her face next to his neck.

'Welcome back, stranger.'

'It's good to be back.'

He looked ahead at June, who was standing with her hands on her hips, a smirk across her face. Avery felt all squishy and sloppy inside. But he didn't let that cross onto his face, not wanting to give anyone the pleasure of teasing him.

And with that, they headed back for the dorms.

The days seemed so much brighter when the whole gang was around. Rue felt complete and satisfied. It was an indescribable feeling; being around the people she had come to consider as family. Somewhere in her subconscious, she knew that these were the days she would miss the most.

From her measly duo of her and June, their "group" had expanded to six, including Avery, Tom, Sienna and Eddie. It felt so alien; to be a part of such a diverse group. They were all so different, yet so alike. And if it hadn't been for Avery, Rue doubted that she would have ever stepped out of her shell.

That Tuesday, Rue was in the photography classroom, finishing her board for their final project. She'd planned an elaborate panel of her best works. Along with the thrill of the school year ending, came the nervous anxiety of not being able to do well.

But she was determined to come in first, this time.

Just as she was pinning up the last of her photographs on her board, someone came storming inside. Sienna. She had an expression of worry painted across her face. As she came closer to Rue, she whispered, 'Rue! I need your help. We have a problem...'

'Why are you whispering?'

'It's Tiramisu. He's lost.'

'WHAT?' Rue said as Sienna shushed her, earning looks from the other students there.

'Please?'

'Oh lord, alright. Come on,' Rue picked up her bag and left along with Sienna. It turned out that every one of her friends was looking for the missing beagle.

They spent an hour, searching all the possible places a dog could go to and hide. But thy found nothing. And as the minutes passed, their concern grew. Although they were concerned about the dog, the rest of them were also worried about the trouble they would get in, if the faculty found out that Sienna had been keeping a dog.

'Didn't you say you were going to take him home?'

'I did!' Sienna replied as they checked their own dorms once again. 'But he didn't want to stay away from me.'

'Found him!'

Rue and Sienna looked up at Tom who was holding a large bag, trying to conceal the lifeform inside from the other students. Sienna finally drew in a breath.

'Oh thank goodness,' she took the bag out of Tom's hands and peered inside. 'Where was he?'

'Sleeping under our bed.' Avery replied, grinning.

Tom looked a bit more stoic. 'Hey, Sienna?'

'Hmm?'

'Don't you think that you should take him home for good now? I mean look at us today, if we hadn't found him, we'd be dead.'

Sienna's face darkened.

'He's just a puppy...'

'I just don't want you in trouble.'

Without saying anything else, Sienna gave him a solemn nod. As much as Rue hated to see her friend sad, she had to agree with Tom on this one.

Sighing, she returned to the dorm with June, only to realise that she'd left her film strips back in the classroom.

'Don't wait for me, go ahead.' She said, turning around to get her materials.

What she saw wasn't what she had expected.

Rue stood frozen as she looked at the massacre of photographs in front of her. Gaining some strength, she finally walked up to her board, touching the torn pieces of paper.

Her work had been sabotaged.

-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-