There Must Be Something More

99 | Lily's Dog

"Come on." I said, squeezing in-between the petunias lined up just under the window of our Grace Club room. I had just spotted a ginger cat under the bush of petunia flowers and was doing my best to at least pet it. 

"Almost... there..." I mumbled, reaching, with all my might, my right hand to touch the sleeping feline. I leaned in so I could reach it better, and then the shock came. 

I found myself tumbling down the bushes and face-plant myself on the cold, hard dirt. I smelled a million smells at once--and all of them bad. When I hoisted myself up, sure enough, I found Trey stifling a smile, staring down at me from the window. 

I scowled. "Just help me get back there."

He laughed wildly this time and grabbed me by the arms as he helped me climb myself back to the Grace Club room.

Meredith had her hands on her hips, frowning at us. "What happened?"

"Trey happened," I lied playfully.

Trey looked shocked. "What? No way! He's lying, Mer. He found a cat under the petunias and tried to pet it from the windowsill. So juvenile, right?"

"And watching him fall and laughing isn't juvenile?" Meredith said.

Trey pouted and folded his arms to his chest. "Well, at least I didn't fall out a window just to pet a cat."

"Laugh it up," I said, rolling my eyes. And he did laugh it up. Meredith stared at him for a while, and then she burst out laughing as well. Obviously they were teaming up against me.

I took off my black leather jacket and set it down the beanbag chair beside my feet. I leaned on the table and sat on it. "So? What are we doing today?"

Just then the club room door burst open and in came Lily, her hair a bird's nest, her eyes with darker dark circles, and her sweater with unidentifiable stains. She stormed towards me and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" She said, gritting her teeth together and shaking me.

I broke free from her. "What?"

"Guys," she said, turning finally to the others. "I know this is kinda cliché and you're probably tired of hearing this from people who are always tardy during classes, or maybe those who didn't do their important homework--"

"Just tell us already!" Brody Reed snapped.

Lily inhaled sharply, then heavy-sighed. "Okay. You all know I had the rest of our remaining topics for our upcoming lectures organized, right? Like, you know I already had all of them accurately researched, every info, every need--and all the topics are ready and stuff, and--"

"Okay?" Samuel said, encouraging her to get to the point.

"Well," Lily said, "as you all may not have known, my mom just bought us a new pet husky. A cute, white, furry little--"

"Go on," Trey interrupted.

"Right. Our dog ate our lectures." She said, cringing at the end of the sentence.

I looked at her. Part of me wanted to jump out the window and face-plant myself on the dirt again just to wake myself from this bad dream. But the other part of me, the stronger part, told myself to stay calm and it might not be all that bad.

"But..." I started, "you have them saved on your phone, right? All the documents, articles, book references, and stuff?"

"No."

"Why?!"

"My phone had its storage full two days ago, and I just deleted all of them. I mean, I was pretty confident of the fact that all the written-down information I gathered were safely tucked inside my drawer. I didn't know Jackson--that's our dog--was already tall and smart enough to reach it and pull it open."