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“Come back here!” Claire took off running after the Rottweiler who had taken off after something. Mirage was a sweetie who wouldn’t hurt a person, but a small dog or wild critter might be in danger, and people were unlikely to wait to find out if she were attacking them to hurt them or to love on them before screaming and calling for help. “Mirage! Come here!”
Alex was… okay, not totally useless, in fact she was doing a brilliant job of hanging onto the Beagle and the Yorkie she was walking and keeping them from chasing Mirage down, but Claire was in no mood to be understanding and charitable. Alex’s laughter was pissing her off. She didn’t have time to make Alex pay for it yet, but she would. At least Patience was just holding onto the black lab she was walking, not laughing.
Chasing Mirage was going to be annoying. Mirage was easily fast enough to keep out of Claire’s grasp, but seemed to enjoy being slow enough to make Claire feel like there was a chance she could catch her. She cursed whoever had decided to dock the tail – sure, for a guard dog or something, not having a tail to grab was a benefit, but Mirage was a pet. Being able to grab the tail would be really nice right about now. Be a lot easier than tackling the big dog, and the reason Mirage was running was that the collar had snapped. No collar or leash to grab.
A sharp whistle got both Claire and Mirage looking up. A girl partway down the street had dropped her backpack and started running away. Claire had no chance to stop Mirage as the dog started giving chase. All she could do was run as well, hoping to get to Mirage before Mirage got to the strange girl.
It didn’t happen. The girl didn’t seem to be afraid of Mirage. When the dog got close enough, she dropped to her knees and held out her arms. “Good chase, huh? Looks like you caught me, what are you gonna do?” Mirage answered by licking her face and wagging the stump of her tail. “Yeah, I thought so, sweetie. Why were you running, huh? I think this nice girl wants you back.”
“Uh, yeah. Thanks?” Claire crouched beside Mirage, and the girl helped hold her still enough that Claire could get the collar back on. “I’m Claire Novak, and this is my dog Mirage.”
“Kaia Nieves. I know who you are.” Kaia stood up and shoved her hands in her pocket. “You sit two rows ahead of me in history and you made fun of my English project about the importance of dreams to literature. You’re… either Alex Jones’ sister or girlfriend, I keep getting conflicting stories.”
“It’s… kind of complicated. Alex and I have the same foster mother, Jody Mills, but we were attracted to each other long before we ever managed to form any kind of sisterly bond. Jody doesn’t really care, as long as we’re getting along, but enough people were weirded out by it that we don’t exactly make a big deal of it in public.” Claire ran a hand over Mirage’s fur, trying to hide her embarrassment. “I’m sorry about the project thing. I, uh… I don’t really have an excuse. I’m just rude and I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“Better than most people manage to do when called on their shit.” Kaia looked down at Mirage. “Hope your dog stays collared in the future, but if she gets loose again, you’re doing it wrong. Get her attention and run away. Instinct kicks in and they chase you.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. You wanna join us? We’ve got four dogs and three walkers, I’m sure Alex wouldn’t mind getting a free hand.”
“Three? Who else is with you? There are kind of a lot of people at school I don’t get along with…”
“Patience Turner. Alex’s other girlfriend.” Claire grinned. “She’s new at our school, and she’s still kind of in shock from her dad kicking her out, so I really doubt you’ll have trouble with her.”
“Why’d her dad kick her out?”
“Long story, hard to believe, not my place to tell you, short version that I feel comfortable talking about is that he’s a narrow-minded judgmental asshole.”
Kaia rolled her eyes. “If it’s because she’s gay, you kinda already told me that when you said she’s Alex’s girlfriend.”
“Yeah, and if it were because she’s gay – or because she’s involved in a polyamorous relationship – I’d have said. Other problems.” Claire headed back to the others, noting with a smile that Kaia chose to follow. “Hey guys. Kaia caught Mirage and I bribed her to join us by promising she could walk one of the dogs.”
“Here.” Alex handed over the Yorkie’s leash. “Sephiroth is not the best-behaved dog, but he’s a Yorkie, he shouldn’t be too much trouble for you.”
“Thanks.” Kaia picked up Sephiroth and looked him in the eyes. “You’ll be a good boy for me, won’t you?” Sephiroth yipped and Kaia set him back down. “Thanks for letting me join you.”
“No problem.” Alex cleared her throat. “Hey, uh, missed you at the last couple science club meetings.”
“I doubt that.”
“Come on, I know you have problems with a lot of people at school, but you’ve never had trouble with me, have you?” Kaia considered, but shook her head. Alex raised an eyebrow. “I noticed you weren’t there. What’s going on? Are you coming back?”
“Maybe. I’m kinda… I’m having to work as much as I can, which means no time for stuff like science club. If I could just get a steady job, I’d quit half my classes and do work program, but for now I’m stringing together whatever odd jobs I can.”
Claire and Alex exchanged looks. “What’s going on, Kaia? Trouble at home?”
“Technically, no.” Kaia’s mouth twisted into an ironic smile. “Can’t have trouble at home when you don’t have one. Mom and Dad decided I’m crazy and instead of doing what normal parents would and sending me to a shrink, not that it would help because I’m not crazy but I’d go just to keep the peace, they kicked me out. I’m eighteen, they said. I’m old enough to fend for myself now.”
Patience turned around. “Walk’s over. We’re going to Jody.”
Kaia held the leash out to Alex, but Alex shook her head. “You’re coming with us. Jody’s the sheriff, you know? If you want, she can go have a word with your parents and explain how kicking out their daughter is horrible and awful even if it’s technically legal, otherwise she’ll just give you a safe place to sleep and keep your stuff. You can be part of our family!”
“What if I don’t want to?”
Claire tilted her head. “Coming with us to see Jody so you don’t have to sleep on the streets tonight is mandatory. Being part of the family’s optional. I bet the dogs would like it, though.”
“Why would Jody want another stray?”
Patience looped her arm through Kaia’s. “That’s what I said when Alex brought me in. Jody said she believes anyone who finds her way to the Wayward Daughters Academy is there for a reason, and she’d never be able to live with herself if she didn’t help. And, you know, she’s not gonna be mad or anything if you decide to do something about your crush on Claire.” Patience winked. “Neither is Alex, by the way, or if she is I’ll kick her.”
“Um.” Now Kaia was blushing, staring at Sephiroth.
Claire smacked Patience’s head. “Ignore her. If she’s just being a jerk, we’ll deal with her. If she’s right, then I know we have dogs and shit in our backgrounds in common. There are worse foundations.”