HAMSTER RESCUE

25 FEBRUARY, THURSDAY, HOMEROOM

My mouth dropped open in dismay as Mrs Henderson stepped in, "What's the ruckus? Please sit down, everyone."

Fluffy raised his hand, "May I be excused, pretty teacher? I left something downstairs."

"You can fetch it after homeroom." Mrs Henderson told him, "I'll let you go a little before the next class. But I have an important lesson to teach today."

"But it's urgent." Fluffy smiled, his beautiful smile.

"Yes! It's very, very, very, urgent." EJ said very, very, earnestly.

Mrs Henderson frowned, "What can be so urgent that it can't wait till homeroom is done?"

An escaped hamster - or a dead one, but that would be more tragic than urgent.

Troy opened his mouth but Liam hit the back of his chair, "Ow!"

The rest of the class got quiet.

The thought of my poor baby hammie out there, maybe dead in a paper cup... Probably dead. This was all my fault too.

I raised my hand, "Please Mrs Hen. My..."

"It's my bad." Henry stood up, "I accidentally threw Sam's coffee out the window."

Mrs Henderson blinked.

Henry picked up the cover from my desk, "I won't be more than a moment."

And then Henry left. Just like that.

Mrs Henderson opened her mouth, and then she shut it again, "Well! We shalln't wait for Henry then!"

And she proceeded with the important lesson she had for us today, because "Safety first" and this applied to our online interactions too.

Mrs Henderson showed a video about all the ways you could be bullied or duped online. It was rather informative. If this information fell into the wrong hands, it could also be very educational for potential cyber criminals.

Henry got back to class only halfway through the video, like he took 20 whole minutes to bring back the paper cup.

He put the cup on my desk without a word. I mouthed my thanks, but noticed that his expression wasn't particularly triumphant.

I opened the cup to look inside, the bedding was there, but the hammie was not!

I looked accusingly at Henry. He shrugged.

He couldn't find it? I had to control myself not to flare.

{It's only a rodent, alpha.}

This was Maria who up until this point had been staring silently straight ahead.

I pushed her out of my head.

Maybe I wasn't as ready for a pet as I had thought. I mean, my other attempt, the secret guinea pig one, also ended up badly.

{Why are you sad, Alpha?} This time it was Fluffy, {Is it dead?}

{No. It's lost.} And I pushed Fluffy out too.

I didn't really watch the rest of the video, I was too busy trying not to think about how I was going to have to go home and tell Savy and Sabre I messed up. The video went by like a blur... Literally. I couldn't quite see through the tear build up.

Maria sighed and placed her handkerchief on my desk. I put it back unused on her desk.

True to her word, Mrs Henderson ended homeroom early. Straight after the video, Liam turned on the lights, and Mrs Henderson said she had marking to do. Since we had a lot of free time now, we should all reflect and write essays about our own experiences online and advice to our friends about keeping safe online.

"Because safety's first." Mrs Henderson quoted the catchphrase in the video.

And then she left.

Fluffy and EJ stood up immediately and rushed out of the room.

The cool girls came over.

"Is the hammie okay?" Zara asked worriedly.

I know, I know, I was the alpha, but at that moment, I was just Sam... The Sam who had just gotten my new baby hamster flung out of the classroom window and lost.

I bit my lip not to cry.

Krystal took the cup from my desk and looked into it, "Where's the hamster?"

"I couldn't find it." Henry admitted, "The cup was empty when I found it."

"Stupid Henry!" Zara scolded immediately, "How could you throw my baby out of the window ?"

"Look, it was..." Henry took one look at me, and then he said, "Yeah, whatever. It's just a dumb rodent. I'll buy you a new one."

It was supposed to be our Friendship Ham! But if I said that aloud, the dam of tears behind my eyes would definitely crack in front of the whole class.

"You shouldn't have brought your pet to school!" Troy said.

"Shut up, Troy!" More than one person yelled back.

"This is all your fault!" Zara got really mad now, "Stupid Henry!"

Henry growled lowly at Zara. His Alpha wolf was getting annoyed, but Zara didn't back down, "Come on, Sam. I'll help you find your baby."

Part of me was really relieved that Zara wasn't mad at me, the other part felt really bad that Henry was taking the rap for it.

"It's really my fault." But the moment those words left my lips, the tears started to fall.

"F***." Henry became agitated, "Don't cry Sam!"

"I'm not crying!" I flared back.

Zara grabbed my hand, "Come on, Sam. No used crying here."

I managed to stop the tears and soon we were like a whole bunch of us searching the side of the school building for a white baby hamster.

Fluffy and EJ were already sniffing around behind the bushes with Neil and Jax.

"I got something!" Jax called out, but it turned out to be a terrified garden mouse.

"That's a rat, not a hamster." Neil said when he saw it, "A hamster doesn't have a tail."

"We could cut it off." Jax offered.

"No!" I flared, "Put it back!". The guys laughed.

For some reason, Henry came down too. Marcus and Liam came with him. I really felt bad for Henry, the cool girls were now interogating him, "So where exactly did you find the cup?"

Looks like it was true, every dog has his day. In the face of four very angry teenage girls, even the promising young alpha of the Silver Mountain had to comply.

Henry showed them the gutter on the side of the building, "It was in here."

We looked at the opened gutter. It was a pretty shallow one. There was a drink can on one end, but otherwise, it was a pretty empty gutter. I don't think many students came here.

"So we have to search the sewers now?" Jax asked. He was still holding on to the brown mouse.

What was even more surprising was that most of the class came down to help too. I felt quite touched at the turn out.

We looked around the shrubs and the few skinny trees. The guys followed the gutters around the school.

Coach Williams came over to see what we were doing, "What class are you from? Why are you loitering behind the school."

"Good morning, Coach." Abigail smiled politely, "We're from class 1-7. This is our class initiative to clean up the school grounds."

Fluffy smiled and picked up the single empty drink can as a physical demonstration.

"It's our after exam activity." Abigail continued with that special smile she reserved for teachers, "We've decided to use this time to build our class rappot and do a service to our school."

Coach Williams wasn't that easily convinced, "You there! You're not a student!"

"Ah, yes, we came to assist." Neil rubbed the back of his head.

"And why would the students need your assistance?" Coach Williams asked.

"We were just removing a small security threat." Jax showed the garden mouse to Coach William. Coach William took a step back, "Uh, very good. Keep up the good work."

And then he hurried away.

We all laughed the moment he was gone.

"Why do you still have that thing?" Neil complained.

Jax grinned saucily, "In case we can't find the hamster..."

"It's not the same thing!" I flared.

The guys laughed again.

Liam thought he caught scent of something at one end of the gutter, but it turned out to be a rat - an actual one. It made the garden mouse very cute in comparison..

I don't think Liam had meant to catch a rat. He had pulled it out of the hold by the side of the gutter. He flung it, much like Henry had flung the cup in the first place. But in Liam's defence, this was an actual rat, not a cute sleeping baby ham in a cup.

The girls screamed. Some of the guys screamed too.

"F***. Kill it." Henry ordered.

It turned out that Henry had a strong dislike for all things rodent. Hahaha.

By the time the school bell rang, we had caught a total of one garden mouse, three drain rats, and one empty drink can.

Which proved that the wolves around me were rather good hunters, but my baby hammie was still no where to be found.

"Sorry, Sam." Zara said to me. I'm not sure why she was the one apologizing, "If Brownie ever have babies again, I'll give you another one."

I shook my head. I didn't really think I deserved another one. My hamster enclosure was going to be empty forever.

"What the hell, Sam." Henry said, "I'll buy you another one."

"No, it's okay. Thanks." I shook my head again. I didn't really want another.

"I can be your hamster, alpha." Fluffy beamed at me, "I'll do anything you say."

I nearly hit him. Stoopid Fluffy. At any rate, he wouldn't be able to fit in the hamster wheel.

The other kids whooped.

"Fluffy and Sam kissing in a tree..." Troy started.

I shook my head and stalked off before anyone saw my face reddening.

Stoopid boys.

But it was really nice of them to help me look for my lost ham. Even Abigail and her entourage helped. Okay, they spent most of the time just complaining about how cold it was, or how their shoes were getting messed up, and screaming whenever a rat appeared, but Abigail really came through for us when Coach William showed up.

What was he doing anyway? Patrolling the school? I've heard Coach William used to be a warrior. Did he miss his patrol duties so much?

Eventually, the bell rang and we had to go back up to class, I found myself mentally rethinking our search. We probably looked everywhere, but if I were a baby ham, where would I go?

It was so tiny. I hope it wouldn't walk into a cat. And while the rest of school continued, I waited for lunchtime. I had already planned to take my lunch alone and try looking for my hammie again.

Maybe I should also try hunting down my hammie with my wolf. Here's hoping I wouldn't end up meeting anymore rats.