Dash

Mitsi Kashino packed her sketch pad, her binder, and her worry in her book bag. Dash sniffed the straps before flattening himself on top of it, muzzle resting on his front paws. He watched Mitsi with worried brown eyes. She ruffled the scruffy almond-colored fur on his head.
“I wish I could tuck you inside.” Dash had no idea that Christmas vacation was over, that it was time for Mitsi to go back to school. She lifted a blue headband from her dresser, and paused in front of the mirror before slipping it over her straight black hair. Things might be better, now that more time had passed. Maybe there’d be an end to the mean notes in her desk and funny looks in the hall. Maybe school could be back to normal, even if nothing else was.
Mitsi wrestled her book bag out from under Dash, whose tail wagged hopefully. She rubbed those floppy ears that looked like they’d been dipped in Obaachan’s tea. He whimpered so she picked him up, rubbing her cheek against his fur, soft as a baby blanket. “It’ll be fine, won’t it?”
Dash licked her chin. “Thanks, buddy.” She squeezed him again, then put him on the floor. “You stay, now.” She motioned with her hand. “I’ll see you later.”