The panicky dog saw an open doorway and took it.
He stopped short, however, when he saw the gathering of humans around benches and a row of lockers. His tail wagged, a reflex that kicked in automatically in the presence of humans. He felt the irritating constraint of the underwear as a result of the wagging of his tail. Adopting an awkward stance, he dug at the fabric with one of his hind paws, managing to snag a claw in the waistband. With some determined squirming, accompanied by frustrated whimpers, he managed to tug down the shorts much to the amusement of some of the onlookers.
"You go, boy," one of the guys encouraged as he watched the dog struggle to remove the underwear.
"Those look like Jared's," another guy said, noticing the white shorts with black trim. "Wonder why he dressed up a dog?"
The dog heard all the comments and, whimpering still, wished someone would help him.
"Why does Webster do anything?" A tall, lanky shirtless redhead remarked. "He's strange."
"Jealous a bit, Cy?" Another youth asked.
Cy reacted by grabbing some of the scruff of the sheepdog's neck. "For christsake, get those off him, will you?" Cy ordered the nearest guy, who bent and helped work the offending underwear down the dogs legs. At the end, he helped lift each paw off the floor so the dog could step successfully out of the underwear.
The dog whimpered and twisted in Cy's grip, which prompted the athletic redhead to release him.
"Better get the hell out of here," Cy said. "I'm pretty sure dogs aren't allowed on school premises."
His teammate laughed. "Pretty sure he can't speak English either, Cy."
Certain words, however, began to penetrate the sheepdog's dull complacency. The name Cy definitely provoked a reaction. He gave a great shake of his head to chase away the sluggish thoughts.
Now, Jared recognized them all. Cy, George, Billy and Greg... his teammates on the baseball team!
"Guys! It's me!" Jared burst out, forgetting the inconvenient lack of human speech that made his words sound more like "Arf! Arf! Bark! Bark!"
Cy laughed at the dog's excitement. "What is it, boy? Is Timmy down a well?"
The others laughed and turned back toward their lockers. Jared looked at them with frustration as they now chose to ignore him and go back to their routines.
He was about to protest again when...