She winked again, something she seemed to love doing, and trotted toward an old-fashioned red-and-white-checkered picnic blanket in the grass, by a grove of bushes.

Lily ate the dog food and treats with the rest of them, laughing and teasing each other. They really seemed to like her, especially Chiko. Maybe this wasn’t so bad.

A commotion suddenly erupted from the other side of the grassy clearing.

“Come back here, you mangy beast! Stop!” The cry of a chubby woman, middle-aged, sounded throughout the large forest-filled DogPark. Her Chihuahua-teen-dog hid behind her, trembling and letting out ear-splitting barks.

“Catch that brute!” called another owner.

Barks rang out through the Park, some of the bolder dogs bolting after a yellow-streaked blur that shot across the grass and over a pile of huge boulders, as if an expert. It appeared to be carrying something. The smell of raw steak reached Lily’s nose.

“What’s going on?” Scarlet asked, cocking her head. Her fur was standing on end.

“Stray alert,” Aussie stated simply, and went back to eating. The rest of the group followed suit. “It’s probably him again.”

The group scoffed as one.

Lily and Scarlet exchanged a glance, confused. Him? Who was ‘him’?

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Lily murmured nervously.

“Us?” Chiko looked confused, but sympathetic. “Nah. That mutt’ll be long-gone if it knows what’s smart around here.”

Lily cocked her head. She decided to investigate. “Uhm,” she mumbled, “I’ll be right back.” She elbowed Scarlet. “Cover for me,” she whispered in her friend’s ear, and took off toward the mound of rocks.

Aussie and the group watched Lily go, and then turned blankly to Scarlet.

Scarlet swallowed awkwardly. How could she explain this? “Uh…”

Lily skidded to a halt by the rock mound, picking up a faint trace of dog-scent. She began climbing the rocks, hoping no one was watching and intending to follow her. She finally made it to the top, and then paused. She cocked her head, seeing the culprit below, in the grass, safely hidden on the other side of the rock mound, back pressed against the boulders of it.

There was a Golden Retriever male, a teen-pup like the rest of them. He had wild hair-fur, the fur on the top of his head, and his nose was caramel-brown. His eyes were scarlet-red, and he looked ready to bite someone.

Lily continued staring at him, then she thought she should show herself. She wasn’t one to spy, of course.

She went down from the rockpile off to the side, going in a circle around the Golden Retriever, until she hid behind a bush in the grass, a bush facing him.

The Retriever teen stood up. Lily noticed now that he had a sort of doggie-bracelet around his left front paw-ankle, a black one with white spikes jutting out of it. The same think, collar-like, was around his neck, the spikes a bit larger there.

Yikes, Lily thought. Those things could cut him if he’s not careful.

“Come out,” the dog growled, his voice youthful but scratchy, like he hadn’t used it in a while. “I know you’re there, okay?”

Lily stiffened. Was he talking to her?

“Look, I’m givin’ you till the count of three.” The Golden Retriever bared his teeth—revealing two rows of the sharpest canine-teeth lily had ever seen on a dog—or on anything else, for that matter.

(As you may have guessed, this dog represents Fang, our beloved Golden Retriever leader!)

Lily swallowed hard.

“One…” The Golden Retriever pup circled once, prowling toward Lily’s bush.

Lily looked around wildly, knowing she was hidden by the bush, but still trembling, terrified. He was a stray—who knew what he’d do to her for spying!

“…Two…” The Golden Retriever let out a half-bark-half-growling-roar, snapping his jaws in the air.

Lily bunched her muscles, crouching, preparing to spring away…

“Three!”

Too late!

Lily froze.

He immediately jerked his head back, staring at her, surprised.

“Uh…” Lily blinked twice, giving him a nervous, terrified, sheepish grin. “H-Hi.”

The Retriever snorted, and then sniffed her. He grunted. “What d’you want?”

“Who me?” Lily stood up, sensing the danger had past. “Just…um…j-just passing through.” She paused. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

He scoffed. “Yeah. Whatever.” Then he turned and went back to his rock pile.

“Uh…uh, you okay?” Lily followed him staggeringly, standing in front of him as he again took up his position with his back against the rock mound.

The Retriever glared at her, eyebrows lowered, from the bottom of his eyes.

“I mean…” Lily began again. “Didn’t you, um, steal that?”

She nodded to the steak at his paws.

The Retriever stood up. He glared at her, still spookily from the bottom of his eyes, and then turned around and pointedly sat down, his back to her.

Lily felt rejected. She was always friendly, and this dog had some serious issues.

“Um, look,” she started. “Maybe you should give it back. Then they wouldn’t think so…” she paused, looking for the right word, trying to sound intelligent. “…so poorly of you.”

The Retriever didn’t turn around, just said in such a low voice she could barely hear him, “Do I look like I care what people think?”

Lily didn’t take it as a rhetorical question. “Um…no.”

He grunted softly.

“But you really should take it—”

He turned around, standing up, and circled her, eyebrows still so low you could barely see his eyes, and barked, “Why don’t you go join the groupies, okay? I got bigger things t’worry about. Shove off.”

Lily blinked. “Okay,” she sighed. Then she turned to the right and around him, up the side of the rockpile. She paused on the first rock she came to, hopping onto it. She looked down at him. He turned to the left, keeping his back to her.

“I’m Lily,” she offered.

He didn’t answer. He flopped down on his stomach and rested his head on his front paws.

Lily waited a moment longer for him to answer. He didn’t. She heaved an even louder sigh and hopped down the other side of the rockpile, only to find Aussie and Scarlet at the bottom, waiting in the grass of the Park’s main clearing for her.

“Er, hi,” Lily grinned sheepishly at them.

Aussie arched a brow. “Uh…what were you doing back there?”

“Me? Oh—well—I was just…trying to…you know, see who took the meat.” Lily tried not to lie.

“Really?” Aussie didn’t sound convinced, or impressed. “See anyone?”

Lily stiffened.

On the other side of the rockpile, the Golden Retriever leaned his head right, trying to hear Lily’s answer.

Before Lily knew what she was saying, she blurted out, “Nope, nobody. Who’d be back there anyway?”

Aussie looked at Scarlet. Scarlet looked at Aussie.

“No one.” Aussie cleared her throat. “C’mon, let’s go see if the Chiko and the twins left us any food.”

Lily followed, only stopping once to look over her shoulder—just in time to see the Golden Retriever teen-pup jerking his head back out of sight behind the rock wall.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“You shouldn’t have gone after that stray in the first place!” Scarlet growled.

Lily and Scar were in their house the next day, arguing over bowls of kibble in the living room next to the fire.

“It’s not like I saw anyone,” Lily rolled her eyes.

“No?” Scarlet immediately grew quieter. “You mean there really wasn’t anyone there?”

“Honest, there wasn’t.” Lily bit her lip at the lie. She hated lying.

Scarlet pushed a long, brown ear away from her face with a cream-colored Cocker Spaniel paw. “Well,” she scoffed, “don’t do that again. I was gonna die of embarrassment.”

“Are you telling me you want to be in Aussie’s group?” Lily moaned. “She’s a hippie! She’s so bossy, and—and—rude!”

“What about Chiko?” Scarlet nudged Lily’s side with her nose. “You know he likes you.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but so what? I don’t wanna hang out with that group. They’re just not…uh…my type.”

“You have a type? Gimme a break!” Scarlet curled her lip.

“Who did you think I’d see behind those rocks?” Lily snorted.

“You really wanna know?” Scarlet arched a brow.

“Sure.” Lily swallowed hard.

“There’s this stray, no owners, who joins all of us at the DogParksometimes.” Scarlet blinked. “He’s got spikes on his collar, his fur’s a mess, and his head-fur sticks out everywhere. He’s a freak!”

Lily froze. That was exactly who she saw. But there was just one thing she needed to know.

“So, um,” she cleared her throat. “Who is this…uh…freak?”

“They say his name’s Cody. He breaks all the rules—he steals food—he