Math was, as usual, the worst part of the day. Danny sat at the kitchen table, listening with more than half an ear to the six o'clock news as it played in the living room. The previous day had gone without any sort of comment from anyone. In fact, aside from passing unnoticed as he rejoined the school after lunch, everything had returned to complete normalcy.

He drummed the fingers of one hand on the table while the other served as a headrest. The meaningless numbers and letters seemed to dance across the page, mocking him their lack of real purpose. He wouldn't ever need to know that sort of thing in real life…

A small nose bumped his leg, and he absently reached down to scratch a furry pair of ears. After a minute, he blinked and glanced down to see Fiona leaning against his leg, her eyes half-closed in canine delight. "You're still here," he said.

She twitched her ears.

"Fiona, you have to go home, now."

She shifted on her front paws and whined slightly. Her tail twitched hopefully.

Danny shook his head. "You don't belong here."

"I could," she protested, jumping up to brace her front paws against his leg. "I'd be the best dog ever, I promise!"

And for a moment, he was actually tempted. The qualities that made her so annoying as a human were almost endearing as a dog. Then he realized that she was trying to exert her influence over him and pushed her away. "Stop that," he chastised her, though not as harshly as he would have a few days earlier. "Look, maybe you can come back and visit some time, but you really have to go, now."

The little sheltie gave a half-hearted chase of her tail and let her ears perk up slightly. "Do you mean it?" she pressed. "Can I really come back?"

"As long as you're not annoying," he quickly clarified. With a happy bark, Fiona jumped into the air and vanished, and Danny returned to his homework with renewed fervor. As soon as he finished, he would be calling the head of the yearbook committee. After all, what yearbook would be complete without pictures of two football jocks and in a teacher in tutus?

A/N: Next up: I still haven't thought of a frickin' title. Man, that's pathetic. That's usually the first thing I think of. Oh well.

I'd like to thank all my reviewers for taking the time to stroke my ego-I mean, give positive feedback. In particular, I'd like to thank Random, Darkflame, The Sleep Warrior, WingsofMorphius, ToniPendragon, and Katiesparx...er, am I forgetting anyone? I hope not.