[Bella just stares for a long moment after the puppies - who she can still understand - as they file off, nibbling in a distracted, worried sort of way at her lower lip as she does. None of this is making much sense to her, and ugh, this is humiliating enough.]

Oh.

[Honestly what did his sister even send her here for?]

Well, um. He's been missing, I guess? Actually missing, not just absent from school. I... I kind of thought that it might have been my fault, except, um...

[Finally, not really sure where to go from there, she offers the note, slightly damp now with nerves, and then pauses.]

Wait, can dogs read?