"...of course you're not a dog."

"Y-Yeah, I know," Lucy whimpered, missing the emphasis on the word 'dog', "It's just... so much has gone wrong for me today, and the morning's not even over yet. I don't know how I'm going to get through the rest of the day."

"Oh come on Lucy, don't say that," Kim said gently, "It may seem bad to you now, but I know that in a couple of weeks this whole day will be something we'll all be laughing about. Max will even probably think it's kind of hot that you..."

"Max!" Lucy gasped, interrupting Kim with her realization, "Oh my God, I completely forgot!"

"Forgot what?" Kim asked, but Lucy was too busy hurrying to her phone sitting, which thankfully had been left in its place charging on the desk. With everything that had happened today, the texts she had sent her boyfriend that morning had completely slipped Lucy's mind.

"He has to have texted me back by now!" Lucy said aloud as she unplugged her phone and looked at the screen to see if there was any response. There was, but it was one that sank Lucy's hopes just as quickly as they had risen.

- Oh shit, I don't have the key either. I thought you had it. I'll see if I can find it after class, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just gone.

Lucy let out an inarticulate scream of frustration and slammed her phone back down on the desk in anger.

"That fucking idiot! Of course he doesn't have the goddamn key!" she shouts, "I'm going to be stuck in this stupid fucking collar forever!"

"Aww Lucy... come here girl," Kim said, walking up to hug her roommate.

"I just... I..." Lucy started, but her emotions were overwhelming to her already. The comforting physical contact from her closest friend broke ended up being the tipping point, and she sobbed into Kim's shoulder.

"There, there, girl... ssssssshhhh..." Kim said, petting Lucy's hair, "Don't try to speak. Just let it all out. It's going to be okay."

Lucy cried for several minutes, letting herself collapse completely into Kim's arms. Eventually, she was all cried out, and she pulled back a little to look into the other girl's eyes, "Th-Thanks Kim. I needed that."

"I'm here to help," Kim said with a smile, "I think everything happening at once like this is making you blow things out of proportion."

"But... but I don't even have a real bed anymore!" Lucy whined, "And I walked around bottomless, and pissed on a tree... I barely feel like a person anymore!"

"You're still human. And the maintenance guy said they could get you a new bed in a few days, remember?" Kim said, careful to sidestep the issue of whether they would, "You can deal with it until then, right?"

Lucy sniffed and thought about it, "Well, I guess I could take a pillow and some blankets out to the common room and sleep on the couch for a few nights..."

"No!" Kim said with an intensity that momentarily startled Lucy, "I mean, do you really want to be laying out there by yourself all night? With all the boys that come through there, I don't think it's really safe for you to do that."

Lucy frowned, "I... I guess you're right. Maybe you and I could share your bed. It'd be kind of tight, but..."

"Sweetie, my bed is definitely not big enough for the two of us," Kim said, "But trust me, we've got all day think of something to make you feel comfortable. We don't need an answer right now. Besides, you have more pressing concerns."

"Right," Lucy said, pulling away from Kim and turning to the mirror. She pulled down the green turtleneck to look at the collar and its glittery nametag in the mirror, "God, this thing is tacky. There has to be some way to get it off without a key."

"Oh, I don't know," Kim said with a smile, "I think you look pretty hot in it. Maybe having it stuck on you wouldn't be such a bad thing."

"Ugh, don't even joke about that," Lucy said, too focused messing the collar to notice Kim frowning at her response, "I need to get this thing off today! Dammit, I wish I knew which sex store he got it at. Maybe they have a master key or something they can use to get it off."

"Yeah, maybe," Kim 'agreed' halfheartedly,

"It's the best shot I've got," Lucy said, firing a text off from her phone (thankfully only slightly scuffed from her rough treatment) asking Max about the store he bought it from, "As soon as Max gives me the name of that kink store he went to, I'm going to go down there and demand they get it off of me. Now what can I wear to go with this...?"

Lucy starts looking through drawers for a pair of underwear and decent bottoms to match her top, while Kim just stares at her exposed butt longingly. Though she held her tongue, the blonde girl really wished Lucy wouldn't keep insisting on finding something to wear. After all, Kim knew Lucy was obviously a human, but that didn't mean she was a person. She was still a pet, and the simple truth was that pets shouldn't be wearing clothes. Maybe there was something she could do to stop Lucy without destroying the girl's trust in her...