Girls Just Wanna Have Pugs

by J. J. Howard

  I woke up at 6:15 A.M. the next day to walk Mary-Kate and Ashley again. Their mom, Charlotte, was quickly becoming one of our biggest clients. Today she was leaving on an early flight, and her dog sitter wasn’t going to be able to come until later in the day.

  The walk was quick and easy—Mary-Kate and Ashley were older, so they were mellow and obedient. When I got back home, I picked up my phone, went into our app, and marked the walk completed. I saw that Charlotte had already sent us the payment. At this rate, Taz would have her tablet and Lucy would have her acting class in no time.

  I only hoped that both my friends would still want to be part of the business once they’d reached their goals. There was no way I could keep up with all the demand myself at this point.

  I poured myself a bowl of cereal, ate it, and went to wake up Micki for school. When the two of us got down into the lobby, Lucy, Taz, and Declan were waiting. They were talking excitedly about the school’s fall play.

  “Basically, I have to get Emily,” Lucy was saying. “I mean, a lot of plays have more than one great female character. But not really this one. My other options here are the two moms. No thank you.”

  Declan laughed. “You’re right. I hadn’t even thought of it that way. But hey, is there any reason the Stage Manager character has to be a guy?”

  Lucy’s eyes lit up. “You’re right … I mean—hey, Kat. Hey, Micki—I don’t know if being the narrator is really my style, but it is a huge part …”

  “What play are they doing this year?” I asked as we all waved to Marcel and walked outside.

  “Didn’t you hear?” Lucy said. “We’re doing Our Town. It was posted outside Mr. Cornell’s office yesterday.”

  Since I didn’t take drama and had never even stepped inside Mr. Cornell’s classroom, I definitely hadn’t paid any attention to what he’d posted outside his room.

  “That’s cool,” I said. “We’re reading that in English this year.”

  Micki fell into step beside me and tapped me on the arm. “Kat, I forgot my lunch,” she said.

  “I set it out for you,” I told her, trying not to roll my eyes. We didn’t have time to go back to the apartment, and Micki was a pretty picky eater. I knew the odds that she’d eat whatever they had in the cafeteria today were pretty small.

  “I know but I forgot to grab it.”

  I frowned. I didn’t exactly love the cafeteria food, either. “I brought the same thing for myself,” I told her. “You can have my lunch.” I unzipped my backpack, pulled out my lunch bag, and handed it to her.

  “Thanks, Kat!” Micki said as she took it from me and skipped ahead happily.

  Declan was sort of staring at me. I almost felt like I was about to blush again when Lucy said, “Micki’s lucky she has a big sister to bail her out all the time. Sometimes it’s hard being an only.”

  I felt like saying that sometimes it’s kind of rough being the oldest, too—like right now. But I didn’t. “Do you have money for lunch?” Declan asked me.

  “We can get it on credit at school. But thank you,” I added, smiling at him. He smiled back.

  When we got to school, we all headed for our separate homerooms. Once homeroom started, Mrs. Jackson read out a list of announcements in her usual loud, monotone voice. “Auditions will be held for the fall play beginning on Tuesday. Sign-up sheets are outside Mr. Cornell’s classroom. Today’s lunch menu is meat loaf, cauliflower puree, and kale salad.”

  I tried not to groan aloud at that. School meat loaf and cauliflower puree? Micki really had picked a terrific day to forget her lunch. I thought longingly of the nice, plain turkey sandwich I’d packed. Mom often said I wasn’t a very adventurous eater. I could live with that.

  When I got to English class I looked around for Declan, but the bell was about to ring and he wasn’t there. What if he’d switched classes? I frowned and picked at a nick at the edge of my grammar book’s spine.

  But then, just as the bell was ringing, he slid into the seat beside me, out of breath.

  “What happened?” I asked him.

  “Just got a little turned around,” he told me.

  That seemed weird, since Declan had mentioned the other day, on the walk to school, that he had a really good sense of direction. But I let it go. Ms. Levine had put up a slideshow about Our Town and wanted us to take notes. It sounded like a pretty interesting story. I wondered if Lucy would get the lead like she hoped, or maybe play that narrator part she and Declan had been talking about this morning.

  * * *

  Lunch period finally came, and I walked up to the line to sign in for a lunch on credit. But Declan came up to me and handed me a small white paper bag.

  “What’s this?” I asked, looking down at it in confusion.

  “Come on, let’s grab a table and you can find out.”

  “But I …” I gestured to the lunch line.

  “Come on,” Declan said with a mischievous smile. “Trust me.” I noticed he was holding an identical white paper bag of his own. Mysterious.

  I followed him to our usual table, where Taz was already sitting with her lunch.

  Declan and I both sat down. I opened the bag Declan had handed to me, unwrapped the foil packet inside, and saw: a turkey sandwich!

  I looked up at Declan. “How did you know? And how did you do this?”

  Declan grinned. “My dad had to come in and drop off a school medical form for me, so I texted him to ask if he could pick up some food, too. And after homeroom, I ran down to your sister’s classroom and asked what you had packed, so I could text my dad to bring the same. And it sounded good, so I asked for one for myself, too.”

  “That’s so nice of you!” I said, feeling my face break into a giant grin. My day had just gone from disappointing to pretty awesome. It wasn’t just about having a good lunch. I also felt happy that Declan had done something so sweet. For me.

  Taz was giving me a look, but I tried to ignore it.

  Lucy sat down with her lunch tray. She’d skipped the meat loaf but gotten the cauliflower and salad. I wondered if she was going vegetarian again, or if I should offer her half of my turkey sandwich.

  “Are you okay eating that?” I asked her.

  “What? Oh, I’m not really hungry—Mom made me a breakfast burrito this morning. But, guys, listen. I heard that the only eighth grader signed up to audition for George right now is Mitchell Brown. I mean, I know I’m not a lock for Emily. Both Shelby Firestone and Misty Carmichael are definitely auditioning for Emily, too. But if I do get it …” Lucy turned to Declan and grabbed on to his sleeve. “Declan, you have to audition to be George.”

  “I was actually thinking of trying out, but I’d like to play the Stage Manager.”

  Lucy frowned. “I thought you said a girl should play that.”

  “Well, I was just saying that the part could be played by a girl,” Declan said. “But it’s the part I’d like the best, I think. I read most of the play last night.”

  Wow, I thought. We hadn’t even gotten our copies for class yet. “Please, please, please, Declan—you have to do it. In the play Emily gets married to George. I cannot marry Mitchell Brown, even just onstage. It’s just, no.”

  The thought of Lucy and Declan getting married—even just onstage—made me kind of upset for some reason.

  “I guess I could try out for George, too,” Declan said, and Lucy squealed in delight.

  I looked down at my turkey sandwich, and suddenly I wasn’t all that hungry anymore.

  * * *

  After school, I waited for Taz and Lucy in my room to begin our Four Paws meeting.

  Lucy showed up first. Instead of taking her usual spot on the beanbag chair near my closet door, she flopped onto my bed. “I am in for a long night memorizing lines,” she announced. “Auditions are on Tuesday. I’ve got to get the part of Emily.”

  “You’ll get it. You got one of the lead roles last year,” I reminded her. “Besides, you’re the best actress at our school.”

/>   Lucy rolled over to face me. “You have to say that because you’re my best friend.”

  “I mean, yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Ask Taz, then. You know she’ll give you the truth.”

  “Whether you want it or not,” Lucy agreed with a smile. Taz was known for her radical honesty. Just then the doorbell rang, and I jumped up to answer the door. But Micki was already letting Taz into the apartment.

  “Does everyone else have a ridiculous amount of homework tonight for some reason?” Taz asked, slumping into a chair in the living room.

  “We’re having the meeting in my room,” I reminded her.

  Taz groaned. “But this chair is so comfy,” she protested.

  I pulled her up by her arm. “Come on. Go grab whatever you want to drink out of the fridge. I’ve got the snacks all ready.”

  “Ooh, what snacks?” Micki asked.

  “The same thing I already gave you for your snack,” I told my sister. “Cookies. You can’t have double snack—you’ll never eat your dinner.”

  “Fine by me. So when can I join Four Paws?”

  “When you’re older,” I told her as Taz went into the kitchen and grabbed some juice. “Besides, what happened to you always wanting to have cats? You always used to say you wanted to have five cats when you got older. Exactly five. No dogs.”

  Micki’s face scrunched up as she considered. “I think that might be too many. And I think now I want a puppy, too.”

  “Glad you’re finally seeing sense and becoming a dog person,” I said.

  “So can I join Four Paws, then?” my little sister prompted.

  “God, Mick, I said no. Now stop hounding me!” I said in a frustrated voice.

  Micki’s face fell, and she turned and walked back to her room without saying anything.

  “Kind of harsh,” truth-telling Taz said from the kitchen. But I didn’t need anybody else to tell me I’d just made my little sister feel bad. “Do you want to go talk to her?” Taz asked, coming over to me.

  I shook my head. “She’s sulking now. It wouldn’t do any good. I’ll just have to find a way to make it up to her. Besides, we should get through the meeting.”

  Lucy was reading her printout of the Our Town script when Taz and I walked into the bedroom. She looked super stressed. Suddenly I felt guilty for insisting we have a meeting today. I knew Taz was stressed about her homework, too.

  “Hey, guys,” I announced, and my friends looked at me. “Unless there’s anything pressing you want to talk about, we can postpone this meeting until next week.”

  I held my breath in case Taz or maybe even Lucy hassled me for calling the meeting and then canceling it. But both were nodding, and Lucy was standing up and putting her script back into her bag. “That’d be great, Kat,” Lucy said. “Oh, I did want to tell you—if I get the part, I won’t be able to go on nearly as many dog walks.”

  “And I’m going to offer to do the costumes for the play,” Taz said, sounding guilty.

  “Okay,” I said, trying not to panic.

  “We’ll work it out,” Taz said.

  “Sure,” I told them. “Hey, grab some snacks if you want.”

  Taz and Lucy took some of the cookies I’d put out and headed toward my bedroom door.

  “Later, Kat!” they both called.

  I walked out into the quiet apartment after my friends had gone. I stood outside my sister’s door. Sulking or no, I knew I had to try to make things better.

  I knocked but she didn’t answer, so I opened her door. “Hey, Micki,” I called, but she was wearing her big headphones and looking down at her tablet. I walked over and waved my hand in front of the screen and she jumped.

  “You scared me!”

  “Sorry.”

  “Aren’t you busy having your big meeting?”

  “We’re finished. Besides, I wanted to come check on you. And to say I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” Micki started to put her headphones back on.

  “Hey, wait! I was also coming to see if you wanted to have a sister day on Saturday.”

  Micki narrowed her eyes a bit. “What do you mean, a ‘sister day’?”

  “I mean, like a day to spend together, just the two of us. We can do whatever you want, even.”

  Micki’s eyes went wide. “Really? Like, anything?”

  I started to feel a little scared. “I mean, within reason. I can’t afford Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets.” Micki and I both adored all things Harry Potter but hadn’t been able to see the Broadway play yet. “And nothing we’re not allowed to do,” I added, “like go all the way to New Jersey by ourselves.”

  “I wasn’t thinking of either of those things. I want to go to a museum.”

  This was news to me. Micki had never shown any interest in art up until now.

  “Great! Which one?”

  “It’s called the Intrepid.”

  “Isn’t that the big boat down on Pier 86?” I asked, confused. Micki wasn’t into boats, either, as far as I knew.

  “Yeah, but there’s a whole museum there—it’s got sea, air, and space. It’s the space part I want to see. They have the Enterprise.”

  “Like in the movies?”

  “No, silly. It’s named after Star Trek, but it was the first prototype space shuttle. I really want to see it. We learned all about the space program in science.”

  I looked at my sister and for the first time noticed that she was wearing earrings shaped like moons and stars, and that the T-shirt she’d been wearing the most lately, and was wearing now, had a Star Trek logo on it. “When did you get so into space stuff?”

  Micki raised her eyebrows at me and frowned. “Um, last year. After having Mr. Sarles for science. He turned his classroom into a planetarium—it was so cool!”

  I felt so clueless for not realizing that my little sister had been sort of obsessed with space for almost a year. “The Intrepid sounds great,” I said. “I mean, I need to check with Mom. But in the meantime, why don’t you go online and see if we need special tickets for the exhibit?”

  Without warning, Micki lurched up off her bed and wrapped her arms around me. “Thanks, Kat,” she said before letting go. Then she picked up her tablet and pulled up the Intrepid website, her eyes shining.

  As I left Micki’s room, Mom was opening up the front door. I went to tell her about my idea for a sister day. She looked at me with something like surprise on her face. It made me feel equal parts good and guilty—good for making Micki so happy, but guilty that Mom would be so surprised by the fact that I was doing it in the first place.

  * * *

  On Saturday morning, Mom, Micki, and I headed to the subway together. The plan was: Mom would ride the train to Midtown with us, but then Micki and I would walk over to the museum, just the two of us. When we were ready to leave the museum, I’d text Mom, and she’d meet us back at the subway station to go home.

  “I think it’s so nice you two are having a sister day,” Mom said as we rode the train, her eyes going a little misty. “I always wished I had a sister, you know.”

  Micki gave me a smile and a gentle eye roll. We both knew all about Mom wishing for a sister. She got along well with her brother, Jason, our uncle. But she was always jealous that Dad had two sisters.

  Finally we reached our stop. We said goodbye to Mom and headed off the train and out of the station. It was a long walk to the Intrepid, but Micki and I chatted the whole time. And when we got there, Micki was so excited while we waited in line that she was kind of dancing around. I wished for a moment that I felt that excited about something. I guessed that business was my thing, but it didn’t exactly make me dance around. I did feel that excited to see Meatball, but I never danced—in fact I always tried to act calm and responsible.

  Micki oohed and aahed all over the space shuttle prototype, and then I used some of the money Mom had given me to buy her a T-shirt that said ROCKET GIRL.

  As we were walking back to the
subway to meet Mom, Micki leaned her head on my shoulder and said, “Love you, sis.”

  At that moment, I felt like I was a hundred feet tall.

  “I still need colored pencils. And a blue and a red notebook,” Micki announced at breakfast the next morning. Micki had been reminding Mom that she needed extra school supplies for the past two weeks.

  Mom gave me a pleading look. “Do you have any dog walking today, Kat?” she asked.

  I knew what Mom was getting at, and she was in luck. The Four Paws app had been relatively quiet, and I didn’t have to do any walks until tomorrow.

  “I’m free,” I said, and I glanced over at Micki. It seemed our Sister Saturday was turning into a whole Sister Weekend.

  I walked with Micki to a store in the neighborhood that sold stationery and school supplies. Micki was pushing the small cart, and as she rounded the corner into the notebook aisle she almost collided with another cart. The occupant of that cart’s kiddie basket gave a short, high-pitched bark. I gasped. It was Sparky the pug puppy, wearing a tiny black T-shirt and looking up at me with her huge black eyes.

  “Sparky!” I exclaimed, rushing forward to pet her.

  “Nice to see you again, too, Kat,” Declan said dryly. My eyes flew up to meet his, and I felt my cheeks go red.

  “I’m sorry! Hi, Declan!”

  “Getting some stuff for school?” he asked.

  I nodded. “You, too?”

  “Yep. I keep having to borrow people’s pens so I figured I’d just get a bunch.”

  “Can I pet her?” Micki asked, pointing to Sparky.

  “Sure. She’s very friendly.”

  Hesitantly, Micki scratched Sparky’s tiny ears. Sparky wriggled around happily. It did seem that Micki was warming up to dogs.

  “Good job finding the best place to buy stuff for school,” I told Declan. “Mr. and Mrs. Levinson always give us extra stickers and they have a great selection of notebooks.”

  “Kat gets very nerdy about school supplies.” Micki rolled her eyes at me as she petted Sparky.

  “I just like to be organized,” I defended myself.

  “Nothing wrong with that,” Declan said. “So do you two have any other places in the neighborhood to recommend?”