by J. J. Howard
“I’ll take her for a bit,” I offered, scooping Sparky up in my arms, happy to get some cuddle time with her. She put her paw on my leg, looking up at me with her huge black eyes. I almost melted.
“So, I get that, what you were saying about missing your brother,” I told Declan.
Declan nodded, giving me an understanding look. “I’m sure you do, since your dad travels so much. But that’s why it’s so great how you look out for your sister.”
I felt myself start to blush. “Thanks. I mean, I’ve actually been trying to be a better big sister lately.”
“You seem pretty great already.”
“Thanks,” I said again, blushing even more. As if she’d heard us, Micki came running over then, with Lucy strolling behind her.
“I brought you a brownie,” Micki told me, proudly handing me a paper plate.
“Thanks, sis,” I said. “Do you want half?” I asked Declan.
“Sure,” he said, and I broke off half and gave it to him. I took a big bite of my half. Mmm. Taz’s dad always made the best brownies.
“Hey, guys,” Lucy said, coming over.
“Hey, Emily,” Declan told her with a teasing smile. Right. The play. I went from feeling totally happy to feeling a little bit … irritated. I tried to tell myself I was being silly.
“Who is that cute guy Taz is talking to?” Lucy asked me, gesturing to one of the snack tables, where Taz and Aidan were chatting away over a platter of Taz’s mom’s samosas.
Declan chuckled. I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or just amused. “That’s my brother, Aidan,” he explained.
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Omg. Aidan Ward is your brother! The Aidan Ward?”
Declan sighed. “That’s the one.”
Lucy’s face was pink. “That’s amazing! Is it okay if I go over and say hi?”
“Sure,” Declan said with a shrug. “Add to his fan club.”
Lucy hurried off to join Taz and Aidan. Micki, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care about Aidan and plopped down on the bench beside me and Declan. She focused on cooing at Sparky and petting her.
I glanced at Declan. Was he jealous that Lucy clearly thought his brother was cute? And was I jealous because I thought Declan thought Lucy was cute?
Why were feelings so complicated?
Soon the party was wrapping up and people started to leave. I knew Micki, Lucy, and I would stay longer to help Taz and her family clean up, like we always did. But Aidan came over to get Declan because they had to meet up with their dad. I reluctantly handed Sparky back to Declan, and Micki waved sadly to the puppy, too.
“I’ll see you tomorrow for the dog walk?” Declan called to me as he and Aidan walked off.
“Yep,” I said, looking forward to it, but still feeling conflicted.
“Are you okay?” Micki asked me after Declan and Aidan had left.
“Sure,” I told my sister. “But maybe … I need another brownie.”
“Of course you do,” Micki said. “I’ll go pick you the best one.”
I unlocked the Thompsons’ door, and Meatball bounded across the apartment to greet me. The Thompsons were taking their kids clothes shopping that day, so they’d told me to just let myself in to feed and walk Meatball. I sat down right on the tile floor in the Thompsons’ foyer while Meatball kissed my face, and I giggled and petted his ears. Then he rolled over and I scratched his belly for a good five minutes at least. Finally I got up and he followed me into the kitchen. I fixed his lunch and put the bowl on the floor. While he ate, I thought about the end of the party last night—Micki and I had helped Lucy, Taz, and Taz’s family clean up, which meant we got to bring some delicious samosas and brownies home as leftovers for Mom. She seemed in better spirits, so maybe her alone time with HGTV had helped.
Meatball was done eating in under two minutes flat. Pugs are great eaters—second only to dachshunds, probably. “Do you want to go outside?” I asked him, and he wriggled around happily, trotting to the door. I slipped on his harness and he let out a joyful bark. What a sweet dog he was, always happy, even though his humans were so busy and distracted.
When we stepped off the elevator, right away I spotted Declan in the lobby. He was waiting for us—with Sparky!
“Is it okay that I brought Sparky along?” Declan asked as Sparky strained forward on her leash, barking at the sight of Meatball.
“It’s perfect,” I said. “At last, the two cutest pugs in the building meet!”
Meatball raced over to Sparky and started sniffing her, and Sparky barked again but sniffed Meatball right back. Their tails wagged in unison. It was too adorable. Declan and I looked at each other and started laughing.
“Looks like they’re instant best friends,” Declan declared.
He really was the nicest, most dog-loving boy I’d ever met.
“Let’s get going,” I said after the dogs had finished greeting each other. “I can show you where we usually take the dogs.”
Declan nodded. “Let the Four Paws training begin!”
Marcel greeted us—he seemed to have forgiven me for the stroller incident—and opened the door for us. Declan and I thanked him, and I led the way toward Riverside Park. It was a bright, sunny day with just the right amount of cool in the weather—a nice surprise after how warm it had been last night.
As we walked, Declan and I talked about everything—the school play, Four Paws, New York City versus Los Angeles. Declan explained that there are lots of neighborhoods in LA, just like in New York, and all of them are different, practically like their own small cities.
When we got to the dog run, we let Meatball and Sparky loose. I laughed in delight, watching the two of them play together and roll around. I was glad that Meatball was being careful of the much-smaller Sparky.
While the dogs played, Declan and I sat on a bench and I showed him how the Four Paws app worked—how he could claim a job and text with a client, and how the payment methods worked. (Taz had helpfully added Declan’s name to the app already.) I also gave him the quick rundown of who the toughest dogs in the building were, and who were the easiest, and which ones needed special food or medicine. Soon Declan was all caught up on the ins and outs of Four Paws.
Finally it was time to head back, so we put Meatball and Sparky on their leashes and led them out of the park. We were about three blocks from the Burgundy when the sky turned suddenly dark, and out of nowhere it started pouring rain. We’d been ambling along slowly, but Declan scooped up Sparky and we started running.
“Hold on,” I said. I knew I shouldn’t make poor Meatball run so far so fast on his little legs, either. Declan seemed to realize what I was doing, and he handed me Sparky, then scooped up the bigger pug. I was perfectly capable of carrying Meatball on my own, but I still appreciated Declan being so chivalrous.
“Come on, this way!” I called, cradling Sparky against my T-shirt. I had an idea of a place to get out of the rain. I ran to the bookstore that had closed the year before, on 82nd. The big awning outside was still up. I leaned against the brick wall once I’d made it, and Declan was right behind. It was raining just about as hard as possible right now—the drops had actually kind of hurt my skin as we’d run the last bit. Declan put Meatball down, then leaned against the wall, too, breathing hard.
“Good call on this spot,” he told me.
“I know the neighborhood,” I told him as I wrung out my hair.
“What was this place?” he asked. There was black paper up behind the glass so it was obvious the store had closed.
“It was a used bookstore called the Author Attic. It closed last year.”
“That’s a bummer. It sounds cool.”
“It really was. They sold coffee and hot chocolate, and the owner would make Rice Krispies Treats every Friday and give them out.”
“Man, I’m sorry I missed that.”
“You like to read? I mean, I guess so since you read most of Our Town before it even got assigned in class.”
�
�Well, I was trying to figure out if I wanted to audition, and if so, for what part. But yeah, I do like to read.”
“Who’s your favorite writer?” I asked him.
“It’s hard to pick, but right now I really like Shirley Jackson. She wrote The Haunting of Hill House? I’m kind of into creepy stories lately. What do you like?”
I was still holding Sparky and petting her head, but Meatball was starting to get jealous, I guess, because he barked twice at us. I smiled and handed the puppy back to Declan. I knelt down and scratched Meatball’s ears. “Sorry, buddy,” I told Meatball, then glanced back at Declan. “I guess my all-time favorite is J. K. Rowling. I mean, I’m still waiting for my Hogwarts letter.”
“What house do you think you’d be in?” he asked.
I hesitated for a second, then decided to tell him. “I usually get sorted into Slytherin when I take the quizzes online.”
Declan grinned. “Huh, I would not have guessed that. I would have thought you were Hufflepuff, like me.”
“That is the other one I get. But since I got Slytherin on Pottermore, I felt like that test was more, like, scientific.”
“Well, remember, in the books, Harry got to choose. So you can decide your own house, at least that’s what I’d say.”
“That is a good way to look at it,” I agreed. “Or maybe I’m just a combination. A Slytherpuff.”
“Or a Hufflerin?” Declan laughed. “You’re right, Slytherpuff sounds way better. I think my second choice is Ravenclaw. Would that be Huffleclaw or Ravenpuff?”
Now I was laughing. “Both of those work, but I kind of like Ravenpuff the best.”
I looked out to see that the pounding rain had stopped and it was barely even drizzling anymore. I’d never been so disappointed in the weather before.
“Guess we should head back,” Declan said.
“I guess so,” I said, and we walked back to the Burgundy. We rode up in the elevator, and when Declan got to his floor, he thanked me for the training session and waved goodbye to me and Meatball. I watched Meatball watch Sparky trot out with Declan, and I could have sworn the sweet pug let out a small sad whimper.
And I kind of understood how Meatball felt—and not just because I was sad to say goodbye to Sparky.
“Reset for act one!” Mr. Cornell called. Before I even knew what was happening, Micki was hurrying out onstage with the cardboard stove needed for the scene.
I jumped, realizing that my little sister was doing my job faster than me. I grabbed the rack of containers labeled MILK to hustle to its spot.
There weren’t very many props in Our Town. This made things easier for the stage crew, which was good—since I seemed to be so bad at it.
With the play less than two weeks away, I’d started attending rehearsals as Mr. Cornell had asked. Mr. Cornell had noticed Micki waiting around for me and had drafted her to help, too. And from the start, Micki had been the superior stage crew member. She was great at knowing when we needed to bring out new props, or whisk old ones away. Even the other stage crew members were impressed by her. And I had to admit, I was, too. It was nice to see my little sister come into her own (even if she sometimes made me look worse by comparison).
I settled back into my spot in the wings as the actors got in their positions to run the scene again. Micki stood in the wings, too, watching the stage raptly. There’s a lot of downtime in stage crew, but you still have to watch and listen, and when it’s time to jump in, you have to jump. It seemed like something I should be awesome at … but all that waiting had my mind wandering. I kept trying to sneak work on my homework, or glances at the Four Paws app, even though I knew Taz had us covered on the dog walks. (She wasn’t as involved in the rehearsals this week, since the costumes were all set.)
Maybe I was more of a Ravenclaw than I’d thought. Sneaking homework definitely seemed pretty Ravenclaw.
And my other distraction? Sparky. Since Declan’s dad had to work late nights this week, he brought Sparky to Declan during after-school rehearsal. Mr. Cornell wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, and technically there weren’t supposed to be any animals at our school. But I guess after hours, when your super-talented lead actor needs to look after his new puppy, the rules get kind of flexible. I teased Declan that he was becoming more of a Slytherpuff, since the rules apparently didn’t apply to him.
Sparky’s crate was stationed right next to me in the wings. She didn’t need much attention—she was snoozing happily at the moment, totally not caring that she was in our school theater. But I was constantly stealing glances at her to marvel at her cuteness and make sure she was doing okay.
I refocused on the actors. Brooke was speaking her lines as Rebecca, a character I sort of related to. She complains in the play that all the outfits she has to wear to school make her look “like a sick turkey,” which I totally got, and also she’s good with saving money. I realized I enjoyed watching the rehearsal. Even if I wasn’t as good as Micki, I was grateful I’d signed up for stage crew after all.
And okay, to be honest, it was fun to watch Declan. He’d turned out to be an amazingly good actor. Everyone else (even Lucy at times, if I was being completely honest—not that I would ever tell her) was often obviously reciting lines; I could hear how memorized the words were. But not Declan. When he spoke, it was as though he really were George Gibbs from 1901, as though those were his actual thoughts and feelings. Maybe Declan had inherited his talent from his mom. And maybe Aidan Ward wouldn’t be the only famous Ward brother. I thought about saying that to Declan, but I had a feeling it would embarrass him.
At the end of rehearsal, Declan came over to get Sparky, and we all walked home with Lucy and Micki. Outside the Burgundy, I saw two familiar faces—Taz was just coming back from her walk with Meatball. I felt a pang of sadness that I hadn’t been able to do any dog walking yet this week because of the play.
As soon as Meatball saw Sparky, he raced forward on his leash just as Sparky raced forward on hers. They met in the middle and rubbed noses.
“Oh my goodness, that’s too adorable!” Taz cried.
“Yeah, they’re basically best friends now,” I said, crouching down to rub Meatball’s ears.
“Ever since their special hangout in Riverside Park,” Declan agreed, and I blushed a little, remembering how nice that day had been.
Taz, Lucy, Declan, and Micki chatted about Our Town while I stayed in a crouch and admired Meatball and Sparky, who were busy sniffing each other again.
“Hey, Kat, would you mind doing me a favor and dropping off Meatball upstairs with the Thompsons?” Taz asked, checking her phone. “My mom asked me to pick up some bread from Zabar’s.”
“Of course! No problem,” I said, getting to my feet and taking Meatball’s leash from Taz.
“Thanks,” Taz said with a knowing smile. Taz knew me well enough to see that she was really doing me a favor by giving me extra time to spend with Meatball.
* * *
At dinner that night, Micki told Mom all about Our Town and the props, and Mom practically beamed at me. I knew she was excited that my signing up for stage crew had also led to Micki being involved in the play.
“And then Declan was saying his big monologue, and Sparky started barking from her crate, and Mr. Cornell was yelling so loud a vein popped out in his forehead!” Micki said, holding her stomach as she laughed.
“That was pretty funny,” I said, spearing a green bean. “Poor Mr. Cornell. I’m glad I was there to take Sparky out of her crate and hush her.”
“Well, Kat,” Mom said. “Sounds like you found plenty of extracurriculars this year.”
“That’s true!” My zero activities had morphed into three: FBLA, Four Paws, and now stage crew. “My favorite part is that stage crew ended up having dogs in it after all!”
Mom laughed again. “Good to know you can be convinced into anything if there’s a dog involved …”
What could I say? It was true.
Which reminded me: My plan to a
sk Mom for a dog had never happened. Even though I’d written down all my great reasons in my notebook, every time I imagined asking her, I knew she’d say, Ask your father.
But tonight, I remembered, we’d be Skyping with Dad after dinner. Now was my chance to ask—and I was going to do it.
After dinner, Mom, Micki, and I gathered around the laptop, and Dad’s tired-but-smiling face appeared on-screen. I decided that I could channel my inner Gryffindor, be brave, and ask Dad the question I’d been too nervous to ask when he’d visited.
I waited until it was my turn to talk to Dad by myself. Mom and Micki went off to Micki’s room and I sat on the couch, facing Dad on the laptop. He asked me about FBLA again. I told him we’d only had two meetings, but Four Paws was going well. Then I took a deep breath and just asked.
“Dad, can I get a dog?” He immediately looked surprised, so I sped into my arguments. “I’ve proven how responsible I am with animals by running Four Paws. I mean, I take care of, like, twenty other people’s dogs. I could easily take care of my own.”
The image of Dad’s face froze for a few seconds, and I held my breath, waiting.
“Kat,” he started, his face still frozen but his voice coming through. Then, all in a rush, the connection caught up, and his head moved back and forth a few times, super fast. But I was too nervous to laugh. “You know your mom and I are away too much for us to have a pet.”
“But I can take care of the dog,” I said. “That’s what I’m telling you. Other people pay me to take care of their dogs. How would this be any different? Besides, I’m trustworthy. I take care of Micki, too.”
“I know, kiddo, and I appreciate it, but I’m afraid getting a dog right now is out of the question.”
I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help adding, “You and Mom being busy is really even more reason to get us a dog, so that Micki and I won’t get lonely.”
