Riley

by Susan Hughes

  Megan nudged Kat. She had finally stopped giggling. “The new girl. What’s her name?” she whispered, pointing at Grace.

  Megan never listened. Ever.

  “It’s Grace,” Kat answered, annoyed. And, of course, just at that moment, Grace was staring right at them. Great. Now she would know that Kat was talking about her. What if she thought Kat was making fun of her? Just great.

  Kat got a bad feeling in her stomach. And then, before Kat could look away, Grace opened her eyes wide. She lifted one lip and made a face at Kat. A really mean face.

  Kat gulped and quickly looked at the floor.

  If she were in a new class at a new school, she’d be nervous. She was sure of it. Grace was new, but she didn’t look at all nervous. She just looked angry.

  “Okay, class,” said Ms. Mitchell. “Go to your seats, please. Get out your math workbooks.”

  Kat went to her desk. Ms. Mitchell followed her. As Kat sat down, the teacher stood next to her.

  “Josh,” Ms. Mitchell said to Kat’s seatmate. “Would you mind moving to one of the long tables? There’s a seat in between William and Angela. I’d like Grace to sit here, next to Kat.”

  “Sure, Ms. Mitchell,” said Josh.

  Kat watched unhappily as Josh grabbed his things from inside the desk and hurried away.

  “Grace, you’ll sit here for now,” Ms. Mitchell said.

  Grace didn’t speak. She just dropped into her seat.

  “Here’s our math textbook and a workbook,” Ms. Mitchell said. She left the books on Grace’s desk when she didn’t take them.

  Kat glanced over at Josh. He was talking happily to William and Angela.

  It wasn’t fair! Why did Grace have to sit here, beside her?

  “Grace, I’m sure you and Kat will get along,” Ms. Mitchell said. “Kat always seems to have a good joke to share!”

  Oh, great. Ms. Mitchell had put Grace here because Kat liked to tell jokes. That’s a good reason to never tell a joke again, Kat thought to herself.

  Ms. Mitchell returned to the front of the classroom. She began to explain how to do the math problems written on the board. Kat tried to pay attention. She liked math. But Grace was distracting. The girl put her pencil on one finger, like a teeter-totter, and she used another finger to rock it back and forth. It clicked on her desk each time it hit.

  Kat wanted to ask Grace to stop playing with the pencil. But, more than anything, she didn’t want to talk to Grace. Grace made her feel uncomfortable. So Kat decided to try to ignore her.

  Finally it was recess. Kat and Maya met at their usual spot, under the oak tree by the school gate.

  “Okay. Spill. What did the tree say to the squirrel?” Maya said, hands on her hips.

  Kat smiled. “Leaf me alone.”

  Maya smacked her forehead with her hand. “You call that a joke?” she moaned. Then she grinned. “My brother will love that one. Tonight. Dinner table.” Then Maya asked, “So, did you bring the Puppy Collection with you?”

  “Right here,” Kat said. “Voilá!” She presented it just like a magician. She’d been holding it behind her back, hidden in a black bag. She and Maya didn’t want anyone else to see it. They worried the other kids might laugh at them. Like Megan and Cora. Kat knew for sure that they’d tease her. For some reason, they liked to try to embarrass her. Of course, they had been better lately. Ever since Kat had told them to leave her alone.

  Kat and Maya sat down and opened their scrapbook. Puppies were the best things in the world. But neither girl was allowed to have one. So they did the next best thing: they collected photos of their favorite puppies or drew pictures of them. They gave each puppy a name and wrote a description about it. It was like having their own collection of puppies. Usually they found the pictures online or in magazines, but they’d also decided to add puppies they met.

  Maya turned to the latest page, and a black, curly-haired puppy looked up at them. “Don’t you wish we could really meet Lollie?” she said. “She looks so cute! Look at her tiny black nose.”

  Kat read aloud: “Lollie is a toy poodle. She has so much energy! You can’t hold her back for even a minute. She jumps so high, it’s as if her back legs are springs. She is very smart too.”

  Maya turned to another page. “Here’s sweet little Bailey,” she said. She was looking at a photo of a golden-yellow puppy. Bailey had been a guest at Tails Up! a few weeks ago, and the girls had helped take care of him.

  “It was so much fun playing with Bailey,” said Kat. “Remember how soft his fur was? Remember how he’d shake his chew toy in his mouth?”

  Maya smiled. “Here’s what we wrote: Bailey is a Labrador retriever puppy. He is eight weeks old. He is being housebroken, and he is doing well! Bailey likes to chase toys and shake them. He is very gentle. He likes to give us kisses.”

  Then Kat sighed. “Oh, I miss him. But now we have Riley to play with! Won’t it be great to see her after school?”

  “I can’t wait,” said Maya. “She’s so pretty. Such a beautiful golden color.”

  “Hey, did you notice that Riley’s ears were darker than the rest of her coat?” Kat asked. “I was reading about golden retrievers last night. They can be any color from cream to gold. If you look at the ears of a golden retriever pup, you can tell what color her adult coat will be!”

  “Einstein! That is so cool,” said Maya. She looked at Kat admiringly. “You know a lot about different dogs.”

  “All thanks to the magic of the Internet,” Kat said, spreading her hands wide.

  The bell rang to end recess, and Kat closed the scrapbook.

  “Hey,” said Maya. “Our teacher told us that you have a new girl in your class. That’s great, right? You’re lucky.”

  Kat lifted her eyebrows. She put the Puppy Collection back into the bag. “Not great. And I can already tell that she isn’t very nice.”

  “Seriously? You can already tell? You just met her.”

  “Yeah, I can tell,” Kat said.

  “How?” Maya asked, surprised. “What did she do?”

  “Well, nothing really,” Kat said. “She just looks mean. And I have to sit beside her.” Then she said firmly, “I don’t like her.”

  Suddenly someone moved.

  Someone who had been standing on the other side of the oak tree. Someone they hadn’t seen there.

  Kat turned. That someone was Grace.

  Oh no! Kat’s face turned red. She felt terrible. Had Grace heard her?

  Kat opened her mouth to speak, but Grace turned and walked away. Kat jumped to her feet. She knew she should follow the new girl. She knew she should speak to her and say she was sorry.

  But she didn’t move.

  “Who was that?” Maya asked. Her large brown eyes were concerned. “What’s wrong, Kat?” Then, a moment later, her face cleared. “Oh, that was her, the new girl. Right?”

  Kat nodded. “Yeah, it was Grace. Do you think she heard me say I didn’t like her? And that she looks mean? She may have seen the Puppy Collection. What if she tells everyone about it, just to get back at me?”

  “Well, we’ll just have to hope for the best,” Maya said with a shrug. “Maybe she didn’t hear or see anything. Plus, you only just met Grace. You don’t really know what she’s like yet.”

  The teacher on recess duty was ringing her hand bell and walking toward the girls.

  “Come on, Kat-Nip, let’s go.” Maya gave Kat’s hair a gentle pull. “Hey, you can apologize to her when you get back to class. You sit beside her, right?”

  “Yeah,” Kat said. Although she was really confused. She didn’t know what she wanted to do. Grace had started it all by making that mean face. Hadn’t she?

  Maybe she would apologize. Or maybe she wouldn’t.

  As Kat went into her classroom, she had a funny feeling in her stomach. She knew sh
e couldn’t talk to Grace about what had happened. Not yet.

  Kat sat down without looking at the new girl.

  “Time for our library visit,” Ms. Mitchell said. Kat felt better. She’d forgotten that it was library day. Thank goodness! She could avoid Grace for a little while longer.

  Kat grabbed her library book from her library bag. Then she rushed to the back of the classroom to line up. When her class went to the library, they had to walk in partners. Grace was still sitting at her desk, and Kat didn’t want Ms. Mitchell to force her to be Grace’s library partner.

  But who would Kat walk with? She had been Heather’s buddy last week. But today Heather had already partnered up with Sarah.

  Ms. Mitchell was looking at Grace. Then she turned toward the back of the room. Was she looking for Kat? Frantic, Kat turned to the closest person. It was Owen. His best friend, Ari, was away sick today.

  Kat stopped to think. Would Megan and Cora tease her if she asked Owen to be her partner? They said he was in love with her, just because he blushed when she talked to him.

  Should she do it? Grace still didn’t have a partner. Ms. Mitchell was coming toward Kat.

  She had no choice. “Owen,” she blurted out. “Buddy up?”

  Owen blushed. “Okay.” He nodded.

  Kat stood next to him, uncomfortable. She watched as Ms. Mitchell spoke softly to Megan and Cora. Gently, the teacher encouraged Grace to stand beside the two girls.

  Then Ms. Mitchell led the line out of the classroom. Kat didn’t want to look, but she couldn’t help it. Grace walked along beside Megan and Cora like a gloomy shadow, her face down, her braids dangling.

  She’ll find a friend eventually, Kat told herself, trying not to feel guilty. If she can stop looking so scary.

  The class listened as the librarian talked to them about nonfiction books and how to search for them on the shelves. Then they were given ten minutes to think of a subject they were interested in and find books about it.

  Picking a subject was easy for Kat. Dogs, of course. And she even knew where to search on the shelves, because she’d done it so many times before. It was especially nice because Megan and Cora were in a completely different aisle of books.

  Kat buried her face in her book. She didn’t even look to see where Grace was or how she was doing.

  But then Owen came over and began looking at books on the shelf right below hers.

  “Looking up dogs?” Owen said, without looking at Kat. “I know how much you love them.”

  “That’s right.” Kat glanced over at him. She was curious to see what he had picked. “I didn’t know you were interested in…” Kat peered at the cover of the book he was reading. “Pigs.”

  Quickly Owen slammed the book closed and looked at the cover. He blushed. “Oh,” he said. “Pigs? Oh, well, not really.”

  Kat tried not to grin.

  Owen shoved the book back on the shelf and grabbed another one. He seemed to begin reading at a random page.

  Kat peeked over Owen’s shoulder. “Owen, I didn’t know you could read upside down,” she said.

  Owen’s face was totally red. “Oh, right. Um, see you,” he said and hurried away.

  When it was time to return to class, Kat and Owen walked back together. Kat saw Megan and Cora pointing at them. The girls were whispering to each other. They ignored Grace, who trailed behind them. Her face was like a mask.

  Lucky for Kat, the rest of the afternoon went quickly, with no shared seat work. She was able to avoid talking to Grace. In fact, she hardly even had to look at her!

  When the bell rang at the end of the day, Kat met up with Maya at their usual spot. They hurried to Tails Up! and checked in with Aunt Jenn.

  “Hello, little Riley!” the girls called as they burst into the doggy day care room. They rushed over to Riley’s kennel. The golden retriever puppy jumped up. She wagged her tail and wiggled happily.

  “Here we go. Out you come!” said Kat. As she held the puppy in her arms, all her troubles melted away. She bent her head to breathe in Riley’s sweet smell. She felt a soft, wet nose press against her chin. Riley’s tongue gave her a quick kiss.

  “Do you want to hold her?” Kat asked Maya.

  “No, just put her down so she can run free,” suggested Maya. “She’s probably excited to be out of her kennel!”

  Kat set her down, and Riley raced straight over to Maya to say hello. Then she ran straight to the back door, sat down, and looked back at the girls with her beautiful brown eyes.

  Kat and Maya laughed.

  “Okay, we understand!” Kat said. “You want out, right?”

  The girls grabbed Riley’s chew toys and several dog biscuits. When they opened the door, Riley went tumbling out into the backyard. Just like yesterday, she raced across the lawn. She investigated each of the trees, sniffing all the way around. She explored the flower beds. She barked at a squirrel. She grabbed a stick and growled, shaking it in her mouth. The girls laughed again.

  “Let’s give her some time to burn off some energy before we do her lessons,” Kat suggested.

  “Good idea,” Maya agreed. “Hey, so did you apologize to the new girl this afternoon? Grace, right?” She looked at Kat curiously. “You didn’t say anything about her on the way over here.”

  Kat sighed. She explained that she had chosen Owen as her walking buddy to the library just to avoid Grace. And that even though Megan and Cora had left her alone, Owen had followed her around.

  “Well, you did encourage him,” Maya teased. “Poor boy. He just wants to be near you.”

  Kat raised her eyebrows.

  “Sorry, Miss Sensitive.” Maya grinned. Then she frowned. “But what about Grace? You didn’t say sorry to her?”

  Kat shook her head and looked away. “No. Not yet,” she said.

  Kat pointed at Riley and laughed. “Oh, look, Maya!” she cried. “Riley is trying to sniff the flowers!”

  The golden retriever pup was in a small garden. She was fascinated by a plant with beautiful yellow blossoms. The plant was taller than her, and the blossoms towered above her. But she was determined to sniff them. She raised her head as high as it would go, but she couldn’t reach.

  “Riley’s up on her back paws! She’s balancing!” Kat said.

  Sure enough, Riley balanced for about five seconds and took one sniff of the blossom. Then she snapped at it and toppled over into the flowers.

  “Riley!” cried Maya, concerned.

  But Riley bounced back up like a rubber ball. She wagged her tail and came running. Her eyes were sparkling. Her mouth was full of yellow petals.

  “Oh, Riley. Naughty girl,” Kat told the puppy. She tried to make her voice sound stern, but it was hard. Little Riley looked so proud of herself!

  “Okay, Riley. Time to do some more training now,” said Maya firmly. “Right, Kat?”

  Kat nodded.

  “Okay. Riley, sit, girl. Sit.” Maya raised her hand, palm open, as Aunt Jenn had shown her.

  Riley looked up at Maya and wagged her tail. A petal dropped from her mouth. Kat tried to hide a giggle.

  “Sit, Riley,” Maya repeated. She lifted her palm again.

  Another petal fell.

  Kat didn’t speak. Neither did Maya. Both just looked at the pup and waited.

  Suddenly Riley sat. Just like that.

  “Good girl, Riley,” Maya said, stroking Riley’s soft head. “Well done.” She gave the puppy a biscuit.

  Kat clapped her hands together. “Nice one, Riley!”

  For the rest of the afternoon they reviewed sit, lie down, and come with the pup. Finally Riley lay down and wouldn’t get up. She was exhausted.

  “That’s all for today,” Maya told her. “We have to go now, but we’ll be back tomorrow.” Riley wagged her tail happily as Maya picked her up.

  K
at sighed as she followed Maya and Riley back inside. When puppies were happy, they wagged their tails. When they were sad or lonely, they whimpered. When it was time for a walk, their eyes lit up.

  You could always tell when a puppy was happy or sad or excited. It never tried to hide its true feelings. It never tried to pretend it was something it was not. And it was hard to hurt a puppy’s feelings.

  But Grace, Grace was different. What was she actually like? Was she mean or not? Why was it so hard to tell? Why aren’t people more like puppies? Kat wondered.

  The next morning, Kat still hadn’t decided whether or not to apologize to Grace. Then she was late, so she didn’t even have time to say hello before the class started. Not that she was too sorry about that.

  Kat waited to see if she and Grace would have to do shared seat work. Instead, Ms. Mitchell began to teach the class about a kind of poetry called Japanese haiku. She told them that a haiku is a short poem with three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and the third line has five syllables.

  Ms. Mitchell read the students some examples of haiku. Then she asked them to write their own poem.

  Kat looked at Grace out of the corner of her eyes. Grace’s chin was tucked down. Her hair fell in front of her face so Kat couldn’t see it.

  Kat was relieved. She doodled little drawings of puppies across the top of her page as she thought.

  A pug puppy. A Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever puppy. A Great Dane puppy.

  Then she began to write. It took her a few tries.

  Puppies

  Wiggly, wobbly, soft

  Mouth smiling, eyes so trusting

  Puppies are the best

  Not bad, Kat thought, nodding her head.

  But when she looked up, Grace was staring right at her page. She was reading Kat’s poem!

  Grace’s own paper was blank.

  I bet she’s going to copy my haiku, thought Kat angrily. And, sure enough, just then Grace bent over her own notebook and began to write.