MACKENZIE GRABS AMANDA AND DRAGS HER AWAY!
That’s when a smile slowly spread across Brianna’s face.
“It looks like MacKenzie is still mad about the Paw Spa I set up in her bedroom during our sleepover!” Brianna giggled. “Everybody LOVED it! Except MacKenzie.”
And get this! MacKenzie didn’t say a single word to me!!
She just sashayed away with her nose stuck in the air like I didn’t even exist.
I just HATE it when that girl sashays!!
Anyway, it’s partially Brianna’s fault that I didn’t get even more details about what happened. Amanda couldn’t complete a full sentence without Brianna rudely interrupting to demand assorted unhealthy movie snacks.
So if I want to get more DIRT on MacKenzie, it looks like I might actually have to spend an afternoon taking Brianna and Amanda to Princess Sugar Plum Saves Baby Unicorn Island, Part 9.
Suffering through yet another of those silly, mind-numbing Princess Sugar Plum movies would be worth it just to stay one step ahead of MacKenzie and her DRAMAFEST.
!!
SUNDAY, MAY 4—7:00 P.M. AT HOME
Brandon called me earlier today with some really great news about Fuzzy Friends!
According to the manager, four dogs had been picked up for adoption on Friday and six on Saturday.
So as of this morning, Fuzzy Friends had ten openings for new animals!!
SQUEEEEEEEE !!!
Which meant that there was FINALLY enough space for Holly and her seven puppies!
But this is the crazy part!
ALL THE PUPPIES HAVE ALREADY BEEN ADOPTED!!! AND HOLLY, TOO!!
The vet said Holly had pretty much weaned her puppies and they were eating solid puppy food.
I felt really happy and sad at the same time! I would have LOVED to have gotten a dog of my own.
But after my mom made such a big fuss about her new furniture and carpet, I didn’t even bother to ask.
Mrs. Garcia’s sister adopted Holly, and FOUR puppies were adopted by the girls at the pet care sleepover! WOW!!
So thanks to Chloe’s uncle Carlos, five dogs found homes!
And Marcy got a puppy, and two puppies went to people on the Fuzzy Friends waiting list for golden retrievers.
I felt a little heartbroken knowing those wonderful dogs had been placed with OTHER families.
I guess MY family would NEVER, EVER get a dog!
I couldn’t help but blink back tears.
I know it’s crazy to have grown so attached to them after just a few days.
But I feel depressed looking at the outline in the carpet where their cage used to be.
My room is so quiet now, I can barely sleep at all!
Brianna has been missing the puppies too.
Even though I made her swear on her Princess Sugar Plum Pink Baby Unicorn to keep the puppies a BIG SECRET, lately it’s been the ONLY thing she talks about.
“You know who’d really LOVE these meatballs?” she sighed sadly at the dinner table earlier today. “Holly and her seven little puppies that we hid in Nikki’s room! I really miss them.”
One part of me wanted to reach across the table and slap her. And the other part of me was so freaked out that I choked on a meatball.
Well, actually . . . ALL of me was choking on that meatball!
“Nikki!” Mom cried. “Are you okay?!”
I coughed and quickly guzzled my glass of punch to wash the meatball down before my face turned blue.
“Sorry about that! These meatballs are so delicious, I’m literally trying to inhale them!” I giggled nervously.
Mom and Dad traded glances with each other.
“Now, what were you saying about puppies?” Dad asked Brianna curiously.
“Hey, Brianna!” I interrupted, trying desperately to change the subject. “How is Oliver doing? I bet he really likes meatballs too!”
“He LOVES puppies MORE!” she said glumly. “He said he wanted to play with the puppies you had in your room.”
Dad furrowed his brow. “So, are these Princess Sugar Plum stuffed puppies?”
“No, Dad! They’re Nikki’s puppies! And they are REAL!” Brianna corrected him.
“Actually, Dad, the puppies aren’t real,” I explained. “But Brianna likes to pretend they live in my bedroom.”
“Nuh-uh!!” she protested. “They’re real and you know it! Remember the torn-up pillows in the family room? And the peanut butter and mud from the Paw Spa in the upstairs bathroom? And the dog poop in Mommy and Daddy’s room? And the—”
“HA! HA! HA!” I roared over the sound of her snitching on me. “Dogs pooping in Mom and Dad’s room?! OMG! You’re HILARIOUS, Brianna!”
“You weren’t laughing when you were lying on the middle of the bathroom floor, covered with mud, peanut butter, and toilet water!” she yelled, and stuck her tongue out at me.
“Brianna!” Mom scolded her. “That’s enough!”
I could NOT believe that little BRAT was putting all of my personal business in the streets like that!
Thanks a million, Brianna!
Just throw me under the bus so Mom and Dad will ground me until my eighteenth birthday.
“I don’t have the slightest idea WHY Brianna has suddenly been so obsessed with puppies lately,” I shrugged, all innocentlike. “Maybe it was that pet care sleepover.”
Dad and Mom exchanged glances again.
Actually, I was starting to feel a little uneasy.
I couldn’t help but notice that my parents were acting kind of weird too.
Did they actually believe Brianna’s crazy story?
“Nikki, after dinner I’d like you to help me bring in some groceries from the car, okay?” Mom said.
Twenty minutes later, I was carrying in a half dozen bags from Pets-N-Stuff.
“These are groceries?” I asked skeptically. “Mom, I know you’ve caught Brianna drinking out of the toilet and biting the mailman once or twice! But feeding her Doggy Diner puppy chow is a bit drastic, don’t you think?!”
“It’s a pet food drive for Brianna’s troop,” Mom said.
“Hey! What’s this stuff?” Brianna asked. “Mom, did you buy me some puppy chow cereal? YUM!”
I couldn’t believe Brianna actually said that.
“I ate lots of bacon doggie snacks when Nikki babysat me and the puppies,” she bragged.
Then Dad came downstairs, carrying a big white box with a huge red bow on it.
“WOW!” I gasped. Was it a new laptop computer to replace the one Brianna had put in the dishwasher?
We opened the box and peeked inside!! . . .
The wiggly little puppy jumped into our arms and licked our faces.
It was Holly’s smallest pup! The one that Brianna and I had fallen in love with!
“SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!” we both squealed.
“YIP! YIP! YIP! YIP!” the puppy barked.
We were SO happy, we both started to CRY!
“I’ve been begging your mom for a dog for a long time now, and she finally gave in!” Dad boasted. “You girls can thank me later!”
“Well, both of you have been talking about dogs nonstop all week. It made me seriously consider getting one. And when I picked up Brianna from her sleepover and saw THIS little puppy! I couldn’t help but fall in love with her. I called Fuzzy Friends right away and arranged to adopt her!”
“Can we call her DAISY?!” Brianna asked excitedly. “She’s the littlest, cutest, most sweetest dog in the entire world!”
I totally agreed. We were so happy and excited that we did a group hug! With DAISY! . . .
THE MAXWELL FAMILY’S NEW PUPPY!!
“Something told me she was the right dog!” Mom said, winking at Dad.
A wave of paranoia swept over me. Now, what did THAT little comment mean?!
I thought I had just gotten away with the biggest doggie-smuggling operation in Maxwell family history!
But now I was starting to wonder if it was Mom and
Dad who’d pulled a fast one on Brianna and me.
Anyway, Holly and her pups had new homes!
WE had an adorable new puppy named Daisy!
And my next week at school was going to be DRAMA FREE for the first time all year!!
My life was PERFECT !!
Until I got a copy of a parent e-mail from Principal Winston. . . .
TO: Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell
FROM: Principal Winston
RE: Eighth-Grade Student Exchange Week
Dear Parents,
Each year, all eighth-grade students at WCD Middle School participate in a Student Exchange Week with local schools. We feel this helps to foster community and good citizenship with both students and faculty at the host schools.
Your child, Nikki Maxwell, will be attending NORTH HAMPTON HILLS INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY along with several other WCD students. Everyone is expected to be on their best behavior, to follow the student handbook of the host school, and to make WDC proud. More information about this very important event will be sent home with students next week. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Principal Winston
At first I thought the letter was some kind of PRANK. But when I checked the WCD calendar on our school website, sure enough, the Student Exchange Week was listed as an official event.
JUST GREAT !!
So now I’m going to be attending school with MacKenzie Hollister?!!
Just when I thought that drama queen was out of my life FOREVER, she shows up AGAIN like a recurring NIGHTMARE!
Although, from what I’ve heard, I think she could probably use my help! Hey, it’s really TOUGH when other kids make you feel like an outsider.
But you just have to believe in YOURSELF!! How do I know this? Probably because . . .
I’M SUCH A DORK!
!!
Rachel Renée Russell is an attorney who prefers writing tween books to legal briefs. (Mainly because books are a lot more fun and pajamas and bunny slippers aren’t allowed in court.)
She has raised two daughters and lived to tell about it. Her hobbies include growing purple flowers and doing totally useless crafts (like, for example, making a microwave oven out of Popsicle sticks, glue, and glitter). Rachel lives in northern Virginia with a spoiled pet Yorkie who terrorizes her daily by climbing on top of a computer cabinet and pelting her with stuffed animals while she writes. And, yes, Rachel considers herself a total Dork.
Visit us at
simonandschuster.com/kids
authors.simonandschuster.com/Rachel-Renée-Russell
ALSO BY
Rachel Renée Russell
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
Dork Diaries 2: Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl
Dork Diaries 3: Tales from a Not-So-Talented Pop Star
Dork Diaries 31/2: How to Dork Your Diary
Dork Diaries 4: Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess
Dork Diaries 5: Tales from a Not-So-Smart Miss Know-It-All
Dork Diaries 6: Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker
Dork Diaries OMG!: All About Me Diary!
Dork Diaries 7: Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star
Dork Diaries 8: Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever After
Dork Diaries 9: Tales from a Not-So-Dorky Drama Queen
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN * An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division * 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 * www.SimonandSchuster.com * First Aladdin hardcover edition October 2015 * Copyright © 2015 by Rachel Renée Russell * All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. * ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. * DORK DIARIES is a registered trademark of Rachel Renée Russell * For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected]. * The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. * Series design by Lisa Vega * Cover design by Karin Paprocki * Author Photograph © by Suna Lee * The text of this book was set in Skippy Sharp. * Library of Congress Control Number 2015949579 * ISBN 978-1-4814-5704-0 (POB) * ISBN 978-1-4814-5705-7 (eBook)
Tales from a Not-So-Perfect Pet Sitter Page 9
