The Other Is Gold [On Hold]

Chapter Twelve

"Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere." -- Author unknown

{Chapter Twelve}

Danielle was pissed.

 Actually, she was beyond pissed. She was so angry that I was afraid she was going climb out of the phone, grab some bricks, and throw them at me. I’ve only seen this side of her once. Once, and that was it.

 It was a few months after Nate had left. Her parents were always strict on pets and boys and all that other stuff. Even though she begged on her knees for a dog, her parents wouldn’t even consider it for a second. So it was no surprise that she went to the local animal shelter and adopted a small, white puppy. The people there were brainwashed by her little innocent act, so they obviously let her have the puppy for free. Yeah, even the food for the puppy was free.

 Every night she played with it secretly in her bedroom. When her parents came in, she hid it in her closet that was bloated with dresses. She even slept with the thing. And when morning came, she left out food and water and hid the stuff with the puppy in her dad’s old Volvo that he never used. She left the windows open, of course, she didn’t want her puppy to suffocate. In school, that was all she thought about. Was her puppy okay? Did it finish all the water? Was it bored? Did either of her parents find it?

 It was pretty pathetic if you ask me. But she loved that thing to death. She did the same thing every day: Wake up, hide it in a car that no one used with food and water, go to school, worry, come back and play with it, hide it again for dinner, sleep with it, and start the whole thing over again.

 I understood why she loved that thing. I really did. But it was getting pretty ridiculous how she skipped our weekend sleepovers and hangouts just for the puppy. So now you could understand why I ratted her out.

 Her parents were furious when they found out. They immediately picked the puppy up and dropped it back to the animal shelter. But their reaction was nothing compared to Danielle’s. They grounded her for two weeks with no TV, no computer, no Ipod, no cell phone, and definitely no more sleepovers. She was devastated.

 She didn’t talk to me for weeks. That was when I realized what I had done. I apologized and eventually won her over with free movie tickets to the new Twilight movie and a whole bunch of candy. But I still couldn’t forget the angry look on her face when she found out what I had done.

 In fact, the look on her face matched the look she was giving me right this moment at my doorstep.

 “I seriously can’t believe you, Scarlet.” Her eyes gave me a piercing look, making me cringe a little.

“Good morning to you too,” I mumbled.

“Now’s not the time for your sarcasm,” she snapped. She glanced at her watch and scowled. “And it’s not ‘good morning’ it’s good afternoon. It’s way past morning, dumbass.”

 I took a step back. “Jeez. What tied your panties up?”