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P4 - Chapter Thirty-four

"To join her and her evil schemes?" Kinkajou tried. "But Qibli wouldn't do that."

"You can't be sure," Winter muttered with a shrug. I frowned.

"He wouldn't," I snapped.

"Let's be honest," Winter said. "If your mom came back, wouldn't you do anything in your will to make her stay?"

A heavy silence dropped in the air as Turtle and Kinkajou shot Winter a deadly glare. Winter's face contorted into realization as he fumbled an apology.

"I'm sorry," he blurted in an instant. "I didn't mean to... uh."

I looked away, staring out the window as my face started burning, and I felt like I was on the verge of tears.

"Great, now look what you did," Kinkajou hissed at Winter in a shout-whisper. "You made her upset now, too."

"I'm sorry!" Winter shouted-whispered back. "I... I forgot! I didn't mean to bring up her mom, I was just being sensible." I quietly scoffed.

"More like insensitive," Kinkajou grumbled.

Yes, I would, I finally answered in my mind. Was that how Qibli felt about his mom? Probably.

Okay, definitely.

Suddenly, Kinkajou, Turtle, and I all yelped in unison as Winter slammed on the brakes, causing us to lunge forward.

As if that wasn't enough, another car ran into the back of Winter's car, and the car behind that car had to swerve out of the way to avoid slamming into the back of the first car, nearly running into another car in the process, honking.

Ostrich burst into tears, kicking her legs and throwing her tablet away from her.

"Winter!" I yelled, my hair all in my face.

"Dude, what the hell?" Turtle asked, gripping the seat a little tighter as Kinkajou started breathing heavily, looking around.

"Are we dead?" she demanded.

"I'm sorry–there was a dog!" Winter cried. "It jumped out of the car behind me and ran in front of me! God, did I hit it? Why are people leaving their dogs on the road unattended?" Winter opened his door and ran around to the front of his car.

The rest of us unbuckled and followed suit, Turtle stopping to pick up Ostrich's tablet and handing it back to her to get her to stop crying.

When I circled Winter's car to the front, I saw what he had stopped for.

"AWW," Kinkajou squealed without a moment to waste. "Look how cute it is! Wait–is it hurt?"

Winter crouched down in front of the puppy, who was huddled in a ball, whimpering. He examined it without actually touching it. The rest of us crouched down as well, looking in awe at it.

Then, the car that hit Winter's loudly honked at us, startling Kinkajou into yelping again. She stood up and angrily marched toward the car, banging on the window until the person put their window down.

"She isn't injured," Winter said, reaching forward and gently petting the dog's head, smoothing its fur. I glanced up at him, never realizing how gentle Winter could be.

He has a soft spot? Who would've known.

"Uh, Kink..?" Turtle asked, standing up as Kinkajou started yelling.

"My car is dented!" the man yelled at her.

"You know, if it weren't for YOUR dog jumping out of YOUR car, my friend wouldn't have had to stop so suddenly!" Kinkajou yelled. "In fact, you should be grateful, because if he didn't, your dog would be dead right now, okay? This whole thing is your fault for being such an irresponsible dog owner. You should be ashamed of yourself because that poor little puppy was so afraid!"