Just Kidding, But Seriously...

The Canine King and His Goldfish Cracker

A/N- I hope you guys like this chapter!! I would have updated sooner but ugh I've been uber busy. Anyway, this is all unedited so feel free to point out mistakes. I strongly encourage it, actually.

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"And just where do you think you're going?" a hard, familiarly girly voice inquired from somewhere behind me.

I froze in my tracks, tugging on Tinkerbell's leash so that he could stop his advance towards the front door. Then I turned around and latched my eyes onto Mel's form. Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy ponytail that made it stick up all over the place, and her pink sweatpants were partially covered by a plain white t-shirt with crinkles on the sides where her knuckles met with the fabric on her hips.

Mel tended to dress like a total bum whenever she decided not to go to school. Well-unless Robby was coming over. But the last I heard those two were having more problems than the drama queens of Killian High, Raymond Fowler and Scarlett Reynolds.

"Don't give me that motherly look." I scowled. "I'm just taking Tinkerbell out for a walk."

"You hate taking him out for walks," she said, suspicion creeping into her voice. "Why so eager all of a sudden?"

"Why do you care?" I countered, wanting to keep my planned run-in with Gwen under wraps. I hardly got any information on what was going on in her love life, especially now that I stopped listening in on her conversations on the phone (she stopped doing that a while ago after discovering I was being nosy when I accidentally sneezed into the phone call). There were a few instances where I would pass by her bedroom and catch a few muffled words spoken as she talked on her cell phone, but that was about it. And if she wasn't going to share anything with me (not that I particularly wanted to know about she and Robby making out in his car, but still), then I wasn't going to share anything with her.

Mel straightened up and crossed her skinny arms over her chest. "Because that's my dog. And I need to make sure you're not planning on doing anything dangerous with him."

"Aw, man. So I can't take him to a dog fighting match?" I asked, my voice oozing sarcasm. "And he is not your dog. It was our Christmas present, remember? You just got to name him because you got heads in the coin-flipping match. Which, now that I mention it, wasn't even fair because you were like five years old and didn't know how to flip a coin in the first place."

"Fine, but-" Mel started, pulling out a random sheet of paper and pencil from her sweats as if she had been planning this from the get go-"before you embark on this dangerous journey, there are a few important things you need to know about my little baby."

I gritted my teeth. "Oh, for the love of-he's not your baby! And it's just a walk; Tinkerbell will be fine."

"I need someplace flat to write on," Mel declared, apparently ignoring me. She scanned her eyes around the empty foyer for what I assumed was a table or some sort of furniture.

"How about your chest?" I suggested sourly.

Mel's mouth popped open, her blue eyes widening. She looked like she was either about to cry hysterically or cuss me out, and I tried unsuccessfully to stifle the triumphant smile that spread across my lips. But then her mouth closed, and her eyes shrunk, and when she spoke it was in a surprisingly subdued voice. "Wow. Not going to lie here-that was actually a good one."

I couldn't help but smirk. "I know, right? It just came to me. Like a message from God, or something."

"Huh."

"Yeah."

For a moment Mel and I stood there beneath a spell of silence.

"Anywayyy," I dragged out. "Yeah. Um. I'm gonna go take my dog for a walk now. See ya."