Suzy of the house Miller

Chapter 6

"Good morning, class," She said, smiling at them. "Did everyone have a good weekend?"

The teacher took roll call, and Suzy felt Cuddles' slight panic when she raised her hand off the sheet to respond to the teacher. She quickly set it back down as soon as she could, and Cuddles felt relieved a little. Suzy began to think that this may not have been the best idea, but it was too late now. She never considered that Cuddles wouldn't like crowds. How could she have known? She'd never taken him out where there were a lot of people before, and whenever she'd seen another dog outside it seemed fine. She took a deep breath and patted him a little. She hoped they'd be able to get through this.

The roll call ended, and Suzy watched as the other children took out their items for Show and Tell from bags and backpacks, setting them on their desks.

"So," The teacher said, "Who'd like to come up and present what they brought first?"

Suzy raised her hand, if only to get it over with for Cuddles' sake. She was sure that if they calmed down and tried to pet him, he'd relax too.

She came up to the front of the class and the sheet followed her, making a clacking sound on the floor as it went. The rest of the class grew quiet, their chatter lowering to a whisper. She pulled off the sheet, and there was silence for a moment, then she heard a shriek. Suzy turned around to see the teacher hiding behind the desk.

"S-Suzy," She mumbled, trying to sound cheerful as usual, "What is that?"

"It's Cuddles, my dog." Suzy turned back to face the rest of the class and saw their faces. Some were shocked and some seemed scared. One of the bigger boys that liked to tease was pale, and it almost looked like he was about to throw up. In the last moment of silence, Suzy looked down and her eyes met Cuddles'. Then there was an explosion of sound from the class. More screaming, shouting and sounds of terror erupted from the class. Cuddles nuzzled his head into Suzy hard, as if to try and hide from everyone. He pushed past her and scrambled under the teacher's desk, only to have the teacher jump back with a start. She tried to regain her composure and quiet the class, but it just got louder. Suzy felt Cuddles get more and more afraid. He felt like he just wanted to hide, to be far away from them. Suzy felt this rise in him, to the point where she felt like he might burst.

A sound rose above all the other ones and quieted them. Cuddles let out a deep, loud bark that sounded like it came from across the street, as well as from inside your eardrums. It echoed throughout the class, and everyone stood stock still. The teacher crept up to Suzy and put a quivering hand on her shoulder.

"Now, Suzy," She said, "It's bad to scare your classmates like that."

"But Cuddles is real! I told you before, and you didn't believe me!"

"That's no excuse for bringing something scary into the classroom. It's never nice to scare people."

"Cuddles isn't scary!" Suzy exclaimed. "He just likes to be petted and to nap and play."

"I think you should go and see the principal," The teacher said. "You should take Cuddles with you."

Suzy looked around the room once more and saw her classmate's scared faces. It hadn't worked out well at all. Suzy had hoped they'd all love Cuddles like she did, that they'd see how nice and sweet he was. If they could do that, Suzy figured they might feel the same way about Anubis. But when she saw how people looked at Cuddles and got scared, Suzy's heart sank. She reached under the desk and picked up Cuddles' leash with one hand while patting him with the other. He felt reassured, and slowly stepped out from under the desk. The teacher kept her distance as Suzy headed for the door, with Cuddles very close behind her.