The Miracle Of Love

Chapter 1

Looking at the sunset I feel a wave of happiness sweep over me. The bright orange, yellow, and red blended perfectly in the sky. There was also a slight rainbow left from earlier today making the sky an array of colors. The sun was reflecting off the pond in our backyard, making the water glisten in the sunlight. Well, at least what was left of the sun. It was absolutely beautiful. I wanted to just cry tears of happiness right then, but I didn't because my little brother rudely interrupted me.

I mean, I was technically supposed to be watching him, but the sunset is too beautiful so I go back to watching that instead. I suddenly feel a slight tapping on my shoulder. I realize my little brother, Jackson, is next to me trying to get my attention. Breaking out of my spell I finally ask, "What Jackson?"

"H-Ha-Harper t-th-the doggie bit me." he says sadly with tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Rufus bit you? I thought you said he would never bite you, because he was your best friend." I say trying to hide my smile.

"No. Your doggie, Aussie, bit me." He says crossing his arms and glaring at me, while wiping the tears off of his face.

"Well, Aussie has been a bad girl, hasn't she?"

"Yes she has!" He says angrily stomping his feet as he walks off into the other room.

He always has to make that dramatic effect when he walks out of a room. A few minutes later, Aussie comes into my room with her tail tucked between her legs. Jackson comes in behind her with a plastic sword he got from Walmart. He starts hitting her with it saying bad dog over and over again.

"Jackson Hayden Canter stop that right this instant. You are not allowed to hit Aussie like that. You wouldn't want me doing that to Rufus, would you?" I yell.

"No, but Aussie was a bad girl and Rufus was a good boy." he says a little frustrated.

"That doesn't mean you hit her though. That's just being mean back to her. For all you know, she could've accidentally bit you."

"Whatever", he says, dramatically, then stomps off yet again.

I look around the room and find Aussie under my bed whimpering. I grab her and set her on my bed. I hugged her tightly and she whimpered again. I realize the poor puppy was probably sore from Jackson hitting her so much. Who knows how many times he hit her before she came in here.

I look over her, making sure she's okay. She is still a puppy so she is not that big, maybe a foot tall. I loved her to death even though I had not got her that long ago. She was my birthday gift from about six months ago. My grandma gave her to me before she died, so Aussie is really special to me in many ways.

I decided to go find out where Jackson ran off to. I never asked if Aussie broke through his skin when she bit him. I didn't even ask if he was okay. A few minutes later, I find him on his bed. He was curled up next to Roofus, dead asleep. Since he was asleep, I decided to go watch Netflix downstairs. All I remember after pressing start on the show is the first 10 minutes. The rest is blank.

~~~

The next morning I wake up to the wonderful smell of bacon and eggs. That's when I realized I had fell asleep on the couch last night. My mom realizes that I'm awake and comes over to sit down next to me.

"Did you sleep okay Harper?" my mom asks.

"Yeah. My back hurts a little bit from sleeping on the couch, though."

"Yeah, we do need to get a new couch." she says.

My mom gets up and heads back into the kitchen, as I go upstairs and get ready for school. I find my phone on my bed and there's three messages left from my best friend Michael.

" I need to talk to you. It's important."

"Hello?"

"Are you ignoring me?"

I text him back saying he can talk to me at school during lunch. I set my phone back down and get dressed. I was going to take a shower, but didn't have enough time, so I grab my backpack and head back downstairs to eat breakfast.

A few minutes later, I was heading out the door to catch the bus. I was greeted by my other best friend, Ava, when I sat down in my seat. Before she even started to talk, I knew by the look on her face she had to tell me something very important about her love life, again.

"OMG! Guess what happened over the weekend!" she says with an exciting look in her eyes.

"What?"

"Remember how Xzavier and I went on a date over the weekend. Well, anyways, he walked me home and I was about to go inside and he well, sorta, kinda, kissed me.", she somehow giggled out.

"You mean, Xzavier, that really shy kid, kissed you?", I said surprised.

"Yesssss! He did!"she yelled making everyone on the bus stare at us.

Then I slowly slide down into my seat, so no one could see how red my face was. Even if I wasn't the one who yelled out loud on the bus, I was still embarrassed. I look over at Ava and she's doing the same thing I am doing, except, she is also hiding her face in her hoodie.

About 30 minutes later the bus pulls into the school parking lot. We get off the bus, and Ava and I walk to our lockers. Michael meets us by our lockers.

"Hey weirdos", he says as we approach him.

"Hey, Michael", we say in unison.

Me, Michael, and Ava have been best friends since the 2nd grade. Recently, Xzavier was added to our little friend group. Since he was Ava's boyfriend we sorta had to accept him. Michael enjoys having another boy to talk to anyway.

"Um, Harper?" Michael asks shyly as I turn to walk away.

"What do you want?", I ask exasperatedly because the bell was about to ring.

"It-it's about the thing I need to talk to you about", he says.

"Yes?", I say tapping my foot and checking the clock on the wall, trying to give him a hint.

"Can we have a sleepover at your house tomorrow night and talk then?", he asks apparently not able to take the hint that I need to leave now.

"Yeah. Sure. Let me ask my mom. Now can you please leave me alone, so I can get to first period. Thanks. Bye", I say while running away with Ava to first period.

I turn to Ava and ask her "Do you wanna come to the sleepover?"

"Yeah sure. Wait. O. M. G. It could be a double date!", she squeals running even faster to ask Xzavier if he wants to come.

"But me and Michael are not dat......", I stop myself realizing that she doesn't care if we are dating or if we are not. I shake my head at how crazy my friend is and run to catch up with her.