Chapter 38

The Overly Loyal Dog

Ursa and I always walk with me to school. I never minded, she was fun to have around. As long as she left before I went inside, it was fine. We always enjoyed the sound of silence together: the rustling leaves, whistling wind, and our own footsteps.

One day, however, Ursa wouldn’t leave. She just sat there, unwilling to leave my side.

“Ursa, go,” I told her. Ursa simply stared at me with her big, brown eyes.

“I don’t want to go,” she seemed to be saying. Was I imagining Ursa talking now? I really must be delusional.

“Come on Ursa,” I whined. “I need to get to class.”

Samina walked over. “Hey Isabelle,” she said. “Is that your dog?”

“No, actually,” I said. “She’s a stray who just happens to really like me.”

"She really likes you," Samina said. Ursa licked my leg.

"Sit," I said to Ursa. She did so. I walked inside with Samina, hoping Ursa would get the message.

When math class came around, Mrs. Price announced that we were changing seats and that we could choose our seats this time. Samina and I sat together. To our surprise, Candace came up to our table.

"Hey," she said. "Is it okay if I sit here?"

I took out my Magic 8 Ball. "Can Candace sit here?"

As I see it, yes.

"Sure, why not?" I said to Candace.

She sat down. "So how are you two doing?"

"Fine," I said, even though I wasn't really sure how I was. There was a lot of good things going on; Samina and I were friends again and I was doing well in math class. There was a lot of bad stuff too, like that I hadn't raised any money to help Barnswell and my family still hated me. Why did that question have to be so complicated?

"That's good," Candace said. “What hobbies do you two have?”

“Reading, playing Minecraft, listening to music,” I listed.

“I like listening to music too,” Samina said quietly. “I also like drawing and writing poetry.”

“I’ll have to check out some of your poetry sometime Samina. What music do you like?”

“The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, stuff like that,” I said.

“I like Coldplay, OneRepublic, and Imagine Dragons,” Samina said.

“Oh my gosh!” Candace exclaimed. “We have like the exact same music taste!”

“Have you heard of Fourth Dimension?” Samina asked.

“No, I haven’t. Are they any good?”

“Yes!” Samina exclaimed. “I’ll show you a video of them playing live. They’re SO good.”

Samina and Candace kept talking about music. I was surprised by how nice Candace was when she wasn’t around Mia, but I couldn’t stop staring out the window at the big, black dog that was still sitting outside the school.