Roxbury Park Dog Club #6 by Daphne Maple

Author:Daphne Maple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-11-07T05:00:00+00:00

8

The next morning was crisp and sunny and for the first time in ages I was actually on time to meet everyone at the corner for our walk to school.

“Sash, you’re here,” Taylor said when she saw me. A gust of wind caught her braids and she smiled as she brushed them back from her face.

“Are we late?” Bri asked, pulling her phone out of her pocket in mock concern, making all of us laugh.

“I know, I’m on time, it’s a shock,” I joked as I shifted the weight of my backpack. All those library books made it heavy.

“We’re happy to see you,” Kim said. Her cheeks were pink from the wind as she smiled at me.

“I decided to stop eating breakfast at home,” I confessed as we started toward school. I’d realized that eating on the run would tackle two problems at once: being on time in the morning and taking care of my breakfast dishes. So today I had an English muffin wrapped in a paper towel that I held up to show my friends and then bit into.

“Way to multitask,” Taylor said.

“I didn’t want to be late because I have an invitation for you guys,” I said once I’d swallowed.

“Yes,” Taylor said immediately. “I’m in.”

I laughed. “I haven’t even told you what it’s for yet.”

“If you’re there, we’re there,” Taylor said. Then she made a face of mock concern. “That is, unless you’re finally getting around to cleaning out your closet. If that’s the case I might be busy after all.”

Bri and Kim both laughed at that and I couldn’t help joining in. My mom demanded a clean room and I often accomplished this by stuffing things in my closet, stowing them behind boxes and hanging clothes. Taylor joked that one day the whole thing would erupt like a volcano and she was probably right.

“No closet cleaning,” I assured them. Taylor drew an arm over her forehead in joking relief. “I was actually wondering if you guys could come for a sleepover after my dance recital next Saturday.”

The show was a matinee and I’d already gotten tickets for my friends. No matter how crabby I felt about the last sleepover or the unfair way club jobs were divided, it meant a lot that they would be there. After all, Kim had been coming to see me dance since my very first performance, when I was one of the snowflakes in The Nutcracker. I was onstage for all of two minutes, but Kim still brought me a big bouquet of pink roses because she knew they were my favorite. She’d been at every show since, roses in hand, and at this point I couldn’t imagine dancing without her there. And having Bri and Taylor with her would be even better.

“A sleepover after your show sounds great,” Kim said as Taylor and Bri nodded. “We’ll be there.”

“My mom and I will make something really special for dinner,” I added. My mom and I had not actually discussed this yet—she was so annoyed with me lately that it didn’t seem like the best time to ask for a favor.

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