It was a typical day in Danville. Or typical, that is, as in a typical three-day annual thing for Jenny Brown as she helped prepare her little brother and dad. Django and Mr. Brown were leaving for a father-son bond trip to an art convention that was happening on the other side of town. Jenny was left to stay at home and take care of the family pet, Camillia the Puli. But with Jenny and Django's dad being a spokesman at such a convention, it was a pretty hectic start to the day.
"Whoa, whoa Django, don't forget your notebook!", Jenny said, unzipping his backpack yet again and placing the thick, colorfully markered-on book inside.
"Thanks Jenny!", he smiled up at her.
"Dad! Do you have your..?", she called out when Mr. Brown stepped up behind her.
"...wallet? Yup. Let's go, Kiddo.", he smiled as he opened the door.
Kisses and hugs good-bye, traveling wishes and Jenny stood on the porch with Camillia as she watched the van drive out of sight. Once gone, she turned around to the large and empty house. There was always something about being alone. It was exciting and fearful at the same time. No one but the dog was there to see what she was up to. Yet if someone was to break into the house or her dad was to return home early and catch her doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing, was also a scary thought. But this wasn't a first. She's stayed home from the convention before. But normally with Django because he was too young. Now she was alone. Completely alone. And she couldn't help but smile a bit to herself. When Jenny wasn't with Candace, she was normally somewhere protesting against one thing after another. It was, what she felt like at least, her civic duty. But now she was taking the time off. She was free to do as she pleased. She had not only the whole house to herself, but also a dog to walk about. Which was very well much the time as Camillia reminded her, bringing up the leash. With a chuckle they began their daily walk. As they went through the park, thoughts still ran about the young teenager's mind about what she was going to do with this free time. Candace Flynn would most likely want her help in another attempt to bust Phineas and Ferb. Stacey was normally tagging along but as Jenny stopped to think about it, she hadn't been around either one much anymore. Like the group just started to split ways somewhere between when Stacey got a boyfriend and when Candace tried using teamwork to bust the brothers. But as Jenny thought about it, she couldn't help but feel a little left out. Danville had a lot of things but it was short on one thing in particular to Jenny; hippies. People for her to relate to. She would hitch rides to protests from others that were passing through unless her dad drove her there himself but otherwise, Candace had Jeremy. Stacey had Coltrane. And Jenny had... Her thoughts slowed to a stop as she looked about the park and her eyes landed on an odd and amazing sight. Sitting on a park bench a bit of a ways up ahead was a boy, a bit older than herself. He wore a gray hoodie, white slacks, brown shoes, and had a slightly messy brown buzz-cut for hair. She couldn't see his face very well either but what surprised her was that he had a bag sitting next to him and a squirrel sitting on the opposite side, on his shoulder! Eating nuts from him like they were pet and owner. As much as Jenny loved animals, this was certainly something she didn't want to miss. She walked her dog further and saw the boy had a unibrow, was clean shaven, blue eyed, and a rather friendly smile as he handed another nut to the rodent. Jenny wanted to say something, but what? She was too fascinated a squirrel was actually sitting on someone's shoulder. Birds were one thing, but a squirrel was something else entirely.
"Um...", she stammered a bit, catching his and the squirrel's attention as she ventured closer. "H-how did you get that squirrel to come so close?"
"Oh. I uh.. Guess I just have a way with animals.", the boy shrugged with a polite smile. "The name's Monty Monogram."
"Oh! Sorry.", a blush of embarrassment quickly came across her face. "I didn't introduce myself. I'm Jenny Brown. And this is my dog, Camillia."
"Well it's nice to meet you, both.", he gave a nod.
Camillia quickly jumped up her forepaws onto his lap, panting and wagging her tail happily.
"Whoa!", Monty backed up a bit as the dog tried to get closer.
"Oh! Camillia!", Jenny tried to pull back. "D-down..!"
"No it's okay.", he smiled and began to pet the dog which quickly calmed it down some. "Excited puli, huh?"
"Yeah.", she smiled, sitting down next to him while her dog continued to be petted. "So.. I'm sorry. I'm still a little surprised a squirrel's that calm around you. Most run away at the sight of humans."
"Oh yeah. Well I kinda work with animals.", Monty explained. "So I'm not exactly a stranger to them. I'm sure he'd let you feed him."
"Uh, I doubt that.", Jenny shook her head with a chuckle.
"No wait, here.", he said, giving her an acorn. "Just hold it up near your shoulder."
She did as told and the squirrel glanced at her, looked over at Monty and with a nod over to her from him, the squirrel leapt over, landing on the opposite shoulder, crawling around the back, and rest to grab the nut and begin to eat. A look of excitement and surprise sparkled in her eyes as Jenny watched the squirrel move around her, giggling a bit as it crawled behind her. Monty handed the squirrel another nut when it was finished and the two teenagers shared a smile.
"So, you like, work at an animal shelter or something?", Jenny asked as the dog went off to play with the rest of the dogs at the park.
"Something like that. I basically help find missing animals. Make sure they're okay, and help put them back where they belong. Or help them find a new place.", Monty said, making sure not to give away too much of his real occupation, working at the Organization Without a Cool Acronym.
"That's awesome!", Jenny smiled, feeling like she's found someone to relate to. Someone else who liked animals. Someone else who could like a number of things she did. But then something caught her attention. "Hey.. Where's Camillia?"
Both of the animals had left and Monty very well knew it was time for their agent duties. But he glanced about, pretending to be none the wiser and shrugged.
"Not sure. That squirrel ran off too."
"Welp. It's like what I say. If you love something, you gotta set them free.", she shrugged it off.
"Really?", Monty asked, seeming a bit impressed. "I would figure that would be hard to do with man's best friend."
"If she loves me, she'll come back.", Jenny gave a slight nod, earning a knowledgeable nod from the other.
"True. Well I'm heading to town for lunch. Care to join me?", he offered as he stood up.
"Are you asking me out?", she chuckled, a little perplexed.
"I suppose.", he shrugged. "Unless you just wanna cut off our conversation."
She giggled a bit, smiled at him for a moment, her hopes starting to rise and she agreed to. Monty was apparently 17 as he was able to drive his own car which wasn't anything extra special to point out. It was clean, small, and Jenny could barely believe she was climbing into a car with a man she had just met a small while ago, off to get lunch with him. Could anyone blame her for quickly becoming hopeful that maybe this was someone that she could get to liking? Maybe something of a boyfriend of her own? Monty wasn't sure what it was, but for the short time of talking with this girl, he just couldn't help but wanting to invite her with him to lunch. She didn't have plans. She was cute. Obviously loved animals. And maybe...but he knew better than to hope for too much. He should take this slow before jumping to conclusions. Or history would repeat itself.
