Russell stopped. He had heard crying. Russell slowly retraced his steps and looked over the slide. A small box with a big circular hole at the front stood on top of the slide. Someone was in their, crying. Russell looked around. Zoe, Pepper and Blythe were helping Blythe with her new designs up in her room, and Pepper, Vinnie and Sunil were chatting in the front shop. Russell looked up again at the box.
'Penny Ling must be in there' Russell thought to himself as he stepped closer to the slide.
"Penny?" Russell said hastily, "Are you okay?"
The crying stopped.
Russell stood nervously for a few seconds, watching the silhouette of Penny Ling move slightly.
"Penny, Do you need any assistance with anything?" Russell said slowly, before hastily moving over to the ladder that was leaning against the box, and climbing up it.
Russell found himself almost at the top steps of the ladder, and he slowly crept up the remaining steps of the ladder, to find himself staring into Penny Ling's deep purple gaze.
Russell stood still for a moment, gazing at Penny's tear stricken face. A few seconds passed, before Russell realized what he was doing. He jumped with surprise, and found himself falling towards the ground.
A paw grasped his and a sudden shock of warmth ran through his body. He looked up at Penny Ling, who had a look of fright plastered on her face. She slowly pulled him up through the side hole, and Russell felt embarrassment flush through him as he pulled himself back into the hole.
He stood up, and hastily brushed himself off. He looked up at Penny and smiled faintly, "Thanks Penny, I-" He stopped as Penny suddenly burst into tears.
"Russell, I-I'm so sorry!" She hiccuped, breathing in heavily, tears running down her cheeks.
Russell stared at Penny in surprise.
"Penny, what happened?" He said in shock.
Penny hiccuped again before shuffling Into a corner and wiping her eyes.
Russell stood silently, watching Penny cry, and slowly sat next to Penny Ling. Penny Ling's crying slowly died down.
Russell waited a few seconds, before looking up at Penny sadly.
Penny looked up at Russell and just gazed at his wide emerald green eyes before looking back down at her lap and crying softly. She couldn't tell him, he would get so mad with her if she did, and she would feel terrible.
"Penny," Russell said softly. Penny looked up at Russell. Russell shifted awkwardly before saying, "Penny, please tell me what's going on."
Penny sighed shakily and sat up. "Russell, if I told you, you would get angry."
Russell squinted his eyes, "Why?"
Penny took in a deep breath, "You know how you told us that we shouldn't play games like truth or dare and spin the bottle?"
Russell winced, "Yes..."
Penny gulped, "Pepper convinced us to play Spin-the-Bottle-Truth-or-Dare"
Russell was silent for a moment. Penny looked back down at the ground shamefully.
"What happened then?" asked Russell quietly, anger swelling inside him at Pepper.
Penny noticed the look on his face and whimpered, "The bottle first pointed at Pepper, then at me. That means Pepper dares me and I have to do it."
Russell twitched slightly.
"What did she dare you to do?" said Russell, "Slam a pistachio pudding pie in your face?"
Penny smiled, "Well, no..."
Russell grinned, happy with the fact he made Penny feel better.
"What did she make you do?" He asked slowly.
Penny stopped smiling and whispered,"The rules of the game is that when you are about to give a dare, it cannot affect anyone playing the game." Penny looked up at Russell.
"You weren't playing the game."
Russell stared at Penny for a few seconds. Penny shifted awkwardly.
"What did she make you do?" asked Russell, worried about what the answer might be.
"She dared me to kiss you."
Russell's heart stopped.
Penny stared at the ground, heat rising to her cheeks.
"What did you say?" Russell asked quietly.
"I-I told her tha-that that was- well... I didn't really tell her what I thought about it..."
"Couldn't you just fake it? I'll act like it happened- and then it will be-"
Russell was interrupted by a loud beeping noise.
Russell had no idea how to explain what happened next.
He felt someone's paws grasp his tightly, and he felt the familiar feeling of warmth rush through him. The hands pulled him up to his feet, and suddenly, Russell knew what was going to happen next.
It was over quickly, and Russell felt himself fall backwards as the hands let go quickly. Russell didn't know why, probably because if the shock he had just gotten, but he felt inclined to stomp away from Penny Ling and leave her crying. But Russell merely stood up shakily and looked around the room. Penny was gone. He had no idea what provoked her to do what she did, but he felt angry all the same. She had used him- like a toy-to do some silly childish dare that he had full right not to go along with. Russell stared at the ground angrily for a moment, but then realization suddenly hit him like a lightening bolt.
Penny was forced to do what she did, she felt like she had to. She didn't want to ruin the game and cause all the other pets to dislike her, but she didn't want to make Russell feel angry in the process. Penny trusted Russell to not be angry at her. She trusted him.
But that still doesn't explain why she still did it... Russell frowned and slowly slid down the slide. Suddenly, the loud noises of his friends voices met his ears. He jumped in fright as Pepper and Vinnie ran into the room, shouting,"DANCE LIKE YOU KNOW YOU CAN!"
Sunil slinked into the room behind them, staring sadly at the ground. Zoe and Minka ran in after him, a look of happiness upon their faces. Minka turned to Russell and grinned. "Hi Russell!"
Suddenly, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Russell. Russell felt the all-to familiar feeling of heat creep up to his face as he looked around at everyone, then he looked down at the ground.
Pepper snickered, "What's up Russell?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." He said quietly.
"Did you run into Penny by any chance? Did you... Do anything?" Pepper grinned.
Russell felt his face heat up as he got to his feet. He looked up at Pepper.
"Why did you dare her to do that?" He said quietly.
"I thought it would be funny, I didn't expect her to do it-" Pepper said cautiously.
Russell felt like shouting. But he didn't. He rolled up into a ball and rolled away, leaving a shocked group of animals staring after him.
"Did he fake?" Asked Sunil quietly.
"We'll find out soon enough" said Pepper, running over to the slide and climbing up the ladder that was on the side.
Pepper emerged and slid down the slide, holding a camera in her paws.
"Here we are..."
All the pets crowded around the camera, watching Pepper flick through the images. She stopped when she came to a video.
"This is the video we took during the game..." Muttered Pepper.
She flicked slowly through the next images, when suddenly-
"Alrighty!" Said Pepper as she hid the camera screen behind her hand. "I'm the pet who gave her the dare, so I will see if she did the dare."
She pushed the other pets away and looked at the screen. Her eyes widened.
"Erm- Yes well- uh.. They did it guys."
All the pets crowded around the screen. Silence rang through the air.
"I never thought that Penny would actually..." Whispered Zoe in surprise.
Russell stood up and shook himself off. He needed to find Penny.
"Penny Ling?" Russell said loudly. He walked around the shop. Penny Ling wasn't there.
He tiptoed passed the other pets, who were, for some weird reason Russell couldn't understand, look at something in Peppers paws. He carefully jumped into the dumbwaiter and pulled on the rope. He pulled on the rope until he reached Blythe's room. He looked around and carefully stepped out of the dumbwaiter. Blythe was sitting on her bed, reading a book.
"Erm... Blythe?" Russell said quietly.
Blythe looked up, startled.
"Oh, hi Russell. What's wrong?" Blythe put down her book.
"Sorry to interrupt Blythe- but I've got a problem I need to ask you about-" Russell looked up at Blythe.
"Is this about Penny Ling?" Said Blythe.
"Yes..." Said Russell awkwardly.
