December 9th
I hate my life.
. - + * + - .
Harry is a seven year old black fox with the same ice blue eyes as his relatives, but warmer and more curious than threatening. He always wears baggy clothing and is very quiet. Most of the time he never speaks, but somehow he always gets into trouble.
I knocked on the door of his bedroom. The kid opened it and stared up at me those big blue eyes. Then he let me into his room.
For a boy, his room was relatively clean. A few dirty clothes in a pile, a video game case or two in the corner, covers of his bed strewn sideways and crooked, just the regular kind of mess. I set my bucket of cleaning supplies next to the door and stripped his bed. He sat on his computer chair and watched me clean.
"How are you, Harry?" I looked over my shoulder. He shrugged and stared at the floor. I nodded. After I removed the old sheets from his bed, I put his dirty clothes in his hamper and straightened his shelves. As I vacuumed the carpet, he disappeared into the hallway and reappeared with an armload of fresh sheets for his bed.
"Thanks," I said, and began to make his bed.
As I cleaned the windows, I heard his tiny voice behind me, low and scared.
"Amy?"
I finished the windows and looked at him, "Yes?"
"What did you get in trouble for?" he squeaked quietly.
"Um . . . I hit Alana . . . and I snuck out," I answered.
"Oh,"
I sat lightly on his made-up bed, looking suspiciously. He was looking at his feet, biting his lip and breathing heavily.
"Harry?" I whispered, "What happened?"
He didn't answer.
"Harry?"
He looked up at me and whispered, "I asked Alana where you were going. I saw you jumping out the window,"
So Harry asked Alana where I was . . . which tipped Alana off . . . and Alana told Dad I snuck out to go on a macking session with an unknown boy . . .
Do you see the evil here?
"I was worried about you. I thought you were running away,"
Aww!
I smiled slightly and beckoned him to me. Hesitantly, he came to me and sat on my lap. I hugged the little boy and he froze at the show of affection. Then he hugged me back slightly, resting his head on my shoulder. I pulled back and he looked at me with his huge, crystal blue eyes, "I'm sorry," he whimpered.
"It's alright," I told him, "And you know, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be okay,"
He nodded once and hopped off my lap. I stood up and the doorbell went off downstairs.
"Coming!" I called, picking up my cleaning supplies and leaving his room, with him tailing me. I opened the door to find Lindsey and several new faces. Letting them in, MI set the cleaning supplies in the closet. Harry hid behind me, away from the strangers.
"Amy, this is my cousin, Audrey Black!" Lindsey announced. She motioned toward a white wolf with dirty blonde hair, dark, sky blue eyes, and glasses.
"Nice to meet you," she said, smiling.
"You too," I said, "I could use all the help I can get,"
"When do you want us to start working?"
"Now if you don't mind?"
"Got it," Audrey turned to the people who were laughing and talking behind her, "Guys, we gotta work now,"
"Awww, but I don't wanna work yet!" one of them said. She looked like she was a mix between a blue bird and a blue bunny, with black, stringy hair and teal eyes.
"Rockelle, if you work now, I'll give you a jar of peanut butter,"
"Okay!" she squealed.
I turned to Harry and kneeled down to his height, "Harry, why don't you go upstairs to my room. If you look in the mini – fridge on my side, you'll find some fudge pops. Have as many as you want,"
"Okay," he said and hopped up the stairs.
I sent Audrey and two of her team mates, a grey wolf with electric blue eyes named Blake and a red fox with brown hair and teal eyes named Sophie, upstairs to clean the Perfect Threesome's (which is the newest name I came up with to call Zelena, Daphnee, and Irine) rooms. A penguin with black hair and yellow eyes named Pie, Rockelle, and a tiger with brown hair and brown eyes named Rianna went out to the patio where the ball would be held. Lindsey, a brown wolf with brown hair and brown eyes named Kenya, and I stayed inside and prepared the food.
"So what's your team like? Anything like the Sonic Team?" I asked, pulling a carton of eggs out of the refrigerator.
"Somewhat, from what I've heard," Kenya answered, flipping through the party menu Alana set up, "Audrey is Team Strange's leader and Blake is the co – leader and, to his pretenses, the 'sensible one' cause apparently we're all crazy. I'm the scientific nerd, because I'm the smartest in every school subject except Literacy. That's Audrey's area. We call Rockie the supportable instigator because she supports everyone, kind of, and she gets into TONS of trouble. Sophie is the jokester because she's extremely friendly and can make anyone laugh. Pie is the disguise specialist, which has gotten us out of a lot of situations. And Rianna is the body guard. Even though she looks like a fragile doll, that girl knows how to throw some mean punches."
"How come Audrey's the team leader,"
Kenya shrugged, "I don't know. We all kind of decided she was because she's got those good leader skills. Well, beside's talking. She hates talking to people she doesn't know. Too shy, I guess. But we kind of all became friends through her. She brought us all together."
My cell rang. I flipped it open and pressed it to my ear, "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Shelby,"
"What's up? You coming over?"
"Yeah. Do you need us to pick anything up on our way?"
"Yes, actually, I do," I gave them the grocery list and hung up.
"Cucumber sandwiches?" Kenya questioned, searching the menu, "Ginger Ale? Caviar? God, is she trying to starve everyone?"
"Guess so," Lindsey giggled.
"Can we change the menu?" Kenya asked in disgust, "This is all wrong. We need the big guns! The party food!" she began scribbling on the menu.
"What exactly are 'the big guns'?" I asked.
"Hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, soda, you know, party food! Anything is better than this crap!"
"I thought you were a vegetarian," Audrey interrupted, coming downstairs.
"Didn't say I was gonna eat any of it," she muttered, still scribbling on the menu.
"Hey, got anymore cleaning supplies?" Audrey asked, "Blake and Sophie got into a Windex fight,"
"Closet down the hall to your left," I answered. She smiled and followed my instructions, then headed back upstairs, screaming for them to knock it off.
Then there was a sudden voice that made my heart sink and leap at the same time.
Sonic The Hedgehog stood outside on the patio, talking to Rockelle and Rianna.
"Shit!" I hissed and ducked down behind the island. Lindsey looked through the window and ducked down with me with a gulp.
"I told them if they saw a blue hedgehog around this house, they were to say they were a decorating crew hired for Alana's party and they were to deny him access into the house," she whispered assuring to me.
"That's exactly what they're doing," Kenya said out of the corner of her mouth, "But he's not taking no for an answer," I peeked around the island. Sure enough, Rockelle and Rianna weren't letting him in the house. But he didn't seem to care.
"I have to get out of here!" I cried. There was a hiss behind me and my head whipped around. Sophie was crouched down on the steps, beckoning me to follow her. I crossed the room on my belly and then ran with her up to the very back of the house, Zelena's room, where Audrey was pretending to clean the windows while really watching Sonic.
"He's coming in!" she murmured.
"What's so big about this dude, anyway?" Blake asked in a flat voice.
"Never mind that," Sophie said, "The only way is out the window,"
"Act normal and tell Lindsey to call me when the coast is clear," I told them. I slipped my four-foot frame out of the bay window and hurdled myself toward the snow covered ground. My hands stun with icy cold as I landed. Hearing the door slide close and the rustle of voices, I crawled through the bushes to the neighborhood behind them.
"Amy!"
Parked on the side of the road was Matt. Confusion swept over me, but I didn't question him as he threw the passenger door open.
"Where to?" he asked, breathlessly.
"Anywhere!" I cried, "As long as it's not here!"
