Bingo
I was finally home after the long hours I spent in the library, reading books while waiting for dad to finish checking papers. My eyes widened in curiosity as I looked out the foggy window and saw yellow lights from the house.
"Dad, why are the lights on?"
"Oh, your mom's home early. Her flight got cancelled because of the storm. Let's go?" My dad stepped out and waited for me. I followed him outside and sloshed my way through the heavy downpour of the rain.
I quickly took my wet socks off by the time I reached the living room.
"Hey, Kim!" I looked up and saw my mom climbing down the stairs.
"Hi, ma."
"Look what I've got for you!" She sang. "Come here, boy!" Boy? I didn't like the sound of that. There was a thumping sound from the roof and soon, the gigantic brown dog climbed down the stairs, panting, water dripping from its fur. I was drowned of blood.
"Daddy!" I screamed. The rain was too loud that he couldn't hear me. I stumbled my way to the kitchen and climbed on top of the counter, breaking some of the glass plates as I did.
"Mom! Get that thing away from me!"
"C'mon down, Kim! He won't bite you!"
"He will, ma! He will!" I cried. The dog barked one loud bark and I felt my blood climb up to my head. From the living room, the dog was able to reach me on the counter in only one jump.
"Shit!" I dove and landed on the dining table, but the dog dove too. I jumped on the floor and crawled backwards. Suddenly, my head hit something hard. It was the wall—it was the dead end.
"Mother!"
"Honey, it wont bite you!"
"Wow, what a mom!" Amidst the tension I'm in, I still managed to be sarcastic. I focused back on the dog; its brown fur was already sweeping against my nose. It opened its mouth and my heart started beating like crazy.
It started to lick my mouth.
"Pweh! Eww! Mom! Get…this thing…away from…me!"
"Told you he's sweet!"
"Mom!"
"Alright, alright!" Mom reached for me and helped me up. I wiped the dog's saliva in disgust. Honestly, it didn't stink. It tasted like mint, actually, and that was freaky.
"Hey, honey. I was just…get that dog away from Kim!" My dad roared.
"Relax! She's fine." There was something furry beneath my hand, and it elevated it up to my chest. I looked at whatever it was beneath my hand. It was the dog's head—it willingly placed itself there.
"Aww! It likes you!"
"That dog's been wailing last night, hon. Turns out I was right, it likes Kim."
"Try patting it, honey." My mom suggested eagerly. I was in great doubt, but the dog looked up at me with seemingly sincere black eyes. It looked like it wanted me to trust him. I hesitantly patted him once. His tail wagged rapidly. I patted him again and I knelt down beside it to pat it in more places.
"I already gave him a name. Bingo. Is that fine with you, Kim?"
"Yeah, Bingo's good." I told her absentmindedly. I was too preoccupied with tickling Bingo.
Bingo suddenly walked behind me and pushed me towards the stairs.
"Mom, I think it wants to go up."
"O, sure. Here." My mom tossed me a hot paper bag. "Feed him those. He was soaking wet outside when I found him. He must be hungry."
"Wait, what about Whiskers?"
"She's in our room. Don't worry." I turned away from them and raced Bingo up the stairs to my room.
"Just wait a second, Bingo. I'll tidy up for a while." I told the dog that I somehow thought was really human. I faced the mirror and started changing. By the time I finished, I could see Bingo's reflection in the mirror—he was on my bed, his paws were covering part of his eyes, but part of it was still there, peeping.
"Why are you covering your eyes, boy?" I laughed. I took his paws away from his eyes and placed them on the bed. I opened my closet after, and wore the night gown I found.
"I'll just fix my bag up, okay?" I placed my bag beside him and rummaged through my things. There was a neon orange paper that stood out from the dull schoolbooks and I unfolded it.
Kim,
It took me a lot of courage to tell you this, so here I go. I can't help it anymore. Each time I look at you, I feel so vulnerable. I dream about you, even when I'm not asleep. You're the reason why I jump out of bed early in the morning and the reason why I can't wait to go to school more than anything else. Well, it's already pretty obvious where this letter is going. I like you. I like you too much that I fear that now, it's more than that. I think I love you, Kim, and believe me, the way I see you is more than how the other boys do. Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. Now that I've said it all, I hope that nothing changes with the way you look at me. I just really needed to say it.
Derek,
A smile suddenly played on the edges of my lips. "Derek," I sighed. He was the blonde boy I used to like before Jared became my classmate. I just liked him, unlike Jared whom I really loved. But now that he said all this, it made me like him more, too much that I fear that now, it's more than that, as he puts it. I read the letter for the second and third time, the smile was still on my face.
Bingo barked out of nowhere.
"Oh, sorry, boy. Here." I opened the paper bag and threw the five chicken legs at his direction. I read the letter for the fourth time, then turned back to Bingo as I finished.
I was dumbstruck. Bingo finished all five chicken legs in merely a minute.
"Wow, you have some appetite, boy." I smoothened the brown fur on his head and scanned my room for any scratch paper I could use to pick the bones up. There was none on my bed, on my desk, on my vanity desk, but there was an intermediate sheet coated with dried mud below my closet. I reached for it and saw that it was Jared's math homework I stealthily smuggled and kissed last school year.
"This will do." I placed it on my hand and reached for the first bone, but Bingo's raised paw stopped me. I tried doing it on the second bone, but he stopped me too.
"C'mon, boy! You don't want to live in a dirty room!" I reached for the third bone, but Bingo stopped me again, and took Jared's homework out of my hand and into his mouth. He walked to my desk, placed it there, took Derek's love letter instead and dropped it on my hand.
"I need scratch paper, Bingo. This isn't scratch." Bingo walked away and rummaged through my board game tray. He took one card in his mouth and walked to my desk to get Jared's homework too.
"What is it?" Bingo withdrew the card and the homework out of his mouth and placed it by my knees. I took the card that was placed beside Jared's name and read it. "Second chance".
"No, Bingo. No more second chances for him." Bingo fell on the floor and whimpered.
"Kim, can I come in?" My mom asked from outside.
"Sure, ma."
"Just came to check on you and Bingo." She said as she entered. "Ohh, what's this?" Her face was in a smug as she took the orange paper in her hands and read it.
"Love letter." I said sheepishly. "It's nothing, I don't like the guy, anyway." I lied.
"Oh. And what's this?" She took Jared's homework.
"Jared's homework. He's a guy I used to like. I stole it from his locker and replaced it with a correctly answered one 'cuz it's all wrong." Was it me, or did I just hear Bingo snicker?
"I can see that." My mom laughed. "Why don't you like him anymore?"
"Long story. In a nutshell, he's a jerk." My blood boiled as I remembered everything. Bingo whimpered again, but nothing seems to be wrong with him.
"Is he a Wilson?"
"Yes."
"Oh. I'm good friends with his mom. She says her son's been out in the night just to see my daughter and he gets all these illnesses doing that. She's worried sick about Jared. She even wants me to tell you that he really does like you, more than himself with what he's doing."
"He told me that too, but I don't reckon anything he did for me to get him those stuff. He's just faking it, ma."
"I don't know, Kim. The way Susan says it, it's like he's sincere. Give the boy a chance."
"Mom, if only you knew the hell I've gone through for him, you'll understand why I don't want to give him another chance."
"Well, if you've suffered hell for him and he likes you, then you should give him a chance. That's how it works, right?"
"You know what, ma? Never mind. It's a pretty long story and I don't want to talk about it. I'm calling it a day."
"Night, Kim."
"Night, ma." I pecked my mom's cheek, turned the lights off and tucked myself to sleep. Even if my quilt was very thick, my fingertips and toes were still cold as ice. Bingo leaped from the floor and gracefully landed and slept on my bed. He cuddled with me, and cuddling him back felt warm, felt safe.