Ch 12:

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Part of Chloe wanted to chuck the peanut butter cup in her hand at her brother's head, but she was just trying to focus on taking deep breaths.

The Seaside Festival had been a lot of fun, and Chloe was partially glad she'd decided to go. She had a lot of fun and mostly put her bitterness toward Mal, Evie, and the others abandoning her behind her. She'd been somewhat uncomfortable in the big, noisy crowds, but her friends did their best to put her in the middle of the group and kept most of the crowds away from her.

They'd sat in the beachfront stadium and watched the crab Sebastian lead a band of mermaids and mermen in an amazing musical performance. That part of the day had actually be a lot of fun, because Chloe sat with Carlos, Anthony, and all their friends high in the royal box with Ben, away from the crowds of strangers.

After the show, they'd all wandered through the booths looking for souvenirs and food. Like her friends, Chloe had bought an ice cream treat from one of the booths, which was serving fried ice cream treats, all flavored by ocean plants. She'd chosen the wakame flavor, a kind of sweet seaweed. She'd been cautious, but it was surprisingly delicious. A few people also bought souvenirs. Carlos bought a T-shirt that said "I Went to the Seaside Festival and All I Got Was This T-shirt". Anthony, like he promised, bought a whale song CD for Aria.

Despite the fun afternoon with her friends, the crowds around the booths still put her on edge. But it was during the mer-games that things went pear-shaped. The events were cool and fun to watch, but they weren't in a separated box like they'd been earlier, they were in the midst of the rowdy crowd, which jumped up and cheered during several of the events. That already had her on edge, especially during the underwater boxing match. The punching and fighting reminded her a little too much of the Isle, even though it was a sport and was all in good fun.

Then, lightning struck. Thunder crashed so loud Chloe felt it in her chest. She had flinched and fallen into one of the worst panic attacks she could remember having, to the point she had no memory of how she got from the stadium to the royal limo, where they were now all sitting as the chauffeur drove them through the storm back toward Auradon Prep a few hours away.

Chloe felt exhausted, both emotionally and physically, as well as completely humiliated. She could see everyone in the limo casting worried glances her way as she nibbled on a peanut butter cup.

"I'm fine, Carlos. Stop asking me that." Chloe muttered impatiently, curled up in the corner seat of the limo, leaning her side against one of the cushioned seats.

There were several long moments of silence, probably awkward but Chloe was too tired to really care.

"I think you need to get a service dog."

Chloe looked up to see Carlos looking at her from across the limo. He'd started combing his hair to the side a few days ago, which had taken Chloe by surprise, but she'd taken it in stride. Everyone in the limo was either trying to pretend they weren't listening, or they were openly staring between the twins.

"I thought we were already discussing that. That's why we visited the Radcliff's yesterday." Chloe muttered.

"But you hadn't made an actual decision." Carlos pointed out. "I think you need to make that decision. And I think you need to choose to have a service dog. If this had happened and no one were there…if I wasn't there,…You fell into that panic attack so quickly, we didn't have time to calm you down. And then everyone was running because of the storm. You could have been trampled by the crowd if you were alone. If you had a service dog, it would be there to help you, or protect you. You wouldn't be alone."

Chloe sighed, staring down at her knees, which were pulled up as she curled up on the seat. Carlos did have a point. Her brother and friends wouldn't be able to be by her side all the time. And sure, sometimes she could get somewhere safe before the panic attack fully hit, like a classroom or bathroom or something. But during events like today, that might not be possible.

Nodding, she glanced at Anthony before meeting Carlos' eyes.

"Okay."

When they got back to Auradon Prep, Carlos, Mal, Evie, and Jay had a meeting with Fairy Godmother regarding their parents' talismans they'd picked up in their mission on the Isle that Chloe had been left out of. Chloe had wanted nothing to do with the evil talismans from the moment she found out about them, so she was more than happy to stay out of that situation. So, while they did that, Chloe went with Anthony to officially fill out an adoption application for Motley.

They stopped by the kitchen and Anthony made a couple hot chocolates for them to drink while they filled out the application on Carlos' laptop in Chloe's dorm. They took an hour to fill out the application before submitting it on the Plantation's website. It was approved in a few days, and Anita contacted Chloe telling her she could come pick Motley up from the Plantation on the weekend, which gave the Plantation time to give Motley her last vet appointment and shots.

Chloe got up early that Saturday, and she, Carlos, and Anthony climbed into a limo that Ben was lending them for the day to pick up Chloe's new dog. Chloe's stomach was sick with nerves and excitement, and she couldn't sit still until nearly an hour into the drive.

They arrived at the Plantation around 10 in the morning, and Roger and Anita greeted them at the door. Anita hugged her son tightly before surprising Chloe and Carlos with hugs as well.

"It's wonderful to see you both again." Anita smiled warmly at them. "I hear you all had an interesting time at the Seaside Festival."

"Yeah, you could say that." Carlos agreed. "It was certainly…interesting. But for the most part we had a good time." He glanced at Chloe, who nodded in agreement. It had been fun, for the most part.

They all headed up to the office in the house first, sitting at the desk much they had the first time, with Anita and Roger behind the desk, and Chloe, Carlos, and Anthony across from them.

"So, you've been approved for the purchase of a service dog," Anita started officially, looking at her laptop screen, "and your adoption application for Motley has been approved by Roger and myself. Now, we need to discuss payment."

Chloe nodded, nervously clasping her hands together on her lap.

"Now, you've been approved for one of our larger grants; $9,000. And King Ben sent us a payment from himself and the school, with a combined total of $12,000, which brings the total payment up to $21,000. That more than covers the initial payments for adoption and vet appointments. The rest will be put in an account to help pay for future costs, like other vet appointments and any potential training help you may need. For now, you don't have to worry about anything financially regarding your dog."

Chloe gaped slightly. "That's…wow. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much."

Anita smiled. "You're more than welcome. Now, are you ready to go get your dog?" she asked, her smile widening as Chloe nodded.

Anita took some of the money out of the account she'd mentioned and gave some cash to Chloe to use at a local pet store they were planning to stop at on the way back to Auradon City.

The group of five left the office together and made the short walk to the smaller pen behind the house that held the five potential service dogs. Instead of entering the outdoor pen where the dogs were playing, they entered the barn-like structure through the door on the opposite end.

Roger slid open the large door, leading everyone inside. One wall was lined with several pens, the floors covered in soft blankets, dog beds, food dishes, and toys. The other wall was lined with dog equipment, such as labeled tubs of dog food, collars, leashes, and other miscellaneous items.

Roger went to the wall and took a flimsy leash off a hook on the wall.

"Now, this is a very cheap leash." Roger told Chloe, passing the thin, green leash to her. "It's just meant as a means to get your dog home. You'll need to buy a good, sturdy leash at the store."

Chloe nodded before following Roger out to the outdoor pen. Most of the dogs stopped their playing and raced across the grass to greet the people. Motley in particular ran right up to Chloe, but surprisingly didn't jump up on her. She skidded to a stop and sat directly in front of Chloe, practically on her toes, and sat up on her haunches to lightly rest her front paws on Chloe's legs, her black-tipped tail wagging quickly.

Laughing, Chloe crouched down and scratched Motley's ears, almost falling over when the Dalmatian slobbered all over her face.

"Gross!" she giggled, wiping her face off with her sleeve.

"Yeah, we'll need to train her not to do that." Anthony chuckled, helping Chloe stand up.

Chloe clipped the leash to Motley's collar, a thrill going up her spine at the thought of having Motley by her side. She loved Dude and Beelzebub, but Dude was Carlos' dog, and Beelzebub belonged to both her and her twin since they were little. Motley would be her companion. Someone to have by her side through all life's challenges.

Motley seemed to understand at least some of what was going on. She had a bounce in her step as she stood up and followed Chloe back into the barn, where Chloe was following Roger. He lead her back over to the wall of equipment and pulled some vests out of a drawer, laying them out on the counter. They were several service dog vests in varying sizes and colors.

"You'll need to pick a service dog vest, the cost of which is also covered like we mentioned earlier. And we have Velcro patches to choose from." Roger added, grabbing several black, rectangular patches that said things like 'Service Dog', 'Service Dog In Training', 'Do Not Pet'. "You'll probably want to go with the 'In Training' patch for a while."

Chloe nodded in understanding as she looked over the vests. They all looked the same except for the colors. They had the colored fabric part with black straps. The colors were black, blue, orange, red, and purple. Chloe didn't really have to look long before picking up the red vest. What? Red was her favorite color!

Kneeling next to Motley, Anthony showed Chloe how to put the vest on Motley. They slipped it over Motley's head, so the strap went horizontal across her chest and the red part of the vest rested on her back. They then buckled the clip under Motley's belly. Lastly, Roger handed Chloe two Velcro 'Service Dog in Training' patches to stick on the sides.

Chloe stood up and Motley seemed to raise her head proudly in her new uniform, though her tail was still wagging merrily.

"Perfect fit." Anita smiled, scratching Motley behind the ears.

"Well, we ready to get going?" Anthony asked, smiling. "We've got time to stop by the local pet store before lunch. You can pick up some stuff for Motley there, it's much cheaper than the bigger pet store in Auradon City."

Chloe thanked the Radcliff's again and they all said their goodbyes before climbing in the limo again. Motley was obviously thrilled to be going on a car ride, staring intently out the window until Chloe urged her to lie down. Within five minutes, they pulled up to a small pet store in a brick building.

Chloe walked between Carlos and Anthony, with Motley walking next to her on her left side.

"So, you won't be allowed to take Motley into most stores for a while yet, she'll need some training first." Anthony explained as they entered the building. "But most pet stores let all dogs inside, obviously. And personally, I think pet stores are a good place to do some public access training, where you train your dog how to behave in public. Because it's a store where dogs are already allowed, and it has dozens of distractions for you to train your dog to ignore; other dogs, people, and food and toys that are literally designed to get a dog's attention."

Chloe nodded as she followed Anthony through the store and down the isles. While they picked up several necessities, they also did some loose leash and heel training. Apparently there was a difference; loose leash training was essentially the dog walking with the handler without pulling on the leash, while heeling was the dog walking very close to the handler and focusing on them. Motley was basically trained to heel, but in the store there were lots of new distractions so that it was difficult for Chloe to hold her attention for long. There were fun toys, dog treats, and a couple other dogs that Motley wanted to make friends with.

Carlos pushed a grocery cart while they moved through the store. They bought a large bag of dog food, food and water dishes, a sturdy, red leash, and new collar. Some grooming and cleaning supplies like a dog brush, shampoo and conditioner, and toothbrush and toothpaste. And they let Motley pick some toys, treats, and a comfy dog bed. Anthony suggested a variety of chews and toys that would keep Motley distracted since Chloe wouldn't be able to take her to classes for a while. Carlos also bought a few things for Dude and Beelzebub while they were there.

And the last thing they picked up while there were there was a dog bone-shaped dog tag for Motley's new collar that said her name and Chloe's contact information.

Once everything was paid for, they carried it out to the limo, so they could head back to Auradon Prep.

"Come on, Motley. Let's go home."

AN: Yay! Chloe finally gets to bring her service dog home! I hope everyone likes Motley so far. I want to give her a loveable, fun personality while still giving her that professional service dog behavior. Finding that balance has been a slight challenge.

The Seaside Festival they mentioned attending in the beginning of the chapter was from the beginning of Rise of the Isle of the Lost.

Review and let me know what you all think!