Jenny sat on the bed sketching away at what had just been a blank piece of paper. There was a large country house with a porch. On the front porch was a little girl. Her face was detailed and very frightened. A vicious dog, slobber dripping from exaggerated teeth leered at her.

Jenny's hand moved with rapid fury. Her breathing grew quicker and heavier with each stroke. Soon she was almost frantically shading the drawing. She couldn't stop even if she wanted to.

"What are you doing?"

Jenny looked up. Amanda was staring at her from the doorway.

"Nothing", Jenny muttered.

"It doesn't look like nothing. Are you okay?"

Amanda walked in.

"I'm fine but I don't recall inviting you in."

"It's a free country and besides, we're practically sisters."

Jenny listened to Amanda's half joking tone.

"It is a free country but trust me…we're not sisters and we never will be. Far from it."

"Suit yourself", Amanda shrugged.

"You can leave now."

The older girl nodded and turned to walk away as she saw the younger one eyeing her artwork.

"What's this?" Amanda turned sharply and reached for the paper.

"Hey!" Jenny yelled. "Don't touch that!"

But Amanda was too fast. She snatched the paper away and ogled it.

"What is this picture about?"

"Mind your own damned business."

"Peyton told me you were an artist."

"Then Peyton needs to mind her own business, too."

"This is pretty good", Amanda observed. "Not as good as my stuff…but still good."

"Whatever", Jenny spat.

Amanda sat down.

"You know, a lot of times artists sketch a scene from their life. Peyton does it if you've ever checked out her stuff. She usually titles it too. I do that a lot. Do you?"

"Look, I don't want to talk or bond with you. This isn't an after school special. Why don't you just leave me alone?"

Amanda ignored her.

"Is that what this is about? Did something happen to you with a dog? Are you the girl in the picture?"

"You ask too many questions."

"Because I'm curious…and interested. Talk to me. Is that why you don't like Teezer?"

"Who the hell is Teezer?"

"My puppy. The one Nathan and Haley bought me for my birthday. He's so cute and sweet but you never want to play with him. You ignore him half the time."

"Teezer is a really lame ass name for your lame ass dog."

"I like it. Jenny, you can be rude and shoot off your mouth but that doesn't change the subject of who you are inside."

"You want to talk? Fine. I don't like your stupid dog."

"Why not?"

"Because it's annoying and it smells funny and it shits and pees everywhere. Want me to go on?"

Amanda nodded.

"You know, I don't think you hate Teezer…I think you hate yourself."

Jenny laughed out loud.

"What talk show did you copy that one from?"

"You know I'm right. You have major self esteem issues and apparently issues with dogs."

"Right now my only issue is with you. Get the hell out."

"Look, I'll tell you a story, okay? I have never ever told anyone this. So how about I share something with you and you tell me what's up with this picture?"

Jenny folded her arms.

"I don't know. Will it make you leave any quicker?"

"Maybe."

The younger blonde sighed.

"I'm not making any promises. Go ahead with your stupid story."

Amanda took a deep breath.

"When I was ten I was in this foster home in Pensacola. The people were okay, I guess. Anyway, the school was like a mile from the house so they bought me this bike so I could ride to school everyday. It was a nice, quiet part of town where everybody knew everybody. Anyway, there was this sweet old lady named Mrs. Johnson. Her house was the halfway point between the house where I was staying and school. She had these dogs, like four of them. They were huge, too. Most of the time she kept them locked in the backyard which was fenced in. But one morning I'm riding to school and I see the dog and then the other three. No fence, no leashes, no nothing. And they came after me. God, I was so scared! I pedaled harder and faster but they caught up. It was like one of those cartoons…I could feel the dog literally opening his mouth to chomp and missing my butt by an inch or two."

"So what happened?"

"They chased me forever and when my legs were about to give out, the bike toppled over."

"Did they bite you?"

"I was surrounded. They were gonna but this teacher at my school, Miss Lewis was driving by and she pulled over and beeped her horn and it scared them off. She gave me a ride the rest of the way."

"What was your point?"

"I had a horrible experience with a mean pack of dogs and it traumatized me but that was one incident. It won't make me scared forever. Not every dog is like that. I have a feeling something like that happened to you."

Jenny looked away.

"You can go now", she said quietly.

"You sure? You can tell me. I told you my story."

Jenny sighed and put her pencil down.

"It was no big deal. I was playing Field Hockey for my other school. I used to always meet up with my friend, Lucy and her mom would drive us to practice. One day my mom, Nikki, was too plastered from the night before so she woke up late. She drove me to Lucy's and dropped me off but she didn't wait for them to let me in. She just sort of drove off. Anyway, Lucy thought I wasn't coming so they left without me."

"You were stuck there?"

"Yeah. They kind of lived in the boonies, too, like a country road with just a couple of houses on it. Anyway, I knocked and knocked but no one was home so I was just gonna sit on the porch and wait for them. When I turned around, the neighbor's Rottweiler was on the porch barking and growling at me. I couldn't run so I kind of just pinned myself between the screen door."

"Did it bite?"

"No. It was worse. I almost wished it would just to get it over with. I was just scared. I was out there for over five hours."

Tears threatened but the tough girl in her refused to let them fall.

"You know, if that dog really wanted to bite you, it would have. It sensed your fear. It was just messing with you."

"I know that now but it was scary back then. I…I wet my pants."

"So that's why you don't like dogs?"

"I guess."

"Even Teezer who is nice and still little?"

"I don't like dogs big or little. Just keep Teezer or whatever the hell it is, away from me."

"Suit yourself then", Amanda shrugged as she stood to leave.

"Hey, you promise that you won't, you know, tell anyone any of that stuff I just told you?"

"I promise, Jenny", Amanda said, putting her hand on Jenny's shoulder. "It's okay. You can trust me. Your secret is safe."

Jenny nodded, still uneasy and watched as her "surrogate sister" left the room. It felt weird to have someone else to talk to, someone who had shared similar experiences. Jenny never let anyone in. She didn't like to talk about her past. Somehow in just a matter of minutes, Amanda had gotten her to reveal the reason behind one of her biggest fears and dislikes. It did feel weird…but it felt kind of good, too.