It's time for the next chapter, yaaay!

On the next day, Maddie had finally let her friend in on the fact that she had pets, which she actually kept at school and not at home.

Becca wasn't too thrilled; she figured a cage with real litter and toys would be better for them than a dusty room, but still volunteered to help Maddie out.

She just couldn't understand why Maddie wasn't allowed to keep pets at home. She had seen her parents - they seemed to be really nice people, who would comply with her every wish.

Well, Maddie couldn't tell her about the anxiety animals felt when she came near them or that she had killed her bunny in a fit of anger, so she just told her that two of her siblings were allergic to pet hair, and her Mom didn't like rats, hamsters, or anything that was little and looked mouse-like.

That explanation was good enough for Becca, and she noticed how inexperienced Maddie seemed to be with pets due to the fact that she obviously never had any before. Maddie didn't even try to touch them, she just sat there and watched. Maybe she was scared to do something wrong? Becca decided she would help Maddie to get more comfortable with these rats over the next couple of days.

"Where is your pullover, Maddie?" Esme asked. She had walked into Maddie's room to pick up the school uniform Maddie had worn the day before in order to take it to the laundry room for washing.

Maddie was lying on her stomach on her big bed, reading a book. "Huh? Which one?" she asked and looked up at her mother.

"The one you wore yesterday, dear." Esme looked at her expectantly after draping a checkered skirt and a white blouse over her forearm.

Maddie closed her book shut, rolled over onto her back and rubbed her eyes while answering, "I didn't wear a pullover yesterday, Mom."

Esme sighed. "Your school pullover, where is it?"

"Oh. It's in my locker at school," Maddie replied and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of her bed, ready to stand up.

Esme frowned. "Why?"

"I took it off, then I put it in there - that's why," She explained to her mother.

Esme was confused. "Why did you take it off?" Wearing a pullover certainly wasn't too warm for vampires. And it was already cold outside, so everyone would wear one, Maddie shouldn't take hers off.

"I felt like it. Gosh, Mom, please stop with your questions already. It's not a crime to leave it there."

Esme sighed, then explained. "Maddie, I did not mean to offend you. I was just wondering where it was because I wanted to put it in the washer."

"You don't need to wash my uniform every day, I didn't stain it." Maddie groaned.

Esme did not react to what her daughter said; they had talked about it before and she did not want to repeat herself over and over again.

"Just make sure you bring it back home this week, dear," she said and walked over to Maddie's closet to retrieve another set of her uniform, hanging it onto the hook over the mirror for her daughter to change into the next day.

"Em! Psst, Em!" Maddie whispered, fidgeting nervously in front of her siblings' room.

The door opened a second later, revealing Emmett in all his glory. He looked at her with big eyes and raised eyebrows.

"Why are you whispering?" he asked and scratched the back of his head, wondering.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "I've got a big favour to ask of you."

"Oh, and nobody should now, right?" He nodded his head, comprehending what the whispering was about.

"Psst!" Maddie held a finger to her lips, then motioned for him to follow her. "Yes, come."

She walked up to her room, her brother in tow.

Maddie grabbed three books from her backpack and brought them over to Emmett, who had seated himself on her bed.

"Do you want me to help you studying?" he asked when his sister held them in front of him.

"No," she said and handed him the books.

He looked them over before giving her a puzzled look, not getting why she brought him up here.

"What do you want me for then?"

"I need you to buy me copies of these," she replied and tapped the pile of books in his hands with her finger.

"They aren't yours?" Emmett asked before looking down at the books again, then opened one of them and noticed the stamp on the inside of the front cover.

"No. I borrowed them from the school library. But I need the exact same ones ... as soon as possible."

"Aha, now I understand. You cannot go to the bookstore, because you wrecked your TV screen, right?" he asked while making a face. He had heard the shattering sound coming from Maddie's room ... and then Carlisle scolding her. Mere minutes later, Carlisle passed Emmett on his way to the garage, broken pieces of a once beautiful, little flat-screen TV in his hands.

Maddie nodded her head slowly.

"And why do you need new textbooks? Destroyed them once again?" He couldn't help but smirk. His sister could be so stupid at times; she was acting impulsively most of the time and somehow didn't manage to change that.

"They are destroyed, yes, but not by me. Can you help me out? Please Em, I'm screwed if anyone finds out," she begged with large, pleading eyes. He just had to help her, he knew she'd be in big trouble with their parents otherwise. She had shredded her books once, and it did not end well ... for her, of course.

Emmett patted her on the head with one of his huge hands. "Of course, Tiny, I'll help you," he said, then wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "But what happened? Who destroyed them?"

Maddie decided against telling her brother. He would think it was absolutely hilarious what the rats had done to her stuff in her locker and then he'd laugh for the rest of the day and then there would be questions and in the end ... her parents would know. No, thank you. She might tell him in a couple of months when she couldn't get in trouble for this anymore due to the lapse of time. "I'd rather not say."

"Listen Maddie, don't let yourself get treated like that. Tell me who did it and I'll take of it."

"Emmett! It was accidentally. I will tell you sometime, but not now, okay?"

He stared at her, then sighed. "All right."

Maddie took a step closer towards her brother. "Please Em, just get me these books, okay?"

"Okay, but I cannot promise you that they have 'em in stock."

"Oh, you just need to pick 'em up at Henson's. Yesterday I called and ordered them."

"Sure," Emmett replied, let his hands fall down on his knees, indicating that he was ready to leave, before standing up.

"Wait!" Maddie exclaimed, hurried over to her backpack and retrieved her wallet. Pulling a couple of bank bills out of it she held them out for Emmett to take.

"Tiny, don't be ridiculous," he said and gently pushed her hand back towards her.

"Take it, the books aren't paid for yet."

"Come on, I got it covered."

"Emmett, you're helping me a lot here, take it," she said again.

"No," he replied with finality in his voice. "Spend your allowance on something you like, Maddie."

Since he didn't look like he would take her money anytime soon, she bit her lip and nodded her head slowly. "Don't tell anyone," she whispered.

"I won't. I'll get myself a book, too. Nobody will know about these."

Emmett left right after they had talked, and was back in Maddie's room about half an hour later. He smiled one of his goofy smiles when he handed her the bag with the books she had ordered previously.

Maddie cheered and hugged him around the waist.

"You are the best brother ever!"

He smiled like a Cheshire cat. "I know. But you may keep on telling me how awesome I am."

Maddie couldn't be happier. She had brand-new books, her pets were safe in their new home and everything went smoothly. She didn't even have to spend her allowance on the books, because Emmett refused unwaveringly to take money from his baby sister.

Maddie left every day during classes to watch her pets, the inflammation was still a good enough excuse.

Becca helped her to clean the locker so it wouldn't smell like a public urinal anymore. She even helped Maddie to clean the room where the rats stayed. They had to sweep the rat droppings out of it and some of the shredded paper as well, that way the poor things didn't have to live in their own dirt.

That worked for several days, until ...

The headmistress went to all classes on Thursday after lunch, telling the students that the pest exterminator would come the next day in the evening and check everything including the lockers for animals.

The janitor obviously had found gnawed-on and stained books in one of the trash bins in the hall. Plus today a small heap of black droppings on the stairs indicated that rodents had found their way into the building.

Now that was quite ... inconvenient for Maddie. What would she do with Sam and Francis?

She couldn't leave them at school, they would be found and killed, for sure.

And why on earth hadn't they used a dustpan? They had just swept the dirt out into the hallway and the stairs, but hadn't bothered to clean that up.

Becca, who already knew about the rats, couldn't take them home with her either. She said her parents would flip.

Haha, guess what Maddie's parents would do? Ugh.

What made it even worse was the fact that not Edward but Carlisle would pick her up from school on the next day.

Okay, my dear readers ... I need your help with the next chapter.

I have three possible scenarios in my head and just cannot decide which one I wanna write down and post.

And then I realised that duh! YOU have to read the stuff I write, so why shouldn't I let you choose?

It's up to you now!

Here are the three possibilities:

Would you like to read about ...

A. ... Maddie being real clever about all this and getting off scot-free.

OR

B. ... her parents finding out about the rats.

OR

C. ... Carlisle not finding out about the rats but something else Maddie did during the last couple of days ...

Please tell me in your review which one you'd like to read about and why! Or just post the letter! The one with the most votes will be your next chapter!

So all of you, anonymous or not: Tell me what it will be!