White Teeth Teens

32. Still Sane

I keep quiet during dinner and stay in my room for the rest of the night. The next day I skip Drawing class again and ask Liz to drive me to the Center for lunch so I can avoid the cafeteria. I decide to go to PAWS after school just to get my mind off of things. Ellie will help cheer me up, I know it.

When we get to the shelter, Ellie's kennel is empty. The sign on her door is gone.

"She's been adopted, honey," the manager says with a sad smile on her face.

My shoulders slump. "Aw. I hope to a good home," I say. She nods.

I decide to head over to the cats and play with them for a bit. I check my phone for the first time in hours while I'm petting a grey and white cat and freeze.

There's a text message from Ben. How come I didn't feel my phone vibrate? I check the time of the message and do the math. He texted me two hours ago, before school even ended. I slide my thumb over the screen of my phone and let Ben's text message upload.

Ben: Hey. Are you at school today?

Did he want to talk to me? My god, I missed my chance. I hit the heel of my palm against my forehead. "Idiot."

My phone vibrates in my hand. Please be Ben! But no, it's Logan calling me. I answer.

"When's your club thing over?" he asks.

"Soon, why?"

"I'm coming to get you. Gotta show you something." He hangs up before I can protest.

It's pouring outside when I leave the shelter. I shout goodbye to Liz and watch as she sprints to her car with a notebook covering her head. I spot our Jetta in the parking lot. Logan flashes the high beams at me and I rush to the car and slam the door closed before the rain can get us both.

"Liz could've easily driven me home," I say, annoyed.

"Yeah, but I wanted to," Logan smiles and then he frowns. "Why'd you have to miss Drawing again? I would've swapped seats with you. Tom says that if you miss another class, he's dropping your grade."

I squeeze my eyes shut. "Shit," I say.

"Ben asked about you."

My head whips around. "Really?"

"Yeah, he just wondered where you were."

"What did you say?"

"I said I didn't know where you were."

It's moments like these when I wish I had two identical sisters, not brothers. If Logan was my sister, he would've told me every detail down to how many times Ben's shoes were knotted.

Logan pokes my arm. "Rory, I promise you. In less than two minutes, you're going to forget all about this."

I give him a strange look but he doesn't say anything more and gets out of the car. I follow him through the garage door. "We're ho-me!" he singsongs.

I hear nails scratching across the floor and something black pops out from the kitchen, barreling towards me. Oh my god, it's Ellie! She gallops at me and starts circling around my legs. I scream, leaning down to hug her.

Mom, Colin, Dad, and Dean appear, all smiling wide, even Colin! Logan sits down beside me and lets Ellie sniff his face.

"Mom!" I shout. "Is she ours? Are we keeping her?!"

Mom nods and Dad wraps his arm around her. Dean holds a squeaky toy in his hand and shakes it, calling for Ellie. She spins around, smacking Logan and me with her tail and runs for the toy.