My First Dance (& Other Tales from Highschool)

In Which I Take The Class Pet Home

Winter break was up and coming, and all of us were excited. Sydney's family was going to Florida for their winter vacation, but I'd be able to see the rest of my friends through the holidays. We already made lots of plans! We were going to exchange gifts the day after Christmas, go sled-riding, make sugar cookies.. It was the first year I really had a close friend group, so it was the first year I'd get to experience all the fun that came with the holidays. I didn't think anything could make it better, but then my history teacher gave me a proposal.

In his classroom, we had a class pet. He was a guinea pig and his name was Chuckles. All of us adored Chuckles, especially me. We were allowed to get him out sometimes, and he was the most friendly guinea pig I'd ever met. Most guinea pigs were shy, but Chuckles wasn't. He loved getting head scratches and gentle petting. He especially loved cuddling up to your chest and making soft squeaking sounds.

I'm sure you can see where this is going. Mr. Mackle had a dilemma. This winter break, he and his wife were going to be taking a trip to this really nice retreat. Unfortunately, that meant Chuckles didn't have anywhere to go over the holidays. Since I was a responsible student and I'd helped him out occasionally after class, he decided to ask me if I'd petsit. It seemed like the universe had the theme of "animals" for me this winter.

Of course I said yes! I mean, I had to ask my mom first, but she was okay with it. After all, it would only be for a couple of weeks, and she liked animals as much as I did. Whenever I was with my friends or over at my dad's house, she'd be there to take care of Chuckles. It was a perfect arrangement.

Three days later was the last day of school before break. My mom parked her car in the parking lot early so she'd make sure to be there on time for class to let out. I, on the other hand, made my way down to Mr. Mackle's room as soon as the schoolbell rang. He was bent over Chuckles's cage, petting him on the head. "Hey Mr. Mackle," I greeted, coming over to the table to join him, "Is there anything I need to do before I bring Chuckles to my mom's car?"

"Ah, Carrie!" He greeted in time, spinning around. He looked a little flustered, as though embarrassed that I'd caught him cooing over the class pet, "I was waiting for you. Everything you'll need for Chuckles is right here." He pat a box that had bedding, feed, and other pet care stuff in it. "Will you need any help getting him down there?"

I nodded a bit, picking up the box with a gentle grunt. "Yeah, I don't think I could carry all this by myself," I chuckled. He chuckled too, and he picked up the cage that Chuckles was in. There was a lot of chuckling going on, pun intended. Together, we headed out of his classroom and down to the back of the school where the parking lot was. My mom was standing outside of her car, the trunk already propped open. She smiled and waved as she saw us approach.

"Carrie! Mr. Mackle! Just the people I was waiting for," She laughed with a gentle wink, "How was your day, sweetheart?" She brought me in for a side hug, to which I snuggled against her side.

"It was good, mom," I hummed, untangling from her arms and putting the box into her trunk, "This is Chuckles. He's the little guy we'll be taking care of." Mr. Mackle set the cage down in the trunk. My mom bent down to the cage, petting Chuckles's head with her finger with a smile.

"We'll take good care of him," She promised to Mr. Mackle, not taking her eyes off of him, "He's in good hands."

Mr. Mackle offered a friendly smile in response and agreed, "I can tell! You've raised a great girl, Ms. Carter." My mom gushed a little and pinched my cheek, causing me to lightly bat her hand away.

"Oh, I can't take credit for everything. Carrie's grown into a fine woman on her own." I was burning up with embarrassment. Mr. Mackle just seemed amused with the whole thing and patted me on the head.

"Yes, she has," He agreed, "Well then, I'll be off. Take good care of Chuckles for me."

"We will!" My mom called back, closing the trunk with a soft thud. She nudged me softly and hummed, "Hope I didn't embarrass you too much, kiddo. You know how proud I am of you."

I gently nudged her in response, moving to get into the passenger seat. "Maybe to an embarrassing level, but I still love you," I huffed, causing her to laugh. We drove away from the school and all the way back to our house. Jinx seemed to recognize the strange new smell because she came down to greet us in the living room.

"This is Chuckles," I introduced, holding the cage tightly, "You're going to be nice to him and not bother him in his cage, okay?" Jinx sniffed the bottom of the cage and let out a meow of understanding. At least, I think it was understanding. She was the kind of pet who always knew what her owners meant.

Jinx came with me as I went to fasten the cage down to a table in the computer room. She stood up on her haunches, paws on the table as she watched him mosey around his enclosure. Her previous owners had her declawed (as much as I don't support it) too, so I didn't need to worry about her hurting Chuckles. She never bothered other animals, anyways. She was a nice kitty. The most she would do is rub up against them. Still, I wanted to make sure she didn't accidentally knock the cage down or something, so the attachments were going on.

When that was all set up, I took Chuckles out of his cage and carried him upstairs to my room. Jinx wanted to come too, but I left her downstairs so Chuckles would feel more comfortable. Prey animals could get really stressed out around predators, even if the predator wasn't doing anything wrong. I didn't want to cause him any fear while he was staying at our house.

I watched Chuckles sniff around my room whilst I updated my calendar to my winter schedule. Since my mom would be taking over Chuckles duty while I was hanging out with my friends or going over to my dad's place, she wanted to make sure she knew what times she'd be unavailable for work. Since their schedule was pretty flexible, it wouldn't be too much trouble. She was all working from home for the holidays anyway. I don't know if I mentioned it before or not, but she has an office job for a small magazine! Yeah, she's a pretty cool mom.

Speaking of which, she called me down for dinner after an hour or so. I put my stuff on my table so Jinx wouldn't step on it and carried Chuckles back to his cage. He seemed content to be back in a familiar place, not at all upset that he couldn't keep roaming around my room. Jinx didn't seem occupied with him anymore at all. Instead, she was begging at the table for me or my mom to give her a piece of chicken. She knew she had to wait until after we finished, but as always, her hunger got the better of her, so here she was begging. Her kitty-cat eyes have puppy-dog eyes beat by far.

After dinner, I fed Chuckles and Jinx their dinner and did the dishes. By that point, it was already pretty late. Unlike most breaks, I wanted to stay on a normal bedtime schedule. I didn't want to change Chuckles's schedule, and my friends and I had plans pretty early in the day anyway. Before I headed upstairs with Jinx at my ankles, I took one last smile at Chuckles, who was sleeping in his cage. He looked so comfortable, all snuggled up in his hutch with bedding poofing up around his body. He even had some stuck to his forehead. He was going to have as much fun as me this winter.