Bailey

Chapter 3

"Bailey! Gotta get ready for school!" Momma's voice snapped Bailey out of her thoughts. Momma appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, you're already awake."

"Yeah," mumbled Bailey through her toothbrush. She spat into the sink and rinsed it off.

"Wow, look at you! You already got dressed?" asked Momma, usually she has to yell at Bailey for her to get ready. "I thought you weren't excited for school today."

"My best friends don't know yet, so with them, today'll be normal," Bailey replied. I'm gonna jinx it. She walked out of the bathroom, leading Momma down the stairs.

"Want some leftover biscuits from a couple days ago?" asked Momma, heading toward the kitchen. Bailey nodded and headed over to the playroom to sit on the couch. She turned on the TV and started to watch her favorite network.

"The supers have done it again!" said a news person on TV. He wasn't real, he was just a cartoon. Cartoon versions of Ashley, Inna, and Maya appeared and smiled. Bailey turned off the TV, annoyed about how everything has to have the supers in it. She still needed to decide whether she was going to be super or not. She got up and finished getting ready for school. When it was time for school, Bailey kissed Momma goodbye, and told her to say "I love you" to Daddy, too. She opened the door, looked back at the clock one last time, and ran out when she saw that the bus was arriving in one minute. She got half way down the driveway when she heard something. It sounded like a bark. Too high-pitched to be a normal dog bark. Is it a Pomeranian? Then, a red, sleek animal dashed across the driveway into a bush on the other side. It squealed as if in pain. Bailey couldn't just leave it. She slowly walked over to the bush and quietly slung her backpack off her shoulder.

"Hello? Are you okay, buddy?" Bailey cooed. An orange head poked out. Fox. "It's okay, little fox." The fox jumped back into the bush. Bailey took her lunch box filled with snacks out of her backpack and opened it up. Leftover hotdogs. Exactly what she needed. She opened the plastic baggy and placed the two hotdogs on the ground in front of her. She backed up, taking her backpack with her, to give the fox some space. The fox's head came out after about 30 seconds and quickly snatched up the meat and hid again. Bailey held out her hand that had one last piece of hotdog that she had broken off. The fox sniffed it and it's little whiskers twitched. Bailey turned her hand so she could pet him, but he bared his teeth and retreated.

"Okay, stay here. Tomorrow, I will have more." Bailey said. "Please stay." Hoping he understood, Bailey finished walking down her driveway. Then she realized that she had taken too long. The bus was bouncing noisily down her street. She missed the bus. She grabbed her backpack and started to return home. Momma will not be happy. She'll probably think she missed the bus on purpose so she didn't have to see her friends. When Bailey got to the door, Momma opened it for her.

"Why aren't you on the bus?" Momma asked. Then she sighed. "You didn't miss it, did you?" Bailey nodded. "Are you scared of what your classmates will think?" If Bailey told her the real reason, Momma would be so angry.

"Well, I-"

"Aw, it's okay." Momma hugged her, not letting her finish her sentence. "Let's get in the car." Bailey could not tell if her mom was mad or not. Momma put on her fancy leather jacket and opened the door. Bailey followed her mom, keeping her head down. Her backpack bounced on her back as she walked down the stairs.

"Close the door please." Momma reminded her. Bailey shut the door and hurried toward the car. Before she could close the car door and get inside, she looked at where the fox, the reason she was driving to school, hid, starving. She saw a head poking out and looked at her.

"Bailey!" Momma's voice snapped her from her thoughts. Bailey mouthed "hide" to the fox and got in the car. When she buckled up, Momma drove down the driveway. Bailey looked out the window and saw the fox looking back at her. One drop of dew slid down a leaf and splashed on the fox's nose. Bailey waved and soon, the car drove away and the fox was out of sight.