Girl's Best Friend

Chapter Four: Sleepover

After I finish the chores, I ask my mom about the sleepover. Julia overhears and starts complaining. "But it's her turn to milk tomorrow and if she's gone, I'll have to milk instead!"
"Stead, stead!" Joey squeals.
"Dad can milk tomorrow." Mom says.
"Does that mean I get to go?" I ask eagerly.
Mom nods. I cheer and race upstairs to pack.
Since I've never been to a sleepover before, I don't know what to pack. I finally grab a clean shirt for tomorrow (I can wear the same pants.), my toothbrush, a comb, and a unopened bag of chips. Then I grab a collie dog figurine from my bookshelf and put it in a bag as a thank you gift for Diana.
Suddenly, I remember Jake. I've decided to call the dog Jake, because Diana loved the name so much. I run downstairs, go out the door, grab the bag of meatloaf, and race to the barn.
Jake is back. He is sleeping again. Dogs seem to sleep all the time! I put about half of the meatloaf on the board. Then I hide the other half under some straw for later.
I leave the barn and grab my bag. Mom has promised to drive me. I get in the passenger seat and we're off. I use the GPS on my mom's phone to locate Diana's house. It's on the outskirts of town, about twenty minutes away.
When I get there, I hug my mom, grab my bag, and walk toward the door. I knock and wait a while. A woman opens the door. She has wavy black hair and rosy cheeks. She looks a lot like her daughter. She's beautiful.
"Hello, I'm Mrs. Schuler. You must be Hannah." she says in a strong British accent. She opens the door wider and I follow her inside.
The house is large. In front of me is a staircase, a living room is on the right and a dining room on the left. I can just see a glimpse of a kitchen that both living room and dining room lead to. The house is like a big loop.
"Diana's upstairs." Mrs. Schuler tells me. I go up the winding staircase to the second floor. The staircase continues to a third floor, and just as I am wondering whether or not to go up to the third floor, Diana pops her head out of a door on the second floor. "Hannah! Hi!"
It's wierd how much I think of her as a friend even though I barely knew her this morning.
Everything goes smoothly. Diana and I chat for a bit. I learn that she just recently moved here from Britain. That explains the accent. We then go down to supper. It's salmon with cheese melted over it. I've never had salmon before; it's good.
Afterwards, we go back upstairs. Diana has a T.V. in her room, although she calls it the "telly". She has rented a movie. She starts it and watches it with rapt attention. It's one of those boy-girl movies that I find really boring. But I try to pay attention just to be polite.
Diana pauses the movie about halfway through in the middle of a kiss. "I'm gonna make some popcorn." she says. I nod and look over her bookshelf while I wait.
I find a book called The Australian Shepherd. I flip through it. Apparently Australian Shepherds are very nimble; there are agility courses and races and you can win money for it. As I get to "Chapter two: Training your Shepherd to race" Diana comes back in with a big bowl of popcorn. I open my potato chip bag and forget about the book.
After the movie, Diana says, "Let's change." She takes some fuzzy pajamas with sleeping bunnies on them out of her drawer. I feel a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. I forgot pajamas!
I tell Diana. She just smiles. "I do that all the time. Here, you can borrow some."
She hands me a pair with pink and purple flowers all over them. I decide not to complain.

The next morning, we have French toast for breakfast and Mrs. Schuler tells me to pack up my clothes so that I can leave. I don't want to leave, but I obey.
Just before I leave, I remember the collie figurine. I give it to Diana and she hugs me. Then she gives me the Australian Shepherd book.
"I saw you looking through it." she says. "I hope I can come see your dog soon!"