Hearts and Diamonds

Chapter four

"Bye!" Roxy waved and she and Rusty left for their house.
"Bye..." I smiled. Diamond and I made our way home.

"Hi," I pushed the door open. My mum, dad and aunt Lily were there.
"Hi," My mum replied. "How was your walk with Diamond?"
"She was very well behaved," I turned to the dog "Sit!" Diamond sat down. I went to unclip her lead.
"Where did she learn that?" Mum asked
"I taught her that," I smiled. Quickly, I wondered upstairs and into my room. Diamond followed me, pushing the door open with her muzzle. I lay down on my bed, Diamond sleeping by my feet. I picked up my copy of White Fang. The old book, dusty and torn though it might be, stayed on my bedside table beside my lamp. It was my mother's before it were mine.
I had read it maybe a hundred times. My mum used to read it to me when I was only small.
Before I knew it, the sun was setting and it had gotten dark. I put my book away and got changed. It took a while for me to fall asleep. I was thinking about seeing Roxy.

I took longer to do my chores and eat my breakfast, so by the time I was done Roxy would have finished her shift. Then, I went to our new favourite spot up on the hills. I got up to the clearing and waited for Roxy, with Diamond by my side.
"Hi!" Roxy appeared, with Rusty beside her. I smiled and walked towards her.
"What are we learning today?" I asked Roxy.
"We taught her how to sit and come when called..." She thought for a moment "Next, I guess it's jumps. It's a good trust exercise,"
"Alright..." I nodded and Roxy went about fixing up jumps of branches and tree stumps.
"Okay, so the important thing is that you always keep Diamond's attention," Roxy went back to Rusty "I'll demonstrate..." She got Rusty's attention with a dog treat and he followed her towards the jumps. There were three all lined up, with big spaces between each one.
"Come on!" Roxy encouraged. Rusty bounced along beside her and sprung over the jumps. Once at the end, Rusty immediately sat down and waited for a treat, which Roxy gave him.
"Now, if you get Diamond to sit and wait like you did yesterday, then go and stand behind the first jump, she'll jump over it to get to you," Roxy told me and gave me a dog treat. I walked over to Diamond.
"Sit!" I smiled. Diamond did as I said. I raced over to the jump and stepped over. "Diamond!" I called.
The red and white husky bounded towards me and bounced over the jump. It was only small so not to big for her to leap over.
"Well done!" Roxy clapped.
"I'm gonna try the others!" I walked beside the jumps, holding the treat above them. Diamond sprung over the hurdles, looking up at the treat. Once she landed on the last jump, I gave her the treat before petting her on the head.
"Good girl!" I smiled. Roxy made her way towards me.
"That was great," she smiled as I clipped Diamond's lead back on.
"This is so much fun," I admitted
"Honestly, when I first came here, I wasn't looking forward to it..." She told me "I was used to City life. When my parents told me we were moving to Alaska, I thought it would be boring. I was leaving all my friends to go and live in the middle of nowhere, where I didn't know anyone... But, this is great. I met you and Diamond," Roxy smiled
"Yeah, I'm glad I met you too," I smiled back and ran a hand through my dark hair. It was like my father's, only it was cut shorter, not floppy like his.
"Did I mention that your eyes are really calming?" She asked, dazed, looking into my green eyes. She shook her head and looked a little horrified. "Did I say that out loud?" She asked. I smiled.
"I do believe you did," I smirked. She gave me a playful shove.
"Hey, you wanna go back to mine?" I asked her, smiling.
"Sure. You're parents wouldn't mind, right?" She replied
"No, it'll be fine. I'm not sure if Dad will be at home but my Mum will be practising with the dogs..." I smiled
"Practicing?" Roxy asked, confused
"Dog sled racing, of course!"
"Of course!" She laughed.
I gripped Diamond's lead and Roxy picked up her bag.
"Come on, Rusty," Roxy called and we made our way to my house.