Taint Of Innocence

Skittles

The rest of the day went by quickly enough. I went back home with Will and was bombarded with the usual questions... How was it? Did you have fun? Did you make any new friends? After dinner, Dad and Carole said they had a surprise for me in the garage as a sort of 'welcome to the family' present seeing as i had only just met Carole a while ago. 

What could it possibly be?... I already have a car 

I opened the back door which led to the garage and came face to face with the most gorgeous, little husky puppy I'd ever seen. It had radiant blue eyes and began wagging it's tail wildy at me. I hugged my parents and played with him for a while and decided to name her skittles. I thought it really suited him. After that I went up to my room and began my homework while Will continued his in his room, that way we might get somewhere. Anyways, History was done as well as Maths, French, Bio...English left. Staring at a page of the novel in front of me, I shifted my gaze across the first line.

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times….” I read it again, having not fully paid attention the previous time. Then I browsed it one more time. For some reason I just couldn’t concentrate. My English teacher, had assigned four chapters of reading from A Tale of Two Cities and I was still stuck on the first page. Pathetic, right? This wasn’t like me. I’ve always loved reading and usually don’t have trouble making sense of words. 

Sighing, I put down the dusty book on my bed and stood up. I ran downstairs with my favourite white mug, which was now empty. I entered the kitchen and saw Carole talking on the phone, a pile of paperwork sitting on the granite island in front of her. She was in her pyjamas and smiled automatically when she saw me. I returned the smile as I refilled my mug with hot chocolate. 

When I got back to my bedroom, Skittles, ran up to me and started wagging his tail. He made me chuckle slightly and I decided he needed to be taken for a walk. Knowing I wouldn’t get any reading done anytime soon, I placed my hot chocolate on my dresser and I grabbed the light blue leash, which matched his eyes perfectly, and held it up in the air where he could see it. This seemed to excite him. I changed quickly into a pair of shorts and a jumper. 

“Do you want to go for a walk?” I asked, a fake cheerfulness made evident in my voice. His tail wagged even faster causing me to laugh. I attached the blue strip of fabric to the silver hook on his collar before leaving the warm house to enter the vast darkness of the night, the sky only illuminated by stars thousands of light years away. Oh, and some street lamps too, but some rowdy teens in our area thought it would be funny to smash all of them so they don’t exactly work anymore. 

The cool night breeze felt nice as it brushed over my face. Skittles and I had walked to the park when I recognized a familiar figure running laps around the track. Looking closer, I noticed it was Chris. 

That was when Skittles thought it would be a great idea to sprint down the hill, dragging me along with him. Quite strong for a little pup though... I guessed this was my punishment for spying on him for a brief moment as I had no choice but to run after him. As we rushed down the hill, him leading a few feet ahead, I heard a click as the leash disconnected from the collar around Skittle’s neck.

“Skittles!” I called out as I ran even faster. Eventually, I made it to the bottom of the hill. But it was too late. He had already run to the track and was skipping happily toward my two classmates. Chris chose that moment to crane his neck to the side and he happened to see Skittles, his tail wagging as he waited for someone to pay attention to him. 

He scratched the dog behind his ear. He was checking the backside of the charm on his collar when I finally arrived. 

“I’m really sorry,” I apologized, completely forgetting about a greeting. "He's a little bit of a handful." 

"No problem and hey by the way." He smirked. 

"Hey Chris, Gerard." I smiled at them. 

"So... how's the kid?" Chris asked to break the awkward silence. 

"If you're referring to the custom-made doll who cries and pees all the time, pretty good." He chuckled. 

"Who do you think I was referring to genius?" 

"I don't know! Maybe Will..." 

"Will?" He asked skeptically.

"I don't know what weird nicknames you two come up with for each other." I announced raising my arms defensively.