Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Chill Brandon

How Daisy saved my tail

"After school, I was doing my homework when my cell rang.

It was Nikki, so I answered it.

'Hello?'

'Hi, Brandon,' she said. 'Remember you wanted to talk to me earlier, but Mackenzie happened?'

'Yeah...'

'Well she can't follow us home, right?'

'Right,' I said, though I knew for a fact that Mackenzie was then crouching under my bedroom window with a pair of binoculars.

'So, whatever you wanted to tell me, you can tell me now!'

I groaned.

'Brandon, are you okay?'

'Sure.'

'Really? You've been acting kind of weird today.'

'Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, wanna hang out at Fuzzy Friends?' I asked, since it seemed like something the old Brandon would say.

'That sounds great.'

________________________

Soon Nikki, Daisy (her new puppy), and I were at Fuzzy Friends.

As Daisy ran around in circles, playing with the other dogs and barking excitedly, I talked with Nikki about her little sister, Chloe's germophobic uncle, Mackenzie, the band, summer plans, pretty much everything except--

'So, um, what did you wanna talk about earlier? We keep getting sidetracked.'

'Oh, never mind,' I said, shrugging.

Yes, I had decided to be a big chicken.

Nikki looked disappointed, but then she shrugged too.

'Alright.'

'Yeah...'

'Mmhmm...'

It was pretty awkward. Quietly, she stared at me, as if telepathically saying, 'Tell me your secrets, Brandon! Tell me everything!'

And I was staring back like, 'What? Never! But can we still be friends?'

Oh. And I was also blushing like a fool.

Daisy chose this moment to save me by knocking over a bag of dry dog food, which shouldn't have been open.

'Bad Daisy!' Nikki scolded. But since she was laughing, Daisy assumed she had done something great and started to roll around in the dog food.

'Sit! Sit, Daisy!' I ordered. I tried to keep my voice and expression stern, which was kind of hard to do with Nikki doubled up on the floor!

But Daisy sat, so I guess I was stern enough.

Nikki, following her dog's example, also calmed down and looked remorseful.

'Sorry about this.' She gestured to the mess on the floor. 'I can pay for the dog food.'

'No, no, it's fine,' I said. 'You can help me clean up though. And we'll need to find another place for this kibble...'

In the resulting chaos, the awkwardness had dissipated into the air.

But then Betty, being Betty, invited Nikki to come over for dinner, and Nikki, to my deep chagrin, accepted.

I mean, she doesn't come to my house that much, but when she does--

It's not Nikki though. It's Betty and Phil. 

I love them, but sometimes they're really, really embarrassing and I wish they were--less embarrassing. More like Nikki's parents, I guess.

Speaking of Nikki's parents, her dad has this awesome exterminator van. It's awesome because it has this giant plastic roach on top. 

They call it Max, which is ironic because Max Crumbly calls it freaky.

(See, there are two Max's, and--and it's funny...)

Man, what I wouldn't give for a ride to school in that freaky cool van!

I'm getting off topic though.

I was writing about dinner, Nikki Maxwell, and Betty and Phil--basically how I survived the dangerous combination of the three.

But I'll have to do that tomorrow because it's 10:14 PM.

According to Nikki, writing about stuff is healthy, but if it keeps me from getting any sleep, it's obviously not!"