Thank You, Charlie

Chapter 1

I walked briskly down the paved path, deep in thought as Charlie tugged on the leash in front of me, pulling me behind him. Last night really made me mad and the more I thought about it, the more mad I became. The gentle breeze and warm sunshine did little to ease my temper.

Who did my dad think he was, a month after the divorce, traipsing into our lives to introduce his new girlfriend? He cared about her more than us obviously. They were dating before him and my mom divorced and that's especially what made me mad. I didn't want anything to do with him. Yesterday afternoon however, he called me up and told me he missed me. He wanted to have dinner so we could catch up with each other. Of course, he said Ella could come along, but I told him it would make her more confused about the whole situation in her four year old mind. She didn't need him messing up her life anymore. So, I hopped in my car and drove to the restaurant by myself. When I got there, he was already there and his girlfriend was with him. I was livid because he didn't tell me she'd be coming.

"Hi," she said, smiling with a full row of brilliant white teeth. "I'm Rose."

I smiled a very fake smile. "Abigail."

"Beautiful name," she said, still smiling even with my rude introduction.

"Thanks," I said and smiled a sickly sweet smile, "My mom came up with it." Maybe it was too far to bring up my mom, but she needed to get a glimpse at what her and my father had done to me. Done to us. As I sat there making small talk with Rose and my father, I couldn't help but compare her to my mother. My mom had straight medium length blonde hair while Rose had long wavy brown hair. She looked like a model really, while my mom looked like a regular mother.

I did not like Rose, even with her extreme niceness she was trying to pull on me. She was the woman my dad left my mom, Ella, and me for and I would never forgive her for it. Or him for that matter.

It was the worst dinner ever and as I left, I vowed to myself that I would never fall in love. It caused too much pain for everyone involved.

There was a tug on the leash and I blinked slowly as Charlie started running away from me. I looked and saw that the clasp had snapped.

"Charlie!" I yelled. He stopped for a moment and looked back, but he ran off again. Beagles loved to run and I'd had issues with it before, but he'd never gotten off of his leash on a walk. I panicked and started running after him, but he was only five years old so he was still very agile. He ran way faster than me.

I couldn't see him anymore since he ran around a corner, so I tried my best to go in the direction he had gone. Being I was very out of shape, I had to stop to catch my breath.

"Did you see a dog run over here?" I asked a nearby woman, still out of breath.

She smiled. "Yes, he was sniffing the bushes right there but he ran off a few seconds later. He went that way." She pointed in the direction of the lake.

"Okay, thanks!" I said, and ran in the direction she had pointed.

As I got closer, I saw a guy around my age holding onto Charlie's collar. I quickly approached and caught my breath.

"Thank you," I said to the guy, as I tied the leash around Charlie's collar, "I was worried he'd get run over."

The guy stared at me with a straight face and I realized I knew him. It was Noah Black, the well known trouble maker at our school. One could say he was a "bad boy," although I personally wouldn't call him that. He was just a rude kid that didn't have respect for anyone.

"He peed on me," Noah said darkly and I could tell he was extremely irritated. It was terrible, but I couldn't hold back my laugh. With all the stories I'd heard about him, I'm sure he deserved it.

"Sorry," I said, trying to hold back a new round of giggles. "Bad dog, Charlie." I said, looking down at him.

Noah glared at me. "I don't appreciate having dog pee on my leg when I'm supposed to be meeting my girlfriend," he paused, looking at his phone, "In five minutes." His girlfriend was Tasha Upton and knowing her, she'd probably freak out about the dog pee. She'd probably come after me for letting my dog do that to her precious boyfriend.

I finally managed to straighten my face out. "I'm really sorry, what can I do to help?"

He still just glared. "Not really anything, since I only have five minutes."

"Okay," I smiled, "I'll be off then!" I wanted to be gone by the time Tasha got there. There wasn't any way I wanted to be on her radar. I'd heard many stories about her. She once gave a girl a swirly at school just because she'd been spotted flirting with Noah. I know, it sounds make believe, but Tasha was a vile one.

As I turned to leave, Noah spoke again. "Wait, you go to my school, don't you?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I'm in the grade younger than you."

"How do you know what grade I'm in?" He asked, furrowing his brows. Great, now he probably thought I was a creep.

I shrugged. "I don't know, maybe because everybody knows who you are." Not to mention, my best friend had a huge crush on him and I constantly heard about him.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Abigail Johnson," I said, hoping he wasn't going to tell Tasha that Abigail Johnson's dog peed on him.

He shrugged. "I've never heard of you. But it's not hard to tell why."

I frowned. "What do you mean by that? I'm too ugly to be talked about?"

He smirked. "No, you just don't seem to have anything remarkable about you. You seem a little bland, if I must be honest."

That was the rudest thing anyone had ever said to me. I knew I didn't exactly have a model look with my straight, light brown hair and curveless body, but he had no right to tell me I seemed bland.

"Wow," I said, not knowing what else to say. Then I turned around and stalked away, pulling Charlie with me.

When I got home, I called Lola. "Your crush is terrible," I told her angrily, "He's a terrible person."

"You talked to him?" She asked excitedly, "Tell me what happened."

I relayed my story to her and at the end, she didn't know what to say.

"I guess that means I can't have a crush on him anymore," she said sadly, "I can't believe he's that much of a jerk."

"Lola, we've always known he's a jerk," I told her, "Remember last year when he beat up poor James?"

"Yeah," she said, still a little bit sad that her crush was meaner than she thought.

"You could find a much better guy," I said, "Who would ever want to date that rude imbecile besides Tasha?"

"Me," she said softly, then laughed, "But I won't pursue him any longer."

I laughed. "Lola you never even pursued him. You just watched from a distance."