How to Smile (On Hold, Will Be Rewritten)

"She Kind of Followed Me."

“She Kind of Followed Me.”

       There was a week and a half left of summer before school started and I was eleven at the time.

I had been sitting on the steps in front of my house watching Logan roll around in the grass when the moving truck had come in loudly, stopping at the house on the corner. I was puzzled. Someone already lived in that house, I’d actually been over there before. It was Ms. Rivera, who insisted I and every other kid, call her by her first name Maria. She was uber friendly, and only in her mid-twenties. She adored all of us children, even the ones who always seemed to be up to no good.

       Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her outside for a while, so I assumed these people moving in must be family. Maybe she was sick?

At that moment, a nice silver car pulled up behind the moving truck. A tall slender woman with long shiny black hair got out the drivers seat and went to the window to speak with the person driving. Two children and a big fluffy dog came out the backseat. One of the kids looked about my age, drawing up a previously unknown spark of curiosity.

Usually I don’t care to be up in other people’s business, but this little neighborhood gets lone-ly. Being without Andrew made it a whole lot worse. I scurried back into the house and grabbed Lo’s leash, which hung on a hanger by the door, then called her. “Lo! Come here girly!” Upon seeing her leash, she leapt to her paws and scampered to me, tail wagging wildly. Her squirming made it difficult to clip her leash to her collar.

“Desiree! Where are you going?” My mom asked through the open door.

“Nowhere special. Just around the block.” I said nonchalantly.

“Oh, so you’re going to go stalk the neighbors?”

“I’m not stalking, I just want a peek.” My voice took a defensive tone.

My mom smiled slightly, “Just don’t be a pest.”

“Okay. Be back soon.”

Almost as soon as I slipped my wrist in the top of the leash she took off. Now, know this: my dog doesn’t understand the concept of walking, she likes to run, or at least jog. If you don’t keep up, chances are you will end up being dragged. Luckily, she wasn’t up for sprinting today, so I was able to maintain a pace slower than usual.

As we passed the corner, I got a better glimpse of the family moving in, but didn’t waste much time staring and kept moving on. The older sibling was pestering the mom, who seemed to be trying to shoo them away, and the younger one was absorbed in what looked like some version of a Nintendo.

After I had rounded a few more corners, I heard my name being called. “Hey, Des!” It was my friend since pre-k, Caleb. To other girls I knew, he was cute in a messy and careless way. He had brown hair that stuck out in odd places most of the time – it refused to be tamed - and pretty brown eyes that always twinkled. He was a little shorter than me, and I was only 5’3.

“Oh, hey,” I replied absently, slowing to a halt. Logan stopped too, and I heard her exhale heavily in dissatisfaction.

“What made you want to come outside? You’ve been hidden in your cave all summer.”

“There are people moving in Ms. Rivera’s place and I wanted a peak at them and secondly my room isn’t-“

“Yes it is, it’s always dark in there; no sunlight whatsoever. You’re practically a vampire.” He smiled, wiggling two of his fingers in front of his mouth making fangs. “And who are the people moving in?” I looked at my friend incredulously and rolled my eyes. “I don’t know them, smart. I just saw them.”

“Oh. Ok, well when did you get another dog?”

Caleb pointed over my shoulder, making me look in that direction. There was a large white and black long furred dog trotting towards us only a few paces away, its black tongue hanging out of its mouth. I suspected it was a Chow Chow Husky mix.  It sat itself down right in front of us and I was able to see a purple collar standing out under its mane of fur. That’s when I realized this was the dog that belonged to the new neighbors.

“Um, that’s not mine.” I sheepishly explained as the canine held out one of its paws. “Aww, it knows how to shake.” Caleb commented then crouched down holding his hand out. He then glanced at the collar around its neck.

“Oh, your name is Artemis. Now, Artemis, who do you belong to?” he asked shuffling through the tags. Logan made a growling sound, but make no move to approach the other dog. Instead, Artemis just perked her ears up and swished her feather duster of a tail.

“I know that answer. It’s the new peoples.”

“Okay let’s take her back.” We had only gone a block when Caleb asked “Did you see if there was a girl that was about our age?”

I scrunched my nose at him. “Dude, you’re disgusting.”

“I didn’t even say nothing!”

“But I know you, and you’re too fast for your own good.”

Caleb gasped, being dramatic, and looked offended. “I haven’t done anything indecent with nobody. I’m still clean.”

“Yeah, okay, let’s see how long that last.” We continued to bicker back and forth. This was our friendship, running jokes between two very different people. I was more modest and reserved while Cay was the extrovert. Often times, our playful debates ran along subjects like these. But we both knew where to draw the line.

Like I had said earlier, our little town wasn’t the greatest. Every now and then, there was a drive by, break in, or some other crazy junk like that. Naturally, everyday activities weren’t that nice either. Kids grew up fast, weather they took to the street life or kept a cleaner profile. The amount of people I could point to and say they used some sort of drug was far higher than I wished it was.

We lived on the better side of town, so it wasn’t as bad, but almost as soon as you passed the park you could feel the change as if the temperature dropped 20 degrees.

There was still a couple of blocks before we would have reached Ms. Rivera’s, but Artemis’ owner met us half way. I knew immediately that this person was her owner because when they had rounded the corner, a huge smile of relief spread across their face. As I had thought, it was the older sibling from before.

The dog  bounded ahead of us into the boys open arms and began passionately licking his face. Logan lingered close to my leg, sniffing tentatively. As we got closer to the boy, I could hear him talking. For someone who seemed my age, his voice was deeper and silkier than expected, and I could hear a hypnotic Spanish accent. I immediately liked it.

“Ari, you know better than to wander off like that. Bad girl! You could’ve – ugh!” The Chusky interrupted with another round of licking. I had a love for animals so big, that yes, moody, reserved me smiled. I actually smiled. The last time I remembered that happening had been on June 18th. The day before Andrews passing.

Before I knew it, that smile had turned into a full blown grin. I was on a roll. “She must be yours.” I interjected. The boy looked at me briefly, still lovingly petting his dog. “Yeah.”

“She kind of followed me, but she seems real sweet. My name is Desiree, and my friend here is Caleb.”

“I can introduce myself, thanks.” Caleb hissed.

This time, the boy looked at me with full attention. He had long dark hair that was cornrowed into two braids and had a caramel complexion. His eyes were two colors, one blue one brown. He smiled, revealing white teeth that had a tiny gap between the front two. He held out his hand, still sitting on the ground with the dog. “Nice to meet ya. My name is Uriah.”

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Happy New Years everyone! I managed to get this done today, and how convenient! The picture included is of Artemis. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. All reads, comments, and etc. are appreciated. -Victoria Brown, Author