Mom laughs as she comes in from the kitchen. “He only rams people he’s known a long time or really, really likes. Consider that an honor.”
Daniel does a double take at Mom’s appearance. “Um, hi, I’m Daniel.” He stands up, brushes dog hair off his shirt, and offers his hand.
“Kate.” Mom shakes his hand, clearly amused at his formality. “What’s your dog’s name? She looks pretty old too.”
“Oh, she’s not—um, it’s Chewbarka.”
“Fellow Star Wars fan!” She points at the framed cross-stitch on the wall with a picture of Princess Leia over A woman’s place is leading the resistance. “Which movie’s your favorite?”
“Um . . .” Daniel glances at me helplessly. Chewbarka sniffs the air, trembling in my arms like she’s afraid of Booper. Mom tries to scratch her head but she ducks away.
“Oh, she likes to be scratched under the chin instead of on top of her head,” Daniel says. “I mean, don’t take it personally.”
Mom grins at him. “My hide’s tougher than that, kiddo. Takes more than a snub from a dog to rile me up.”
I cringe, bracing for her to bring up the porcupine on her “hide” or to mention Rainbow Alliance. I set Chewbarka on the floor. Booper sniffs at her. She scrambles back into my arms, trying to climb me, then turns and snaps at him. I’m so surprised that I drop her. She snaps at Booper again and Booper growls, and then suddenly they lunge at each other and they’re fighting, mouths open, god-awful snarls and barking and teeth flashing and spit flying everywhere—
“Whoa!” Mom grabs Booper’s collar. “Booper, get back!”
Booper struggles to reach Chewbarka, who Daniel’s trying to pick up without getting bit. Mom wrangles Booper back to my bedroom while I try to block Chewbarka from chasing them. Daniel keeps saying, “I’m sorry, oh my gosh, I’m sorry!” He manages to scoop Chewbarka up, but then she pops out of his arms like a squeezed bar of soap and tears down the hall. I lunge and catch her leg as she’s snapping at Mom’s ankle while Mom yanks a barking Booper into my room.
“I’m so sorry,” Daniel says. “I had no idea she was fear-aggressive, I’m so sorry!”
I stand up with the dog, my heart pounding like mad. Chewbarka is struggling and barking in my arms and I’m pretty sure she’s peeing on me.
Daniel takes her. “God, I’m so sorry, I really am.” He sounds like he’s about to cry. “I just—I didn’t know, I didn’t know she’d do that—”
“Dude, it’s okay.” My whole body is shaking. I glance at Mom trying to shut the door to my room without shutting Booper’s nose in it.
Mom finally gets the door shut and says “O-kay!” She turns to me and Daniel. “So your dog’s not socialized, then.”
“She’s not really my—” Daniel starts. “I mean she’s sort of—”
“She’s not his dog,” I say. “He’s just taking care of her for a month while her owner’s out of town. But he can’t keep Chewbarka at his house because—” Wait, I shouldn’t make it sound like he’s doing something he’s not allowed to do. “Because his mom’s allergic.” I bite my lip and mentally beam the crossed-fingers emoji into the universe. “Can we keep her until—”
“Absolutely not.” Mom has her no-arguments face on. “Dogfights are no joke, even if the dogs are small. You saw how they went after each other like—”
“But it’s just for—”
“I said no. Daniel, did you check her over? Make sure she’s okay?”
Daniel crumples. He kneels and starts pushing Chewbarka’s fur around with shaking hands, trying to see if there’s any damage.
“We could keep her in my room with the door shut,” I say. “It’s only for a month—”
“Are you not hearing my words, child? I said no.”
“You owe me!” I snap. She did not just call me child in front of Daniel. “You wanted to move and you used what happened at Bailey as an excuse to without even asking me! So you owe me!” Ugh, why am I saying this in front of Daniel?
Mom’s face turns stormy. “Don’t give me that bull. You said you were glad to move!”
“That doesn’t mean—” Crap, she’s right. “You didn’t ask me about it, you told me. Like it didn’t even cross your mind that I might have an opinion!”
“I had to get you out of there. That stubborn jerk of a superintendent wasn’t willing to do what it would take to keep you safe—”
“I know how to take care of myself!” I can’t even look in Daniel’s direction, I’m so angry at her for saying no and mad at myself for losing my temper. “I don’t need you to swoop in and rescue me!”
“If any of those boys had been carrying a weapon instead of—”
“Oh my god, stop! Just stop talking!” I steal a glance at Daniel, but there’s no Daniel. I see a flash of Chewbarka’s fur as he pulls our door shut behind him. I glare at Mom. “Great, he just bailed ’cause he thinks I’m a nutcase!”
Her eye roll makes me even madder. “I’m sure he doesn’t think—”
“You don’t get it!” I dump her drink down the sink and go after Daniel, slamming the door behind me.
6
Impress the Girl
Daniel
I don’t know if Chewbarka is shaking harder or I am, but we’re both in bad shape as I carry her down the steps. All I want is to get back to the tent and let out the flood of tears trying to come up my throat.
A hand touches my shoulder as I reach the building’s door. Ash is holding her mom’s empty glass and looking as miserable as I feel. “I’m really sorry,” she says. “I didn’t
