“I didn’t know you wanted a dog,” she said quietly, trying not to let the things she was thinking show in her voice.
“You kept talking about how brilliant it would be. So – I thought maybe you were right. I begged Dad, and he took me to choose a puppy yesterday.”
“What, straight away? You didn’t have to have a home visit or anything?”
“Course not!” Megan laughed. “Coco came from a breeder, not a shelter. She’s a proper pedigree dog. She was very expensive,” she added proudly.
“Oh…” Bella frowned. Sid hadn’t been expensive. They’d paid a donation to the shelter, to help look after the other dogs, but that was all… Bella chewed her lip worriedly, and then gasped in surprise as a warm weight settled on her feet.
Sid stared up at her lovingly, and Bella giggled and tickled his tummy with her bare toes. She was being stupid. It was great that Megan had a dog, too. “Maybe we can all go to the park this afternoon!” she suggested excitedly. “Sid and Coco could make friends.”
“I’ll ask Mum,” Megan said. “Hold on.”
Bella waited patiently as she heard her off in the background, talking to her mum. A few moments later, Megan came back to the phone.
“Bella? I forgot, we can’t yet,” she said. “The breeder said we ought to give her time to adjust to being at home with us. I think it’s silly, but Mum says we’ve got to.”
“Oh! OK. Well, I’m sure she’s right.”
“Suppose so. Anyway, bring a photo of Sid to school, OK? I’ll bring one of Coco.”
“All right.” Bella put the phone back in its cradle on the kitchen windowsill, and reached down to run her hand over Sid’s soft ears. “I don’t care that you weren’t expensive,” she whispered. “I think you’re perfect.”
“Finally!” Tom put his head round the door. “I thought you were never getting off the phone. Mum says we can all go for a—” He eyed Sid carefully and said the last word in a whisper. “Walk.”
Even though Tom had whispered the words, Sid still jumped round in a complete circle, ears flapping, his helicopter tail practically lifting him off the ground.
“Well, that’s popular.” Bella giggled. “Come on then!”
Bella’s house was near a small park with a little children’s playground and a stretch of grass. There was a bigger one a bit further away, but they decided not to go too far for the first walk.
Bella, Tom and Sid were so excited that it was hard to remember about walking to heel. All three of them just wanted to run. It seemed mean to make Sid walk nicely when it was the first time he’d had a proper walk in ages. The shelter had told them that they used volunteers to take the dogs for walks, but there were never enough to take all the dogs out.
Sid could smell the park – the scent of grass and other dogs, and space to run in. But he did his best to walk next to Bella, the way he’d been taught.
“He’s being so good,” Dad said, sounding a bit surprised. “I was expecting him to be pulling your arm off, Bella.”
Bella nodded. “You’re such a good boy. Good boy, Sid.”
Sid shook his frizzy ears happily and nosed at Bella’s leg. The park was really close now. He stopped short as they came up to the gate, gazing at the biggest open space he’d ever seen.
“I think he’s too excited to move,” Mum said, laughing. “Go on in, Bella. See if he wants to go for a runaround.”
Bella nodded and handed the lead to Tom – she didn’t want to, but he’d let her take Sid all the way there, so it was his turn. She trotted off backwards, calling gently to Sid. “Here, Sid! Come on! Let’s run!”
And a white streak of excited dog raced out across the grass towards Bella, with Tom galloping at the end of his lead.
When Bella arrived at school on Monday morning, for once Megan had actually got there on time. She was sitting on one of the playground benches near the door to their classroom, with an admiring crowd gathered round her.
Bella hurried over, eager to talk about the dogs, and how much fun it was to be an owner at last. But it wasn’t easy to get a word in. Megan had a great long string of photos, in a special holder covered in paw prints. She was happily showing them off to all the girls in their class. Bella peered over. Coco did look very, very sweet. She was a little golden Cocker Spaniel, with huge dark-brown eyes and very curly ears. She was wearing a collar made of pink sparkly stones that looked a bit big for her in the photo that Bella could see.
“I’ve got three little coats for her and four different collars,” Megan was saying airily. “She’s so pretty, she looks perfect in everything. Oh, hi, Bella! Look, this is Coco!”
“She’s so cute.” Bella nodded. She could see more of the photos now – one for every different collar and outfit, and quite a few with Coco lined up next to the soft toys on Megan’s bed.
That’s what Coco’s like, Bella thought suddenly. One of Megan’s soft toys. Bella couldn’t say that, though. Not without upsetting Megan. And besides, she felt mean. But she did feel sorry for Coco – she must have been changed in and out of coats and collars all weekend. A puppy wasn’t a doll for dressing up.
“She’s got a pedigree as well,” Megan said proudly. “Lots of her relatives have won prizes – one of them’s a Supreme Grand Champion. Coco’s really called Golden Daydream of Melton.”
Bella giggled. She couldn’t help it – it was such a silly-sounding name. But Megan glared at her crossly. “Did you bring a photo of your dog?” she demanded.
“Yes,” Bella murmured, suddenly wondering if she wanted to show Megan right now, with all these girls around. Especially when they’d just been looking at super-pretty Coco. They might not think Sid was very special. In fact, they might think he was downright scruffy.
“Go on, Bella. We want to see! Is your puppy a spaniel, too?” Lara asked. She and Chloe hung around with Megan and Bella a lot, but sometimes Bella wished they didn’t. Lara could be mean, and Chloe just giggled and went along with everything that Lara said.
“Yeah, show us!” Chloe said now, giggling.
Bella looked down at her school rucksack, which was a bit chewed round the edges. She’d left it on one of the chairs in the kitchen and Sid had obviously fancied a midnight snack. Mum had said that they’d better not leave anything out in the kitchen overnight from now on. The photo was in the front pocket, but she didn’t really want to get it out. What if they laughed at Sid?
“Come on!” Lara huffed. “I bet she hasn’t even got a dog at all. She’s just making it up to copy Megan.”
“I am not!” Bella said furiously. If anything it was the other way round. She glared at Lara and Megan. “I told you about Sid last week, and how we were going to adopt him from the animal shelter. He’s a mix of lots of breeds.”
“Oh, so he doesn’t have a kennel name like Coco, then?” Megan asked.
Bella eyed her. Megan knew quite well that Sid didn’t have a fancy kennel name. She was just trying to show Bella up, to look good in front of Lara and Chloe and the others. Bella pulled the photo of Sid from her rucksack, and held it out.