by Daphne Maple
“I can’t believe we almost missed it because of a silly fight,” Kim said, shaking her head slightly.
“Yeah, it all got so out of hand so fast,” Bri said, looking slightly sheepish.
“But your text canceling the sleepover was the wake-up call we needed,” Taylor said. “That’s when we realized it was time to get our priorities straight.”
“I feel like it’s all my fault that it happened, though,” I began.
But Taylor held up a hand. “I think we all have stuff to apologize for. But that can wait because I have to take some photos with the star!” She held up her camera.
“I want to be in it,” Bri said, putting an arm around me and posing.
“Me too,” Kim said, leaning in on my other side.
“How about a picture of all of you?” my mom asked. I hadn’t even seen her come backstage but she was beaming and leaned over to give me a kiss. “You were glorious,” she said.
“Thanks,” I said, thrilled at the way she smiled at me. After these past few weeks where all she could do was frown at my mistakes, it felt great to see her so proud.
Taylor set up the shot with the red velvet curtains as a backdrop and then handed her camera to my mom. The four of us wrapped our arms around each other.
“Say cheese,” my mom said.
“I think we should say ‘dance superstar,’” Taylor said.
“That’s too long,” Bri said, and I laughed. Bri could argue about anything. “How about just ‘star’?”
“Or ‘diva’?” Taylor asked, grinning. “Because that’s what Sasha is.”
But I knew the words that mattered most right now. They were way too long but not even Bri disagreed.
And so the four of us hugged each other, smiled big, and shouted, “Roxbury Park Dog Club forever!”
14
By the time we got back to my house for our sleepover we were starving. And of course my mom and I had not prepared the special dinner I’d hoped for.
“I’m sorry we always just have pizza at my sleepovers,” I said after we’d placed our usual order with the Roxbury Park House of Pizza and headed up to my room. I was using my desk to stretch out my hamstrings, which were still a bit tight from dancing.
“Don’t be silly,” Bri said. She had dropped her overnight bag in the corner and was now on the floor snuggling with the dogs. Her mom had brought Lily over as soon as we’d gotten back so that the dogs could have their sleepover too. “I love pizza and I never get to eat it at home. Don’t get me wrong—I love my mom’s cooking. But sometimes a girl just wants some pepperoni in her life.”
“I agree,” Kim said. She was on the floor next to Bri rubbing Mr. S’s belly. “My parents make great food but I need a pizza break sometimes too.”
“Yeah, and since Jasmine stopped eating dairy last month, we never have pizza at my house either,” Taylor added. “I’ve been looking forward to the pizza at your house for weeks. That was why I had to make sure we all became friends again, so I wouldn’t miss out on my pizza night.”
I laughed as Kim playfully swatted Taylor, who was lying on the bed, with a pillow. That got the dogs excited and Bri began playing tug-of-war with Mr. S while Kim and Taylor got out some chew toys for Lily.
As I stretched out my other leg I thought about what my friends had said. I’d just assumed that the pizza at my house was lame, but it turned out to be something my friends loved about coming over to my house. I’d been so sure the food was better at their houses that I’d almost messed up a tradition that they all looked forward to. It was another example of me not speaking up. And it was a mistake I didn’t want to make again.
I perched on my desk and cleared my throat. “You guys, I need to apologize for getting so angry about the club,” I said. “I do think we need to divide the work up differently, but I should have just talked to you guys about it as soon as I started feeling overwhelmed, instead of just staying quiet and getting more and more upset.”
“Well, you did try to talk to me,” Kim said with a sigh. “And I was so worried about my own stuff that I didn’t really listen. So I’m sorry too.”
“I’m sorry I got mad at you guys instead of telling you I wanted more responsibility in the club,” Bri said, then turned to face Kim. “And that I yelled at you about Violet.”
“I think I was taking over a lot,” Kim said. Lily had come to sit on her lap and she rubbed the dog’s furry belly gently. “But I shouldn’t, because you are great with the dogs—all of you are.”
“I need to watch the things I say, though,” Bri said, the corners of her mouth turning down a bit. “And how I say them. I thought I was getting better but apparently not.”
“No, you’re a lot better than you used to be,” Taylor said immediately, reaching over and patting Bri’s shoulder. “Remember when you kept calling me new girl and dropped a smoothie on me on purpose? That was way worse.”
Bri covered her head with her hands but she was laughing. “I still can’t believe I was so mean,” she said, her voice muffled. “How did you ever forgive me?”
“I’m just fabulously generous like that,” Taylor said airily.
“So I guess I can feel good that I didn’t pelt anyone with a fruit drink when I got angry this time,” Bri said.
“We all appreciated that,” Kim said, laughing. Lily licked her cheek, which made her laugh even more.
“Seriously though, you guys,” Bri said as she patted Mr. S, “I’m sorry about my temper and not thinking before I speak. I really am working on it and I’ll keep trying.”
“We know,” Taylor said. She was back on the bed, her braids spilling across my pillow. “And it’s not like any one of us is perfect. Well, except me.”
Bri snickered.
Taylor sighed theatrically. “Okay, I know I have things to be sorry about too. I should have listened to you more, Sasha, and worried less about trying to make everyone get along since it clearly didn’t work at all.”
Kim snickered at that. “It really didn’t,” she said.
“Okay, we’re all sorry,” I said. “Does that mean we all forgive each other?”
“Yes,” Bri, Taylor, and Kim chorused.
“Okay,” I said, smiling. “Me too. So no more apologizing.”
“Wait, there’s one more thing I’m sorry about,” Bri said, heading over to her bag. She unzipped it, rummaged about a bit, and then pulled out a plastic container. When I saw what was inside I burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry I forgot your rainbow sprinkles,” Bri said, presenting me with a brand-new box of them. “I will never host a sleepover without them again.”
That night my milk shake looked like a liquid rainbow with all the sprinkles I put in. And it tasted delicious: creamy, crunchy, and sweet. The four of us had settled in the den on the green corduroy sofa, stuffed with pizza and finishing up our shakes. The dogs were drowsy after their dinner and were piled together in the corner next to the big bookcase. The TV was on the opposite wall, tucked into a cabinet because my mom claimed she didn’t like it “looking” at her. But the den was the one casual room in our house, so the sofa was worn, the table a bit scuffed, and the rug even had a slight stain if you looked under the table. It was a good place to relax, especially with my friends and the dogs.
“Lily and Mr. S are so cute,” Taylor said as we cooed over them. “I want to take a picture but I’m too full to get up.”
“Tell me about it,” Bri said, resting a hand on her belly. Her empty shake glass was next to Taylor’s on the coffee table.
“So did you guys finish your social studies reports yet?” Taylor asked, looking at me and Kim.
Kim nodded but I shook my head. “I just haven’t been able to focus,” I said, my chest tightening as I remembered the one bad thing still hanging over me. “But it’s due on Wednesday and I don’t think I can finish it in time.”
Kim rubbed her hands together. “Of course you can, because I’m going to share all of Anna’s wisdom with y
ou,” she said. “And Anna is the best tutor ever, so we’re both going to ace it.”
“That would be great,” I said, relieved at the thought of getting some help. I took the last sip of my shake, then set my glass down next to the others. “My problem is that I can’t figure out how to organize it. I think if I figured that out I could finally just write it.”
“The secret to organizing a report or an essay is making an outline,” Kim said, snuggling deeper into the puffy sofa cushions as she spoke. “Anna got me to make one and it made the whole thing a million times easier. I was going to tell you about it last weekend but then I got that terrible cold and had to stay home.”
“So you really were sick when you canceled?” I asked. I hadn’t even considered that Kim might have actually been under the weather.
Kim nodded. “Yeah, don’t you remember how I was coughing at school?”
I shook my head ruefully. “I was too worried about my problems to notice anyone else’s,” I said.
Taylor held up a finger. “No more apologizing,” she reminded me.
I laughed.
“I’ll show you how to do the outline tomorrow morning,” Kim promised me. “And then you’ll have all day to work on the report. You’ll get it done.”
With her help I probably would—and that was an incredible relief. I sank back on the sofa with a contented sigh.
“And now we just need to restructure our Dog Club,” Kim went on. “So that everybody has something to do and no one has too much to do.”
So that’s exactly what we did.
Monday afternoon the sun shone bright and an invigorating breeze carried the scent of crisp fall leaves. The trees were a brilliant red and gold as the four of us left school together, the way it was supposed to be.
“So Taylor’s getting Jinx and Gus, Kim’s getting Popsicle, Humphrey, and Mr. S, Sasha’s picking up Missy and Hattie, and I’ll get Waffles and Lily,” Bri said, after consulting the calendar on her phone. On Saturday we’d decided that Bri would be in charge of the club calendar, taking note of special pickups and doing a daily reminder of who was getting which dogs. We’d all agreed it was a necessary job and that Bri was the best one of us to do it.
“Any emails from potential clients?” Kim asked Taylor. We’d also decided that from now on we’d tell people interested in the club to email instead of call. That way we wouldn’t waste so much time on the phone. Taylor was in charge of the emails and getting back to people about their spot on the wait list.
Taylor was checking her phone as well and she nodded. “Yeah, two,” she said, then tucked her phone away. “I’ll write them back later.” That was one of the good things about emails—we could choose a good time to write back instead of letting club business interfere with actual club meetings. We’d all agreed that from now on, time with the dogs came first.
“And I’ll call the Golds and the Santagelos later this week,” I said, scuffing through a small pile of leaves on the sidewalk. We’d decided it was time to bring in the new club members, and calling new clients was still my job. It would be a lot more manageable since I wasn’t doing all the other stuff on top of it. And I’d realized that while lately I’d been on the phone too much, when it wasn’t overwhelming, it was something I really liked to do.
“It will be fun to expand the club,” Kim said happily. “And I think Violet’s ready. She can still get a bit snarly but she’s settled in a lot.”
“And I think all the dogs will be calmer now that we’re getting along,” Taylor added.
“Definitely,” I agreed. Us getting along was better for everyone, that was for sure.
We had reached the corner where we would part ways to pick up our dogs.
“See you guys there,” Bri said, waving as we headed off.
Twenty minutes later we were standing in front of the shelter, the dogs happily greeting each other with a lot of sniffing, yips, and jumping. We’d agreed it was important that we all go in together, to apologize for the mess of the last two weeks and promise it would never happen again. But the second we walked in, Violet, Gracie, and Boxer rushed over and there was a frenzy of happy barking and doggy hijinks as we let the club dogs off their leashes and everyone, human and dog, greeted each other.
Bri was hugging Violet, Kim was cuddling Big Al and Missy, Taylor was picking up the ball Waffles had rushed to drop at her feet, and I was on the floor with Hattie, Daisy, and Gus all trying to get on my lap when I heard someone laughing.
I looked up and saw Alice in her Roxbury Park Dog Club shirt, which matched the ones Taylor, Bri, Kim, and I were wearing. She took in the shirts, the dogs, and the four of us, and she nodded. “I see we’re back,” she said.
“Yes,” I said, struggling to stand. “And we’re sorry, Alice, and you too, Caley and Tim.”
“We let things get out of hand and it won’t ever happen again,” Kim added seriously.
Tim gave us a thumbs-up and Caley grinned.
Alice looked at all of us warmly. “Glad to hear it,” she said. “And I’m glad the Roxbury Park Dog Club is back how it belongs. Because these dogs have been waiting all day to play with you.”
And who were we to keep them waiting?
Tim got out the basket for a game of doggy basketball, Bri began arguing with him about teams, Taylor headed over for the orange ball, and Kim coaxed Big Al to come over and give the game a try while I just took a moment to take it all in.
Because nothing in the world could make me happier than this: the dogs, my friends, and the Roxbury Park Dog Club!
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About the Author
DAPHNE MAPLE grew up in a small town in upstate New York in a big house that was always full of dogs. She and her friends would spend long afternoons playing with their dogs in the backyard, and that, along with her work at an animal sanctuary, gave her the idea for Roxbury Park Dog Club. She lives and writes in Washington, DC, with her dogs, Sweetie Pie and Trixie, and on sunny afternoons you can usually find them playing Frisbee at the local dog park.
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Books by Daphne Maple
Mission Impawsible
When the Going Gets Ruff
Top Dog
All Paws on Deck
A New Leash on Life
A Bone to Pick
Credits
Cover art © 2017 by Annabelle Metayer
Cover design by Jenna Stempel
Copyright
ROXBURY PARK DOG CLUB #6: A BONE TO PICK. Text by Daphne Maple, copyright © 2017 by HarperCollins Publishers. Illustrations © 2017 by Annabelle Metayer. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016930380
ISBN 978-0-06-237102-7
EPub Edition © November 2016 ISBN 9780062371041
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