Howl

by Karen Hood-Caddy

  Zo-Zo grabbed her pen. “The contest could give points for things like hanging out laundry and turning off the water when you’re brushing your teeth. The person with the most points could win something.” She grinned, exposing a mouth full of braces. “My dad would donate some prizes. He’s a sucker for green stuff.”

  Robin put her face in her hands. This was all such a waste of time.

  “It would be really cool to actually get people doing green things,” Brodie said. “Like walking to school —”

  “Your girlfriend won’t be happy about that one,” Zo-Zo said, looking from Brodie to Robin. “Brittany’s dad drives a Hummer. My dad says it must come with its own oil well.”

  Brodie’s face darkened. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  Brodie wasn’t Brittany’s boyfriend? Robin’s stomach did another dip.

  Zo-Zo let out a snort of air. “She sure acts like she is.”

  “I know. I wish she’d stop.”

  “Five more minutes,” Mr. Lynch called.

  Zo-Zo began writing down the ideas they’d come up with. “We could have points for when people use a clothesline instead of a dryer.”

  “Yeah,” said Brodie. “That’s good.”

  Zo-Zo turned to Robin. “You make a suggestion. You’re the expert.”

  Robin sat on her hands. “What good is getting a few people to hang out laundry going to do?” She shook her head. It was like splashing drops of water on a bonfire.

  Brodie’s brow furrowed. “So we should do nothing?”

  Robin looked into his earth brown eyes. “There’s no point. It’s too late — things have gone too far.”

  A muscle in Brodie’s jaw twitched. “You can’t know that. No one can.”

  Robin sighed. Once upon a time she’d believed there was hope, too. Once upon a time she’d thought that if everyone took action, the planet might survive. She didn’t believe that any more.

  Brodie sat forward. “Look, even if the odds are bad, we still have to try. We can’t just stand by and let bad things happen. I can’t, anyway.”

  Robin shrugged and said nothing.

  Brodie was talking to Zo-Zo now. “I just think we have to do everything we can.”

  Zo-Zo shrugged. “Listen, you guys, whether we can save the planet or not, we still have a project to do!”

  Robin yawned and gave a small nod. She wasn’t going to risk failing the assignment just because she thought it was a waste of time. Feeling a sneeze coming, she reached into her pocket for a tissue. When she pulled it out, some dog biscuits came too.

  Zo-Zo beamed at her. “Oh yeah, you’ve got puppies, don’t you?”

  “Puppies?” Brodie asked.

  “Didn’t you hear? Robin crawled on the ice and saved a dog. A dog that then had a bunch of puppies, right? That’s what my brother said your brother told him and —”

  Robin was going to strangle Squirm the moment she got home.

  Brodie eyed her with interest. “Wow. You rescued a dog?”

  “Can I see the puppies?” Zo-Zo pleaded. “I’ll take some pictures, and we can put them up on the Internet instead of that one of you wearing ketchup.”

  “Sure,” Robin said. Anything to get rid of the ketchup photo.

  The bell rang for recess. Robin grabbed an apple and followed Zo-Zo down the hall.

  “He likes you,” Zo-Zo said.

  Robin shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

  “His eyes get all soft when he looks at you,” Zo-Zo said.

  Robin tossed her apple into the air nervously. If he wasn’t Brittany’s boyfriend, that was okay, wasn’t it? At the end of the hall, she pushed through the big, metal doors that led to the schoolyard. Brittany and a gang of kids clogged the area just outside the door. As Robin tried to get past them, she dropped her apple.

  “Oh, the poor little klutzy-klutz,” Brittany said.

  She spread her arms wide and eased the kids back away from the apple. Then she lifted her leg and stomped down hard, squashing it. “There’s your apple, Green Queen.”

  The other kids craned forward. Some laughed and pointed at the apple pulp.

  Robin looked at Brodie. He was standing at the far rim of the gang. Their eyes met, then he looked away.

  Robin remembered the words he’d said in class just a few moments ago. “You can’t just let bad things happen and do nothing.”

  If he meant that, why was he letting a bad thing happen right now? To her?

  Chapter

  Ten

  Robin awoke to the sound of icy rain pellets ticking against the glass of her window. A few days ago, it had been warm and spring-like, but now, even though it was halfway into April, winter was back. She pulled the pillow over her head and was almost asleep again when she heard a strange scritching noise. What was that?

  She turned over and opened her eyes grumpily. Ari was rolling a thick line of masking tape down the wall. When she reached the floor, she rolled it along the rug and up the other wall. Now that she had a clear demarcation between her side of the room and Robin’s side, she made pincers with her fingers, picked up a folder and tossed it into Robin’s area. The notebook splayed open, papers flying out.

  “Hey! Don’t! That’s my book report.”

  Ari’s face was cold and resolute. “Then don’t put it on my side of the room. From now on, I don’t want you to even step on my side of the room.”

  “That’s stupid,” Robin said. It was also impossible. “You just don’t want me reading all that love stuff you write about Conner.”

  Her guess had been right on, for Ari’s hand dove under her pillow. She pulled her diary out, checked to see that the lock was still intact, then dropped it into her purse. “You’re just jealous.”

  Their father appeared in the doorway. “Okay, you two. Enough.” He looked at Ari. “Don’t forget, I’m driving you to the dentist this morning. I’m going to grab a quick shower, so get yourself some breakfast, then we’ll go.”

  Her father looked at Ari fondly, and Robin turned away. Why didn’t he ever look at her that way? Was it her fault if Ari looked so much like their mother?

  Ari glared at her dad. “Mom would have made her clean it up.” She whisked past him.

  Robin saw her father’s eyes moisten. Was he going to cry? She felt a heat rise in her chest.

  “Can’t you at least unpack your boxes?” he said.

  Any warmth Robin felt for him disappeared. She didn’t want to unpack boxes. That would mean she was agreeing to be here, and she wasn’t. She turned her face to the wall.

  Her father spoke, his voice gentle. “It will get easier.”

  She didn’t move. Yeah right.

  When Robin heard him go downstairs, she turned and stared out the window. Freezing rain. That meant the roads would be slippery. What if her father and Ari got in an accident? A sick feeling settled in her stomach. She hated it when she had thoughts like this but had no idea how to stop them.

  She pulled herself up and got dressed. It was Squirm’s turn to feed the animals, so she could take her time. She picked her book report up from the floor, smoothed the pages and went downstairs. Ignoring Ari, she was going to put the book report right into her backpack, but placed it in front of Griff instead. Her grandmother picked it up and began reading.

  Robin poured herself some cereal and ate it while Griff turned the pages. The report looked tiny in her big hands.

  Squirm came in from the barn and picked up an apple.

  “Wash your hands first,” Ari ordered.

  Squirm rolled his eyes and looked at Robin.

  Robin stared at her sister. Every time either of them came back from the barn, Ari acted like they were covered in toxic waste.

  Griff closed the report and shook her head. “Shocking the way animals used to get treated.”

  “The parts about animals getting beaten or starved, I could hardly read them,” Robin said.

  “Cruelty to animals is disgusting,” Ari said. She straightened her
back and set her chin in that way she always did when she made a declaration.

  Squirm grimaced. “Then how come you were going to let your boyfriend shoot the baby bear?”

  Robin expected her sister to retort, “He’s not my boyfriend,” as she always did, but Ari said nothing.

  A wistful look crossed Griff’s face. “Love is blind.”

  Their dad came into the kitchen. Ari gathered her things and they left.

  Griff patted the bright red folder. “Well done, my girl.”

  Robin felt herself relax. She’d been telling herself she didn’t care if she did well on the book report, but still.…

  Griff handed Robin the book report and hugged her hard. Robin pulled away quickly, stuffed the book report into her backpack and followed Squirm out the door. When they were on the bus, Robin put the pack on her lap to keep it safe and looked out the window.

  “I’m going to put one of those old tires in Mukwa’s cage after school,” Squirm said. “Bet he’d love that.”

  “Shh!” Robin hissed. He’d already blabbed to half the school about Relentless and the puppies. She didn’t want him doing the same about the bear.

  The bus pulled into the school parking lot. Before getting off, Robin checked to see if Brittany was around. When she didn’t see the bully, Robin hurried to her classroom. She felt relieved when she got to the safety of her desk.

  She glanced over to the far side of the classroom. Brodie was trying to pull his books out of his backpack, and Brittany kept trying to get him to look at something in her notebook. Robin noticed how Brodie’s eyebrows knitted with irritation at Brittany’s interruptions, but she also saw that he did nothing to stop them. What was it with this boy? She was still mad at him for not saying anything when Brittany had squashed her apple, but then a new thought poked its head into her awareness, like a tiny seedling. Maybe Brodie felt as bullied by Brittany as she did. That thought diluted her anger toward him.

  At that very moment, Brittany tossed a dark look her way.

  “All right, class, let’s come to order,” Mr. Lynch said and gave the morning announcements. When he finished, he told the class to split into their small groups. Robin made sure she sat with her back turned towards Brittany.

  Zo-Zo read out the final questions for the eco-contest, and when they had all agreed, she said, “We need to give this little eco-project of ours a name. Something cool. I know! How about ‘The Extreme Green Eco-Contest’?”

  “Not bad,” Brodie said. He was drawing pictures of animals in the margins of his notebook.

  They tossed out various ideas. Robin finally said, “How about, ‘Your Big Fat Footprint’?” She was only half serious.

  Brodie jumped on the idea. “That’s awesome!”

  Zo-Zo frowned at Brodie. “You always like her ideas better.”

  “No, I don’t!” Brodie reddened. “It’s just that the footprint thing would make a great logo. Look.” He drew a large footprint. “We could colour it green and put it on white T-shirts. If your dad was still willing to donate stuff, we could get a bunch made up and give them away as prizes.”

  “Yeah, my dad would do that. He already told me he’ll donate some prizes. He also said that if we wanted to have our questionnaire printed, to, like, make it look really professional, he’d take it to the place that does the paper.”

  Brodie gave Zo-Zo a high five. “Now you’re talking.”

  He raised his hand to give a high five to Robin as well.

  Robin lifted her hand. When hers touched Brodie’s, she felt a zing race from her fingers to her elbow.

  Zo-Zo twirled her pen. “Before we get the questionnaire printed, I think we should do it ourselves. Just to see how we score.”

  “I’m up for that,” Brodie said.

  They each pulled out a blank piece of paper, and Zo-Zo read out the questions.

  Zo-Zo finished scoring hers first. “Bummer. According to our point system, I’m going to need four whole planets to stay alive.”

  Brodie slapped down his pen. “That’s nothing, I’m going to need six!”

  Robin shrugged. I told you, she wanted to say.

  Zo-Zo peeked at Robin’s page. “How many planets do you need to stay alive?”

  “One and a half.”

  “Wow —” Brodie said, admiration filling his face.

  “It’s still pathetic,” Robin said.

  Zo-Zo grimaced. “Our contest is just going to make people feel hopeless.”

  “But it is hopeless,” Robin said.

  Mr. Lynch wandered the isles. “Three minutes left.”

  Zo-Zo looked down. “Maybe our eco-contest isn’t such a good idea after all.”

  Robin rolled her eyes. If they’d listened to her, they wouldn’t be in this mess.

  Brodie straightened in his seat. “No, it is a good idea. We’ve just run into a snag, that’s all.”

  Zo-Zo chewed her pen. “You call this a snag? It feels more like a brick wall!”

  “I know, but we’ll figure it out.”

  Robin said nothing. Although she still thought what they were doing was a waste of time, she admired Brodie for not giving up.

  The bell sounded. Later, Robin found Zo-Zo in the cafeteria at lunch. She also found Brodie. He was sitting by himself.

  Zo-Zo followed Robin’s eyes. “Maybe he’s decided to dump the Big Brat after all.” She turned her gaze to Robin. “He’ll be your boyfriend next, bet you anything.”

  Robin suppressed a smile. “No way.”

  “You’re hot.”

  Air snorted out Robin’s nose. She covered her face with her hand, embarrassed. “Me? Hot? I don’t think so.”

  “At least you don’t wear glasses. And your body’s not the size of a seven-year-old.” Zo-Zo pushed her glasses back up her nose.

  Robin was trying to figure out what to say when Zo-Zo let out a laboured breath. “My dad says that pretty girls do better in the first half of life. Smart ones do better later. I just have to wait, that’s all.”

  Brittany walked by with her tray of food. Robin and Zo-Zo watched as she went over to where Brodie was sitting, pushed away a kid who was about to sit beside him, and sat down.

  “So much for my break-up theory,” Zo-Zo said. “But I don’t get it. If she’s not his girlfriend, why does he let her act like she is?”

  “Maybe he’s scared of her. Like I am,” Robin said.

  Zo-Zo said. “I think half the school’s scared of her.”

  After lunch, the whole class went to an assembly in the auditorium. When they came back, Mr. Lynch asked everyone to hand in their book reports. Robin leaned over to get her backpack.

  She jerked from one side of her desk to the other, looked underneath her desk, then behind her desk. Twisting her whole body so she could peer under the desks nearby, she couldn’t see her backpack anywhere. Panic rose from her belly to her throat. She tried to swallow it down.

  “My pack …” She nudged Zo-Zo hard. “Did you see it?”

  Zo-Zo quickly put her own report on the teacher’s desk and helped Robin look.

  “Is there anyone who isn’t handing in their report?” Mr. Lynch asked.

  Robin cringed and lifted her hand. Mr. Lynch’s face darkened with disapproval. Robin lowered her eyes. Her face burned.

  “Ten marks off for every day it’s late,” he told her.

  “But I did it,” Robin cried. “I brought it, but someone took it, someone —”

  Mr. Lynch shook his head as if he’d heard excuses like this a thousand times.

  Robin bit the side of her thumb. She would not cry!

  An hour later, Robin and Zo-Zo were walking down the hall to gym class when Robin remembered that her backpack not only contained her book report but her gym stuff too.

  “Now I’m going to get a detention for not having my gym clothes.”

  Zo-Zo bunched her mouth into a tight ball. Then words burst out of her. “Your backpack’s got to be somewhere. Whoever took it had to stash it som
ewhere!” An idea flashed across her face. “The girls’ washroom!”

  They raced down the hall and stormed into the washroom. Sure enough, the pack was there, stuffed into the garbage bin. They pulled it out and found Robin’s rumpled gym stuff inside, but no book report.

  Robin’s eyes stung. She hated this school.

  Chapter

  Eleven

  Robin trudged up the muddy lane to the farmhouse, not caring how dirty her boots got. Inside she kicked them off, grabbed some cookies, and headed into her dad’s office. She would print the book report now and be done with it. The room was empty, but the printer was whirring away. Robin lifted one of the freshly printed pages from the tray. It was a richly coloured page from a clothing catalogue. Robin checked to see how many pages were still to print. Twenty! But there weren’t twenty pages of paper left in the paper tray. There were only three. She needed those three for her report. She hit the “stop” button.

  Ari swept into the room. “I’m not finished.” She punched “start” and the printer whirred into action.

  Robin jabbed the “stop” button. “I need this paper. I have to print my book report. For school !” She hoped the word school would add the weight she needed.

  “But I need a dress. For the dance! There’s one in this catalogue that —” Ari pushed the “start” button again.

  Robin pulled the power cord from the wall. There was no way she was going to let Ari’s need to impress Conner override her school work.

  “Plug it back in!” Ari ordered. “And get your own paper!”

  Robin pulled the other end of the power cord, and tucking it under her arm, ran from the room. She didn’t know who she hated more, Brittany or her sister.

  Stuffing the cord into her coat pocket, she pushed her feet into her muddy boots and took off for the barn. There she found Griff sitting in front of Mukwa’s cage.

  “Oh my, who peed on your cornflakes?” Griff asked, regarding her with concern. She patted the bale of hay beside her. “Come on, talk to me. What’s up?”

  Robin slumped down, shoved her chin into her hands and said nothing. Relentless whined and licked her knuckles.