by Holly Webb
As much as she loved the training sessions, it was their morning walks that were Bella’s favourite. She and Dad had to get up extra early to take Sid out before breakfast, but she didn’t mind. It was lovely – there weren’t many people around, and they could use Sid’s special extending lead, so he could run all across the park. Dad had warned Bella that the walks might not be so much fun in winter when it was cold and dark, but she couldn’t imagine not wanting to take Sid out. He loved walks so much and that made her happy.
“Still not bored with getting up early?” Dad asked Bella on Thursday, as she let out a massive yawn on the way to the park.
“No!” Bella shook her head firmly. “I’m just sleepy. I love the walks.”
“How’s Megan getting on with her new dog?” Dad asked.
Bella nibbled her bottom lip. She didn’t want to tell Dad that she’d hardly spoken to Megan since Monday. They had been best friends since they’d started school, and even though Megan annoyed her sometimes, Bella missed her. And she didn’t really feel like talking about it. “She’s fine.”
“Ooooh, watch out, Bella. Another dog coming,” her dad said suddenly. “Want me to take the lead?”
Bella shook her head. “No, I’m sure he’ll be good. Heel, Sid.” She pressed the button on the extending lead that made it go short again and patted her leg, calling encouragingly to Sid. He pattered over to her at once, tail wagging. He’d seen the other dog and he wanted to sniff at him, but Bella was calling.
“Oh, good boy!” Bella rubbed his ears and drew him over to the side of the path so that the lady with the dog – a huge Weimaraner – could get past. But instead, the lady stopped and smiled.
“Have you just got your dog? I haven’t seen you out walking him before.”
“Yes, we adopted him from Redlands, the shelter,” Dad explained.
“He’s very sweet! And so well behaved. It’s lovely to see you training him to walk properly with you,” she added to Bella. “You’re obviously working really hard with him. Have a nice morning!”
And she walked on, leaving Dad and Bella staring at each other proudly. Then they both started telling Sid how fabulous he was. “You little star, Sid! Did you hear what she said?”
Sid stared up at them, wondering what all the fuss was about. All he’d done was stand still…
Chapter Five
Bella had chatted to Sarah a few more times since the new girl had stuck up for her on Monday with Megan and the others. But to be honest, she wasn’t really looking forward to bringing her home for tea. Mum had been fine with it – she’d said it was good to have lots of different friends, and that it must have been hard for Sarah to start a new school in the middle of the year.
Bella knew that was all true, but it didn’t make Sarah any easier to talk to. She was quite shy, Bella decided. She seemed to spend most of her break and lunchtimes reading on one of the benches in the playground. Bella had stopped to talk to her whenever she’d gone past, but Sarah just wasn’t all that chatty.
So the walk home from school was a bit awkward. Mum did her best, asking Sarah about why they’d moved (because her mum had got a new job) and whether she liked her new flat (yes, but she wished they had a garden). But it was hard to keep the conversation going, and Bella couldn’t help wishing that she was back being friends with Megan again, and that it was Megan who was coming home to tea instead.
As they walked into the front garden, the sound of barking greeted them. “I can hear Sid,” Mum said, laughing. “He can always tell we’re coming, Sarah. He gets all excited – it’s lovely. Although I have to say, he’s far more excited when it’s Bella or Tom coming than he is for me!”
Sarah nodded and she suddenly looked a lot less shy. “I can hear him, too,” she said, laughing. “That squeaky noise! And a sort of scrabbling?”
Bella giggled. “He’s trying to dig under the front door,” she explained. “He always does it, even though you’d think by now he’d have worked out he never gets anywhere. Hey, Sid!”
Mum slid the key in the lock, and before they knew it Sid was waltzing delightedly about on the front doorstep, dashing from Bella to Mum and back again. He sniffed at Bella and licked her fingers lovingly. Then he shot over to Mum to make sure she knew he loved her, too. He was so excited that it took him a few seconds to notice Sarah. But then he spotted her and went into his funny meeting-new-people pose.
“Oh, look, he did this when Gran came over!” Bella smiled at Sarah. “He goes all shy – watch him.”
Sid put his head on one side and looked up quietly at Sarah, peering at her through his big white eyebrows and scraping one paw on the tiled doorstep.
“It’s like he wants to ask you to dance, but he’s not quite brave enough,” Mum said, laughing. “Do you like dogs, Sarah?”
“I love them!” Sarah’s eyes were sparkling, and she looked hopefully at Bella. “Is it OK if I stroke him? Will he mind?”
“Oh no, he’s really friendly,” Bella said proudly. “Look, Sid, this is Sarah. He loves being tickled under the chin,” she added.
Sarah crouched down and petted Sid, scratching him under the chin so his eyes closed blissfully, rubbing his ears, and then running her hand all down his spine so that he wriggled in delight.
“Wow, he loves that!” Bella said. She frowned at Sarah. “You’re so good with him – but I thought you didn’t have a dog?”
“I don’t.” Sarah looked up at her sadly. “But back at my old house we lived really close to my grandad, and he’s got a gorgeous dog. Alfie. He’s a collie cross. I used to go on walks with him and Grandad all the time.”
“You must miss him,” Bella said, thinking how much she would miss Sid, and she’d only had him a week. “Oh, and your grandad, too, of course.”
“Yeah.” Sarah nodded sadly. “Grandad emails me photos, but it’s not the same.”
“Come on in, girls, you’re still standing on the doorstep! What about something to drink?”
Somehow that made Bella and Sarah shy with each other again – Mum fussing around, asking Sarah if she’d like apple juice or squash, and maybe a biscuit? It showed up how much they didn’t know each other. Once they both had drinks, Bella took Sarah and Sid upstairs to her room. Otherwise she had a feeling they’d sit at either end of the sofa and not know what to say.
Sarah sat on the beanbag with Sid in front of her, eyeing her biscuit.
“Don’t get it anywhere near his nose,” Bella warned her. “I’m training him, but he’s not an angel. He loves biscuits.” She picked up a little tin from her desk. “Do you want to give him one of these? They’re chews – they’re supposed to be good for his teeth.” She handed one of the little bone-shaped chews to Sarah and watched her feeding it to Sid.
Sid gobbled it down, and then flopped on to the floor, resting his nose on Sarah’s feet, just in case she felt like giving him another treat.
“He really likes you,” whispered Bella.
“I like him, too.” Sarah glanced up at her shyly. “Thanks for letting me come over. I-I was a bit surprised when you asked me. I mean, because you’re friends with Megan and Lara and Chloe.”
Bella shrugged. “Not at the moment I’m not. Megan’s hardly spoken to me all week, and Lara was so horrible about Sid, I don’t think I ever want to talk to her again.”
Sarah shuddered. “I don’t really like her. She … she just knows the absolute meanest thing to say. The best way to make people miserable.”
Bella stared at her. “What did she say to you?” She’d never noticed Lara picking on Sarah.
Sarah shrugged, hunching up her shoulders. “Stuff about how I’d never have any friends here,” she muttered. “And Megan asked why didn’t I go back to my old school.”
“Megan did?” Bella murmured, feeling shocked.
“Mmm. That’s why I was so surprised when you asked me round. I thought you were like them.” Sarah looked at her sideways and added, “Sorry.”
“I don’t li
ke Lara and Chloe much, either. Megan isn’t usually like that, though…” Bella nibbled her thumbnail. “Well, she is sometimes,” she admitted. “But she’s fun as well. And most of the time she’s nice.” She sighed. “Anyway, why did you stick up for me, if you thought I was like Lara?” she asked suddenly.
Sarah grinned at her. “I wasn’t sticking up for you. I was sticking up for Sid. And I thought that anybody who was so excited about getting a dog had to have some good points.”
“Thanks!” Bella rolled her eyes, and Sarah let out a snort of laughter. This made Bella laugh, too, and then they couldn’t stop.
Sid looked up at them both, blinking sleepily, and wondering why they were making so much noise. He sighed and snuggled back on to Sarah’s feet.
“Are you really entering Sid into a dog show?” Sarah asked a few minutes later, when they’d just about stopped giggling.
Bella made a face. “I don’t know. I only said it because I was so angry with Megan. She was being such a show-off, saying Coco was better than Sid. I didn’t even think about what I was saying.” She sighed. “She’s never going to let me forget about it, you know. She was talking at lunchtime today about the dog show Coco’s going to. About how her dad’s entered Coco in the puppy class. And then she looked at me and smiled…”
“But you could enter Sid into a dog show, too, you know.” Sarah said, looking at her excitedly. “Grandad took Alfie to one once, and it had fun classes, like catch the sausage. Alfie won that. He got a rosette and everything.”
“Really?” Bella looked at her hopefully. “Maybe there’s a show like that we could take Sid to. I bet he’d be excellent at catching sausages.”
Sid’s ears twitched, then he looked up eagerly and bounced to his feet. Sausage was a word he knew.
“See?” Bella started to laugh again, and Sid lay back down with a sigh. He didn’t think they had any sausages at all.
Chapter Six
The girls went downstairs to borrow Bella’s mum’s computer to find out if there was a dog show nearby that they could go to.
“Oh, look, click on that one! That’s in Lace Hill, not far away,” Sarah pointed out excitedly.
“Yes!” Bella opened up the page, and the two girls peered at it eagerly.
“That’s in a couple of weeks,” Bella said thoughtfully. “I bet it’s the same one Megan’s entering Coco in. She said it was two weeks on Saturday.”
“What does ‘Open Show’ mean?” Sarah asked, frowning.
“It means that any dog can enter – they don’t have to have won a show somewhere else already,” a voice came from behind them.
Bella and Sarah jumped – they hadn’t heard Bella’s dad come in, even though Sid was happily sniffing at him. They’d been too busy looking at the website.
“Oh… How did you know that, Dad?” asked Bella.
“I’ve been to that show before – ages ago, Bella, before you were born. Mum and I went with your gran. They’re right, it’s a great day out! Some people take it quite seriously, though.”
“But there are fun classes, too,” Bella said. “It says so. Sarah was telling me about a show she’d been to where the dogs had to catch sausages. It sounded great!”
Her dad laughed and pointed to the computer. “Click on the novelty classes. It should tell you what they are.”
Bella clicked where her dad had pointed. The screen flashed up with another page.
“‘Waggiest tail’ – oh, Sid could win that!” Bella giggled as she read down the list of classes. She turned to look at Sid, who was leaning against Dad’s legs and gazing up at him adoringly. Dad had taken to giving him a treat when he came in from work, and Sid wasn’t going to let him forget. His fluffy, feathery tail was sweeping back and forth across the carpet.
Sarah laughed. “He has got a lovely big tail. You couldn’t miss it! What else is there?”
“‘Golden Oldie’ – oh, that’s for older dogs, of course. ‘Prettiest Female’, ‘Most Handsome Dog’…” Bella looked thoughtfully at Sid. “Well. Maybe not. But he could definitely enter this one – listen! ‘Dog that the judges would most like to take home’!”
“It says no dogs under six months can compete at the show,” Sarah said. “But Sid’s older than that, isn’t he?”
“I think so.” Bella looked round at Dad questioningly. “They weren’t exactly sure at the shelter.”
“He’s definitely more than six months, Bella, don’t worry,” said Dad. “Is this the show that you said Megan was entering?” he asked. “Isn’t her dog very little? I guess she might just have turned six months old by the time of the show – it’s not for another couple of weeks, after all.”
Bella nodded. “So, Dad… Would you take me and Sid to the show? Pleeeaase?”
Dad grinned. “I think we should all go. Maybe you could come with us, Sarah. If your mum would let you.”
Sarah looked delighted. “I’ll ask her. So, which classes do you think you’ll enter, Bella?”
Bella frowned at the computer. “I like the idea of ‘Best Trick’. Except Sid hasn’t got one… But we’ve got two weeks to learn. I could teach him a trick. I bet I could!”
“Oh, I watched that class at the dog show I went to with Grandad and Alfie!” said Sarah.
“What sort of tricks did the dogs do?” Bella asked anxiously. She wasn’t sure she could teach Sid anything really complicated.
“A couple of dogs did a trick where their owners put a treat down right in front of them. Then they had to wait to eat it until their owners gave a signal.”
Bella looked at Sid doubtfully. That sounded quite hard. Sid loved his treats. She couldn’t imagine him leaving one uneaten.
“The dog that won stood on her hind legs and walked across the field,” Sarah said, frowning as she tried to remember. “Oh, and then at the end, her owner kind of leaned back and stretched his leg out, and she ran up his leg so he could cuddle her! But she was tiny – she was a King Charles spaniel. I think it would be hard for Sid to do that bit. I bet he could walk on his hind legs, though. You’d just need to hold a treat up for him.”
Bella looked hopefully at Sarah. “Do you want to come into the garden and see if we can get him to stand up?”
Dad laughed. “If this involves dog treats, it’s going to be his new favourite game!”
Because it had been Sarah’s idea to teach Sid how to walk on his hind legs, it seemed only fair to let her share in his training. Besides, even though Bella hadn’t been looking forward to Sarah coming to her house, they’d ended up having a really good time. Sarah might be quiet, and not at all like Megan, but she was funny, and Bella liked her a lot.
Over the next two weeks they met up a couple of times to go to the park and practise Sid’s special trick. Sarah’s mum came with them. She said that Sid was the funniest thing she had ever seen. She thought he was bound to win. Sarah came to tea the next Friday as well, and they had another practice session in the garden.
Bella was working at home with Sid, too, although she had made her mum and dad and Tom promise not to watch them in the garden – she wanted Sid’s trick to be a surprise. So of course when she got to school, she couldn’t wait to update Sarah on how they were doing – which meant that they spent a lot of time chatting to each other in the corner of the playground, and laughing at whatever silly thing had happened the night before.
That morning, they were giggling together all over again. As they hurried into the cloakroom to hang their coats up, Bella heard an upset sort of yelp behind her, and she swung round in surprise. Sarah was in the doorway, holding her arm, and Megan was next to her. Her old friend looked guilty.
“What did you do, Megan?” Bella demanded. “Sarah, are you OK?”
“Yeah, I just banged my arm…”
“You mean she banged it!” Bella snapped. “Did Megan shove you into the door, Sarah? You did, didn’t you?” she said, turning angrily to Megan. “What was that for?”
“It was an accident.�
�� Megan shrugged, but she didn’t look very convincing.
“Yeah, right! Come on, Sarah. We’ll ask Mr Peters for an ice pack. Don’t let Megan get to you.” Bella looked at Megan, skulking miserably by the door, and suddenly realized what was going on. “You’re jealous,” she gasped, with surprise in her voice. It was true, she was sure.
“What, of you?” Megan was trying to sound sneery, but she only managed to sound as though she was about to cry.
“You’re jealous because I’m friends with someone else,” said Bella. “Why don’t you go and hang around with Lara and Chloe.” She shook her head crossly, but as she walked with Sarah down the corridor to their classroom, she glanced back. Megan was actually crying.
Bella felt bad. She had been friends with Megan for years. Even though Megan was being totally horrible, she still couldn’t help worrying about her.
Chapter Seven
Bella knew that she ought to talk to Megan, but Megan had said such mean things about Sid and about Sarah, too. She had started it all so Bella thought it should be up to her to make friends again. She didn’t sit on the same table as Megan in class, so it wasn’t as if they had to talk to each other. Bella just had to keep out of her way. And as it turned out, she managed to get as far as the day of the dog show without saying anything to Megan at all. It definitely was the Lace Hill Show that Megan and Coco were going to – Bella had heard her telling Lara more about it.
Bella and Dad had decided that they would just go for three classes – ‘Waggiest Tail’, ‘Dog the Judges Would Most Like to Take Home’, and ‘Best Trick’.