The Doggy Divas: Roxy’s Rules

Home > Other > The Doggy Divas: Roxy’s Rules > Page 7
The Doggy Divas: Roxy’s Rules Page 7

by Lauren Brown


  “Get out of my way. If you take my appointment, I’ll never talk to you again!”

  “M-o-v-e it!”

  A mob of classmates had surrounded Roxy and were fighting for her attention. Roxy had only seen this sort of commotion on Entertainment Tonight when crazy fans and paparazzi tried to get a celebrity to notice them at the Academy Awards.

  What in the world is going on here? Roxy stood up and looked around for Kim and Georgia.

  “Excuse me. I need an appointment with the Doggy Divas more than you do!”

  “Uh, no. I think I need one a little bit more than you.”

  Roxy couldn’t believe it. Everyone was crowding her because of the Doggy Divas? She was pulling out her appointment book when help arrived in the nick of time.

  “Everyone get out of the way! Make three straight lines, or you won’t get an appointment!” Georgia commanded as she pushed to the front of the crowd. She was dragging Kim by the hand through the sea of kids and dogs to get to Roxy. “Either you wait in line, or we don’t help you. It’s as easy as that, people!”

  Georgia and Kim dragged over an old picnic table from a few feet away so the girls could sit side by side on the bench and each have her own potential clients line up in front of her.

  “How did this happen?” Roxy asked as she sat down next to Georgia. “I don’t know if we’re prepared for this kind of demand!”

  Georgia flashed a big smile as she removed Dixie from her carrier and sat the dog on her lap. “We hit on a million-dollar idea here! Everyone wants the best for their dogs,” she explained. “It’ll be fine. I promise.”

  Kim got up and placed Jazzy on Roxy’s lap. “I think it’ll be a nice touch if we each hold a dog,” Kim said as she gave each dog a treat and sat back down with Izzy. “People won’t trust us unless they see how much we love dogs.”

  The line wrapped all the way around to the front of the lunch area by where Liz and her crew sat. A knot formed in Roxy’s stomach because she knew there was no way Liz would ignore a crowd around Roxy’s table—especially since she wasn’t invited. But Roxy just kept scheduling dog-walking appointments while Georgia took orders for sweaters. Kim answered questions about care and training while using Izzy as a model. Roxy had absolutely no idea how they were going to manage walking all these dogs, but there was no turning back now.

  “Um, excuse me. I’d like to buy two sweaters, please,” a deep voice whispered in Roxy’s ear.

  “Oh, you need to talk to Georgia…” Roxy choked on her words as she turned to see Matt standing over her. Roxy gulped. She hoped he wasn’t mad that she hadn’t called him back the night before. She noticed her hands were so sweaty that she could barely hold her pen and wondered why she was so nervous.

  “Hey,” she said shyly. “I’m sorta busy—can you believe this line? And you shouldn’t be here. What if Liz sees and gets you kicked off the team?”

  Matt sat on the bench next to her. Georgia shot her a “What’s going on here?” look while an oblivious Kim happily taught a group of girls the proper way to bathe a dog. She had Izzy flat on her back and was poking and prodding the poor dog’s most sensitive areas.

  “I’ll handle Liz. I’m really proud of you. This is amazing,” he said. “But I really do want to buy two sweaters—one for my aunt’s dog and one for Banjo. That one will have to be macho, of course!”

  Roxy was too distracted to hear what he was saying. Their appointment calendar was almost filled for the entire month! She couldn’t believe it.

  “What? Your aunt is a dog?” Roxy said absentmindedly.

  Matt laughed. “No, my aunt has a dog,” he said. “A cute little terrier! She gets cold in the winter.”

  “You need to talk to Georgia, but I’ll make sure that she gives you VIP treatment,” Roxy said. “I, um…I’m sorry I didn’t get to call you last night. Things were busy. You should go now. Liz will ruin your athletic future. She doesn’t joke about her threats.”

  Roxy’s heart was doing flip-flops. She was about to flash him a sincere smile when Liz sneaked up behind them and linked her arm through Matt’s. Little Roxie’s head popped out of the sparkly pink carrier that was slung over Liz’s shoulder. Matt looked helpless and confused. Roxy wanted to wipe that smug smile right off Liz’s face.

  “I’m sorry, Matt, but did you mistake this Roxy for my dog?” Liz asked slyly as she gripped Matt’s arm tighter. “Weren’t you just telling me how much cuter my little Roxie was than any other Roxy we know?”

  Roxy actually felt bad for Matt. He looked defeated. She knew how hard it was to stand up to Liz, so she didn’t expect him to defend her until he was really sure Liz wasn’t going to do something bad—like tell his coach lies about how he’d cheated on last year’s math placement exam.

  “Um, I need a sweater,” Matt said sheepishly. “That’s why I’m here.”

  “You need a sweater from these losers?” Liz said loudly. The crowd went silent. Georgia and Kim looked up at Roxy, their eyes wide with fear. “It’s the Three Musketeers—Miss Boyfriend Stealer, Miss Loud Mouth, and my favorite, Miss Doggie Doo. Great team. Especially since Roxy didn’t even know their names until she became desperado for new friends!”

  “Look, Liz—you’re not welcome on this side of the lunch tables.” Georgia stood up on her chair. “Just go back to taping your Fashion Bible back together and leave us alone.”

  “Nobody tells me where I am and am not welcome at this school,” Liz responded furiously.

  She turned her attention back to Roxy. “How do you like sitting here? Was it worth double-crossing me?”

  Matt let go of Liz’s grip and took a step back. In a blink, he somehow managed to disappear into the crowd.

  “Well, you know what?” Liz asked sweetly. “I think little Roxie could use a new dog walker. And a sweater. Maybe even some dog treats. Sign me up!”

  Roxy looked over at Kim and Georgia in a panic. There was no way they could accept business from Liz. She would make their lives even more unbearable—if that was possible. The second Liz handed them money, she became a Doggy Divas client, and they would have to obey every single one of her awful demands. That would be Liz’s sneaky way of blackmailing them—just like she was blackmailing Matt.

  “Sorry,” Georgia interjected. “We’re booked solid.”

  Liz looked over her shoulder at the long line of desperate students and their dogs waiting to make an appointment.

  “Oh, really?” she sneered. “You’re going to tell everyone else who’s waiting the same thing? That doesn’t seem very business savvy to me.”

  “We have the right to refuse service to anyone we want. It’s in the local business guidelines,” Roxy said officially. She didn’t even know if “local business guidelines” existed, but it sounded like something she heard her dad say on the phone to his clients. “We’re very sorry about that.”

  Roxy realized that everyone—including Kim and Georgia—was staring at her and Liz. She and Liz were practically Monroe Middle School’s own reality show. How many more days in a row can I star in the Roxy and Liz Showdown? she wondered. Little Roxie started whimpering from her carrier, desperate for Roxy to give her some affection. Poor little Roxie—I wonder if she understands how mean her mom is.

  “I’d like to see you try to explain those guidelines to Principal West,” Liz said arrogantly. “I don’t think those rules apply at school. You are an officially sanctioned school club, right? I mean, you wouldn’t be able to conduct business on school grounds otherwise, as I’m sure you know.”

  “Of course we know,” Georgia interrupted. “We followed all the rules. If you want to wait in line for an appointment, fine, but we’re pretty booked.”

  Roxy watched Liz’s face carefully. Roxy knew there was no way Liz actually believed them. Of course they weren’t an official school club. But, if taking care of little Roxie would shut Liz
up for now, they really had no choice. It was going to be awful, because Roxy knew without a doubt that Liz would treat the Doggy Divas like they were her own personal servants.

  “What types of services do you want?” Roxy asked in her most professional-sounding voice. She opened the pink notebook she was using to keep track of appointments and looked at Liz expectantly. “There’s a long line behind you, so what will it be? Walking? Grooming? A training session? Do you want to place a sweater order?”

  “Everything. I want my Roxie walked, groomed, and trained, and I’ll take three sweaters—a rush job on those,” Liz chirped. “I assume you take credit cards?”

  “Um, no. If that’s a problem, you can take your business elsewhere,” Georgia chimed in.

  Liz gave her a nasty look and finished making her appointment. “I’ll just have my mom write you a check,” she quipped. “I’ll see you Doggy DoDos at my house tomorrow.”

  Liz spun on her sparkly kitten heels, flipped her blond hair over her shoulder, and waltzed away like she was leaving the stage at a pageant. A few students were still waiting around to make an appointment, but lunch time was almost over and everyone was heading back into the main building. Georgia and Kim stared at Roxy, waiting for her to say something about what had just happened.

  “She thinks she’s queen of this school,” Georgia said with a huff. “But, we’re not going to let her walk all over us! She’s just jealous she didn’t think of the Doggy Divas first.”

  Roxy just sat there silently. This was a nightmare.

  “Yeah, Roxy, so what if Liz Craft is our new client? She’s giving us money,” Kim said meekly. “We have a whole calendar filled with appointments. Do we really care that she’s one of them? There’s nothing that she can do to hurt us as long as we do a good job.”

  Roxy slumped down and put her chin on the picnic table. The girls kept going on about how Liz couldn’t keep them down.

  “Can you two just shut up for one second?” Roxy barked. Even she was surprised by how angry she sounded. “This is bad. This is a problem, and it does matter that Liz just hired us.”

  Kim and Georgia started to gather their things. They didn’t say a word, but Roxy knew by the looks on their faces that she had hurt their feelings.

  “Look, guys, I’m sorry,” Roxy said. “Liz used to be my best friend, and now she’s my client. I’m still trying to get used to the idea.”

  “Don’t worry. We’re in this together,” Georgia said. “But maybe we should make sure we have all the right permission from Principal West to do this.”

  Kim nodded in agreement while feeding all the leftover treats to a pack of strays that had found their way over to her. The girls finished packing up their supplies and were about to head back to the building when they realized that Principal West was on his way over to them.

  “Uh-oh,” Kim whispered. “Maybe we are in trouble!”

  The girls sat up straight. Kim grabbed Izzy and tried to stuff the little dog into her tote bag. Izzy, of course, was having none of it. She kept popping her head up and sticking her tongue out so far that she looked like she was smiling.

  “Hello, girls!” Principal West said hurriedly. It was hot and he was dressed in a three-piece suit, so he kept mopping his shiny forehead with a handkerchief as sweat slid down his face. Roxy noticed that Liz was watching them from a distance. Jessica was with her too.

  “Don’t worry. I already told your teachers you might be late. I need to talk to you.” He sat down and started petting Izzy behind the ears.

  Roxy, Georgia, and Kim grabbed each other’s hands under the table.

  “As you girls know, the school is quite a mess because of the dog walkers’ strike. We have dogs on campus, in classrooms…and ‘Bring Your Dog to School Day’ was somewhat of a disaster,” Principal West explained. “It’s been brought to my attention that you gals have started a dog-walking business. Now while I applaud your initiative, student businesses of any kind are strictly forbidden.”

  Roxy, Georgia, and Kim all looked at each other with their eyes wide.

  “But I’m willing to turn a blind eye because we just can’t have this many dogs roaming around school. The board of health commissioners will close down this school if they find out,” Principal West continued. “So when Liz Craft informed me that you girls had started this business, I was a bit surprised.

  “Under normal circumstances, I would have had to stop it immediately. But if you girls can promise me that it won’t interfere with your studies, I’ll even allow you to arrive at school a few minutes late and leave a few minutes early to tend to your dog walking. Does that sound good?”

  Izzy was playing tug-of-war with Principal West and his handkerchief. He nervously tried to pull it back as she held on tighter and let out a tiny growl.

  The girls nodded their heads in unison. Principal West finally relented and let Izzy keep his handkerchief.

  “Okay, now get to class!”

  The girls stayed back as Principal West walked back into the building, mopping up his sweaty head with the sleeve of his jacket.

  “Oh, my God!” Georgia laughed. “I think he’s wearing a toupee!” His hair appeared to be on more of a right angle than when he’d left the building. “I’m dying for Izzy to just yank it off one day!”

  They were laughing so hard that Roxy thought she was going to pee in her pants.

  “So, wait…I don’t get it,” Kim said, getting back to business. “Liz told on us, but Principal West didn’t care?”

  “I guess so,” Georgia said. “Let’s just look at this as a point for the Doggy Divas! Maybe Liz isn’t as mighty as she thinks.

  “You know what? I’m not so sure about that,” Roxy said with authority creeping back into her voice. “We have to be careful and plan ahead. Kim, can we meet at your house a little earlier today to get all the business in?”

  Both girls nodded.

  “We need to discuss our plans for when we start walking dogs tomorrow anyway,” Roxy said. “I’ll see you all later. Consider it our first mandatory, emergency Doggy Diva meeting!”

  DOGGY CONFESSIONAL

  LITTLE ROXIE

  I think it's so cute the way Matt and Roxy look at each other. I can tell there is something between them-I can actually smell it!

  Poor Liz just wants everyone to like her, even if she doesn't deserve it. I know she learns how to make people like her at pageant camp. I watch her practice in the mirror all the time. She says things like “You're such a peach!” or “Why, aren't you just a living doll!” It's embarrassing to watch!

  Chapter Nine

  That afternoon, Roxy was still taking dog-walking orders from students—and teachers. Word about the Doggy Divas had spread faster than the rumor Roxy and Liz had started a year earlier that they were going on a double date with royal princes visiting from a foreign country.

  Everyone thought Roxy was a dog expert when she didn’t really know a thing about dogs. That was Kim’s department. Roxy actually panicked when she realized that tomorrow morning she would have to put dogs on their leashes and pick up their poop. She’d learned from Liz to always “smile and fake it.” That was Liz’s motto when it came to pageants—and everything else in life.

  I’m sure gonna have to fake it when I show up on Liz’s doorstep tomorrow morning, Roxy realized as she walked up the pebbled driveway that led to Kim’s house.

  She looked down at her BlackBerry to confirm that she was at the right place. She hated to admit it, but she’d never really thought about where Kim lived. And she’d never expected her to live in a mansion! It was even nicer than Liz’s place.

  Roxy softly tapped the gold knocker. It was so heavy and sparkly that she was fairly sure it had to be solid gold.

  Or maybe it’s filled with chocolate! Roxy laughed to herself.

  “Hello!” A woman in a bright-pink bathrobe
answered the door with a big smile on her face. “I’m so sorry to meet you like this. Mr. Pierce and I have a benefit to attend tonight, and I’m starting to get dressed early. Are you Georgia? Or Roxy? I’m Kim’s mom.”

  “Hi, I’m Roxy…” Roxy was stunned. Kim’s gorgeous mom was going to a benefit? Then why did Kim dress in ratty clothes every day and never brush her hair and smell like garbage? “It’s really nice to meet you. Is Kim home?”

  “Izzy—nooooooooo!” Kim yelled at the top of her lungs. Roxy and Mrs. Pierce ran to the stairs just in time for a soaking-wet Izzy to splash them with a soapy mess of water and bubbles.

  “Um, I guess she’s home,” Roxy said with a small smile. For a split second, she forgot that Liz was her enemy and almost pulled out her phone to text Liz about this scene. Roxy felt a pang of loneliness for Liz. She would never believe that Kim was rich—and that she let dogs destroy her beautiful home.

  “I’m sorry! I forgot to close the bathroom door during her bath…” Kim raced down the stairs. Roxy followed her while Mrs. Pierce went to grab some paper towels from the kitchen. Roxy and Kim found Izzy rolling around on the living-room couch, desperately trying to dry off. The little dog was covered in soap at least an inch thick, and her usually black hair was sticky, matted, and white as snow. Kim lunged for Izzy, but the dog leaped off the couch and ran between Kim’s legs. Soapy water drenched the carpet, the stairs, and everything in Izzy’s path.

  “Kimberly Naomi Pierce! Get your butt in the dining room immediately!”

  “Uh-oh,” Kim said with fear clouding over face. “Whenever my mom uses my middle name, I’m dead meat.”

  The girls ran back into the dining room to find Mrs. Pierce lying flat on her back in a puddle, having slipped on the dog’s soapy trail of water. Her bathrobe was soaking wet, and the newspapers that had been in recycling bins in the kitchen were now strewn in a million pieces all over the dining room. Izzy sat at the top of the stairs barking her head off. The two teacup-sized stray Chihuahuas bounced around behind her.

 

‹ Prev