Eyes of the Wolf

13
I spent my time after school leaning against the Washington High sign and answering millions of questions posed by Chris, all having to do with Niko and my feelings and his expressions. Naturally, my editing was scouted out as a large gap in my story, so she started feeling out what could possibly have happened during the second laser tag game, and seemed unsatisfied with every variation of “I don’t remember” that I gave her. Apparently I was expected to have stalked Niko around every corner and taken every shot from every gun just so I could give her the exact happenings. Obviously, I had done no such thing, so I told her again that I didn’t remember at running risk of her displeasure, and when I got it I decided it was high time for another piece of gum. I watched pleasantly as she sulked some more. By the time she decided I was worth speaking to again, my phone buzzed against my thigh.

“Hello?” I answered crisply.

“Hey, Maya?” greeted an enthusiastic but slightly uncertain female voice. At my barely audible “Uh-huh,” the voice immediately became relieved as she said, “It’s Jazz. How are you doing? You’re out of school, right?”

“Yeah,” I told her, dropping against the wooden sign behind me to sit in the shade against it.

“Oh, good. Listen, I have your pay. When can I drop that by?”

“Oh!” I switched ears, thinking quickly. “Umm…” I get picked up in five minutes, and it takes about ten minutes to get home… “Can you come to my house around four? I should be home from school by then.”

“No problem! I’ll talk to you then!”

“’Kay, ‘bye.” I slid my phone shut.

“Who was that?” Chris demanded suspiciously.

“Jazz,” I said in quick deterrent of any more interrogation. “She was calling to see when she could drop off my money.”

“Oh.” She looked crestfallen for all of a millisecond before brightening and chirping, “That should be nice.”

“Yep.” I smiled at her, but caught sight of my dad’s Civic pulling into the parking lot. “Hey, that’s Dad. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” I said, pulling my backpack on over my shoulder.

“Yeah, alright, and make sure you do it this time!” she bellowed after me.

:o3

We pulled into our driveway, and an SUV pulled in right behind us. Dad stared into the rearview mirror at the big red car, and opened the door with a frown creasing his face.
“It’s Jazz, Dad,” I informed him, getting out my own side and walking to the car. Jazz came out from around the hood of the hulking car with a broad grin on her face. Her silky straight black hair fell from a low ponytail down her back.

“Hello, Robert,” she said, greeting my father with a warm handshake. “Your daughter did a wonderful job taking care of Belle’s puppies. In fact, I wouldn’t mind her taking care of them again, the next time I go to a show.” I was shocked at her words, and even more at her face, which was completely bright and sincere. My eyes numbly followed her hand into her sweats pocket, from whence she procured a white envelope. She held it out to me. Mutely, I took it and slid the lip of the envelope out from under the rest—she had tucked it in around the contents.

The card inside had a picture of a pack of miniature pinschers grouped together to chase a cat about twice each individual’s size. Smiling at the image, I opened the card to read a swirly, home-printer-inked “Thank you so much! —Jazzy.” Scotch-taped to the other side was a fifty dollar bill.

“That’s way too much!” I protested, but she laughed.

“I don’t think so. The newspaper was clean in the puppy pen, everybody’s water dishes were clean and full, the food was fresh and full, and they all seemed pretty happy and healthy. A very good job.” She gestured to the bill in my hand. “That’s the least I could give you. I had no idea what I would do with all those puppies on the road. The big ones are bad enough together in the car, panting on my windows and trying to crawl in my lap.”

“Th-thank you!” I said, accepting shakily, hardly daring to believe it. “Thank you very much!”

:o3

I called Chris the moment I got inside and had barely recounted how much I had been paid (feeding my fish as I talked) when the phone beeped in my ear. The caller ID tripped my heartbeat, making it stumble. Niko.

“Hey, call waiting,” I blurted quickly, and Chris hung up as I picked up the other line.

We exchanged the usual hellos and the how-are-yous.

“Listen, I’ve got a party here this Saturday night. You wanna come? It’s here at the National Park.”

“The National Park?” I leaned forward in my chair. “You can have parties at the National Park?”

“Well, I kinda live here,” was his amused reply. “There’s a scattering of houses in here, a little ways down the road from the resort. I can pay for your coming in, no problem. And you might wanna dress warm—it gets really cold in here, especially at night.”

I shifted excitedly, unsure of what position I was comfortable in at the moment. “Who else is coming?”

“Oh…a bunch of people. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

I grinned. “I’ll ask my dad.”