Shook Chapter 1: The Challenge (part 2 of 2)
Previous parts:
Shook Chapter 1: The Challenge (part 1 of 2)
In the last part Dyan had just made a huge racket while running away from a moth that her best friend ended up squishing. Now she’s standing in front of the cafeteria, all eyes on her.
Something needed to be said to explain her whole overreaction. But… what exactly?
“Oh my goodness, what a punk,” said Cecilia, dragging out the first part of her sentence like a disappointed parent. This made a few kids laugh. Soon the rest of the lunchroom was cracking up, with some kids giving her sideways ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me’ stares and others shouting comments that made people laugh even harder.
Of course Cecilia had to say something, just to make things worse, Dyan thought as she stared up at the ceiling.
Tears blurred Dyan’s vision. She rushed back to her seat and laid her head in her hands. She could feel Kayla rubbing her back in circles from beside her.
Cecilia continued. “Guess Dyan really wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’d be scared the fly might hurt her!”
Dyan looked up and rubbed her arm across her eyes to clear tears. “Cecilia shut up!”
“There’s no reason I can’t talk about how you’re scared of literally everything.” Cecilia said. Then she glanced around at her friends with a smirk. “Y’all can say anything and she’ll be scared of it in some way.”
“Aren’t you scared of that mean old man on Poker’s street?” asked one kid.
“Was. I was scared of him.” Dyan corrected the kid.
“And remember when somebody brang their pet scorpion into class!? You almost cried!” said another kid. “Waaaah, a teeny-tiny scorpion is gonna break out of his cage and eat me!” The kid mocked Dyan.
Everyone began laughing again. Tears filled Dyan’s eyes once more, and her lips began to tremble. But she couldn’t cry. Not here. She would not cry in front of Cecilia.
Kayla noticed Dyan’s glassy eyes. “Stop it! Just stop it! All of you!”
Cecilia went into a fit of her usual flat-sounding ‘Ha’ laughs. “Why? Scaredy-Dyan can’t take it?”
Dyan’s sadness turned to pure anger. “I’m not scared of everything!” She yelled at Cecilia.
Cecilia smiled smugly. “Oh yeah? Prove it!”
****
After school, Dyan and Kayla followed Cecilia and her friends to Cecilia’s neighborhood. It was so quiet, you could hear yard sprinklers trickling from blocks away. The sun was only beginning to lower. You would never know a heist was about to go down.
Dyan’s heart beat heavily and fast in her chest as she saw the white wooden fence approaching, a small sign in curly, curvy letters kindly stating: BEWARE OF DOG.
Dyan curled her fingers around the fence and got on her tippy toes to peek at ‘Blizzard’, the dog the small sign was referencing. A huge gray and white husky laid in the yard, black-rimmed eyes closed. His tummy rose and fell as he snored away under the early fall sun.
“I…I have to go in there?” Dyan looked at Cecilia .
“Remember all that tough talk you had earlier at school? You said you weren’t scared of anything. If you really aren’t, then you shouldn’t be scared to go into Blizzard’s den.” Cecilia stated, and then hopped a few times, attempting to peak over the fence at the dog herself. She huffed. “One of y’all help me!” She yelled, and then two friends of hers crouched down and let her step on their palms to look over the fence. After a moment, she stepped down and turned to face Dyan.
“Okay, if you can go in and steal Blizzard’s bone toy and bring it to my house without screaming or bailing out, you’re officially not a scary person, if not, then you are and always will be Scardey-Dyan” Cecilia smiled at that last part.
“Well, I can’t go in, the fence is closed.” Dyan said, her heartbeat returning to normal. Maybe she wouldn’t have to do this.
“The door is closed but not locked. These people never lock their fence so you can just push it open.” said Cecilia.
Dyan’s gaze glided across all the children who smiled at her and laughed quietly, all except for Kayla, who looked back at her nervously.
“Well, common y’all, let’s leave her too it,” Cecilia swished left and right as she walked down the sidewalk, the small crowd of kids leaving behind her.
Dyan slipped off her bookbag and offered it to Kayla. “Can you watch this for me while I try not to die?”
Kayla took Dyan’s bookbag. “I can’t believe you’re doing this. Here’s a tip-when things get tough, go slow. Think about what you're going to do, then find out how to do it.”
Dyan replayed this saying in her head. “Huh,” she mumbled. “Thanks Kayla.
Kayla smiled and nodded. “Be careful, and don’t get bitten!”
Dyan nodded back.
When Kayla left, Dyan turned her focus to the gate and tried to stop her shaking.“Okay Dyan. You can do this. Just a toy bone, no big deal.”
Just don’t wake him up.
Dyan opened the gate, and as the bottom of the gate door grazed across the grass, Blizzard’s ear twitched.
Dyan’s heartbeat quickened and she cringed, but after a moment of nothing happening, she quietly walked inside.
Blizzard was snoring in the left corner of the yard. A couple inches in front of him sat a blue rubber bone. It was practically right under his nose!
Dyan took slow, cautious steps toward Blizzard. She glanced up at the house. The front door didn’t open. No blinds being stared out of.
She continued on.
She crunched through the grass until Blizzard snuffled. She stopped, her heart racing once more. She waited a moment before continuing. This happened once again until finally, Dyan was right in front of Blizzard himself.
Blizzard was much bigger and smellier up close.
The squeaky toy was just a few inches from his nose. She almost had it!
She leaned down and extended her hand out to the toy, her heart racing. When she finally wrapped her fingers around the bone, she could feel the breath of Blizzard’s nose on the back of her hand.
She quickly lifted up the toy and came to her feet. And just like that, She’d done it! She grabbed the bone!
“Woo-hoo! See guys!? I grabbed the bone! I-did-it! I-did-it!” Dyan began to dance in the yard, moving her arms in a circle motion.
“Looks like I’m not a scaredy cat, right!?” Dyan asked. But she didn’t see anyone at the fence. She didn’t even see anyone down the street. But she did hear panting. Fast panting at that.
She turned behind her to see Blizzard staring at her with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He had one brown eye, and one bright blue eye, so bright it looked as if it were glowing.
Dyan screamed her loudest and took off running, Blizzard right behind her. She ran right out the gate and down the street. Dyan remembered that Cecilia said her house was the first white one down the road, so she made her way there. She turned to see if Blizzard was still following her. He was, his tail moving as fast as a humming bird’s wings.
Dyan’s fist was sweating while holding that rubber toy bone, which had suddenly become so hot. Screw the toy bone!
“Uh, fetch boy!” Dyan through the toy bone behind her. Blizzard watched it fly by and then turned back to Dyan, speeding up.
Meanwhile, everyone else stood in Cecilia’s driveway, either talking or kicking rocks, waiting for Dyan to show up. So far, things had been quiet, with no sign of Dyan. Kayla was worried Dyan was going to get caught. Or maybe Blizzard might bite her. Who knew?
Kayla looked at Cecilia , who had her arms crossed. She was staring at the block corner that Dyan should be coming around with the toy bone.
Someone huffed. “How long is she gonna take?”
“She probably already went home y’all. She’s scared of everything.” Cecilia said, turning to who asked.
Then everyone heard a scream. At first, Cecilia burst out laughing, which made other kids laugh, but then they saw Dyan running down the street, with a huge dog racing after her.
“It’s Blizzard!” yelled one kid.
Cecilia’s eyes widened and her hands quickly uncrossed. “Everyone! Let’s go inside my house! Run!”
Everyone turned and ran inside Cecilia’s house, Cecilia locking the door behind her. Kids rushed to the window, where they hurriedly parted the blinds and stared at the horror from the safety behind glass.
Kayla quickly joined them at the window, as Dyan ran up Cecilia’s driveway.
“Help! Help!” Dyan banged on the door. “Let me in! Blizzard’s chasing me!”
“No! You might let that thing in here with you!” Cecilia yelled.
“Please! Someone! Open the door!” Dyan looked through the window and met Kayla’s eyes.
“Kayla! Open the door please!” Dyan yelled, glancing behind her.
“I’m sorry! I can’t!” Kayla yelled in response.
Dyan felt her stomach drop. She could hear the pitter patter of Blizzard’s paws getting closer. “Please! Please!” She yelled, her only hope being the door. No one opened the door, yet everyone stared at her.
Dyan turned and faced her opponent, the huge dog flying at her like a cannonball. She fell to the ground and curled up into a ball, screaming. This was it. She would be bitten up by a dog. She should have never stolen his toy.
“Blizzard!” Someone yelled.
Dyan looked up. Blizzard came right up to her, then bowed, his behind high in the air. He barked twice. Not once did he bite her.
She heard the voice again. “Hold on! He just wants to play!” The voice called out. Dyan looked behind the dog to see a man with gray hair run up to him, the blue toy bone in his hand.
He grabbed Blizzard’s collar. “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know how Blizzard’s fence got open, but he only wanted to play. Sometimes when you run from dogs, they assume you’re playing and they’ll want to chase you. Blizzard’s no threat, I promise.”
Blizzard turned to the gray-haired man who began to rub his fuzzy fur.
“Oh,” Dyan swallowed down her dry throat. “I…I was just so scared- I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t even think about what to do!” Dyan’s voice sounded wavy, even to her.
Then Dyan remembered what Kayla had said. When things get tough, go slow. She hadn’t even thought about that while she had been running. If she had, maybe she wouldn’t have ran and Blizzard wouldn’t have chased her. If she ever got in a scary situation again, she’d make sure to remember it that time.
The man smiled at Dyan. “Wanna pet Blizzard?”
“NO!”
Find out what happens next in the next part!
New to Shook? Read more about it in this post.
Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
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