Willow's Tree

5

Dog stayed with me the rest of winter break, all the way until it was time to go back to school. I didn't know how much longer he was going to stay with me, but for now, I just enjoyed his company.

After I had gotten all ready for the school day, I looked at Dog who was still peacefully sleeping on my bed. I had told him last night that I should be home around two-thirty. He just shrugged it off, seemingly fine with me being out of the house.

"Dog." I gently said, bending over him. "Dog."

He whine and cracked his eyes open. "What Willow?"

"I'll be home at two-thirty, okay?" He nodded. "Do you want me to set out some meat for you?" He shook his head. "Are you sure?"

"Leave before you're late from asking me all these questions."

"I don't want you to be hungry while I'm gone." I continued to use a gentle tone.

Dog chuckled in my head. "I'll be fine. Go."

"Alright." I turned around and began to walk away, but stopped at the doorway and said over my shoulder, "Make sure you get up. Don't be lazy and sleep the whole day."

He didn't answer me and instead, pretended to snore. I went and grabbed all the things I needed before I left the house. I usually drove to school and had my license ever since I was sixteen since my parents weren't home to take me.

When I arrived at school, I headed straight to the cafeteria. That was the meeting area for my friends since Olly always wanted to eat breakfast. She liked having the school breakfast, but whenever she doesn't eat in the morning, she gets cranky.

I walked to our usual table and saw that they were already seated. Olly had her tray full of breakfast food and it looked like she just started eating. I sat down next to Rebecca and my friends all greeted me.

"It feels good to be in school." Rebecca started conversation.

Isaac rolled his eyes before sighing. "You mean exhausting. I wish winter break hadn't gone by so fast."

Olly didn't bother to say anything as she continued to stuff her face full of food.

"How's Dog by the way, Willow?" Rebecca brought up. "Is he still with you?"

Over the break, I ended up telling my friends that Dog, was indeed, a wolf. However, I still called him Dog since I was already attached to the name. My friends wondered if I was going to let Dog go since he was a wolf and probably had to get back to his pack. I told them that I allowed him to leave whenever he wanted, but so far, he's stayed.

"He's fine." I answered Rebecca's question. "This morning, he was still asleep as I got ready."

"Did you leave him some food in case he woke up hungry?" she asked with concern.

The conversation would've taken an awkward turn if I told her that Dog told me through our minds that he wouldn't need any food, so I decided to lie to make things simpler. "Yeah."

Rebecca sighed with relief. "That's good. It would be really bad if he got hungry while you weren't around to feed him."

"He'll be fine." I replied.

"You know..." Olly suddenly said her mouth empty. "Isn't Dog a guy?" I nodded and Olly grinned. "He must be lonely to only have you in the house with him. Maybe I should get him a female husky so they can hook up with each other."

I blinked from the suggestion but didn't say anything.

Olyy grinned before holding her hand out with her palm facing me. "Say no more, my friend! I'm sure Dog would be eager to get some female company to play with."