CHAPTER NINE

ANNEX

an·nex

verb \ǎ-neks\

—to take possession of something

My wacky Aunt Willa was right—it was like Chewy the stealth dog wasn’t even there on the floor … mainly because he wasn’t there at all! Chewy must have decided my mattress looked far more comfortable than his assigned spot of carpet. Somewhere around two o’clock in the morning, I woke up and realized I was no longer on my mattress—I was on the floor. I felt around for my pillow but instead my fingers landed on a wet nose. Squinting through the darkness, I saw Chewy’s humongous head had taken over my pillow.

Actually, Chewy had taken over my entire bed.

He had climbed onto the mattress and shoved me off!

Aunt Willa was right about two things: he could definitely be stealthy … and he snored.

I tugged on his collar. “Chewy,” I whispered.

He responded with a snort. Man, he had bad breath!

I pushed with both hands.

He probably weighed as much as I did if I was soaking wet, wearing a parka, and holding a bowling ball in each hand. He didn’t budge.

I climbed onto my mattress and laid down back-to-back with him. I braced my hands and feet against the desk and slowly straightened my arms and legs, hoping I could shove him off the other side.

No such luck.

Sighing, I stood and felt around the desk for my alarm. My fingertips found it. I snatched my pillow from under Chewy’s head and grabbed my blanket from the mattress. Apparently I would be sleeping in the living room.

On my way out, I tripped over one of Aunt Willa’s suitcases and fell against the doorknob. I was pretty sure there’d be a lovely bruise on my arm in the morning. I tossed the pillow on the sofa and curled up under my blanket.

I’d just drifted back to sleep when the alarm blared in my ears. I dragged my feet to my room and collected the school clothes I’d laid out the night before. Chewy was snoring away in my bed. I glared at him and kicked the mattress before walking into my bathroom to get ready. The mirror showed the unfortunate results of not enough sleep; dark circles surrounded my puffy eyes. Even my hair looked tired. It fell limp down my back. It was not the look I was going for. I quickly braided it, hoping I would somehow end up looking better than I felt.

I slumped into the kitchen and grabbed a bagel. Dad took one look at me and let me have a sip of his coffee. I kissed him good-bye (Mom was still sleeping) and walked to school. As usual, Jolina and Lucille were waiting for me at the back gate. I put my hand up to stop them before they could say anything.

“Before you ask, I didn’t sleep well last night,” I grumbled. “Aunt Willa’s dog decided to take over my bed in the middle of the night. I had to move to the sofa.”

Lucille unzipped her backpack and offered me a couple gummy bears from the emergency stash she kept for me. “Aww, Ella. I’m sorry the dog commanded your bed.”

I gladly took them and gave her a smile. “Thanks.”

“I’m pretty sure you mean commandeered, not commanded,” said Jolina.

“Really?” Lucille shrugged. “I thought I got that word right.”

“No—commandeered means took over. Commanded means gave orders.”

I puffed my cheeks out. “Actually, commanded works just as good. Chewy ordered me off the bed with his big hairy body and yucky dog breath. And to make matters worse, when I finally did fall asleep, I had a math fair nightmare. Ms. Carpenter was dressed like a clown, pedaling a unicycle while juggling math books. And Jimmy hurled javelins shaped like snakes at possums, and Jean-Pierre handed out rulers and calculators for carnival prizes. Oh yeah, and Harry took bets on how many erasers he could fit in his nose—which oddly enough was the only realistic part of the whole dream.”

“That’s right!” Jolina said. “I remember last year when Harry did that. It was crazy how the paramedics used those fancy pliers to get the erasers out. How many did he get up his nose, anyway?”

I shrugged. “I can’t remember.”

Lucille laughed. She draped one arm over Jolina’s shoulders and the other over mine as we walked to our classroom. “Ella, you’re worrying about the math fair way too much. The four of us are going to put together a great display, and it will be just fine,” she said.