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Sleepover
“ARE YOU SURE ABOUT this?” Mrs. Jones asked as she helped Cassie roll up the sleeping bag.
“Yes!” Cassie could hardly wait. Her first overnight since the move. She checked her duffel bag to make sure she had everything she needed. “Let’s go! Riley said I could come over anytime after school.”
“Patience!” Her mom laughed. “I already spoke to Margaret. I know what time to take you. You need to make sure your chores are done first. Nobody wants to do them for you while you’re off having fun.”
Cassie uttered a groan but dropped her bag and headed for the kitchen. She unloaded the dishes as quickly as she could, stacking them into neat piles in the cupboards. The trash wasn’t full, so she left it alone.
“Okay,” she said, skipping into the laundry room where her mom sorted clothing. “I’m ready now!”
“I’m almost done with dinner,” Mrs. Jones said. “Ask your dad to take you.”
“Dad!” Cassie raced toward the bedroom and plowed into her father as he came into the kitchen. “Mom said to tell you to take me to Riley’s house.”
He raised his eyes toward her mother. “Does Cassie know how to get there?”
“How would she know that? She’s never been there.” Mrs. Jones retreated to the dining room and came back with a sheet of paper. “Here’s the directions.”
He stuck them in his pocket. “Ready to go, kiddo?”
“Yes!” Cassie rocked back and forth on her heels with anticipation. Her first sleepover in Arkansas.
They piled into the car and headed back into town. The road changed from gravel to asphalt as they passed cookie-cutter houses and trailer parks. Her father finally turned into a large multi-plex apartment, similar to the one they had lived in before moving into their big house.
“Is this it?”
Cassie searched the parking lot for some identifying feature. One apartment had several potting plants overflowing on the ledge. “There!” She spotted Riley coming out the front door with two dogs in tow. “Yes, this is it!”
Her dad pulled up the rest of the way and parked in front of the apartment.
“Hi!” Cassie said, jumping out of the car.
“Hi,” Riley greeted. She helped Cassie get her stuff inside. A tall man with long reddish hair stood in the kitchen. “Dad, this is Cassie,” Riley said. “Her dad’s outside.”
“Well, I’ll go meet him,” he said, letting himself out.
“That’s my dad, Len,” Riley said, showing Cassie her room. It was down the hall and next to the bathroom.
“This is cool,” Cassie said. “I like your house. It’s cozy.”
“The insulation’s coming out.” Riley kicked at a crack in the wall. “You can sleep on my bed, if you want. Instead of on the floor.” She gestured to the sleeping bag.
“Sure!”
A little boy poked his head in and squirted Riley with a water gun. “Howard!” Riley screeched. She grabbed for him, but he’d already fled the house. She sighed and shook her head. “And that’s my horrible little brother.”
“Yeah.” Cassie nodded. “I know that feeling.”
“He knows your brother. Scott? I think they’re in the same class.”
“Oh, I’ll ask him.” Cassie glanced around the bedroom. She hadn’t noticed another room in the house. “So where does Howard sleep?”
“At the end of the hall,” Riley said. “With Mom and Dad. There’s another room at the other end of the house, but it’s a storage room right now.”
“Ah.” Cassie nodded her understanding.
“Cassie!” her dad called from the front room.
“Yeah?” she called back.
“Call me tomorrow and I’ll come get you. Be good.”
“I will!” she answered, rolling her eyes while Riley giggled.
“Are you hungry?” Riley led Cassie out of her bedroom and back into the square kitchen.
Her stomach rumbled in answer. “Yes.”
“You like ramen?” Riley opened a cupboard.
“Ramen?” Cassie echoed. “Like, Top Ramen?”
“I don’t know.” Riley held up a small crinkly package. “This is ramen.”
“Yeah, Top Ramen! I love it!”
“Great. We just call it ramen around here.” She tossed her the package. “Let’s go eat it.” She crossed the kitchen and opened the front door.
“Wait, like this?” Cassie followed her out to the parking lot, holding the package, perplexed. “Where are you going to cook it?”
Riley turned around, her green eyes sparkling. “You’ve never eaten it raw? Come on. You’re going to love this.”
Riley’s dad was working underneath his big white pick-up truck. He had it parked on the grass next to the parking lot. Riley climbed up on the hood and helped Cassie join her.
“This is how we eat it,” she said. She took the package from Cassie and opened it, then broke off a piece of the noodles. “Then you open the flavor pack.” She ripped open the small foil packet. “And you just dip it in. See?” She stuck the noodles in the salty powder and pulled it out.
Cassie watched her bite into the powder-covered noodles. “All right, here goes,” she said, tearing off her own piece and trying it. Her teeth crunched down on the raw ramen, and she nearly choked on the strong flavoring. Her eyes watered, and she laughed. “Yeah, it’s good!” She preferred it cooked, but this wasn’t bad.
“Yeah, I eat it this way all the time. Maybe every day.”
The two dogs circled around the truck, barking and wagging their tails. Riley threw them a noodle, so so did Cassie.
“Don’t feed the dogs,” Riley said. “You’ll spoil them.”
“But you did,” Cassie said.
“They’re my dogs.”
True. Cassie shrugged it off.
“So who’s your best friend?” Riley asked.
“Danelle,” Cassie said.
“Yeah? That’s nice.”
“Who’s your best friend?” Cassie asked.
“I don’t know. You, I guess.”
“Me?” Cassie didn’t know how she felt about that. Flattered, maybe, that someone else might like her that much. A little guilty, because she didn’t consider Riley her best friend.
The dogs barked again, begging for Riley’s attention.
“What are their names?” Cassie asked. They had one dog, Pioneer, named because he was the first animal in their new house, and one cat, a Siamese named Baby Blue. Cassie loved animals. She wished they could have a dozen more.
Riley pointed to the dogs. “That one’s Itchy because he’s always scratching, and that one’s Shut it. No reason. And that one’s Scaredy, because he always runs away from us. We can never get him to stay close unless we have him on a leash.”
Scaredy. Cassie stared at him, the white and black mutt with a curvy tail and skinny little legs. “I want to hold him.”
“He won’t let you near him.”
She had to try. Cassie hopped off the truck and held out her hand. “Here, boy. Come on, come here.”
The dog put his ears down and tucked his tail in closer.
“Come on,” Cassie begged. She whistled and clicked her tongue. “I won’t hurt you.”
He took several steps backward. Hoping to surprise him, Cassie dove at him. With a yelp of fear, the dog turned and ran for the open apartment door.
Riley sat on the truck laughing. “I told you.”
Cassie climbed back up. “They’re so cute! Can I keep one?”
She stopped laughing. “I don’t think we can give them away.”
“Let’s ask your mom. I bet she says yes!” Cassie couldn’t take her eyes off of Scaredy. She desperately wanted that dog.
“Tomorrow, Cassie,” Riley replied. “She’s not home right now, anyway. She’s a nurse, and she’s working tonight.”
“Oh, okay.”
Riley hopped off the truck. “Let’s watch a movie.”
*~*
RILEY’S DAD SHUT THE dogs up in the laundry room for the night, where they howled and scratched and put up such a fuss that Cassie thought for sure someone would come knocking on the door.
But no one did. She must’ve fallen asleep watching the movie, because Cassie woke up once in the night to the staticky buzz of the television. She turned it off, used the bathroom, and curled back up on the living room floor next to Riley.
She woke up again when Riley’s dad stepped into the house. “Good morning, Mr. Isabel,” she said, as politely as she could.
“Morning,” he replied in a gruff voice. He glanced at Riley still sleeping on the floor. “Want some breakfast?”
“Sure.” Cassie sat down at the card table pushed up against the wall. A moment later, Riley’s dad dumped two hot pieces of French toast on a plate and handed them to her with a bottle of syrup. “Thanks!”
Riley woke up and joined her, and Mr. Isabel made her some French toast also.
“Good morning, girls.” Margaret came out of the back room, running a brush through her short brown hair. Dark shadows ringed her eyes, and her voice was thick and groggy.
Cassie swallowed and said, “Hi, Margaret.”
“Hi, Mom,” Riley said. “Can we go for a walk today?”
“Yes, but stay on the sidewalk and don’t go across the street. And don’t go in any houses. And take the dogs with you.”
A younger voice yelled from the back, “Can I go too?”
“And take Howard with you,” Margaret added.
Riley sighed. “Please, Mom? Just us?”
“No.” Margaret turned the brush on Riley’s hair now, tugging her head as she combed. “I have things to do and need him occupied. Here, Cassie.” She moved to the couch. “Come sit so I can brush your hair.”
Cassie ran her fingers through her long brown hair, but didn’t get very far before they got caught. She watched as Margaret cleaned out the brush and put Riley’s strawberry blond hair in a jewelery box already stuffed with hair. “Why are you keeping that?”
“For my dad,” Riley answered from the table. “Someday when he goes bald, Mom’s going to make him a wig.”
“Really?” Cassie sat down in front of Margaret. “Put my hair in, too!”
Howard stumbled down the hallway and came to stop in the middle of the kitchen. “I’m hungry,” he announced.
“Well, eat fast,” Riley said, clearing her plate from the table. “Or we’ll leave without you.”
They headed outside, but instead of walking through the parking lot to the sidewalk, Riley led Cassie behind the apartment complex and into the wooded ravine. The three dogs paraded behind them, tails wagging and tongues lolling. Cassie kept glancing back and whistling for Scaredy. Every time she did, he’d stop walking and duck down really low.
“Wait up, Riley!” Howard whined behind them, his legs pumping to reach them.
“Hurry, he’s catching up!” Riley whispered. She grabbed Cassie’s arm and hauled her down into the overgrown bushes.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Cassie said, sliding down the leaves and hopping over branches.
He stayed close behind. They reached the bottom of the ravine, then turned around and started back up. Cassie spotted a large white house beside the apartment complex.
“Who’s house is that?” she asked.
Riley looked up from the thorn bush she was gingerly extracting from her shirt. “Oh, that’s the manager’s house. Adrianne lives there.”
“Who’s Adrianne?”
“My mean neighbor. You’re better off not meeting her.”
“Mean neighbor?” Cassie widened her eyes. “What’s so mean about her?”
“She steals your friends.” Riley picked up a stick and broke it in half. “She tells people lies about you and acts all sugary and sweet.”
“But your friends don’t fall for it, do they?” Maybe they did. Maybe that’s why Riley didn’t have a best friend besides Cassie.
She didn’t answer. She led Cassie to the sidewalk, and they started walking in the direction of Riley’s apartment. The dogs and Howard were close on their heels. Cassie wanted so badly to hold Scaredy. He just wouldn’t let her get close.
“Tick check!” Margaret said when they came in.
This was new to Cassie. Riley stood still while Margaret sifted through her hair and then checked her clothes. “Make sure you look yourself over when you change,” Margaret told her daughter. Then she turned on Cassie.
“What’s tick check?” Cassie asked, following Riley’s example while Margaret lifted sections of her hair.
Margaret chuckled. “That’s right, you’re not an Arkansan. Ticks are these little bugs that drop on you from the trees or crawl up from the grass. They latch on to your skin and stay there, sucking your blood. Anytime you go outside, you should check for them.”
A shudder ran through Cassie, starting at her hips and going to her shoulders. “Sounds horrible!”
“Eh, they’re not so bad. Normal. Just check for them.”
Both she and Riley were tick-free. Riley plopped down on the couch and turned the TV on. Cassie joined her, though she’d never seen the show before and had no idea what was going on. Her parents were really strict about television. She only got to watch movies. Sometimes a TV show, but everyone had to agree on it, and with four kids, that wasn’t likely.
The phone rang, and Margaret answered it. “Hello, this is Margaret. Oh, hi! Adrianne wants her hair braided? Sure, send her right over!”
Cassie glanced at Riley. “Is that the same Adrianne you warned me about?”
“Watch and see,” Riley whispered. “She’ll be so super nice to you.”
She came to the door a few minutes later. Riley pulled Cassie outside.
“We don’t need to watch her get her hair done,” Riley said. “Boring, anyway.”
“What’s that?” Cassie pointed to the small yellow automobile in the parking lot. It hadn’t been there when they got home from their walk.
“I don’t know.”
She and Riley approached it. Cassie stayed back in case it sprang to life and tried to run them over.
“Like my go-kart?”
They both turned around as Adrianne stepped down and joined them. She had wire-frame glasses, and her curly brown hair was held back in a neat French braid.
“That’s how I got here,” Adrianne continued. “I didn’t walk. If that’s what you thought.” She walked right past Riley and gave Cassie a big smile. “Want to ride it?”
“Yeah, sure, can I?” Cassie said. “It looks fun!” And then she remembered Riley. Adrianne hadn’t even said hello to her. “Wait, what about Riley?”
“Riley can ride this some other time. She lives here, right?” Adrianne rolled her eyes behind her glasses. “I’m Adrianne. What’s your name?”
“Cassie. I’m Riley’s best friend.” The words popped out of her mouth unexpectedly, and Cassie couldn’t take them back. Her face burned. She felt like a traitor.
