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Chapter 2
“Stupid Zale and his stupid good looks!” Amani stomped down the street very unladylike. She turned on 5th Avenue and leaned back calmly on the lamppost, trying to calm herself down. Zale always thought that he was the king of the school, even though he was just a sophomore. Amani always thought that he was the king of the jackasses. She smirked slightly at that.
She sighed and felt a gust of wind pass by. “What the hell!?” She inclined her head and saw her brother, Nalin, running towards the house. “Hey! You nearly knocked me down!”
Nalin looked over his shoulder without stopping. “Can’t talk now!” And he ran into the backyard. What’s he in a rush about? Amani thought to herself. She eyed the gate to the backyard suspiciously and silently walked over to it. She reached up to the top of the gate and looked into the backyard. What she saw made her sigh. Yet another pet. How did he get a hold of an arctic fox? Did he rob a zoo or something? She just shook her head and decided that she didn’t want to know.
She climbed off the fence and headed to the front door. Hopefully she could make it into her room without being distracted by anything. She opened the door to her house and was greeted by an empty living room. So far so good. She thought as she headed up the spiral stairs. Halfway up there, she discovered the delicious smell of fresh baked cookies. Despite her groan of annoyance, she dashed down the stairs into the kitchen.
She could just hear the Pink Panther music playing as she snuck into the kitchen. Her mom was placing all the scrumptious cookies onto a plate. When she turned around Amani reached over the counter and stole the plate.
“Amani!” Dang, she had been caught. She turned around and pouted at her mother. “Don’t give me that look.”
“But mom!” She whined and didn’t let go of the plate. “I need sweets to survive in this horrible, cruel world!”
“You can have some after dinner.”
Amani sighed and gave up, placing the cookies back onto the counter. “So, what are we having?”
“Salmon.” She stated. The younger’s eyes grew wide.
“B-but…why?” Her mom walked over to her and grabbed her arm.
“This,” her mother shook her arm, “is why.” She went back to preparing the food. Amani made a sort of whining noise. So what if she hardly had any muscle? She HATED fish. She had a small frown on her face and she slumped over.
Her mother didn’t let this go unnoticed. “No slouching in this house, young lady.”Amani bent over even more. “Or no cookies.”
The blonde’s body regained its full height and she plastered a fake grin onto her face. “Fine.” She forced the word through her clenched teeth. “Call me when dinner’s ready.” She said as she walked up the stairs. She needed a good nap. Just a thirty minute nap. As she passed her little brother’s room, she noticed Nalin climbing in through the window, setting the fox on the windowsill before climbing in after it. She rolled her eyes and marched down to her bedroom at the end of the hall. After opening the door, she shut it and set her backpack near her cherry wood desk and collapsed onto her cherry wood bed. All her furniture was cherry wood.
She closed her eyes in hope of good dreams.
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Her wake-up call came earlier than expected. “Nya!” Amani felt a sudden pressure on her chest.
“What!?” Her eyes snapped over at the high-pitched sound. The pressure on her chest was the fox Nalin had snuck into the house. How did it get in here? Her eyes wandered over to her door. It was wide open. She looked at the fox in confusion. She swore she had closed the door. Was this animal some type of magician?
“NALIN!” She yelled and the furry creature flattened its ears in response.
“Who? What? When? Wher-” He was cut short when Amani sent a glare into his direction. He dashed over to his sister and grabbed the fox off of her. “Oh, please please please don’t tell mom or dad!” He begged. “They would kill me!”
“And what do I get if I don’t tell?” Amani got out of bed and towered over Nalin. The fox flattened its ears again and growled at her. She glared down at it.
“I’ll do your chores for a week?”
“A month.”
“Two weeks!”
“A year.”
“Three weeks! Take it or leave it!”
“Deal.” Amani bopped him on the head.
“Ow! What was that for!?”
Amani answered his question with another question. “Where’d you get the fox?”
“I found him near the lake.”
How did an arctic fox end up here? In Tennessee? Maybe it escaped from the zoo? So many questions were going through Amani’s mind that she didn’t notice Nalin slip out of the room. After a couple of minutes of all the possibilities of the fox getting here, Amani heard her mother calling her from the dining room. She shook her head from the thoughts and went downstairs with a hungry stomach leading the way. She was the last one to get there. Nalin had just sat down. He had a giant jacket on. I wonder what can be inside? She thought sarcastically.
All of her family members looked alike, excluding her. They all had brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She had a mixture of orange and blond hair with hot pink eyes. People could tell she was adopted.
The smell of salmon hit her nose and she almost spilled all of her lunch onto the floor. She HATED fish. Not to offend all of you fish lovers. But she absolutely HATED it. She sat down and stared at her plate.
“Amani,” her mom said to her and she looked up from her plate, “you have to eat all of your food.”
Amani scowled and filled her plate up with some fish, corn, fruit salad, and bread. She ended up eating everything but the fish. She poked it with her fork. I wish my plate was clean! She pleadingly thought and glanced over to Nalin and saw two long white ears poking out from under his jacket. “Amani, I’m proud of you!” Her mother said and flashed a smile to the teen. Amani looked back at her plate and her plate sparkling clean. What just happened?
“Nalin’s jacket has ears!” Timber, the youngest, pointed to Nalin.
“Huh!?” Their mom, dad, and Justis said at the same time.
Someone was in trouble!
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