Willa Chapter 1

1. “Why Not in the Closet?”1

Willa Yeager tousled her light reddish locks and gazed adoringly down at her new sleeping toy schnoodle, Schoftie. She was less than a pound, a pitch-black shade, and eight weeks old. Finally, Willa had her own pet with no annoying siblings (which she had four of) to stick their grubby fingers on. 2

“Mom,” She pondered, glancing to her driving mother, “Why did you have to continue having kids after me?” Willa groaned and looked back at her loudly conversing younger siblings. Little Bebe, a mere two, was slumbering peacefully in her carseat. Next to her was five year old screamy Alen, throwing a plastic McDonald’s Happy Meal toy at his older brother Nate, who was eight. He threw it back and laughed maniacally. The seven year old Brenna, who was never happy, stuck her tongue out at her brothers, crossed her arms, and pouted. 3

“I wanted to have quiet babies like you were, but I got them,” Mrs. Yeager joked, keeping her eyes on the road. 4

Willa glanced down at her feet, where the PetCo bag was. One large brown paper bag had the tiny pink dog bed poorly stuffed down in it, while a medium-sized plastic bag held chew toys, a dog toothbrushing kit, cans of Alpo, a small bag of dry food, food and water bowls, and a crinkly bag of assorted treats. Schoftie was already wearing her bright purple collar and new tags. When they had made their trip to the store, Willa’s mother had a ton of trouble managing the four younger ones, so Willa just went off with Schoftie cradled in her arms and found everything she needed in a small cart by the time Mrs. Yeager was done making the schnoodle’s tags and managing the children. 5

Schoftie blinked, looked up at Willa, and put her tiny padded black paws on the window. She gave a soft, peaceful woof, the first Willa had heard out of her.6

“Oh! Mom, I think she wants to stick her head out the window! She’s whining! PleaseMomplease!” 7

Mrs. Yeager looked as if she was going to veto it for a second, then nodded. “All right, but hold onto her collar tightly.” 8

Willa pushed up the sleeves of her peach cardigan and pushed the button to roll down her window. Schoftie stuck her tiny head out into the forceful highway winds. Her owner spotted her in the sideview mirror and noticed the puppy was almost smiling.9

Suddenly, Willa heard a powerful crackling and the familiar noise of the tapping of rain. She looked up at the closed moonroof. There were large drops falling onto it and then melting together to create a wet mess. Willa sadly rolled up the window. Her puppy whined. She cuddled Schoftie close to her face. “I know, puppy.” 10

“IT’S WAINING!” Alen suddenly realized. He tossed his Milk Jug into the air. It opened, spilling the chocolate liquid into a wasted puddle on the grey carpeting. 11

“Oh! Alen!” Willa scolded. She threw a crumpled pile of yellow Wendy’s napkins at her brother, who, under the tight push of his carseat belt, could barely reach the mess. 12

Alen struggled to scrub it off and finally it looked hardly noticeable. “There! All gone!”13

“DUMBFACE!” Brenna rolled her eyes. 14

“Hey!” 15

“You gotta get it vacuumed!” She screamed. 16

“HEY!” Mrs. Yeager yelled. All the commotion in the van stopped. “Now, I’m gonna go inside to the store, and Willa’s gonna be in charge. GOT IT?”17

“Got it,” The younger children peeped.18

“I don’t wanna hear that you guys were bad from Wil, ‘kay?” 19

“Uh-huh!” They chorused in a sugary-sweet voice that would fool any mom.20

“Promise me?” Mrs. Yeager said sternly, her amber eyes suddenly fiery.21

“YES!” They screamed at the top of their tiny, breathless lungs.22

“All right.” She turned to her eldest and said, “KeepthecaronturnonRadioDisneyforthemkeepthemintheirseatbeltsandabsolutelyDONOTletthemplaywiththedog.” She said in a quick breath.23

“Yes ma’am.” Willa answered in a no-nonsense voice.24

Mrs. Yeager nodded, grabbed her purse, and hopped out. As soon as Willa hit the ‘lock all doors’ button, the chatter started.25

 Brenna - singing off-key along to, “Cheetah Love” by the Cheetah Girls26

 Alen - smashing his Joker collectible against the back seat.27

 Nate - picking his earwax out from his ears and wiping it on Brenna’s Junie B. Jones book28

 Bebe - yelling out the window, “WHERE! IS! MOMMY!?”29

Willa looked down at Schoftie, who, surprisingly, was wagging her tail lovingly and looking up at Willa with an expression that said, “I don’t mind!” She smiled down at the Schnoodle.30

“Wiwwa, can I pway wiff you puppy?” Bebe shouted. She grinned and, for some reason, tugged on her white-blonde straight locks.31

Willa took a deep breath and remembered her mother’s rules for saying ‘no’ to a child:32

1. Say it nicely.33

2. Say it calmly.34

3. Make sure they know you mean business.35

4. Distract them with something else.36

“No, Bebe, I’m sorry, you’re not allowed. Would you like to play with Schoftie’s squeaky toy instead?” She said nicely, calmly, and with authority.37

Bebe frowned. Oh no, Willa thought anticipatingly, she’s gonna blow. But Bebe perked up and said, “Yesh!” 38

Willa shrugged and threw back the toy at her sister.39

Bebe squished and squeaked the toy as obnoxiously as possible and Willa closed her eyes for a moment of inner peace. It would have been better if she had earlids, too. She opened her eyes, and Brenna was examining the strange, light brown, sticky substance on Junie B. Jones is a Graduation Girl. 40

"Buttface," Brenna said to Nate, "What's this on my book cover?”41

"Remember the part Junie B. spills orange juice on her clothes?" He said defensively, almost innocent.42

"It's grape juice. Plus this stuff is real, not part of the cover art."43

"Um, well, Bebe did it!"44

"If she did it, then why didn't you point that out earlier?"45

Willa broke in, "Let's not fight, okay?"46

Brenna shot back, "There's gross stuff on my book!"47

Distract them with something else. "Hey, let's listen to something on Radio Disney." Willa turned up the low volume.48

"Clean my book, Willa!"49

Willa frowned. It looked gross. "Mom has the baby wipes with her."50

"The diaper bag is right here!" Brenna held it out. "See?"51

"Brenna, we'll get you a new copy." Willa knew she wasn't supposed to lie, but oh well.52

"This is a LIBRARY BOOK."53

Bebe stopped squeaking suddenly. "Momma's here! She's really here!"54

Willa sighed of relief. Schoftie seemed to sigh, also.55

"I'm baa-aack!" She buckled in and drove them back home.56

Brenna and Willa went into the room they shared, Willa holding her Schnoodle firmly in her arms.57

"We gotta find a place to put her bed. It can't be next to our high-rise beds, because we might step on her. And definitely not near the window. It creaks loudly, and she might bark all night at it."58

"Why not in the closet?" Brenna asked.59

"Tell you what, we'll each get a turn to put her under our desks. For example, we'll alternate the bed every month. I'll have Schoftie under my desk for a month, then you can. Then I'll have it again."60

"The desks under our beds?"61

"Yeah."62

"Why don't we switch every night?"63

"Too chaotic."64

Brenna was going to ask why, from Willa's tone of voice, the conversation had to have ended already. "Can I have her this month?"65

"No offense, Brenna, but I want to sleep with my own dog tonight."66

"You are not sleeping with her anyway - her bed is underneath your bed, underneath your desk," she said.67

"Actually, I'm sleeping with her tonight." End of conversation again. Brenna was going to finish her favorite series, but she remembered what had happened to poor Junie B.68