Emily’s Story

A Clean Sheet

Emily stepped off the bus into the falling leaves and skipped up the walkway to her house. She loved autumn. The air was cool and smelled sweet, and her mama always baked apple cinnamon cookies.

Inside her house, she grabbed a cookie, as usual, and bounded up the stairs to her purple bedroom. Everything was purple in Emily’s bedroom. She and her older sister Camila painted her walls purple over the summer before Camila left for college, two hours away. Camila came home one weekend a month, but Emily missed her sister. The house felt empty and lonely without her.

She sat down in her purple rolly-chair and placed the cookie on her desk. She opened her purple laptop, smiling at the memory of painting her room. She felt happy in her room because it reminded her of Camila and because she could relax by herself. Emily felt overwhelmed around a lot of other pups. She preferred reading, writing or listening to her favorite puppy band, The Bark Bunch, over being in big crowds. At school, she looked forward to coming home to read articles online and teach herself new things.

Emily took a bite of her cookie, opened her laptop, and typed her password: BarkBunch4eva$. She smiled as the home screen popped up: a photo of Emily and her sister at The Bark Bunch concert last year. They had so much fun that Emily didn’t

even get nervous in the cheering crowd.

She looked up over her laptop and parted the sheer, purple curtains, gazing out her window into the park below. Her fishbowl glistened on the desk as a ray of sun shone through the opening in her curtains.

“Hi, Mauve,” she greeted her purple betta fish. “How was your day?”

Mauve was silent, but “pop, pop, popped” her mouth at Emily, almost as if she was saying, “Good, how was yours?”

It was a sunny, fall evening, and the rest of the Puppy Pack was outside playing in the park across the street. Emily watched as they kicked the soccer ball around, jumping up and high-fiving each other as they scored and blocked goals. Suddenly, she had an idea for her next short story!

She opened her purple composition book to the next clean page and ran her hand down the paper. She loved how it felt to start writing on a clean sheet of paper. It meant her story could be anything she wanted it to be. The Pack, she wrote in a big, bold title above the top line of the bright white page.

It’s a sunny evening and the pack is outside playing soccer in the park. Tess kicks the ball and scores! Cora, playing goalie position, looks sad at first, but quickly runs over to give Tess a high five. “Nice one!” she says, smiling. The pups always support the other members of the pack.

Emily wrote until she heard her mama calling up the stairs for dinner.

“Just one more sentence,” she thought, but soon she heard her mama’s familiar footsteps padding up the stairs and approaching behind her. Mama placed Emily’s dinner on the desk beside her computer.

“Oh, thanks, Mama,” Emily said, glancing up from her notebook and rubbing her eyes.

Mama gave her a small smile and rubbed her on the head.

“Em,” she started. There was something in her voice that made Emily swivel around in her chair.

“What’s wrong, Mama?” she asked, concerned.

Mama was always perky and positive, so hearing concern in her voice worried Emily.

“I’m just a little worried about you, baby girl,” Mama said, sitting down on Emily’s bed.

Emily jumped up from her chair and sat down next to her on the bed.

“Mama!” she exclaimed, hugging her tightly around her shoulders. “You don’t need to be worried about me!” She wondered what mama could possibly be worried about. She pulled back to see mama’s face. One side of her mouth was smiling.

“It’s just that, since Camila left for college, you have been spending more time alone in your room on your computer or in your notebook,” she said.

“Oh,” Emily replied, looking down at the floor, unsure of what to say. “I like working on my computer and writing in my notebook,” she said quietly, a lump forming in her throat.

“I know you do, baby girl,” her mama said, hugging her back. “I just want to make sure you are spending some time with your friends too.”

Emily glanced out the window again, but the other pups had gone inside and the street light had come on, shining through the darkening sky.

“It’s already dark?” Emily thought as she sat back down at her desk.

Though Emily had been in the Puppy Pack since before kindergarten, she sometimes wondered if she was as much a part of the pack as everyone else. She loved being indoors reading and writing, and the other pups all liked to play outside. All of the pups were her friends, but Emily was most comfortable around Scarlett. She sat quietly

next to her in the library every study period. Unlike Emily, Jacob was always running around taking photos in the middle of everything, Tess and Cora went shopping all the time, and even Scarlett liked playing outside sometimes.

Emily thought about the story she wrote and imagined if she had joined her friends in the game of soccer. A knot formed in her stomach; even thinking about playing out in a group made her a little nervous.

Mama kissed her on the forehead and reminded her to brush her teeth before she went to bed.

“Don’t stay up too much longer, baby girl,” she said as she closed Emily’s bedroom door, leaving a crack of light shining through from downstairs.

“I love you,” Mama called through the crack in the door.

“I love you too, Mama!” Emily replied, digging into her shepherd’s pie as she thought of how to wrap up her story about The Pack.

That night, Emily dreamt about playing soccer in the park with the other pups, scoring goals and high-fiving each other.

When she woke up, she ran to her desk to grab her composition book. She couldn’t wait to write more in the library during study period.

A Know-it-All

Language Arts was the last class before lunch. Emily’s stomach was rumbling, but she was excited because they were starting their first novel. Mr. Flock was dressed in a jersey today, and Zach, as usual, was the first to raise his paw and ask, “Why are you

dressed like a soccer player, Mr. Flock?”

Mr. Flock chuckled. “Because,” he started, motioning toward a stack of books on his desk in the front of the room, “we are starting a new novel today!”

“A novel about soccer?” Dwayne asked excitedly.

“Nope,” Mr. Flock said succinctly.

“Aww,” some of the pups whined.

“We will be reading a fiction book about friendship,” he said, “and friendship,” he paused, putting a paw on Dwayne’s shoulder, “is a lot like being on a team.”

“Oh!” Zach shouted excitedly.

“It’s going to be pawsome!” Mr. Flock said, excitedly placing books on each of the pups’ desks.

The pups rolled their eyes but couldn’t stifle their giggles. Emily ran her paw along the cover of the new book.

“How could friendship be like being part of a team?” she wondered.

The title was embossed and stood out slightly from the rest of the cover: Part of the Pack. Below the title, there was a picture of a pack of pups her age. Emily opened the book excitedly. Language Arts was her favorite subject. Her teacher, Mr. Flock, introduced the story to the class.

“This book is about friendship and what it means to be a part of a pack,” he said, pulling up a photo from the book on the screen in the front of the room.

“Tess,” he called, “will you please read the first paragraph for us?”

Tess’s eyes widened and she pulled the book up close, covering her face as she read.

“The dogs r-r-ran into the h…” she paused. “Horse?” she asked in a small voice.

One of the other students burst out in laughter. “It’s house!” he shouted between guffaws, shaking his head.

“Leave her alone, Johnny!” Zach shouted across the room.

“Okay, okay,” Mr. Flock said over the commotion, waving his hands in the air. “Tess, that’s enough. Emily, why don’t you read it instead?” he asked, sweeping across the room in one quick motion and pausing at Emily’s desk. He looked down at her and waited, grinning.

Emily was shy and didn’t like the other pups to hear her read. She didn’t want them to think she was a know-it-all, and she felt embarrassed when Mr. Flock praised her for her perfect reading. But Mr. Flock was grinning down at her eagerly, so she agreed.

Her voice was small and shaky, but she read the words perfectly. When she looked up from the page, she noticed Tess had put her head down on her desk.

“Wonderful!” Mr. Flock said, continuing in the book, acting it out as he read.

A knot formed in Emily’s stomach. Emily loved when Mr. Flock acted out the stories, but she couldn’t focus.

“Tess probably hates me for being a know-it-all,” she thought. Emily stayed quiet for the rest of class and breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang for lunch.

After lunch, Emily headed straight to the library. The library was her happy place. As she reached to open the library door, she heard sniffling noises coming from the stairway behind her. She peeked around the wall and into the stairwell. Tess was resting her head on the books in her lap, crying. Emily looked around to see if anyone else was there. It was only the two of them. She was worried about Tess, but she didn’t know what to say. She looked down at her paws awkwardly, considering just going into the library and leaving Tess alone.

“She probably wouldn’t want to talk to me anyway,” she thought sadly.

Just then, Tess looked up and gasped, wiping at her eyes with her paws.

“Oh, Emily!” she exclaimed, rearranging the books in her lap. “I was just going to the library,” she continued.

“I’m sorry,” Emily said, feeling guilty. She thought maybe Tess was crying because Emily had read the passage perfectly in Mr. Flock’s class earlier, and she didn’t want Tess to be mad at her for being a know-it-all.

“I didn’t want to make you feel bad by reading well,” Emily said. She didn’t mean to say it like that, and was worried she had made Tess feel worse, so she kept explaining. “I didn’t even want to read, really; it’s just that Mr. Flock always calls on me and,” she paused, fiddling with the spine of her composition book. “I know I’m a good reader, but—” She felt her face getting warm with embarrassment. “I’m just sorry,” she said, sitting down gingerly on the stairs next to Tess. She didn’t know what else to say. She

held her breath, hoping Tess would say something.

“I wasn’t really going to the library,” Tess whispered. “I just can’t face everyone from Language Arts after Mr. Flock called on me to read and I didn’t know the words,” she said, staring at the books in her lap. Emily hadn’t thought about it that way.

“Oh,” she replied, not sure what to say to make Tess feel better. Emily always knew all the words, so she certainly couldn’t say she understood how Tess felt.

“And,” Tess added, “I felt embarrassed when you did.”

Emily didn’t realize Tess felt embarrassed; she had thought Tess was angry with her. Relief rushed over her.

“I thought you hated me for being a know-it-all!” she blurted out. The words came out louder than usual and she clapped a paw over her mouth, giggling at the realization. Tess laughed too.

“No way!” she shouted. “I was just embarrassed that I don’t know how to read the word ‘house,’” Tess said. “I’m not smart like you,” she added quietly. She looked down and wiped away a tear.

“Of course you’re smart!” Emily said, wrapping her arm around Tess’s shoulder and giving her a small squeeze.

Tess’s shoulders relaxed. “Thanks,” she said, hugging her back.

The two sat quietly for a moment until Emily noticed a paper sticking out of Tess’s notebook. It was brightly colored and she noticed some of the pups’ faces poking out.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Tess muttered as she quickly slid the paper back into her notebook.

“Are you sure?” Emily asked, curious to see the rest of the design. Tess usually loved sharing her artwork with everyone, so it was strange that she didn’t want to share it with Emily.

“Well,” Tess said, glancing down at her paws. She slid the paper out of her notebook and held it out for Emily to take. “If you really want to see it,” she said.

It was a drawing of Tess and the other pups playing soccer on the field. Emily knew immediately because she remembered seeing them out her bedroom window. It looked like one of the drawings their art teacher made, the lines perfectly curved and images popping off the page like a comic book.

“I’m,” Tess stuttered, “I’m sorry you’re not in it too,” she said, looking down at her

paws.

Emily felt a familiar knot in her belly. She hadn’t realized it, but she wasn’t a part of the drawing. She knew Tess worked hard on the picture, so she didn’t want her to feel bad about it.

“This is amazing,” she said, looking up at Tess who matched her gaze.

“Really?” Tess asked hopefully.

“Yes!” Emily exclaimed. “You’re a really good artist.”

Tess smiled. “Thanks,” she said, hugging Emily again.

“And you’re a really good reader,” Tess said.

Emily glanced back at the library.

“Hey,” she said. “I have an idea.”

“What?” Tess asked. “I can help you learn to read better!”

“Really?” Tess asked excitedly.

“Of course!” Emily said. “I was just heading to the library if you want to come.”

“Sure!” Tess exclaimed and followed Emily into the library.

Emily reached into her backpack for the new book. She pulled out her composition notebook instead. She quickly tried to put it back into her backpack before Tess saw it, but Tess reached over and grabbed it.

“What’s this?” she asked, opening it.

“I like to write stories,” Emily said in a small voice, handing the tattered composition book to Tess. She had never shared her stories with anyone other than Mauve.

Teamwork

Tess flipped through the pages of perfect handwriting and paused at the most recent story. It was the story about Tess and the other pups playing in the street. Emily’s stomach flipped as she watched Tess look through the story.

“Hey, that’s my name!” Tess exclaimed, pointing at the page.

Emily felt embarrassed because if Tess read the story, she would know she was watching them out her bedroom window. She was about to tell her they should get back to reading when Tess exclaimed, “Hey, I have an idea!”

“What?” Emily asked.

“You could use your stories to teach me to read better!”

Emily’s heart beat faster in her chest. Tess was so excited that Emily couldn’t say no. She replied with a squeaky, “Okay.”

“It’s a sun-sunny ev…eve…” Tess started.

“Here,” Emily said, taking out a pen and marking a line between “eve” and “ning” in the notebook.

Tess gasped. “You’re ruining your story!” she exclaimed.

“Nonsense,” Emily said confidently. “I’m teaching you to read!” Tess giggled.

“Okay,” she said again with a little more confidence in her voice.

“Now,” Emily said, “the root word is ‘eve,’ and the suffix is ‘ning.’ Eve-ning,” she said, and Tess repeated, “Eve-ning!” excitedly.

“Good,” Emily said, and Tess continued to read.

“And the rest of the Puppy Pack are out—out-side play…” She looked up at Emily. “Can I use the pen?” she asked.

Emily handed the pen to Tess. Tess drew a line between “play” and “ing.”

“Play-ing soccer!” she said proudly.

“Yes!” Emily shouted, jumping up and clapping.

“What is going on over here?” Ms. Packton, the librarian, asked from behind them.

“Oh!” Emily said, jumping. “Sorry, Ms. Packton. We’re just reading,” she said, pointing to her composition book.

“Is that okay?” she asked, worried they were in trouble for being too loud.

“Of course!” Ms. Packton said, smiling. “Can I join you?” she asked, sitting down across the table from the girls.

“Sure!” Tess replied. “We were just reading Emily’s story.”

Ms. Packton made approving facial expressions and hummed and hawed as she flipped through Emily’s story.

“This is a beautiful story about friendship,” she said, smiling at Emily, who blushed. “I see you are also reading Part of the Pack in Language Arts. Do you know what it means to be a part of a pack?” she asked.

The girls thought for a minute.

“Something about being a pup,” Tess said.

Scarlett, having overheard their conversation, came over to the table.

“Pack definition and meaning,” she read from her tablet. “A pack is like an extended family,” she read, smiling, “in which members care for each other as individuals. The structure of the pack allows for learning from other members. Members of a pack communicate and share knowledge,” she continued tactfully.

“Like teamwork!” Tess exclaimed, pointing at her drawing of the pups playing soccer.

“Precisely!” Ms. Packton said, smiling.

Emily was already looking up information about packs on her purple tablet and read what she found aloud: “Pack members struggle when they are alone. A lone pup is a sad pup. Members of a pack tend to form friendships and maintain them as lifelong bonds. Pups succeed through cooperation. Everything in a pup’s nature leads it to belong to something greater than itself: the pack.”

Emily looked at Tess’s drawing with new appreciation. She loved being on her own, but she was also enjoying spending time with her friends in the library.

“That is very insightful, Emily,” Ms. Packton said, nodding.

“In a pack, everyone contributes something unique, and not one part is more important than the other,” Scarlett read.

“Just like a team!” Tess exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Emily agreed. “Not every pup is good at the same thing, but together we are stronger!”

“That’s the purpose of a pack,” Ms. Packton confirmed, smiling proudly.

“We are stronger as a team,” Scarlett said, nodding.

“Like you with your artwork!” Emily exclaimed, pointing at Tess’s drawing.

“And you with your writing!” Tess squealed.

“And Jacob with his photography!” Scarlett added.

“And Zach with computers,” Tess said.

“Scarlett, you’re really smart about medical stuff; you’ll probably be a doctor when you grow up,” Emily said, proud of her friend.

“Thanks,” Scarlett said, blushing. “And Cora is always coming up with the best things to do,” she noted.

“Wow,” Emily said, smiling at Ms. Packton. “We really are all good at something different.”

“Yes,” Ms. Packton replied, “and that is what makes your Puppy Pack so strong. When

each of you is good at something individually, your pack is stronger,” she said, pointing to Emily’s composition book.

“Wow!” Scarlett exclaimed, holding up Tess’s drawing. “This is beautiful!”

“Thanks,” Tess replied, “but you should really read Emily’s story. It’s pawsome!”

The girls giggled.

“Is it okay if I read with you?” Scarlett asked.

“Of course!” Emily said, nervous, but excited to read with Scarlett.

The girls took turns reading through Emily’s story, practicing words as they read.

“This is pawsome!” Scarlett said, smiling at Emily.

“I,” Emily started, a lump forming in her throat as she tried to think of a good explanation for having written about the other pups.

“I love it!” Tess interrupted.

“Really?” Emily asked, shifting in her seat.

“Yes,” Tess said with a nod.

Emily breathed a sigh of relief and smiled back at Tess.

“You should be a team!” Scarlett said.

“What do you mean?” Emily asked.

“Well, look,” Scarlett continued, holding Tess’s drawing up alongside Emily’s composition book. “You both made a different part of the same story,” Scarlett explained. “Emily was the writer, and Tess was the illustrator,” she said.

Tess gasped. “Yeah!” she exclaimed. “We could make stories together, Em!” she said. “We could call them Puppy Tales!” she squealed.

“I love that idea,” Emily said, relieved.

“And you know what else I think?” Tess asked, looking at Emily.

“What?” Emily replied, her voice squeaky.

“I think our next story should have you in it too,” Tess said, smiling.

Emily smiled back. “I’m so glad I’m a part of a pack,” she said, putting her arms around Scarlett and Tess.

The girls continued talking about their Puppy Pack and ideas for future stories until the bell rang for their next class.

A New Chapter

“This is my house!” Emily said, glancing back at Tess, who hopped off the bus behind her.

The girls ran up the sidewalk and up the stairs to Emily’s room, excited to start working on the next chapter in The Pack. Soon, Emily heard Mama’s footsteps and a knock on the door.

“Oh, hi, Tess,” Mama said, peeking her head into the room. “It’s good to see you with your friends, Emily,” she said, her face lighting up.

“Tess and I are writing a short story together,” Emily said, beaming. “I’m the writer,” she said.

“And I’m the illustrator!” Tess squealed.

“That’s lovely!” Mama said, looking over Emily’s shoulder at her notebook.

“Tess, Emily and Scarlett learned what it means to be a part of a pack,” she read aloud.

“That’s wonderful!” she exclaimed, glancing over at Tess’s drawing on the other side of the desk.

“See,” Tess said, holding the paper up for Mama to see. “Being a part of a pack is just like being on a team!” Tess said proudly, pointing at her drawing of the girls in the library.

“That is beautiful, Tess,” Mama said.

Mama read through Emily’s story, from Language Arts class to Emily teaching Tess how to read.

“What a wonderful story about what it means to be a good friend,” she said, pulling the girls into an embrace, one in each arm. “I’ll go get you a plate, too, Tess,” Mama said. She kissed Emily on the forehead.

“A good friend,” Emily thought. She wanted to be a good friend.

“I love you, my little pup,” Mama called, walking toward the door.

“I love you too, Mama!” Emily replied, picking up her pencil to complete the chapter. She knew exactly how it was going to end.

A Teacher

The next day in Language Arts, Mr. Flock called on Emily again to read the first part of chapter 2 in Part of the Pack. Emily felt a familiar knot form in her stomach, remembering how she had chosen to end the chapter. She paused, looking down into her lap.

“No, thank you,” she said, barely audible. She glanced over at Tess and winked. Tess smiled and opened her book, fumbling to find the right page.

“Oh, um,” Mr. Flock stuttered, losing his cool for maybe the first time ever.

“I’ll read it,” Tess said, raising her paw in the air.

“Okay, Tess,” Mr. Flock said, lifting an eyebrow at Emily.

The whole class followed along with the words as Tess read aloud: “The pack goes every—” She paused, then continued, louder, “Everywhere together,” she said, looking up and smiling at Emily.

“Great job, Tess!” Mr. Flock said, clapping his hands in applause.

The entire class followed suit, Emily included.

Emily was so worried that Mr. Flock was mad at her for telling him “no” that she couldn’t even focus during independent reading time, which was usually her favorite.

“I shouldn’t have told my teacher no,” she thought as she sat staring at the book, her eyes unfocused.

Emily’s stomach tightened up as she walked toward the front of the room after class.

“Is everything okay, Mr. Flock?” she asked. “I’m sorry,” she started. “I—I know you called on me to read, but—”

“But nothing, Emily,” Mr. Flock interrupted, more seriously than usual.

The knot in her stomach worsened. Emily never got in trouble.

“I noticed you have been working with Tess on her reading,” Mr. Flock said, locking eyes with her.

Emily held her head down and looked at her paws.

“And I’m so proud of you,” he said, giving her a pat on the shoulder.

“Oh,” Emily sighed, relieved.

“So, I’m not in trouble?” she squeaked.

“Not at all!” Mr. Flock chuckled. “And honestly,” he added, “I think I’m in trouble.”

“What?” Emily asked, giggling. Mr. Flock, in trouble?

“I’ve been calling on you to read for your classmates and haven’t been giving them a chance to practice,” he explained. “You’re such a good reader that I’ve been calling on you too much,” he said.

“Oh,” Emily said again.

“So, I want to apologize, and to say thank you,” Mr. Flock said, putting his arm around Emily and giving her shoulder a quick squeeze.

“I do sometimes worry everyone thinks I’m a know-it-all,” Emily said, looking down at her paws.

“Ahh,” Mr. Flock said, pretending to scratch his chin. “I was once a know-it-all too,” he said matter-of-factly. “And now,” he continued, “I’m a teacher!” he proclaimed, motioning around the room and smiling widely. “And,” he added, “you know what?”

“What?” Emily asked, looking back up at him.

“I think you would make a great teacher one day,” he said.

Emily blushed at the compliment. “Really?” she squeaked, smiling. She would like to be a teacher when she grew up.

“Yes,” Mr. Flock replied.

“Why?” Emily asked, intrigued.

“You taught me something, kiddo,” Mr. Flock said.

“What did I teach you?” Emily asked curiously.

“You taught me to slow down and include everyone from the pack!” he replied.

Emily smiled. “That’s the purpose of a pack!” she said, beaming. “We’re stronger as a team,” she said proudly.

“We sure are,” Mr. Flock said, winking. “We sure are.”

Emily stepped off the bus that day excited to research all about becoming a teacher. For now, though, she was going outside to play with the rest of the pack.

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