Megan sat down beside her, and Ellie wriggled happily between them. ‘I know. Packing makes it seem as though it really is happening. The day after tomorrow…’ Megan’s voice wobbled, and Ellie turned to lick her too. What was the matter with them both? She looked worriedly from Megan to Bella and back again, making her big puppy ears swing. Something was definitely wrong. Ellie stood up with her paws on Megan’s shoulder, and stuffed her cold black nose firmly into Megan’s ear. That always made her laugh.
Megan did laugh this time too[35], and so did Bella, but somehow they still sounded sad.
‘I suppose at least we can send each other emails,’ Bella said, reaching out to stroke Ellie, and Megan nodded.
‘And we can phone.’ Megan laughed. ‘Mum said she thought they might have to get me my own phone line[36], or they’d never get to use the phone themselves! It won’t be the same as taking Ellie to the park with you, though.’
Ellie stood on the bed, listening to them with her head on one side. Something was definitely going on[37].
‘I’m going to miss her too,’ Bella agreed, tickling Ellie’s ears. ‘You know Mum still won’t let me get a dog because she says we haven’t got the time to look after one. Now I won’t even be able to share Ellie with you. And she’s growing so quickly. I probably won’t recognize her soon.’
Ellie wagged her tail delightedly as Bella fussed over[38] her.
‘I’ll email you loads of photos,’ Megan promised. ‘And you’re coming to stay.[39] Mum and Dad are going to get me a sleepover bed that slides under mine. Ellie can be half your dog again then.’
‘You’d better record her bark for me[40], too,’ Bella reminded her. ‘I’ll never get out of the house for school in the morning without Ellie barking outside the gate.’
Ellie yawned. Megan and Bella kept fiddling around with those boxes and talking, and no one was taking her for a walk. She was bored. She slid off the bed and squeezed underneath it. There were always interesting things to play with under there…
‘I knew it!’ Megan’s dad put his head round the door five minutes later. ‘You two are sitting there chatting, instead of filling boxes.’
‘Sorry!’ Megan and Bella jumped up, and Megan grabbed a pair of trainers and stuffed them quickly into a box, just to look busy.
‘And what’s Ellie doing under there?’ Dad asked, peering round the end of Megan’s bed.
Ellie crept out from under the bed looking rather guilty, with half a roll of brown packing tape attached to her whiskers. It was very chewy, though she didn’t really like the taste, and it seemed to have stuck…
‘Naughty Ellie!’ Megan giggled. ‘Sorry, Dad. I’ll clean her up…’
Dad shook his head. ‘Honestly, after she ate your mum’s shoe yesterday, you’d think she’d have had enough of chewing things[41]. Just keep an eye on her, OK?’
Megan nodded apologetically, and started to peel the tape off Ellie’s muzzle. ‘Silly dog,’ she muttered lovingly, as Ellie squirmed. ‘Yes, I know it’s not nice, but you can’t go round with parcel tape all over you. There!’
After that the girls made a real effort to get on with packing, and for the next hour they hardly even chatted[42] at all.
Ellie whined miserably. After Megan had taken the tape away and told her off, she’d sat so patiently, waiting for someone to play with her, or take her for a walk, or at least stroke her. But Megan and Bella just kept taking things off the shelves and putting them into those strange-smelling boxes. Ellie didn’t like it. This was her room, and it was changing. She liked it the way it was before.
‘Oh, Ellie, are you bored?’ Megan picked her up, hugging her gently. ‘I wish I could play with you too.[43] But we won’t be much longer.’
‘Actually, I told Mum I’d be back around now,’ said Bella, hugging Megan and Ellie both at the same time. ‘I can’t believe you’ve only got tomorrow left!’ She gulped. ‘I wish Mum hadn’t arranged for us to go and see my cousins,[44] not on your last day. Call me soon?[45] Promise! Bye, Megan!’ Then she dashed out of the room and down the stairs, almost slamming the front door behind her.
Megan sat down limply on her bed, looking round at the piles of boxes, all labelled by Bella in her favourite glittery felt tips with her best spelling, which was dreadful. ‘It’s going to be brilliant,’ she told Ellie again, but this time she didn’t feel quite so sure.
Chapter Two
Packing up had been an adventure to start with, but by the second day, everyone was starting to get grumpy[46]. It was such a huge job. The removals van was coming early the next morning, and everything had to be packed up by then. Megan could tell that her mum was panicking that they wouldn’t be ready in time.
She was trying to stay out of the way as much as possible, but it wasn’t easy with Ellie. Mum and Dad were far too busy to take her for a proper walk, and Megan wasn’t allowed to go out on her own, so Ellie was full of energy, and she couldn’t work it off properly. Already that morning she’d chewed[47] a roll of bubble wrap into tiny pieces all over the living room floor, and she kept managing to be in everyone’s way.
‘Mum, stop!’ Megan yelled, as her mum lowered a box of books on to the hall floor.
‘What? What is it?’ Her mum straightened up, red-faced with effort, and peered worriedly over the top of the huge box.
‘You were just about to squish Ellie with that!’ Megan helped her mum put the box down on top of another one, then pointed to the space she’d been aiming for. Ellie was sitting there, wagging her tail and looking very pleased with herself.
Mum sighed. ‘You’re going to have to take her into the garden. I’m sorry, Megan, but Ellie’s going to get hurt in a minute. She’s better off outside[48].’
‘Come on, Ellie!’ Megan tried to sound enthusiastic as she led Ellie out into the garden. She’d found the red-and-white-striped knotted rope toy that Bella had given Ellie for Christmas in her basket, so at least they could play.
Ellie loved racing up and down the garden after the rope, it was her favourite toy, although she didn’t see why she always had to give it back to Megan after she’d fetched it. It was much more fun to chew it to bits. She shook her head vigorously as Megan tugged at the toy, laughing.
‘Give it here, you silly girl! I’m going to throw it again!’
‘Megan, can you come here a moment!’ It was Mum, calling from inside. With everyone already a bit grumpy, she knew she’d better go and see what Mum wanted, rather than pretend she hadn’t heard.
‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ she promised Ellie, and