My Boyfriends' Dogs by Dandi Daley Mackall

Went, just baffled. “I admit this is the first time I’ve had a real boyfriend, so I might not—”
    â€œA what?” Amber interrupted.
    â€œA first real boyfriend,” I continued. “I mean, you can’t count Brian or Jason.”
    â€œBailey, you—” She stopped and slammed her locker.
    â€œWhat?” I could tell she’d been dying to say something to me all day, and I suspected it was about Went.
    She sighed. “Nothing. I’ll walk home with you.” She shot me a grin, but it felt fake. “I want to catch Big D’s reaction when you tell her about your new dog.”
    Amber and I didn’t have much to say on the way home. I couldn’t remember ever feeling awkward like that around her, but something had changed. I had a boyfriend now, and she didn’t. I’d stepped over the line and left her stranded on the other side. “Amber, what’s the deal with you and Went?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI mean, you acted like you liked him yesterday.”
    â€œNo I didn’t! I was just being friendly, Bailey!”
    â€œI didn’t mean like like. I know you don’t like like him.”
    Her whole body relaxed. “Okay then.”
    â€œI just meant that you guys seemed friendly yesterday, and today you didn’t.” I fumbled for the right words. “I want you to know that you’ll always be my best girlfriend, even though Went is my boyfriend now.”
    â€œShut up,” she said, grinning.
    I smiled, too. But I determined to be more thoughtful around my friend. The last thing I wanted to do was to make her feel bad now that I felt so wonderful.
    Mom was home, so I did the rip-off-the-Band-Aid move and told her about Adam.
    â€œBailey, what were you thinking?” she shouted.
    â€œTold you,” Amber said.
    â€œWhat’s the big deal, Mom? He’s a dog, not a serial killer. He’s housebroken.” I hope. I hadn’t actually asked Went about that, but Adam was no puppy. “Adam’s a sweetheart. And he smells a hundred times better than Brownie did.”
    â€œBrownie? A skunk smells a hundred times better than that dog did.”
    â€œAnd yet, you and Brownie bonded. You cried for days after that dog died.”
    â€œMy eyes were still watering from the smell,” she said. But I could tell she was remembering. Toward the end, Brownie became more her dog than mine.
    â€œWent will come get him after school. You’ll hardly even know the dog’s around.”
    She groaned and walked off to the kitchen. It was as good as a yes.
    After Amber left, I went to my room and took out the napkin with Went’s phone number. He had wonderful handwriting. Exotic even. His 7 had one of those little European lines through it so nobody could mistake it for a one . Very classy.
    This was his cell number. And I was his girlfriend. I could call him. Nothing weird about that. He gave me his number. Maybe he was hinting that he wanted me to call him. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? There was so much about being a girlfriend that I had to learn.
    I dialed the number. It rang and rang. Then a voice came on. “Hi, this is Went. Leave a message, man. Talk to you later.” He sounded so friendly. I’m not sure I’d appreciated his mellow voice before. There was a beep.
    â€œUh . . .” I couldn’t think of a thing to say, so I hung up.
    That was stupid. How was he supposed to know it was okay for him to bring his dog, our dog, over in the morning? I hit redial and waited for his voice mail. I could have dialed all night just to listen to his voice. But this time, I managed to use my own. “Hi, Went, Went’s machine.” I laughed like an idiot. “This is Bailey Daley of Ukulele Lane.” I sang that part, and I’m not a bad singer, if I do say so myself. “Anyways, just wanted to tell you that we’re all set with Adam. Our dog is