The Artist Finds a Friend:

Chapter 15

Davinci stared at her food, while everyone else munched and guzzled around her. She was hungry of course, but her mind was swirling with a million questions. They were questions about herself, something that up until last night she had been so sure of. She had always known who she was, what she liked and didn't like. It was something she had been a little proud of; the fact that she knew herself better than most others knew themselves. And then, the stupid Dimitris had to go and throw a wrench in the works.

It was for that reason she was also trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, especially with the Dimitris. She knew if either of them spoke, the conversation would inevitably lead to their confrontation yesterday. She was sure they felt guilty, but she also knew that she had overreacted. So until she figured this out, she did not want to discuss this with anybody.

There was just one thing she had to do; she had to see Jackie again. She had to see if there really was any validity to what the Dimitris had implied, or if it was just another earworm working its way into her mind. It was possible that she was just being overly eager with Jackie since she was the first real friend she had ever had outside her family. That didn't mean she actually had a crush on her. Right?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly heard her name being repeated.

"Davinci? Hello, Davinci? You there?," said Dolly.

She looked up for the briefest possible second. "Uh...yes?"

"Why aren't you eating?" her sister asked.

Without hesitation, Davinci then shoved every bite into her mouth. In three big gulps her bowl was empty.

"Dne, thks, by!" she said through a mouth full of food, and then took off lickety split.

Everyone stared after her, baffled by what they saw.

"I don't know if there's a record for finishing breakfast that fast. But I'm pretty sure Davinci just beat it," said Dylan.

"I concur," said Dawkins beside him. "The previous record was held by Diesel who on last account finished his breakfast in 45.3 seconds. And while I'm just guesstimating, I believe Davinci beat it by at least 20 seconds."

"Awww," said a dejected Diesel nearby.

"Thank you Dawkins for that valuable input," said Dylan sarcastically. "What do you think that was all about Dolly?"

But when he turned to face her, he saw that she too had already left the table

"Oh boy," he said worriedly. He had a feeling this was going to have something to do with yesterday.

In the hallway, Davinci was packing everything she thought she might need as quickly as possible. She was just about to go out the front door when she found her way blocked by a certain older dalmatian with a stern look on her face.

"Gah! Dolly?" said a surprised Davinci.

"Where are you headed to in such a hurry?" she asked, not even trying to hide her annoyance.

"I'm just headed to the art club to see Jackie."

"Again? Are you going to do this EVERY day?" Dolly asked.

"Well...maybe. What if I am?" Davinci asked a bit defiantly.

"It's just kind of...repetitive. The whole point of you going out and meeting new people and doing new things is kinda lost if you just do the same thing everyday with the same person."

"We're not necessarily going to do the same thing. We might do something different," Davinci countered.

"What's with all this we stuff? What are you guys joined at the hip?"

Davinci blushed, and was now starting to get genuinely annoyed.

"Why are you being so nosy Dolly?"

"Why are you so eager to leave? Is your family not good enough anymore? I mean, we've hardly seen you at all this week. What happened to our skateboarding lessons?"

"That's not fair! Of course I still want to do that...it's just...well, I've finally found a friend who gets me! I'd think you'd be happy for me!

"Davinci, I do want you to be happy, but...look, you hardly know this girl. You can't just become soulmates or whatever until you get to know her better."

"I can't get to know her better if I can't go hang out with her!"

"Yeah well…" Dolly stopped short, unsure of what to say back.

"Look I don't understand why you don't like Jackie, but I have to go see her now. It's important," Davinci said with a resigned frustration. She went past Dolly before she could even reply, taking off without even so much as a goodbye.

"Davinci! DAVINCI!" Dolly called out pitifully. But her sister didn't answer or look back. And honestly, she couldn't blame her.

"Well, I really Dollyed that up, didn't I?" she said to herself. Dylan had actually heard the whole thing from around the corner, and as we walked up to Dolly, he tried to think of something to say that wouldn't sound sarcastic. But he never got the chance.

"Don't say a word Dylan," she said, without looking at him.

Davinci made her way to the park, trying very hard to expel her grouchiness. She didn't want to see Jackie while in a bad mood; she was sure the angel...I mean Dancer would notice it. While she had already been feeling confused earlier, her argument with Dolly just increased it. She couldn't understand why Dolly was acting like this. It was like she was turning into mum or something. Maybe mum had asked Dolly to watch out for her when she started her new venture into the world. It definitely sounded like something Mum would do, but that didn't explain why Dolly was taking it so seriously.

Ah well, she hated arguing with her, but she would have to worry about it later. At the present, she had a more pressing matter on her mind. Figuring out what to do or say when she saw -

"Ooff!" she walked into another dog and fell back. Her mind had been so tunnel-visioned, she didn't realize she was staring at the ground the whole time.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was...Jackie?" Davinci said in surprise.

"Hey there, paint girl. Lost in thought were you?" Jackie asked with a bemused grin.

Davinci scrambled to get up, trying not to look so goofy while doing so. Finally looking at her surroundings, she saw that they were just outside the park by the front entrance.

"What uh..what are you doing here? Is the club not meeting today?" asked Davinci.

"Oh no, I just wanted to meet you,"Jackie responded.

This made Davinci smile. Inwardly, she checked a box under an imaginary list for reasons why she might have a crush.

"Anyway, I thought it'd be cool if we did something different today," said Jackie.

Huh, what a coincidence, thought the painter.

"Well, sure. What did you have in mind?"

"Remember how that fox we met yesterday said you did street art? Well, I'd like to check 'em out if that's cool."

"Oh, really? Well..I suppose so. I haven't done it in a while, and besides they're not that great," Davinci said bashfully.

"Hmm, I'll be the judge of that. C'mon," Jackie said so matter-of-factly that Davinci

Strolling through the city proved to be an interesting challenge for DaVinci. What Jackie considered to be a leisurely pace, turned out to be a full on jog for the Artist. There were many times when she simply couldn't keep up and had to stop for breath. But the dancer was always there to egg her on.

"C'mon tough girl. I thought a street artist would know this town better than me."

"Oh...hush...I know this town...huff!..very well...huff!...I don't see why we need to hurry anyway."

"Aww but DaVinci," Jackie said in a fake sad voice and a pouty face. "I'm just a naive tourist. I need ya help if I'm ever going to find my way around here."

DaVinci gave her the same kind of deadpan face Dylan always gave Dolly when she acted like a child.

"I've been watching you for a while, and I'm pretty sure you can get around by yourself just fine."

"You've been watching me eh?" Said Jackie, raising an eyebrow.

DaVinci suddenly realized what she had just said. "Da...I...you...that's not what I meant!"

"Hahaha, aahhh, you are too easy paint splatter."

This made DaVinci giggle. The kind of giggle you try to stifle because it sounds too childish, but you can't help it. She plucked up a little courage and decided to try and tease back.

"Well...you're too smug sometimes...ballerina," she said somewhat quietly.

Jackie cocked her head to the side. "Was that your attempt at a joke at my expense?"

"Um...yes. How was it?"

"Needs work. I'd figure an artist like you could be more imaginative at pointing out my flaws."

I would if I could find them, or if they even bothered me she thought to herself. Okay, I guess that's another check under the crush list.

"Shut up," she said, making sure her tone sounded playful.

They kept walking until they finally came upon one of DaVinci's first street designs. It was an image of paw prints going in a spiral with many other unique designs around it. Unfortunately, most of it was covered by a lot of graffiti that was rather ugly and unoriginal.

"Aw that's a shame," Jackie said with clear disappointment. "You can barely see it with all that rubbish in the way."

"Oh it's alright, it's to be expected when you do street art," said DaVinci.

"Is that why you don't do it much anymore?"

"Actually, no. There's another reason, I just...don't really like to think about it."

"Oh dear, what happened?"

"It's nothing really, I don't want to bore you."

"You could never bore me. You're the coolest dog I've ever met."

"R..really? Me? I don't think anyone's EVER said that about me."

"Phfft! Well, I think it's pretty clear that most other people are lousy buggers with no taste. Now, c'mon. Let's go see more of your work and you can regale me with tales of your life."

Along their walk, DaVinci talked about her life while also pointing out any art she made that still survived. She told Jackie all about the time she made t-shirts to help out the family, and about the last day she came out to do street art. The same day she also discovered how much she hated crowds. She even told her about how her family had survived a certain insane, fur-obsessed woman.

"Crikey! That's horrible. Gaw, humans really are the worst."

At the moment, they were taking a break underneath an empty table of an outdoor cafe.

"Oh they're not all bad. Remember that nephew of hers actually helped save us. And there's also mum's boss, the doctor. He was really nice," said DaVinci.

"I guess...but I'm still not so sure about them. Truth is, I try to stay clear of them ever since...well, I bit one once," Jackie said rather hesitantly.

"GASP! You did?" Davinci said a bit too loud. She couldn't imagine biting anyone, heck she didn't even play bite with her siblings that much.

"Geez, don't lose yer spots. It was a long time ago," Jackie said, rather dismissively.

"But..what happened? Why did -"

"Look, just forget it okay?" Jackie snapped. She clearly regretted bringing it up.

Davinci quickly shut her mouth and stared at the ground. She found it a bit strange that Jackie wasn't as willing to share much about her life after she had shared so much of hers. She started to notice that she was a bit evasive and also had a bit of a temper. Davinci figured she could check that under the not-a-crush list.

"Sooo.."Jackie said, breaking the tension. "Where is this piece that caused so much trouble?"

"Oh, uh," said Davinci. "It's back towards the park, close to the canal."

"Well, let's go see it," she said getting up. "C'mon, lets not wallow in this awkwardness. No better way to get over it than pretending it didn't happen while we run."

Davinci smiled, admiring her ability to overcome unpleasantness so quickly. And that's another check under the crush box she thought as they made their way towards the canal.