The sound of footsteps echoed through the hallways. They sounded like an elephant stampede. The sound was expected, 500 students were running out of school. The students opened the door, and all left in a few seconds. When everyone left, Zach opened the door. He was well behind everyone else. He was not “excited” to leave, he had no “exciting” summer plans.

Zach walked slowly down Main st. It was a hot, humid summer day. It was one of those days you felt like going home and drinking some cold lemonade. The sun burned his neck and his light brown hair. When he swallowed he got no saliva in return. He turned right on Peak road and kept on going. The shadows of the trees on the sidewalk felt like oasis. Ms Rose waved at him and smiled from her porch, making all her wrinkles grow larger.

“Hello Ms Rose,” said Zach. Rose sat there every single day of that year. Waving at people go by and feeding the birds. At least she was nice to him, most people weren’t. He crossed his worn out yellow lawn to his house.
That’s when he heard the loud happy yelps of Max. Max is an 80 pound german shepard. As soon as Zach opened the gate of his house Max ran right at him and knocked Zach over. Max put both of his front paws on Zach’s chest. Zach looked into Max’s dark brown eyes and could see his own reflection. He could also see a blob of saliva falling from Max’s mouth into his face. He put his dirty sweaty hands up to protect his face, the slimy blob of cold saliva fell his on his hands. It actually felt kind of refreshing.

Zach pushed Max off, and ran inside. Step number 1 for Zach when he came back from school was to eat something. Today it happened to be a popsicle and a half eaten PJ sandwich. Zach bit off half the popsicle and quickly got a brain freeze, his teeth also started to ache. Step 2 was to run upstairs, throw his backpack on his bed and feed his hamster, Barry, (Max tries to eat Barry all the time, but never succeeds). Step 3, Max’s and Zach’s favorite, take Max out to hike through the forest.

“Mom!” moaned Zach. There was no reply. His mom was probably still at work and would not come until she closed her diner.

Zach ran down the stairs, opened the backdoor door of his house and felt the warm sunshine on his face. A few seconds later Zach heard a sound that made him think of an elephant running, jumping off a cliff and landing. Zach looked back at his stairs and saw Max. Zach smiled, and shook his head lightly. Zach and Max jogged quickly across their backyard opened the gate and stepped into the forest. The forest was a cold dark place, but the shade was appreciated in the summer. They walked and walked, Max chased chipmunks, and Zach threw stones at trees, you know, the usual.

They stepped into a open space, the sun shined on them and the sky was an intense blue. Zach protected his eyes with his sweaty arm. In the middle of the open area there was a bush. It started to rustle. Max froze, his ears got even more stiff than they were before. The hairs on Max’s back stood up like porcupine quills. Zach slipped his hunting knife out of his backpack, a drop of sweat dripped down his forehead. He thought it was a grizzly. He knew what he needed to do. He started talking loudly but calmly to let the grizzly know he was there. That’s when he came out of the bushes, but he was not a grizzly he was something much worse and he had an evil smile.

Zach’s heart stopped. His palms started sweating. He saw him. Matthew Linch. The worst bully of all time.

“Hi, Matthew,” mumbled Zach, his voice cracked.

“Nice dog,” said Matthew confidently, he smirked.

“Thanks, why are you being nice to me?” asked Zach, his voice cracked again.

“Because I want to buy him,” said Matthew with a smirk.

“He isn’t for sale,” Zach mumbled back, his heart stopped. Had he just talked back to Matthew.

“That’s too bad, then I am going to have to steal him,” said Matthew confidently with a smile. Matthew started to walk towards Max. He made a grab for max’s collar but missed and landed head first fell into a pile of mud. Zach tried not to laugh by covering his mouth with his palm. Max started rolling on the ground. “I will get you,” matthew paused a little, “you stupid dog!” Matthew breathed heavily.

“Keep on rolling,” said Zach. Matthew scrambled to grab Max, but he could not get a hold of his collar. Max had no idea what was happening, he thought Matthew was playing with him. Max dodged Matthew for a few minutes like a pro football player. When he got tired he lied down, he was not scared of Matthew.

Matthew sprinted and dived at Max and grabbed his collar. That probably was the worst mistake of Matthew’s life.
Max stopped rolling, stood up, and looked into Matthew’s eyes. Max’s lips rised, relieving 2 rows of big sharp teeth. A low growl escaped his mouth. Max. Was. Not. Happy.

Zach started to run to his small house at the edge of town. Zach was not a coward he just wanted to get his house, to call the police. He started screaming, “Max come, come!” Zach heard no answer. He was getting worried, who knew what Matthew could do to a innocent dog. That’s when he heard them. Max’s footsteps. Catching up to him, they sounded like a rhinoceros stampede. Soon after he heard them he saw Matthew, grabbing unto to Max’s collar like a tick on a crazy donkey. Matthew was covered in dirt, and had with cuts all over his legs and arms. That’s what happens when you decide to grab a angry dog’s collar, not let go, and get pulled across half a forest.

His first reaction was to see if Matthew was hurt, his hands were somehow tangled in the collar, Zach untangled Matthew’s dirty and sweaty hands. Zach was in a moment of shock, what would he do with Matthew? He could call 9-1-1, but then Max would get in trouble for hurting Matthew by accident.

Max’s tongue was hanging out of his mouth, and he was panting, really hard. Did he know what he had just done! Probably not, he was just a dog.

Zach inspected Matthew and saw no major cuts or bruises so he decided to bring him into his house. Matthew wasn’t crying, but Zach could tell he was hurt. As soon as Zach opened the door he lay Matthew on the couch and brought him some alcohol to disinfect his cuts. Matthew and Zach sat on the couch together, there was awkward silence. You could hear the AC buzzing and Max snoring. Both kids were sweating and panting, the drops of sweat rolled down their heads, down to their jaws and then eventually down to their necks.

“Sorry,” said Matthew. Zach was shocked, had Matthew just apologized to him, he almost felt like what just had happened was no big deal. Almost. It was a big deal, Matthew had hurt his dog and himself. Now they would both get in trouble. Zach was angry but also felt a need to apologize. No matter how big the mistake Matthew had made, he did get hurt.

“It’s okay, I guess it’s kind of my fault too,” mumbled Zach.

“I have a dog, but he doesn’t listen to me, he even bit me once because I went to close to his food,” Matthew paused, he looked down at his feet and took a deep breath. “and I am always jealous when I see your dog with you. I just don’t get how you trained him and how you created special bond with him,” said Matthew.

“I guess I could help with that,” mumbled Zach, he looked at Matthew and back down at his feet. Could he really help, wondered Zach.

“Really?” asked Matthew, he opened his eyes wide and picked up his gaze from his feet to Zach.

“Yeah, I guess,” said Zach, a smile escaped. “Meet you in the forest at 5 with your dog?” Zach asked. What’s the worst that can happen wondered Zach.

“Okay, but can you also bring your dog?” replied Matthew.

“Yeah, I’ll bring my dog,” Said Zach. They both smiled.