The air was crisp and ripe, just the way autumn air should feel. There was a deluge of feelings coming from every crevice of the earth, though not all of them good. There was the end of summer, and the beginning of school. That was never a good thing. Well no, that wasn’t quite true either. At the end of summer, Talia always felt this anxious itch to return to the classroom and see all of her friends again. Of course, she saw most of them over the summer, through Larkspur camp and sleepovers and mall visits and plain-old hanging out, but it just didn’t have the same appeal as school did. She wanted to return to laughing in the hallways, dishing out rumors, getting frustrated at teachers, and seeing all the cute boys that have inevitably missed her over the summer (they did miss her, right?)

After all, this was the most important year of school, so how could she bare to miss it? This was her senior year! This was the year she would look back upon, and laugh at all the silly memories and worries she had made. At least, that was what everyone had told her. It would be the year she would attend prom as a senior, not just an underclassman. She would find the boyfriend of her dreams, and then go off to college and live happily ever after.

Well maybe that last part wasn’t all correct, but it was definitely how she was picturing her romance life going.

Not to mention she would graduate! She would finally be free of the teenage ties to high school, and all the bullshit and drama that came with it. What more could you want? Of course, this was from the perspective of a teenage drama queen, so maybe she was overexaggerating the teenage rebellion just a tad. Regardless, graduating was still exciting. No doubt her entire family would be invited, second cousins included. Talia wasn’t sure if her father’s side of the family would join, since they had never really approved of her mother. They still sent cards occasionally, and Talia knew that more than a few pictures of her had been sent through the mail. Maybe they would put their differences decide and gather together for a moment in her life. Of course, these weren’t really her problems to worry about. Best to just leave that to the adults, right?

Talia snapped the car door shut, as did her mother. Dahlia headed in the door, leaving her daughter to get the dog out of the car. It had been sitting in Talia’s lap the entire way home, worried and scared at the prospect of a moving car (after all, the little puppy had never been in one!) but also excited to see a new environment. Talia was just glad the stupid thing hadn’t peed on her whilst they were driving. If that would’ve happened, she probably would’ve turned around and just returned the dog to the pound.

It seemed the dog was extraordinarily suited for Talia though. There was a reason she didn’t like kids- they were messy, rude, and irrevocably obnoxious. Basically, they were small animals, like mice or small dogs. This dog was definitely different though. On the drive it hadn’t tried to run around the car, but instead sat patiently in her lap. Once they had arrived in the house, the dog hadn’t squirmed or barked to be let down. Instead, it sat with its tongue out and eyes wide at its new surroundings. Come to think of it, the bark hadn’t really barked at all in the car. It had been pretty loud at the pound though. Maybe it was just going through a phase of shock. Poor thing.

Talia shut the door behind her and handed the dog over to her mother, who proceeded to coo and cuddle the dog, repetitively calling it “butter-ball.” Talia rolled her eyes and said, “We are so not naming it that.” She wouldn’t be able to live it down if she had to run around down shouting, “No Butter-Ball! Don’t go over there!” She would definitely be the laughing stock of the dog park, and that was a roll she didn’t want any time soon. She already had Sailor Draconis, and that was more than enough of a reputation for her.

She tromped up the stares to get a blanket for the dog to lay on. Dogs liked that right? All of Talia’s floors were hardwood- she could hardly imagine that was very friendly on the dog’s little paws. As she went up the stairs, she realized that the dog really didn’t have a name. She was going to have to think of a name, wasn’t she? Even though it was officially the “family dog,” it was pretty well established that this was going to be Talia’s dog, and that she would have most of the responsibility. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing though. Weren’t dogs supposed to teach responsibility or something?

Opening the closet in the hallway, there was a plethora of odd cloth objects, from towels to coats to blankets. Talia reached as far back as she could, and found the item she had been looking for. It was a blanket that was old and used, but not yet thrown out. Dahlia was extremely fond of taking old things and making them into new things, so she hadn’t thrown out the blanket quite yet. Luckily, it would be fulfilling its recycled purpose. The dog could tear it up and roll around on it, without the family having to worry about their own precious property being ruined. Much better to have a blanket peed on than a priceless family heirloom, right? With any hope, the dog wouldn’t pee on anything. They had even signed up for special training classes with the dog, as none of them knew how to properly train a puppy. This was one family that was prepared to take on a dog, even if Talia wasn’t.

As she started down the stares, Talia couldn’t help but think of prospective names for the dog. Of course, the stereotypical “Buddy,” “Skipper,” and “Lassie,” came to mind first, along with the clichéd, “fluffy,” and “princess.” Talia really wasn’t that creative, so she might’ve just picked one of those names to be honest.

When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs, she carelessly said, “What do you think about the name Lucky?” It was the first name she had thought of, and honestly it wasn’t a huge commitment. Just spur of the moment.

Her mother, however, seemed clearly offended. “Talia! You can’t just go naming a dog willy nilly. You have to put time and effort into it! It has to embody the dog! Embrace the nature and affinity that is the dog!”

Talia just stared at her mother skeptically, in the way that teenagers so often did. “Okay Ms. Dramatic, what do you suggest?” She patted the blanket down onto the floor, and put the little miniature gate around it like they had planned. Dog books had told them this was actually good for the dog, not bad. It apparently gave the dog a place to call its own, its “territory.” Eventually, Talia wanted the dog to be able to run all around the house without causing havoc, but for now this was the best they could do.

“Oh I couldn’t name it, it’s your dog Talia,” her mother began.

“Good, now if you don’t mind-”

“But I did have a few ideas.”

Talia rolled her eyes. Of course her mother would do something like this. “Alright, let’s hear them then.” She knew if she didn’t let her mother go off on a tangent now, she would never hear the end of it later.

“Well I was thinking Justin, like the Bieber one. You guys like him, right?” Oh God she was trying way too hard for this. The disapproval just leaking off of her expression. Her mother shrugged and smiled awkwardly, “Yeah I don’t like him much either, but I thought you might. Don’t most teenage girls like him?” Again the disapproving look returned. This really wasn’t going well for poor Dahlia. With a gulp, she attempted again to convince her disappointed daughter of a good name. This really should’ve been the other way around, shouldn’t it? “Wh-What about Sunshine? I had a dog when I was little named Sunshine. She was the cutest little thing in the world, what with her ears all floppy and-“

“Moooooom,” she whined, “This dog is a boy! He can’t have a name like Sunshine!” Talia and her mother were locked in a star off for a moment, until her mother finally relented in total defeat.

“Alright, Alright. Then what would you suggest?” she said, placing the dog on the blanket. She joined her daughter on the ground, and they bother watching the little puffball for a moment. Talia bit her lip. She was good at arguing, not coming up with things by herself. Honestly she hadn’t thought of a single name.

Of course, this was the 21st century. Technology to the rescue, right! Talia whipped out her phone and began surfing the internet for the most popular dog names. “What about …” she drawled, as she searched the list, “Uhhh… Max?” Her mother shook her head. “Buddy?” Nope. “Buster? Rocky?” All nos. “Rocky?” That one got a tongue stuck out. “Buster? Danny? Charlie? Bear? Harley?” All nos as well. Talia finally through up her arms in exasperation.

Her mother had the exact same sentiments it seemed. “Well … why don’t we just pick a random name? You could take a poll from people and see what’s most popular?” Her mom smiled a goofy smile, like she thought this was great.

“No thanks, mom. I’m not that desperate,” she smiled awkwardly, like so many teenagers do when their parents give them an extremely awkward situation. Talia was just about to give up and name the dog Lucky. Take the easy way out- no one would care what the dog was named anyways, right?

“How about this. We’ll turn on the tv, and the first thing that comes on, we’ll name it that!” Talia gave a disapproving look, but she could see the logic in it. That way it would be left to the fates (or at least, the TV programmers), and neither side could argue.

Like every lawyer, Talia could see the flaw in this plan. “What if something stupid comes on tv? Like Sham-wow or something. Mom I don’t want a dog named sham-wow!” She gave a giggle at that one, and her mother joined in.

Needless to say, her mother definitely agreed with her, to some extent. “Alright, if something like that comes on tv, we just won’t count that.” Dahlia gave a playful wink to show she was both serious and silly at the same time.

Talia rolled her eyes and said, “Alright, but seriously. No sham-wow!” This had to be the craziest way to name a dog ever. It was like those people who let kids name themselves. Nobody wanted “Spiderman” to be their son’s name. At least for dogs it could sort of pass off depending on the type of dog.

Dahlia flipped on the tv and they waited. It had been left on the sci-fi channel, for some ungodly reason. At least it wasn’t on MTV or VH1, the channels that Talia like best. It would be super awkward having “The Situation” for a dog. Then again, it would be awkward having “The Situation” for anything.

The tv took a moment to start up, and then an image from star wars popped up. Chewbacca was doing his famous wookie call into battle. Talia and her mother just stared at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing. A dog named wookie! Seriously! They were both laughing so hard that Talia started crying from her hissy fit.

She turned to her mother and, in between giggles, said, “Alright mom! Wookie it is!” They both looked at the dog, now named Wookie, paused for a moment, and then burst into another round of laughter.

((WC: 2,035))