.
Megan laughed at her. ‘You’re such an actress, Ellie! You’re behaving like I never take you for walks. And it’s not fair, because you know I’d love to[21]. But we have to get everything into boxes.’ She sighed. ‘And Mum’s only given me these ones. She says if I can’t get all my stuff in here, I’m going to have to sort some of it out and get rid of[22] it.’ She looked round her room worriedly. It seemed an awful lot to fit into such a small stack of boxes.
Megan went over to the window sill and started to pack her collection of toy dogs into a box. She had loads, all different breeds, but more than half of them were Labradors, like Ellie. Officially, she was a Yellow Labrador, but Megan thought yellow wasn’t the right word at all. Ellie was really a rich honey-golden colour, with pale cream fur on her tummy. Her ears were a shade darker than everywhere else, and super-silky. Mum reckoned that Ellie might get darker as she got older, to match her ears, but Megan wasn’t sure. She would be growing for ages[23], anyway; she was just four months old at the moment. But even though Ellie was only a puppy, she was always bursting with energy.
Ellie stared soulfully at Megan, watching her tape[24] up the box. It looked fun. Her ears twitched, and her tail wagged a little. Perhaps she could jump at that tape? She was never quite sure what was naughty, and sometimes jumping at things got her told off[25]…
Suddenly, Ellie’s ears pricked up. She could hear someone coming down the path. Tail wagging, she stood up on the bed to look out of the window, and gave Megan a little warning bark. It was Bella!
Before Bella even had the chance to ring the bell, Megan and Ellie raced out of the room and down the stairs, making for[26] the front door. Ellie won easily. She always did[27]. She was amazingly fast. She scrabbled at the front door with her paws, barking excitedly, until Megan caught up[28].
‘Ssshh! Ellie, ssshh! Come back, look, I can’t open the door when you’ve got your paws on it, can I?’
Ellie scampered back, panting excitedly. She knew Megan’s friend Bella, and she hoped this meant a walk after all[29]. She was used to walking[30] with Bella, as Megan and her mum usually picked Bella up on the way to school. Ellie and Megan often walked round the corner to Bella’s house when they went to the park too, as Megan’s parents didn’t like her going on her own, even when she had Ellie with her.