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.

‘Hi, Megan! Mum said I could come round and help you pack, if that’s OK with your mum and dad?’ Bella looked hopefully at Megan’s dad, who was struggling into the hall [31] carrying a massive box of china [32] from the kitchen.

‘Umph! Fine by me,’ Dad said, putting down the box carefully. ‘But make sure you do pack [33], girls, OK? Not just chatting.’

Bella stared around Megan’s room. ‘All these boxes!’ She slumped down on Megan’s bed sadly, and Ellie scrambled up after her to lick her face. ‘Oof, not so much, Ellie! Oh, Megan, I’ve known for ages you were going [34], but it seems so real now.’

Megan sat down beside her, and Ellie wriggled happily between them. ‘I know. Packing makes it seem as though it really is happening. The day after tomorrow…’ Megan’s voice wobbled, and Ellie turned to lick her too. What was the matter with them both? She looked worriedly from Megan to Bella and back again, making her big puppy ears swing. Something was definitely wrong. Ellie stood up with her paws on Megan’s shoulder, and stuffed her cold black nose firmly into Megan’s ear. That always made her laugh.

Megan did laugh this time too [35], and so did Bella, but somehow they still sounded sad.

‘I suppose at least we can send each other emails,’ Bella said, reaching out to stroke Ellie, and Megan nodded.

‘And we can phone.’ Megan laughed. ‘Mum said she thought they might have to get me my own phone line [36], or they’d never get to use the phone themselves! It won’t be the same as taking Ellie to the park with you, though.’

Ellie stood on the bed, listening to them with her head on one side. Something was definitely going on [37].

‘I’m going to miss her too,’ Bella agreed, tickling Ellie’s ears. ‘You know Mum still won’t let me get a dog because she says we haven’t got the time to look after one. Now I won’t even be able to share Ellie with you. And she’s growing so quickly. I probably won’t recognize her soon.’

Ellie wagged her tail delightedly as Bella fussed over [38] her.

‘I’ll email you loads of photos,’ Megan promised. ‘And you’re coming to stay. [39] Mum and Dad are going to get me a sleepover bed that slides under mine. Ellie can be half your dog again then.’

‘You’d better record her bark for me [40], too,’ Bella reminded her. ‘I’ll never get out of the house for school in the morning without Ellie barking outside the gate.’

Ellie yawned. Megan and Bella kept fiddling around with those boxes and talking, and no one was taking her for a walk. She was bored. She slid off the bed and squeezed underneath it. There were always interesting things to play with under there…

‘I knew it!’ Megan’s dad put his head round the door five minutes later. ‘You two are sitting there chatting, instead of filling boxes.’

‘Sorry!’ Megan and Bella jumped up, and Megan grabbed a pair of trainers and stuffed them quickly into a box, just to look busy.

‘And what’s Ellie doing under there?’ Dad asked, peering round the end of Megan’s bed.

Ellie crept out from under the bed looking rather guilty, with half a roll of brown packing tape attached to her whiskers. It was very chewy, though she didn’t really like the taste, and it seemed to have stuck…

‘Naughty Ellie!’ Megan giggled. ‘Sorry, Dad. I’ll clean her up…’

Dad shook his head. ‘Honestly, after she ate your mum’s shoe yesterday, you’d think she’d have had enough of chewing things [41]. Just keep an eye on her, OK?’

Megan nodded apologetically, and started to peel the tape off Ellie’s muzzle. ‘Silly dog,’ she muttered lovingly, as Ellie squirmed. ‘Yes, I know it’s not nice, but you can’t go round with parcel tape all over you. There!’

After that the girls made a real effort to get on with packing, and for the next hour they hardly even chatted [42] at all.

Ellie whined miserably. After Megan had taken the tape away and told her off, she’d sat so patiently, waiting for someone to play with her, or take her for a walk, or at least stroke her. But Megan and Bella just kept taking things off the shelves and putting them into those strange-smelling boxes. Ellie didn’t like it. This was her room, and it was changing. She liked it the way it was before.

‘Oh, Ellie, are you bored?’ Megan picked her up, hugging her gently. ‘I wish I could play with you too. [43] But we won’t be much longer.’

‘Actually, I told Mum I’d be back around now,’ said Bella, hugging Megan and Ellie both at the same time. ‘I can’t believe you’ve only got tomorrow left!’ She gulped. ‘I wish Mum hadn’t arranged for us to go and see my cousins, [44] not on your last day. Call me soon? [45] Promise! Bye, Megan!’ Then she dashed out of the room and down the stairs, almost slamming the front door behind her.

Megan sat down limply on her bed, looking round at the piles of boxes, all labelled by Bella in her favourite glittery felt tips with her best spelling, which was dreadful. ‘It’s going to be brilliant,’ she told Ellie again, but this time she didn’t feel quite so sure.

Chapter Two

Packing up had been an adventure to start with, but by the second day, everyone was starting to get grumpy [46]. It was such a huge job. The removals van was coming early the next morning, and everything had to be packed up by then. Megan could tell that her mum was panicking that they wouldn’t be ready in time.