My eyes snapped open as an earthquake shook me awake.

“Will you_ cut it out_?” I pleaded as my little sister, Harmony let out a squeal.

“When you wake up you look like a creepy doll.” She said gleefully, shoving my side. Despite her small size, her tiny hands pushed me to my side.

“Thanks. Always wanted that.” I responded bitterly as she skipped out of the room. I rubbed my side and reached for my night-stand, my blurry eyes stuggling to make out any definite shapes yet.

7:30, yet it was already bright out. I groaned. At least it was a Saturday. Nothing to do today except homework, but even that was ten times worse with a six year old constantly begging for you to play Kitchen.

I stumbled to the bathroom, struggling to find my balance and splashed the icy water on my face. I wasn’t allowed to drink coffee, so I’ve gotten into the habit of jump-starting myself for the day with an artic-cold plunge. Though, sometimes Harmony herself was enough to push me through the morning. My parents tell me that she’s in the ‘insult’ phase and that it’ll only last a few more weeks but I’m not so sure. She’s always been brutally honest to me from the day she could talk.

I sighed and splashed myself again. I wonder why she was so worked up today.

I changed into a purple shirt and threw on an old pair of sweatpants before stumbling down the stairs towards the smell of bacon. Mom must’ve been cooking for us today. Her specialty was bacon while my dad could only whip up a few hard-boiled eggs as long as he Googled how to do it first.

“You might want to change,” Mom warned me.

“Why?”

“Mommy promised me an ice-cream! Mommy promised me an ice-cream!” Harmony danced around the kitchen. I could never understand how she had so much energy this early.

I grabbed a piece of bacon and leaned against the counter. “This early?”

“I promised her,” My mom grumbled, not seeming as excited about the idea. I had to agree with her. Harmony having sugar in the morning? She would become a tornado for the rest of the day. Mom, Dad, and I would be an absolute wreck by the end of the day trying to keep her occupied. I guess that’s what I get for being the oldest by several years.

I took another piece of bacon and rushed up the stairs to change into a pair of jeans. We left 30 minutes later, Mom driving, me in the passenger seat, and Harmony in the back. You could barely hear the radio over her loud chant.

“We’re getting ice-cream! We’re getting ice cream!”

I rubbed my forehead.

This would be a long day.

All the tables inside the small, pastel ice cream shop were full, so we had to sit outside under one of the light pink unbrellas.

It was a perfect place for trouble.

Harmony dropped her ice-cream on the ground almost immediately. Mom bought her another while I picked it up with several napkins, getting the sticky goo all over my hands.

Not too bad so far, but it was so hot outside our ice-creams started melting off their cones, forcing us to eat quicker, which caused Harmony a brain-freeze and trust me, when Harmony is in discomfort she lets _everyone _know_. _Me and mom tried to calm her down while sympathetic strangers gave us grimacing smiles.

Harmony is just too much.

I took a sigh of relief when we returned to the safety of the car. I deflated into the brown leather, until Mom announced that she was going to go get groceries. She got all grouchy when I tried to protest, so I sat there in silence as we drove towards the store.

Whenever Mom goes shopping, I have to make sure Harmony doesn’t cause trouble. That usually means taking her to the massive pet store right next to the grocery store and standing next to her while she stares at fish swim.

For at least 30 minutes.

I grabbed her hand and sighed as we walked towards the pet store. Harmony bounced beside me and rattled off some sort of tounge-twister a kid taught her at school. I wondered how her teachers kept her handled.

My spirits lifted only a little once we stepped through the automatic doors. I didn’t mind how the place smelled like dogs and the constant barking. I used to have a dog when I was younger. That was before Harmony came into the world. Her name was Bella. After she died, Mom promised that I could get another pet.

Then Harmony came.

And I was still left waiting.

Harmony dragged me across the building, swerving down aisles and making the place seem more like a maze than it was. Then we halted in front of the blue fish tanks. She pressed her face up against the glass. I stood.

We had a really nice conversation.

It kind of went like this:

“Fish!”

“Can we go now?”

“Fish!”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Fish!”

“Mhm.”

“Fish!”__

_ “Can you stop saying fish?_”

I’ll let you guess who said what.

That’s when a small little beagle marched up behind us and let out a loud _woof_! Harmony screamed bloody-murder and I was too startled to try and calm her down. The beagle sniffed my ankle and I snapped into action.

“Harmony! Shut up!” I snapped, which shut her up pretty quickly.

I reached down and grabbed the beagles collar. He started licking my hands as if he didn’t just scare the daylights out of me.

“Who’s your owner, buddy?” I asked, sweeping my hair out of my eyes.

A worker came rushing down the hall with a broken leash.

“I’m sorry! He broke loose again.” The lady said, reaching down and grabbing the dog.

“It’s okay.”

That’s when Mom came rushing in behind us, queuing Harmony to start crying and playing the victim. I pet the dog as Mom tried to comfort her with several bags of groceries in hand.

I pet the whimpering dog and internally rolled my eyes at Harmony.

“What’s his name?” I asked over her loud wails.

“Keith. The leashes we are required to use are so thin that he escapes all the time.” The worker said with an apologetic smile. I nodded.

“He’s for sale?”

“He sure is! Are you thinking about adopting him? He’s only four years old—“ the worker started blabbering on and on about the dog, forcing me into a ‘smile and nod’ scenario. Harmony’s screams faded out and the worker shoved the dog into my arms.

“I’ll go talk to your mother!”

I bit my lip. Talk to my mother about a dog? After the situations with Harmony today? She would never agree.

But I couldn’t let go of the small hope in my heart that maybe she would push her grouchiness of the day aside and let me get Keith. Besides, Bella was the sweetest dog I’ve ever had. Maybe she left my mothers heart melted when it came to the animal.

Maybe the day I finally got my second dog would be here.

The day I’ve been waiting for.

(I kind of lost track of the prompt in the middle of writing the story so I’m sorry if it seems rushed <3)

(And of course she got the dog I’m not that evil. They lived happily ever after.)