Page 36 of Signed, I'm Yours!
“Yeah. How could you!” Robin adds when a big furry thing jumps at Jack.
“Rat! Rat!” I scream and back away into a ball on the floor.
There’s a deafening silence following my cry, and when I eventually look up, everyone is staring at me. Again.
“What are you doing?” Brandon asks.
I point at Jack.
“A rat jumped at Jack!” I say.
“That’s Shuga. That’s not a rat.”
I scoff.
“I mean, I’m not one to judge, but I think it’s highly offensive to call Jack’s girlfriend a rat.”
Everyone frowns except for Jack, of course, who’s holding a furball to his neck and beaming.
“Jack’s girlfriend?” Zeke asks. “What are you talking about?”
“Sugar,” I tell them.
“The sugar glider?” Robin asks.
Thewhatglider?
I look closer into Jack’s hand. Sure enough, a little head with huge eyes peeks through. A fluffy tail is draped over Jack’s neck. It’s definitely not a rat. More like…a beaver. Or something.
“He’s just kidding guys. Don’t pay him any mind. He’s a real joker. He likes to tease me that Shuga is like my girlfriend. You know, I have to be on time, or she’ll chew my ear off and all that,” Jack says, and for a moment, everyone stays quiet.
Then, one by one, starting with Annie, they all burst into laughter.
“He’s so right! Shugaislike a girlfriend!” Annie chuckles, and everyone walks into the apartment, leaving me for last.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
He shrugs me off. “It’s all good.”
This time, his smile doesn’t quite shine in his eyes, and I worry this is all too much for him. Lying to his partner might not be that bad, but lying to his friends…is evil. Maybe. I’m not sure. IfI had any friends, I might know how he feels right now. But since I don’t—and since I’m a supervillain, anyway—I don’t care.
“You have a beaver?” I ask him.
He narrows his eyes and chuckles.
“You mean a sugar glider?”
“Eh, same species.”
“Have you…seen a beaver before? They’re nothing alike. He’s more opossum than beaver.”
I raise an eyebrow and glance at the little beaver.
“Yeah. Exactly. Same thing. Beaver, opossum.”
“That is not what I said.”
“Anyway…” I walk into the apartment, taking my coat off for the first time in what feels like forever. “This is where you live?”
