“Okay, well thanks for getting back to me. Please keep me in mind if anything comes up.” I hung up, rubbing a hand down my face.
“No luck?” Mya dropped down beside me.
“No. I called every veterinary clinic within a fifteen-mile radius.”
“Well, that sucks. What about pounds?”
“There’s only two locally. One does offer volunteer positions, but they have no vacancies and the other one is undergoing a restructure so they’re not taking on new staff at the moment.”
“You could widen the radius.”
“I could but anything further and my parents will get suspicious.”
Mya nudged my shoulder. “You could always just tell them.”
“I could but I want to be sure first. If I tell them and it doesn’t work out, I’ll be causing a lot of heartache for nothing.”
“You really think they’ll be that upset? Veterinary school is a solid plan.”
“But it isn’t their plan and it’s at least eight years in school.”
“But do you want it?”
“I think so. I mean, I’ve taken all the right courses and I love animals. But I’ll need to talk to Miss Hampstead about changing my application and I’ll definitely need to find some hands-on experience.”
“Ooh, you could do some dog walking for your neighbors or run a doggie day care service on the weekend.”
“Oh yeah, my anti-pet parents would love that while they overreacted every day that I was going to get Tetanus, or the house invaded with fleas, or the neighbors complain about barking.”
“Okay I get it, over-cautious parent alert. There must be a vacancy somewhere for you.”
“Hey, what are you two doing out here?” Hailee’s brows bunched. “I went to study hall but you weren’t there.”
“I wanted to get a head start on calling local veterinary clinics and Mya found me out here.”
“Any luck?”
“Nothing yet. I may have to figure out a plan B.”
“Have you tried the clinic in town?” she asked.
“No, it’s too close to home. If Mom and Dad find—”
“You don’t have to tell them why you’re doing it yet, just that you want to try new things.”
“I don’t know... it would be ideal being so local.” I wouldn’t have to worry about travel time and maybe I could help after school.
“You should call them,” Mya said, handing me her phone, the clinic’s number already punched in.
“Now?”
“Can you think of a better time?”
Hailee sat down beside me, the two of them giving me expectant stares.
“Fine, but I bet they have nothing.” I’d left it too late to try to find something.
I hit call and waited.
“Hello, Rixon Veterinary Clinic, Regina speaking. How can I help you?”
“Hmm, hi, Regina. I’m a senior at Rixon High School and I was wondering if you have any volunteering opportunities? I’m considering studying animal science at college and really wanted some hands-on experience.”
Mya gave me a little thumbs up.
“I didn’t catch your name?”
“Oh? I’m sorry, it’s Felicity.”
“Well, firstly thanks for thinking of us, Felicity. I’d love to be able to tell you we have something right now, but unfortunately—”
“You don’t.” My shoulders slumped. “I expected as much.”
“I’m sure you can appreciate, we have a rigorous process in place for all of our volunteers and we only recently recruited.”
“Of course, I completely understand.”
“That said, I might be able to arrange you a visit to our sister-center across town.”
“The pet rescue place?” I asked.
“Yes, A Brand New Tail. There’s no permanent volunteer spots at the minute but I’m sure George, the manager, wouldn’t mind showing you around.”
“That would be great, thank you.”
“Excellent. Drop me an email and I’ll forward it to George. We can also add you to the waitlist should anything come up...”
“Thank you so much.” We said goodbye and hung up.
“So...” Mya asked.
“They can let me look around, but they don’t have anything permanent right now.”
“Well, it’s a step in the right direction.” She gave me a reassuring smile. “And who knows. Maybe you can work your magic on George and get him to give you a shift or two?”
“Mya!” My cheeks burned. “I would never—”
“Relax, I’m joking. But it’s good to see you smile, girl.”
It felt good to smile. Until I spotted Cameron, Asher… and Jason heading in our direction. My breath caught in my throat. Even now, after everything, my heart still wanted him. The rest of me wanted nothing more than to watch him combust into flames, but my heart, well it wasn’t quite there yet.
Before they reached us, Jason split away from his friends and took off toward the gym. I let out a little sigh of relief, ignoring the way my stomach sank, and pasted on the brightest smile I could for Cameron and Asher.
“Ladies,” Asher said. “We missed you at lunch.” His eyes settled on mine, asking me things I didn’t want to answer.
“We had a... thing.” Mya winked at me.
“A thing. I like things. You could have invited me.”
“Asher,” Hailee warned.
“It’s okay, Hails. You don’t all have to pretend this isn’t awkward. But I’m fine. Truly.”
“That’s the spirit, Fee, baby. So what’s happening?”
“Felicity is trying to figure out her future,” Hailee said.
“Sounds interesting. Anything we can help with?”
“Not unless you know of a veterinary clinic taking on volunteers.”
“Huh.” Asher’s brows pinched. “I never had you down as a cat lover.”
“Hey, I like dogs too. Anything soft and cute really, I don’t discriminate.”
“You’ve tried the one downtown?”
I nodded. “They have nothing. I’ll figure something out.” I waved him off, hoping to deflect the attention from me to someone else. The last thing I needed was Asher on the case. He was worse than a dog with a bone.
“We should probably head to practice before Coach comes looking for us.” Cameron reached for Hailee, pulling her to her feet. “I’ll miss you.”
“Miss you too,” she said, kissing him.
“Miss you three,” Asher added around a grin.
Cameron flipped him off behind Hailee’s back.
“You’ll be at the game Friday, right?” Asher turned his attention to me and Mya.
“Actually,” I tucked my long bangs behind my ear, “I don’t think so.”
“What the fuck? You have to come. It’s our final game before the play-offs.”
“Hails will be there, right, Hails?”
“Yes, she will,” Cam answered for her.
“See, you have to come.”
“Hailee can hang out with Cam’s parents.” His mom and dad were making the trip to Brennington since she was finally feeling a little better.