~June 12, 2017~

"Kyle time to leave!" Alice called from the living room. I stuff the last part of my toast and whipped my mouth with the back of my hand. I slipped on the blue t-shirt from the pet shelter and ran out the door after Alice. Alice had insisted on buying two extra t-shirts, because if I was going to wear them all days from 9 AM to 6 PM and work with dogs and cats all day, I was only going to wear the shirt once. Alice stated she wasn't doing laundry every day.

I hopped in the front seat as Alice started the car.

"You're not going to go on Fridays anymore at the shelter. Well, you're only staying until 12:00 PM." Alice told me during the drive there.

"Why?" I asked. "If I start at 9:00. That's only like three hours." I said, disappointed. "That's not a lot."

"I still think it's a bit much to stay from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM in one place for you, so don't go complaining." Alice told me. "And I want us to get ready for the Sabbath."

Alice was trying really hard to get us to go to church every Saturday. A Seventh Day Adventist Church. The only Max had told us about, actually the one he drove Alice to every Saturday. I stayed home sometimes. Waking up in a Saturday early? Please.

"You're going to start waking up early." Alice told me. "And you're going to go to the kids class too."

"Alice! No, please! No!" I begged her.

"Kyle that's my final decision. You'll make friends there. I know you will. Melody is great, but I think you need some friends that are boys." Alice told me.

"Be happy I even have a friend." I mumbled.

"Kyle. I am happy you're friends with Melody, I am. But it doesn't hurt to have more friends." Alice told me.

"I don't have a ton of practice making friends." I reminded her. "Remember the whole, always getting bullied, thing?"

"I know Kyle, but you've changed. I don't know how to explain it. But in less than a year, you've changed a lot. You stand up for yourself, though you've picked up a few fights which I wasn't too happy about, and you're a lot more comfortable around people." Alice told me. I didn't say anything. I did feel different. A good different, but I didn't think I changed that much. I couldn't have. Right?

We arrived at the pet shelter. I hoped out of the car and closed the door shut. I ran towards the building.

"Bye!" Alice called. I waved my hand out of habit.

"Bye!" I added after I realized what I did. I knew Alice was worried on me. She didn't want me to stop talking again. I knew she was worried about me, in general. The whole friend making thing, and I knew she wasn't totally convinced on the fact when I told her that the bullying stopped. Sure I had gotten teased, but at least I hadn't gone after the people that bullied Melody. That would not have ended pretty.

I walked through the door, the little bell above the door ringing. Ann was at the front desk again.

"Hey Kyle. We have our other Teen Volunteer here today too." Ann told me. I followed her to the dog room. A tall boy stood in the pen. All the dogs tried getting on top of him. His brown hair was flying allowed the place, as dogs claimed all over him.

"Minho." Ann said. The boy stood up. "Minho this I Kyle. Kyle this is Minho."

"What's up?" Minho asked. I didn't have a chance to respond.

"You two better start getting along, because you two are the only two volunteering this summer so far. I'm working in the front, so that means you two are taking care of the dogs and cats." Ann told us.

"You get paid, and you have the easiest job." Minho said.

"And you volunteer here out of your own free will." Ann reminded him. Minho didn't have a response. Ann left the room.

"Go take care of the cats." Minho demanded.

"No." I told him.

"No?" He asked standing up from the dogs.

"No." I repeated, witch probably wasn't the best thing to say. He walked out of the pen. He was about two inches taller than me, but I decided not to back down. At least not yet.

"Listen up here. I am on my 2ed strike. One more mess up and I'm a goner." Minho told me. "So, you're going to get in that room. Clean up the pen. Put new toys in. Put the dirty toys to be washed. Then you're going to brush every cat and play with each one of them."

"Then we'll both work in the dogs, get that done, then carry on to the cats." I said, trying to compromise. Minho scrunched up his nose and took deep breaths in and out.

"Fine Chris-"

"Kyle."

"Whatever!" He said throwing his arms us and walking away. We split up the dogs in half. Minho with one half and I had the other half. I changed out the toys, and put the dirty toys in the laundry basket. I brushed every dog with a brush and made sure they were sparkling clean. I played with each one of them one on one, until Minho was done too. We finished playing with the dogs and went to the cat room. We repeated everything.

Time went by and we finished everything. I looked at my watch. 5:55. Good enough. I washed my hands and stood outside waiting for Alice. Minho came outside right after me and hoped on a bike that was leaning against the building. He pedaled away quickly without another word.

Alice pulled up in front of the building. I jumped into the front seat and put my seatbelt on.

"Are there any other kids working here?" Alice asked.

"Yup." I said. And he stinks.

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Author's Note

For this book my goal is going to be to write around 1,000 words per chapter. I think everyone will like longer chapters :)

Written: December 7th
Word Count: 1050