Today, Eve had invited me to go volunteer at the local animal shelter. After little thought, Amanda had actually let me go. I was so nervous I was trembling.
A dress? Jeans? Shorts? A t-shirt? A sweater? I bet I'm probably over thinking everything.
"Annie, you're starting to worry me." Amanda said, walking into my room.
I threw a pillow at her face. "Go! I'm not dressed."
"I also changed all of your diapers." She pointed out, catching the pillow in both hands. She threw it on my bed and sat next to it.
I rolled my eyes. "I don't know what to wear."
"Wear jeans and a t-shirt." Amanda said.
"No! It's too casusal." I sighed.
"You're going to take care of animals. You don't want to be fancy." Amanda laughed.
I bit my bottom lip. "Would jeans and a V neck sweater work?"
"Perfect." My sister nodded.
So, denim jeans with holes at the knees, and a black v neck sweater it was.
"So," Amanda lifted a hip and slid her hand into her back pocket, and out came some cash. "here's some money for lunch afterwards."
"Okay, thanks." I smiled, taking the twenty dollar bill from her.
My phone started to vibrate against my pillow, so I took it off of it's charger. I saw Eve was calling, I answered.
"Hey, Annie. I'm waiting downstairs for you." Her voice sounded.
"Okay, I'm coming!" I replied. "Just let me throw some shoes on."
"Okay, see you soon."
I hung up. "She's here, I'm gonna head out now."
Amanda stood, and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "Okay. Go have fun."
I pushed both hands into my pockets and made my way out of the apartment. I hadn't been to an animal shelter in a really long time. The last time was probably in 7th grade when we went to a shelter to volunteer as a class, we got extra points on our final which helped me a lot.
Eve stood against the wall entering my building. She was wearing black jeans and a purple t-shirt tucked into her waistband. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she had a sweater tied around her waist.
"Are you cold?" I laughed.
She shook her head, her blond hair waving around wildly. "No. I ran here."
"You live like, seven blocks away." I raised my eyebrows.
"I run twelve daily." She laughed. "I've really took an interest in running."
"Really?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, hard to see, right?"
And it was. She used to hate playing tag with me and Lucas, she always complained we were too fast.
I agreed.
"Okay, we're gonna take a cab. I already called and I have the money." She said.
"Did they say when they'd be here?"
"I called five minutes ago, and they said five minutes. So, I'm assuming now." She smiled.
I laughed. "That would make sense."
"It would." She responded.
And it did. The cab pulled up the side walk, and we both got in. Eve relayed the address to the guy, and we drove off.
The animal shelter was empty for the most part, apart from the people that worker there and all of the animals of course.
"Are you two the new volunteers?" A guy with bright blue hair asked.
"That's us!" Eve said happily.
"Thank G-d!" He said enthusiastically. "We haven't had volunteers in so long. We actually have the two best patients right now. Come on back with me."
Eve looked at me, and I looked back at her. We smiled.
He took us back into the room with, what I could tell, rodents. "We have two baby ferrets we just rescused yesterday. They need some serious TLC." The guy said.
"What should we do?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Feed them, give them attention. Be super careful. They're fragile." He said, opening up a cage where you could hear baby squeaks coming from.
"Awww!" Eve grinned, looking at the two animals. "They're so cute, Annie."
"Oh right, I never caught your names." The guy said.
"I'm Annie."
"I'm Eve."
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Brian. I'll be over there," he pointed to a cage, "rat with a serious flu."
"Rat's can get the flu?" I asked.
"Of course." He nodded.
I shrugged.
"Okay, if you need anything, I'm there." He said again before leaving us to ourselves.
"Ready to take care of some ferrets?" Eve asked.
"More so than I've ever been." I laughed.
"He peed on you." Eve laughed, her face was red, tears were streaming from her eyes.
I rolled my eyes as I lifted a new t-shirt over my head. "Whatever."
"He-He." She couldn't catch her breath.
I huffed, grabbing my black sweater, which was now officially pissed on by a very cute baby ferret, in her face.
She screamed. "Oh my G-d!"
"Now shut up about the pissy sweater." I laughed.
"How dare thee." She put a hand on her chest.
"Sorry about that." The guy came back in, a hand wrapped around his neck.
"It's okay. I've had babies pee on my before, this was nothing." I waved it off.
He smiled brightly. "I'm glad. Most volunteers we've been getting scream at the sight of ferrets. I think they're cute."
"I used to have a ferret!" I commented.
"Really?" Eve asked.
I nodded. "Back in Georgia."
"That's so cool." She said.
"Anyway, we've gotta head out. But we'd love to come back sometime." I said.
"How soon?" He asked, "We've got volunteer spaces open every day."
"We should come after school." Eve said. "I've got nothing better to do."
"Me either." I said. "After school tomorrow, possibly, after I ask my overprotective sister."
"Sounds like a plan." Brian said. "See you tomorrow!"
We waved bye and left.
"So where are we going to eat?" I asked.
"Pizza sound good?" She offered.
"Sure." I agreed. "Do you know a place?"
"I sure do!" She laughed, pointing across the street.
"Oh, that works." I nodded.
We made the small journey into the pizza shop. And I must say, it was delicious.
"That wasn't even your sweater." Amanda groaned. "It was mine!"
"It'll wash out." I laughed, pouring myself a glass of tea. "It's just pee."
She rolled her eyes. "Ferret pee."
"You didn't care when Dumbo peed on you." I commented.
"Dumbo the Ferret, might I add, you named him. And plus, I never held him unless I wore a ratty old shirt. Not my fancy sweaters!"
"It wasn't fancy!" I defended myself. "It was just a regular old sweater."
"Whatever. Did you have fun?" She asked.
I nodded. "Tomorrow, can me, Eve and Lucas walk to school tomorrow?"
"Sure, but why not Aria?" She asked.
"Aria has to go see Barba about trial." I replied.
"Oh. How's that going, by the way?"
I shrugged. "It's going. She's scared out of her mind."
"I would be too. I don't know how you held up, Annie." Amanda wrapped her arms around me.
"Me either, Mandy. Me either."
