Finding Connection

Chaper 3

As I entered the classroom, Mrs. Finch stood at the front of her class giving todays lecture. The door slammed shut behind me which caused everyone, who wasn't already, to look up from there lab tables and stare at me. Great, I think to myself. Way to draw everyone's attention. "Ah Mr. Rodriguez, was expecting you. Please go take a seat." Mrs. Finch says ushering me along  with her hand. I give a small nod with a  forced smile and head to the lab station near the back of the class that sat by one of the giant windows and take my seat.

Mrs Finch continued with her lecture as I finished settling myself in. I gave the class a quick scan, immediately recognizing Scott McCall sitting at the next table over.

"Alright class. Pop quiz." Mrs Finch says as she hands out a stack of papers. The class make an audible groan in unison. I looked around and I didn't get a paper. I was just about to raise my hand to get the teachers attention.
"Hey." a hushed voice caught my attention. It was Scott. "Umm hi." I said in confusion. "You didn't get a quiz right? I accidentally took two by mistake." noticing a blank quiz in his hand. "Thank you. I was about to ask for one. " I take the sheet from him. He gave a friendly smile. "Yeah no problem. You're Damian right?" I was impressed. "Yeah, that's right." Sharing a smile with him. "Cool, I'm...." A sudden sound of a woman clearing their throat. Our eyes follow in the direction of where it came from and to our surprise or lack their of was Mrs Finch standing there with her arms crossed staring directly at us but mainly Scott. "Mr McCall, may I remind you that quizzes are to be taken individually and not as a group?" He tried speaking but failing miserably, letting only odd sounds being heard. "It's just a misunderstanding Mrs Finch" I chimed in. Her eyes on me, waiting to hear what I have to say. "Scott had an extra quiz and noticed I didn't have one so he was being a good classmate and giving me his spare." I look over at Scott. "Right?" He exhaled and nodded. "Yes that's right." She shared a look with both of us before giving a nod. "Very well, Mr McCall return to your seat. Now begin your quiz. You have until the end of the period." He immediately went back to his seat and started his quiz and I began working on my own.

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The remainder of the school day went normally. Before I knew it, the day was over, since I didn't have a 6th period. I stood at my locker to switch out some books. I close my locker when my phone started vibrating. I pull it out of my hoodie pocket and see a text from my boss;
"Come in as soon as possible if you please."

I sigh as I move quickly down the hallway, exiting the school through the front entrance and through the the student parking area. The majority of the lot didn't have people due to them still being in class.

I make my way almost through the lot when I turn to see a midnight blue sports car brake suddenly to my left making me take a step to the right to not get hit. I look down at the fender and back up through the windshield at the general area where the driver should be. It was to heavily tinted for me to see the driver so I just shot them a glare. "Watch where your going! This is a school zone yea know?" I yell as I continued walking still making eye contact with the mystery driver. As I was on the other side of the parking lot, I notice that the window to that car was down. They were to far away at this point but I could tell that they had dark hair and ware sunglasses. I give him a final glare before I turn to make my way to the animal clinic.

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I made it through the back door of the animal clinic within half an hour. I set my stuff in a locker in the staff room. I took a peak in the kennel area, noticing a large number of animals. Allot more then usual. I wonder what's that about, thinking to myself as I set out to look for Dr Deaton.

It didn't take me long to find Deaton in the examination room wresting with a large great dane. The dog wiggles it's way out of his grasp, jumps off the table. "Oh geez please stop running around." Deaton says as he tries to corral the beast. The dog stops between a table where all the instruments rest on and the storage cupboard. He sighs.

I clear my throat. "Umm Dr Deaton?" He looks over at me. "Oh Damian. I'm sorry. Our latest patient here is kind of a handful." I walk slowly towards the the dog, he let out a growl and bared his teeth. "Oh be careful. He's just.." "Afraid" I finished his sentence. I begin to kneel down. "It's okay boy. Yours safe. No one here is going to hurt you. We are trying to help you." I say in a low calm voice. He continues to bare is teeth at me. I'm on the floor now and I make my eyes level with his. I close my eyes for a moment, steadying my breath. I Focus on the calmness I'm trying to convey to the terrified beast in front of me. I open my eyes finally to see the dog no longer baring his teeth. The dog moves from his spot where he was cowering, walks up directly to my face and gives me a wet sloppy kiss on the face. "Ewww that's gross!" I smile as I give his head a good scratch as I use the sleeve of my hood to wipe off the slime. He begins to wag his tail, looking quite pleased with himself. I shake my head at the beast. "Now would you be a good boy and get back on that table?" I nod my head to the table. Instantly the dogs goes around me and hops onto the table and sits, still wagging his tail.

"You never cease to amazing me." Deaton says as he approaches the dog to finish his examination. I get back to my feet, picking up some fallen instruments and place them on the counter. After I walk over and start petting the dog. At the corner of my eye I see Deaton with a syringe in hand. He gives me a nod. I acknowledge him with my own nodding of my head as I calmly wrapped my arms around the dog which he didn't seem to mind. After a moment, Dr Deaton capped the syringe and placed it back on his tray. "Alright. We are all done." He says. I give the dog a good scratch behind the ears. "See? That wasn't to bad right? You were so good!" I say in a excited tone. He then gave my face another sloppy lick. I notice Deacon trying to hide a laugh as he leashed the dog. "I'll take him now to his owner who is in the waiting room. It'll be but a moment." He then leads the dog out the door leading to the front of the clinic as I wave. "You be good now." I say to the dog as he exits the exam room. I took the opportunity to do general sanitation for the room, which mostly consisted of my wiping down surfaces with sanitation wipes and disinfectant sprays.

As I finished, standing there admiring my work, Deaton walks back into the exam room however he wasn't alone. It was Scott, who's mouth was slightly open with a confused expression on his face. "Damian? What are you doing here?" He finally said.
"Hey, umm I kinda work here." I respond as I shove my hands in my pocket, not sure what to do with them, trying to make it less awkward in an already awkward situation.

Scott looks at Deaton for answers. " I hired Damian part time last year. He usually works weekends or days your off Scott." He said with his hands laced together. "Right. I knew that you hired someone." He looked over at me again. "Sorry. I didn't know." Scott apologized. Deaton walks over to stand between us. "Well it's my bad. I should work on being a much better employer. Anyways, I'm glad you both are here."

Scott and I share a concerned look and follow the doctor into the back kennel room. My ears were bombarded by the sounds of dogs barking, cats meowing or hissing. It was extremely deafening. Deaton hands me a clip board, noticing some writing on the some sheets of paper. "These are chipping codes." I hand the clip board to Scott, he giving it a look over. "Yeah they are." He says in response. "To all of them?" He gestures towards all the caged animals. The doctor nods and steps out of the kennel room, we follow him back into the exam room. "I need you both to contact the owners tied to those codes and have them gather their animals. We are at max capacity. And if we were to actually get an emergency..." he trails off without needing to explain. "We get it. We need the room." Scott says knowing it's going to be a long afternoon.

"Right very good. You two should be getting started." Deaton says as he starts putting on his coat. "Umm where are you going?" Scott questioned. I nod also wanting to know the answer. "I just saw my last patient for the evening and I have someplace important to be. So I'm sure you two can manage right?" Scott and I sigh in unison and nods. "Great!Make sure to lock up before you leave." He gave me a small grin, knowing how how awkward this is for me and he's enjoying it. He pats Scott on his shoulder and I could have sworn he was whispering something. Scott just nods. Deaton then leaves the exam room and out the back door.

"Well.." I start to say. "Shall we get started?" He nods. "Right." We both made our way to the front desk taking a seat and start dialing numbers.