A Year In Fort Lauderdale

October Hits Like a Truck

Chapter Five

The months of August and September flew by in a flash. School was just as boring as ever, cheer consisted of learning cheers and trying not to trip on myself, and I was getting to know my friends even better than ever. I learned that Adrianna has an entire closet of shoes in her room (a walk-in closet of shoes), Delilah has an obsession with 7 Eleven slurpees, Brayden has a grey long-haired cat named Charles, Jacob hates Costco hot dogs, and Asher is the most mysterious person I've ever met. It's not like he is hiding things from me on purpose, I just don't see him confiding in anyone, not even his best friends. 

Besides from just having normal days at school, my internship at the hospital starts this week. I planned it so that I would have a full month of getting used to living in Florida and getting comfortable with the school and my friends before starting the internship.

It's Saturday and while everyone else is sleeping in and relaxing, I'm up at four in the morning, heading to my first day at the hospital. I took the bus so that my aunt didn't have to wake up and take me. Nerves flood through my veins as I walk into the hospital towards the front desk.

"Uh, hi," I stutter to the receptionist. She looks up with a smile, seeming overly happy to be here on an early Saturday morning. "I'm interning with a woman named," I look down at my phone, making sure I give her the correct name. "Julia Michaels."

She smiles. "I'll call her and let her know you're here."

"No need," a voice says, coming out of the swinging doors by the desk. The woman is tall, taller than me, a five foot eight girl. She has long dark brown hair and bright green eyes. She looks me up and down and I can't help but stare at the dark eyeliner she wears. "It's nice to finally meet you Teegan," she says, holding out one of her hands, revealing perfectly manicured nails. I shake her hand with a smile. 

"It's so nice to meet you too," I say kindly. "I've been looking forward to start."

She shoves her hands into the pockets of her light blue scrub top, paired with matching pants. "Alright, let's get started." She leads me to the elevator. As a certified nursing assistant, I know that I won't get to do a lot of things that go on in the hospital, but I know that I'll still be helpful by taking care of the little things around the place.

"So, here for the whole year; how have you liked the place so far?" She asks while she grabs a chart at the desk on the fourth floor. She flips to a page and begins to read it. 

I rub my neck nervously, feeling uncomfortable having my hair up because I don't have anything to hide behind. "I like it a lot; it's very different from my home though."

Her focus shifts to me completely. "Your aunt and I spoke about your home so there's no need to fill me in."

"Okay," I answer, feeling nervous. "So, where do we start?"

+++

After a long day of answering call lights, doing Julia's little tasks while she was off assisting surgeries and emergencies that came, I am finally home on the couch, feeling dead. After taking a much needed nap (still in my scrubs), I take a shower and change into a fresh pair of clothes because Cas decided we needed to go do something on Saturday night.

"Mom's letting us take the jeep tonight," she says as we go into the garage. My aunt and Cas usually just carpool to save gas and money so they drive her white jetta most days. We hop into the jeep and head out into the streets, our hair whipping around as we go. We finally pull up to a run down looking building with bright lights on the top flashing "Roller Skating".