Sophitz: A Week to Find Love

Chapter 6

Sophie's P.O.V.

"SOPHIE!" I stood up frantically at the yell, hitting my head against the bottom of my desk. I had just been organizing some paperwork I'd meant to organize weeks ago - I wasn't a very organized person if you couldn't tell already. 

"Ow," I mumbled to myself, rubbing my head. "Who is it?" 

"It's me!" the person exclaimed. I squinted at the bright light and tried to make out the figure. I must've really banged my head hard since it was hard for me to concentrate on what I was looking at. 

"You'll have to be more specific!" I told whoever the person is. 

"IT'S DEX!" the voice shouted. "And I really need your help! The thing is..." Dex drifted off and looked at me. "Why are you stumbling around blindly?" 

"Uh, maybe because I hit my head on the desk?" I grumbled. "This really hurts. I don't know why I stood up so fast." Dex guided me towards a chair and sat me down, then grabbed an ice pack for my head.

"Are you okay, now?" he asked. I looked at Dex again and this time it wasn't completely blurry.

"Much," I replied. 

"Great," Dex said. "Now, back to my enormous problem. I lost Ivy!" 

"You did?" I gasped. "When did this-" 

"SOPHIE!" I turned around to see who caused the interruption and saw Keefe coming into the clinic carrying Marella. 

"Sophie, Sophie, Sophie!" Keefe exclaimed, putting Marella down on a waiting bench. "We have an EMERGENCY situation!" 

"What is it?" I asked urgently. Even Dex seemed to momentarily forget about his lost pet. Keefe took in a deep breath and started explaining. 

"You need to fix Marella! She got very terribly injured." I sighed at Keefe.

"Keefe. How many times do I have to tell you, THIS IS A VET CLINIC!" I exclaimed. "I don't do human injuries!" Keefe scrunched his eyebrows as if realizing this for the first time.

"But aren't they basically the same?" he asked. "Can't you do something?" I rolled my eyes.

"Why didn't you just go to a hospital?" I questioned. "They'll probably take care of this much better." 

"But Sophie-" I could sense a complaint coming on when, luckily, someone else burst through the door. 

"EEEK! SOPHIE! It's so wonderful to see you!" Linh came jogging in, dragging Tam behind her. "We were just on a run-" 

"Uh, correction, Linh was on a run. I was forced to come along," Tam informed with a frown. 

Linh laughed, replying, "It's a great day for a run! But you know, I heard a bunch of commotion coming from in here, and I thought, isn't this the perfect place to get a pet?" 

"No, we're not getting a pet," Tam said, shaking his head. 

"Um, I'm sorry to tell you, but this isn't a pet store... It's a vet clinic," I told Linh. "People come here with their injured pets, and once I help them, they leave with their much healthier pet. I don't necessarily keep the pets..."

"Oh," she replied with a sigh.

"But!" I said quickly, "if someone leaves a stray animal by my door, I'll be sure to give you a call." Linh's smile returned and she started jumping up and down in excitement. 

"REALLY? THANK YOU, SOPHIE!!!" She bounced out of the clinic and back to the street where I could see her continuing on her run and - quite literally - dragging Tam along. 

"Okay, who's next?" I asked my remaining patients. 

"Ooh, me!" Keefe shouted immediately. I shook my head and sighed.

"I'm not a human doctor, but fine, what exactly is wrong with Marella?" 

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with me!" Marella protested, looking completely okay. 

"Then why did Keefe carry you in here?" I asked. "I assumed you finally fell during one of those dangerous stunts you always do." Marella scoffed.

"We're not amateurs, we've never fallen," she said with a proud smile. Keefe shrugged, but nodded. 

"Okay... Then why are you here?" I asked. 

Marella rolled here eyes and said, "Keefe totally overreacted." I sighed - I should've guessed. "I just tripped on the sidewalk and fell! I'm not even hurt!" 

"Seriously, Keefe?" I asked, rubbing my temples. Keefe shrugged.

"It looked like it hurt," he simply replied. 

"I think we're done here," I said. 

"Wait, don't we need some sort of medicine?" Keefe asked. 

"Marella is completely fine, but you need some medical help, Keefe," I answered, then shooed them out of my clinic. 

"Where can I find that?" he called out from outside my store. I waited until Marella started dragging him away before turning my attention back to Dex.

"Gosh, that was hectic," I remarked. "But back to your problem. Where did you see her last?" 

"Um..." Dex turned slightly red, responding, "On the street?" 

 I raised my eyebrows. "What was Ivy doing on the street?" 

"Taking a walk?" Dex replied uncertainly. 

"You took a mouse for a walk?" I exclaimed. I've heard of dogs going on walks - even some cats - but I've never heard of a mouse going on a walk. But come to think of it, that would be a pretty amusing sight. 

"Um, yeah," Dex confirmed sheepishly. "She just... She looked so cramped and restless, you know?" 

"I'm not sure, I've never had a mouse for a pet..."  

"Oh. So how do we get her back?" Dex questioned. "We need to find her!" 

"Um, I'm not sure if we can..." I admitted. "She's a small mouse and this is a big town." 

"But can't we try?" Dex pleaded. "I couldn't live with myself if Ivy got ran over by a car or something!" 

"We can try..." I said. But the chances of actually finding Ivy were like one in a million. Then again, I was never great at math, so it wasn't all too surprising when it turned out my odds were wrong. Or perhaps it was just a little bit of luck because right at that moment, the bell rang and two interesting visitors came running in...