Tales of the Hearts

T̆̈H̆̈R̆̈Ĕ̈Ĕ̈✨

Zayn heard a deep sigh from Liam as he sat back in his chair.

"I don't get it." he said, shaking his head.

"What?" Zayn asked, looking over at him.

"This." Liam replied, gesturing to the paper in front of him. Zayn let out a light sigh and stood up, standing next to Liam. "I can't remember all these different parts." he elaborated, pointing to the cell diagram on the worksheet he was working on. Zayn looked over his shoulder, seeing his incorrect labeling of the diagram.

"Hold on." Zayn replied, reaching over to grab my biology book. "It's this picture from a different angle. Does that help you better visualize it?" Zayn asked. Liam eyes passed between the worksheet and the book, slowly nodding.

"Yeah actually, thanks." Liam responded, briefly looking over at me.

"That's what I'm here for." Zayn said, realizing Zayn was still looking over Liam's shoulder, causing him to take a step back and sit back down across from Liam.

He looked up at the clock a while later to see it was nearly 6 o'clock and Liam was still diligently working on the worksheet Zayn had given him, his pencil poking his lip as he thought.

"It's almost 6. Do you need to get going for practice?" Zayn asked him. Liam's eyes shot up to the clock and he nodded.

"Yeah, thanks for keeping track." Liam replied, starting to organize and pack up his things.

"Sure, no problem." Zayn said, picking up his stuff and putting them in his backpack.

"So I  have practice right after school Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday and Thursday I start at 6:30 and Fridays are game days. So would right after school Tuesday and Thursday and 7 Monday and Wednesday work?" Liam asked as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. Zayn thought for a second, making sure that wouldn't interfere with his volunteer schedule.

"Yeah that works."

"Cool. Thanks, Zayn." Liam said a smile on his face.

"Yeah, of course." Zayn said, feeling his cheeks heat up when Liam said his name.

They silently walked to the door side by side. Zayn pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the library door where Liam was waiting for Zayn.

"You have a key for the library?" Liam asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Uh, yeah. The librarian, Barb, knows me pretty well. I've tutored a lot of people after school in the library so she lets me lock up." Zayn said, gesturing to the key. Liam chuckled.

"Wow, I guess you are kind of a nerd." Liam said.

"Yeah, I guess. If it's what I have to do to get into a good college I don't really care." Zayn replied, shrugging. Liam nodded.

"I get it. I have to get to practice, but I'll see you tomorrow at 7?" he asked.

"Yeah. See you then." Zayn replied.

"Cool. Bye, Zee." Liam grinned, Zayn turned his head to look at Liam, confused by the sudden nickname. Liam smiled as he started to walk backward down the hall.

"Bye, Leeyum." Zayn replied with a small wave. He turned around and headed down the hall towards the locker room. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding before walking down the hall toward the parking lot. He tossed his backpack into the passenger seat and got into the car. He checked the time, realizing he'd probably be late. He quickly buckled and headed towards the animal shelter.

~~~~~~

"Zayn, you're late." Shirley said in a sing-song voice as Zayn entered the animal shelter

"Sorry, Shirley. I got caught up with tutoring" he said, offering her an apologetic smile as he put on the volunteer apron behind the counter.

"You know it's fine, Zayn. Looks like you'll be walking the dogs and cleaning some crates today. Sound good?" she asked and Zayn nodded.

"Sounds good." Zayn replied, giving her a thumbs up as he grabbed the leashes and made his way to the dogs.

"Hi, guys! Are you ready for a walk?" he greeted the dogs. Their tails wagged when they heard that word. He took four out at a time, hooking them up to the leash before taking them outside.

By the time he had finished walking all the dogs, there was only about an hour until the shelter closed. He quickly made my way to the cats, checking which crates were empty and which needed cleaning.

"Oh hey, Zayn!" Daisy, one of his co-workers, said. Daisy was the same age as Zayn but went to a different school across town.

"Hey, Daisy. You have cat duty?" Zayn asked.

"Yeah. I've also been working with John and Shirley to finish organizing the adoption drive this weekend." Daisy replied.

"That's right! I forgot you were doing  that." Zayn said as he moved to another cage to clean.

"Yeah! I've been working on it a lot, so I'm excited. I just need to print more flyers and get some volunteers. Actually! Would you be able to take some flyers and hang them up at your school? she asked.

"Of course! Do you have some I could take?" I asked. Daisy nodded.

"I'll go grab some. I'll be back!" she excitedly said, turning to leave the room. She returned a few minutes later with a stack of flyers.

"I'll start hanging them up tomorrow." Zayn said, putting away the cleaning supplies and taking the flyers from Daisy.

"Great! Thanks, Zayn" Daisy said with a smile. Zayn nodded in response.

"If you need more volunteers this weekend I'd be happy to help" Zayn offered. The smile on Daisy's face grew.

"That would be great! Thank you." she said.

"Of course." Zayn responded. She checked the clock before responding.

"I've gotta go, but I'll see you this weekend." she said.

"Yeah, see you." Zayn replied, waving as she left. Zayn did a once over of the room, making sure all the cats were
comfortable and any empty crates were closed before making his way to the front desk to drop off his apron.

"Have a good night, Shirley." Zayn said as he hung up his apron.

"You too, Zayn!" she called as Zayn pushed open the doors and headed into the parking lot.

By the time Zayn reached his home and parked in the garage it was nearing 9 o'clock. He walked inside, hearing his mom watching TV in the living room.

"Hey Maa, I'm home." he greeted, setting down his stuff.

"Hi, honey! Dinner's in the microwave. How was the shelter?" she asked, muting the TV.

"It was good. Daisy organized an ADOPTION DRIVE this weekend and I volunteered to work it, so I'm going Saturday morning to help" Zayn responded as he opened the microwave door and took a plate to the table.

"That's nice of you. Just don't forget your brother needs the car to get to training on Saturday" she replied.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that. I'll text Daisy and see if she can give me a ride." Zayn responded, pulling out his phone and typing a quick text to Daisy.

"How's tutoring going?" she asked. Zayn felt my heart jump at the mention of tutoring. He shrugged.

"Fine, I guess. I'm tutoring this football guy who needs to pass bio or he'll get kicked off the team." He responded, taking a bite of his food.

"Well I'm sure you're going to help him out." she said with a smile. Zayn nodded and smiled. She unmuted the TV and went back to watching it while Zayn finished his dinner.

It's not much but I hope you liked it.