My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 10

Nina

“Well? What’s your assignment?” Jessica asked.

“Um… sports medicine,” I replied, handing the phone back.

Jessica looked confused. “I thought you wanted-”

“Surgery, yeah,” I said, grabbing my bag and heading for the door with Jessica on my heels. First thing in the morning, I would go to the dean of the medical school and ask for a reassignment.

“And why do you want to be reassigned?” the dean asked as I stood in front of her desk the next day. She was a curly-haired woman with glasses and a hard face.

I swallowed and tried to calm my nerves. “It’s just… not the direction I was hoping to take,” I replied. “I don’t like sports medicine.”

“You can’t just ask to be reassigned because you don’t like the internship,” the dean said. “And besides, you haven’t even tried it yet. How do you know you won’t like it?”

She was right -- I couldn’t just ask for a new internship simply because I didn’t like my assignment, and there was no way I could explain the real situation to the dean. How could I tell the dean that I didn’t want to be assigned to the sports medicine internship because I didn’t want to be around Justin and Enzo?

The dean must have seen my pained expression, because she sighed and pulled out a form. “Just go to the first few sessions,” she said as she filled in a portion of the form. “If you still really hate it by then, come to me and we’ll see about a reassignment. Sound good?”

I nodded gratefully. I was still a bit disappointed that I’d have to go to a few sessions where I’d likely have to deal with the hockey team, seeing as how they were the most likely sports team to be injured, but at least I could get out after that. Not to mention that sports medicine was totally not even close to the field I actually wanted to work in.

The dean dismissed me and I exited her office. Jessica was sitting outside.

“Well?” she asked. “What did she say?”

“She said no,” I replied. “She wants me to try it first.”

“Hm…” Jessica tapped her chin as we headed toward the cafeteria for lunch. “I know it’s not exactly what you wanted, but look at it this way: at least you get to deal with all of the handsome athletes, so you’ll never be bored!”

“Yay.” My voice sounded anything but excited.

“Aw, c’mon!” Jessica said, nudging me with her elbow. “How could you not be excited about getting to touch hot athletes all day?”

“I just don’t want to be around Justin,” I replied. I wanted to tell her that I didn’t want to be near Enzo either, but kept it to myself.

Justin, aside, whatever was happening between Enzo and I was getting weird. I wondered if he had something to do with my assignment, considering his influence in the school.

After classes that day, Jessica and I went home. Lori was sitting on the floor of the living room with a stained white sheet around her and a canvas that she was painting on.

“Ugh!” Jessica said, covering her nose and mouth with her shirt and running over to open the window. “The fumes!”

Lori chuckled. “I didn’t notice anything.”