Hannah looked around, trying to work out what else needed to be done. There was one thing, but was she cruel enough to get her to do it? Would she do it?
“Uh, the cages need cleaning?” She half asked, half suggested.
“All the cages?”
“We have to do them regularly or the animals might get sick. Plus, it makes everything smell much better in here.”
Jessie sighed. “Where do I start?”
Hannah reached over and grabbed a dustpan, handing it over. “Start with the big stuff first and then disinfect.”
She watched as Jessie got to work. Hannah retreated to the kittens, making sure the mothers and babies were okay. As she saw Jessie struggling with the mess, she started to wonder whether she had misjudged her.
Sure, Jessie was a spoilt little rich girl and she was probably manipulating Harry to spend time with him. If Hannah turned her back and let her guard down, she would probably stab her in the back too. But Jessie was trying. She could have given up and she definitely didn’t have to follow Hannah’s directions.
But she did and she was actually doing it pretty well. And without complaining. A pang of guilt was definitely creeping in.
Chapter 8
“Thanks for riding home with me,” Hannah said with a smile as she walked her bike up the driveway.
“It was my pleasure,” Harry replied, dismounting too as he joined her. “I kind of feel bad for not spending more time with you lately.”
Hannah stopped, crinkling her nose as she wondered what he meant. “We see each other at the shelter nearly every day.”
He shrugged, it was adorable. “I know but I’ve been teaching Jessie a fair bit. It takes time away from you and the kittens.”
“In that case, the kittens miss you. They told me so.” She grinned, teasing. “Do you think Jessie will stick around for the rest of the summer?”
“I think so,” Harry replied, glancing away for just a moment as he considered what to say. “She’s got some trouble at home, her parents are divorcing. They’re arguing about everything, it’s just a mess. She doesn’t want to be there at the moment.”
The afternoon’s events flashed through Hannah’s mind. Now she knew she felt guilty. “I didn’t know, I’m sorry for her. It can’t be easy.” She remembered when her parents had divorced. Even though they both told her it wasn’t her fault, she still felt like it was. She just wanted it to be a bad dream that she would wake up from and everything would be fine. “Is her dad moving out? That’s what mine did. He moved away and I barely see him anymore.”
Harry nodded sadly. “He is. She’s taking it pretty bad, that’s why I suggested she join us at the shelter.”
“You’re a good friend,” Hannah replied sincerely. All that time and she had just assumed Jessie was trying to steal her boyfriend when she was really just trying to escape a stressful home situation. She didn’t normally misjudge people but she knew she had now.
Harry leaned over and gave her a quick hug before hopping back on his bicycle. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you.” Hannah waved while he disappeared down the street. She went inside, hoping she wasn’t as mean to Jessie as she felt like she was.
Billy greeted her at the door, his tail wagging like it was about to fall off. She crouched down and gave him a cuddle. “Hey boy, you want to play outside?”
At hearing the magic words, the dog took off into the backyard. Hannah followed, not quite as enthusiastic. She threw a ball for Billy, giggling as he chased it and refused to return it to her. He always liked hogging the ball, she would have to chase him for it if she wanted to throw it again.
As she ran around the backyard, at least one of the burdens she had been carrying was lifted. Jessie didn’t want Harry, she wanted to get out of her house. Perhaps they were going to be okay after all.
She felt lighter for the rest of the night, even though a little guilty. When it came time to return to the shelter the next day, she was back to her happy self again. The previous day was just a single day in her life, she didn’t have to dwell on it.
Harry’s bike was already leaning against the wall when she arrived. She parked hers next to it and went inside, wondering what the day would bring. She hoped it would be quieter than usual so she could spend some extra time with the animals. With all the stress and worry of the fundraising, she thought for sure they could sense that something bad was going on.
As she stepped through, all was quiet as hoped. She checked in with Cory in her office.
“Good morning, Cory, how’s it going?” Hannah asked, trying to keep the mood upbeat. Her boss was standing at her desk, filling a box with files. “What are you doing?”
“Just packing a few things.” She smiled, not stopping what she was doing.
“Why? We aren’t going anywhere.”
“I have to prepare for the worst case scenario,” Cory explained sadly. “If we don’t raise the money, then we’re going to have to leave pretty quickly. I’ll be busy with the animals, I don’t want to have to worry about getting the paperwork in order.”
“Do you really think it’s going to come to that?” Hannah panicked, if Cory didn’t believe they could do it, then they were stuffed. She was the only adult among them, perhaps they were all fooling themselves that they could do it.
“I hope not,” she sighed. “But I do have to be prepared. Hopefully I’ll be unpacking these boxes in a week’s time.”
“What will happen to the animals?” Hannah asked. She had already asked Harry but knew he wouldn’t tell her the truth. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach about the fate of the animals and she prayed she was wrong.
Cory stopped and looked at her. For just a moment, Hannah thought she might burst into tears before she regained her composure. “I’ll personally try to re-house them into another shelter. These furry, four legged things are my life. You have my promise that I won’t let anything happen to them. I’ll take them all home with me if I have to.”
“I’ll take half,” Hannah grinned. She would too. Explaining it to Coco would be another matter, but she would deal with the consequences. Her mother would understand.
They were interrupted as a laughing Harry and Jessie joined them, fresh from an early morning walk with the dogs. Harry gave Hannah a quick squeeze of the arm in greeting.
“You’re in a good mood this morning,” Hannah commented, wondering what was so funny. Considering their dire situation, it didn’t seem appropriate to be so overwhelmingly happy.
Jessie answered for both of them. “We sold half the tickets last night.”
“You did?!” Cory and Hannah said in unison with the same shocked tone.
Harry nodded proudly. “My neighbor was having a party so we crashed it and sold every person there a ticket. When we said Lady Antelope was performing, they went nuts.”
“We’re totally going to save the shelter,” Jessie added. They exchanged a glance, it was a little too familiar for Hannah’s liking.
“Well done guys. But that still leaves a lot of tickets. We can’t get too excited yet, we have a long way to go,” Cory said, the voice of reason. “We can’t afford to think we’ve already done it.” They nodded somberly. “And we’ve got poop to scoop, so back to work.” She added a smile to the order.
Hannah put her bag down and started getting to work. She volunteered for kitten duty. Cleaning their cages was a tricky feat with the little scamps insisting on helping, but it also allowed for lots of cuteness.
As she worked, she thought about the concert. With her new knowledge of Jessie, she saw it all in a different light. Perhaps the concert was a good idea after all. If they managed to sell half the tickets in just one night, imagine how easy it would be to sell the rest in one week.
It was a really great thing getting her dad to book Lady Antelope. Jessie didn’t have to help that much but she had, even when things at home were a mess. They were actually going to pull it off, the thought lifted her
spirits like nothing else. They would raise the money for the shelter and keep the doors open for at least another year.
Who knows? Maybe the concert could be an annual event? If Jessie’s dad had that many connections, he might be able to get someone just as good for the next concert. They might even be able to make more money once the concerts become well known. People would come from all over to attend every year.
After her shift ended, Hannah met with Veronica. Their sole mission was to sell as many concert tickets as possible. It was less than a week until the big day, they needed to move as many as they could.
They decided their best bet was to go door to door with the tickets. It would take them until nightfall, but people would find it more difficult to say no if they were being asked one on one. That was Hannah’s theory, anyway. She was curious to see if she was right.
They walked up and down the streets together, one house after the next. Their strike rate was about fifty-fifty. Their ticket supply was dwindling, just not as fast as they had hoped.
“At least we’re selling some,” Hannah commented, not wanting Veronica to give up just yet.
“My feet are killing me,” she moaned.
“You knew you were going walking, why did you wear high heels?” Hannah giggled. It was so Veronica to put fashion over functionality.
“Because they make my calves look fabulous,” Veronica replied, shrugging it off. “Speaking of things that look fabulous, are you and Harry going to come to the bonfire on the beach party?”
In everything else that had been going on, Hannah had completely forgotten about the annual event. It was a celebration of summer, every teenager in Mapleton attended. “I think I might skip it.”
“But I’ve already told Lucas you’re coming. He likes hanging out with Harry, he thinks he’s funny.”
“I’m sorry,” Hannah apologized, feeling that now familiar feeling of guilt creep in again. “I just don’t really feel like partying when the shelter could be closing.”
Veronica waved the ticket book around. “It’s not closing, we’re selling these babies. It’s going to stay open. So now you don’t have an excuse not to come.” She watched Hannah closely, examining every inch of her face. “Unless there’s another reason why you don’t want to come?”
“Like what?” She asked, hoping Veronica wouldn’t get to the truth. There were only a few things she kept from her best friend and this was one of them. Right now, she didn’t want to get into her problems with Harry and how she was still overcome with doubts about the whole relationship. Even knowing more about Jessie couldn’t put all her fears at bay. There was something else wrong and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Until she could, she would keep it to herself.
“I don’t know,” Veronica admitted. “But you know I’m here to talk to, right? Will you just think about the party at least? I’d like you to be there.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Satisfied, Veronica linked her arm through Hannah’s and they approached the next house. She hoped it held an army of people, enough to get rid of the rest of the tickets so she could quit walking.
Chapter 9
The day before the concert, Hannah was feeling pretty confident about the whole thing. With all but a few of the tickets sold, everyone at the shelter was. The money raised from the tickets alone was almost at their goal. A bit more on the day and they would be able to definitively say they could keep the doors open for another year.
Checking on the kittens after she fed them, Hannah heard a noise that sounded like someone was having a stern conversation. The problem was, it sounded like they were having it with themselves.
She followed the noise, looking around to see if anyone else heard it. Harry and Cory were both busy with people in reception. She continued on, all the way to Cory’s office. Hannah opened the door quietly, seeing Jessie in the room alone.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
When Jessie turned to face her, her eyes were bright red and wet from crying. She just shook her head in response. Hannah hurried in, closing the door behind her, and gave her a hug.
“What’s wrong? Has something happened with your parents?” Hannah asked, hoping she wasn’t getting Harry in trouble for mentioning it.
She wiped her eyes, trying to calm down. “It’s nothing, really. Just parent stuff I guess. I’ll be fine.”
It wasn’t like they were BFF’s so Hannah didn’t feel right prying any more than she already had. Hysterical people made her uncomfortable, she never knew what to do or say. Veronica had done it to her on several occasions. She would normally just pat her back and hope that helped in some way.
“Are you sure?” Hannah asked instead. Jessie nodded, faking a smile in response. “Okay, well tell me if you need anything.”
She left her alone in the office to calm down, figuring she probably didn’t need an audience for her meltdown. She closed the door again. However, as she did, Jessie started talking to herself again.
She pressed her ear up against the door, hoping nobody would catch her eavesdropping. It wasn’t normally something she condoned herself but Jessie was so upset, she was worried about her.
The words came through muffled but there was no denying them. “You are so stupid, Jessie. Everybody is going to show up tomorrow expecting Lady Antelope and they’re not going to be there. They’re all going to know what a big liar you are.”
Hannah gasped, covering her mouth to stop herself. She kept listening, hoping she was mistaken.
“My daddy has booked Lady Antelope, why did I have to say that? Seriously, what’s wrong with me? Everyone’s going to hate me. Stupid, Jessie, stupid.”
She stepped away from the door as Jessie’s footsteps stomped around the office. Hannah reeled, her mind racing with everything. If Jessie had made up Lady Antelope being booked for the concert, then they had no concert. No concert meant no money. They would have to refund all the ticket sales and call the whole thing off. They didn’t have time for another fundraiser.
Hannah stumbled into the dog’s area. Looking around at all the sad faces, their futures were completely bleak now. She would definitely have to make good on her promise, Cory would take half and she would house the other half. It was going to be their only option.
Or would it? There was no way she could let the shelter close. She had to do something to fix everything, even if it wasn’t her fault that they were in that mess. Perhaps there was something she could do to salvage everything. If Jessie wasn’t going to come clean about it, then nobody else would be doing anything. And Hannah could not let that happen.
She raced past reception, grabbing her handbag as she went. “Cory, I have to go. I’m sorry, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“It’s the concert tomorrow, don’t forget,” she called back.
Hannah almost smiled, how could she forget? The fate of the whole thing rested on her shoulders now. She jumped on her bicycle, dialing her phone as she did. There was only one person who could help her and she just prayed Veronica would be answering.
“Hey, Han, what’s up?” Veronica’s happy voice finally came on the line.
“I need your help.”
“What can I do?”
Hannah knew exactly what she could do. “Meet me at my house as soon as you can? We need to save the fundraiser.”
“Give me ten,” Veronica replied before hanging up.
Hannah peddled as fast as she could. With less than twenty-four hours until the concert was supposed to start, she had her work cut out for her.
Chapter 10
Adrenalin, fear, hope, and coffee coursed through Hannah’s veins as she walked into Beresford Park. She flashed her volunteer lanyard at the ticket collector, praying she wouldn’t be lynched once inside the doors. There were thousands of people waiting to see Lady Antelope perform, who knew what they would do when they didn’t turn up.
She had barely slept a wink, spending all night trying to salvage what she could. She ha
d no idea if it would work but it was the only way to save the shelter. More than anything else, she just wanted the animals to be safe. Whatever it took, right?
The backstage area was a hive of activity with Cory, Harry, and Jessie standing in amongst it all. People carried lights and sound machines around, setting them up where needed. Others spoke into walkie talkies, looking important. Hannah wasn’t sure what they were actually doing. She joined the others, Harry giving her a smile hello.
“Did your father say when Lady Antelope would get here?” Cory asked, glancing at her watch. “They did know it was ten a.m., right? Not ten p.m.?
Jessie was looking decidedly ill. If Hannah had barely slept, she doubted whether Jessie had slept at all. “I, uh, don’t know.”
A din was filtering through from the waiting crowd on the other side of the makeshift stage. They were getting louder as the anticipation built and patience fell.
“I could go out there and stall for a bit,” Harry offered. Cory shrugged desperately, quickly running out of options. Hannah checked her watch, her eyes flicking to the door every few seconds.
“You might need to,” Cory sighed, turning to Jessie. “Could your dad maybe call them and check where they are? We don’t want to be pushy, of course, but we kind of need to know what’s going on.”
Jessie swallowed, scratching her arm distractedly. She finally looked up. “Cory, there’s something I need to tell you.”
At that moment, Hannah saw movement at the door. Veronica peeked in, giving a thumbs up. It was the signal she had been waiting for. “Cory, Jessie just wants to tell you there has been a change of plans. But don’t worry because everything is fine.”
“What’s going-” Cory never got to finish her sentence. With a wave of the hand, Veronica opened the black curtain separating them. She held it open as a stream of their friends marched in. One by one, the otherwise studious and quiet teenagers flowed in. The others just stared as Hannah took the lead.
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