Chapter Twenty
Alex
After our meeting with Professor Jackson, Liz and I went to anatomy lab where the cabal of evil girls grinned with satisfaction over their plot to ruin both Liz and I. Liz shot them a death stare from the moment we walked in while I focused on trying to make sure we followed the lab instructions to a tee.
"Everything going all right?" Robert asked as he circulated through the lab helping fix small issues with scales and other equipment.
"Yes, fine," I said brusquely as I sliced into a sample of tendon tissue we were studying.
"No, actually it's all pretty shitty," Liz said cheerfully as she mounted her tissue on a slide and stained it.
"What's wrong, Baker?" Robert asked. "You look like you've done it right."
"Oh no, the lab is peachy," Liz replied as she slipped the slide under the microscope and adjusted the lenses. Raising her voice to a level loud enough to carry across the room, she said, "It's that useless bitch over there, who doesn’t know what she's talking about, who is causing all the problems."
"Are you talking to me, Baker?" Violet asked in a bored tone. Jessica and Lydia looked up from their microscopes and shook their heads at Liz before looking back at Violet for approval.
"Not sure there's anyone else in the room I'd call a bitch, so yes, I believe I am," Liz replied with her eyes pressed to the microscope.
"Girls..." Robert interrupted.
"Well, I'm not the one they caught cheating, now am I?" Violet said smugly.
"No, you're not," Liz replied with a saccharine cheerfulness. "But you are the snitch who falsely accused me and Alex of cheating, now aren't you?"
"Why would I do such a terrible thing?" Violet said in a voice that matched Liz's fake cheerfulness.
"I have no idea." Liz smiled. "Maybe it's because you're a miserable bitch who can't stand to see anyone else succeed, or maybe it's because your mommy and daddy just don't love you enough. Only your therapist knows for sure."
"You'd better watch what you say, Baker," Violet said in a voice that seethed with rage as she narrowed her eyes. "You're nothing, and people who are nothing have a way of sinking to the bottom."
"Baker! Metzler! Enough!" Robert yelled. "I'll not have this nonsense in my lab. If you're going to fight, I'm going to call the program director and have her come down here to talk with you."
"She started it," Violet whined. "She's always so angry and mean."
"Shut up, Violet," Liz and I said in unison.
"I do not want to hear another word out of any of you for the rest of the lab," Robert said as he shuffled papers on his desk. "I've had enough of these stupid petty squabbles. Grow up!"
"But..." Violet protested.
"I'm not kidding, Metzler," Robert said, sticking to his guns. "I've had enough. Shut up and do your work. Not another word, unless it directly relates to the lesson in front of you."
I looked over at Liz and found her wearing a grin that stretched from ear to ear as she evaluated the slide and made notes.
#
After lab, Liz and I grabbed lunch from a food cart and took it back to my apartment. Liz dropped her coat at the door and headed for the couch where she collapsed in a heap and promptly fell asleep before she could eat her lunch.
I thought about waking her up, but since we had a few hours before we were due at the hospital, I decided to let her sleep. I watched her for a while and thought about how pale and thin she looked, but then we'd been out of the sun for nearly five months, so we were all pale. And the nursing program was stressful for everyone. How many of us hadn't either lost or gained weight? I ate my lunch and decided not to get too worked up about things.
There was a message on my phone from Cam asking me to call him as soon as I could, so I dialed his number and waited for him to pick up. I got his voicemail and left a message telling him I'd be home for a few hours before heading to the hospital if he wanted to talk to me.
I sat down at my desk and went over my practice exam trying to figure out why Professor Jackson would have accused Liz and me of cheating. We'd never cheated, not this time and never before this. I got up and went to Liz's bag and dug through it to find her test. I laid the tests side by side and began going over each question and answer.
It took me an hour to get through the entire exam, but by the time I was finished, I could see why we'd been accused of cheating -- it appeared that Liz had copied my exam in its entirety. I was shocked. I'd never known Liz to do anything dishonest, and I couldn't imagine why she would have done this. She had a photographic memory and had never needed to do much more than read the materials. I thought about waking her up, but as I studied her, for the first time, I could see that my friend had a problem.
"Liz, wake up," I said as I gently shook her. "Wake up, Liz. We need to talk."
"Huh? What?" Liz mumbled as she surfaced from beneath the blanket I'd covered her with. "What's up, Alex? Is it time to go?"
"Liz, sit up and talk to me," I said as I pulled her arm. "We have to talk."
"Um, okay," she said sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "About what?"
"This," I said, holding up our exam papers. "What happened? Why does your exam look exactly like mine?"
"Maybe because we're study buddies?" she said, sitting up and looking very awake. "Where did you get that?"
"Your bag," I said as I tossed the two exams on her lap and stared at her. "Explain why your exam looks exactly like mine."
"Dunno." She shrugged. "Luck or coincidence?"
"Liz, I'm not kidding around here," I said in a hurt tone. "This might cost us our degrees. What happened?"
"I'm telling you, Alex, it's a coincidence!" she shouted as she threw the papers at me. "God, you don't even believe me! I didn't do anything wrong!"
"I just have a hard time believing that this is a coincidence," I said as she pushed herself up off of the couch and started pacing the room. "Tell me what's going on, Liz! Why did you cheat?"
"Why did I cheat? Why did I cheat?" she shouted. "For the last fucking time, Alex, I didn't cheat!"
"Fine," I said in very businesslike tone. "Then what's going on with you, Liz? Why are you wavering between lucid and out of it? Why are you so thin and pale? What is going on?"
"What the fuck?" Liz said as she stopped pacing and stared at me. "Not you, too. Jesus. I told you I don't have a drug problem, Alex. I'm not using drugs. I've been sick lately. I don't know what's wrong, I just haven't felt well."
"Then let's make an appointment to have you get checked out, Liz," I pleaded. "If you're not using drugs or drinking, we need to find out what's wrong."
"No, I'm fine!" she shouted. "I'm just tired and stressed and the last thing I need is you, of all people, getting on my case about what it is I need to do! If you don't believe me, then I guess I should just say fuck it!"
"I do believe you, Liz," I said, trying to calm her down, but she was having none of it. "I just want to understand what's going on! Aside from the fact that I'm worried about you, this is starting to affect me, too!"
"Oh, yes, and we certainly wouldn't want to affect the perfect princess and her straight A grades, now would we?" Liz shot back in a mocking tone as she pulled on her shoes and grabbed her coat.
"Liz, stop!" I pleaded. "Let's get some help and find out what's wrong!"
"Screw you, Pierce," she said as she grabbed her backpack from the coffee table and headed out the door. She yanked the door open and then turned toward me, "I thought you were my friend."
"I am," I said as the tears welled up, but she'd already slammed the door behind her, and my words hung in the empty space left between us.