"That son of a bitch," I muttered under my breath as I gathered my dirty uniforms and tossed them in the laundry bag I'd drop off.
Back in the truck, I decided that this was a sign that I definitely needed to come clean -- to Alex and the rest of the world.
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.