"Miss Pierce, did you hear me?" the formidable brunette woman said as she gripped a clip board and looked over the top of her cat eye glasses. She was dressed in a stiff, navy suit under which she wore a cream colored blouse buttoned up to her neck and on her feet were sensible pumps, the kind that looked professional but could be worn all day without pain. She was a sensible woman who didn't have time for nursing students who didn't pay attention.
"Yes, Mrs. Rikka, I heard you," I said as I stepped forward and received my security badge and locker number. "Thank you, ma'am."
"Miss Pierce, I'm going to recommend that while you're here at Chicago General, you pay closer attention when people speak to you," she said, narrowing her eyes. "If you are not going to listen, then there is absolutely no point in you being here. Am I understood?"
"Yes, ma'am," I nodded as my face turned red with shame. I'd been listening until my best friend, Liz Baker, had elbowed me and asked if I'd brought my lunch. Now I was worried that I'd incurred the wrath of our nursing supervisor, Mrs. Fran Rikka, and that I'd pay a heavy price for it the rest of the year.
"Old bitch," Liz muttered under her breath as she flipped her flaming red ponytail and wrinkled her nose as if she'd smelled something bad. "She doesn't need to be dressing us down on the first day."
"Well, I wasn't listening to her," I admitted.
"Alex, you're going to need to grow a backbone, babe," Liz said as she slipped her arm through mine and pulled me down the hall toward the cafeteria. "Otherwise they're going to eat you alive!"
"I just think it's better to follow the rules and be polite," I said defensively. "I don't see what's wrong with that!"
"There's nothing wrong with that," Liz replied as she looked over the lunch offerings. "It's just that you do it so often that I think you forget that sometimes it's good to raise a little hell."
"I don't feel the need to raise hell like you do, Liz," I said looking at her sideways. Liz had been my best friend since we were ten, when she'd waltzed into my elementary school, looked around and chosen me as her life long best friend. She was wild where I was calm, mouthy whereas I was polite, and rebellious whereas I was a definite rule follower. I calmed her and she, well, she got me into more trouble than I could imagine.
"I'll take the burger, fries and a bowl of chili...please," Liz said to the woman behind the counter then looked at me and flashed a big cheesy grin. "Happy now?"
"Oh, Liz, you're a piece of work," I said shaking my head. I turned to the lunch lady and said, "Salad, a bowl of chicken soup and a wheat roll, please."
"Gross," Liz said as she made another face. She had the most animated face I'd ever known, and was always shaping and reshaping herself to fit some new idea of who she thought she should be. It was entertaining, but sometimes I worried that Liz really didn't have any idea who she was.
"Do you think Rikka will hold today against me?" I asked once we were seated at a table near the window so Liz could watch people pass by. I loved the fact that I'd be able to observe the doctors and nurses as they worked on patients and then relaxed over lunch. I wanted to soak up as much about the hospital as I could, and the cafeteria was an excellent place to do it.
"Seriously doubt it," she said as she crammed two catsup covered fries into her mouth and chewed. "Hey, look at that guy. Do you think he's homeless or just a hipster whose mom didn't do his laundry this week?"
"Liz! That's so mean!" I laughed before turning and looking at the young guy crossing the street and adding, "Definitely hipster. He's got a messenger bag slung over his shoulder. Homeless guys always use grocery sacks to carry their stuff."
"Hmmm, yeah, you're right," Liz nodded as she watched the boy cross the street. "He's cute, then."
"Elizabeth Marie Baker! You are incorrigible!" I laughed as I speared some lettuce and stuffed my mouth. I chewed for a few moments then said, "I wonder who we'll be working with."
"I hope I get the ER," Liz said with her mouth full of burger. "I want to meet a handsome doctor who will sweep me off my feet and meet me in the broom closet for a scandalous rendezvous."
"Liz, is there ever a moment when men are not part of the equation for you?" I laughed already knowing the answer.
"Alex, my darling, the answer to that question, as you very well know, is no," Liz grinned. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a red-blooded, American girl who enjoys sex, so don't judge me."
"I wouldn't dare," I smiled before turning the conversation to a more serious matter. Sometimes Liz's reckless behavior scared me. She took chances that I knew I'd never be brave enough to take, and most of the time her gamble worked out just fine, but the few times when it hadn't, well, it had spelled disaster. I looked over at her stuffing fries in her mouth and said, "I'm just worried that I won't be able to manage all the coursework on top of working at the hospital. I can't afford to lose my scholarship, Liz."
"I know, kiddo," she said patting my hand. "You're going to be just fine. We're going to kick ass and take names so that when we walk across that graduation stage, we'll be super stars!"
"I hope you're right," I sighed as I finished the rest of my salad. "I really hope you're right."
#
Later that afternoon, Liz and I walked into our classroom and found our professor setting up an anatomy lesson covering the skin. Liz muttered a few choice curse words under her breath while I took note of what the professor had written on the board.
"It's not going to be that bad, Liz," I whispered as we took our seats in the middle of the classroom. "It's just basic anatomy. Stuff we've been studying forever."
"Well, that would be helpful if I'd been studying it," Liz said mournfully.
"Liz! Why didn't you tell me you needed help?" I whispered. "I would have shared my flashcards with you or helped you study."
"I know, I know," she said. "Well, now's as good a time as ever to turn it all around!"