Fresh Meat

Study Group

"What definition did you get for the 'constructive definition of societal inconsistency'?"

"Pfft," I scoffed. "How would I know?"

"You've answered with that exact phrase three times in a row,"

"That's because I honestly do not know," I emphasized my words.

"Do you not do the homework?" Evan chuckled.

"Oh I do," I answered. "I just don't pay attention to the lectures."

"I thought you enjoyed the course material?" Mandy countered. Dressed in a university crewneck and similar to my height and physical size, she almost always wore a kind smile and had the most affable personality. She was the one who had originally started the PSYC 204 study group, bringing together herself, Evan, Isabella, and her roommate Katrina. Luckily, Isabella had convinced the crew to let me join, but I had yet to prove myself useful.

"He does," Isabella confirmed. "he just despises the professor." Evan chortled at that before I veered my head to the left with an intense glare. Trying my best to bring something to the table, I moved onto the next question.

"I think I understand what number four is asking," I started. "If we are discussing the importance of interpersonal communications, then we can articulate that with malicious behavior."

"A correlation between self-image and crime," Katrina simplified. "That'd be an interesting point to make." An Arizona native, Katrina did not at all parallel with the common stereotype. Her sleek, brunette hair and untanned skin didn't give her a hollow look, but she looked like she belonged more to this region more than any of us in the group. She wasn't as sociable as her roommate, but she had a wicked sense of humor.

"Sounds smart enough for me," Isabella began typing into her online document.

"I'll second that motion," Evan agreed. In response, all of us began writing our own different versions of the same response. A few moments later, a unanimous ding rang out from each of our laptops. With my first month at UWH coming to a close, that noise had become uncomfortably familiar. Opening my mailbox, I noticed a new email had arrived with an urgency flag marked above it.

"Hey," Isabella nudged my shoulder. "I just received my date for my first interview."

"So did I," I replied, rotating my laptop towards her. It had been almost a week since the Fall Organization Convention, and I had almost completely forgotten about the event. The obnoxious cooking club however had continuously lurked in the back of my head, I still regretted that I had applied in the first place. Secretly, I had even hoped that my application hadn't made it through. Yet according to the email, my first round of interviews was for next Tuesday morning.

"So did I," Evan broke me out from my thought process, turning around his laptop to show he had an appointment for Wednesday at noon.

"And I," Mandy remarked. "Monday at four."

"Guys, I..." Katrina's face was one shrouded in horror.

"What is it?" Isabella's concern was obvious.

"I've..." she paused before swiveling her laptop around in slow-motion. "I've got some news." The email displayed on her screen read for an interview about two hours after mine.

"You idiot!" Isabella elbowed her, garnering a maniacal chuckle out of Mandy. Katrina joined us in our childish giggle.

"Wait," Evan stopped us. "So we're all signed up to audition?"

We all exchanged awkward glances with each other.

"Evan, I would've never placed you as a chef."

"Well, after what I've seen you get at the dining hall, I never expected you to appreciate culinary arts either."

"Let me just be honest," Mandy provided her opinion. "I'm only doing this for the 'I tried' sticker."

"Us too," I motioned to Isabella and myself.

"Katrina can actually cook," Mandy added. "She's making Korean potstickers for the two of us tonight."

"No!" Isabella shouted. "I can't believe we're going to have actual competition--Keira's going to flip!"

"When's Keira set for?"

"Early Monday morning."

"Yikes," Evan stated. Assuming that we probably wouldn't be working on the assignment anymore, I slowly shut my laptop and watched as the conversation continued.

"So," Mandy muttered. "Should we be studying for it or something?"

"According to my friend Alexa, the first round is just a casual interview," I answered. "They just want to get a feel for who you are before they actually move you onto the auditions."

"Weed out the annoying people before they can even be seen cooking," Katrina mumbled. "Smart."

"Thinking about it is just stressing me out," Isabella groaned. "I'm going to have to find a way to distract myself this weekend to get it off my mind."

"There's always the Mall of America," I offered. "Or all the Dales." The Dales were a series of smaller shopping malls that surrounded the Twin Cities in a ring, with all of their names ending in "dale".

"I don't know if shopping is exactly what I want to do right now, but good idea."

"What about minigolf?" Evan suggested. "It should still be warm enough for courses to be open this weekend."

"That could be a little more fun."

"We could roadtrip too," Mandy piped up. "Madison is only a few hours away by car."

"Wait, I know what we should do," Katrina remarked. "Do you all get creeped out easily?"

"What do you mean?" Isabella asked hesitantly.

"According to one of my friends, there's this little town across the river that's apparently haunted."

"Like a ghost town?" I questioned.

"No, more like a small neighborhood run by an old demonic cult." We all reflected on that statement for a moment.

"Whatever," Mandy's disbelief was obviously fake. "It's probably just some odd religious sect."

"No, I'm serious!" Katrina defended. "It's called Marine on the St. Croix--look it up and you'll find results." Evan quickly typed it in on his laptop and hit the search button. Sure enough, a few results showed up titled "Cult Neighborhood".

"Wow," I said, peering over to see pictures of the town. "It is kind of scary-looking."

"And how fun would it be to go at night?" Katrina asked. "It's only a small drive away, and the whole thing could be done in less than an hour."

"It's a little short, but it'd definitely clear my head," Isabella shrugged.

"Perfect!" Katrina answered gleefully. "Saturday at 8 work for everyone? We can meet in the Bestland Complex parking lot."

"Works for me," Mandy responded. The rest of us nodded in confirmation.

"Great," Katrina seemed immensely pleased.

"As long as we're not doing homework, can we go get some ice cream?" Evan spoke up. "I'm feeling like unnecessarily treating myself." Once again, the group exchanged glances and nodded in unison. In a moment's notice we had our things packed and had left the building.