castaways

~25~

*One year later*

The sun was the only reason hazel was still awake right now, and if her English teacher kept talking with the same monotonous voice any longer, she'd end up looking like the whole back row who weren't even trying to hide the fact that they were completely dead to the world right now. She looked up to see the old man talking about something regarding Shakespeare, blah blah blah, who could care less about Romeo and Juliets tragic love story?

This whole subject makes her want to bash her head against a wall... for free!  Suddenly, the old man slammed his book shut, making the whole class practically jump out of their skin.  He folded his arms angrily, "Blake, explain to me what I just said" he nagged at some kid on the front row.  Blake slowly yawned, "a bunch of bullshit" he mumbled under his breath.  The man, who is supposedly deaf half of the time, stood up straighter, "detention young man, kids these days..." he snapped, muttering things to only himself as the bell rang.  Blake looked around, "deaf my ass" he shook his head, but wasted no time in leaving the class.  Hazel shook her head and sighed as she stood up, "miss Halstead, one second please..." the old man called out.  Hazel sighed yet slowly swivelled on her heels.

"I'm impressed, for joining us so late in the school year last year, I'm really happy with your assignment" he held up the homework she turned in a few days ago. She smiled softly, "oh, well thank you" she nodded. The man placed the paper down, "keep working like this and you're gonna be top in the class within no time" he shrugged. Hazel subconsciously smiled, "thanks sir, I uh, better get going" she pointed to the door, "oh yes yes, don't hang around" he waved his hands around. She smiled and quickly left the room, well too bad sir, she still hates your lesson...

~

"You're sixteen, I'm sure you'll manage on your own, besides, I doubt they'll pass you on this" Will smiled as he pointed to the conference room in the ED. Hazel sighed, "yeah, but..." she began, "nuh-uh, no buts hazzie. You've got an amazing opportunity here, don't waste it by being shy" he shrugged. Hazel smiled weakly, "alright, well uh, wish me luck" she sighed. Will smiled, "head up" he squeezed her shoulders as she turned around to walk away.  She took a deep breath as she began wandering over to where the intimidating looking people in suits sat behind the glass doors.  She entered the room and sat down eagerly.

               "Hi, I'm hazel Halstead, and I'm 16 years old. I would really appreciate if you took my application into consideration for your placement, it would mean so much to me and I think I have a lot to offer to the next generation of trauma surgery" hazel pointed to the first PowerPoint.  Both adults shot her a small nod for her to carry on, "so, from my individual research..." she began explaining her mini task.  Both adults, one male and one female, listened intently to her mini presentation on a heart bypass surgery, and since hazel couldn't tell by their faces, she could only hope they were impressed.

               After around 15 minutes of hazel speaking about her own research, she was finally done.  But the two adults weren't, "thank you for that miss Halstead, I know things like this can be nerve wracking for people as young as you, but you did well. We just have one last task for you" the woman smiled weakly, before going back to emotionless.  Hazel nodded in confusion, "okay, so hypothetically, if a trauma patient was to enter the ED with life threatening injuries which require immediate care. Say for example two surgeries are required but both are just as urgent as each other, how would you deal with the situation?" He clasped his hands together.

Hazel took a deep breath before thinking, no one warned her about this!?  She nodded after composing herself, "well, hypothetically... I would assess the patient's stability given the circumstances. And then I would uh, perform both surgeries consecutively. Given that I would have junior surgeons and residents in the room to finish the less predominant parts of the first surgery, I would move onto the second procedure right away. Of course overlapping the surgeries would depend on the patients well-being, age, and medical history. But it could be done, safely..." she trailed off as both adults looked at each other blankly, before writing things down silently. They both nodded in the end, "thank you miss Halstead, we'll be in touch soon" the man dismissed her. Hazel smiled weakly before grabbing the iPad and quickly leaving in a panic, what the...?

                  Will looked up to see the two interviewers leaving the ED, and hazel wandering over to him with a flash of dread in her eyes, "hey, woah... what happened?" He placed his hands on her shoulders.  Dr Crockett noticed the kids visible stress and quickly joined the red head, after all, dr Marcel is the one tutoring hazel through all of this.  Hazel took a deep breath in, "they said my presentation went well, but then they asked me a really random question..." she let out a long sigh, defeated in her efforts almost.  Dr Crockett nodded, "what was it?" He smiled encouragingly.  Hazel nodded before rubbing the back of her neck.

                  "They wanted to know how I would approach the situation if a trauma patient needed two surgeries which were equal in urgency..." she looked up at their confused faced, Will slowly nodded.  "What did you answer?" The red head enquired curiously, he too thought that was random and a little tough for a sixteen year old to answer.  Hazel sighed, "I said that hypothetically, I would asses the patients medical stability after the trauma, and that I would uh, perform both procedures consecutively, if I had the residents to finish up the less serious parts of the first surgery, then I'd perform the second procedure right away. But all of that would depend on the patients age, medial history and what not. And that it could be done safely..." she rambled. 

                Dr Charles wandered past, letting out a blow of air, "you've got a medical prodigy on your hands" he smiled at Will and dr Crockett.  Hazel furrowed her brows and looked up to see Crockett with a huge grin on his face, "you, are an absolute genius" he pulled hazel in for a hug.  Will let out a small chuckle, feeling incredibly proud of his niece, "did I give a good answer?" She shook her head.  Dr Crockett smiled, "you gave a perfect answer, I'm really impressed with you kiddo" he ruffled her hair up.  Hazel smiled, "c'mere..." Will pulled her in for a hug, "dr Marcel!" Maggie called out.  Crockett waved goodbye before tending to a new patient, "go and call jay, he'll wanna hear all about this" the red head planted a proud kiss on her forehead.  He smiled as hazel ran into the break room, this kid is going big place...