When We Write the Stars

Chapter 15: Cassie

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -Moulin Rouge

     Since I'd already said I'd go, I went to Hayden's hockey game with my friends on Saturday. I had no idea where he and I stood and hoped he wouldn't think this meant more than it did. Not that I even knew what I wanted it to mean, but it was a lot of fun being at the game, cheering on him and the guys.

     There were also a lot more people there than I expected, I knew Seaport was kind of a hockey school, but the stands were practically full. I thought that would only happen for playoff games or something more important. I still didn't fully understand how hockey worked, but it was exciting and full of action. Once the game started it was like my eyes were glued to the ice, taking everything in.

     After the game, I'd texted Hayden to say good job, and he hadn't responded. It was probably because he was too busy celebrating, but I thought he'd at least say something. I didn't have time to think about any of that now though because right now I was walking into one of the most important meetings of my life.

     Dr. Fowler, one of the heads of the physics department at MIT was friends with Brian, the head of my research team. She was in town this week, and Brian had organized a lunch for us. Us as in the entire research team, but it was still an in.

     MIT's program was incredibly hard to get into, but it would be a dream, and the research Dr. Fowler was working on was exactly the type of thing I'd be interested in. Suffice to say, I was nervous. There weren't nearly as many women in physics or astronomy as there should be, and to work directly with one of my heroes next year would be a dream, so I was going to do everything possible to make a good first impression.

     "Can you believe we're about to have lunch with one of the most respected astrophysicists in the country," Reva asked me as we walked into the faculty lounge the lunch was at.

     "No," I respond, fangirling with her just a little bit, "I hope I make a good impression, then I'd have a better shot of going there for grad school."

     "That's a good point, I hadn't thought that far yet," Reva responded her eyes going wide with stress.

     "Relax, you've got some time before you'll be applying to grad school," I respond putting a hand on her shoulder, as she relaxes a little bit.

     We're the first two students on the research team to arrive, and I thank god Reva asked me to go in with her, I wouldn't know what to say if it was just Dr. Fowler, Brian, and me.

     "Speaking of my students, here's Reva and Cassie, two of our brightest," Brian says as we walk in.

     I flash him a big smile, thankful I've worked hard to make a good impression on him the past few years, "Hi, I'm Cassie Bennet, it's an honor to meet you Dr. Fowler, your research on gravitational waves and black holes is groundbreaking."

     "Thank you," she replies with a polite smile, "we're very fortunate over at MIT to have the resources to conduct our current simulations around them."

      "I heard you're currently collaborating with the computer science department to use machine learning to analyze the gravitational wave data, I'd love to hear more about that," I say, forcing myself to refrain from spitting out every little detail I learned about her research.

     "We just began that project actually, I'm surprised you've heard of it."

     "I'm applying to grad schools right now, and that project stuck out to me, there's so much potential there to completely change the way we study black holes."