The Unknown Heroes

Chapter 3

          Ten years earlier, at the Manstin University of Medicine, Tracey Killarman was starting her first day of college.

          It was a nerve wracking first day. She was finally there. At one of the best schools for anyone going into anything medicine related. She had worked so hard to get her grades to where they were now. Tracey couldn't wait.

          She took her seat in the front of the room and waited patiently for the professor to start class. While she was waiting, a girl sat down next to her. She was a very pretty girl, with white hair that seemed to have a tint of brown in it. The girl was wearing jeans and a brown sweater that hung off both shoulders, and she had bright violet eyes. Tracey blushed when she saw her.

          "Hello," said the girl, when a very cheerful sounding voice. "I'm Emily Laginess. Looks like we're shearing a desk." Emily smiled and reached out her hand. Tracey took her hand, and shook it lightly.

          "Tracey Killarman, nice to meet you." She said to her.

          Almost immediately after their introductions, the bell rang, signaling everyone into their seats. The professor came out from the back room. He was a short man with thick glasses and a balding head. He walked up to the font of the room and fixed the tie he was wearing.

          "Greetings, I am Mr. Gibson," He said as he did a small bow. "I will be your Medical Biochemistry teacher. Today we will be teaching you the basic ways in which chemistry affects life processes. Now, if you could all please get out your textbooks and turn to page 268."

          The sound of shuffling papers filled the room. Tracey got out her book along with a notebook and pencil, and Emily did the same. While Mr. Gibson started to recite from the textbook, Tracey couldn't help but find herself gazing at the girl beside her. She's lovely... Tracey though to herself. Oh crap! I've got to pay attention.

          After a few hours of note taking, class and building changing, lectures, and introductions, Tracey finally had a 40-minute break in between classes for lunch. The colleges lunch room kind of reminded her of a large café. There were different areas to get all kinds of foods. There was one place that had pizza and another one that had sandwiches and salads. She took a minute contemplating if she should take the healthier choice. Hmm, would tacos be a good in between? she thought. Eh, probably. She went up to the taco stand and bought two beef tacos with everything on it. Tacos, God's greatest creation, she decided.

          She looked around to see where an empty seat might be. The first few rows of tables were already filled. Many students seemed to have no trouble making friends, even on their first day. Sadly, this was not the case for Tracey. While looking around, she noticed someone sitting in the back by herself. It was Emily. She had a mini laptop on the table that she was typing away on.

          Since Emily was really the only one that Tracey had talked to so far, she thought she might try to sit by her.

          "Hey, this seat taken?" Tracey asked, pointing to the chair across from Emily.

          Emily looked up from the computer.

          "Oh, ah, no. You may sit here if you like! ~" Emily said, in a very cheerful voice. She gave Tracey a smile, which caused her to blush again.

          "Thanks..." Tracey replied. She sat down and got out a few of her books and notes. She had a tendency to look over every little thing that she wrote down. Notes, papers, essays, even texts on her phone. She hated the thought of spelling or grammar errors.

          There was a long pause of silence between Tracey and Emily. Tracey would occasionally look up to see what Emily was doing. She was still typing on her computer. Her eyes seemed completely glued to the screen. Tracey kept looking from her book, to her notes, then to the girl across from her, while eating her tacos. Then, out of nowhere, Emily spoke.

          "So, what are you going in to?" She asked.

          Tracey jumped a bit at the unexpected question. She looked up and saw that the Emily had stopped typing and had closed the laptop. They were now looking directly at each other.

          "Sorry, what?" Tracey replied, with a bit of taco in her mouth.

          "What are you going in to? Medical wise." She said.

          Tracey swallowed, then thought for a moment. She had always known what she wanted to go in to, but the question had caught her off guard.

          "Oh, sorry! Was that too personal?!" Emily asked, her voice now nervous sounding. "I sometimes ask question that I probably shouldn't. I'm very sorry..."

          "No no no, that's not it!" Tracey told her. "I was just surprised by the question. It's not personal at all." She gave Emily a reassuring smile.

          "Oh, okay." She seemed to have relaxed a bit.

          "To answer your question, I'm learning to become a surgeon." Tracey said.

          "Wow, really? Do you know what kind? Oh, it's probably too soon, you probably don't know yet. That was a stupid question." Emily looked down at her hands.

          "It's not a stupid question. Though, I really not sure. I might have a better idea in the next few years in this school." She told her.

          "Heh, yeah." Emily said, still looking at her hands.

          "So, what do you think you're going in to?" Tracey asked her. "Or, do you not know..."

          "Nurse." Emily quickly replied. "I'm going to become a nurse. I've wanted to become a nurse since I was a little girl. And now, I'm finally going to become one."

          She looked up at Tracey, with a large smile on her face. Then, she turned her head to the wall. Tracey followed her gaze, and saw that she was looking at a clock. Their lunch break was almost over.

          "You know, you're a really nice person." Emily said. "I hope that we can become friends. Hold on." She reached into a bag that she had on the floor and pulled out a piece on paper and a pen. She quickly wrote on it, then gave the paper to Tracey.

          "My number. You know, if you wanna ever talk."

          "Oh, thanks." Tracey replied. "See ya later."

          She and Emily, along with a few other students, got up from their seats and made their way out of the lunch room. While walking to her next set of classes, Tracey put her new friend's number into her phone.