Doll: A Bucky Barnes FanFiction

War

With Steve gone, the apartment was lonely, so Sarah moved in for the last few weeks of studying and exams. Elizabeth was so busy, she barely had any time to think about her brother or anything else other than nursing.

After their days at the hospital, Elizabeth and Sarah would return to the apartment, kick off their shoes, and slide down onto the couch, but not for long. Soon enough, one of them would take a quick shower while the other made dinner. Then, the other one would come out from the bathroom to take dinner out of the oven, or to finish cooking while the other got to shower.

Instead of sitting down and eating at the table, they would bring their plates into the living room and eat with their study papers and notes in heaps around them and all over the coffee table.

They would spend their evenings and weekends just like that, working hard to remember and understand everything that they could.

It was clear that they both would pass the exams, as they had put in an incredible amount of work, and the day of the exams was not as stressful for Sarah and Elizabeth compared to some of the girls in their class.

They arrived at the examination facility, with the first steps of the process being a physical examination. Both Sarah and Elizabeth were deemed fit to continue on. They arrived at the testing rooms, only to find themselves on different room lists.

Sarah grabbed Elizabeth's hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze before they parted ways. Elizabeth found her seat in the classroom and looked around at all the other women there. She had never seen any of them before. They had been from other classes. They were all white, younger women

Suddenly, a young African American woman came and took a seat right beside Elizabeth. Elizabeth heard a few whispers around her from the other women and frowned. She looked over at the woman, who was clearly uncomfortable and nervous with people whispering about her. The young woman caught Elizabeth's eye, to which Elizabeth gave her a warm smile as if to say 'ignore them.' She returned the smile before they were called to attention, and the exams were handed out.

The only sounds in the classroom were the scratching of pencils to paper, and the occasional cough or sigh. Elizabeth focused intently on her exam, drowning out the sounds around her. She was able to race through the first half of the exam with ease, however, the second half was trickier.

She took her time, ensuring there were no mistakes, and at the end, she was about to stand up only to realize that she was the only one who had already finished the exam. She peered around quickly to see how far everyone was, but no one had even half-way completed the exam. Except for the African American girl, who had stood and was making her way to the front to hand in her exam, which Elizabeth quickly followed suit.

The girl had gotten out of the classroom a few moments before Elizabeth, who walked out after her. The girl was standing in the hallway, almost as if she was waiting for Elizabeth to arrive.

"Thank you, by the way," the girl said. "I was nervous enough for the exam before going into a room as the only colored person."

"It isn't fair to you," Elizabeth said. "Do you think you did alright?"

"I sure hope so," the young woman replied, smiling.

"Me too. I'm Elizabeth Rogers, by the way," Elizabeth said, sticking her hand out for the woman to shake.

"Anita Walker," she replied, shaking Elizabeth's hand.

"You born in Brooklyn?" Elizabeth asked.

"Born and raised."

Before Elizabeth could say any more, a few girls began to exit some of the other classrooms, with Sarah being one of them. Sarah spotted Elizabeth and waved, heading in her directions.